"Psst... have you heard about Benny's party? It's going to be next week."

"Yes," Maya giggled quietly. "But obviously I won't be attending.”

Benny's parties were legendary among the students, Maya had of course, gone to several of them in the past. Maya had always gone performing a role and only at Tyler's behest. She had gone as Mason, the star football player, even if she preferred to stay out of the limelight, Mason was still one of the centres of attention and somewhat a celebrity at such occasions. Thus, Maya had tried to avoid all such occasions, it just felt so wrong to her going there as Mason, the football star. It just felt to Maya that she was lying to everyone, and that was one thing that Maya hated the idea of.

When in the past Maya had attended such parties, she had usually been playing the part of Tyler's wingman. It was not a role she had ever relished but one Maya had felt it was her duty as his best friend to fulfil. The only other times Maya had attended were in an attempt to spend more time with Tyler and had never left this side. Maya had enjoyed those times the most, there were no expectations, then and as much as she ever could be as Mason, she could be herself. Tyler had never left her out or made her feel out of place, making sure Maya was included in the conversations and comfortable. That was what Maya enjoyed about Tyler, he was so conscientious and caring, at least he was to Maya, but only when he wasn't distracted by one of his many girlfriends. But with Tyler focused on Randi and Maya having to attend as Mason, Maya had no intention of going to any such events.

"Really?" Bethany questioned. "I thought maybe this would be a great opportunity for you to, you know, be yourself in public."

Bethany waved down the objections Maya was already forming.

Bethany waved a piece of chalk dexterously and theatrically. The pair were sitting in their shared art class, and with the amount of talking they had been doing, all in a hushed tone, so as not to be overheard, it was a wonder either of them had been able to do any art at all.

"I know you’re not ready, but when would you be ready. Seriously, no one would make the connection. You could socialise without much risk at all, and it would give you a chance to learn how to be a girl in public."

Maya's first reaction was fear, fear of being found out, fear of others' reactions if they knew, and fear of the unknown. Yet, the more Maya thought on it, the more Bethany's words sank in and seemed to make sense. It was very tempting; Maya's only experience with such parties had been dull at best, and the idea of going to one as herself, along with Bethany, had a certain appeal. It would allow Maya to replace her dual sad memories with one that was a lot better, and with Bethany for company, Maya knew that she would have a brilliant time.

"You’re sure, no one would recognise me?" Maya fretted.

"Honestly, no, not really, despite being a member of one of the highest profile groups in the school, you are, for the most part fairy invisible. I mean, other than a couple of your teammates, most people don't know anything about you other than your name. Mason is just so invisible, most of them have never even properly met you, let alone truly seen you. If they do make any connection, they will most likely conclude that Maya is your cousin or something.”

"Maybe, can I think about it?" Maya asked, still unsure of herself.

"Yeah, but don't worry that pretty little head of yours for too long, I need to know by Friday. If you agree, we will need to shop for some outfits for it on Friday." It was then that Bethany noticed Maya's stricken look, "Don't worry, I was thinking of having Mom drive us to the other mall.”

There were two malls near where Maya and Bethany lived. Almost everyone from their school gravitated to the closer one; its convenience practically guaranteed you’d run into classmates, teachers, or the kind of kids who would stare too long and ask too many questions. The other mall was farther, quieter, older, and most importantly for Maya’s purposes, anonymous. Maya nodded and tried to refocus back on her artwork. Not an easy feat with all the emotions Bethany had just stirred up. Maya of course, eventually told Bethany yes and the two giddy girls soon found themselves at the mall trying on outfits and dresses.

The whole experience was foreign to Maya, yet extremely enjoyable. Bethany, ever the agent of mischief and spontaneity, had Maya laughing, smiling, giggling and cackling the whole time. Several outfit try-ons and multiple dresses later, So many in fact that Maya had begun to feel like a model, several times she came out of the cubicle half expecting to hear the click of cameras. Maya finally found a dress that she and Bethany agreed would be just right for her. It was a black skater dress that Bethany told her would look great paired with sheer tights. Maya's outfit would be completed with a denim jacket she had admired in Bethany's closet the other day, and Bethany agreed that it would fit the look perfectly and finish off Maya’s outfit.

