Maya Hart☔

Maya Penelope Hunter (née Hart) is the tritagonist of Girl Meets World. Maya is the fifteen-year-old daughter of Kermit and Katy.

She is Riley Matthews' best friend. Maya isn't one of the best students in school, but she still looks up to Cory Matthews as a father figure. She is deeply loyal to Riley, as Riley is to her. Maya lives with her mother and her grandmother Angela Hart, who do their best to take care of her. In Girl Meets Home for the Holidays Maya starts looking up to Shawn Hunter as a mentor and father figure, because, she found out that not only were they both slackers in school, he also had an absent parent. It is unknown if Maya has a half-brother like Shawn does.

Maya is portrayed by Sabrina Carpenter.

Personality
Maya is almost the exact opposite of Riley when it comes to personality; one might say that Maya is the "Spice" to Riley's "Sugar" and "everything nice".

Outwardly, Maya conveys a "bad girl" persona-- overconfident, tough, quick-witted and sarcastic; she has been described as a female version of Shawn, and her loyalty to Riley (and vice versa) gave her a bit of a popularity boost. But Maya has admitted that she is not always proud of the person she is.

Much of her brashness could be borne of the fact that her father abandoned her when she was five. Moreover, as her best friend, Riley is not only aware that Maya's outward toughness is often a façade, but she also knows her vulnerabilities. In "Girl Meets Flaws," Maya revealed "broken" as her personal flaw, saying that it doesn't feel so bad when she "owns" it.

Maya depends heavily on Riley to help her and fix her problems, or come up with a scheme; one exception was in Season 2's Girl Meets Creativity, when Riley used reverse psychology to get Maya to open up about believing in art. In the Season 3 episodes Girl Meets Triangle, Girl Meets Upstate and Girl Meets True Maya, Riley believes that Maya is going through an identity crisis as she is being less rebellious and becoming more like her; when Riley is proven right, she helps Maya find her true self again.

Girl Meets World
Maya tries to convince Riley to sneak out on to the subway, but right after they sneak out the window, Cory follows them back in through the window. After Cory assures Riley that he and Topanga will be there for her, Maya and Riley head off to the subway. On the subway, Maya pushes Riley into a a cute boy's lap, who is later revealed to be Lucas Friar, a new kid at their school.

She has a "relationship" with him for about a minute before letting Riley talk to him. Later, at school, Cory gives out an assignment, to write an essay on something that's worth fighting about. Maya starts a school protest, and she continually chants, "No homework, more freedom!" Since Riley wants to be like her, Maya tells Riley that this is her chance to be like her if she joins the protest. Riley joins in, but Maya soon causes trouble when the fire alarm goes off and the water sprinklers turn on. Even though Riley is a part of the protest, only Maya gets into trouble. Later, when Cory talks to Maya, she admits that she has no one at home to help her with homework. By the end of the episode, Cory assures her that she won't fail.

Girl Meets Boy
Maya tells Riley to talk to Lucas but to no avail as she sniffs him. She asks to talk about this to Riley, but she texts her a 'no'. Later in the classroom, her phone along with the whole class is all taken away for the assignment Cory assigns for them to take notes using the New York Library. She reluctantly teams up with Farkle and together they go to the library with Riley and Lucas.

When they arrive, she and Farkle reads a book they pulled off the shelf earlier. They start on a chapter called “Disconnecting to Connect” which is about how unplugging yourself from technology makes for better human interaction. Later they sit at the windowsill and she says she cannot afford a smartphone, and all she has is the moon while sketching something. Farkle looks to see what she was doing and sees the artwork she had done, not knowing how talented she was. The next morning in class, when they present their project, Farkle kept her artwork in his pocket where his phone was and she smiles at him. During the credits Cory meets up with her in the library and gives her a smartphone and tells his motives are entirely selfish but she doesn't think they are. He then hands her a pack of colored pencils, saying if she’s watching Riley and something beautiful happens, he wants her to capture that, too and paint him a picture.

