Chapter Two
Maya
Grandma eyed Maya from across the table, her snow-white curls springing wildly around her face. She dunked a biscuit, swirling it in the steaming liquid before tapping twice on the rim of her cup. Maya scooped her hand into the biscuit tin to retrieve one of the few chocolate digestives remaining and copied her movements. Dunk, swirl, tap twice.
“You know how your mother feels about those chocolate ones.” Grandma raised her wiry brows, wiping her fingers on the red handkerchief she always kept nearby. Maya never understood the need for a handkerchief. Why would you want to carry all the germs and mess around with you all day?
Maya waited until she’d swallowed the last of the chocolate biscuity goodness before responding. “What Mum doesn’t know won’t hurt her.” She reached for another.
Grandma slapped her hand away with a chequered tea towel, which was also always conveniently nearby, like an extension of her arm. “How will you run around that football field if you’ve a belly full of rubbish?”
“I’ll run extra laps to burn it off.” She ran her fingers over the tablecloth, circling the picture of a chicken as it darted across the fabric. Seeing Jamie moving into Carly’s house had put her on edge. The idea of her in Carly’s space made her blood boil.
Maya needed the chocolate reprieve. “How about half a biscuit?” she asked. Grandma shook her head, but before she could speak, Maya continued, “You could have the other half. We can share it.” Her grandma’s hazel eyes flicked to her, and Maya saw the temptation, just for a second. “Go on…I won’t tell Mum. It’ll be our secret.”
A smile spread across Grandma’s face, lifting the wrinkles around her mouth. “Fine. But I get the bigger half.”
After they’d eaten the last of their digestive, Grandma stood slowly, gathering the yellow biscuit tin into her thin arms. Grandpa wasn’t the only one who was losing weight. The sight made Maya frown.
“So, Maya, any plans for today?” her grandma asked, her back still to her. “Please don’t tell me you’re going to be moping up in your bedroom again.”
Maya sighed. Everyone in the house seemed to be unhealthily obsessed with the amount of time she spent up there. It wouldn’t surprise her if they’d set up a secret monitoring station in Grandpa’s room.
“You don’t need to worry about me, Grandma. Let me worry about you.”
Grandma didn’t miss a beat. “What about your studies?”
“It’s the summer. We don’t have any.”
“What about the flat?”
Maya stiffened. “What about it?”
“It’s not too late for you to move back once university starts. I’d manage, you know.”
Maya had gone back and forth about it in her mind over the summer. Hannah and Maddie had been so understanding and supportive of her situation, and Maya missed them a lot. Maddie didn’t know how to deal with most emotional situations and would steer clear of any outbursts. Hannah was the opposite. She always seemed to have a tissue in her pocket, some chocolate in the cupboard, and a superpower for making people laugh when they felt like crawling into a hole.
It was refreshing not to have to hide her feelings all the time, but now she had to get used to putting them back inside their box again.
Admittedly, this wasn’t how she’d imagined she’d be spending her last year, but with Mum working away a lot and Grandpa’s health deteriorating, she couldn’t leave Grandma to deal with the cooking, cleaning, washing, and looking after Grandpa on her own. It was the right thing to do.
“Are you fed up with me already?” Maya joked, forcing a small smile. She collected the mugs from the table and stacked them in the dishwasher, flipping it closed with her heel.
“I worry about you up there,” Grandma said.
Maya wet a cloth and glided around the counters, mopping up the biscuit crumbs. “I’m fine.” She felt Grandma’s gaze on her as she rinsed it in the sink. When she’d hung the cloth over the tap and turned back to face her, Grandma sighed.
“Alright then, let’s try this another way. If you don’t stop moping, I’ll make you come to Witch Club with me. Linda will brew you something to give you a kick up the arse.”
They shared a genuine crack of laughter. Then Maya shook her head, her eyes catching on the small glass vase that always had a space on the countertop. The plastic lily inside stood proud and forever blooming, but more often than not, it just got in the way. Mum insisted on keeping it, though. Maya couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t just get real flowers.
“I appreciate you being here, love,” Grandma said, her voice softening. “But ever since Carly moved, you’ve not been yourself.”
Maya flinched at the mention of her name. Had she been so obvious? Did Grandma know how she felt about her? Did everyone?
Caught off guard, she couldn’t meet Grandma’s gaze. Instead, she inspected the flying chickens on the tablecloth again. Talking about her feelings never came easy.
Luckily, Grandma spoke again. “When are your friends back?”
“Hannah gets back from Scotland on Sunday before classes start, and I think Maddie is back from Newcastle around the same time.”
But this year, Maya wouldn’t be in their flat to greet them.
