twelve - It's A Trual
It was comfortable at the dining table where Debbie Friar, Lucas Friar and Ryan Collins sat at that current evening. Well, at least is was for Ryan and Lucas.
His father worked a late night shift so he couldn't make it to understand Debby and her frustration.
''Are you guys finished?'' She blurts out, pausing the shared laughter the two had.
Looking down at their plates, they had small pieces of rice left over, but it was safe to say, dinner was over.
''Uh, yeah,'' Lucas answers do himself and his friend. He stacks her plate on top of his while her mother stood from her seat.
''Lucas, why don't you clean the dishes tonight?'' She suggests.
''Okay,'' He agrees without hesitation.
''Is there anything that you want me to help you with?'' Ryan offers as she takes a stand as well.
Debby forces a small smile and waves her off. ''It's fine, darling. He'll be done in just a few.''
Nodding her head, she begins to head back down to the basement, but she stops herself. Turning around, she says, ''And, thank you for dinner.''
''Ryan,'' Debby chuckles softly. ''You don't have to keep thanking me, sweetheart.''
Pursing her lips, she nods her head and returns her way towards the basement.
Dropping her soft smile, Debbie Friar lets out a sigh as she heads for the kitchen with her plate and dining utensils.
''Lucas,'' She calls. Her tone was weary, as if the conversation was turning at a serious point. ''We need to talk about Ryan.''
Turning away from the sink, he eyes her with furrowed brows and silently eggs her on to continue.
''I love the girl and all, don't get me wrong, but how much longer is she gonna stay?''
His mother placed a hand on the corner of the counter and leaned into that arm.
''I don't know,'' He shrugs his shoulders. ''Maybe till this weekend?''
''This weekend?'' Her eyes went wide. ''Lucas, that'll be over a week that she's here. Her parent's must be concerned.''
''Parent, mama,'' He corrects. ''And she got into a fight with her dad at home.''
''What kind of fight?''
''A fight where they both need time to cool off from one another,'' He vaguely informs.
''What happened to her mother?''
''Ma!'' He exclaims.
''What?'' She furrows her brows. ''I'm just concerned.''
''I don't think that's my place to say,'' He tells her, setting the last fork in the rack to dry.
She breathes a distressed sigh through her nose, feeling almost deflated. As he walked towards the basement to hang out with Ryan, she stops him by placing a hand on his shoulder and pecking his forehead.
''You're a sweet kid, Lucas,'' She smiles. ''Sunday, she has to go back home.''
× × ×
Ryan Collins and Lucas Friar leaned out from the comfort of their seats in Mr. Matthews class that morning to look between Maya Hart and Riley Matthews. The tension was so visible, so thick, you could cut it with a knife.
''In what ways do human beings resolve conflict?'' Corey questions his classroom.
''Bring in the mama,'' Zay immediately answers. Ryan follows along by adding, ''Or bring in Ryan, me! I can be very convincing.''
''Yeah?'' Lucas nods his head with a cocked brow. ''Like convincing me to watch Teen Wolf and not warning me that my wife dies.''
Ryan narrows her eyes. ''You find out the hard way just like the rest of us, bubba.''
''Or,'' Farkle chimes in. ''They could talk it out.''
''They can go to war,'' Lucas counters.
''Why can't they can't talk it out?'' Farkle questions, his brows scrunched just as furiously together as Ryan's when looking at Lucas.
''They go to war,'' Lucas repeats more sternly.
''Oh, okay,'' Zay stammers. ''You and me against Farkle.''
''Try again trixs rabbit, Farkle and I against you and Lucas,'' Ryan remarks, twisted halfway in her seat to face him.
''They talk it out,'' Ryan repeats loud and clear.
''They go to war!'' Lucas repeats only louder.
Zay slams his hands his desk and exclaims, ''Let's get them!''
Ryan was surprised when Farkle brought out a toy gun similar to the ones stashed in Mr. Matthews desk and pulled the trigger of white ping pong balls towards them.