Girl Meets the Truth
When Maya showed off a new locket, Riley wondered where it came from. Maya eventually admitted she claimed it from Lost & Found even though it wasn't hers. After she and Riley learnt a lesson about telling the truth even when it's uncomfortable, Maya returned the locket to its rightful owners.

Girl Meets Maya's Mother
On school career day, Maya was not surprised when her mother fails to show up as promised. The next day, when Katy interrupted Cory's lesson, Maya was embarrassed by her mother's performance. Maya told her mother it was best when she went on her imaginary auditions and chased her imaginary father, despite claiming she wasn't humiliated by her mother's appearance.

After a teacher complimented Maya's art, she asked Maya to present it at a school event. Maya didn't want her art on display, but Riley went behind her back to have Maya's work displayed so her mother could come and see it. On the night of the art exhibit, Maya's painting of a diner with a woman only half-visible was shown. Maya's mother didn't show up to see the exhibit, leading Riley to visit her and demand to know why she didn't show up. Katy explained she only disappoints her daughter. Katy was determined to simply work so Maya could have more than she had, even if it meant she wasn't always around for her.

Girl Meets Home for the Holidays
When Shawn Hunter joined the Matthews family for Christmas, Maya met Shawn for the first time. Despite regularly hearing how Cory and Shawn were the Riley and Maya of their day, Maya was not initially impressed with Shawn. Maya tried to prove that she and Riley are better friends than Cory and Shawn. Maya helped Riley confront Shawn about him ignoring her when he visited town. Shawn and Maya began to see how they do have a lot in common, including their respective friendships with Cory and Riley. Before Shawn left, he invited the kids, including Maya, on a trip he was going to take to Upstate New York.

During the holiday dinner, Maya also saw Riley's uncle Josh. Maya was instantly smitten with Josh, despite him being three years older than her. It was obvious they had met before because Josh told her she "grew up gorgeous". When Josh visited again for game night, Maya tried to make advances on him but he told her he was too old for her. Undeterred, Maya told him she's playing the long game.

Girl Meets Master Plan
On Maya's fourteenth birthday, Maya's mother left for work before Maya got up. Maya was resigned to the fact Katy forgot her birthday, which seemed to anger Riley and the Matthews more than it did Maya. With Shawn Hunter was in town at the same time, Riley and Cory set about to try fix Shawn up with Katy. Cory and Riley's plan got Shawn excited about trying to fix things between Katy and Maya.

Shawn went to the diner to talk to Katy about forgetting Maya's birthday party, which offended Katy and initially made her dislike Shawn. Katy mentioned to Shawn that Maya doesn't stop talking about him, particularly after the trip he took with the kids. Shawn and Katy bonded over being bad at relationships and being the ones people leave. Katy admitted that although Maya thinks she chased away her dad, it was actually her dad that left her. A woman arrived with Katy's birthday gift, a locket, for Maya, but Katy didn't quite have the money for it yet. Shawn gave Katy the extra money so Katy could buy the gift on Maya's birthday and asked to take the family photo to go in the locket. Although Katy didn't want him to, Shawn told Maya the truth that her dad left her mom. Katy admitted the reason she wasn't around is she was working extra shifts to get Maya the gift she wanted. Shawn eventually tells Maya the truth about her father.

Girl Meets First Date
When Josh came to New York for the summer, Maya again flirted with him. Josh told Maya that he was still too old for her. After Josh hit on a college recruiter, who thought she was too old for him, Josh felt the disappointment from the other side. In an effort to help Riley and Lucas finally ask each other out, Maya asked Lucas out on a date. Riley was angry with Maya at first, until she realized why Maya did so. When Lucas finally sought to ask Riley out, Cory gave Lucas and Riley his blessing, so long as they took Maya and Farkle along with them. After Riley and Lucas shared their first kiss, Farkle tried to kiss Maya - who blocked him with her hand. Undaunted, Farkle passionately kissed Maya's hand, which left her surprised and impressed.

Girl Meets Pluto
When Cory decided it was time for his class to bury a time capsule containing things important to them, Maya was initially reluctant to place anything in the capsule as she thinks it's better not to have any hopes, to avoid disappointment. Before Cory, Topanga and Shawn were going to go to Philadelphia to dig up their own time capsule, Riley and Maya weren't interested in going along. After Shawn talked to Katy about how the time capsule could bring up memories of his relationship with Angela, Maya and Riley decided to join them.

