Chapter Twenty-Six
Maya Hart

After Riley and I explained everything to her parents and brother, we decided to go for a little walk in New York City. We held hands and swayed our arms back and forth. Riley had a big, goofy grin on her face. I could tell that she was really happy and relived that her family accepted us.

"See, that wasn't so bad, now was it?" I asked her.

She shook her head as if she was snapping herself out of a trance. "What wasn't so bad? Sorry, it's just that I'm so happy night now! I was daydreaming about when my mom, my dad, and Auggie said that they'll always love us no matter what."

    I giggled. "It's fine, peaches. And you should be happy about that. I'm happy that they accept us too! I was talking about coming out when I said that."

    "Well, that is not the way I wanted for it to happen. I wanted to be ready to tell them when we did and not have the fact that we are in a relationship exposed to them, making me explain everything to them."

    I sighed and lowered my head. "I know, honey. I am so sorry that I wrote what I wrote on that slide. I shouldn't of done that. I had no idea that that would happen."

    "Don't be sorry, Maya! I'm actually kind of glad you did that!"

    "Really?" I asked, looking up at Riley with a surprised look on my face.

    "Yeah, if it wasn't for that slide, I would have never known that it does not matter to my family who I love as long as they know that they'll treat me right. If we hadn't come out to them today, then a bundle of nervousness would have been resting somewhere within me until I would not be able to take it no longer and come out to them on my own. We probably wouldn't of wanted to tell them until we figured out how to get out of limbo, which would have made the anticipation and anxiety last a little longer. Those nervous feelings were only inside of me today when I realized how much I love you. Since they hadn't been in there too long, there was not much to be released. If we had waited longer, those feelings would have built up like a volcano, ready to erupt at any moment."

    "Yeah, I'm glad that we got that out of the way too. I think that your mom, dad, and brother are the easiest people to come out to since they are so loving and understanding. I kind of had a feeling that they would accept us and say something similar to what they said. It kind of gives a little of a confidence boost for when we are ready to tell other people."

    "Well, if we ever do get to tell other people," Riley corrected me.

    I cocked my head and gave Riley a look of confusion. "What do you mean?"

    "What if we never get out of limbo, Maya? Is that really how you want to come out to people, Maya? You know, it would have been nice if my family could of actually seen and heard us while we were telling them the story of how we got together, so we wouldn't of had to type everything. Typing can get tiring for me sometimes, but not as tiring as it is for me to write with a pen or pencil." Riley shivered. "Ooh, I can get some really bad hand cramps while doing my homework sometimes. It's the worst."

    "Yeah, that would have been nice if we could have been able to actually speak to them," I sighed, "But, hey, at least now that we're in limbo and have no responsibilities, you won't get cramps anymore from doing all of the homework that our stupid school gives us."

    Riley lowered her head and sighed. "You don't get it, do you, Maya? If we stay in limbo for too long, we're gonna miss a lot. And then our fingers and hands will be covered in calluses from all of the make-up work we'll have to do."

    "Riley, why are you stressing out so much? I'm the one who has been out of school since September, not you. You've only been out for what? One day?"

    Riley stopped and thought for a moment. "Yeah, I'd say about that. We fell out of my dream cloud and went to Central Park last night, then went to Toys R Us and Rockefeller Center early this morning. By the time we got to the hospital it was probably late morning, and by the time we got home it was probably sometime in the afternoon."

    Riley stopped talking for a moment and looked up at the sky. I looked up at it too. The sun had just started to set and different streaks of pink, red, orange, purple, and blue filled the sky.

    "And judging by the way the sky looks, I'd say that it's now sometime in the evening. And I believe that today was a school day, meaning that I have only missed one day of school so far, making your statement correct," Riley continued, "But that's so odd though..."

    "What's so odd?" I questioned, cocking my head.

    "The fact that you and I have only been in limbo for one day. It feels as if it has been longer than that..."

    "It does... But one day ain't much, Riley. Knowing you, you'll be able to make one day's worth of homework up in one night."

    "But what about tomorrow, Maya?" Riley asked me, grabbing onto my shoulders so that we were now facing each other, "Or the next day? Or next week? Or next month— or heck, even year! What if we never figure out how to get out of limbo? What if we become stuck like this forever?"

    I giggled. "Oh, and what, never be able to talk to anyone else again? Baby, as long as you and I can talk to one another, I will always be happy," I told Riley, putting one hand on her cheek.

    Riley blushed. "Oh, don't take it as if I'll someday get tired of you! I didn't mean it that way! Believe me, I could never possibly get tired of you, peaches," she replied, putting a hand on my cheek as well.

    I blushed and Riley gave me a quick peck on the lips.

    "But, Maya, what about Lucas, Farkle, and Zay?" Riley asked me, "What about my family? What about yours? We will always be able to hear and see them, and maybe even communicate with them the same way we did with my parents, but they may never get to see or hear us ever again. Sure, they'll be able to hear from us, but they may never actually get to hear our actual voices again. Our friends and family really love us and care about us, Maya. They're really going to miss seeing and hearing us."

