"Maya, you need to talk to uncle Josh about what you said"
"I can't Riley. He probably hates me by now" I close my locker to grab my cheerleader's uniform
"I'm sorry but I have to agree with my sister on this. You two need to talk"
"Yeah, you kissed their uncle and called him Lucas-" Smakle completes Farkle's sentence
"While you two were making out!" I sigh
"Maya, why did you do that?"
"Truth is: I don't know, Zay" I notice his disappointed face.
"I know you were a huge 'Lucaya' shipper and I know that right now I'm disappointing you. But you have to understand that Lucas and I couldn't work out"
"I know. It's just that you two were so happy when you were together"
"Yeah. But things change. In this month and a half I've learned how to be happy, even without him. Now I've moved on"
"Then why did you call Josh with your ex's name?" Elliot asks with a frown
"I don't know. But I definitely didn't do it because I'm still not over Lucas. I'm totally over him. Everyone thinks that I did it because I'm still head over heels over him"
"So, you're not?"
"No, Missy. I thought that too. Tonight I had a lot of time to think and realize things. I'm ready to move on with somebody new" Riley clears her throat
"This brings me to Zay's question: why did you call him Lucas?" I start to loose my patience
"I still don't know! Maybe because I've never made out that heavily with someone that wasn't him!" I take a deep breath to calm down
"I'm afraid. I could've started another relationship. And you all know how much I suck at romantic things"
"If you called that handsome guy with someone else's name then you are correct: you suck" Farkle's eyes widen
"Smakle!"
"Sorry, honey. Just the truth" I sigh.
"Yeah, she's right. Anyways, I don't have to worry about that because nothing else will happen between me and your Uncle Boing" I start walking to class but I'm stopped by Riley grabbing my arm
"Maya, you need to talk to him and explain everything" I scoff
"Yeah, great advice coming from someone who doesn't even know what she wants"
"Maya, she told you-"
"I know Missy. But it's pretty clear that she likes you so why don't start dating? Not that hard" I lower my head to look at Riley's hand
"Would you mind letting me go? I gotta go prepare the choreo for today" Farkle frowns
"Maya, why haven't you decided your co-captain yet?" I groan in frustration
"Oh, I asked coach Lizzy if I could do it but she said that I seem to be handling the pressure of being alone pretty well. So I guess that I'm gonna be alone until the end of the year"
"Can you do it? I mean, you also have Art Club and since your mom has been put in maternity you're working with me now" I nod at Elliot
"Yeah, I think so. I can easily study at work" I notice that half of the kids in the hallway are looking at us
"Why are they looking at us?"
"Probably because of me" Zay replies while winking at a random girl who giggles. What's he problem? That's Zay.
"Or maybe because we have two players of the football's team, three cheerleaders, three members of the Abigail Adams Society of Intellectual Advancement and the best Artist in the school. We are part of the school's soul"
"Needless to say that we also have all the captains here" Smakle adds, referring to me and Elliot.
"Wait, so are we, like, popular?" Riley frowns
"Maya, this thing has been going on for months. How haven't you noticed?"
"I don't know. I guess I was too busy with everything else to even notice other people aside from our group of friends"
"Wait, so you haven't noticed no one looking?" I shake my head in denial at Farkle
"Nobody?"
"No"
"Not even the football team?" I furrow my eyebrows
"Why would the football team look at us?"
"You" Riley corrects
"What?"
"Sure, they look at Missy and I too but they focus mostly on you" I'm so confused right now
"Why? Because I'm the captain?" Zay grins
"Yeah, that too. See, the boys noticed that you're the one who does all the acrobatic stuff..." Why is he smirking?
"And....?" he gives me a 'are you serious?' look
"Maya, you use a lot your legs, right?" I nod
"And you also have to do lots of frontal splits, right?" I finally realize what he means and I punch his arm
"You pigs!" he flinches in pain
"Ow!" I punch Elliot as well
"Why me?!"
"Cause you probably did that too!"
"Hey! I'm the one who stops the boys from looking in between your legs!" I start blushing
"You're lucky I wear shorts under that skirt"
"Wait, so we haven't seen you panties yet?" Zay asks in disappointment
"If you don't stop right now I'm gonna text Huckleberry who will go all 'Texas Lucas' on your ass when you'll be back in Texas for spring break" he raises his hands
"I'm done" I roll my eyes
"Matthews!" a group of jocks approach Elliot
"Hi guys, how's it goin'?"