The were quick to cover themselves.
Giggling, Ryan shakes her head. ''You should've talked it out.''
She reaches a hand behind her to receive a high five from Farkle.
''Many conflicts escalate and do not end well,'' Corey continues. ''The story of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr is a prime example. Anybody know what happened?''
He points to his daughter. ''Riley?''
''Please stop picking on me?''
He furrows his brows. ''What?''
''They had a duel,'' Farkle answered for her. ''Burr killed Hamilton.''
''In 1791, Burr captured a Senate seat from Hamilton's father in law,'' Mr. Matthews explains for those who need the catch up. ''Which launched their rivalry. Then Burr accused Hamilton of publicly insulting him.''
A phone chime went off.
''Riley, no one should be texting you in class.''
''I agree,'' She softly spoke when placing her phone inside her desk. She turns her body haphazardly to face her blonde best friend. ''I don't want you say Rileytown anymore.''
''I like Rileytown,'' Maya exclaims. ''I like you and I like to say whatever I want.''
''What's wrong with Rileytown?'' Ryan pipes in, furrowing her brows.
''Everything,'' Riley scoffs, now turned to look back and forth between Maya and Ryan.
''Now, Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel to resolve their conflict.''
''Maybe, that's what we should do,'' Riley suggest. She looks back at Ryan and narrows her eyes and purses her lips. ''The three of us.''
''Maybe, you want to hear what happened to them first.''
This gave the cue for Mr. Matthews to speak. ''Hamilton believes the duel wasn't morally right, so he fired his pistol in the air. Burr believing he had been shot at, fired at Hamilton and killed him. So why am I telling you guys a story about what happens when you fail to resolve a conflict peacefully?''
Lucas raises his hand.
Mr. Matthews points a finger at him. ''Lucas?''
The blue eyed sandy hair pre-teen looked back at Riley before speaking. ''People get hurt.''
Ryan jerks her head back and made a noise that caused her lips to flap against each other. ''Not even, people die.''
''What do we need to learn?''
''I need to learn how to resolve a conflict,'' Riley pipes up.
''What's going on?'' Cory asks with concern.
Though she remained silent. So Maya answered from her end. ''She thinks I'm a bully because I keep saying something she doesn't like.''
''What, Rileytown?''
Riley straightens her back and folds her hands on her desk, cocking a brow. ''Another bully.''
''Riley, that's not a bully,'' Mr. Matthew confirms. ''A bully is someone who uses power and intimidation to hurt others. There's a big between having a conflict with a friend and having a bully. So don't just throw that word around.''
''There are other words you shouldn't just throw around, either,'' She snaps towards the two.
''What?'' Maya gasped. ''Like Rileytown, the place where you live because you're there right now?''
''I asked you not to, why do we have to keep on talking about this?''
Her voice was frail and her eyes were glossy. Something was wrong.
''Because the most powerful tool in the human being arsenal is the ability to solve conflict with words.''
Ignoring Mr. Matthews, Riley spat out with a hoarse voice, ''You both think that I'm goofy, silly and weird.''
''No kidding,'' Maya flatly let out.
Ryan shrugs her shoulders as her eyes went wide, ''What's wrong with that? It's what makes you, you.''
Maya extends an arms out to her. ''Exactly, you're unique and wonderful. We love it here in Rileytown.''
One strong step out of her seat, Riley angled her body to face the two. ''I challenged you two, to a duel.''
''Okay, you're not really understanding this at all,'' Corey grimaced. His head moves from side to side as he looks at Maya and Ryan.
''Ryan, Maya, please help her understand,'' He begs.
With one glance shared between Maya Hart and Ryan Collins, the girls stood at once and looked back at Riley Matthews.
''We accept.''
Maya cocks a brow. ''Duel to the death.''
''More like a truel,'' Ryan corrects.
Lucas watches the brunette with a smirk. ''What happened to talking it out?''
She broke her neck to look at him as she fires, ''You want in on this?''
