Abused {Joshaya}

Realisation

Btw this is the next day and Josh is staying at the Matthews for a bit.

Josh's POV

I roll out of bed, not wanting to get up. Still rubbing sleep out of my eyes, I walk into the living room/Kitchen to see Cory, Topanga and Auggie at the dinner table and Riley sat on the sofa impatiently. "What's up Riley?" I ask and she turns to face me, "Maya's late." She states and my eyes widen, Maya's never late to picking Riley up. "Come on, I'll walk you to school." I tell her, she quickly grabs her bag and follows me out the door. We walk in silence for a while until I decide to break it, "Do you know why Maya's late?" I ask, hoping my concern doesn't find it's way into my voice. She turns her gaze to me before lowering it to the ground and sighing, "I don't know, she's changed..." Riley answers before trailing off and seeming to go into deep thought. I leave her alone in her thoughts for a moment before continuing my questioning, "When did she start changing?" I ask, snapping Riley out of her thoughts. Her eyes narrow as she thinks back to when Maya begun acting strange, "3 months ago." She responds sadly. "Oh..." I say softly but then her gaze turns back to mine quickly, "We met up one day..nearly 3 months ago now...She looked like the life had been sucked right out of her. Her eyes were bloodshot and there were dark circles under her eyes. Like she hadn't slept for days and..." She trails off and lowers her head. "What is it Riley?" I ask and she whispers, "She had a red mark on her face...shaped like a hand...and.." "There's more?" I ask, concern all you could hear in my voice now. She turned her head to me sadly before stopping, "You know how she pushes her hair back when she's nervous?" She asks softly and I nod instantly. "She did that and.." I see tears beginning to form in her eyes and she continues, "Her sleeve rolled up slightly..she had a bruise on her arm Josh." When she says that my eyes widen and I clench my jaw while my hands form fists. "Who did it?" I ask quietly but Riley just shakes her head, "I don't know Josh, she grew more distant since that day. At first she would hang out with us but never say anything the whole time, then she began coming up with reasons...or I guess excuses as to why she couldn't come. Now..she just doesn't bother replying and whenever we walk up to her or try and sit near her she just walks away." Riley explains, I look ahead to see that we're at her school. Riley leads me over to Lucas, Farkle, Zay and Smackle who are stood just off to the side of her school. I greet them each in turn, "Howdy, Turtleneck, Babineaux, Smackle."

Maya's POV

I walk to school, it's the first time I haven't gone to pick up Riley. I hope she's ok...I shake my head before turning the corner and the school into view, yep. I'm still going to school. It's the only break I get from David. He's always at the house where I am. Always watching incase I say the wrong thing. I know he's been waiting for me to screw up, so he can keep his promise and make the beatings worse. I start walking to the school entrance when I see Riley..Farkle..Lucas..Zay..Smackle..and..no. It can't be. "Josh..." I whisper sadly before freezing. As soon as I notice his eyes flicker towards me I turn around and start walking away. When I hear footsteps behind me I start running.

Josh's POV

I look past Riley and her friends for a second only to see Maya looking at me. As soon as our gazes meet her eyes widen and I see a flash of...fear. She turns and begins walking away. "I have to go, I'll see you later Riley." I say before walking after Maya. She must have heard me because she begins running. "Maya wait!" I yell before finally catching up to her. I grab a hold of her wrist and she stops only to at me with fear shining in her eyes, "Maya..please.." I whisper but she only shakes her head and tries to free her wrist from my grasp. "Maya...I'm not going to hurt you." I say softly, she stops trying to run off but refuses to meet my eyes. I move my hand towards her face to lift her head up but she flinches back when I do, shocking me, causing my grip on her wrist to loosen. She takes advantage of this and slips out of my grasp before running away.

--Thanks for reading, I'm sorry I haven't updated anything this weekend. I got past my writers block on Friday night but I couldn't concentrate all week because I've had a cold. Still do, but I'm gonna have to concentrate in school so this is good practice XD 🤷🏻‍♀️. Anyways, hope you enjoyed, let me know what you thought of this chapter and have a great day!--