    I paused from a moment. I quickly separated myself from Riley. I lowered my head. "I-I d-didn't th-think a-about th-that. Maybe we should start working on figuring out how to get ourselves out of this limbo state," I suggested, looking back at Riley.

    "Ok, but can we do it after we go on our walk?"

    "Sure!"

    "Ok, good, because I was planning on taking you somewhere special!" Riley replied with a smile, linking my arm in hers.

    We continued to merrily walk down the sidewalk that we had been walking on.

    "Ooh, where are you taking me to?" I smirked.

    "You'll just have to see when we get there!" Riley answered with excitement, "Now, close your eyes!"

    "Aw, but do I have to?"

    "If you want for it to be a surprise, then yes."

    With that being said, I closed my eyes and let Riley guide me to wherever the heck she was planning on taking me to.

    "Ok, you can open your eyes now!" Riley finally exclaimed after about twenty minutes of guiding me.

    I opened my eyes to see a large Christmas tree with a ice skating rink next to it. We were back at Rockefeller Center.

    "I figured that since I sort of ruined our last ice skating session, I'd make it up to you by taking you here again," Riley explained sheepishly, "You know, kind of as a-a date."

    A huge grin spread across my face. I immediately turned around and kissed Riley. Of course, she kissed back.

    "This is a perfect first date for us, peaches," I told Riley as soon as we were done kissing, "Thank you for bringing me here."

    Riley blushed. "Aw, you don't have to thank me!"

    Before either of us could say anything else, I saw something that was black moving out of the corner of my eye. My attention averted from Riley to the streets just in time for me to spot a black Toyota SUV. As it was passing us, I noticed that it had a medium-sized dent next to it's right headlight.

    "That's the car that hit me!" I quickly thought to myself.

    "THE TRUCK, RILEY, THE TRUCK!!!" I cried, separating myself from my girlfriend and pointing towards the truck, "IT'S THE TRUCK!!!"

    "Huh?" Riley responded, all confused, as she turned towards the streets, "Maya, what are you talking about?"

    Instead of answering her, I just dashed off.

    "Hey, Maya, wait up!" I heard Riley cry in the distance.

    I just kept on running.

    "That's the truck that hit me," I thought to myself again, "I have to follow it. I have to know where it's going so I can stop whoever's driving it."

    A/N: Hello, readers! I apologize for the late update. You guys know the project that I told you about in an author's note awhile ago? Well, that's still going on and my team members and I were working on it all week, so I didn't get any type to write. On top of that, I had regular homework to do and tests and quizzes to study for. Now, my group and I have to present our project on either Tuesday or Wednesday, so wish us luck! I think that will do well because we had a practice presentation in front of the two teachers who teach language arts for my grade and they said that it was excellent and loved the way that our speech all flowed. They did not say that there was anything that we needed to fix or add from what I remember, so I think we'll do well! And if we do well enough, my group will move on to present in front of a group of professionals! But, I don't know when that will be.

    OH AND, GUYS, GUESS WHAT?!?! As some of you may know, the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards is coming up in March and GIRL MEETS WORLD WAS NOMINATED FOR FAVORITE TV SHOW!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!! I'M GONNA VOTE FOR IT SO MANY TIMES!!! I didn't find this out until today since I really don't watch TV anymore. I only watch it when I have Music Choice on(Music Choice is basically a set of channels that let you listen to different types of music), Jeopardy and the Wheel of Fortune are on(I love watching game shows lol), or when a new episode of Girl Meets World is on. I was watching Nickelodeon for like a few minutes yesterday because yesterday, my family got new tv cables and a new wifi router, and I was playing around with the new features(which are super duper cool btw). And then a commercial for the 2016 Kids Choice Awards came on and I was just like, "The Kids Choice Awards are coming up already? I completely forgot that they usually have them around this time of year! Wow, I really don't watch tv that much anymore!" But then I was like, "WAIT, IS GIRL MEETS WORLD ONE OF THE OPTIONS FOR FAVORITE TV SHOW!?!?"

    So today, I finally got to go on Nickelodeon's website to check out the voting thingy. The first category that popped up was Favorite TV Show and I saw Girl Meets World as one of the nominees. I was so happy that GMW is one of the options because last year when I was just starting to get into GMW and went to vote for the 2015 Kids Choice Awards I was like, "OK, WHY THE HECK WAS GIRL MEETS WORLD NOT NOMINATED?!?!? Come on, it's like the best Disney Show that's on right now!"(And in my opinion, it still is!)

    I really do hope that GMW wins! But, I don't think that it's going to because Austin & Ally was nominated as well and I have a feeling that that's what's gonna win. Either that or Jessie, which was also nominated! Anyways, have a nice weekend, everyone! 😄

-C77