''Thank you very much!'' Cory exclaimed with a cringe.
× × ×
Cory Matthews, Topanga Matthews, Zay Babineaux, Farkle Minkus, Riley Collins, RIley Matthews, Maya Hart and Lucas Friar stood in the temporarily coffee shop of Topanga’s, preparing for a battle that was confirmed earlier that day in class.
It was an understatement to say that Ryan did not want to do this, at all. She had just gotten on official good terms with the bubbly brunette, and she didn’t want to ruin her chances of containing that friendship.
Because, best believe if things took turn for the worse, Ryan’s attitude and actions would come out on top. And that’s not how she wants to overcome this battle.
As Zay handed Ryan her cone of ice cream, she overheard the conversation between Maya and Lucas.
‘’Why are you my second, Huckleberry?’’ Maya questions with furrowed brows. ‘’Shouldn’t you be over there with RIley?’’
‘’Well,’’ He looks back over at Riley, his gaze switching to Ryan’s for only a second before he turned back around to Maya. ‘’It was decided that if things get out of hand, I was the best choice to.. Contain you.’’
‘’Then can we switch?’’ Zay chimes in with the raise of his hand. Lucas turns to the two hile Maya watched. ‘’Because I’m too small to contain Ryan.’’
Holding ont her vanilla ice cream cone in her hand, she smacks Zay behind his back with the other. ‘’Man up.’’
‘’Do any of you possibly think you can handle me or Ryan?’’ Maya asks in a tone of feign generosity.
‘’No.’’
‘’Yeah.’’
Zay and Lucas answered that, clearly with two different answers.
‘’But,’’ Lucas adds. ‘’I’ll probably pay for it pretty good.’’
Narrowing her eyes at him, Ryan flattens her lips into a straight line. ‘’Good boy.’’
The boys took a step back while Maya stood on one end, Riley standing by the exit and Ryan standing where the chairs are usually settled, but were pushed aside. It was hard to take the situation seriously when the weapons is ice cream.
The girls had walked up to each other with flat features formed before turning their back to each other. Ryan giggles as Riley asked Maya, ‘’What are you doing?’’ towards her odd motions against them.
‘’I’m itchy.’’
‘’Maya and Ryan,’’ Zay calls, appearing in front of the two so they can see him .’’As the one challenged to this truel, Maya gets the first shot considering this all started happening with her. Then Ryan, all right, and you’ll be taking three paces, turn, and fire.’’
‘’How do you know how to do this so well, Zay?’’ Farkle asked, peering from Riley’s ends.
‘’Well, back in Texas, we call this a Wednesday.’’ Zay went back towards in between Farkle and Lucas while asking aloud, ‘’Ice cream ready?’’
‘’One..’’ Maya, Riley, Ryan and Zay all took one step forward. ‘’Two..’’ And another. ‘’Three.’’ On their final step, Zay had instructed, ’’Turn.’’
He flagged his arm. ‘’Fire!- wait a minute.’’
Ryan made eye contact with Lucas, shaking their heads as they both knew exactly what was wrong.
‘’Something’s wrong.’’
Farkle and Lucas took a step foward to pull him back into their space, where it was more safe.
‘’Oh,’’ He breathed out a smile of relief. ‘’That would have been bad.’’ He flags his arm again and repeats, ‘’Fire!’’
Everyone turns to Maya, as they watched her nostrils flare, her blue oceanic eyes scanning Riley and her nonchalant features before looking down at the ice cream. She looks back up and hands her cone over to Mr. Matthews.
Eyes landed on Ryan, wondering to see what the next move would be, but she was already licking her cone. ‘’Ugh,’’ She grimaced. ‘’Is this expired?’’
‘’This is the best way to resolve a conflict, I have ever seen,’’ Mr. Matthews praises before licking Maya’s cone. ‘’And it’s one day before expired.’’
Ryan shudders after another lick. ‘’Might as well be.’’
‘’Riley,’’ Her mother calls. ‘’Take a hint please so we can all be done with this.’’
