Shadow Of A Star

Chapter 9

"Hey babe, I'm done. Yup. It was uh- certainly interesting. Can you come pick me up? Uh-huh. Really? I swear, New York drivers suck. Alright, well, did you at least pick me up a pastry? You're an angel. Ok... see you soon." Maya smiled as she hung up the phone. He'd reiterated that traffic was already a nightmare so he'd be a bit longer on the way back, but he was at least bringing her a danish. 

It was nice. Nice to have somebody to depend on. Nice to have somebody who wouldn't judge her for making mistakes. Nice to have a special someone who chose her, and loved her, no matter what. Perhaps she had that with Riley, looking back in hindsight. The problem was that Riley also lived on her own fantasy world, and could be so damn ignorant to what was going on around her.  At least Ethan saw that she wasn't even close to ok half the time. How did her best friend, practical sister, miss that?

"Maya!" She heard a woman's voice bellow from the other side of the hall, making her blood run cold. She knew that voice, recognised it the minute it left the woman's mouth.

"Mom." She whispered, closing her eyes in fear, before turning a marching in the opposite direction.

"Maya Penelope Hart, you stop right where you are!" Maya stopped suddenly, and turned  on her heels to glare at her mother.

"What are you doing here?" Maya hissed, watching the woman in suspicion. She waited for the woman to catch up to her, before crossing arms over her chest. Katie stood in front of her daughter, eyeing her outfit and hair change with an eyebrow raise. Maya narrowed her eyes at the judgemental look, hackles rising.

"I'm here to take you home, and you will behave. Oh, you are so beyond grounded young lady. I'm taking away all your electronics, and your privileges! You are going to stuck in your room until you're-"

"Screw. You." Katie stopped her rant short and stared at her glaring daughter in disbelief.

"Wh- What did you just say?"

"I said, screw you. I'm not behaving for you, I'm not listening to you, and I'm sure as hell not going home with you." Maya replied, her voice rising with each sentence. She felt her blood boiling, how dare she?

"How dare you? I am your mother and you will respect me!" Katie roared, trying to take on the role of the strong parental figure.

"Respect is earned, not given, and you have not earned my respect." She retorted, scoffing at the woman's attempt at being the authoritarian. Katie was gobsmacked, staring at the girl before her that she barely recognised. She and Maya had their tiffs before, but never like this, and never for this long.

"Maya, why are you acting like this?"

"Mom, I spent years of my life looking after you. Dealing with the weird guys you brought home, picking up the pieces when they broke your heart. Whenever you'd drink yourself into a stupor, I'd look after you. Me. No one else. I was always there for you. No matter what." Katie felt her heart drop to her stomach, her ugly past being thrown in her face like it was still fresh. Perhaps it still was, at least for Maya. 

"Maya I-"

"And for what? You never once thanked me for it. And you know what? That was ok with me. I was ok with you missing my art shows. I was ok with taking the subway alone. I was ok with feeding myself every night. I was ok with helping you into bed every other night when you decided vodka would fix your heart rather than a therapist. Because I knew that one day you'd get better. That you'd pick yourself up off the ground one day. But I thought you'd do it for me! Not for some guy! And what hurts the most is knowing if Shawn ever leaves, you'll go right back to the ground. You don't care about me! All you care about is the next piece of ass that tells you he loves you!"

Katy stared at her daughter in utter shock. Her daughter thought that she didn't care about her? Maya really thought so little of her?

"Maya... you really think I don't love you?" Maya let a disbelieving snort.

"Show me any example of when you acted like a mother. That you acted that you loved me."

"I fed you, I clothed you, I put a roof over your head-" Maya threw her hands up in exasperation, and shook her head, pointing at her mother accusatorily.

"No, I did that! I made sure the bills were paid on time! I made sure to feed myself! I bought clothes with money I earned from doing side jobs like washing clothes for neighbours, babysitting, busking, anything anything I could do, so you could pursue your damn acting dream! Me, not you! So how dare you say you did anything for me?" Her voice broke at that, hot tears of frustration rolling down her cheeks.

Katy wanted to fall onto her knees in horror. Gone was her tough mother attitude, because she saw herself for what she was. A mother who hadn't taken care of her daughter. She'd been so selfish, and this is what she had to show for it. Her daughter, her baby girl, was so broken. She tried to be strong but she was falling apart at the seams. Screw Topanga's speeches, she was the screw up here, not Maya.

"Maya... I- I am so sorry." She choked, pained tears rolling down her face. Maya watched as her mother fell apart in front of her, stoically as her heart longed to hug her and tell her everything would be alright.

"You should be." She glared at her mother, a expressionless mask on her face. Suddenly, Cory Matthews came into view, startled by the two women standing in front of him.

"Maya, I... Katy, are you ok? Katy?" Cory cried in alarm as the woman fell to the floor, sobbing her heart out. He quickly ran to her, doing her best to comfort the bawling woman. He looked up at the girl standing above her with a cool look on her face.

"Maya, what did you say to her?" He asked in apprehension, eyeing the teenager like she'd grown another head. Maya prickled under his eyes, and she shoved down any emotion she had felt moment's before.

"The truth Matthews. I told her the truth." With that she turned on her heel and walked her away as her mother dissolved into tears. It took everything within Maya not to turn around, not to fling herself into her mother's arms once more. She needed to do this, she needed her mother to accept the truth for what it was. Everything that had happened, all of it, is because Maya was tired of taking care of everyone but herself. She was just sorry it had taken so damn long.