Once again, I must apologize! I'm so, so sorry for not getting this update out sooner. Writer's block, recovering from being sick,  and just getting used to summer have been with me the last week or so.

Now, my phone is broken, I'm on vacation, and I won't have access to Wattpad for a week, starting on June 25. I hope that I'll have at least one more update out before that happens.

Again, I'm really sorry! 

_________________________
The next day, I rush to get dressed so I have time to go to the coffee shop before school. I rush downstairs after I finish getting dressed, and I see Emma in the kitchen preparing breakfast.

"I'm going to the coffee shop this morning, so you don't need to make me a plate," I say to her.

"You sure?" she asks without turning to face me.

"Yeah," I reply as I begin to walk out the back door.

"Wait! There's something in the back kitchen. Could you go out the front instead?" Emma stops me.

"Sure." I turn and walk to the front of the house and open the front door.

I close the door behind me and begin to walk down the familiar path into town. As usual, it takes only a few minutes to get to the center of town. I briskly walk to the coffee shop. Not many people are out and about, allowing me to walk without getting stared at or whispered about.

I open the back door to the coffee shop and call, "I'm here, Mrs. Caldwell!"

"She isn't here today. What can I get you?" Nick asks as he comes around the corner.

"A hot chocolate and blueberry muffin. Wait, didn't I tell you that you're not allowed to see me until you have a song?" I reply.

He walks toward the front of the shop, and I follow him, waiting for an answer to my question. He begins to make my hot chocolate and puts a blueberry muffin in a sack.

He hands me the sack and says, "Luckily, it's written."

"Already?" I ask, shocked.

He smiles. "Yep. I guess I just needed someone to order me what to do. It's finished, and I'm giving it to your uncle today."

"Wow. I'm impressed," I tell him.

"Well, thanks. I just needed a push, and you gave that to me. Plus, I found the inspiration I needed to get back into writing songs," he explains.

I smile at him. "Oh wait, where's Mrs. Caldwell?"

"She had a doctor's appointment."

I nod. "So, she asked you to run the shop while she's gone?"

He nods slowly. "Um, yeah. Why do you sound suspicious?"

I laugh. "She hates people taking over her domain, especially something so precious as her coffee shop. She doesn't even have a second worker because she's so protective of it. Now, fess up."

Nick smiles at me. "You got me. I volunteered so that I could spread the word about the special festival event."

"Tell me how you convinced her. It must have taken a lot," I say as I sit down on a nearby stool.

Just then, my hot chocolate finishes. Nick goes over to pour it into a coffee cup and explains, "I just told her that I could keep it open while she was gone. I might have possibly called her by her full name a few times too."

I laugh again. "Interesting methods. I should try that sometime."

The bell rings, signaling that a customer has come in. Nick looks behind him at the front door and then at me. "I've got to take care of that. Have a good day at school. I'll see you around."

I nod and stand up. "Bye," I call as I walk out the back door.

I head to school quickly. When I get there, I throw away my empty cup and sack. I walk inside and realize that I haven't worn my hood in forever, and instead of groaning, I find myself smiling a little.

"Good morning!" Alli greets me in her usual cheerful tone.

I close my locker door and look her in the eye. "Hi."

She asks me something, but I don't listen because I begin staring across the hall where Cassandra is standing over a girl. The girl looks terrified, and I don't exactly blame her.

"Maya? Maya, what's wrong?" Alli asks me.

I ignore her and walk over to where Cassandra is standing. I catch Cassandra saying, "Do it, or I will make sure your life is miserable for the next three years of your life."

I tap Cassandra on the shoulder and tell her, "Cut it out. She's done nothing to you, so I don't see the point in threatening her."

Cassandra gives me a dark glare and shoves me backwards, making me fall down. She orders, "Stay out of my business. You're next."

I glare and stand up. For the first time, I find myself standing up to her in front of a big crowd. "When you hurt someone else, it's my business. I get you hate me, but I'm telling you to not take it out on someone else. Stop!"

The crowd in the hallway seems to go silent. Out of the corner of my eye, I see people staring at me with wide-eyes. This is the first time any of them have actually seen me fully stand up to Cassandra. It's even the first time she's seen me like this, and I can tell she's not happy.

She's about to say something, but the warning bell rings. The crowd slowly disperses and so does the girl. Cassandra glares at me and slowly saunters off, her clique of girls glaring at me one by one.

"Maya?" Alli asks.

I turn around and look at her and ask, "What?"

"Do you realize what you just did?" she questions.

"Um, no," I reply slowly.

She motions for us to head down the hallway to our classes and says, "You just showed a side to everyone that nobody has ever seen. You stuck up for that girl and yourself. I saw the way people looked at you; they're impressed and slightly confused because you did something that they believed was out of your nature."

I pause in front of my classroom and let people walk by me. "What're you saying?"

"You've taken the first step," she replies.

"First step?" I ask, confused.

"The first step to your why," she replies as she begins to step away from me.

I don't have time to respond because the bell rings, and Alli hurries across the hallway to her classroom. I walk inside and sit down in my seat, ignoring the whispers and stares. I tune out the teacher and think about what Alli said to me.

Was she right about people being impressed that I stood up for myself and someone else? Is it really out of my nature to do something like that? And,  what did she mean by me taking my first step to my why? What does that even mean?

"Maya? Maya?" I snap to attention and see the teacher staring at me expectantly.

"Yes?" I ask.

The teacher sighs and goes back to teaching. I sigh with relief and go back to my thoughts. That's when it hits me. When I first met Alli, she asked me the most obscure question ever; why?

~•••••~

"Hurry, Maya!" my mother whispers urgently.

