Disclaimer: Don't own Degrassi. 'Nuff said.

Author's Note: Oh, look. Two chapters in one week.

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Take A Chance
Maya

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Grace was avoiding her.

For someone who was never seen without her technology, she hadn't answered a single text, phone call or even Facerange message. On top of that, she hadn't shown up to class – at least not the ones they had together, but Maya knew from Tiny that she was at school. Now, maybe it was just a coincidence that Grace had conveniently missed crossing her path – and, who knows? Maybe the Principal had confiscated her laptop, which would explain why she hadn't heard back from her – but Maya doubted it. She knew Grace was avoiding her on purpose, but Maya wasn't about to let that knowledge deter her. She was nothing if not persistent, and she was a girl on a mission.

Taking a leaf from the other teen's book, she decided to skip her last class. Math wasn't exactly her favorite and besides, if Armstrong asked, she could always fall back on the ever popular "my uterus hates me, you have no idea what it's like" excuse, which usually shut him up.

She found Grace sitting in the stairwell, headphones on and eyes fixated on her laptop. She hovered awkwardly for a moment, unsure if Grace noticed her or not, and was about to nudge her when the other teen let out an annoyed sigh.

"What do you want, Matlin?" She asked without sparing the blonde so much as a glance.

Maya frowned. "Why are you avoiding me?"

"I'm not avoiding you."

"Yes you are. I'm not stupid." Maya countered, narrowing her eyes when Grace arched a brow as if to silently challenge that notion. "Why haven't you answered my texts?"

"I've been busy." The other girl said simply, yanking her headphones down so that they were around her neck. She glanced up at the blonde, staring blankly. "Sorry my life doesn't revolve around you, Princess. I know it must come as quite a shock."

Maya clenched her fists, trying to maintain her composure but Grace was making it so damn hard.

"Are we ever going to talk about what happened? You can't just avoid it forever, you know."

"And what would that be?"

Damn it. Damn her. Damn her and her stupid, smug face and nonchalant, "I'm-above-your-petty-high-school-drama-bullshit" attitude. Crouching down so that she was at eye level with the dark-haired girl, Maya grabbed her laptop and set it aside, ignoring Grace's protests (and threats) all the while. She was going to make Grace listen whether she wanted to or not.

"You kissed me, remember? You started this." Maya reminded her. "So we're going to talk about it like the mature young women we are instead of pretending it never happened because it did."

"There's nothing to talk about, Matlin." Grace scoffed. "I kissed you, you didn't kiss back. End of story."

"What did you expect me to do? I didn't even know you were gay!"

"Would that have made any difference?" Grace sneered. "Sorry if I don't parade my sexuality around when it's no one's fucking business. Not all of us are loud and proud like your friend Milligan."

Maya's expression softened. "Grace…" She sighed, brushing her hair back "I'm not gay."

Grace snorted. "I know, Matlin."

"Then why…" Why did you kiss me? She wanted to ask, but the words got caught in her throat and refused to come out. Still, Grace seemed to pick up on what she was trying to say and rolled her eyes.

"I don't know, okay? It was a temporary lapse in judgment. I didn't mean to gross you out."

"I wasn't grossed out."

"Could've fooled me."

Her temper flared once more. "What did you expect, Grace?"

"Nothing." Grace barked. "Just… forget it, Matlin. It won't happen again."

Maya sighed, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

"What if I want it to?" She asked quietly, after a moment.

Grace shot her a disbelieving look before her face twisted into a dark scowl.

"Seriously?" She let out a dry laugh, grabbing her belongings and rising to her feet. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

Maya furrowed her brow. "What are you –"

"You're unbelievable, you know that?" Grace snapped. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but I'm not like Zig or Moneybags. I'm not going to bend over backwards for your every whim and let you jerk me around while you figure out what you want."

"Grace, wait!"

"Fuck off, Matlin."

"I'm not… just look at me for one second!" She grabbed the back of her shirt, causing Grace to whip around.

"I swear to God, Matlin, if you don't let me go I'm going to break your –"

But Maya didn't let her finish. In an instant, her lips were on Grace's, catching the other teen so completely off guard that she staggered back into the wall behind her.

It was clumsy and awkward on her part, like most of her spur-of-the-moment kisses tended to be, but just when she was about to pull away and apologize, Grace relaxed and started to kiss back, her hands falling to Maya's hips and pulling her closer. It was… surprisingly nice, the blonde mused, especially compared to the bruising force of the first one. As her pierced mouth moved gently against hers, Maya found herself getting lost in the moment, clutching Grace's shoulders for leverage as the kiss grew deeper, making her more than a little lightheaded.

Yes. She could definitely get used to this, she decided, before finally breaking the kiss for some much needed oxygen.

Grace stared at her through lidded eyes before reality set in and she sunk to the floor, trying to process what just happened. Maya soon joined her, waiting to gauge her reaction.

"Why did you do that?" She asked when she managed to find her voice.

"I don't know." Maya said honestly. "I wasn't planning on it. It just… felt right, I guess." She bit the inside of her cheek contemplatively as Grace closed her eyes and ran her fingers through her streaked hair. "Grace?"

"Hm?"

"How long have you liked me?"

"Since Panorama." The other teen confessed with a grimace.

"O-oh." That had been months ago. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Grace snorted.

"Because our darling Zigmund was hung up on you… and he's my friend, so…" She shrugged. "You know. Bro Code or whatever."

Maya nodded in understanding.

"Listen, Grace…" she started. "I like you. I mean, I don't know if it's like that… but I like talking to you and hanging out with you and… kissing you… so maybe the universe is trying to tell me something." She hesitated before reaching over and nudging Grace's hand with her own.

Grace stared down at them for a moment before relenting. Lacing their fingers together, she cleared her throat.

"I'm not like Zig." She told her firmly. "I'm not gonna let you string me along for months on end while I pine over you from afar."

"I know." Maya said, the corner of her mouth twitching. "I wouldn't expect you to."

"I'll kick your ass if you try to pull that shit. I mean it."

"I know."

"Good. So we're on the same page."

"Yes." Maya assured her.

"So… what now?"

"Well, there's still forty minutes left before school ends." Maya informed her, checking the time on her phone. "We could just hang out here. Or…" she leaned over, claiming the dark-haired girl's mouth in brief kiss before pulling back with a smirk. "We can go back to my house and make out some more."

Grace's lips curled upward.

"I like the way you think, Matlin."

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FIN

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And that's the end of that. Hopefully you guys enjoyed.