A/N: Hello everybody! Thanks for everyone who read and reviewed last chapter, they really made me smile. This story is getting a bit more interesting now, in my opinion since I have a lot in store for later chapters. This chapter may not be the best but the next two chapters will be very interesting. So without further interruption, here is the new chapter. :D
"Thanks Riley, it's just lately my life's been horrible, before today I was always alone, by myself," I thank.
"You were never alone, I was always and am still by your side," Riley responds, her hand on my shoulder.
I smile at that, we both glance at the clock in her bedroom, half past nine in the evening.
"We better get to sleep," Riley says.
I nod in agreement.
Riley kindly let me sleep on her bed but I kept refusing.
"No way Riley, it's your bed meaning you should be sleeping on it not me," I complain.
"Maya, your whole life has been way different than mine, I would always complain about the littlest things while you were facing things that were much worse, you deserve to sleep on my bed, please," Riley answers.
"I'm only sleeping on the bed if you sleep with me or we could both get mattresses and sleep next to each other," I command.
"Fine, I'll get the mattresses since my bed isn't very big," Riley agrees.
I help her take the mattresses in the storage room and we lay them on the bed, Riley gives me first pick on which blanket but I avoid Riley's favourite blanket, knowing she'd want to chose it.
"You know me so well," Riley chuckles.
"I'm your best friend, of course I do," I reply.
Riley quickly goes to sleep but I stay awake because whenever I close my eyes and am beginning to fall asleep, I dream about being abused again, or my mum pulling me away from Shawn at court and then her bringing me to a room and beating me repeatedly, or John trashing my room, spray painting it and lying to my mum to make it seem that I did it. So I didn't get any sleep. The sun soon rises, I look at the beauty of the birds flying again and the sun wide awake rising, lighting up the whole city, much more pretty than the manmade lights in New York.
Riley soon wakes up and hugs me.
"Hey Maya," she smiles.
I hug her back, smiling.
She looks at my face, not at my scratches or anything my mum had done but ym eyes.
"Maya, have you not slept?" Riley asks.
I bite my lip, I don't want her thinking I'm a baby.
"Did you have nightmares about, about your… mum?" she continues.
I hold back all my pain of the frightening nightmares and stay still and silent.
"Maya, it's okay to show your pain to me, I'm your best friend, I may have not known exactly what was going on at your house but I always knew something was up and wondered about you, frightened. And I know all about you and your fears, Maya. You can tell me anything and I mean it, even if it's something about me, I won't get too offended because I know you don't want to hurt me," Riley adds.
I nod, and lie down, not saying a word. Riley lies down with me and we play one of our childhood games where we would pretend, we were twins and we lived together in an apartment. We would pretend I was older by 10 seconds. We carry on playing until Topanga calls us for breakfast.
I nearly forget all about my mum and my nightmares until of course we have to talk about who takes custody of me, every time I think of the word custody, I don't know why but I think of the word custard.
"Now, in order to make sure Shawn gets to keep Maya, we need to prove he's worthy because Katy has a lot to say about Shawn and how he wasn't in Maya's life until yesterday," Topanga begins.
"Which is why, we need to prove, that Shawn is better by making Maya saying a speech on how she should be with Shawn and make the story of her and Katy sound upsetting and horrific," Topanga continues.
"My wife is clever!" Cory exclaims, kissing Topanga on the cheek.
Topanga blushes, grinning.
"I like that idea but I'm not exactly very good at persuasive writing," I explain.
"Don't worry Maya, you just tell me all the sad info about you and your mum and I'll make it seem as worse as the children begging on the street," Riley answers.
"Well then, it's settled, after we have breakfast, you guys can work on the speech and Cory, Topanga and I will discuss how to persuade the judge," Shawn adds.
We all nod and begin eating our delicious breakfast, scrumptious egg with a side of sizzling bacon and sausages. During breakfast, the mail man comes knocking on the door.
"For Shawn Hunter," the mail man announces, handing Cory a letter sealed into a white envelope.
Wait, Shawn's last name is Hunter but mine is Hart? I guess, my real name is actually Maya Hunter.
Shawn opens the envelope slowly and carefully. He reads the letter, his eyes are wide open and he looks shocked.
"Who's it from?" I ask.
"Your mum. Here, I'll read it out. Hello Shawn, just to inform you be at court in two days at 3 PM sharp, I've hired a very good lawyer by the way so be ready to say goodbye to Maya. And I'll tell you from now, telling the judge I'm abusive is not going to work, I'll tell you from now," Shawn answers.
He lets me read the letter after him reading because she leaves a message for me saying "You're going to regret how you've treated me." However somehow the words fades, which is quite weird so we couldn't put that as evidence.