"We're good. Uhm..." they look at me
"Would you mind introducing us to your friends?" my friend sighs
"Farkle, Smakle, Riley, Maya, Missy, these are Jack, Jake, Johnny and Jacob" one of them, I think Jacob, shakes my hand.
"It's an honor to meet the captain of the cheerleaders team" I slightly smile
"Jacob, manners!" Jack pushes him away and kisses the palm of my hand. I'm kinda getting irritated now.
"Hi, I'm Jack. I own a ferrari" before I can say anything else Farkle steps in front of me
"And I own a private jet. Do you own one?" the guys clenches his jaw as Jake pushes him away. He's kinda intimidating, so much that Farkle steps back. Well, at least he helped me somehow
"Sorry. They can't contain themselves around beautiful girl like you"
"Oh, it's fine" I say, faking a smile
"How about dinner? You and me, tomorrow. Does Mexican sound good?" I frown and Johnny pushes him away
"Don't mind them. They don't have a brain. Johnny, pleasure to meet you" I fight the urge to roll my eyes.
"I'm a fan of your movements. I wish I had that flexibility. Maybe you could teach me how to do a split someday?" I swear if we weren't in public right now I'd punch every single one of these guys. Elliot must've noticed how angry I am now.
"Sorry man. She has to go practice now. Right, Maya?" I only nod
"Well, goodbye sweetheart. See you at the field" I simply turn around and walk away. I need to talk with coach about new uniforms. I'll use the old design as an excuse to have new and better uniforms with shorts instead of skirts. This way the boys won't actually believe that they're seeing our underwears.

*Hours later, at Topanga's*

"France! Tell me about its borders. Go!" I start preparing the coffee and reply to Farkle
"Its continental territory is bordered on the northeast by Belgium and Luxembourg, on the east by Germany , Switzerland, and Italy, on the south by the Mediterranean Sea, Spain, and Andorra, on the west by the Bay of Biscay, and on the northwest by the English Manche, also know as 'La Manche'. To the north, France faces southeastern England across the narrow -Pas de Calais-"
"What about Monaco and the island of Corsica?
"Well, Monaco is an independent enclave on the south coast, while the island of  in the Mediterranean is treated as an  part of the country"
"Great, Maya! How is it possible that you can learn all of this while working?" I shrug
"I don't know, Riles"
"Well, I know" I smile
"Then show us the light, Smakle"
"That's because Maya learns through motor learning, which is the process of improving motor skills through practice, with long-lasting changes in the capability for responding. The cerebellum and basal nuclei play a major role in such coordination" Zay frowns
"Can you explain it in English?" Missy nods
"She basically learns things better when she's moving" I notice a client standing in front of the cash register, probably waiting to pay. I look around to see if Elliot's around but he's not. Probably this is his bathroom break so I walk up to the young guy who's currently looking at his phone
"Hello"
"Hi. Table thirteen" I nod and see his order
"That'll be twelve dollars and five cents" he grabs his money, looks up at me and gasps. Is there anything on my face?
"Oh my gosh, are you Maya Hart?" I slightly nod
"Actually, it's Hunter. I've changed it almost a year ago"
"The captain of the school's cheerleading team? The most honorable member of the Art Club? That Maya?" I slightly laugh and nod
"I guess so"
"You work here? Since when?"
"I've started recently. I'm replacing my mom for now"
"That's awesome! Just wait until I tell my brother!" I frown
"What?"
"Oh, nothing. See ya!"
"Wait, your change!"
"You can keep it!" he turns around and waves at me before walking out.
"Huh"
"Well, that was odd" I nod at Missy
"Do you any of you guys know him?"
"Yeah. He's part of the school newspaper. He always writes articles about the most popular people in school like football players or cheerleaders"
"How do you know, Zay?" I can see tears forming in his eyes
"Cause he once saw me eating a banana and wrote an article about being proud of being who you are and to accept all forms of love...I'm not gay! Vanessa!" Riley comforts him
"That's fine Zay"
"We accept you for who you are" I say with a smirk and he glares at me.
I look at the entrance and see the one and only Josh walking up to me
"Hey" I refuse to look at him
"Hi. How can I help you?"
"I-I was looking for Elliot to make me my double espresso. Do you know where he is?" I shake my head
"Nope. He's been gone for almost ten minutes now. He said he needed a bathroom break"
"Yeah, well, he needs to come over and make me my coffee"
"I...I can do it instead of him. I work here after all" Did I really say those words? I was trying to avoid him and now I'm offering to make him coffee?! How stupid am I?
