Hello everyone, I am new to writing GMW. I recently became interested in the show and I have not really visited the GMW fanfiction archive yet. I've read a few stories these past two weeks. I am writing this solely based on the idea I have in my head. I do apologize if there is something else out there like this.

I am eager to be here and share my story ideas with you...

Enjoy.

Falling In Reverse: Being a senior in high school is hard. Being a senior with college applications, relationships, and a multitudinous of emotions is even harder.


1 - "Dispersion"

New York City, New York

La Bernardin Restaurant

29 - August

8:23 p.m.

The engaging atmosphere came to a halt and Riley felt herself being figuratively thrown forwards. Slowly, her heart began beating again, she turned her head slightly, and dropped her salad fork onto the wooden table at their favorite restaurant. Their.

Riley stared at him for several seconds before responding. Had she heard him right?

She responded quietly, "Charlie, you're breaking up with me?"

Once the words ejected from her mouth, it started to sink in. Their, would no longer be theirs. It was now a separate entity. His. Hers.

He gave a small, sympathetic smile. He leaned across the booth, and placed his hand on top of hers, giving it a small comforting squeeze. Was he really squeezing her hand right now after he just broke up with her, in public?

She swallowed the lump in her throat and was able to mutter a "Why?"

She picked up her food and pushed the salad back and forth, listening to his overly-prepared, ready-to-give breakup speech. She heard something along the lines of, "I just want to be friends... you're a great girl... It's for the best... I'm sorry. We both knew this was coming."

In fact, she had not seen this coming.

"Riley," He spoke.

"Stop," She withdrew her hand from his and stared down at the salad sitting in front of her. She would not cry. She would not cry. She would not cry. She repeated those words to herself throughout the rest of their silent dinner. Even though there was the rush of people eating, talking, waiters and waitresses bustling between people and cleaning tables, the only thing she could focus on was nibbling on the salad she was no longer hungry for and not letting the tears that brimmed her eyelashes fall.

"Riley," His once soothing voice was now rough and deafening to her ears. She had been so focused on mentally self-talking herself out of a meltdown that she didn't even realized he had gotten the check.

"Miss would you like a box," The way too fucking cheerful waitress named "Angela" asked. Riley was pretty sure she wrote her number on the receipt in loopy letters with a smiley face. That was what most of the waitresses here did.

"No," Riley shook her head no, leaving her barely touched salad on the table. She scooped her coat up in her arms and held onto it tightly.

"We should go," He sighed and held out his hand. Ignoring his hand, she climbed out of the booth and focused on straightening the hem of her dress.

The two walked in silence to his Range Rover. She sat in the passenger seat and stared out the window for the twenty-five minute ride home. The trees and street lamps began to blur together. Maybe they blurred together because of how fast Charlie was driving, or because nature blends in together, or because of her teary eyes. Their whole two year relationship was now becoming a blur. All of the laughs, the sleepovers, the football games, the inside jokes, was now coming to an end.

"Riley, we are in front of your parent's building," Charlie's voice shook her out of her trans.

"Okay," She forced the word out of her mouth.

"Riley, are you going to be okay?" He placed his hand on her arm. She flinched at his touch and withdrew her arm away from.

"Charlie, you drove to the other side of the city to take me to my favorite restaurant to break up with me... what do you think? Riley narrowed her eyes on his. Since he spoke those ear-spitting words, she had avoided all contact as possible. She didn't understand. They were making plans for the future, they were talking about attending college together and filling out their applications together.

"I was trying to be nice," His voice softened.

Riley nodded her head and reached for the handle.

"I'm sorry Riles."

"Don't call me that," Her tone became serious. "I need to go," Riley grabbed her black jacket and slid out of his vehicle. Quickly, she closed the vehicle door behind her and strode to the entrance of the apartment building. She was hoping this was all some joke and Charlie was going to apologize and want to be together. Unfortunately, the reality officially sank in when she heard his engine rev up and he drove away from her, leaving her to her own silence.

