Maya stood outside of school waiting for Troy. As much as she tried to assure Riley that she was fine to wait alone, the girl stood next to her, clutching her hand. Maya almost wanted to joke that it should be her that was cutting off the circulation to Riley's hand, not the other way around. She knew her role in this situation though, and just dealt with the discomfort. She spotted her mom's car before Riley, and felt her friends shoulders stiffen when she saw it.

"It's okay," She said softly to her friend.

"I have a bad feeling about this, and I want you home with me." Riley told her.

Maya grimaced at that, she wanted to go with Riley too, but that wasn't the reality of the situation. "Your home is not my home."

Riley turned so that she and Maya were looking into each other's eyes, "Yes it is, and it always will be."

"Agreed." Cory said coming up behind them, resting a gentle hand on each girl's shoulders. He hoped that his forced calm would trickle to each girl.

A smile tugged at Maya's lips, of course Cory was close to watch what was happening. "Why am I not surprised to see you here?"

"Me?" Cory asked, turning to look back at the school, "I work here." Maya rolled her eyes at the man.

The car pulled up in front of them, and idled. "He could at least get out." Riley said.

Cory nudged his daughter, he didn't disagree, but still, Troy was an adult. She got the hint and nodded. Cory stepped in front of the girls and walked down the remaining steps to the car. He opened the passenger door for Maya but blocked her path to the car. "Troy?"

"Uh yeah? You her teacher? Did her mom say someone else was picking up?" Troy asked, his tone irritated by the delay.

"I am her teacher, but this is my daughter, Riley, you guys meet last night. It's normally my house that Maya goes to after school." Cory informed the man.

"Well thanks for that, but we are good now." Troy said dismissively, "Maya, get in the car."

Cory bit his tongue, but turned around, "Maya, are we good?"

"Yes, Sir." Maya assured him.

Cory didn't want the girl to go with this man either, but he didn't really have a choice, "Is your phone charged?"

Maya smirked at this, Cory was such a worrier. "Yes, Sir."

"She is good." Troy snapped.

Cory ignored him, "I have my ringer on Maya, and Topanga has hers on as well…"

"And me!" Riley called from behind him.

Cory smiled, "Riley too, and we can come get you. You know we love a Maya sleep over."

"Thank you Mr. Matthews." Maya said, she climbed into the car to appease Troy, she was having to spend the rest of the afternoon alone with the guy, and Riley wasn't the only one with a bad feeling about this.

"I will see you for breakfast tomorrow morning." Cory told her. He didn't look at Maya while he said it, he looked behind her to let Troy know that he was talking to him. Cory shut the door want watched them drive off.

"I don't like this." Riley said.

"Me either, but Katy is in charge here." Cory told her.

"Since when?" Riley grumbled.

Cory knew he should reprimand his daughter, but he didn't have it in him. "Don't let your mom hear you." He said half-heartedly. "I have an idea for how to make this a little better though, wanna come with me?"

Riley's face perked up for the first time today. "Yeah! Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

As he added Maya to their phone plan, and installed all of the precautionary apps, Riley excitedly looked at phone cases. She found two cases, one with purple flowers and one with yellow flowers. She was surprised when her dad was so obliging to buying her a new case as well, and wondered if her mom would say something about their savings when they got back.

When they got back to their apartment, Topanga and Auggie were hanging up 3 empty picture frames on the wall.

"What are you doing?" Riley asked. She leaned into the couch and watched.

"Well, we got Auggie a frame for his art so it can be displayed, and your dad called and said that Maya had drawn a nice picture as well. So I thought maybe you and Maya would like a place for any art you do as well…" Topanga turned around. "Did you guys have success on your trip?" She reached out and Riley walked over and hugged her mom.

Topanga squeezed her and rubbed up and down her arms. "Yeah, we got Maya a phone, and Dad let me pick a case for her and he got a matching one for me." Riley said, pulling the Band-Aid off.

Topanga sensed the shift in her daughters voice, "Let me see." She looked at the case with purple flowers and smiled. "I love it, Maya's looks like this?"

"Yes, but it has yellow flowers." Riley told her, relieved that she didn't say that she should have paid for it.

"I bet Maya will love it. It's nice to get a small surprise sometimes, huh?" Topanga asked, reassuring her that she was okay with the purchase.

Riley smiled up at her mom, "Yeah, thank you guys."

Topanga kissed her head, "no problem honey."

"This looks great!" Cory said, looking at the three frames.

Topanga reached out and opened one of the frames, "And they open from the front, so it's easy to change."

"Good pick guys." Cory praised.

--GMW--

When Maya got in the car, she sat quietly. "That's why you are so spoiled," Troy told her. "Adults shouldn't be asking you if you are okay with something, they should be letting you know how things are going to run." Maya nodded absentmindedly, but did not say anything. "There are going to be rules and structure in your life from now on, no more mouthing off to your mother, or ruling the roost, am I understood?"

"Sure." Maya said softly.

"Hey!" Troy snapped, hitting the seat next to her. Maya scooted closer to the window. If this was day 1 that didn't bode well for them. She wanted to call Cory to pick her up, "You will answer me respectfully!" He snapped at her.

"I understand." She said through gritted teeth.

"When we get back to the apartment, I want you to do your homework at the table, then you can start cleaning the kitchen and working on dinner." Troy told her.