**********************************

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Maya asked as she arrived at Bethany's house, right after the party.

Maya's mom still didn't know Maya was at Bethany's house, nor that Maya was planning to spend the night there, Maya did feel bad about lying to her mom like that. It was totally antithetical to Maya's nature, and she certainly wasn’t proud of all the lying. The same lie as last time was covering for her now, her mom believed that, as Maya had done multiple times before, she was at Tyler's house and was staying the night there.

Hannah, Bethany's mom, planned to drop both girls off and pick them both up again later. That was the plan at least, one that Maya had begun to doubt the sensibility of on her walk over.

"Are you ok there, Honey?” Hannah asked from the front of the car.

It took Maya a moment or two for her to realise that she was the intended recipient of that comment. Letting out a breath and trying to compose herself while expelling the sick feeling in her stomach without expelling the dinner she had just consumed, Maya hesitantly.

"Fine, thanks, just nervous." She tried to sound bright and upbeat, missing the mark slightly on the delivery.

"Don't worry, honey, you look lovely, as bright as a button, you're both bound to be the bells of the ball."

Maya's outfit, which Bethany had been keeping hidden at her house until it was needed for the party, had been finished with a borrowed set of black Leather high heeled boots that Maya was quite taken with.

As they were getting out of the car, Maya stopped suddenly to ask Bethany the question that had been playing on her mind since she had arrived at Bethany's house.

"Do you think this is a good idea?"

Bethany nodded slowly. "Honestly, you would be safer if we weren't doing this, but I think you need to do something like this. You need to prove to yourself that you can do this.”

Maya considered this and was forced to conclude that her friend was probably right.

As they stepped through the doorway, the bass was so powerful it vibrated through the soles of Maya’s shoes, rattling up her bones. Even outside the house, the beat had made the pavement hum, but inside it was a living thing. A pulsing storm. The party was exactly as Maya remembered it, though somehow louder, brighter, and infinitely more chaotic now that she wasn’t hiding behind her Mason persona. Neon lights flickered and swept across the dim interior, painting the walls and everyone in them in shifting waves of pink, blue, and electric green. The colours clung to faces and hair like liquid light, making every expression seem exaggerated, unreal. The air was hot and thick, perfumed with sweat, perfume, cheap beer, and that faint, unmistakable tang of someone vaping too close.

People moved around them like dizzy comets, ricocheting from room to room, laughing too loudly, shouting over the music, sloshing their drinks dangerously with every stumble. Red Solo cups flashed everywhere, raised in greeting, clutched like lifelines, or forgotten on surfaces.

Bethany leaned close, her breath warm on Maya’s ear, and shouted to be heard.

“Same as always, right?”

Maya nodded automatically, though nothing felt the same.

"Maya, head up, girl. You’re not pretending, you are Maya, a confident, beautiful girl, and you are going to have a good time, meet new people and generally have fun. Relax, enjoy yourself. Take deep breaths and be yourself, your real self."

Maya nodded, trying to take in Bethany's words and do as her friend suggested. It was by no means easy for her to do. Despite herself, Maya found it easier and easier to comply with Bethany's words the more time went on. The first few times she had spoken to people she had met or knew as Mason, those conversations had been stilted and uncomfortable. However, as she had more and more of those conversations and not one person made the connection, Maya became more confident.

Now more confident in being herself and less fearful of discovery, Maya happily followed Bethany around, acting as her own personal shadow. A few marked this as odd, one or two even to asked if they were a couple, but it did not seem to phase Bethany, she just laughed it off and explained that she was merely helping Maya, a friend who went to one of the two other schools in the district, find her way around the party that was full of people she had never met before. If anyone still raised an eyebrow after that, it was quietly dismissed as just another one of Bethany's odd quirks and forgotten about.