When the gang returned to New York City to open the time capsule, Maya watched on as Shawn opened the time capsule and rediscovered many mementos of his relationship with Angela, who he clearly still felt strongly for. Maya feared she'd lost any hope for Shawn starting a relationship with her mother. Riley, Cory and Topanga pushed Shawn to see his potential role in Maya's life. When Shawn told Maya he didn't know what he was supposed to be in her life, Maya asked him to just be out there for her. When the kids finally put objects in their own time capsule, Maya requested that no one else was to know what she placed inside: a picture of Katy and Shawn giving her her birthday cake. As Maya placed the photo in the capsule, she quietly said "Hope is for suckers." Later, when Shawn stopped by Topanga's Bakery where Katy works, he chatted with her. When Shawn asked if Katy's lip gloss, which was a different flavor to the one Angela used, was a better flavor, she told him it was different. After Shawn asked if different is better, Katy told him it depends on the life you're having, but she is ready for different.

Girl Meets Mr. Squirrels
Riley and Maya had an epic fight that very nearly ended their friendship. When Riley refused to apologize for not standing up for Maya about something Lucas said, they stopped talking to each other. Seeing how serious the fight was, Cory recruited his older brother Eric to settle the friends' dispute. As Eric worked them through the issue, Maya admitted the problem was not so much that Lucas called her a "short stack of pancakes" but that Riley didn't defend her. Riley didn't defend her because she thinks it's true, but Maya admitted she's defended Riley from similar comments about her height and klutziness even though they are also true. Maya said that even if she is short, she never felt short until Riley didn't have her back. After Eric helped the friends patch things up, Maya became more comfortable with the fact she's going to be short. Topanga, whom Maya greatly admires, showed her how even a short stack of pancakes like her can do fine- the two are nearly the same height.

Appearance
Maya is a beautiful girl with a pale complexion, blue eyes and medium length blonde hair which she often wears in a variety of different styles; straight, curly, or naturally waved. She has a slim, yet toned and athletic figure, and is slightly short for her age.

Relationships
Riley: Riley is Maya's best friend. While Riley is the angel who keeps it safe, Maya is more of the rebel who doesn't believe in following the rules. Even though they are nearly opposites, the two are extremely close and loyal to each other no matter their differences. Riley admires Maya and wants to be like her, much to her father's dismay. Riley and Maya are considered inseparable. As seen in Girl Meets Ski Lodge (Part 2), Maya and Riley will do anything to protect each other due to the caring and loyal relationship they have. In Girl Meets I Do Riley says she wants the best for Maya by letting Katy and Shawn get married.

Farkle Minkus:
Farkle is Maya's close friend and yet sometimes they don't always agree on the same thing. He has a crush on her, even though they often butt heads. Riley always tries to save him by intervening. Farkle also has a crush on Riley and he always tries to get the two girls to fall in love with him. Either way, they are extremely protective of each other, and Maya really cares about Farkle and thinks of him as a close friend.

Lucas: Throughout the episodes, Maya is annoyed by Lucas' "Country Boy" attitude, and continually calls him one of her many different nicknames for him. However, they definitely care about each other's feelings and opinions, and will defend each other if needed. They have shown romantic attraction in Girl Meets Creativity. In Girl Meets Texas (Part 2) it is revealed that Maya has a crush on Lucas and they almost kiss. Then in Girl Meets Texas (Part 3), they go into two dates. Maya cares for Lucas, and she doesn't want anything to happen to him because if it happened she wouldn't know how to handle the change. It is unknown if Maya teases Lucas because she likes him, which was suggested by Riley, but Maya didn't confirm nor deny it. In Girl Meets Legacy, it's revealed that Lucas likes Maya back, but doesn't fully understand his feelings for her. However, in Girl Meets High School (Part 1), both Riley and Maya want to date Lucas so they both refer to themselves as girlfriends. Their ship name is Lucaya.