"What did you do all day?" Slipped out before Maya could help it.

Troy nodded, and Maya waited, holding her breath. "When we get home, we are going to have a real heart to heart." Maya nodded, but didn't say anything. The rest of the ride was silent. When the car stopped, Maya went to dart out, but Troy reached out and grabbed her arm, "Go inside, put your backpack away, and sit at the kitchen table." Maya nodded, hoping that he would let go of her arm, that she was sure was bruising. She got out of the car and walked slowly into the apartment. She walked her backpack back to her room, and then walked back out to sit at the table as far away from Troy as possible.

"Alright little girl, let's talk about how things are going to run from here on out." He leaned against the counter, and leveled her with a glare. Maya suddenly remembered that her phone was in the front pocket of her backpack, and felt very vulnerable. She leaned back in her chair, and kept her eyes on the man waiting for him to continue.

"You will come home every day and do the chores and your homework, and maybe if all of that is done you will be able to go out with your friends after. There will be no more of that sassy lip, am I understood?"

"Yes, sir." She told him.

"If you talk back at all, or don't do what I say, then your ass will meet my belt am I understood?"

Maya bit her lip as she nodded. She wasn't sure what a spanking with a belt would feel like but she had to imagine that it would be worse than Topanga spanking her. She watched as he started to pull his belt off, before pointing at the space in front of him with it. "Come here and lets deal with your mouthing off in the car."

Everything in Mayas head told her to run. It was daylight and she was sure that the Matthews would understand her leaving the house without her phone. She stood and almost darted for the door, but her moms desperation from the night before filled her head and she walked slowly towards Troy instead.

He roughly grabbed at her arm that was already sore. "Stand still or it won't stop." With that he let forth a volley of swats hard to the girls backside. Maya tried hard to stand still, but she had never in her life felt such intense pain. She settled for shifting from foot to foot, and it didn't seem like Troy minded, and no matter what the belt found its target of her butt and the back of her legs. She had lost count after 23 and just tried hard to pull herself away from the pain. When he stopped and let go, she crumbled on her shakey legs. "Get up, go wash your face, and get out here to do your homework."

After a moment Maya took a deep breath and stood, on still unstable legs. She walked back to the bathroom and washed her face before taking a quick glance at the angry red stripes that littered her butt and thighs. Worrying that Troy might think she wasn't listening, she went and grabbed her phone and her homework before she went back out to the kitchen. Maya was surprised to see Troy sitting at the table on his phone.

"If you need any help, ask me. I didn't do the best in school, but we can look up together if I can't help you." His tone was the softest that she had heard it and that confused her all the more as she sat down to do her work. It took her a little while longer to get through because she was so distracted by her aching legs mostly, but eventually the work was done. "Do you want me to look over any of it or do you feel good?"

"I think it's okay." Maya told him.

"Alright put your homework away then there are some dishes in the sink I want you to do and then you and I can decide what to make for dinner." Troy told her.

"The cupboards are pretty empty." Maya said on her way back to her bedroom.

She saw Troy standing in front of the fridge that only held alcohol and condiments when she came back out. "Okay, then hurry on the dishes and we will go grocery shopping after."

After the dishes were done, Maya turned around and looked over at Troy, who was standing by the front door. "Let's go."

Maya nodded, walking to the grocery store was not her favorite with her sore backside, but the silence wasn't uncomfortable on the way.

After throwing a few things in the cart, Troy turned to her, "I know you eat breakfast at the teachers house, but do you need lunch stuff?"

"No, I eat at school." She told him.

"Okay, why don't you pick out 3 snacks that you can eat after school or in between classes." Troy told her.

"Really?" Maya asked, surprised.

"Yeah, meet me in the meat section when you're done." Troy told her.

Maya walked up and down the isles unsure about what to pick. After a few minutes she grabbed a bag of pretzels, granola bars and some string cheese before heading to the meat section. Troy was throwing some meat into the cart when she walked up.

After adding a few more things they bought their food and headed out. They headed home and Troy set out some macaroni for her to make, and started putting the food away.

Their dinner was in silence and they watched TV for a little while. Around 9 her mom called and she wished her good night. She told Troy goodnight, and went to shower.

She was just climbing out when her phone started ringing again.

"Hey, my parents are tucking me in and we just wanted to call and say goodnight."

Maya's body truly relaxed for the first time that afternoon. The shower had relit the flame in her backside and she was close to crying already before she had heard her best friends voice. "Hey," she settled for trying to collect herself before speaking too much.

"Are you in bed?" Riley asked.

"I'm just getting out of the shower, but about to climb in now." She put the phone on speaker as she pulled on her PJs.

"Good girl," Topanga said warmly.

God she wanted to be at the Matthews house so badly. She turned off her lights and crawled into bed on her stomach.

"Did everything go okay today?" Cory asked.

"Yeah, I did my homework, the Troy and I went grocery shopping and made dinner and watched some tv." Maya told them.

Topanga knew the girl was withholding something by her tone, "You sound sad, honey is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just miss you guys." Maya said, that wasn't a lie, she couldn't wait for the weekend.

"I missed you too." Riley said, sounding equally sad.

"Are you sure that's all?" Topanga pressed.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"We will see you bright and early for breakfast, Honey, we love you." Topanga said.

After everyone said their goodnights, Maya hung up and cried herself to sleep.