"Really? Thanks. Since when do you work here?" I start heating up the water
"Oh, I started today. But I have previous experiences in this so don't worry. Your coffee will not taste that bad, I promise" there's a minute of awkward silence between us
"Just talk!" I glare at the genius
"Smakle!"
"Just sayin'!" I roll my eyes in frustration
"You know, I think she's right. We should" I sigh and finally look at his face
"Yeah, okay"
"Okay, I start. I'm-"
"No, I start" he nods
"I'm sorry for calling you Lucas. I know that you're probably thinking that I'm using you to get over him but that couldn't be further from the truth. It's just that we were together for a year and during our heated moments I only said his name. So I got used to it I think. I just said it without thinking, or actually meaning it" he looks like he's about to say something but I interrupt him
"It's fine if you hate me and wanna close this thing we have going on and the long game. It's totally understandable" He slightly laughs, why?
"Maya. I don't hate you. I could never hate you and I wanna keep our thing going on" I raise my eyebrows
"Really?"
"Yeah. Listen, from what I've heard you just need some time to get used to things. How about this?" he takes my hand and rubs his thumb against the palm
"We take it slowly?"
"You mean, like the long game?"
"No, I mean like a normal game. I'm tired of the long game, we've also tried with the short game and we failed at it miserably. So let's just take things a little bit more slowly, but not too much. What do you think?" I smile
"Sounds great to me"
"Perfect" I hand him his coffee
"We'll talk about the rules later, okay? I have to study now" I nod and he sits at a table alone, reading a text book.
"So, how did things go?" An unexpected voice asks, giving me a heart attack
"Elliot! Where were you?" he shrugs
"The bathroom. Come on, tell me"
"Well, we decided to take things slowly. Not as slowly as the 'long game' thing though" he only nods in response, his smile fading
"Is everything fine?" he furrows his eyebrows
"Yeah, just thinking"
"About what?"
"Stuff" I groan
"You know, it's not fair that I keep telling you everything but you never say anything to me" I pout at him and he just aw's at me
"Poor little child. I'm dealing with feelings that are far beyond your understanding"
"I can try"
"I don't think so"
"Of course I-"
"Yo! Elliot! Buddy!" Is that....Is that the whole football's team?! What are they doing here? Elliot stands up
"Bryce? What are you doing here? With the whole team?"
"Relax cap! My little brother told me about this place" he turns around and looks at me
"Look who we have here! The one and only Maya Hunter" I shyly wave at him. I don't like where this is going
"And we also have her teammates here. Look, there's also Zay! Hi buddy!" another guy says
"Hey, Zach"
"Why don't you guys introduce us to them?"

*Some time later*

"Hi babe" I try my best not to roll my eyes
"Hi..."
"Bryce, my name is Bryce"
"Yeah, okay"
"Come on honey. Give me a smile" as he wraps his arm around me both Josh and Elliot stand up, outraged
"Get that arm off her!" they say simultaneously
"Oh, I see. You have two boyfriends, how about a third one? I don't mind sharing. I'm not jealous"
"Uh, actually I-"
"I might not be her boyfriend but I have the duty to protect her from guys like you. She doesn't need to be heartbroken again" Bryce laughs
"I almost forgot she was dating Friar!  Listen, sweetheart. I can give you more than him, I swear" at this point I loose my patience and slap his arm away
"Every single relationship is unique and incomparable" he grins
"You're totally right. Let's make our own then" Josh giggles sarcastically and wraps his arms around my waist while resting his head on my left shoulder, making me blush at the sudden action.
"Sorry, buddy. But she's busy with me now so I recommend you and your team to walk away and leave Maya, my niece and their friends alone. Unless you wanna deal with me"
"And who you might be?" Josh sighs and steps in front of me to face Bryce
"I'm a sophomore at NYU who is studying psychology. But I guess you don't really want to know that. I bet you're more interested in my physical abilities. So, let me tell you that I've been practicing martial arts for over ten years and could kick your ass right now if you don't leave in this exact moment"
"Or what?"
"Oh, you'll see you little-" Elliot comes in between and pushes them apart
"Okay, that's enough. Bryce, you need to leave. Just like the rest of the team"
"Whatever man, this place sucks anyways!" he storms to the exit but doesn't hesitate to throw a glass of water against the wall before leaving with the team.
