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."
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"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?"
"maybe?" maya wasn't sure, "we could invite her mom too."
"okay!" riley was excited already, and she and paige haven't even interacted that much.
"yaaay." maya answered flatly, "why are we always in school so early?" she pushes the door open as they walk into the school. "paige is early too. and zay is there-" maya saw him with paige and immediately ran up towards then.
"hey." maya stood beside the girl, leaning her back against the locker.
"maya!" riley gasps, "geez."
"maya. dang." zay's eyes were wide from the loud slam he heard when maya suddenly appeared and laid against the metal. "sup?" she wiggled her brows, responding nonchalantly.
they head to class and unsurprisingly, farkle and smackle were already seated in at their seats. "oh look, there you two are."
"ha ha." farkle mocked back.
"hi, paige." smackle greeted.
"hello." paige smiled a little as she replied, taking her seat beside maya. "she didn't say hi to me." zay sulked as a joke. "ha ha." smackle teased him. "wow, you two are perfect for each other." zay commented. "that has already been established, zay." farkle spoke in his usual tone.
"okay." cory has arrived, "woah, maya. you're on time."
"yes, matthews. what's the matter with that?"
"nothing." cory was always had moments where he was afraid of an angry maya- and those moments were a treat for the class. it never fails to make them laugh.
"today's assignment."
the class groaned. except for farkle who went, "yay."
"find out the history of a dish, then make it and bring it to class."
"i'm sorry, is this home ec or history class?" maya was shocked. "well, a bit of both," cory shrugs, "i'm not deciding who's going to be your partners, but you guys are going to do that by picking a name out of this box.
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"you guys picked the names out of a box and yet still end up with those you usually work with." cory complains exaggeratedly.
"fate, matthews." maya glances at the brunette, sneakily flashing a smile.
she saw cory smile, "your deadline is friday."
"it can be any dish?"
"yep. as long as all criteria is met." cory whips out a stack of papers. "ughhh." maya groans dramatically, "probably shouldn't have asked."
"either way, you all would've still gotten the paper." cory shrugs. at this moment, she hears a chuckle come from paige's direction. she's never even talked unless a teacher called upon her, let alone come close to a laugh. obviously, this catches the attention of the blonde- she casts her a glance and a soft smile. and, paige smiled back.
'dang this feeling in my stomach. what the heck?'
"what are you guys making?" riley asks enthusiastically. "i don't- we don't know yet, riles. we literally just got out of class. paige, do you have any i-"
"paige?" maya furrows her brows together in confusion, "where'd she go?"
"i think the bathroom? she just dashed past from behind me." lucas said to maya.
"you guys go ahead, i'll catch up." maya exhales, running a hand through her hair, "i'm just gonna make sure she's okay."
"oh, okay." riley replied quickly, "we have free period next."
"paige?" maya calls out once she opens the door to the school bathroom, and there she was- standing in front of a sink, hands gripped tightly on the edge.
"maya, just go. i'm okay," she realises who it was without even looking. "maya, i don't want you to see me like this." she was so pale, it was as if the blood just drained from her face. "you're clearly not feeling well." maya refuses to go. "you're going to be late, maya. just-" paige insisted just as she gets cut off by a gag. "i don't care if i'm late. i don't want you to be alone." maya walks closer, unaffected by what she'd just saw. "ugh, shit. i feel like crap but i can't throw up." paige curses under her breath, her knuckles turning whiter as her grip tightens.
"do you wanna go home?" maya asks, unsure. paige definitely wasn't in the shape to just sit in class.
"my mom's gonna kill me if i do." paige takes a few deep breaths in attempt to calm down the feeling.
"is it the medicine? or is it just the symptom?" maya asked again.
"t-the medicine." the other girl swallows thickly, "i forgot to bring the other one that helps me with the nausea. stupid me."
suddenly, after much agony, she finally throws up, but just a tiny bit- and it was already enough to make her stomach ache. however, the feeling of needing to be sick had dissipated after a little while. she was standing up straighter, and the color in her cheeks had returned.
paige rinses her mouth, "let's go."
maya on the other hand, was unsure if paige really was good to go to class. "i'm fine already." paige understood her facial expression and answered. "alright- if you say so." maya gave in anyway. she'd know her own body best.
