Reagent exams were taxing.

Maya claimed they were a method of weeding out the weak; finding the students they could sacrifice to the God of government funding without losing their test scores. Riley disagreed with Maya – in her loving way that made it seem like she wasn't disagreeing with you at all. She claimed it was all about testing the teachers. Farkle thrived off the energy (and maybe enjoyed the recognition he received from the teachers a little bit too much), but by the end of the week-long testing even he was worn out. And Lucas managed to cram all his exams into a three day period so he could leave early for his summer vacation to Texas. Maya said he was probably a weird version of a werewolf who transformed every June 21st for three months; Riley just thought it was sweet he cared so much about visiting his family and friends back home.

The last day of exams was finally there. Riley and Maya had matching dark circles – they'd both been hiding them with makeup at the start of the week but were now too worn out to care. Farkle was wearing the same shirt he'd warn two days before and hadn't noticed until Maya pointed it out to him. U.S. History with Mr. Matthews – Maya didn't know how they still had Riley's father as a teacher, but they did (and honestly, it was starting to get a little creepy – was their final exam.

Maya had tried to convince Riley to steal the test; it would be easy. Just slip her hand into his school purse, which Cory insisted was a briefcase, and take it. They'd be out in under a minute. Riley, being the voice of reason and terrible liar that she was, couldn't pull it off. Maya didn't hold it against her, some people just weren't made for the stealing tests – Maya ended up finding out that she wasn't made for it either. So the two of them had to rely on actually studying, hence the dark circles.

Cory had started the mandatory pre-exam speech. It consisted of all the things the students already knew: the test would consist of fifty multiple choice questions and an essay; they had two hours to complete it; no cheating. He even managed to bring up the age old mantra of 'make your marks heavy and dark.' He was halfway through explaining they they needed to use a number two pencil – how he made that conversation last a full three minutes, none of them could figure out – when he was interrupted by the classroom door opening. Riley immediately lit up.

"Ah, Mr. Friar. Almost missed the exam." Cory said, gesturing towards the empty seat that Lucas usually occupied.

"Sorry, sir." Lucas responded tipping his head a bit towards the older man. Maya would stave that in her cowboy-related insult arsenal later; she might even have to buy a cowboy hat for a visual reinterpretation of it. "There was a family emergency."

Family emergency was the oldest excuse in the book. Teachers couldn't refute the claim because if there was an actual family emergency – like a sick grandma or a dead family pet – they would look like total jackasses. Maya nodded in appreciation; Riley looked like she was going to worry herself sick.

"I hope everything is alright. Now please, take your seat." And Cory once again gestured to the empty desk. If Maya didn't know better, she would say that Lucas was blushing, but she did know better. That boy seldom got embarrassed, it was probably the start of his farmer's tan or maybe he was coming down with the flu.

Lucas made his way into the desk behind Maya and sat down with a loud plop. Which was decidedly out of character for Lucas as he was not a plopper, Maya knew this because she was one. She threw her weight around every time she say somewhere. It was her way of saying 'hey, I'm here!' When non ploppers plopped there was something going on. She didn't, however, have time to try and figure out why Hop Along wasn't on his plane to Texas. Riley didn't even have time to turn around and stare longingly as Lucas – which maybe Maya was a little happy about.

Cory had begun handing out the test. Which meant that if you wanted to not fail and immediately get kicked out of the classroom, you shut your mouth and faced forward. The sound of scratching pencils broke the silence. Students had begun to fill in their information, making sure the fill the bubbles in under their name exactly as they had been instructed. Maya did it too, making a joke out of it even though only she was paying attention.

The confidence that she'd been radiating moments before all but vanished when she started looking at some of the questions. Their class had barely covered some of the stuff in the booklet. If the sounds of turning pages and bubbled being filled in was an indication, no one around her seemed to be phased by the questions.

"I need to talk to you after class." Was that Lucas? Maya could barely make out what he was saying. She honestly wasn't even sure that she was hallucinating. That sometimes happened during times of high stress she'd hear her friends – or her pseudo-half friends like Lucas – comforting her. She wasn't exactly sure how 'I need to talk to you after class' was supposed to be comforting though.

