"Girl Meets Triangle"

Riley and the rest of the gang has tried to get TJ to tell them what happened with how he got his black eye, but he wouldn't tell them. Maya knows that he will tell them eventually when he's comfortable with telling them so she and the others stopped bringing it up.

TJ felt bad for keeping something like this from his friends, but he just wasn't ready to tell them. His home life was a touchy subject for him. He currently sat in his Art class, one he had with Maya and Riley. He sat next to the girls on Maya's side as he painted his assignment. He had to pick a picture of a bench in Central Park to paint for the assignment.

He's not the best artist in the world. His talent is more on the music side, but he is pretty good at painting which surprised him. He tried not to listen in on Maya's and Riley's conversation with Mr. Jackson, but after hearing that Maya wasn't being herself he couldn't help but listen in.

"What are your influences, Ms. Hart? Why are you who you are?" Mr. Jackson asked Maya.

"When I look at this picture, this is what comes out." Maya explained. TJ raised his eyebrows, wondering what she must've painted. 

"I'm sorry you don't like it."

TJ's eyes grew wide at hearing her apologize. He hasn't known Maya for that long, maybe at least a few months, but from what he knows of he knows that Maya doesn't always apologize, especially for art.

Riley looks at her best friend with wide eyes. "What? Maya, no, you're not sorry. Since when you have been sorry about anything?" Riley looks at Mr. Jackson with a smile. "Mr. Jackson, she's a rebel, and you're going to love her."

"Ms. Matthews, I'm sure Ms. Hart can speak for herself." Mr. Jackson speaks as he looks at Maya, who was looking at him nervously. "Come on. Who are you influences?"

"What do you mean?" Maya asked him.

"Artists have influences. Sometimes those influences can help them discover their own unique voice." Mr. Jackson explains, getting up from the chair he sat down on beside Maya. He walks over to stand in the middle of the room. "And sometimes those influences, uh, turn you into a copycat."

"Maya isn't influenced by anybody." Riley looks at Maya. "Are you?"

Maya just shrugs her shoulders. "Whatever you say."

"Okay, Maya, this isn't you." TJ spoke, looking at the blonde-haired girl with worried eyes. He knew that something was wrong with Maya. 

Maya looks at him with furrowed eyebrows, tilting her head to the side. "What?"

TJ sighs, setting his paintbrush down beside his canvas. "You always know what to say and you're not afraid to speak your mind." Maya furrows her eyebrows at what he says. "What changed?" TJ asked her, looking at her with concern.

Maya stays silent, not really knowing what to say. Mr. Jackson slowly nods, pointing at Maya. "Okay...And, Maya, you'll never be a true artist unless you're true to yourself." He goes back to sit down beside her. "So, who are you?"

"Yeah, who are you?" TJ repeats Mr. Jackson's question, gesturing to Maya. He frowns. "Because I don't know this Maya." Maya frowned and stared at her desk.

"She dances on teacher's desk, she's the queen of detention, she's the president of Mayaville." Riley smiled.

A small smile tug on Maya's lips. "Yeah, remember that?"

Riley looks at her best friend with concern. "Yeah, Maya, that seems like a long time ago."

Maya nods in agreement. "It does. Maybe I don't know who I am yet." She answered Mr. Jackson's and TJ's question. She glanced at TJ and then looked at Mr. Jackson.

Mr. Jackson nods. "Well, you're gonna need to know if you wanna succeed in this class, understood?"

Riley smiles. "Maya has always known who Maya is."

"Yeah? Well, I can't tell from this." Mr. Jackson points to Maya's painting and stands up. "Because of that, I'm not gonna give it a grade right now. I'm gonna call it...Incomplete. 'Cause that's what this says about you."

****

"How am I supposed to choose between two people I care about?" Lucas questioned. The boys were hanging out at Topanga's after school and trying to help Lucas with his problem.

Farkle shrugs. "You have to."

"Well, how do I live with myself if I hurt Riley or Maya?" Lucas inquired.

"I know who I'd choose." Zay voiced.

"Yeah, me too." TJ nodded.

Lucas looks at them with surprise. "You've thought about this before?"

"Yeah." TJ and Zay reply back to him.

Lucas looks at the two of them with an upset expression and shakes his head. "I don't want either of you thinking about it."

"Then I won't." Zay nodded.

TJ chuckles. "Lucas, you can't tell us what to think and what not to think. We have control of our own minds."

Zay smiles and points at him in agreement. "Yes. Exactly."

Lucas chuckles lightly. "Okay, then, Zay, who would you choose?"

"Riley." Zay replied.

Lucas raises his eyebrows, looking at him with surprise. "You would?"