"Are you guys okay?" I ask my friends and everyone nods
"Yeah, we're good. Are you?" I nod
"Yeah. I'm-" Elliot cuts me off
"Don't you even dare to tell us that you're okay or I will-oh my gosh are you bleeding?!" I frown
"What are you talking about?" Josh cups my face, shock in his eyes
"Your cheek is bleeding" I touch it and look at my fingers. Blood.
"Let me get the bandages"
"No, I'll do it!" the two boys run to the storeroom to get the first aid kit and come back soon enough with Elliot holding the kit. He leaves it on the counter and basically fights with Josh to open it and get everything out.
"Out of the way!"
"No! I'll do it!"
"Guys!" they stop as soon as they hear Missy.
"I'll do it since I'm the only one who has a basic knowledge in medicine here" Farkle and Smakle clear their throats
"Okay, I'm the only one who doesn't faint at the sight of blood" she pushes them away and begins taking out the necessary stuff
"Out of the way now" they sigh and sit on the sofa, still looking at me while glaring at each other from time to time
"How did I cut myself anyway?" she moves the tweezers closer my cheek, extracting a fragment of glass and showing it to me.
"When that guy threw the glass one of the fragments cut through your cheek's skin"
"I swear I'm gonna kill him as soon as I see him on the field" Josh scoffs
"Well, I was about to do that but you clearly wanted to go for the pacific way" Elliot simply rolls his eyes in annoyance and I can't help it but laugh silently.
I suddenly flinch in pain when Missy start rubbing alcohol on the scratch to sanitize. It burns!
"Ouch..." I say in a whisper, hoping that no one heard me. Well, seems like Josh and Elliot did because they immediately walk up to me and Missy
"Is everything okay?"
"Do you need anything?"
"Are those tears?" they both wipe my tears away with their hands. One for each side. Missy quickly gets annoyed and slaps them away
"I need space"
"Guys why aren't you doing anything? She's crying!" Riley shrugs at her uncle
"Maya has always been a cry baby when it comes to cleaning wounds"
"That's because it burns!"
"It'll burn even more if you don't stop moving!" I sigh and stay silent until she's done.
"Great, you're good to go now" I finally jump off the counter. How am I gonna tell mom and dad about this one?
"Let me see" Elliot begins examining the area surrounding the wound and my heart can't help but melt. He's so adorable when he enters nanny mode. Literally the cutest. This moment is interrupted by Josh who pushes Elliot aside and cups my fave with his hands
"Does it still hurt?" I nod
"Yeah, just a little" he grins and then kisses my bandaged scratch
"Does it feel better?" I don't respond. I know right away that the reply he wanted is contained in the color of my -now- red face.

*After a few days, at school*

"The Roller Coaster of Love Needs a Speed Limit" Mr. Matthews starts. Thankfully this is the last class of the day and then we have cheerleading practice.
"A lot of people have trouble with this one. You know those relationships that start out going a million miles an hour? The ones where you stay locked in their apartment for three days straight staring into each other's eyes? The ones where you start talking about spending your whole lives together after only three months? Those loves are hot, and fiery, and full of passion. They're also usually the first to go crashing into a wall and exploding into a million pieces. Love is a roller coaster and it's supposed to be. But one of the hardest lessons to learn is how to apply brakes to that roller coaster. You need to know when to speed up and when to slow down. When to go all in and when to pull back and take things slow" Riley raises her hand
"Ms. Matthews?"
"What does this have to do with us?" he chuckles
"Don't okay innocent with me. You're a teenager. You're all teenagers and I know you're having your little disgusting adventures filled with passion and what you guys call 'love'. Am I wrong?" The whole class refuses to reply, knowing that he's definitely right. He goes back to his speech
"Because the truth is, without at least some brakes on that train, it's going to go faster, and faster, and faster, and you're going to skip all the little things you needed to learn and acknowledge about each other along the way. And by the time those things matter, it will be too late" the bell rings and we all head out. Immediately out of the class there's Elliot
"Hey, has dad talked to you guys about love and a rollercoaster?" Zay nods
"Yeah" Riley looks definitely worried
"Do you think that maybe he knows about me and Missy and is telling us to slow this down because he doesn't approve of us?"
"Or, what if he's telling you to speed things up because he loves you and wants to see you happy?" Smakle replies in an attempt to make her feel better
"Hey, Smakle is always right. I'd listen to her if I were you" Zay adds with a grin. The two girls share a look of understanding