Maya glanced over at Riley who was scribbling away, confidently putting her pencil to paper. She must have known the correct answer to the essay question; Maya hoped that she'd know it too. Her eyes drifted to Mr. Matthews who was at his desk, flipping through what looked to be a grading rubric for the exam they were taking. She turned the page to the essay question, hoping that might lift her spirits.

Throughout United States history, Congress has passed legislation to address important social and economic issues. These laws have often had a significant impact on the United States and/or on American society. Select two pieces of legislation passed by the United States Congress and for each. Describe the historical circumstances that led to the passage of the legislation and discuss the impact of the law on the United States and/or on American society

Fuck. She was totally boned.

"Maya." She jumped a bit when Lucas' hand grazed her back. She was positive that time that she'd not been having a stress hallucination. She was pretty much positive Mr. Perfect wouldn't cheat, but she was absolutely positive that he wouldn't cheat off her. "Did you hear me? I need to tal-"

Cory cleared his throat glancing at the two of them. If it had been any other teacher they would have both just failed their exam. Finally the fix was working in their favor. She wasn't totally sure why he wanted to talk to her after class; didn't they always talk after class? That was their thing. Farkle would join them when he got out of his AP World Cultures class and they would stop over by the froyo shop in town. Every day it was the same thing - except for the last few days where Lucas had been missing, presumed Texas, which was worse than dead in Maya's book. Why would today be any different?

"I'm not giving you an organ." She mumbled back, trying not to focus on the fact that he still hadn't moved his hand from her shoulder. Her skin was getting hot and sticky under his heavy palm; didn't he need that hand for other things like taking his test? Cory cleared his throat again, this time more forcefully. That was their second strike, one more and he would have to kick them out. Maya paled, she could not fail this test because Giddy Up couldn't keep his mouth shut. She shook his hand off as nonchalantly as she could and turned her eyes back down to her test.

She'd been one of the last few people actually working on her test. Riley had finished relatively early and had taken to doodling flowers across the back of her testing booklet. Maya heard Lucas set his pencil down about an hour into it; his foot hadn't stopped tapping since. And she was pretty sure the boy next to her had just written 'thanks for the two hour nap' on his paper and immediately fallen asleep.

The rest of the class had already begun chattering quietly in direct opposition to Mr. Matthews rules. He seemed too preoccupied with the prospect of summer being so close to care – Maya was pretty sure she even saw a pair of swim trunks peeking out from his school purse. She'd closed her answer sheet at the ten minute warning. Riley sprang into action. That is if you call turning towards Lucas and Maya to start a conversation springing.

"I thought you'd left. Is everything okay with your family? What happened?" Riley rattled off, a chipper grin on her face. She'd obviously been waiting with bated breath to ask Lucas what was going on. Luckily, Riley hadn't had time to go through Friar withdrawal, she'd been too busy studying. So it wasn't too wistful when she talked to him, "When's your plane leaving? Tonight? Tomorrow? Are you flying into Houston?"

"My family is fine." Lucas responded; it was an attempt to quell Riley's worrying. He gazed upon her with a fondness that made Maya a little bit ill. She half-wished the two would stop pining over each other and make a freaking move already, the other half wasn't exactly sure what it wished for. Maybe fish sticks. "Didn't I tell ya'll? I'm stayin' here this summer."

"What?!" Riley and Maya asked in unison. Maya's was out of shock; Riley's was out of excitement. The ring of the bell saved the two of them from a stern talking to by Riley's dad about the importance of adhering to rules and how you always don't get a second chance or some baloney about not cheating that would land them in summer school.

Riley collected their exams, her skip just a bit peppier than it had been when she and Maya had arrived that morning. Maya doubted it had anything to do with testing being over. She was handing them to her father, happily explaining that Lucas would be staying for the summer. Maya was trying to count all the things that she and Riley wouldn't be doing now that Lucas was here.