She hurries over to me where I'm fumbling with the buttons on my coat. She quickly buttons the two remaining buttons and hands me her scarf. I wrap it around my neck and watch as she walks over to my father's bedroom door and peeks inside.

After she looks inside, she quietly shuts the door and walks over to me. She hands me an envelope with the name Sam Erickson written on the front. I stare at it blankly and then look back up at her.

"What is it?" I ask her.

She points to the address written on it and replies, "Go to this address. It will all make sense, but I need you to hurry."

"Why?"

She sighs and and whispers, "You're almost thirteen now. I need you to do as I ask without any questions. I promised you that I would get us out of here, and this is the only possible way to do that. Go."

I see how serious she looks and nod. She gives me a small smile and kisses the top of my head before pushing me toward the door. As soon as I step outside, I break into a run and hurry down the streets toward the address written on the envelope.

Soon, I reach a rich looking neighborhood. The houses are huge and cleaner than any house I've seen. I stop in front of the biggest house on the street. I almost don't open the gate to walk up to the front door because I'm sure that my mother gave me the wrong address.

How could she know someone who lives in a neighborhood like this? Who is this person, and why was she insistent that I come?

I resist the urge to run away from this house because I remember the words my mother said, and I remember how urgent she sounded. I quickly open the gate and run up to the front door.

I ring the doorbell and wait. In less than a few seconds, a severe looking woman comes to the door and looks at me with a look of disgust.

"How can I help you?" she asks contemptuously.

I hold the letter out to her, my hand shaking. "I-I have a message for someone."

She stares at me as she takes the envelope. She looks down at it and back at me. "You've delivered it. Now, go."

She slams the giant door shut, and I slowly turn around and walk down the steps. For some reason, I feel like I failed. Then, I turn around and take one last look at the house. It's then when I see someone looking out of one of the upstair's windows.

The man makes eye contact with me and then quickly closes his curtain. I hurry away and go back home. As soon as I walk through the door, my mother rushes over to me.

"What happened? Is he coming?" she asks me.

I unwrap her scarf and take off my coat. "Is who coming?"

She stops and stares at me. "What happened with the letter?"

"A woman took it from me and told me to leave. Did I do something wrong?" I reply quietly.

My mother's face falls, but she just hugs me and whispers, "No, you did what you needed to do. We just need to wait and hope."

"Why?" I ask her confusedly.

She kisses the top of my head and pulls away. "That's a question that I'm still trying to answer, but I promise that one day that why will be answered. Just wait."

~•••••~

"Maya?" Alli asks at lunch.

"Hmmm?" I reply as I look up from my laptop.

We're sitting in the library because it's raining outside. I'm writing on my neglected blog and Alli is reading one of her books.

"Did you hear what I asked?"

"Sorry, I was kind of in my own world," I apologize.

She smiles. "Don't worry about it. What were you thinking?"

I pause before saying, "What you asked when I first met you. I've heard something similar from someone who used to be very close to me."

"What did I ask?" Alli asks.

I stare at her and reply, "Why."

"Why?" she repeats confusedly, making me laugh at how reversed the situation is.

"I was walking away from you, and you asked me 'why'. I even asked you what you meant, but you told me that I needed to figure that out. Later, Nick asked me almost the exact same thing," I explain to her.

Suddenly, it's like a lightbulb goes off because she's soon grinning. "I can't believe you remembered."

I smile. "I still don't get it. You told me before first period that I was on my way to knowing my 'why'. What does that mean?"

She closes her book and gives me her full attention. "That's for you to figure out, but I can tell you that you're on your way to knowing. You see, I kind of gave you a riddle that I want you to figure out. Once you do, it will be an amazing moment."

I sigh and find myself talking about my mother with her for the first time. "My mom said something similar to me
once."

"Hmm?" Alli asks.

"I wrote it down just now. Come look," I tell her.

She gets up and walks over to me. She kneels down and begins to read what I wrote. I uncomfortably sit still while she reads. I never let anyone read anything that I've written. I watch her face as she reads, but her expression is unreadable.

After a couple of minutes, she gets back up and walks back to her seat. "Maya, you have a talent. What I just read is unbelievably amazing. Does anyone else know about this?" Alli excitedly says.

I play with the rubber band on my wrist and mutter, "You're the first."

"Why do you sound upset?" she asks.

I look up and sigh. "There's never been anyone that I trust enough to read anything that I've written. I just don't know if it's good that I let you read it. How do I know that you're not lying to me?"

"Maya," she begins with a forceful voice, "stop making things up. First of all, I stink at lying, and secondly, I read a lot. I know a good read when I see it, and what you wrote is amazing! Be proud that you have this gift."

I'm surprised at how forceful she sounds and ask, "What makes you like it?"

She hesitates before replying, "It's descriptive without being boring, and it is written so well. I almost thought I was you."

"I have more," I say.

"More? You mean you've written more things like this?" she questions.

I nod. "When I first moved here, I had nightmares about my father. I had flashbacks. Then, they went away for awhile, but right around the time I met you and Nick and Emma, they came back. I've been writing them down for some reason."

The bell rings, and Alli and I begin to clean up. I save what I've written and put my laptop in my backpack. We walk out to the hallway and toward our lockers. I grab my books from mine and meet Alli in our next class. We slide into our desks and watch as the class fills up.

"Maya?" Alli asks just before the final bell rings.

"Hmmm?" I reply.

Before she can speak, the final bell rings. Our teacher quickly begins class, leaving no opportunity to talk to Alli. It's not until we're reading from the textbook that I see Alli slipping a note onto my desk.

I look at her, and she just nods. I peek at the teacher and then carefully open the note. My mouth drops when I see what's written on it.

"You don't happen to be the person who's writing the Random Girl's blog?"