Changed

Chapter three

Maya's POV:

I climb up the latter and walk along the fire escape, approaching Riley's bay window. I notice it is locked and my face scrunches up in confusion.

Her window is never locked.

She hasn't been the same since Farkle left.

She wouldn't let me or anyone else come see her yesterday. And now her window is locked?

I tap on the glass a few times and Topanga comes into Riley's room, obviously confused of what the tapping noise was, but then smiles when she sees me.

She unlocks the window and opens it.

I climb inside of Riley's room, shutting the window behind me. "Hey, is Riley here?" I ask as Topanga shakes her head.

"No sweetie, she just left. And she didn't seem to be acting like her usual self." She says with a frown.

I run my hand through my blonde hair, "What do you mean?"

"Well, she was dressed differently, and she hasn't been acting like her usual bubbly self. Do you have any idea of why she'd be acting differently?" She asks.

"No, but I'll try to talk to her today." I say as I adjust my bag on my shoulder.

"Okay, thank you. Do you need a ride to school?" I shake my head and give her a small smile. "No thank you. Have a nice day Mrs. Matthews." I say as she smiles back.

"You too, sweetheart."

I walk out of Riley's room, through the living room, and out of the apartment before starting my walk to school.

Time skip to school...

I walk into the building and see a girl dressed in all black standing by Riley's locker. Oh wait, that is Riley.

I walk towards her and give her a small smile, "Hey pumpkin. How ya doing today?"

She turns her head at me and gives me the coldest glare you could ever get from someone, especially Riley. "Shut up you little dwarf." She says as she slams her locker shut and pushes past me, causing me to fall backwards, only to land not on the floor, but in someone's strong arms.

I look up to see that the pair of arms belong to, Lucas. He stands me upright and asks, "Are you okay?" I nod. He turns his attention towards Riley who is about to walk into history.

"What the hell, Riley?" He says to her as she turns around, facing him. She rolls her eyes.

"What do you want freak?" She asks, her voice annoyed and bitter.

"What is going on with you today? Is this because of Farkle? Cause I get it. We all miss him. But him leaving doesn't give you the right to be a bit-" I cut him off when I see Texas Lucas starting to come out. He wouldn't ever hurt Riley, but Texas Lucas has quite the vocabulary.

"Lucas stop. I got this." I step in front of him and look him in the eye, he looks back at me, his eyes full of rage. His eyes begin to soften and he nods.

I turn back to Riley. "Riley, this isn't you. You can talk to me, what's wrong?" I ask, trying to snap her out of it, calmly.

She smirks, which isn't like Riley at all, "Oh Maya. That's where you're wrong. This is me. It just took me a long time to see it." Then her expression turns cold and she glares at me again. "And if you ever talk to me again, or mention that freakle, you are going to seriously, regret it."

She glares at Lucas before turning around and walking into the classroom, slamming the door behind her. I can't help but just stand there shocked at what I just saw and heard. "Maya? Are you alright?" Lucas asks me, placing his hand on my shoulder. I continue to look at the door.

"Riley's gone, Lucas." I say quietly as he pulls me into his embrace. I hug him back.

I look over to see that Zay and Smackle had been standing off to the side and had saw the whole thing.

"What. The. Hell. Just. Happened?" Zay says, shocked and confused.

"That wasn't like bubbles at all." Smackle says as she pushes her glasses up slightly and we all just look at each other, all wondering what is going on with Riley.

Mr. Matthews opens the classroom door and says, "Guys, please come inside the classroom. The bell is about to ring and I need to speak to you guys after class." We all nod, knowing what he needs to talk to us about and walk inside the classroom.

Farkle's chair is empty.

I look at Riley and for a second I swear I saw pain and sadness in her eyes before she looked at me and they turned as cold as ice.

"This is all about Farkle. That's why she is acting this way." I think.

I look at Lucas and say, "Topanga's, after school." He looks at me confused for a second before looking at Riley then at me and nodding.

I look at Smackle and Zay and they both nod, knowing to be there.