In general, Maya was a smash hit, Bethany deliberately steered Maya to groups of girls, most of which quickly accepted Maya as just another girl and many of whom seemed genuinely interested in becoming Maya's friend, Maya swapped numbers with a few of them. Bethany also attempted to steer Maya away from any large groups of boys. She was unsure if Maya was really ready for that sort of interaction yet, and didn't want to put Maya in any situations that she was not capable of handling. The aim of this evening was to boost Maya's confidence and help her learn what it was to be herself in front of other people, not to scare Maya away from ever exploring her true self.

It became obvious to Maya early on that, despite Bethany's reputation, she was well-liked. Surprisingly, she had friends or at least people she was friendly with in lots of different social groups. Despite her rebel-like reputation and her bad girl, abrasive anti people demeanour, Bethany actually was far from that in reality, and it seemed that lots more people than Maya had previously realised knew this, usually for someone with that reputation, it would be rare to have friends in so many walks of high school society. Maya had been surprised when Bethany had introduced her to several friends, all of them nerdy girls, either from the English club or the IT club, respectively, and then immediately afterwards introduced her to a couple of girls who were football cheerleaders. Maya thought she recognised them from one of the games she had played in, but obviously couldn't admit to that, although she did find out their names, Mindy and Linda. Maya had expected the cheerleaders to be stuck up and self-important, but she had actually found both Mindy and Linda to be kind and considerate and nothing like she had imagined cheerleaders to be.

While Bethany had never mentioned her sexuality to Maya, it had never come up, and Maya wasn't one to push for information her friend wasn't willing to freely volunteer, Maya did hear several hints as to her friend's sexuality that night. While Maya had known that Bethany had dated one of her teammates, rapidly became obvious that boys were not the only people she had dated. Several girls made comments that made Maya think back to that moment between them in Bethany's room. The atmosphere and tension the level of possession and control Bethany had, had over her. Several girls eluded to similar things that left Maya in little doubt where Bethany honed her craft. One girl had actually thrown herself at Bethany, trying to hold and kiss her, much to Bethany’s annoyance having had to explain to the girl, why she didn't want any sort of relationship right now. Still this didn’t stop several girls trying to drape themselves over her at every opportunity they got, much to Maya's amusement and it presented her with several opportunities for eye rolling.

It was while Maya and Bethany were talking to one of these groups of girls that Maya’s heart and confidence dropped away. One minute, she was cheery and bubbly, animatedly talking to a couple of the cheerleaders; the next, Maya seemed to be experiencing the early stages of a panic attack. While the girls attempted to comfort and help Maya to gather herself. Unfortunately, for Maya, the cause of her minor panic attack which she was rapidly recovering from, was easily discerned, not just by Bethany but by several of the other girls as well.

Tyler, he was slowly making his way over to the group of girls, though he did seem to keep getting distracted by other groups and people in the way, but he was definitely headed there. While Maya's first reaction was to wish to just run away and avoided her former best friend, one look and a shake of the head from Bethany put pay to that idea.

"It will be fine, honey. Just breath that’s it. It’s Tyler, isn’t it? You like him? Well, if you won't admit to it, I will, he is hot.” One girl told Maya comfortingly.

"Yeah, cute and clueless, like most boys." Another of the girls interrupted.

Tyler, Maya was surprised to learn, had changed into a new, clean shirt. In Maya's opinion, he looked good, maybe better than she had ever seen him look. Tyler’s sleeves were rolled up in a way that Maya would agree was considerably hot. Maya felt considerable heat in her cheeks at the thought. As usual, when she saw Tyler in short sleeves or rolled up sleeves, Maya found her stomach assaulted by butterflies. Something that Maya was far from ready to consider the implications of.

Bethany pulled Maya to the side as Tyler once again got distracted by another group nearby.

"Look, you can't appear to be afraid of him; remember, you have to be fearless tonight. You need to be yourself, be Maya. Tyler may not even recognise you, multiple other people haven't."