Zay nods. "I like Riley." He smiles. "I'd choose Riley and I'd be happy with Riley."

"You would?" Lucas repeated his question.

"Yes." Zay nods. "Decision over, it's Riley."

Lucas looks at him with furrowed eyebrows and looks over at TJ. "TJ, who would you choose?"

"Maya." TJ replies without even having to think for a second. Seeing Lucas waiting for him to give him a reason as to why he'd choose Maya, TJ continues. "She's not afraid to speak her mind, she's talented, strong-willed, feisty," He pauses with a sheepish expression on his face before he speaks again. "...You better stop me now 'cause I could go on and on-"

"Okay," Zay chuckles, pointing at TJ as he looks at the Canadian boy with a stern look. "Stop."

TJ nods and pretends to zip his lips and throw away the key. TJ was also a bit of surprised that the boys didn't realize he has feelings for Maya since he basically confessed why he likes her.

"Farkle, you get a reading?" Zay asked the boy who was staring at Lucas.

"No significant difference in facial expression of tone of voice." Farkle notices and Lucas looks at him weirdly. Farkle leans away from him, resting his arms on his knees while looking at TJ and Zay. "He has actually not made a decision yet. There may be no scientific way to do this."

"I have a way." Zay stood up, picks up two bags of jelly beans that were on the coffee table. 

Farkle furrows his eyebrows and frowns. "How do you have a way if I don't have a way?"

Zay grins. "Because I know it will upset you, so I have a way. And it's good."

"Okay, well, what is it?" Lucas asks him curiously and Zay shows him the bags of jelly beans he held. Lucas looks at him with an 'are you serious' expression. "You're gonna let jelly beans decide my future?"

"Well, you're not doing anything about it so someone or something should." TJ responded and Zay nodded his head in agreement.

Lucas shrugs. "Okay."

The three boys stand up and follow Zay over to the counter where he gets a balance scale. "Let's start with personality." Zay puts the balance scale on the counter and then hands Farkle the bag of yellow jelly beans. "Which girl makes you laugh?"

Lucas replies with Riley and Zay puts some blue jelly beans on the left side of the balance scale. "But, I also laugh when Maya 'hu-huurs' me. And calls me Huckleberry 50 time a day." Lucas added.

Farkle puts some yellow jelly beans on the right side. "What one would you wanna have a deep conversation with?" TJ asked Lucas. Once again Lucas replied with Riley and then added something about Maya. TJ was starting to think that they're never gonna figure this out.

"Alright, we need a deciding question. Something that's deep and meaningful that reveals your true soul." Zay sighed.

"Which girl makes you feel 'bloylalaloo'?" Farkle questioned.

TJ chuckles, smiling at Farkle with amusement. "What does that even mean?"

"No idea." Farkle chuckled.

"No." Lucas immediately said.

Nodding his head, Zay grins. "Yes."

Lucas glances at him with annoyance. "Why?"

"I need to hear you say it." Zay replies. He grins at Lucas. "Riley?"

"Bloylalaloo." Lucas said in a monotone voice.

Farkle smiles with amusement. "Not even close."

"How about Maya?" TJ asked.

"Bloylalaloo." Lucas spoke in the same monotone voice he did earlier.

Farkle shakes his head. "You have to mean it, for real. How do they make you feel? Lucas, think about both of them. Riley and Maya."

"Bloylalaloo!" Lucas exclaims, causing his friends to laugh. Lucas cringes, shakes his head. "I never wanna do that again."

Lucas walks around the counter and stands in front of it, looking at Farkle, TJ, and Zay. "Look, I don't believe in coincidence. I believe coincidence is the universe's way of telling you something. And what are the odds that one day on the subway Riley falls into my lap?" He laughs in disbelief and then he smiles. "It's always been Riley."

Lucas walks over to the counter his friends were standing behind. "It always been Riley since day one." He picked up the bag of blue jelly beans, putting it on Riley's side of the sale.

Zay smiles. "So, you decided?"

"Yeah." Lucas nods. He sighs. "Expect..."

"What?!" Farkle raised his voice, looking at him with annoyance. TJ looked at him with amusement and surprise, not expecting him to do that.

"It was Maya who pushed her. It was Maya who did that for Riley because that's who Maya is." Lucas picked up the yellow bag of jelly beans, putting them on Maya's side of the scale.

"Okay, then. Good experiment." Farkle remarked. 

TJ looks at him with furrowed brows. "He hasn't even decided yet. How is that a good experiment?"

"Because this isn't about jelly beans." Farkle responded.

Zay nods. "It's about us, Lucas. Alright, this decision could change who we all are together." Zay tells Lucas. "So, make it a good one, alright?"

