A/N: Hey, guys. So, I'm posting this story on both here and Wattpad. This is my first multi-chap Girl Meets World 'fic, and I hope you guys like it. Feel free to leave a review with constructive criticism or anything else that you want to say. Enjoy.

. . .

I ran my hands through my dark brown hair messily, glancing around the subway. My best friend, Maya Hart, was by my side per usual, standing with her head held high, though not speaking, quietly tapping her feet against the metal floor. I pressed my lips together tightly, resisting the urge to ask her what was wrong. I knew she wouldn't tell me, anyway.

My eyes eventually landed on a boy who looked to be about a year older than me. His own eyes were practically glued to his smartphone, scrolling past whatever he was looking at what mindlessly. I bit my bottom lip, trying to will myself to tear my gaze away. Nonetheless, something about him completely fascinated me. Messy hair, purple circles under his eyes, dressed in black from head to toe. He put Maya's edgy attire to shame.

I jerked my head towards my blond friend abruptly, raising a single eyebrow. "Do you know who that kid is?" I asked her quietly, thoughtlessly looking towards him yet again. This time, however, I caught his eye. I felt a sort out shiver run down my spine at the dark, almost dead, look in his eyes. Every last one of my instincts were screaming at me to turn away, though I couldn't seem to find enough willpower. Not even when he glanced back down at his phone.

"No, I don't. And Riles, you're staring, honey," Maya said with a light laugh, grabbing me by my shoulders and abruptly turning me around. Her hands dropped from my shoulders at once when I wasn't looking at him anymore, and she had a forced smile on her face. I blinked slowly, confused at the bitterness in her so-called grin. I opened my mouth, about to ask her what was wrong for the millionth time this month alone, though the subway quickly jolted to an unexpected halt. I unintentionally lost my grip, which was holding me up, and tumbled across the subway. I grabbed onto the back of some seat to keep from smashing into the wall, though I lost my grip on that, as well, when the subway started back up again. I stumbled a bit before landing on something certainly ... solid.

I blinked quickly, glancing around somewhat frantically. My breath caught in my throat when I realized that I had landed in the lap of Mystery Boy. Leather Jacket Guy. Purple Circles Dude. Am I getting my point across yet?!

I straightened up almost immediately, my cheeks heating up. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry-" I somehow choked out, smoothing out my blouse and skirt hurriedly. "I'm really sorry," I added for good measure, attempting to stand up.

It wasn't until then that I realized his arms were around me, preventing me from standing back up.

I bit my lower lip hard, hesitantly turning to look him in the eye for the second time today. His purple circles were even darker up close, as if he hadn't properly slept in days. His hair looked like he hadn't bothered brushing it that morning, and his clothes seemed old and worn - aside from that jacket, of course.

"I'm Riley," I blurted out unthinkingly, which only caused my face to warm up even more. Like he would care very much about my freaking name. And besides, why was this quiet boy making me so nervous, anyways? I had a boyfriend. A boyfriend whom I liked, quite a lot, in fact. And whom had always claimed to have feelings for me. I was a lucky, taken girl.

So why wasn't I shoving this guy away and striding back out to my best friend?

He almost cracked a small smile, though it faded as soon as it had appeared. "Lucas," he said, mainly under his breath. I chewed awkwardly on the corner of my lip, forcing a half-smile he didn't return.

I raised both my eyebrows after my failed attempts to get him to show some emotion, gesturing to his arms around me. "Do you think you could ...?" I asked kindly, trailing off a bit. He pressed his lips together tightly, glancing down at me one last time before abruptly releasing me. I stood up, looking back over at him to say something else (what, exactly, I did not know and still do not know) though his attention was already fixated on his cell phone again. Apparently our little encounter had not frazzled him as much as it did to me.

I stumbled back over towards Maya, making sure to keep my balance this time. Her expression looked like a cross between amusement and that same exact bitterness that had not disappeared these past few months. I stuck my lower lip out in a slight pout, the nostalgia for the days where she would laugh at me hitting me hard. Which, I realize, is an extremely strange thing to think, or even long for. Oh, well.

. . . .

I walked confidently into school, my arm around Maya's shoulders. She was grinning a little, which was a definite improvement, but I had the feeling that her smile would be fading away soon enough. That's how it always worked around here, anyway. I wish I had the power to change things, to fix her. She was my best friend; She was my responsibility.

She was my other half. I missed her. Even though she was standing alongside me at this very moment. It didn't really feel the same.

"Ladies," Farkle said, hurrying up to us. I grinned weakly, giving my boyfriend a quick hug before pulling back. My mind was still stuck on the emotionless boy I had kind of met on the subway. I didn't want Farkle, or even Maya, catching onto that. She was surprisingly protective of him, which still came as a shock to me. I supposed she had come to care about him as a close friend or even a brother. but sometimes I worried it might be much more than that.

