Maya approached the fountain in the center of Washington Square Park, the closest fountain to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She sat down on the lip on the East side of the fountain, closest to where she knew Goddard Hall Dorm was, and let her legs hang over the edge. Her earphones were still blasting music, not that she was really paying attention to the lyrics anymore.

She had met him at this fountain several times in the past year, mostly because it was closest to the dorm. Conveniently, it was also close to Riley's apartment. Both were about a 30 to 40 minute subway ride from her apartment in Washington Heights, which she considered to be relatively short.

Maya plucked at the threads in her ripped jeans, humming along to the music as she watched the crowd around her. Part of her was dying to know what happened on her best friend's date, and the other part of her was just as anxious to find out what he wanted from her.

"Maya."

Maya pulled out her earphones at the sight of him, and stood up, getting up onto the lip of the fountain so that she could reach his height - just like she always did.

He rolled his eyes. "Why do you always do that?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Maya feigned innocence, crossing her arms over her chest.

He reached out and grabbed her under her arms, picking her up and plopping her down on the ground. "I like being taller than you."

"Because it shows your dominance?" Maya teased.

"No, because I can see the scar on the top of your head from your skateboarding accident that reminds me just how irresponsible you can be," he countered, crossing his own arms.

"What do you want, Josh?" Maya finally sighed. "I was on my way to Riley's - she finally went out on a date."

"I heard about that," Josh smiled. "It's about time they joined the party." He shook his head. "Anyways, I'm doing a photo essay in Rochester this weekend, and I want you and Riley to come with me."

"Why?" Maya inquired, already agreeing but wondering what his reasoning was.

"Rochester is the 'Deaf capital of the US'," Josh explained. "Largest per-capita population of Deaf or hard of hearing people. Most people know basic ASL, and you're more likely than not to find someone signing wherever you go."

"Wow," Maya shook her head, "that sounds pretty amazing."

"I think it would be good for Riley to meet some people who can sign," Josh added. "Farkle and Isadora and Zay are great, but they can't hold a full conversation with her without some things getting lost. It's really just you and Aug in her life that she can talk to."

"We're enough for her," Maya countered. "She loves me and Auggie."

"Maya, I'm not saying she doesn't," Josh agreed. "I'm just saying that she deserves to see if she wants to branch out and find some Deaf friends too."

"In a city that's six hours away?" Maya pointed out.

Josh pursed his lips. "Talk to her about it, for me, please." He reached for her hand and squeezed her fingers. "I think it would be good for her."

As he turned away, Maya's fingers stayed entwined with his until the last second that he pulled away, and she let her hand drop back to her side.

'What's the tea?!' Maya signed excitedly, crawling through the window as Riley met her at the bay window.

'What took you so long?' Riley pouted. 'It's been like an hour.'

'The train got stopped,' Maya lied. 'Minor technical problems - aka stopped for half an hour.'

She had basically run from the fountain to Riley's house after her conversation with Josh, desperate to know how her best friend's first date had gone. She wondered how she could work Josh's request into this conversation later, considering that Riley wasn't aware of Maya and Josh's game.

Riley was oblivious to Maya's internal struggle, as she spent the next half hour signing in great detail and intense expressions how the date had gone, from where they had gone and what they had eaten to how they had communicated and what they had talked about.

'He knew so many signs!' Riley signed with a wide grin on her face. 'We barely had to use our phones. I signed slowly and he finger spelled the signs he didn't know, and I showed him what the sign was for the word. It was amazing, Maya!'

'I take it it was a good first date?' Maya smiled.

'It was an amazing first date!'

'I'm glad,' Maya signed. 'I do have to talk to you about something-' She stopped as Riley's mom yelled from the kitchen that dinner was ready.

Riley raised her eyebrows, noticing Maya's "hearing something" expression. 'What is it?'

Maya put up her finger to say, 'One second.'

"We've got dinner; Auggie, can you grab your sister?"

And then Auggies voice, "Sure, Mom."

A few seconds later, Riley's eyes darted down to a metal wristband Maya had never seen before, and she got up to open the door, revealing Auggie.

'Dinner's ready,' he signed silently.

Maya joined Riley as they headed to the kitchen, and she tapped Riley's wrist. 'What is that?' She signed.

'Farkle made it, it's a 'doorbell',' Riley giggled. 'I'll explain later.'

"Chicken," Topanga said and signed with one hand, as she put the plate down on the table. "I made sure to make it extra weird for your dad; wanna see what he says?"

As Topanga only signed a few words - "make", "weird", "for dad", and "see", specifically - Maya automatically began interpreting, as Auggie's hands rose up to interpret as well. He dropped them, noticing Maya signing, and sat down at his place.

"There's two ways this can turn out," Topanga continued, sitting down at her place. "Either he eats it, or he complains and gets locked out."

'Mom's provoking him,' Riley realized, laughing a little, and Maya spoke her words.

"Yes, I am," Topanga said and signed.

"Dinner!" Cory yelled, entering the kitchen and plopping down at his place. "Oh, everyone's here."

"I made chicken," Topanga said and signed, and everyone leaned in to hear what he was about to do.

He looked around at everyone, looked down at the chicken, a look of fear crossing his face as he looked back at his wife. "Chicken," he repeated in a pained voice, "yum."

Maya signed, 'He's chosen the path of least resistance,' and Riley smiled.

A/N: Guess who didn't fail her history final? (I got an 80, but whatever. A B- is better than a C).

Yep, I'm back, and I don't entirely like this chapter, but I decided to post it anyways, because people want updates! Things will get better, hopefully.

I've decided that Josh and Maya have a 'game' meaning the long game, but it's different here. I'll explain more in later chapters. (But yes, Joshaya is sort of happening!)

I changed my pen name because my boyfriend found my account, and I did not want him reading my fanfictions haha (laughs painfully). My old name was StrawberriesAndIce; new name is KiaFaith. Hopefully he won't find the new name, because ideally he isn't looking - that's what he told me anyways.

(G, if you're reading this, I am breaking up with you :))

I need ideas for how to continue this book, and Petrichor if anyone is reading that! Please review!

Kisses,

C