No more trash romantic comedy marathons. No more days at the spa – which was just them giving each other manicures and eating the cucumber that was supposed to go on their eyes. Hell, there would probably be no more couple's art class; which was the only art class that Maya had been able to attend for free, so she'd brought Riley along to fill the space and be her muse. She was half-way to the door before she'd remembered Lucas had said something about needing to talk to her. She paused, turning to look for him, but he was already gone.

Riley had somehow found her way over to the blonde and was looping her arm around Maya's. They walked arm and arm into the crowded halls. Some students had taken the liberty of emptying out their lockers by throwing all their papers onto the floor. Others were celebrating their freedom with glitter and what looked like silly string. Farkle was leaning against his locker talking to Lucas.

"Farkle and Lucas, Lucas and Farkle. Summer in New York." Farkle nodded his head in time with his words. For all the growing up he'd done, he'd still kept some of his more eccentric mannerism from childhood. Maya knew Farkle would like the idea of Lucas staying for the summer. "This is going to be fun." Farkle stated as if he'd already planned their summer vacation to the T, and hell maybe he had.

Lucas glanced over at Maya and his look turned from genuine interest to discomfort. While the two had never necessarily been the chummiest of pals, she'd never seem that look turned her way. Farkle, however, greeted the two of them with his signature greeting, "Ladies."

"Farkle," They responded in unison. Just like always. Riley untangled her arm from Maya's and twisted the combination lock on her locker. They always met in front of Riley's locker as it was the only one central to their classes. They all kept their textbooks in there so they wouldn't have to run to the ends of the school to grab it between classes, except Maya who kept them in there do she wouldn't lose them before the end of the semester.

"Maya," Riley scolded her friend in the best 'mom' voice that she could manage, "I told you to turn these in last week." She pulled out a stack of unopened textbooks, one of them still had the saran wrap on it. Maya groaned when Riley passed the heavy books over to her.

"I was going to, I just got… busy." Maya hadn't been able to think of a decent excuse on short notice, and the look on Riley's face proved that she wasn't buying that Maya was busy. Truthfully, she'd forgotten that she still had the books, opting to use someone else's book if she actually had to crack one open. "I'm going now, okay."

Riley gleamed like she'd won the Amazing Race or Who Wants to Be a Millionaire or another one of those ancient television shows that people liked to reference. It wasn't that hard to win an argument against Maya, especially when you're Riley Matthews. She was bumping her way through the crowd when she heard Riley shout after her, "Meet us at U-Swirl when you're done." It took some doing, but Maya managed to get a hand free to throw up a thumbs up to her friends.

The bookstore wasn't exactly far away from Riley's locker, but when a hundred students were moving one way and you were moving another it didn't exactly work in your favor. Maya was shoving just enough to get some kids to part around her, but others just pushed back. At least this meant the line for the bookstore would be relatively short.

"Maya," She abruptly stopped, forcing students to divert their path. Lucas' voice was distinct. Maya was almost certain she'd be able to find that idiot in the dark based solely on how he said her name. She turned to confirm her suspicions, and there he was (all 6 foot of him), "Thought I'd never catch up with you."

"You know I don't need an escort, right Sundance?" She asked. She turned back, focusing her energy on the task at hand. Where students seemed to bump and shove her, they parted like the Red Sea for Lucas. She rolled her eyes: high schoolers.

"All those nicknames you give me are really ruinin' my street cred," Lucas responded, trailing after her. His accent a bit thicker than normal. That usually meant that he'd been spending time around his dad; Maya was only used to hearing it once he came back from Texas at the end of the summer, so hearing it now was a bit disorienting.

"Is that what you wanted to talk to me about? Your street cred?" She made sure to mimic his too thick accent when she said 'street cred'. She wanted to make sure that he fully understood just how ridiculous he sounded.

"Um, No." Lucas shied, something Maya had never anticipated from the southerner. He always acted so confident; seeing his façade falter felt like a small victory. It only look four years, but she was getting to him, "I need a favor from you."

