Hey! I promised to update sooner if I got more than 4 reviews and I did! So here it is, I hope you like it because I really am proud of this one. *grins*
So I'm gonna set a review goal for each chapter, just because you guys are awesome and I love your reviews.
Thank you so much WanderlustAlice, ArmyNavyGirl2012, tmrwilson48, , WHITE ANGEL WINGS and lucayalover for reviweing. I'm glad you guys are liking it so far. Enjoy!
(review goal: 6)
"-she hasn't been eating."
Maya slowly gained consciousness, just in time to hear what Lucas was saying and panic coursed through her body. 'He wouldn't tell them would he?' she thought to herself as her eyes fluttered open and she tried to sit up on the bed. When she fell back with an 'oomph', everyone turned to look at her wearing different expressions. Cory and Topanga just looked shocked and concerned; Riley just sat on the edge of the bed with horror written over her face while Farkle was trying to comfort her as he just looked confused and scared. What caught Maya's attention though, was the fact that Josh's body was radiating anger as he looked at Lucas, while Lucas just stood there with his eyes averted to the ground. Topanga was the first to speak. "Maya honey, are you alright? Are you feeling any better?" she asked as she came to stand beside the bed that Maya was currently in. Maya's voice felt hoarse as she replied with a, "I'm fine." And she suddenly craved water more than anything.
Riley, realizing this came forward and offered Maya the glass of water that she was holding and the girl gratefully accepted. After downing the water in one go she saw that both Josh and Lucas were now looking at her, and while Lucas just looked guilty, Josh looked ready to kill. On further inspection of the room Maya noticed that Riley and Topanga had left the room. No more than 30 seconds later the mother and daughter came back in, and Maya suddenly felt all the air leave her body because her best friend walked in carrying what looked like a weighing machine.
Maya immediately sat up straighter in the bed as Topanga spoke once again. "Maya we need you to get up and stand on this." She said carefully because she was in undiscovered land now. Maya hesitated but started to get up anyway and Cory rushed to her side to support her as she walked. Josh stepped aside to make room for her as she took a shaky breath and stepped on the dull green machine. Maya just stared straight ahead, refusing to look at the numbers and she heard everyone gasp as Riley's hand flew to her mouth. Unwillingly Maya looked down at the scale and froze. 50 pounds. Before she had time to explain anything Josh grabbed her arm and roughly yanked her towards him. "What the fuck Maya?" he said lowly but menacingly enough to cause Maya's hair at the nape of her neck stand up. Just then she left another arm pull her in the opposite direction, but this time it was much gentler. She looked up to see Lucas pulling her behind him. "Don't talk to her like that." He said trying to control his temper as Maya just stared at both boys with with wide blue eyes.
"You knew about this." Josh accused him, taking a step forward and jabbing a finger at his chest. Lucas instinctively pulled Maya back so that she was standing behind him, completely covered by his tall frame. "I found out this morning. I couldn't just barge right in and declare that Maya is anorexic!" Lucas said his voice getting louder and angrier with every word. Maya flinched at the term 'anorexic' and looked at Riley for help, but she was too busy taking in the scene between her uncle and her best friend.
"You should've done exactly that! At least we could have done something about it." Josh replied and that was all it took for it to turn into a verbal boxing match.
"Like what, huh? Force her to eat? Or would you drive her away from you again? Because that's all you've been doing to her anyway." Lucas shot back and within a moment Josh had grabbed his collar and pinned him against the wall and Maya stumbled back from the impact, and Topanga rushed to her side.
"You wanna say that again?" Josh threatened just as Cory ripped him away from the wall. "Stop it, both of you." He ordered just as Lucas composed himself and stepped away from the wall. "Get out of this room and let us talk to Maya." He said and both boys opened their mouths to speak but Cory cut off any protests by saying, "She doesn't need this right now and neither do we. Both of you go to the living room until this is sorted out and if either of you start a fight, you're sleeping outside in the rain." Cory said, barely able to contain his anger over the two teenagers fighting. Josh and Lucas reluctantly turned to the door and began to walk, their anger still so obvious and Riley shivered as they walked past her and into the living room, slamming the door shut behind them.
Then everyone turned their attention back to Maya, who had taken a seat on the bed and was loathing the inevitable questions that she would have to answer. They were all quiet for a while, trying to make sense of everything and then Riley shared a look with her parents and they backed away letting their daughter handle this. "Maya, I need you tell me everything," she paused, "Okay?" she asked softly as she moved to sit beside her on the bed. Maya just shut her eyes and nodded. Her eyes were glazed over when she opened them again, but she didn't waste any time to start talking.