“Right. Yes. I remember now.” Grandma nodded, retaking her seat at the table. “They’ll be back in a few days then.” She opened her mouth to say something else, then pressed her lips together. The yellowing clock on the wall ticked away a few seconds. “You’ll make even more friends next year when you start work.”
Next year. Work. Maya tried to squash the nerves bubbling in her stomach, but it was too late. Her heart had already quickened, making her throat tight and heavy at the same time. “Yeah,” was all she managed.
She hated this feeling that came with any talk of the future. Not just talking with her grandparents or Mum, but with Carly, too. And lecturers, and teammates—basically, whenever the subject was mentioned by anyone who cared enough to ask, Maya’s body responded by shutting down completely. It was too much change to think about.
“Change is inevitable, Maya,” Carly had told her once as they walked to lunch. That sentence stuck with her, echoing through her brain in the cafeteria, ringing in her ears as they ate at the table.
It haunted her now as she tried to suppress the internal meltdown.
Change was inevitable. And that was terrifying.
Change was her best friend moving to another town, her sworn enemy moving in across the street, her grandpa getting sick.
Change was the lurking realisation that this year was her last year at university, with her friends, with Carly. Change was being without Carly’s close proximity to act as a lifeline; once they graduated, Maya night never see her again.
Her pulse throbbed in her neck. Her heart didn’t feel equipped to deal with anything Carly-related right now.
Jamie’s cool blue eyes pierced through her thoughts, and her chest tightened. Of all the people, why did it have to be her moving in? What was she even doing in this part of town? The Millton vs Harriers’ rivalry had gone on for decades. Something didn’t sit right.
Maya pushed those thoughts away and moved to get a glass of orange juice. Hiding in the door of the fridge, and out of the line of Grandma’s pity stare, bought her a few seconds of composure. The cool, sweet taste of orange numbed her throat for a moment, washing away the lump stuck there.
The kitchen hadn’t changed in all the twenty-two years of Maya’s life. The small, square red tiles were the same ones Grandpa had put up when they first bought the house, along with the misplaced couple by the fridge that didn’t match up with the rest of the lines. Grandpa’s DIY skills left a lot to be desired. The yellow walls were faded from the sunlight and had collected various splatters and marks throughout the years.
Maya forced a smile at Grandma, figuring she’d given enough time to prove to her that she wasn’t having a meltdown.
“Anyway, I’m going to do some training,” she said and scooted out the door towards the stairs, noting how the ugly blue carpet clashed with the wallpaper.
Why couldn’t she be like the wonky tiles or the horrible carpet, constant and unmoving, never changing? Grandma and Grandpa obviously weren’t fans of change, so why did everyone expect her to be?
* * *
Maya slipped out the back door, sure to avoid any possible meeting with Jamie Mellor, and set off into a full sprint. Coach Carmichael would scold her for not warming up properly, especially with training for the new season beginning next week, but she just needed to run.
Her feet pounded the ground as she headed up the old country lane and over the wheat fields. The sun blazed overhead, and it wasn’t long until a sheen of sweat covered her face and neck. Good. Her worries were already being left in her trail.
But I can do better.
She pushed herself to her limits, using all the frustration inside to move her feet faster. With every step against the earth, she felt more like herself. It helped her breathe. Ironic really, as her chest pounded against her ribcage, pumping oxygen back into empty lungs. But Maya loved the feeling. The freedom. Nothing could touch her here, not even her own thoughts.
She slowed as she passed a happy Springer Spaniel and its owner—nobody wants nibbled ankles—then picked up the pace, ending up by the river sometime later, her muscles ablaze and heart racing. She splashed her face with the cool water, skipped a few stones, and then decided to take the long journey back, adding in some extra training on the football field.
“Maya…Maya!”
The voice pulled her out of her focus, and she turned to the sight of her mother waving at her from the car park.
What is she doing here?
Her mother’s blonde hair—dyed blonde, she was naturally a brunette, like Maya—fell loosely past her shoulders, and large, oversized sunglasses shielded her eyes like she was hiding from the paparazzi .
Maya reluctantly waved back and finished her circuit before making her way to her mum’s car.
“Look at you,” her mum called as she got closer, curling her lips. “You’re filthy!”
“What’re you doing here?” Maya asked. “I thought you weren’t back until next week.”
“Hunter managed to wrap the case up early, so I have a few extra days.”
Her mum’s eyes practically melted into heart shapes whenever she spoke about her boss. She worked as a paralegal for Hunter Coller, wiping up his dirty work and accompanying him wherever he pleased. The guy thought he was a rock star, sporting brown wavy hair and sunglasses everywhere he went. Maya didn’t understand the power behind his charm; maybe that was because she came out of the womb gayer than King Princess in full pink leather riding a rainbow unicorn.
The smile fell from her mum’s face. “Are you not happy to see me?”
