Musically Maya

“Literally the only thing I can mentally handle right now is binge watching Grey’s Anatomy” 

“Oh wow, that sounds depressing. That show is so sad.” Maya replied, sending Tristan a weak smile.

Sophie let out a relieved sigh as she smiled back. “Thank you– really… I just– I still feel bad about it, so– um…” She bit her lip for a moment before clearing her throat and waving her hand. “Hello. I’m Sophie– and my favorite color’s green— I think? You know like… a pale green…” Honestly, the second ‘meeting’ could have been characterized as just as awkward as the first– but at least this time neither of them were crying right? That had to be a step up. 

“Nice to meet you, Sophie.” Maya replied, following the other girl’s lead. It was clear that Sophie wanted to start over, and if that made the other girl feel better than she was fine with going along with it.  “Pale green is a nice colour. Personally my favourite colour is red, which is sort of funny because my middle name is Ruby.” She responded, although her favourite colour was something that changed depending on her mood sometimes.

@musicallymayamatlin

Sophie hadn’t spoken to Maya since her little meltdown in school. It was an awkward first meeting to say the least, and she probably didn’t make a great first impression… And she never truly thanked Maya for being so kind and generous. Sure she thanked her briefly in the moment, but she didn’t feel like there was much weight to them. So as she saw Maya in the cafeteria, the girl walked up to her and gave her a quick wave. “Hey, so… Sorry, I just– wanted to thank you again… Like– really thank you… honestly, your kindness really– meant a lot. And I’m sorry our first meeting was so– strange.” 

Maya was finishing up her lunch when she noticed Sophie walking towards her. The only interaction that she had with the other girl had involved Sophie being extremely emotional and begging to use her phone. Maya still wasn’t sure what to think of the other girl, but sent her a small smile as she got closer. “Really, it was no big deal.” Maya replied, wanting for the other girl to feel like it wasn’t a problem. She’d had her own breakdowns every now and again so she really couldn’t judge. “We are all entitled to have a bad day every now and again. It probably seemed way worse to you than it did to me.”

“he’s from nightmare on elm street… he has a burnt up face and a big set of claw. his… claim to fame is murdering teenagers in their sleep, though. i just think it’s an interesting matchup because both of them have claws.”

“Well, that sounds extra violence as far as horror movies go.” Maya replied, shuddering at the thought of the film. She’d never been a huge fan of horror film, especially after the robbery. “If he is used to killing people in their sleep, than he really doesn’t stand a chance against Wolverine if he’s awake.”

“historical hip hop match-ups aside… i am mildly curious whether freddy krueger or wolverine would win in a fight. thoughts?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t even know who Freddy Krueger is.” Maya replied, shrugging at them. “Is he the scream guy, the Halloween guy, or the Friday the thirteenth guy? Either way, I’ll go with Wolverine.”

Manny flashed her pearly white teeth towards the blonde to form a genuine smile. ““I really do appreciate that. Having someone else’s who’s appreciates music as much as I do around really helps, you know?” She spoke, setting her pencil back on the piano. ““Friends can be hard with criticism. I usually try to find an unbiased option. Someone who’s not afraid to really tell me what they think.” Manny tapped the bottom of her chin, unable to decide. ““Guests choice.” She spoke with an almost teasing smile.

“Us music people need to stick together.” Maya replied, smiling at the woman with a nod. It was nice to talk to someone who truly appreciates all the work that goes into creating music. “I guess that makes sense. Friends don’t want to hurt your feelings in the short term whereas unbiased people are thinking more longer term. I probably need to find more unbiased people in my life.” Maya added with a shrug, making herself more comfortable by the piano. “We could always play a classic pop son. Do you know A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton?” Maya suggested, trying to think of something that Manny may know.

      “We Matlin messes have to stick together” she agreed with a sigh and a chuckle. As much as it was a partial joke, most of the time Katie did fear she was too complicated; too hard to love. Not like she’d ever say it out loud. That was one of the many reasons she loved Maya; she was family and always seemed to love her back, no matter what mistakes she made along the way. “I’m not, this isn’t about me. Just… I’m gonna do better” Katie promised, patting her sister’s shoulder lightly. “Well, that ends today. Trust me, Maya, no matter what stuff I go through, it isn’t more important than you. Like I said, we have to stick together, that includes being there for each other when things go awry.”