Riley narrows her eyes between her two best friends and takes her steps forward, her cone still in tact as she says, ‘’This will be done when you treat me like an ordinary person who nobody notices.’’
‘’Why would we do that?’’ Ryan asks, a mouth full of vanilla flavored ice cream. She took too much for her own good.
‘’It’s impossible to, when you’re a sweet, weird little goofball who we,’’ Maya points at herself and Ryan before continuing, ‘’love you, by the way, just the way you are. Deal with it.’’
It was too late for Ryan to witness Riley’s cone being smushed over May’s features before the brunette came for her and tipped the cone from the pointed bottom and did the same just as she did to the blonde.
With that, she stormed out of the room.
Pulling the cone off of her face, the ball of ice cream fell on the floor just as Maya’s piece came tumbling down as well.
Farkle had approached her with Riley’s towel, handing it to her to clean up her features.
‘’No need to contain us, Lucas,’’ Maya informs as she picks her cone from the floor, bits of ice cream still attached as she walked over to the ice cream bucket to dunk it in. ‘’We are fine.’’
‘’Well,’’ Ryan removed the towel, away from her face, her brows furrowed furiously.
‘’Maya, how can you be fine? You don’t look fine,’’ Lucas interrogates.
‘’Because,’’ She chuckles dryly. ‘’That’s not Riley at all. Something’s really wrong.’’
‘’Mr. And Mrs. Matthews,’’ Maya calls after as she witness them making their way out of the small cafe. ‘’Riley, Ryan and I have a conflict. It won’t teach us anything if you guys step in.’’
Mrs. Matthews looks over at Cory with wide eyes and shrugs her shoulders. He looks back at Maya and nods her head. ‘’Okay. We’re here if you need anything.’’
Ryan walks past them and next to Maya, setting the dirty towel and nods at them. ‘’We know.’’
It took a while for everyone to really settle down, but eventually, the ice cream was cleaned up, furniture was moved back into place and the shop was open again. The group sat in it’s usual spot, with Maya and Ryan seated by the window, Lucas and Farkle on the chairs and Zay sitting on the far end.
Maya was using a fresh towel to clean the stickiness from between her fingers, her features calm. It was as if she looked collective, like the ice cream truel didn’t affect her. Meanwhile, Ryan sat with furrowed brows, her gaze trained on her fingernails that she kept picking on. If Maya wasn’t going to be the one to look affected, then she was.
And Ryan was really confused.
She had a thought after Riley stormed out. A scary one that she hoped wasn’t the case. But she remained quiet, in case there was another reason that Riley was acting up.
‘’Why are you so calm?’’ Lucas asked towards Maya. She looked up from her hands and at him as if, this was really that simple. ‘’Because this isn’t her. This isn’t Riley at all.’’
‘’Well, what could have changed her all of a sudden?’’ Zay ponders aloud to the rest of the group.
‘’This is like when I always used to wear my turtlenecks and then there was somebody that didn’t like that I..’’ Farkle trails off. He furrows his brows, ‘’Oh, my gosh.’’
Ryan sat up in realization as Maya asked, ‘’What?’’
Farkle turned to look at Lucas.
‘’What are you looking at?’’
‘’You guys gots to go.’’
Furrowing his brows, Lucas cranes his neck forward. ‘’What?’’
‘’We need more towels,’’ Farkle abruptly blurts out.
He repeats, ‘’What?’’
‘’Maya needs more towels,’’ He clarifies.
‘’I’m fine.’’
‘’Get her more towels!’’ Farkle exclaims.
‘’Okay,’’ Lucas gives in.
‘’Yes, sir,’’ Zay agrees. He gets up with Lucas and heads for the back. Farkle replaces Lucas spot once he’s gone while Maya asks, ‘’What’s going on?’’
‘’She’s getting bullied?’’ Ryans asks, her gaze locked in contact with Farkle. ‘’Isn’t she?’’
He nods. ‘’Somebody doesn’t like her for who she is and they’re making her feel bad about it.’’
