It's another Monday at school. The only positive about today is that Riley is finally back to help me cope with the monotony of boring structure. I've heard whispers about her return, with some going as far to suggest that she's been in rehab all week. I quickly set that straight with my colourful choice of words. It's been harder for her to deal with our friends. She has never been able to lie and going so far as to hide something so major must be torturous.
"Where have you been?" Farkle asks her, wrapping her in his arms, "Your dad told me I couldn't see you until you came back, and then he said he didn't know when you'd be coming back. I missed you!"
"I missed you, too," She says flatly, skirting away from him to receive hugs from Lucas and Zay.
Zay smiles at her, "Things have been dark without you around, sunshine."
"Aww, did you miss me too?" Riley beams, hugging him again.
Lucas raises an eyebrow at Riley as we take a seat outside first period. "Did you lose your phone?"
"No? Sorry, my parents took it from me but it's back now."
"Why'd they do that?" Farkle asks, grabbing Riley's hand and rubbing circles with his thumb.
"Oh, they didn't like me Googling my symptoms, said I'd make myself worse."
Okay, so I guess Riley's been practising her lying during her time at home. I both love and hate to see it.
The bell rings and we make our way in for English.
Later, at lunch, Farkle pulls me aside. His eyes are full of desperation and I can't help but feel sorry for him.
"Maya, can you help me out?"
"With what?" I say innocently.
He rakes his hand through his hair worriedly, "With Riley. She hasn't spoken to me, well, in over a week, and I know that she had her phone because she was opening my messages. Do you know what's going on with her? Please, just tell me if I should be worried."
"I don't know, Farkle. I'm sorry. I think she just needs time, or something."
His face crumples and it breaks my heart, "Did I do something wrong?" His voice is broken and he has tears in his eyes.
"No." I say firmly, "Just don't push her into saying anything and remind her that you love her."
That's what he does. As we sit down in the cafeteria, he slings his arm around her waist and says, "I've really missed you, love." She smiles at this, kissing his cheek. For a moment, I'm convinced that everything will be okay.
The last class of the day is history with Matthews, and it goes on fine, though he is visibly concerned about Riley being back at school. I don't think we're the only ones who noticed his constant glances at her, either. For example, when Riley went to the bathroom, Sarah turned to me and asked if everything was alright with her. To which I responded,
"Yes, everything's fine." Not the best answer, considering my tone, but it shut her up and made her turn back to the worksheet.
But then class ended and Farkle went straight to Cory. Riley turned to me in panic as we both knew what was coming. He didn't go up with his, 'I have a question that I need answers to' walk, nor his 'I actually found a problem in our work today and this is it' walk. It was definitely his newly acquired 'I have a personal matter that involves your daughter' walk.
"Girls, if you would?" Cory says, shooing us away.
"Oh, I don't mind. They can stay."
I stopped watching Riley entirely, staying focused on Farkle as I tried to telepathically communicate the importance of him not saying a word. He didn't seem to hear me.
"Sir, as you know, Riley and I have been together for some time now."
His gaze flickered between Farkle and Riley as his lip raised in discomfort, "I am aware, yes."
"Well, Riley has gotten distant recently and I was hoping that you could help us reopen our communication."
"Well, I was hoping that this wouldn't happen, but I suppose it's an expected reaction."
"Reaction? To what, sir?"
"Dad!" Riley blurts out, her eyes manic as she watches everything come undone around her.
Cory huffs and rests his hands on the desk, trying to understand, "Are you saying that you have no idea what's going on?" He asks Farkle, staring into Riley's soul.
Farkle looks around, "Should I? I-I don't..."
"Okay." Cory says firmly, "Thank you, Farkle, I know exactly how to deal with this. Would you mind coming over, say, 4:30 this afternoon?"
"Yeah, sure, I can do that. I'll see you then, sir, Riley."
Cory nods dramatically and ushers Riley and me out. He doesn't say a word until we get back to their home, and his silence is terrifying. Riley squeezes my hand as we sit on the couch, breathing heavily at the sudden stress of being found out.
"I don't know!" Cory snaps. "You and I will discuss this when your mother comes home. Maya, I'm sorry but this needs to be between us. You are welcome to stay, of course, as it shouldn't take long and I know that Riley needs you." The front door opens and Topanga walks in. "Ah, honey, right on time!"
Topanga grins in confusion, "What am I on time for?" She sees her daughter's face. "Oh, Riley, what is it?" She turns to Auggie and tells him to go play with his friends for a few hours.
"She has some serious explaining to do." And with that, they whisk her away to her room, leaving me dumbfounded on the sofa. I sit in a stupor for a few moments, blinking rapidly as I try to take it all in. I don't even notice when the front door opens again and someone drops onto the couch beside me.
It takes a moment of Josh speaking to me before I register his presence. "Maya, are you okay?"
"When did you get here?"
He laughs, "Just then. Where is everyone?"
I bury my head in my hands and groan, "Riley's in real trouble."
"What happened?" He asks urgently.
"No, sorry, don't panic. It's just... she never told Farkle even though she said she did, and Cory found out today and... This isn't going to go well." I fight the urge to rebury my head. After a moment of contemplation, Josh takes my hand and walks me down to Riley's bedroom, where we sit outside her door and listen in. I loll my head against the wall, trying to breathe normally.
"Riley, what is the matter with you?" Topanga demands.
"Mom!" Riley sounds absolutely shattered.
"Look, I'm sorry. We can go about this calmly." It gets harder to hear as they speak in low voices. I look at Josh, who is squinting his eyes slightly in concentration and he's biting his lower lip.
"Hold my hand," I tell him, and he rests our hands on his knee.
"It'll be fine," He whispers. I'm about to nod in agreement when there's a sudden crash and then sound of glass shattering. Riley cries out as her parents gasp and talk over each other. Josh squeezes my hand to keep me from running in there. "They need to be alone for now."
Topanga's voice is loud enough to listen to again and her words are as sharp as daggers, "You do not need to be in such a state. Now pick up this mess and figure out what you're going to tell that boyfriend of yours."
Mr and Mrs Matthews leave Riley's room, not even acknowledging Josh and me sitting on the floor. They call out to Riley, saying that they're going to head outside for a few minutes, and she had better be ready once Farkle gets here. The anger in their voices cuts me up inside and I can only imagine what it's doing to their daughter. I didn't think I'd see another blow out like this ever since the night of the argument.
"The problem isn't that you didn't tell him, Riley," Cory explains in exasperation as he stands with his hand on the door, "We could have helped you had you talked to us. The problem is the constant deception and lying ever since you found out."
"So, Farkle doesn't know," Josh says quietly, drumming his fingers against his knees.
"No, he does not. And he's about to find out."
"Shit."
"Yeah. Shit."
AN: Happy December holidays to anybody celebrating! Just a heads up that the next chap will be focused on the 'argument' mentioned above, and in a prior chapter. It will be to give some insight as to why Smackle isn't currently still part of their group (and, hint-hint, will give some reason for her to come back because I miss her lol) I've been sat on the next chapter for ages as it was one of the first things I wrote for this story, absolutely ages ago.
In other news, I will definitely try to focus more on Joshaya, as I've done for the last few chapters, and if you ever get sick of reading this Riley-Farkle-pregnancy stuff, please make your opinions heard. I do like having the side-plot, but I'm aware that it keeps drawing focus.
I will also say that there is going to be some really tough drama shit going on with Maya in the near future, and I will preface any 'sensitive' subjects with a before and after note. However, my main concern right now is providing some cute relationship-building moments.
With that said, I hope you're all staying safe and happy, and I look forward to updating through the new year
Elise xx