     It was against all of Katie’s beliefs to skip classes in all honesty, still, she knew it was far more important to get her sister out of Degrassi and finally have a day off with her sister “Great, let’s get moving. If anyone calls your name don’t answer, eyes on the prize, a pint of ice cream and a set of swings with no kids nearby” the eldest smirked, walking towards the back door. “You don’t have any tests or presentations, do you? I’ll still break you out, but I need to know before I have to face Simpson or mom.”

“Forever and always.” Maya replied, nudging her sister. Katie was the one person that Maya knew would miss her if she was gone, even though she isn’t the best at showing it recently. The two sisters were important to each other and for that Maya was incredibly thankful. Even when they fought, Maya knew that Katie loved her unconditionally. “I haven’t let you do better. I haven’t exactly been easy to talk to the last few months, and I surely haven’t made it easy for you to check up on me. This is just as much my fault as it is your’s.” Maya responded because she knew that pushing people away was sort of a specialty at this point.

“I know what I’m doing.” Maya replied, letting out a small chuckle as they walked towards the door. It dawned on Maya that she was so good at skipping class without getting caught that even Katie hadn’t noticed her absence around the school at times. Granted, it helped that they were in different grades and therefore didn’t have any of the same classes. “Not today, thank god. I have a math test tomorrow but sadly for me I am going to have to be back here for that.”

“It is, but I’m always one who doesn’t mind constructive criticism. It’s how you grow, you know?” She meant that too. The brunette always wanted to share her craft, ready or not, to fully develop whatever it was she was doing  she smiled brightly, letting out a gentle smile. ““Well, thank you, that really does mean a lot. I guess were a lot more critical of our own work then other people are.” Manny scooted over on the piano bench, tapping it for the girl to sit down. ““I can be pretty clumsy too. Do you maybe wanna play together?” She offered.

“Well, if there was anything to give you criticism about I would, but from what I heard there isn’t anything to work out.” Maya added, smiling once more at the older girl. “That is probably true as well. My friends usually have nothing but nice things to say about my music, but at the same time I can pick things out about it to fix.” She added, walking closer to the piano as the girl moved over. “That sounds great. What do you want to play?” Maya responded, always happy to play with new people.

      “It’s the Matlin curse” she agreed with a deep breath. She couldn’t truly complain, their parents were good parents who loved them despite everything, they’d taught them well during their lifetime and worked hard to make the two sisters happy. Still, to say their family was complicated, was an understatement. “I can try harder. I will try harder. You are my only sister, Chicken Little” Katie offered Maya a small smile “You deserve better than that”. Then, she sighed deeply, shaking her head at the blonde’s words “You don’t bother me, Maya. Especially if you come to me with problems. Just keep that in mind, please. I’m on your team, always.”

      The older Matlin nodded along, standing up from the floor and extending her arm to the blonde “If we hurry and leave before the next period starts, we won’t have to deal with Simpson until tomorrow. You’ve got anything you have to take from your locker?” she questioned, shooting Maya a small smile “Ice cream it is. Let’s go. We can go to the park, what about that?”

“Well, at least we understand each other.” Maya replied, smiling softly at her sister. As bad as things were in their household sometimes, Maya was always thankful for her sister to help her deal with everything. It was nice to know that no matter what happened in the future there would always be someone out there that understood her up-bringing. “It’s okay Katie, really. I don’t want you beating yourself up over it.” She added feeling as though making Katie feel bad wasn’t going to help either of them. “Like I said, I just always feel that you have your own stuff going on. I should be able to deal with my own problems, everyone else does.”

“Okay, let’s go. Avoiding Simpson should be pretty easy if we sneak out the back door.” Maya responded, knowing that in the past that is what she had always done. Ditching classes unfortunately wasn’t a new concept for Maya but this was the first time that she had taken off the whole afternoon. “There isn’t anything in my locker that I can’t live without until tomorrow. So let’s just head out.  I think the park is exactly what I need honestly.”

“it’s okay,” she replied simply, softly, hand moving to place the bottle between them as a sort of peace offering. “great! i- hmm… i don’t think i’ve even introduced myself, right? my name is vada- vada kelly. i’m in grade eleven. it’s nice to meet you. are you into any hobbies or sports, maybe?”

“Thanks.” Maya replied, taking the bottle a taking a small sip from it. She knew that water would probably help her calm down and also make her story appear more true. Although, she figured that they were probably past the point of the other girl believing her. “I’m Maya Matlin. I can’t play a sport to save my life. Music is more my thing, I play cello.”

“i can’t believe perino gave me a detention for being late to class. it’s literally the first time this entire year that i haven’t been in my seat when the bell rang.”  