Instead of taking the elevator, Riley let her sorrows sink in by taking the stairs to her apartment. It was a lot of stairs and she had a lot of tears to cry before she entered into the apartment where her parents were not going to let her presence go unnoticed.

...

"Hey, honey, how was your date," Topanga withdrew from Cory's arms and asked when the door opened. It was going to be a kid's free night since Auggie was spending the night at his friend's house for a birthday party and Riley was out with Charlie. However, Riley was home earlier than expected. Normally on the weekends she spent with her friends into the late hours of the night.

"I don't want to talk about it," Riley muttered. Quickly, she walked passed the furniture and made a direct line towards her bedroom.

Cory and Topanga gave each other looks. "I've got this one," Topanga spoke to Cory. Quickly, Topanga jumped up from the couch and headed towards Riley's bedroom.

"Riley, what's wrong," Topanga's worrisome voice echoed her daughter's room.

"Nothing, I'm going to bed," Riley answered grimly. Maybe if she emphasized she was going to sleep, her mother would leave her alone. She threw her jacket onto her chair and kicked off her heels in her closet.

Once Topanga was in front of Riley, she could see the heavy tears falling from her daughter's eyes. "Riley, you're crying. What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"Mom," Riley cried out. She took a deep breath and sat on the bed. "Charlie broke up with me."

Topanga blinked a few times before responding to her daughter's situation. "I'm so sorry Riles. Having your heart broken is always the worst feeling."

"You're not helping," Riley rubbed her eyes.

"Okay two things, one, fix your makeup. It's too pretty to be smeared over some boy and I will be right back," Topanga said as she stood up from the bed.

...

Seeing his wife exit Riley's bedroom, Cory stood up, giving her a look of concern. Topanga and Cory had been together so long that they could reach other's facial expression. She gave him a look and shook her head.

Cory nodded his head, understanding what his wife was internally saying. He sighed and sat back down on the couch, turning the television back on. If he got his hands on that boy, he was going to make him pay for both hurting his daughter and for interrupting his date night with his wife.

"I think this will do the trick," Topanga said to herself and walked out of the kitchen, back into Riley's room.

Riley was wiping the smeared makeup off of her face and rubbing the tears out of the corner of her eyes.

"Sweetie, this always makes me feel better when I am having a bad day," Topanga held up out a glass of wine to her daughter.

Riley eyed the wine and eagerly accepted it. "He broke up with me at the restaurant," Riley sniffled.

"Did he give you an explanation why?" Topanga rubbed her daughter's back.

"Barely... it was a shitty one at that" Riley muttered. Normally her mother would scold her for her language, but, this time, Topanga let it go.

"I don't know why he did it. Last week we were beginning the first week of classes, we celebrated my 18th birthday, and we were just talking about colleges and which one's we were going to apply to together. And tonight he said he doesn't want to be with me, I don't understand."

"I'm sorry Riley. I want you to know, no guy is worth this much heart ache. You've just started your senior year of high school. You have so much going for you and don't let one man ruin it for the entire year."

"It's already ruined," Riley sighed, bringing the glass of wine to her lips.

"Is it ruined Riley?" Topanga shot her a look of question as she brought her own glass of wine to her lips.

"It really is. You and dad have this wonderful relationship. You guys were high school sweethearts. You didn't go to Yale because of dad. That is true love mom. I want that and I thought Charlie and I were going to be like you and dad."

"Riley, I love your father, but you know we didn't have a perfect relationship. I want to tell you that things will be okay between you and Charlie, but they might not be. He broke up with you tonight for a reason. Sometimes you have to accept those reasons and move on."

"Whose side are you on?" Riley back away from her mother's touch.

Taking a deep breath, Topanga brought her glass of wine to her lips again. Making her daughter feel better was not going to be as easy as she thought. Where was Maya when she needed her?

"Maybe this is a sign the universe is telling you something Riley. Sweetheart, don't spend the rest of your time in high school hung up on Charlie. You need to focus on yourself and your own needs. That's the point of growing. This is your year to do so," Topanga softly said she she rubbed her daughters' back.