"Farkle," I laughed lightly, though it sounded forced to my own ears. I quickly cleared my throat, cringing internally. I needed to learn how to control my emotions better. "Are you guys ready to head to class?" My dad, Cory Matthews, was our history teacher; history was our first class of the day. He usually taught life lessons with each assignment. It was a little exciting, knowing that another secret to life was only a few minutes away from being taught.

Maya shrugged, swinging her backpack over her shoulder. "Sure, whatever." I knew that she would never admit it, not even to me, but she loved my dad's lessons. They had helped her through a few difficult situations more than once, they had helped her through the challenge that is life.

We walked to class after that, Maya and Farkle talking about some music video I had yet to see. I didn't bother to feign interest in their conversation, already going off into my own little world. I didn't know why the boy -Lucas, he said his name was- had such a huge effect on me. I didn't like that my all my thoughts were centered around some guy I had talked to for less than a minute. Everything had been so simple before, I had a great boyfriend and an amazing best friend. Why did things had to get all complex now?

"Riley," Maya exclaimed, waving her hand in front of my face. I immediately felt guilty, realizing that if she was waving her hand like that she had been trying to get my attention for quite some time. I snapped out of my gaze, glancing around to get a better grasp on my surroundings. We were already in my father's classroom, and right there, sitting in the seat right behind mine, was -

Subway boy.

"Your friend is here," Maya whispered in my ear, grinning innocently. I felt my jaw go slack and she reached over, impatiently shutting my mouth. "Careful now, sweetie. We wouldn't want you to catch flies," she teased playfully. At least she was in a better mood than she had been earlier this morning.

But still. Subway boy. Sitting in what used to be Farkle's seat, scribbling something in his -you guessed it- black notebook. He was totally off in his own world, not even bothering to pay attention to anything around him. Judging by those purple circles, I wouldn't be surprised if he was half asleep. I knew that my dad didn't tolerate people zoning out during his class, but it had been such an unusual event around here (aside from Maya's faking, of course) he seemed completely caught off guard.

I glanced over at Farkle, about to open my mouth, but he interjected before I could. "No worries, I can just sit behind Maya," he said softly, flashing me a wide smile before plopping down in his new seat. No one ever liked sitting behind Maya, they found her to be too intimidating. That was why the seat behind her had always been empty, ever since Ruby Wilde switched schools. It was too bad; Maya wasn't half as intimidating as people said she was. She could be, sure, but once you got to know her you could tell that it was only a facade to keep people from getting close to her. She wasn't too keen on getting hurt anymore.

Maya raised her eyebrows at me, almost smirking before sitting down in her usual seat. I felt a little idiotic, standing in the doorway, completely frozen in place. My dad, finally snapping out of his daze, gestured for me to go sit down. I stared at him helplessly before taking a deep breath, stumbling over and into my seat. I tried to focus my attention on the blank board in front of me, but it was taking every last ounce of my self control not to turn around and keep my gaze locked on Lucas.

Class passed in a blur, I couldn't even begin to tell you what it was about. I stood up quickly, "casually" turning around to catch a glimpse of the boy from the subway. His eyes were already locked on me as he rose from his seat, as well. I smiled nervously, tightly gripping the back of my chair. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"I could say the same about you," he retaliated, his expression blank. Farkle, noticing our little exchange, stepped over to us. Maya, however, kept her distance. I figured that she was probably just waiting to see how this all would play out, which was understandable. If things got too awkward, I knew that she would fix everything right up for me. That is what we always did for each other, after all.

"You two know each other?" Farkle asked after a few seconds.

Lucas nodded, grinning for the first time since I had met him. It still seemed a bit bleak, though. Almost as if it was forced. "You could say that."

At least he hadn't mentioned the whole me-falling-into-his-lap thing. I knew that it was nothing, but I still felt like it would be better to keep that from Farkle. I told myself that it was simply because of how embarrassing it had been. It was awful enough that Maya had seen it. I didn't need the story getting around the entire school. "We met on the subway this morning," I explained. Maya seemed a little taken aback at my lack of details, as did Lucas, but I kept my mouth safely shut. There was no reason to tell Farkle, anyway.

"Oh," Farkle said, seeming a little more light his usual self. "Well, welcome to this school! I really hope that you like it here," he said politely before leaning over to me, giving me a light peck on the cheek. "I have to get to my next class. See you guys later," he said cheerfully before heading out of the classroom. I breathed a silent sigh of relief, keeping my gaze locked on the tile.

Lucas didn't seem to share my relieved mood. "Wait, so are you two-?" he started, though he was soon cut off by my dad.