‘’I’m confused,’’ Maya furrows her brows. ‘’Why would she think we would ever do that? We’re her best friend, why is she yelling at us?’’
‘’Because I think she’s trying to get you to hear her.’’
She cranes her neck forward. ‘’Hear what?’’
Ryan was leaned forward, her arms resting on her legs to hold her up. She had her hands folded when looking at Maya. ‘’That’s she’s getting bullied, Maya.’’
Without no further questions, no more thought, Maya knew to take action fast while her friend was hurting. So she got up from her seat and left Topanga’s in an instant.
‘’I have to go hold Lucas down,’’ Farkle tells her. ‘’He’s gonna go nuts.’’
Licking her lips, Ryan nods her head. ‘’I should stay and help.’’
‘’No,’’ He spilled too quickly. ‘’Riley needs as much of her closest friends as possible without going chaotic.’’
She shakes her head. ‘’We’re not that close anymore, Farkle. It’s been a year.’’
‘’They still refer to you as their best friend, hey still include as if you were always their best friend,’’ He chuckles. She was absurd. ‘’And I think you know that.’’
She opened her mouth to protest but no words came out. Maybe, he was right. Maybe the girls didn’t take the year off as a change.
After Ryan got up, she puts a hand on his shoulder. ‘’Thank you, Farkle.’’
On her way out, she exclaims, ‘’Good luck with Lucas! You’ll need it!’’
× × ×
Ryan walked through Riley’s bedroom door, contradicting Maya’s entrance and smiles when she’s the two sitting at the bay window, involved in an embrace.
‘’Awe,’’ She gushed. The girls smiled at her back. ‘’Okay, scooch, make room for me too guys!’’
The girls giggled as she slammed the door shut from behind her and ran over to the opposite side of Riley, including her arms in the hug.
The three delved the silence. Though, the conflict was far from over. A deaf man can sense it.
‘’I called you both a bully and smashed ice cream in your faces,’’ Riley breathes out. She looks between the two. ‘’I’m really sorry.’’
Maya had eyed Ryan, wondering if Riley was forgiven. Of course, the brunette herself looked at Riley and shrugged her shoulders, smiling small and softly. ‘’It’s okay. You were angry and you were trying to be heard. If anything, we should be happy with the fact that you’re comfortable taking it out on us.’’
‘’Are you guys gonna get me back for the ice cream?’’
‘’Oh, absolutely,’’ May perks.
Ryan snickered, taking a hold of her hand to squeeze as she smirks. ‘’Yeah, you’re never gonna see this coming.’’
‘’Couldn’t you tell me just before you were gonna do it?’’ She rushed out.
‘’No, honey, that would hurt my enjoyment.’’
‘’Plus,’’ Ryan tilts her head to the side. ‘’What fun would that be?’’
‘’You know,’’ Maya starts, diverting the conversation back on track. ‘’I’m sorry that I didn’t hear what you were trying to say earlier.’’
Ryan nods. ‘’Yeah, me too. Though, in my defense, I didn’t get much of a chance to really hear you before you smashed ice cream in my face.’’
‘’Well, I will never go at neither of you again.’’
Pursing her lips, Maya straightens her posture. ‘’No, it’s okay, actually. We can take it. Let it all out.’’
‘’I’m fine now,’’ Riley was quick to say.
‘’Yeah?’’ Ryan cocks a brow. Her face relaxes as she shrugs her shoulders. ‘’That’s good then.’’
‘’Rileytown.’’
Riley turned to Maya and snapped, ‘’Stop saying that! People shouldn’t make fun of other people. What did I ever do to you?’’
Ryan and Maya watched as Riley got up from between the two, taking small steps forward.
‘’You exist,’’ She starts with tense shoulders. ‘’You exist, and you’re weird, and you get in the way of where I’m looking, so stop being weird and stop being happy! Nobody should be as happy as you. Stop being who you are or I’m gonna put my foot in your weird, stupid face.’’