"So we have 2 days to get ready, so we better hurry up," Cory says.
Riley and I walk to her room and we sit down at our normal seats, by the window.
"So tell me all about your mum," Riley commands.
I nod and begin.
"She didn't want me when I was born, I heard it myself with my own two ears, at first she thought I was adorable and didn't really do anything so horrible to me when I was little but she'd always forget to feed me or take me to the loo, heck, she didn't even teach me how to walk or talk, she was never home and often left me at home if she forgot to hire a babysitter, when I grew older, about eight years old, when she'd come home having a bad day, she'd take it out on me saying it was all my fault, she wouldn't make dinner or breakfast which is why I love the Matthews family, they're like a second family. When I met Shawn, I immediately had a connection with him, he's a kind loving person and I know he'll be the best parent I ever had," I explain.
"Oh Maya," Riley says and hugs me tight, I hug back and we don't let go.
"Maya, I don't need to change anything, it's perfect and from the heart, you just don't believe in yourself," Riley adds.
"Thanks," I reply.
We decide to hang out in her room and play around, we switch on the TV in the living room and watch our favourite show, Pretty Little Liars.
After that, Shawn walks in on, the season finale.
"Sorry to disturb but if Riley wouldn't mind, after you finish watching Pretty Little Liars, I'd like to take Maya on a father-daughter trip for a bit,"
"Sure, I'd love to go, Riley, are you okay hanging out by yourself?" I ask.
Riley nods. "You guys go have fun."
I smile and Shawn and I head to the door.
We say goodbye to the Mathews family and Shawn and I go into his car.
"So where are you taking me?" I question.
"Well, I was thinking to get us ice cream at the park and basically talk and get to know each other better," Shawn answers.
"That sounds simple, exactly what I like, things being simple," I comment.
"Perfect," Shawn chuckles.
On the way to the park, Shawn switches on the radio and he somehow finds out my favourite song and when it comes up on the radio, he switches on the volume.
"How'd you know?" I ask, smiling.
"I know a lot about you," he replies.
I sing along to the lyrics and he even sings with me but in a funny way to make me laugh, which I do.
When we arrive at the park, he gets me my favourite ice cream, without me even telling him.
"That one was a lucky guess," Shawn admits.
I chuckle at that, Shawn's a cool father.
We sit at the nearest bench and I begin talking.
"So tell me a bit about yourself and I'll tell you about mine," I order.
"Okay, well I'll start off by telling you we also have a lot in common, my father wasn't in my life very much, when we finally reconciled, he sadly died and I didn't live with my parents that much, I lived with this man called Mr Turner, I didn't do very well at school and mostly was slacking, I was and still am best friends with Riley's dad, I met the love of my life, Angela at school but she moved to Europe and I was left heartbroken but I met up with her when I travelled to Europe. Before that, I met your mother and we had a baby, which was you," he explains.
"Wow…I'm speechless," I say.
"Now it's your turn,"
I tell him all about my life, mostly about what I told to Riley, I even saw water in his eyes, when I talked about being abused at home, he even holds me tight at some parts and I smile.
After I finish, Shawn stays quiet but then says, "I can't believe you when through all that when I could have helped, I'm a horrible father."
"No you're not, you're the father that I've dreamed of having, except when I was little I thought you were a celebrity and was too busy at concerts," I comfort.
Shawn laughs at me and hugs me.
"Well, it's nearly dinner, I think we should be heading home," Shawn tells me.
"Okay," I agree.
We go back to his car and arrive at the Mathews apartment at half past seven.
"Just in time, I've set the table for dinner," Topanga announces.
We all sit at the table, Topanga's made Cory's least favourite food, Topanga's chicken.
Cory swallows little by little, looking disgusted. Even Shawn looks disgusted.
Topanga's made Riley, Auggie and I some lasagne which's so delicious.
After dinner, I offer to clean the plates.
"You don't have to, it's fine, just go back to your apartment and gets your tooth brush and all the things you need, forgot to tell you that yesterday," Topanga replies.
I gulp. "Umm… I'm too scared to go."
"Don't worry, I'll take Maya," Shawn offers.
I walk with him to my apartment, he holds my hand, when he sees me scared.
He looks at my bedroom and gasps.
"How could your own mother have done this to you?" Shawn asks, near to tears.
"I don't know," I mumble.
He tries to tidy it up but fails in doing so and I just grab two pairs of my pyjamas, my old sneakers, two outfits, my tooth brush and my teddy bear.
"That's the teddy bear, my mum said you use to have," I say, pointing at it.
"I know," Shawn smiles and puts his hand on my shoulder.
A/N: So hope you enjoyed, next chapter will be about the courtroom, so tell me in a review what you'd like to see at the courtroom. See you guys next time! :D