“I swear he’s the actual worst lately.” Maya replied, letting out a small shrug. “He tried to give me one because he claimed I was throwing pencils. But I wasn’t so I refused to go and he finally gave up.”

      Katie nodded in response, sitting down next to her sister whilst chewing her inner cheek. “Complicated runs in our bloodline” the eldest whispered, mostly to herself before turning her attention fully to her sister, granting her a small smile “What I mean to say is, I know complicated. It doesn’t scare me. I know I haven’t been the best sister to you the last— sixteen years, but I can handle complicated. Damn, I can handle anything you throw my way, Maya. You are my family, I just don’t want you to go through whatever it is you’re going through by yourself.”

       She inhaled deeply, shaking her head at her sister’s response “I don’t care about mom right now. Or Simpson, or Degrassi. I can’t have you here by yourself if you’re feeling like this. I can figure something out if you really need me to. We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. Just tell me what you want to do and we’ll make it happen.”

“That’s an understatement.” Maya replied, nodding along with Katie’s comment. Things always seemed to be complicated when it came to their household. Most of the time she didn’t even understand what was happening within their family, so she just tended to go with the flow. “You try your best, Katie. It’s not your fault that you are always busy.” She replied, shrugging at the girl once more. There was no need to make Katie feel bad because she didn’t know what was going on with her. “I just don’t want to bother you with my problems. I am sure that you have your own stuff going on.”

“Right now I want to get out of this building because I feel like it is suffocating me.” Maya replied, barely speaking over a whisper. There were too many people in the school and she felt like they were always watching her and whispering. “We could go get some ice cream, that always makes things less bad, right? Then maybe I can try to explain how I feel.”

“No, it’s– it’s fine, um… I get it.” She said, nodding towards the ground. “Anyway, um… I should– get back to class… before I get in even more trouble than I’m probably already in… thank you again.” She said with a soft nod, waving as she started to turn around. “Oh– and… I’m Sophie. By the way.” 

“Yeah, I probably should as well. I supposedly went to the bathroom but that was twenty minutes ago.” Maya replied, letting out a small chuckle. As boring as class was, she knew that detention was far worse. Maya watched as the girl turned to leave and gave a small wave in return. “I’m Maya. See you around.”

“So what you’re saying is– pop quizzes don’t matter, the stuff we learn is useless, and even the teachers don’t give a shit. What’s even the point of any of it, then?”

“Yes, that is basically what I am saying.” Maya replied, shrugging again. She was sure that teachers actually did care she just felt that a lot of the ones at Degrassi were bad at showing it. “The government says we have to be here.”

“Facts,” She confirmed with a couple of slow nods. “Maya…” She repeated, mentally repeating it a few more times to remember. “Nice to meetcha!” Sammy said with a quick smile before sliding down the lockers to sit on the floor. There was still a comfortable distance between the two of them, but still close enough to maintain a conversation without shouting. “Alright.. chapter four…” She mumbled to herself, flipping the textbook open to find the right page. “…Textbooks should have more pictures. Might make students actually want to read it more. At the very least it could help them from falling asleep while trying to read it.” Sammy knew it was probably odd that she was practically ignoring the state Maya seemed to be in when she stumbled upon her… But she knew if the tables were turned, she the last thing she’d want was for anyone to ask the pointless ‘you okay’s or ‘wanna talk?’s and so on.

“Most of the time I don’t even pretend to do my homework, unless I know it’s for marks or something.” Maya replied, shrugging at the girl. She had learned which teachers cared about that sort of thing and what students couldn’t be bothered. Maya made herself comfortable once more, sort of enjoying not being completely on her own. It was nice to be able to pretend that someone cared, even if that person was a stranger. “Yeah, textbooks are kind of the worst. If I do decide to read them I try to focus on the main points so I can at least contribute to class discussions if the teacher decides to call on me.” She added, shrugging at Sammy for about the millionth time. “I am a pretty lazy student though, so maybe you shouldn’t follow my advice if you want to do well.”

“you don’t have to take it,” she said in response to the refusal of the water. vada instead set it down on her opposite side, zipping her knapsack back up. “although if you’re dehydrated, it makes me wonder why you wouldn’t take the water…” nevertheless, she persisted. “well, do you want me to sit here with you? until you feel better, at least?”

“No, you’re right I probably should have taken it.” Maya replied, shrugging at the girl. She wasn’t thinking clearly and she knew that thinking the other girl might have done something to the water was a little irrational. “You can sit here if you’d like. My brain is a little rattled, and I am sure I could use a little company.”