"You're right. I wish it were as easy as all that sounds, though. I don't hold out much hope that Tyler won't recognise me immediately; he knows me really well. The people who have so far not recognised me don't really know me all that well."

"Well, you are not hiding, that's for sure. Hopefully, he won't recognise you and will move swiftly on. If it is not, then we will deal with that if and when it happens. Just be brave, and be yourself. Now come on, let's get back to the others."

With that, Bethany led Maya back to the group of girls they had most recently been talking to.

As Tyler approached the group of girls, his eyes alighted on Maya. Maya saw him tilt his head just slightly to one side, as she had so often seen him do when he was intrigued or puzzled by something. Maya had always found it cute and knew she was not the only one who found it so, multiple of Tyler's ex-girlfriends had also said so, although not directly to Maya, she had overheard them talking to others about it.

Maya pretended to have no interest in Tyler, instead, feigning interest in the party around her. Maya sipped her spiked soda and strategically viewed the crowd, looking anywhere but at Tyler, lest her emotional strength fail her. But when Maya looked up, inexorably as if they were two poles of the same magnet, Tyler was staring back at her, their eyes meeting, pulling the other deeper in. Maya let out a shaky breath, cursing silently the universe, which seemed to want to ruin her life.

"Hey," Tyler said with a grin as he sauntered up to Maya. “Have we met before? I feel like we have?"

Maya felt her heart sink and lift up all at the same time, he hadn't recognised her, which made Maya happy, hopeful and distraught all at the same time, it was a heady mix that Maya was unsure how to deal with. Maya also recognised that this gave her a few options, none of which seemed good to her. She could, Maya recognised, give up this charade and tell Tyler now, it would at least mean that she hadn't deceived Tyler, something that sat badly with her. But telling Tyler would take more courage than Maya felt she could muster right this moment. Maya had no idea how Tyler might react, and Maya knew she couldn't take any heartbreak tonight plus this room felt far too crowded for such a private declaration. Maya didn't want to risk someone overhearing and destroying her life and reputation. Maya did briefly consider doing that which she longed to do, which was to tell Tyler no and run away from him as fast as she could. However, Maya felt that this would only gain people's attention, causing aggravation and confusion. It might have been the cause of action Maya longed to take, but it was most definitely not one that she could take. Her third option was then the course she decided to take, which was to feign ignorance of any previous meetings and hope that Tyler continued not to recognise her. It was high risk as Tyler might discover her identity at any moment, but Maya reasoned that it was her only real option.

Composing herself and socialising on the perfect delivery of her Maya voice, one that was slight different and very much girlier than the way she had to speak as in Mason, Maya fervently hoped that all these many months on her own practising it would truly pay off now.

"I don't know, have we?" Her high, clear, girlish tone was coquettish and teasing in its light joviality.

"Well, it's that we haven't, then it is truly a shame and my loss to and if we have, then it is a true crime for me to have forgotten someone so charming and beautiful as yourselves. I'm Tyler." He introduced with a cheesy flattery that forced Maya, in spite of herself, to stifle a giggle.

"Maya." She enthused with a grin.

"Maya," he repeated under his breath. "Such a pretty name."

It was something about hearing her name in his voice that turned Maya's insides to jelly and started her heart spinning wildly. She could not stop the love-struck smile that invaded her lips, and Maya found herself utterly incapable of thinking of anything but the in front of her.

It was Bethany who saved Maya from the folly that was invariably liable to issue from that moment.

“Really Tyler, that’s what you are going with, those were the sleaziest insincere lines I have ever heard. Maya is hardly likely to fall for that rubbish.” She took a step forward towards the pair and folded her arms to her chest defiantly.

"Bethany", "Tyler acknowledged. "Nice to see you again." His forced politeness was icy cold and Maya did not think she had ever heard Tyler so hostile to anyone before.

"Likewise." She calmly and icily replied.

"Is Maya one of yours then, only I didn't recognise her. Most of yours go around with dog collars on their necks and scared looks in their eyes!"