"Girls, I need you to stay back for a moment, please." Well, this couldn't be good. It wasnever a good thing when my dad had Maya and I stay behind after class. "Mr. Friar, you ought to get to your next class if you don't want to be late," he added half-heartedly, nodding once at Lucas.

Lucas paused for a moment, so long that I ended up tearing my eyes away from the floor to lock them on his. He was already staring at me, as if he was trying to figure something out, but he quickly looked away once our eyes met. The only thing I had noticed that I hadn't before was that his eeys were green - bright green. They were still blank; emotionless.

He walked out of the classroom without another word, not even bothering to glance back at any of us. I bit my bottom lip roughly, eventually looking up at my dad, who was already watching me expectantly. He sighed when I finally did acknowledge him, glancing over at Maya somewhat desperately. "Help me out here, will you?"

"Nope, sorry Mr. Matthews, but you're all alone on this one." The bitterness was slowly returning in her tone, and even though I could only catch traces of it in her voice now, I was dreading whenever it would become full-blown bitterness. I still didn't know what was going on with her, just that it had been going on for a long time. I couldn't even remember when it had first begun. I only wanted to help her through whatever she was going through, but she wasn't letting me in. There was nothing that I could do.

He heaved another loud sigh, leaning against his desk. "All right. Riley ... sweetheart. You know I love you and trust you very much, but ..."

"Oh, God," I mumbled. "I'm not going to like this, am I?" I asked Maya, already nervously chewing on my lower lip again.

She shook her head right away. "Probably not, no," she answered honestly.

"Riley, I want you to stay away from Lucas Friar," he said quietly. "I know you're a little, er, infatuated with him. It was a bit obvious. And I don't want you getting hurt in any way. I think ... and there's no easy way to say this, but-"

"You think he would be a bad influence on me," I finished for him. I couldn't believe him! After all of those lessons on not judging a book by its cover and accepting people for who they are, he comes around assuming that this Lucas boy would be a negative influence on me because of ... what? The clothes he wears? His lack of perkiness? Maya was exactly like him in that sense, and he had grown to realize that she had more depth than she liked to let on. Why couldn't see that Lucas might have the same potential as Maya?

He nodded, grinning awkwardly. "Pretty much, yeah."

Wait a minute. "I am not infatuated with him!"

Maya snickered quietly under her breath. "Sure you aren't, sweetie. Listen, can you please just tell your dad you'll avoid the kid? The awkwardness is beginning to feel real suffocating."

I didn't want to make a promise like that. Maya was supposed to be able to understand that, to help me through this, but apparently not. Considering the fact that I was a natural good girl, it wasn't like I had much of a choice. "Yes, Dad, I understand. I promise I'll stay away from him," I mumbled, fiddling with a loose thread on my shirt.

My dad's smile widened. "Thank you, Riley. See, that wasn't so hard. Now, off to class, you two. I've kept you here long enough."

"C'mon, Riles," Maya smiled slightly, linking our arms and practically dragging me out of the classroom. I guess that she hadn't been lying when she said that the awkwardness was starting to feel suffocating. She honestly did seem eager to get the heck out of there. I kept my head down while we walked, focusing intently on the floor while I tried my hardest to pull myself together. This wasn't a big deal, he was just some boy I didn't even know.

And never would know, apparently.

Maya skidded to an abrupt stop, causing me to whip my head up. We had been walking for less than twenty seconds, there was no possible way that we were already right outside our next class, so why would she-?

Lucas Friar. He had been standing right outside my dad's classroom. He had overheard everything that he had said, he had heard what I agreed to and how I said I understood ...

It would have been nice to know that his locker was right outside of my father's classroom. Really, it would have been.

"Lucas," I started, not even sure what I was going to say next. I typically had a soft spot for everybody, so that might explain why I felt so terrible. But I had also always followed my dad's orders, even when I disagreed with him. Those two things had never collided before, but now I can tell that my soft spot overruled his orders. This time, at least.

He glanced at me, his expression just as blank as before. I still couldn't help but wonder why it was always so vacant; empty, even. The warning bell went off before I got the chance to say anything else to him, and off he went, already heading to his next class. Whatever that was. He was gone.

I turned to Maya, my eyebrows furrowing. Her lips were pressed together tightly, as if she was resisting the urge to say something. After a moment she seemed to be giving in, pulling her arm away from mine. "I hate to say it, but I kind of agree with your dad. I think you should stay away from him, too. Not just because your dad thinks he would be a bad influence, because honestly, so do I, but for Farkle's sake, too. Farkle adores you, Riley," she said firmly. "I don't want to see him getting hurt," she muttered before spinning around, walking over to her locker across the hall.

Okay. So I was supposed to stay away from Lucas Friar.

That shouldn't be too difficult.