Ryan was always one to shut a bully up. Not all words had hurt her. But she knew how sensitive Riley was, and when somebody says that she doesn’t deserve to be happy or who she is, she knows it’ll break her.
‘’Okay,’’ Maya mumbles.
Ryan felt her heart sink when Riley broke down in tears.
‘’I’m fine,’’ She weakly assures them.
‘’I’m not,’’ Maya spoke more stern.
Ryan sniffles back her tears and asked, ‘’Riley, how long?’’
‘’A few weeks. This has been going on a few weeks.’’
There was no eye contact needed where they had their silent communication, nobody needed to nudge one another, Maya and Ryan got up and wrapped their arms around Riley, who cried even harder at the simple touch.
‘’Riles, we got you,’’ Maya assures her as her and Ryan let go. They all sat back down in the same order as Riley continues to explain, ‘’I tried dealing with her. She’s not a reasonable person. How do I handle this? I don’t know how to handle this.’’
‘’You have people that can help you figure this out,’’ Ryan spoke softly compared to her urged tone.
‘’But I thought I was supposed to learn how to resolve a conflict?’’
‘’You have a bully!’’ Maya exclaims.
She cocks a brow. ‘’And I have a conflict?’’
Maya chuckles softly along with Ryan. ‘’You are incredibly screwy!’’
‘’And I’m screwy, and I have a bully and I have a conflict?’’ She breathes out. ‘’What a tough day in Rileytown.’’
‘’Don’t worry,’’ Ryan brings an assuring touch on her shoulder. ‘’We’ll help you through the storm. It’ll be rainbows and sunshine again, we promise.’’
‘’Yeah,’’ She nods. ‘’So, now we know two things. You are going to stay exactly who you are.’’
‘’What else?’’
‘’I don’t think Lucas will.’’
Ryan cocks a brow at them. ‘’Am I missing something? Why is everyone so worried about Lucas?’’
Ryan wasn’t blind, there was always a little thing between RIley Matthews and Lucas Friar, and she knows that he cares deeply for his friends. But why is everyone so scared of him at the moment.
‘’Lucas has a Texas side,’' Maya breathes out. She shakes her head. ‘’And it isn’t pretty.’’
‘’What’s it like?’’
Maya gets and heads for a beanbag in her room. ‘’You’re about to find out.’’ She leans up after picking up the beanbag and demands, ‘’Come, let’s block the window.’’
After spending good five to ten minutes barricading the window, Riley hands Maya a storage cube filled with items.
‘’Okay, this oughta hold him.’’
She places the cube on top of the pile, only for it to come tumbling down when Lucas pushed through.
‘’It probably would have been better if we had just locked the windows shut,’’ Ryan suggests from her comfortable position on Riley’s bed. She pursed her lips. ‘’Just saying.’’
Lucas extends his arms out from his sides and asks, ‘’Why would you not tell me about this?’’
Riley walks up to him and answers while Ryan sat up from laying down, ‘’I should be able to fight my own battles, Lucas.’’
‘’No, you shouldn’t. And you don’t have to, Riley!’’ He exclaims. ‘’That’s the point of having friends! And did you really think there was anything you could put in this window to keep me from helping you?’’
‘’Lucas,’’ Ryan calls him softly. She walks up to him with furrowed brows. Placing a hand on his arm, she nods her head, ‘’I get that you’re mad, but relax. We talked to her and we’re all gonna figure this out.’’
His flared nostrils went down with eased, but his brows were still scrunched. She couldn’t help out notice that his heaving chest went down a whole a lot as well.
‘’We don’t like it when you get like this,’’ Riley puts on a brave front before turning to Maya. ‘’Tell him, Maya.’’
‘’Speak for yourself,’’ Maya hissed. ‘’Ryan, what you do? He’s getting all soft. Quick, Lucas, pick up that bed with one arm!’’
Farkle then entered trough the window, walking over certain items on the floor and said, ‘’Riley, you wouldn’t let me keep this kind of stuff to myself. You think we’re gonna let you?’’