"What I and mine do is no concern of yours!" Bethany barked hotly. "As for Maya, she is not my girlfriend as you seem to be insinuating. She is merely a friend who has accompanied me here tonight. Maya is perfectly capable of making her own decisions as to who to associate with, though if she wants my advice, it would not be with you. Talking of girlfriends, where is yours? Hadn't you best be getting back to her before someone makes a play for her?"

"Unlike you, I trust my girlfriends and don't treat them like property." Tyler sneered words and a belief of trust that would be proven to be unfounded in the hours ahead.

With those last words, Bethany drew off a little distance away, leaving Maya and Tyler alone again together.

"I'm sorry about that," Tyler said at length.

"I'm not usually like that I swear, she just... She just really annoys me, you know."

Maya hummed uncomfortably. She was not sure what to make of the explosive tension between her two best friends. She had never known or suspected that such animosity and anger existed between them. And now poor Maya found herself blindsided by it.

"What was all that about?" She asked quietly, not wanting to risk causing more anger from Tyler, but wishing to understand.

"That, forget about it, it is an old fight, one I don't want to think about right now. If you really want to know, you should ask her about it sometime. But it would be better if you just forgot the whole thing." Tyler declared with a series of sighs and a visible relaxation of the tension in his back and shoulders. “So, are you new here? I mean, I would definitely have remembered you if we had met before."

Maya gladly took the way out that Tyler had just offered her, trying to think that she had been a way out of this question of her and Tyler having met before.

"No, you are right, I don’t go to Eastgate.” Maya lied but not without tremendous regret.

“That explains it, there is no way that I could have missed seeing that you all year, nor that someone like you could just appear out of nowhere.”

Maya felt her cheeks growing redder and redder at this and wondered at the tension that was between them. This tension hadn't existed between them when she was Mason, at least she didn't think it had. So why was it so powerfully there now? It confounded Maya to no end, but she really wasn't in the right head space to give it the deep thoughts that it required. Maya's thoughts betrayed her as well. Oh, why did he have to be so cocky, and flirty, and look so good? Surely it was, like, a crime or something?

"You play football or something," Maya asked, not because she was that interested in leaving Tyler talk about football, she got enough of that on a daily basis already, but as a tactic to gain time and to gather herself.

"Quarterback. Guilty as charged. I won’t bore you with details, though, unless you’re a fan. Are you a fan?" Tyler laughed nervously.

Maya shrugged noncommittally. "Not really."

"Well, I'm glad I didn't bore you with those details then."

For the next few minutes, it went on like that, Tyler asking questions. Maya was evasive at first, but the more time that went on, the more Maya was drawn into answering and their dynamic as a whole.

"You know you're very different from a lot of girls."

Maya's heart sank to the floor. Did Tyler know all along?

"Good different?" She managed despite the worry that had suddenly dried her throat.

"The best kind."

Maya's heart skipped a beat, and it wasn't just because she realised that Tyler hadn't figured out her identity. She knew then that she should have made more of an effort to leave this conversation before, that she should make an excuse and leave Tyler now. But Maya didn't. She couldn't. She stayed.

Tyler casually reached his arm to the side of Maya's face and carefully brushed a stray lock of hair back behind her ear. Maya's breath caught as everything around her seemed to stop and then pale into insignificance, everything and everyone except Tyler.

His lips moved slightly. "Can I...?"

Maya didn't can answer, she didn't dare, she didn't dare agree, but she couldn't bring herself to reject this. Tyler came closer and closer, but just before the inevitable kiss, Maya panicked. She violently jumped back, almost upsetting a small table in her haste.

"I... I should go, I'm sorry." Maya stammered, hyperventilating in her panicked state of anxiety as she did so.

"Did... Did I do something wrong?" Tyler asked Maya’s now hastily retreating form.

"No, look, I am really sorry, so sorry. It's not you, I promise." Maya stopped and half turned around again to offer these words before she began running again.