'maya, she told you to leave...why didn't you just go?'
maya shook her head as if to get rid of that thought as she asked, "room 316?"
"yeah." paige sighed.
"good. then you got free period with me, riley and zay."
"it's not study hall?"
"well, yeah. but you're technically kinda free to do whatever you want." maya chuckles, "the teacher lets us. as long as we don't let any of the other teachers find out. you can just take a nap or something and harper would be fine with it."
"harper...?"
"oh, she lets us call her by her first name." maya explained.
however, maya's mood has completely changed when she managed to take a peek at who the teacher was. "oh, damn it. it's not harper- this teacher's worst." maya whispered.
"you're late."
"mr. bacchus, i already explained why to you," riley raised her hand.
"and they can't do that for themselves?"
maya was so mad right now. that tone- that freaking tone.
"mr. bacchus." maya breathes in deeply, "she's made sure all her teachers are aware of her conditions. she's did her part to make sure her teachers know."
"her part would be knowing to show up to class on time as student and not be out there doing god knows what."
maya was starting to feel the anger boiling in the pit of her stomach, "with all due respect, bacchus, you're a sub. you're technically not even our teacher. so, of course- you don't know anything. you don't have a clue what this girl has to go through everyday while being here in school. we're not even five minutes late, and for a valid reason. yet here you are making us later than we were."
"what could she be going through, hart? she's so young."
maya scoffs, her friends knew that look on her face. she'd reached her limit.
riley was shocked that maya said that to the teacher. sure, maya would stand up for herself and her friends, but this? this was more than that. way more than what she'd usually say. it's usually just a snappy comeback, but this one's not a comeback. maya got emotional. zay was behind riley, watching intently, "oh, no. ugh, this teacher just doesn't get it."
"my medical documents are with the school. all my teachers are aware. you're a substitute teacher and i know that you don't know what i'm experiencing but it doesn't give you the right to assume we were somewhere causing trouble instead of coming to class on time. i had a friend let you know the reason why i was late. and to answer your question? i am in pain, i am on long term medications that have horrible side effects that make me sick. i was in the bathroom- throwing up. that's where we both were. maya was checking on me. i told her to leave me there, but she stayed. if you want to punish me, go ahead. just leave maya and my friends out of it." paige wasn't going to be treated like she did at her old school by her teachers anymore. so, she'd stood up for herself. despite the overwhelming feeling of 'oh, shit- what'd i just say to a teacher?', she was feeling some pride in fending for herself.
mr. bacchus was rendered speechless. though he gave them a not-so-subtle eye-roll, the two girls both took it as their cue to take their seats for the remaining 35 minutes.
.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .
"you got in trouble in study hall?"
"what? the school called?"
"yeah." katy nods, "what happened? what's you do?"
"the school hasn't called in a year." shawn mentioned.
"we'd just gotten out of history class, okay? then paige, who was beside me, disappeared to the bathroom. i told the rest of them to go first after lucas told me that she ran to the bathroom, so that i could go check on her." maya explained, "i was worried that she was sick- and she was. due to this medication she has to take. we weren't even five minutes late and riley told the substitute teacher why were late before we even got there- he just didn't understand. she could've been fine on her own, sure...but i'm glad i was there because she became so pale she looked like she was going to pass out."
"and she spent the rest of the day in school? like that?" shawn was honestly appalled by the sub's behaviour.
"miserable, yeah. she said she didn't want to go home or her mom would get upset." maya confirms, "i think she just doesn't want to be alone and be having all those symptoms."
"oh, baby girl. you did a good thing." katy assured, "i'm glad you were there to make sure she was fine."
"the sub thought we were causing trouble in the school." maya scoffed, rolling her eyes, "i swear, we weren't."
"i know." katy and shawn both say at the same time.
"her mom got a call too at the bakery."
"she works there too?" maya squinted her eyes in confusion.
"first day today." katy said back, "maya, is she alone next door?"
"yeah." maya sucks in a sharp breath, "said she just wanted to sleep, and be alone."
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published: saturday, 23 april 2022
.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .
EDITED: Thursday, 19 May 2022
2nd update: Friday, 30 September 2022
Latest update: Sunday, 25 June 2023