seeing these posts made her want to just scream and rip her hair out. "maya and riley are best friends...they've known each other for years and years. you were the one that showed up out of nowhere. you." it's been barely a few days since this whole situation unraveled. paige wasn't sure if all these emotions she was feeling was stemmed from her own jealousy or if maya was trying to make her jealous. whether or not it was because maya was hoping paige would lose it and approach her to talk, paige did not have a clue.
paige skipped school today, and rosa let her. she usually doesn't do this at all so rosa figured a day would likely do more good than harm. so currently, while rosa was at work, paige was just hanging around rosa's apartment. and then...ding!
right...it's lunch time. "i better make something to eat." paige sighs, padding to the kitchen. not having the appetite to eat, she eventually settled on having some toast. she then got a couple new texts.
they were really sweet for checking in, but she simply did not feel like responding to anything. she hasn't even been replying to anything unless it was rosa. but, she did not want to be rude, so she actually did respond after she ate.
after replying to smackle's text, she clicked into farkle's chat and thanked him for checking in.
.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .
"so it's just us today?" lucas asked.
"um, do you see anyone else around, huckleberry?"
"i don't know where farkle and smackle are." riley nodded, "they left."
"yeah, because you two have been so sucked up in your own little world these few days. what the heck happened?" lucas looked at riley, then at maya, "are neither of you the least bit worried about them? and paige?"
"ah, she's fine with her cop mom." riley swatted her hand in front of her face, meaning to say it wasn't a big deal.
"what, cop mom? riley, what's gotten into you?" lucas was more confused than ever, "maya you haven't spoken a word to paige for days."
"well, let's see. she did not pick up my calls or even reply- no- read any of the texts i sent her the other night." maya scoffs, "seems to me she doesn't care about the relationship more than her new relationship with her mom."
"what? jodie?"
"no, rosa." riley corrected, "she posted a photo of a picnic the other night. changed her username and all."
"okay. i saw that, but why are you guys acting like that? it's a good thing for her. jodie treated her really badly. and why are you guys telling me about her name change and rosa being her mother? she should be the one telling us that."
"what's the big deal?" maya asked, "we're all friends. we're all gonna know anyway. i'm just getting it out of the way for her. she already told me."
lucas disagreed, "no, that's just rude. it's her news to tell. riley, i cannot believe you agree with what maya's saying. it's a big part of who paige is that she just found out, right? maya, she told you because you two have a deeper relationship. you two are not just friends."
"and what are we now? are we even friends? where is she? i haven't heard anything from her since that night."
"doesn't she live with you?"
"she did." maya rolled her eyes, "hasn't been in my apartment since that night,"
"go look for her!" lucas exclaimed, "do you even care about her? this is so immature. you did something wrong here- if you'd learnt anything about her since we all met, you'd know why she's acting this way. she has enough to worry about. and then you just betray her trust by telling someone something so personal? she's very likely just angry so she's not responded to anything."
"why are you being so protective, lucas?"
"because! riley, we're all going to suffer from this. we already are. why make it a bigger deal when you can fix it now? think about what you two did, what you've been posting. how would she be feeling? she's also at fault for not replying to your texts, but that's not the problem right now-"
lucas' lecture got interrupted when maya got a text.
"fuck sake!" maya slammed her phone on the table, "fine, fine. take a break for all i care."
.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .
"our debate topic: trust." cory began, "what defines that?"
"really, matthews?" maya groans.
"why is it important?" cory ignores her complaint, "or why isn't it? split into two groups, each group pick a side to argue."
and to cory's surprise, or not, maya and riley were both on the same side. as were farkle and smackle. lucas was shocked that riley stood with the class that thought trust was important. and maya stood on the opposite side. was it typical maya behaviour or because of her fight with paige. although...a good debater must know how to argue from both points of view.
.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .
towards the end of rosa's shift, paige made her way to the 99th precinct. "paige. hello." the captain saw her first.
"hi, captain."
"i would assume that you're here for rosa?" captain asked, "rosa's interrogating a suspect at the moment. but may i talk to you for a moment?"
before long, boyle, jake and amy saw her in the bullpen, and following captain holt into his office.
"rosa has informed me that you are her daughter."
"oh. yeah, i figured. she's talked to me about telling you."
"okay, that's good. i just wanted to let you know that she has talked to me about that."
"i appreciate that. thanks, captain."
"i shall let you get on with your day- feel free to wait for rosa at her desk. there are also vending machines in the break room if you wish to get any snacks or beverages."
"okay, thank you captain." following that, paige exits captain holt's office and heads for the break room to check out the vending machines. once she got her drink, she waits for rosa at her desk.
"paige." rosa lets out a gasp seeing the teen in the precinct, "hey."
"rosa."
"i'm done for the day. let's go?" rosa said as she straightens up her desk.
"yeah let- i gotta-" paige cups her hand over her mouth and dashed to the restroom. the sound of her running made the squad whipped their heads around and look as rosa ran after her.
"paige?" rosa rubs her back although a bit hesitantly. rosa was never big on physical touch.
"it happens. i'm fine." paige told her curtly, "let's just go. i'll be fine."
.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .
"you do your homework yet?"
"yeah. i finished it before i came down to the precinct."
"what'd you have for lunch?"
"i had toast." paige sighed, "my stomach was already feeling weird because...most days, it does that."
"i'm sorry." rosa started driving, "hey, how about we go somewhere?"
"um, where...?"
"i remember you said jodie threw this teddy bear away. so, we're going to make you a new one. replace the old memory with a hopefully more pleasant one?"
"oh, no. i can't do that to you."
"do what? i know, a lot of kids there and very colourful. nothing i haven't seen before. it's better than what i have to see on the job. i went there with my brother once."
paige laughed at that, "really? it didn't make you go nuts?"
"i'm gonna let you in on a secret- as cheesy as the whole process truly is in my opinion, the concept is...good?"
"i swear you'll hate it after you take me there."
"nah." rosa laughs, "try me, mija. try me."
paige shrugged, leaning her head against the car window.
"paige, you can't let one thing take over your whole mind like that." rosa admits, "it sucks, i know how it feels. but you need a break, and you took it. focus on yourself. i know, i know- it's hard. but just try."
"i really thought she was the one. but clearly i was wrong."
"maybe she is, anyway." rosa disagreed, "very cheesy. but if it's meant to be, life will find a way."
"i just feel like i blew the whole thing out of proportion?" paige asked, "maybe i should've just went with the flow and just told the gang right after."
"paige. you made the decision that it was a big deal to you and that means it is. don't change because of responses and reactions."
.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .
UNEDITED. published: tuesday, 14 june 2022