"I already told you, you're not getting any of my organs." She quipped as they finally reached the entrance to the bookstore. There were only a few last minute returners in line in front of her. "I'm sure you could find one on the—"

"I need you to be my girlfriend." He cut her off, and winced as the words tumbled out of his mouth, as if he was bracing himself for the impact they would have on her.

The door she's tossed open to the bookstore banged loudly against the frame as it closed, and all Maya could do was stare at him dumbfounded. It took her brain a full twenty seconds to register exactly what Lucas had said, but once it finally did compute she burst into a fit of giggles.

"Oh God," She said between laughs, "you've totally lost it."

She pushed the bookstore door back open and slid through, leaving Lucas and his apparent insanity outside.

"Maya, please." Lucas had apparently mustered up the courage to follow her. This had to be one of those elaborate prank shows. Like maybe Ashton Kutcher had come out of retirement and was going to jump out from behind the counter and yell 'you been prank'd!'

"Why not ask Riley? She'd be more than happy to date you," Maya responded, dumping her books onto the counter. She slid her phone out of her pocket and Lucas paled – did he think she was about to call Riley or something. She rolled her eyes, what a mess, and popped her case off. Her student ID card, subway pass and debit card were all snug against the back of her phone. She tossed her Student ID on top of the pile of books so the lackeys that worked in the book store could return them correctly.

"I can't ask Riley." Lucas responded, having regained his normal too tan for New York color.

"Why?" Maya asked. She'd already formed his response in her head. Something about true love and having to wait for the right moment. Maybe he'd even start to monologue and she'd have time to get out of there before he came to.

"Because I told my parents I was dating you." He said. Maya stopped and turned to focus on him. He looked tepid and a little bit annoyed, but he looked serious. This wasn't one of their games where she made of fun him and he played along, this was real.

"What the hell, Lucas! Why?" She had spoken a bit louder and a bit more forcefully than intended, even the person returning her books jumped a bit. The book store worker held out a receipt and her student ID, which Maya snatched out of her hand. She slid her ID back into it's spot and popped her phone case back on.

"My dad was talkin' about how my mother wasn't doing a good job raising me, and how it was improper to talk to so many young ladies." He was starting to get angry, he almost always did when it came to his mom and dad, "One thing led to another and it just happened."

"Not why did you fake date someone, you idiot." She said, pushing through the 'out' door of the bookstore. Lucas followed her, waiting for her to finish speaking, "Why me?"

"My mom likes ya." He responded more than a little embarrassed – which Maya didn't get. Maybe he should be embarrassed about pretending to date her, but he shouldn't be embarrassed about his mom liking her. Parents almost never liked her; aside from Topanga and Cory, adults often thought she was a 'bad influence' and forbid their kids from hanging out with her.

"And you've decided to bring your fake relationship with me into the real world because?" She trailed off on the last word so that he could finish the sentence.

"Because my mom wants to meet you." He responded and Maya wanted to tell him that his mom has already met her. Maya had to listen to her talk about her crunchy mom craziness back in middle school. But he continued before she had a chance, "And I guess the whole family does.

"No fucking way, Lucas." She said. The crowd of students had died down considerably, but she managed to assimilate into the small hoard still making their way through the halls. He was right at her heels. Maya was not girlfriend material; she'd learned that in middle school when she'd tried to date Josh, and that lesson had been repeated with every one she'd dated in high school.

"Please, Maya." He was begging – or he was as close to begging as Lucas ever got. The boy was so used to being handed stuff that he was usually too proud to ask someone for help more than once, "I'll do anything."

She stopped walking, this time she wasn't disturbing any students but Lucas still managed to run into her. She turned around to stare at him. Was he really trying to bribe her? Not that she wasn't the type who would accept a bribe, she totally was. She never expected that he would be the type to make a bribe.

"It's just one dinner?" She knew the answer from the slightly squeamish look plastered on his face, "Christ Lucas, did you agree to a couple's retreat or something?"