Zay then walked through the door with a bowl of cereal in his hand. He looks up and finds everyone standing in the room. ‘’So what? You guys just come through the window and that's okay?’’
Ryan stood on her tippy toes and raised her hand. ‘’I go through the door, so we’re both oddballs.’’
‘’Well, I don’t like it, it’s impolite,’’ Zay spoke out. Ryan furrows her brows, her eyes evidently switching from Zay down to the cereal bowl. ‘’Oh, and I took some cereal. You’re out of milk.. Now.’’
Lucas slapped his arms against his side. ‘’I don’t think it’s right that Riley’s always the first one to come help us but doesn’t come to us when she needs help.’’
‘’Okay,’’ She finalizes. ‘'I’m sorry. I should have told you, I just didn’t want to put this on you.’’
‘’We’re friends, we can figure out anything,’’ Farkle encourages.
‘’But,’’ Riley begins to counters. ‘’What if you’re dealing with someone who-’’
She was interrupted when her phone chimed. She pulls her phone out from her back pocket and looked at the notification. She looks away and finishes, ‘’Who just won’t stop.’’
× × ×
The group were back at Topanga’s the next day, after school.
‘’I know what Mr. Matthews says is right, but, Riley, if you want me to, whoever this is, I will take care of it for you,’’ Lucas offers.
Riley smiles. ‘’Thank you, Lucas. No.’’
Maya puts a hand on her back and leans over to smile at Ryan. ‘’Riley, Ryan and I got this.’’
‘’Thank you, Maya. No,’’ She repeats.
‘’Okay, good,’’ Zay claps his hands together. ‘’You're gonna face this one down, but how?’’
‘’You know what she sent me? A video of me being goofy Doing the stuff that I do. She's been filming me And now she says she's gonna send it to the whole school.’’
Ryan furrows her brows. ‘’Okay, so, what’s new with that?’’
‘’Honey, what Ryan is trying to say, and I hate to break it to you, but the whole school already knows you're goofy,’’ Maya elaborates.
Riley shakes her head with arched brows. ‘’They don't know everything I do. Neither do you, Maya.’’
Her eyes went wide and she stammers, ‘’What? No yes, I do.’’
‘’Deep in the heart of Rileytown, in the darkest secret corner of Rileytown-’’ Riley takes a quick pause and fixes her postures, her fingers fidgeting against the fabric of her jeans. ‘’I can't believe I'm finally telling you. Once a week On Friday afternoons, when the halls are empty-’’ She turns to the group with a childlike smile, ‘’I have an awards ceremony.’’
Farkle furrows his brows. ‘’I think we know what happened.’’
‘’Somebody caught you,’’ Lucas began.
‘’And that's what she's sending to the whole school,’’ Maya finished.
‘’Sweetheart, that doesn’t sound so bad,’’ Ryan attempted to assure with a small smile, but it look like she was twitching her lip, given that she was already imagining how the scenario were to go down. Playing both the giver and receiver.
‘’Sometimes, I pretend I'm not there to accept, so sometimes French Riley accepts in my place,’’ Riley adds.
‘’Ah, shit,’’ Ryan accidently slips out.
‘’It's bad. It's really bad,’’ Maya agrees with the shake of her head.
‘’Bonjour,’’ Riley mocked for the group, giving them a taste of what it’s like for French Riley.
‘’Somebody doesn't love this?’’ Lucas questions.
Riley turns to Maya and Ryan. ‘’What do I do, guys?’’
Maya turns to Ryan before looking back at Riley, ‘’Uh, you look at your friends. And you realize that no matter how deep into Rileytown you go-’’
‘’We'll all be right behind you,’’ Ryan chimes in. ‘’Always. Now go get her.’’
× × ×
Late that night, Ryan had just texting Riley and Maya, doing a once over on the plan for the next day, where they actually get to confront Riley’s bully. Setting her phone aside, she smiles, ready for her Teen Wolf marathon to continue with Lucas.
