• Focal ship: Lucas/Maya (slow burn ish)
• Other ship dynamics: married Shawn/Katy, past Lucas/Riley
• Rating: Mature/Teen & Up

There’d been so much tension over the last twelve months.

It led to the deterioration of her relationship with Lucas. It caused problems for her and Farkle during Summer. It had been simmering under the surface with Maya ever since the night of Junior Prom.

There’d been tension between Riley and Maya since the Art Show, but it was different. That was mostly from Riley’s side; that was jealousy. That was Riley recognising Lucas had a heightened awareness around Maya again. Perhaps it was just him wanting to protect her from this strange boy with the convoluted accent. Perhaps he sensed Nate would cause problems. Maybe there wasn’t anything more to it than that.

• Focal ship: Lucas/Maya (slow burn ish)
• Other ship dynamics: married Shawn/Katy, past Lucas/Riley
• Rating: Mature/Teen & Up (coarse language, references, some violence)

It was easy to get torn apart by feelings you didn’t understand. Maya had gained so many in the last year she didn’t know what to do with them. Instead of trying to figure out what they were or how they even began, she just bottled them up. Stashed them in containers with no labels and threw them in her dungeon of sadness.

That’s probably not where they should’ve gone, but she wasn’t in the mood to organise anything that wasn’t her art supplies or schoolbooks.

Yet the longer she left it, the harder it would be to sort anything out.

Excerpt:

Zay turned to see Lucas carrying a duffel bag behind him. “What have you got in there? I hope it’s not your coach. Things looked pretty tense before.”

Lucas scoffed. “No, it’s evidence. Some of the equipment got tampered with a few weeks ago. Coach fixed it, but— whoever it was got back into the trailer.”

Zay gulped. “Trailer?”

Lucas squinted at him. “Yeah, the gym equipment trailer. Why do you look guilty?”

Zay tugged at his collar. “She’s gonna kill me if I tell you.”

“She?” Lucas put the duffel bag on the floor. “The only girl we know who would threaten that is—” He looked up. “What does Maya have to do with this?”

• Focal ship: Lucas/Maya (slow burn ish)
• Other ship dynamics: married Shawn/Katy, past Lucas/Riley, current Farkle/Isadora
• Rating: Teen & Up (coarse language, references, some violence)

Excerpt:

Initially Isadora wanted to steal Farkle away from the John Quincy Adams crowd. He was her nemesis in academia but they could be friends otherwise. Even more than that, perhaps. But Farkle was never going to leave Riley and Maya. 

So instead, Isadora became friends with his friends. It took a while to understand that no matter how she saw herself, she was respected by others; and not just for her acumen, though it probably helped. 

It still took a bit of effort to wrap her mind around the emotions that tied them all together. Her strongest emotional tie had been with Farkle; and it was him and him only for a very long time, even after Riley and Maya and Lucas made their mark upon her heart.

• Focal ship: Lucas/Maya (slow burn ish)
• Other ship dynamics: married Shawn/Katy, past Lucas/Riley, current Farkle/Isadora
• Rating: Teen & Up (coarse language, sexual references)

Somewhere in amongst all the Triangle angst, Maya became angry and reckless again. Lucas didn’t understand what was happening then; he just knew the Maya he’d fallen for had disappeared. She didn’t know who she was anymore. Lucas knew who she had been, and he saw a glimmer of that person again and again in the weeks afterward. But they were just glimmers, just reminders of the girl he had lost. She’d evolved into someone new. It wasn’t someone Lucas could be sure he wanted to be with.

But he still cared for her, and he still wanted her to be happy. So he let her go.

• Rating: Teen & Up
• Canon-Compliant up to “A Christmas Maya”.
• Past Riley/Lucas (first flashback is in Chapter 10)

• Canon-Compliant up to “A Christmas Maya”.
• Past Riley/Lucas (in flashbacks)

Riley stared at the dirt still mocking her. She would need to leave it; she would have to hand that mess over to someone else. There was another mess requiring her attention.

She stood, turning to Maya carefully. Riley put on her best fake pout. She hoped her eyes were cooperating. As happy as she was to see that Maya was indeed safe, she couldn’t let her current emotions overwhelm all the other emotions she had experienced that day. She couldn’t let Maya believe she was off the hook for lying to her. At least, not right now.

• Canon-Compliant up to “A Christmas Maya”.
• Past Riley/Lucas (in flashbacks)

She’d stopped talking to Lucas on purpose. That didn’t mean she’d ignored him completely; that was hard to do even when she wasn’t confused about who he was to her. But she’d put a pause on their usual banter because Riley had discovered what it meant. Or, at least, a reason was found that made sense at the time Maya felt feelings she’d never felt before.

• Canon-Compliant up to “A Christmas Maya”.
• Past Riley/Lucas

SUMMARY: When Maya is arrested for arson and theft, the walls she built around her new world start to crumble. Lucas wants to help her, but she’s not interested; there’s too much pain and anger there. She can be civil with him if that’s what Riley wants, but nothing else. She’s not ready for anything else.

Published chapters: 1. Prologue | 2. The First Law of Nature | 3. Painted Into A Corner | 4. Glutton for Punishment | 5: State of the Hart