Feels Like Home • Maya Hart [1] | ✓

maya meets the unreasonable

everything clicked in her head now. why paige was so jumpy when she and riley first approached her in the cafeteria, how quiet she was, and her recent absence from school. also, her first name's gwyneth. paige is her middle name but she started going by it instead because she didn't like that it was what her dad used to call her.

maya's rolled out of bed at about 10:45. she  went to get ready for the day, grabbing paige's diary from her desk drawer.

"wait, what? where is it?" maya asked. she began searching every corner of her room but she doesn't find it.

"dad, did you see a notebook? it's green-"

shawn pointed to the dining table. "why is it there?"

"your mom may have thought it was your diary, and..."

"she wanted to snoop?" maya takes the book, "it's not mine. it's paige's- she gave it to me yesterday so that i could read it. i asked her to tell me more about her and she found it difficult to put into words, so she let me read it."

"i told her that we should respect your privacy- she listened to me and just left it."

"she didn't read it at all?"

"well...she was on the first page when i saw her. but then i took it from her and put it there- i didn't even know that she got it from your room. or whose it was, actually. then i remember that i saw you holding it when you came home yesterday."

"okay. i gotta go return this, then i'm meeting riley at the mall to hang out."

"okay, sure. have fun." shawn acknowledged, "and maya, i'm sorry."

"don't. you guys didn't know and didn't mean it, probably for her anyway." maya sighs, "i- gosh, i'm sorry, that journal's just a lot to take in."

"kid, hang on a sec." shawn stops her, "take a breath."

maya did as she was told, clutching onto the book. "thanks." she grabs her keys and headed out. her first stop? the apartment next door.

she rang the bell, a few seconds later, the door swung open to reveal paige standing in front of her. "hey."

"good morning." paige said in response, trying her hardest not to yawn.

"here's your journal back." maya hands it back to her, "you look tired, so i'm gonna let you get back to sleep and i'll talk to you later okay?"

"okay." paige yawned anyway, "sorry."

"it's fine." maya nearly giggled, but she stopped herself, "have a good rest, and i gotta go in a minute because i'm on my way to meet riley at the mall."

"have fun, maya." paige nods, biting back yet another yawn, "see you later."

.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .

"maya, when's paige's birthday?"

"december 1st," maya answered almost too quickly. "oh, it's coming up soon." riley grins excitedly, "we should give her a party."

"a what?" maya said, "really? it's still a few weeks away."

"yeah, i think it would be nice." riley confirms, "besides, it's never too early to start planning."

"riles, she's uncomfortable being around people." maya brought up, "even in the classroom, she just sits at her desk quietly."

"it'll just be us. the group." riley said back, "that'll be fine, right?"