Riley nodded her head and let her mother's words temporarily soothe the wounds she was feeling. She and Topanga finished their glasses of wine in silence.

"I think I'm going to go to bed. It's been a long day," Riley muttered.

"Okay, goodnight. Your dad and I area always here for you," Topanga hugged Riley. "Love you."

"Love you too."

Once her mom left her room, Riley closed to door and did the exact opposite of going to bed. She grabbed her phone and opened her inbox to check to see if she had a message from Charlie, even though she knew she didn't. Sighing in defeat, she checked the next, closest thing: social media.

The first thing to appear on her news feed was the sudden change in Charlie's profile picture. His profile picture changed from them at the Hamptons over the summer to a picture of himself golfing with a few of his other friends. It was purely agonizing to see that he had already changed his relationship on all of his social media accounts.


Brooklyn, New York

Paints & Trays

30 - August

3:30 p.m.

After parallel parking his car in a way too tight of a space, Lucas climbed out the driver's seat onto the busy city. Stretching his arms high above his head, he embraced the New York atmosphere once again. Even though it was total chaos, he missed this place.

He walked along the sidewalk until he stood in front of Paints & Trays, a trendy, popular art store. Decorated in the front exhibit windows were local paintings, sketches, and other postmodernist art pieces. These pieces of artwork were presumably for sale to the public.

As he entered into the store, he was hit with a faint smell of paint, wood, and any other thing that smelled like art. He walked along the aisles, glancing at the different art products. Who knew that there were so many different types of brushes?

He walked down the aisles until he found his way to the other side of the store where the cash registers were located.

Standing behind the counter was a shorter woman with long blond hair wearing a red apron with paint splatters all over the front of it. The employee was a woman he recognized all too well.

"Maya?" Lucas questioned as he walked closer to the front of the registers.

The blonde perked up from her sketch pad and met her blue eyes locked with his green eyes. Her eyes scanned the man for a few seconds before widening in realization. She placed her pencil down onto the counter and spoke slowly, "Lucas?" Her voice was questioning.

"Lucas?" Maya spoke again. The name rolled off her tongue.

"Yeah that's me," Lucas greeted her.

"What are you doing here Huckleberry?" She teased. She walked around the sales counter and gave him a hug. It wasn't too often Maya gave out hugs, but she always had a soft spot for the Texan southerner.

"I would ask you the same thing, but I am going to assume you work here?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Well your assumptions are right," Maya confirmed.

"Actually, I am here to give this to your boss. My mom sold her a property awhile back and she needed me to drop this paper off here," Lucas said as he pulled a folded white piece of paper out of his back pocket.

After a few seconds, Maya put the pieces together. Lucas's mother was a realtor in the local area and she had recently sold her boss, Anya, another art studio. Anya bought her studio from Lucas's mother. It all made sense now.

"Okay, I'll be sure to leave it for her," Maya took the piece of paper from Lucas's hand and placed it onto the counter behind her. Turning back to face him, she eyed him carefully. It had been awhile since she had seen him. He looked older-there was something to his messy hair, broad shoulders, and rouged facial hair that made him so grown up looking.

"So how long have you worked here?" Lucas questioned, shoving his hands in the front of his pockets.

Maya thought to herself, "Only a few weeks. This summer, I had this sort of apprenticeship with Anya though. I worked in her art studio with her. I learned the trade of the art business, I was able to enhance my art skills and I even sold some of my art. Since she owns this place, she offered me a job throughout the school year here."

"Maya, that's incredible. You've come so far over these past two years," Lucas spoke in astonishment.

"I would say the same about you, but I'm not quite actually for sure what you have been up too," Maya playfully stated. Even though she was being playful, it still stung a bit that Lucas hadn't been in contact with her over the past two years. They had been friends for years and not communicating was something that she couldn't let slide.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Lucas ran his hands through his hair.