“Of course. It would’ve just been nice for you to call first.” She’d not heard from her mum since she’d left on her trip, only sporadic updates from Grandma.
“Sorry, you know how busy I get, darling. Are you getting in? I have a surprise.”
Maya hadn’t planned on finishing so soon. She still had Carly—and Jamie—related frustrations to release, but she could hardly delve into that with her mother. She supposed she should make some effort.
She ducked in the car door, expecting a comment about dirtying her mum’s white car seats and leaving muck in the footwell. It was often easier to just run or get the bus places, but surprisingly, her mum stayed quiet.
Though they had similar features, the dark eyes, the small round nose—Grandpa even said their sulking faces were alike—the similarities ended there. Brushing aside the choice of hobbies and the style of clothes, Maya’s skin was darker—a trait from her father, someone she’d never met. She was the product of a holiday romance in Spain gone wrong. Her dad, whoever he was, didn’t even know she existed. But it didn’t bother her; she’d always had her grandparents, and that was the only family she needed.
Maya turned on the air conditioner to full blast, the hiss of the cool air kissing her skin like heavenly angels. Leaning back into the leather seats, she felt the vibrations of an upbeat song heavy on synth and electric drums pouring through the speakers. Her mum turned the volume up so loud, Maya’s seat trembled.
The noise was too much. Combined with the overcrowding thoughts in her brain, Maya’s head threatened to explode. “Can you turn it down?” she said, a bit too loudly.
Her mum adjusted the volume while the song kicked into the chorus, a man singing about how he just couldn’t get enough .
“You know, you’ve been a real grouch lately.” Her mum turned the music down further, letting the hiss of the air con fill the gap. “It’s not my fault Carly moved away. But you’ll see her at uni on Monday. It’s not the end of the world, darling.”
Maya squeezed her lips together as a blur of green trees streamed past the window. There was no point in even talking to Mum about how she felt. She would never understand. She’d tried to explain the football offside rule to her about a million times, and she still didn’t get that, either.
It’d been the same for as long as she could remember. Maya got fed up with repeating herself. She didn’t mean to snap, but she didn’t want to invite conversation. Not about this. Maybe she should’ve declined the lift home and tried to run out some of the frustration still simmering inside, but it was too late.
“How did you find me, anyway?” she asked, trying to divert the conversation. The last thing she wanted was to start another argument at home. The whole point of giving up her freedom was to make things easier for her grandparents. She just wished her mum would sacrifice some of her own work to do the same, instead of jet-setting across the globe.
“Grandma said you’d gone out training, so I thought I’d swing by the field on the way back from the airport and see if I could spot you.”
Maya let out a breath. The adrenaline had left her muscles, and tiredness was creeping in. She hadn’t even done a proper cooldown—another thing to not mention to Coach.
“Anyway,” her mum continued, a strain in her voice. “You’d better get showered and put a smile on your face. We’ve got company tonight.”
Great. That’s all I need. Forced to sit through a dinner with one of Mum’s work friends while they squeak and gossip over their co-workers.
Maya turned to face her mum, feeling her giving her the side eye. “Who’s coming for dinner?” she asked.
“The new family across the street.”
“ What?!” She sat up so quickly she almost jarred her neck.
Her mum glanced at her as she turned left onto their estate. “The new family,” she repeated, as though Maya hadn’t heard her. “A couple and a daughter. She seems about your age.”
Maya’s heart leaped into her throat. “What? Why?” She heard the shrill edge to her voice. Her mum did, too.
“What’s wrong? I thought it would be nice to get to know them, seeing as you liked the Walters so much. I asked Grandma to pop ‘round.”
The car slowed as she manoeuvred to back onto the drive. Maya stared out at the house opposite. Jamie Mellor’s house. Jamie Mellor, who was coming to dinner.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
She squeezed her fists. “For god’s sake, Mum. You could’ve warned me.”
“I don’t see what the problem is.”
“Yeah, well, you wouldn’t. Why not call me first?” The slam of Maya’s door muted any response from her mum as she paced around the car and opened the boot.
Her mum climbed out of the driver’s seat, brushing her hands down her skirt. “What’s gotten into you lately?”
“ Sorry I’m not as good as you are at pretending everything is fine ,” Maya wanted to say. Grandpa was getting worse, her last year of studies was already proving stressful, and her heart was Carly Walter’s punching-bag.
“Thanks for the lift,” she said instead, avoiding her mum’s stare and heading to the door. She pushed it open, expecting her mum to come flying through after her with another lecture. Instead, the opening of the door cut the conversation inside the living room into silence.
Three pairs of eyes flicked over her, assessing the argument they’d most likely heard outside. One set of cool blue eyes was familiar. Her stomach plummeted.
A small smile grew on Jamie’s mouth as she looked her up and down. “Maya. What a wonderful surprise.”