"Lucas, I know it's impossible to choose between both of them. I mean, I couldn't." Farkle admits. "But you have to. For the good of all of us. Choose."

****

TJ was currently standing outside of Maya's apartment. He wanted to check up on her because he was worried about her. He knew Maya and the way Maya has been acting wasn't the real Maya. 

After knocking on the door, he waits a few seconds before it opens revealing Katy, Maya's mother. She smiles slightly. "Hi, TJ."

"Hi, Ms. Hart." TJ greets, smiling politely. "Is Maya home? I need to talk with her."

"Yes, she's home. She's in her room." Katy steps to the side, letting him inside. "Come on in."

"Thanks." TJ walked inside and Katy closed the door behind her. Katy then told him where Maya's room was at, adding that he had to leave the door open.

"TJ," Katy calls out to him, causing him to stop walking and turn to face her with raised eyebrows and a small smile. A worried look forms on Katy's face. "I know that something is wrong with my daughter so please try to help her." 

TJ's eyes soften and he nods, smiling reassuringly at her. "I won't stop helping until the real Maya is back. Nothing is the same without her."

Katy smiles softly and nods in agreement. TJ then turns around and continues walking to Maya's room. When he got to her room, he noticed her door was closed so he knocked on it. A few moments later, the door opens revealing Maya. Maya looks at him with surprise, clearly not expecting him to be there. "TJ, what-what are you doing here?"

"I came here to check on you." TJ replies. He frowns, looking at her with concern. "Maya, I'm worried about you. We're all worried about you."

Maya shakes her head, walking over to sit on her bed. "There's nothing to be worried about. I'm fine."

"You're clearly not fine." TJ argues, sitting next to her. "You've been acting different." He begins to list off the things that were different with her. "You haven't done anything bad in so long, you don't even dress like yourself anymore, and you let someone question you about your art."

Maya stays silent as he speaks, staring at the floor with an expression TJ couldn't quite read. TJ sighs softly. "Maya," He said, speaking louder in hopes of getting her to look at him and he was glad it worked because she finally looks back at him, locking eyes with him. "What happened to the real you?" He asks her and she frowns. He gestures to her. "Because this Maya is quite similar to Riley. The world has one Riley and the world needs one Maya." 

He ignores the fact that his eyes were beginning to get teary as he continues. "The world isn't the same without you. Nothing is the same without you. Come back to us, Maya." He pleads, taking a risk by taking a hold of her right hand that rested on her lap. Maya looks down at their hands with surprise before glancing back at him. "Come back to me." 

"I-I don't know what's wrong with me, TJ." Maya admits with teary eyes, causing TJ to frown. She sniffles, shaking her head. "And I'm not really for sure how to fix me or if you even can fix me."

"Maya, it's going to be okay. I want you to know that I'm always here for you no matter what, okay?" TJ reassured her. Maya nodded, scooting closer to him as she leaned her head on his shoulder. 

"I don't know what I would do without you, TJ." Maya muttered.

"Me neither." TJ sighs softly, looking at his and Maya's hands when he realized they were still holding hands and he blushes slightly. It seemed like Maya didn't mind that they were still holding hands which made him feel happy.  "Which is why I need the real Maya back. I can't imagine a world without you in it."

****

"Monet's Water Lilies." Mr. Jackson told everyone who painted the painting that was beside him. "One of the great works of impressionism." He then explains when you stand close to the painting, all you would see are splotches of paint, but as you step back the painting looked like a masterpiece.

"A painting can sometimes be recognized for what it truly is by a change in perspective." Mr. Jackson explains, turning back to face the class since he was looking at the painting. "This may also be true with people."

He steps towards Maya. "I owe you an apology, Ms. Hart."

Maya nods. "Everybody does."

"Take another look at your piece." Mr. Jackson said to Maya, gently picking up the canvas full of different colors. TJ tilted his head to the side while looking at Maya's painting. He had no idea what her painting was supposed to be, but he had to admit it looked pretty cool.

"Your work is absolutely saying something." Mr. Jackson noticed. He takes a few steps back. "And when I took a step back..." TJ squinted his eyes to get a better look at the painting since he sat towards the back of the room. A small smile formed on his face when he managed to see a cat.

"You haven't lost your voice." Mr. Jackson tells Maya. "You're screaming, Ms. Hart."

"Maya." Riley said to her best friend in a worried tone.

Maya points at her painting and stutters, "Look, it's-it's a purple cat."

A/N thank you guys for liking this fic so much it means a lot to me! tj & maya are so cute you guys. also if you have any ship names for maya & tj please let me know in the comments