Chapter 1 -

"Maya, did you lock Riley in the closet again?" Corey Matthews stood into the center of his classroom and stared down at the blonde girl.

"Don't look at me. She was catching a ride with you this morning. She said you cried and begged that you needed some father daughter time. " Maya quickly shot back.

Corey started shaking his head. "No no no. She left early and walked with you. Stop trying to cover your tracks. Where is she?"

Slowly the two came to the realization that neither was lying. Frozen with the knowledge that Riley had lied and it had been completely believable.

"Farkle?" "Nope haven't seen her"

"Lucas?" "Me neither."

"Other background people" Everyone began to shake their heads in sync.

"Oh no, what if she's been kidnapped? Being held for ransom. I can't afford a ransom on my salary. Maybe I can sell the house." Corey was slowly started to get louder and more ridiculous in the scenarios that he was imagining.

"Sir" Farkle's hand shot up into the air and then, like usual, he proceeded to continue without waiting to be called upon "maybe instead of freaking out, you should call her phone. I mean we all have phones, and she probably has her on her, because that's the way our generation is."

"For once, I think… I can't believe I'm saying this…weshoulddowhatfarklesaid." Maya didn't know how to process this new world. Riley was lying and she wanted to follow Farkle's ideas. She grabbed her phone from her bag and dialed the number by heart. Her phone lit up with a picture of the two best friends on the first day of school. Maya smiled every time that she saw the picture.

""""You are my Sunshine, My Only Sunshine, You Make me Happy, When Skies are Grey""""

Such a happy song could only be the ringtone of one person. The whole class was silent as they followed the ringing. Out the classroom, into the hallway, up the stairs and all the way up to the old janitor's closet. Maya stopped with her hand on the door but she couldn't bring herself to open it. Lucas stepped up behind her and turned the handle himself. The sight that lay before them shocked everyone.

Riley stood in the closet trying her best to hide behind Charlie Gardner. It was evident that they had been doing a lot of kissing as their lips were red and their hair was very tussled. Everyone stood wide eyed at the scene before them.

Maya couldn't comprehend all that was happening. Riley had lied. Riley was in a closet. Riley was in a closet with a boy doing things that she didn't even know Riley knew about.

Corey couldn't believe that his little girl was in a closet with a boy. She had skipped his class in order to spend time with a boy, in a closet!

Farkle and Lucas both stood frozen with shock.

Riley couldn't believe that she had been caught by her entire class. She and Charlie had only started spending time together a month ago. They didn't want all the pressure or questions from everyone so they decided to keep it a secret, at least until they had answers to give people. So far it had been great. Holding hands under the table, sneaking out to spend time together, and passing notes that no one else knew the content of. It was fun. Charlie had made her leave her comfort zone and Riley was actually doing okay with it. She was enjoying all aspects of being with Charlie.

The rest of the class ran away. They knew something was about to go down, and they did not want to be around for the fallout.

Chapter 2 –

"Riley, this is so irresponsible. I'm disappointed in you." The fact that Riley had been making out with a boy made him sad. It made him miss the good old days of boys having cooties. The fact that she had lied and skipped school was something that he couldn't get passed. He turned and walked back to his classroom. Head down, saddened by the way that his daughter was acting.

Riley walked a few steps in the direction that her father was leaving. She had never seen him this way before. Even when she screwed up, he was always there to help her see things through.

"What have I done? How do I fix it?" Riley's eyes started to tear up.

"It'll be okay honey. Come here." Maya held out her arms in preparation for the onslaught of tears she knew were about to come. Riley flew in her direction but instead of Mayas arms, she went straight to Charlie.

Maya stood there, flabbergasted by this new development as Charlie stroked Riley's back, whispering reassurances in her ear. While Charlie and Riley were focused on each other, everyone else was focused on the two of them. Never in the history of John Quincy Adams Middle School had Riley picked someone else over Maya.

Maya stared at her open hands. It was almost as if she could will Riley into her hug.

"WHAT THE FEENEY JUST HAPPENED? CHARLIE AND RILEY TOGETHER? MAYA AND RILEY ARE SDFVJSNVJS" Farkle lost his cool, luckily Lucas had enough sense to do his job. His job of shutting Farkle up when something shouldn't be said. He was only too slow to react because he was frozen with shock.

Lucas knew that there was something happening between the two since the semi-formal, but he was convinced that it was once sided. Riley was an amazing person who inspired everyone but Lucas knew that they had a much deeper bond. Their unofficial togetherness is what kept him from ever pursuing anything more. He thought he had her tucked away until they were at a time in their lives when it would all work out perfectly.

"Look guys, schools over for now. Why don't we all go home…" Lucas gave a pointed look at Riley and Charlie "to our separate homes, and calm down. I mean, we can't let this little mistake ruin all our relationships with each other."

Everyone nodded their heads, knowing that their connection to each other was the most important thing. They started to walk to the exit when Riley suddenly stopped.

"Wait a minute. What mistake?"

"Well, all the ones that you've made. Kissing Charlie, not hugging Maya, wearing that shit with those shoes…." Farkle was starting to list more but for once he noticed that everyone was staring at him with their mouths agape. "But you know. We all make mistakes"

Now the tears really did start and Riley ran away as fast as she could. Three of the four present took a step to go after her while Farkle took a step back to look at the situation.