Junior Year
1478 Words
*Chapter 1: Junior Year*
Freshman year, Maya and Liam were the couple everyone rolled their eyes at.
Not in a bad way. In a “get a room” way.
They did everything together. Lunch in the courtyard, chem labs where they always got paired, 2 AM calls about nothing. Liam would walk her to her car even if she parked 10 feet away. Maya would save him the last slice of pizza even when she was starving.
Sophomore year, nothing changed.
Junior year, everything did.
---
*October 14th. 11:32 PM.*
The party was at Jake Morrison’s house. His parents were “out of town.” Which meant Jake’s parents were probably in the kitchen pretending not to hear the bass shaking the windows.
Maya didn’t want to go. She had a bio test Monday and a pile of college research she was putting off.
Liam dragged her anyway.
“One hour,” she said, pulling her jacket tighter. “Then we leave. I’m not failing bio because you want to play beer pong.”
Liam grinned and took her hand. “One hour. Promise.”
It wasn’t one hour.
It was three.
By midnight, the living room was packed, music was too loud, and Maya was asleep in the backseat of Liam’s car. She’d told him she was tired, told him to wake her when he was ready.
She woke up to raised voices.
“—can’t believe you’re doing this, Liam.”
“It didn’t mean anything!”
“It never does, right?”
Maya sat up, heart pounding.
Through the car window she saw Sarah from debate club. Sarah with her arm on Liam’s chest. Sarah crying. Liam with his hands up, like he was trying to calm her down.
Maya didn’t wait. She opened the door and walked away.
She didn’t hear Liam call her name.
---
*October 15th. 7:15 AM. Westbrook High Parking Lot.*
Liam was waiting by her car.
He looked like he hadn’t slept.
“Maya, please. Let me explain.”
Maya kept her eyes on her keys. “Explain what? That you kissed her? I saw the Snapchat, Liam.”
“I was drunk. She kissed me. I didn’t stop her fast enough. It lasted two seconds.”
“Two seconds is all it takes,” Maya said quietly.
“I didn’t mean for it to happen.”
Maya finally looked up.
His eyes were red. Guilty. Desperate.
“I love you,” he said. “You know I love you.”
Maya nodded once.
“I know. That’s why it hurts.”
She unlocked her car.
“I need time.”
“Liam—”
“No.” She got in and closed the door before he could say anything else.
She drove away with his voice still in the rearview mirror.
---
The next day at school, it was everywhere.
Maya walked into chem and the room went quiet.
Aisha, who sat behind her, leaned forward. “You good?”
Maya set her bag down. “Fine.”
Liam sat two rows behind her. He didn’t look up the whole period.
Lunch was worse. Her usual table was empty. People stared. Whispered.
Sarah walked past with her friends, laughing a little too loud.
Maya ate alone in the bathroom stall. She couldn’t face it.
After school, Liam texted.
_Can we talk? Please. I messed up. I know I messed up._
Maya didn’t reply.
He texted again at 9 PM.
_I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Maya._
She blocked him.
---
*November. December. January.*
Eight months of silence.
Maya threw herself into school. Chem club, tutoring, college apps. Anything to keep her brain busy.
It worked, mostly.
She didn’t go to parties. Didn’t date anyone. Didn’t let herself think about Liam unless she had to.
Liam didn’t date anyone either.
People said he looked miserable. People said he was trying to talk to her. People said a lot of things.
Maya didn’t listen.
Then February happened.
She started getting tired. Not normal tired. The kind where walking up the stairs felt like running a mile.
Her mom took her to the doctor.
Bloodwork came back weird.
More tests.
A biopsy.
*March 3rd. St. Luke’s Hospital.*
“Stage 2 Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” Dr. Reyes said.
“Chemo starts next week.”
Maya sat in the exam room and felt nothing.
Not fear. Not anger. Just numb.
Her mom cried. Maya held her hand.
On the drive home, her phone buzzed.
An unknown number.
_I heard. I’m so sorry, Maya. If you need anything, I’m here.
-L_
She deleted it without replying.
She didn’t tell him about the hair.
Didn’t tell him about the nights she threw up until she couldn’t breathe.
Didn’t tell him about sitting in the hospital parking lot at 2 AM because she couldn’t face going inside.
She did it alone.
Because he gave up the right to be there.
---
*May. Junior Year.*
Chemo ended.
Maya was in remission.
She didn’t go back to school until the last two weeks. Too weak, too tired, too done.
When she did return, she wore a beanie. Kept her head down.
People were nice. Too nice.
She hated it.
Liam didn’t approach her.
He just watched from across the hall.
Maya pretended not to notice.
Summer passed in a blur of follow-ups and trying to feel normal again.
She didn’t.
Senior year started.
Maya walked into chem on the first day and saw him.
Liam. Same seat. Same hoodie.
Alone.
He looked up when she walked in.
For half a second, it was freshman year again.
Maya sat with Aisha instead.
She told herself she was over it.
Told herself she didn’t care.
But when lunch came, and she saw him sitting alone at their old table, her chest hurt in a way that had nothing to do with chemo.
---
*Graduation Rehearsal. June.*
Mr. Jensen was yelling about spacing.
Maya was heading for the exit when she heard it.
“Maya.”
She stopped but didn’t turn.
“Not now, Liam.”
“Two minutes,” he said. “That’s all I’m asking. Two minutes.”
She turned.
He looked wrecked. Like he’d been carrying something for two years and was finally ready to set it down.
“I messed up,” he said. No preamble. No excuses. “I know you know that. I just… I need to say it out loud.”
Maya crossed her arms. “Go ahead.”
“I kissed Sarah because I was scared,” he said. “You were talking about UC Berkeley. About leaving. And I thought if I ruined it first, it wouldn’t hurt as much when you left me.”
Maya blinked. That wasn’t what she expected.
“That’s stupid,” she said.
“I know.” He laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I’m stupid. I was stupid. I thought I could control it. Control you. Control losing you.”
He took a step closer. She didn’t move back.
“I’m not asking you to forgive me,” he said. “You don’t owe me that. I’m not asking you to be my girlfriend again. I’m not even asking you to talk to me.”
“Then what are you asking?”
He swallowed. “I’m asking if I can spend senior year proving I’m not that kid anymore. No texts. No calls. No ‘hey how are you.’ Just… let me show up. Notes when you’re sick. Rides when your mom’s working late. Silence if that’s what you want. But let me try.”
Maya stared at him.
The boy in front of her wasn’t the guy from the party. He looked tired. Honest.
“You hurt me, Liam,” she said. “Cancer didn’t teach me to forget that.”
“I know.”
“If I say yes, and you mess up again, I’m done. For real this time.”
“I won’t.”
“You said that before.”
He flinched. Fair.
Maya looked at the exit sign. At the sunlight spilling onto the floor.
“I’m not saying we’re back,” she said.
“I know.”
“I’m saying you get one month. No talking. Just actions. If I feel like you’re doing it for show, I stop it. If I feel like you’re doing it for me, we talk after.”
“One month,” he repeated. Like it was a lifeline.
She nodded once.
“Don’t make me regret this.”
She walked away before he could answer.
---
Maya got to her car and sat there for ten minutes before starting the engine.
She was stupid for giving him the chance.
She knew that.
But sitting in chem class pretending he didn’t exist was exhausting.
And she was tired of being exhausted.
*[End Chapter 1]*
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- Writer
