Meeting the world

Chapter 16

Farkle's pov

~

I was shocked when I got a call from Riley saying that Lucas got into a fist fight, Maya's father got arrested and Maya was in the hospital.

I rushed over there right away.

I saw Riley sitting with her parents, and Lucas next to her, his fist all red and swollen.

"What happened? Is she okay?" I blurted.

Riley stood up.

"I don't know." It's obvious she had been crying. Her eyes were bloodshot. "Her father, he was hitting her...and so when he got arrested, the cops, um...they said Maya needed to be checked to see if she was okay...and when Maya went to walk over to the cop to explain what her father had done...she, uh, she collapsed to the ground."

Riley sobbed. Her father gave her a hug and didn't let go.

I was speechless.

"I..." My voice trailed off and before I knew it, I was crying too.

Lucas looked like he had already done his share of crying, but I saw a tear fall down his face.

"What about your hand?" I asked.

He turned his head towards me. He looked so sad, and he seemed to be working in slow motion, the way he moved, the way he spoke. He pronounced every word very slowly.

"After telling the Matthews about Maya, I ran off. I wandered the streets for about 10 minutes before I found him. Luckily it's not that hard to spot a drunk bastard. I went up to him and punched him as hard as I could. He tried to punch me back, but wasted dudes don't have good aims. The cops came and broke up the fight. Then the Matthews came and explained everything. They wanted to question Maya, but she fainted or collapsed or whatever...and, um...now we're here."

I tried to process everything at once. I sat down next to Lucas and didn't say a word. I just nodded and stared into the distance hoping with all of my heart that Maya would be okay.