He was upstairs in the kitchen, making popcorn and getting the two packs of skittles they bought earlier to mix with their buttery treat. She was happy; Riley was on her way to feeling better, and Ryan felt so belong with her group of friends. She came a long way from where she started from when she first got back, but things have changed. Things feel good.
‘’Lucas!’’ She yells. ‘’How long does it take to get popcorn?’’
She furrows her brows when she gets no response.
She pushes her blanket aside and gets out of bed, heading up the steps that lead right into the upstairs kitchen. Ryan became quieter the more of the conversation she got to hear between Lucas and her mother.
‘’You said Sunday,’’ Lucas prompts.
‘’I bumped into her father today,’’ She tells him. ‘’You lied to me, Lucas. You said that he knew that she was spending her nights here.’’
‘’Wait, hold up,’’ He stammers. ‘’You bumped into him? How did you bump into him when you don’t even know him? Where did you bump into him?’’
‘’At the supermarket. He was on the phone and he mentioned her, saying that Ryan hasn’t been home since the night of the dance,’’ She furrows her brows own at him. ‘’I asked him about Ryan, the one that’s here and he had no clue of who I was or who you were Lucas. Does she even go to your school?’’
‘’Woah, yes, she does, mama,’’ He assures. ‘’Ryan doesn’t like talking about her home life.’’
‘’Why not, Lucas?’’ She sternly questions. ‘’Because if it’s something serious that you know about that needs to involve proper authorities-’’
‘’She doesn’t talk about her home life with me,’’ He softly told her. ‘’I don’t know what’s going on.’’
‘’Tomorrow morning,’’ She states. ‘’She leaves, Lucas. He was worried, he needs his daughter with him if it’s just the two of them.’’
Taking careful steps back down the stairs, Ryan took her place back on the bed and covered herself up with the blankets.
He wasn’t worried, he hasn’t called since she’s been spending her nights at Lucas house. Ryan hasn’t felt more scared to go back home a day in her life.
Well.. Maybe when she first got back. Though, this one felt worse.
Lucas came running down the stairs, his head down in thought as he carried the bowl of popcorn. He looks up and breathes out a smile, his features changing entirely. ‘’Hope I didn’t keep you long.’’
She waves him off, ‘’It’s fine. Look-’’ She reaches over in her bookbag and pulls out a pack of skittles from the sides. ‘’Skittles.’’
Ryan waited for the night to continue to the point where Lucas fell asleep. He’s gotten so used to sleeping in the same bed as Ryan that on her third night there, he doesn’t give his own bed a single glance.
The tv was left on, giving an episode of Bob’s Burgers on Adult Swim. She slides out of bed and grabs her duffel bag and heads for the bathroom.
She switched herself out of her pajama shorts and into a pair of denim jeans, slipping on her Nike slides.
While she was in the bathroom, she began to gather all her belongings. She refused to see morning light in Lucas house for another day. She just witness a fight between them, caused by her. Of all things, she didn’t want her stay to be a struggle.
And as sweet as Lucas was for letting her stay, not telling her about these fights soon enough, she knew she needed to leave faster.
Besides, maybe she was right. Maybe she did need to go home. Maybe things could go right between her and her father, spite how stubborn the two were.
She leaves the bathroom after five minutes and paces back and forth and around the room, taking back her stuff into the bag.
Once she was done, she heads for the stairs. Ryan Collins didn’t take a step up without looking back. She knew it would hurt Lucas to up and leave him so abruptly and with no goodbyes.
But she needed to leave.
Leaving the basement, she closed the door behind her softly.
Ryan made her way out of the kitchen and past the living room, into the mudroom where the front door was. There was a home security system that ran all around the house. She saw Lucas and his mother put in the security code many times when they decided to have long nights out in the living room.
After entering the code, she opens the door and quickly presses the button to set the alarm back up before closing the door.
Ryan Collin's Outfit #1
Ryan Collins Outfit #2