"My brother Adam is getting married," He responded, like that was supposed to clear everything up for her. Maya shook her head and gestured for him to continue, "It would be more than a dinner… a considerable amount more," He paused, wincing again. She was a little annoyed (or a lot annoyed) that he thought she was going to be that mad. When he realized she wasn't going to hit him, he continued, "Uh, dinner, parties, the wedding. That's on the 20th of August."

They'd go back to school on the 26th, which meant that if Maya agreed to this convoluted plan – and that was a big if – she'd be sacrificing her whole summer to pull off this dramatic lie. She was going to have to think of something actually worth her time. Lucas, who had been looking more uncomfortable with each passing moment of silence decided to open his mouth again.

"You'd have to pretend to actually like me," He said. Maybe he was trying to convince her not to say yes, "You know, like hand holding and kissing-"

"I will not kiss you," She responded, her stomach churned at the idea – at least she's pretty sure that's what her stomach was doing. Lucas looked put upon, but that look faded into a smile, like he'd just figured something out that she hadn't.

"Wait, does that mean you're going to do it then?" He asked.

"Maybe," She responded. His grin grew even wider, if that was possible. She had finally settled on what she was going to ask of him, and she laughed internally because she knew that smile was going to fade, "There's this art class at the MOMA I want to take this summer. Its six hundred dollars and I can't afford that."

"I'll pay for it. No problem," He'd replied before she'd even been able to finish asking for the bribe. She faltered, having assumed that he would say no – or at least that he would have trouble handing over that kind of money. She knew that his family was wealthy, after all you can't send your kid home to Texas every weekend without having some serious dough, but six hundred dollars was a decent chunk of change. Her mother had to work a full week to make money like that.

"Also, you have to tell Riley how you feel," She didn't know exactly where that came from; she didn't even know she had a second condition. Lucas looked as shocked as she did. While he hadn't thought twice about the money, he was hesitating on this.

"O-okay," he finally agreed. Maya didn't know exactly what to do now. Did they shake on it? Get Farkle to write up a contract for them to sign? Shit! She was supposed to be meeting Farkle and Riley (and presumable Lucas was supposed to be there too).

"Ground rules," She said. She moved towards the school's main entrance, Lucas moved with her. This time, he was walking next to her instead of trailing behind. "No kissing. No falling in love – and don't say you would never, Riley makes me watch all those shitty romantic comedy movies I know how it works."

Lucas rolled his eyes at her as they crossed over the threshold of the school's front entrance and into the bustle of New York City. Students loitered on the steps and the small, grassy knoll in front of the school.

"Also – and this one it the most important," She said, stopping him on their descent down the steps, "Riley cannot find out. She'd be upset and I can't have that, okay?"

"Of course," Lucas responded. He'd only said those two words, but it seemed like he'd implied so much more in them, like 'of course I wouldn't tell Riley I'm not an idiot.' He'd taken off down the stairs, and called out to her over his shoulder, "Farkle can't find out either."

He was right. If Farkle found out, Riley would be the first person he told. She jogged down the stairs after Lucas, chasing after him as he had been chasing after her just minutes before. She'd somehow gotten herself drafted into Lucas' preseason – Riley would obviously be the main season and probably the post season too.

She'd have to remind herself of that, that this was only temporary. That she was only doing this for her art. That class at the MOMA would be a great experience, and there was even a chance to get a gallery show out of it, which was something she'd never be able to afford on her own.

"You listening to me, Hart?" Lucas asked. Maya groaned, she hadn't been paying attention to Lucas; honestly she didn't even know he'd been speaking at all. "You're going to need to know this."

"What? Is this the parent trap? Do you have an elaborate hand shake that I need to learn?" She asked, trying to make light of the craziness she'd just agreed to.

"Yeah, I do." He responded, a smirk plaster on his perfect face, "I was saving it for after frozen yogurt, but if you want to learn it now-"

"Shut up," She groaned again, louder this time. It wasn't fun when he played along. He, of course, knew this. Hence why he played along.

"You know, if you're going to be my girlfriend, you should really be nicer to me."