"My mom, she uh, picked up a few more shifts at the diner because things were going…downhill for us." She hesitantly y said and Riley placed her hand over Maya tying to comfort her. "It wasn't a big deal at first; I could go home and do whatever I wanted. My mom would leave cereal and microwaveable meals for me and Grammy and it was all good for the first two weeks." She paused as she got to the difficult part, and drew in a shaky breath letting a few tears fall down. "But then I got sick of it, I just wanted my mother back." She said with a bitter laugh as she looked up at the ceiling and wiped her eyes. "I just wanted her to be there for me, to help me with school, to cook for me. I wanted her to look at my paintings and I wanted to make her proud. So after that I would just stopped eating, because I was tired of eating off-brand cereal all alone in my room. I was tired of taking care of Grammy and I just wanted it all to stop. But it didn't." she let out a bitter laugh. "Mom would always say that she had bills to pay, and a house to pay for, and I guess between doing all of that, she…she forgot that she had a daughter to love too. She forgot that I needed someone at home to take care of me, and because she stopped taking care of me and loving me; I stopped too."
Riley's breath hitched in her throat as she realized how oblivious she had been to her best friend's pain, and she just sat there looking at Maya as she spoke once again. "I started to skip my breakfast, and then my lunch and then eventually all meals of the day. I thought this is how my mother wanted to see me," she said gesturing at her thin body, "starved and broken. I just kept doing it, and then one day when mom came home in the night, she opened the fridge and she was so..Happy to see all the extra food that was in there. She didn't even think about me, she didn't ask, not even once, whether I had eaten or not. So I started thinking that I was this huge burden on her and I decided to do her a favor. I did everything that I could to just, go away. Then slowly I realized that I was growing weaker because of not eating enough, and it made me happy. I knew my body would eventually give out if I continued, so I did." When Maya paused, Riley finally let her tears slip and her body shook with pain.
"I stopped completely; it went from barely eating to nothing at all. Nobody noticed when I wouldn't eat, and it completely broke me." Maya decided it was best to leave out everything else she had done because she knew it would cause everyone too much pain.
"Some days I would just fall to the floor because my legs couldn't hold me up, and some days I would just faint, like I did now. As you can tell, my plan of dying would've more or less been a success if what happened today didn't. I was just desperate to die I guess." Maya finished, and when she looked up she saw that Cory and Topanga had been crying. Farkle was standing next to her, hiccupping as he cried and his head hung low. Riley was having a complete breakdown and she hugged Maya, crying her eyes out. The door flung open again and Lucas and Josh walked in. Maya knew they had heard everything because Josh was running his hands through his hair again and again as he looked at Maya with sad eyes, and Lucas' eyes were rimmed with red and he just looked broken.
"I never want you to think like that ever again Maya, we love you and we'll be there for you even when your own mother isn't." Topanga said as she helped Maya up and hugged her, and Maya felt more warmth in one embrace that she had felt from her own mother in all her life. Maya nodded into the hug and held Topanga tight until they broke apart from the hug and smiled at each other with watery eyes.
Before anyone else could say anything, Lucas cleared his throat and stepped closer to Maya until he was no more than two steps away. "How long?" he asked, gulping as he tried to contain his tears. When Maya didn't answer he stepped forward and took both her hands in his own. "How long Maya?" he repeated softly as he pulled her close to him, and out of the corner of her eye Riley saw Josh clench the wall as he shot daggers at Lucas' back.
"Two months." Maya replied just as softly, but judging by the gasps that were heard around the room, they had all heard. Lucas' grip on her hands tightened just a little bit, but Maya jumped back immediately as she remembered what he did in the morning. Lucas' mouth opened and closed again and again and he dropped his hands to his sides once again, not wanting to scare her anymore than he already had. Nobody noticed, except for Josh who stood up straighter, not leaning against the wall anymore. He had thought that Maya was a bit jumpy whenever anyone touched her all evening, especially Lucas. Even when he entered he saw Lucas grabbing Maya by the jacket and pulling her close as she just shrunk back in fear, and now this. His eyes widened as he put two and two together and thought Lucas had done something to her. It had to be bad because Maya wasn't easily scared and right now, she was shaking with fear. Without thinking he crossed over to where Lucas and Maya were standing and caught hold of Maya's wrist. Her eyes squeezed shut when Josh's hand made contact with her bruises. Although she was wearing the jacket Josh guessed what was wrong. He shot Lucas an icy look before looking down at Maya and saying, "We need to talk.", before dragging her out of the room.