Girl Meet's Maya's World: Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Secret Article

"That Riley was absent and the bruise she had on her arm and then that 12-year-old girl got attacked in New York and everyone says it was someone in our school and she was the only one absent today?" Farkle asked. I didn't reply, but my mind wasn't blank. It was ironic, wasn't it? It really was. But those were just rumors. There was no real proof it was someone from our school. It could be that Riley is absent for some other family reason and the girl was a girl who went to a different local middle school in New York, far, far far away from here. I hoped. "Maya? Hello?" Farkle said waving his hand in front of me. "Oh! Yeah..." I said, responding to Farkle. "Uh, I said do you want me to walk home with you?" he asked. I must've been thinking and I completely blocked him out. "Uh, no that's okay. I have something to do" I said. I didn't even look back at Farkle. I ran to the school doors and once again, banged into Lucas. We smashed heads and fell flat onto the floor. The principal and a couple other teachers were there, making sure we were okay. "Are you two okay? You banged into each other pretty hard" the principal said. I looked up at all the teachers, I was laying on the ground. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine" I said sitting half way up. The teachers all started to walk away. "You okay?" Lucas said holding his hand out to me, already standing up. "Sh-yeah. I'm okay" I said taking his hand. He pulled me to my feet pretty fast, I almost missed it. "Uhh, I gotta go" I said and ran out of the school.

Lucas walked up to Farkle. "What's going on with Maya?" Lucas asked Farkle. "I dunno" Farkle said smiling, lost in himself. Lucas looked down at him, confused and elbowed him. Farkle came back down to Earth and the two stood there together.

I ran as fast as I could back to my house. For once, the door wasn't frozen shut and I got in on the second try. No time to waste. I ran upstairs to my room and pulled out my laptop. I opened it up and went to google. I googled the accident of last night and tried to find out who the litte girl was. I did all the research I could. The incident was so recent, they didn't have all the information up yet. On no articles did it display the girl's identity. "12-year-old girl of New York City assaulted by 6 teens" titled one of the articles. It basically told the story that was on the news last night, exactly what everyone already knows. I think Canada knows it. Then I went onto the 6th page of articles. "12-year-old assault victim attacked by teens" the article titled. I clicked many articles like it, I was there for over an hour just going through pages and pages of articles. Then one came to my surprise. "Identity of 12-year-old New York assault victim Released" it titled. "No way" I thought and clicked it. My computer was running slow and I was clicking like a psycho path who's chances of getting out of a mental institution counted on it. It finally loaded and I was so relieved.

"The identity of the 12-year-old assault victim was finally released. The parents of the victim agreed to let the TV news broadcasts, newspapers and online news websites all publish the school and grade of the victim. The 12-year-old victim of abuse and assault attends New York City's John Quincy Adams Middle School in 7th grade. The 7th grade student was willing to put her name out on the news broadcasts as well as her picture, but the parents disagreed and did not allow it. More information on this case will be released soon." the article said. "Gosh...what-what if it really is Riley?" I asked myself. "No! That couldn't be! Not Riley Matthews. Not my best friend" I told myself. It was only hope, but I still wanted to count on it, I didn't wanna believe any differently.

The next day, I got to school and arrived even a bit early. I went searching long and hard for that article and I don't think anyone was as desperate to find out who it is, as much as I was. I don't think anyone else I know found that article, or any article that said the same. "Hey, Maya, are you alright? You seemed pretty out of it yesterday" Farkle said as he and Lucas approached me. "Yeah, I'm fine. But you guys wouldn't believe what I found" I said. "What?" Lucas asked. All 3 of us sat down on the bench and both boys faced me. "I was googling the accident, the one that happened a couple nights ago, about the 12-year-old girl from here" I said. "And I found an article that reveled her school and grade" I said. "So...what school is it?" Farkle asked. I was about to throw up, I covered my mouth with the back of my hand. Lucas grabbed my arm and pulled my hand down. "What school?" he asked. "What school did she go to?" he added. "John Quincy Adams Middle School" I said. "What! There's another John Quincy Adams Middle School in New York!?" Farkle asked in shock. Lucas looked at Farkle, disappointed, shaking his head. "This, John Quincy Adams Middle School?" Farkle asked sadly. I nodded my head. "And our Grade, 7th Grade" I said. "There's ANOTHER 7th grade!?" Farkle asked again. Lucas covered Farkle's head and looked over at me. "You don't think..." he drifted off. I nodded my head.