"So what exactly are you doing here? And don't tell me that you are here to bring this paper for your mom, because we have already covered that," Maya stared at him intently. Unlike Riley, she was not one for small talk. She wanted to cut right to the chase.

Lucas had no idea why he was so nervous. Maybe he was nervous because he was standing in front of Maya or that he was back in New York or that his life was forever going to change after this encounter.

"I moved back into town last week," Lucas answered truthfully.

"Wow," Maya commented. "What about college?" She was curious. The last time Lucas left, he was so adamant that he was meant for Texas.

"I am attending NYU this fall and commuting from home.," Lucas answered truthfully.

"So why come back?" Maya asked the million dollar question. Lucas left two years ago, so why come back now?

"I have some unresolved business I need to finish," Lucas paused. "And I missed New York," He finished truthfully.

Maya nodded her head because she understood. Oh, she understood.

"Hey what are you drawing?" Lucas changed the subject. He leaned over the counter and grabbed the sketchbook. His eyes scanned the sketch and a small smirk appeared on his face.

"Ranger Rick, so help me God if you do not give that book back to me," Maya shouted in compliance to his actions. He held the book high in the air from her and waved it around. After a few jumps, she resulted in the easier route. She kicked him hardly in the shin.

"Ow," He wailed, lowering the sketchbook back to her hands.

"Serves you right," Maya said, slightly embarrassed about Lucas seeing her sketch.

"Has that someday happened yet?" He teased in reference to her sketch. In response, her cheeks pinked.

"You tell me?" She counter argued back.


New York, New York

Central Park

30 - August

6:33 p.m.

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon to be in Central Park. The weather was nearly perfect with a 70 degree temperature and a nice summer breeze. The grass, plants, and trees were vibrantly green. It was one Farkle Minkus's favorite places to exercise. Two years ago, he began coping with his diagnosis of anxiety. He found he was able to better treat the ailment through running and other mediated forms of exercise.

Today, he was running in Central Park with his long-term girlfriend Smackle. Ever since their academic rivalry and hatred turned into a friendship and that friendship transformed into a real relationship, the two were inseparable. Smackle had been the first person he told about his anxiety disorder. Since his diagnosis, the two exercised vigorously together.

"Okay, tell me," Smackle demanded. She knew her boyfriend well and she knew that he was hiding something from her.

"What?" A grin appeared across his face.

"Farkle Minkus," Smackle hissed.

"Okay, okay. I heard from Maya that Lucas is back in town," Farkle said in between his breaths to Smackle.

Smackle was no longer focused on the running path that was in front of her. She inhaled a large breath and stopped running. "What?" She heaved in between breaths.

Stopping next to her, Farkle wiped the bead of sweat away from his shaggy, brown hair. "Yeah, she texted me earlier telling me. He came into her work, dropping something off to one of her mother's clients and he ran into her."

"You're just now telling me?" Smackle demanded.

"I wanted to get most of our workout in before I told you. I figured you would stop and demand for a further explanation," Farkle smirked in a smug manner. He was rather impressed that his plan actually worked. He wasn't for sure if he would be able to disclose that information from his girlfriend this long, especially since it was big news.

"When did he come back?" She questioned next.

"I don't know. I texted Maya, but she hasn't responded back to me yet. She is still at work," Farkle responded. "I'm going to assume I will get the rest of the answers tonight."

"Does Riley know?" Smackle questioned.

"I'm not sure about that either," Farkle responded again.

"Have you talked to her?" Smackle questioned again.

"What is with all of the questions? You are awfully interested in this subject," He let out a laugh as he stretched his legs.

"I wonder if Zay knows that Lucas is back," Smackle wondered.

"I don't know either," Farkle murmured.

"His presence changes things, huh?" Farkle questioned out loud.

"That it does," Smackle reached for her boyfriend's hand and gripped it tightly.


Thoughts?

Also, A/N: for this story's purpose, Lucas is a year older than everyone else.

Reviews are always encouraged!