A/N: GMW has sort of taken over my life at this point and I'm totally okay with it. So I'm just rolling with the muse. As I was writing "The Second Act" I realized there are other stories I want to tell. So here's one of them: a collection of vignettes and short stories that will be updated as I write them. This collection follows Riley, Maya, Lucas, Farkle, and Zay in the summer between the end of senior year and the beginning of college. Featuring established Lucaya, friendship, and (mis)adventure. I hope you'll enjoy these and let me know what you think!

It was weird. This whole thing was weird. A few short hours ago, they'd been high schoolers. Kids. And then Farkle addressed the class as valedictorian, they shook hands with the principal and received a diploma, shifted their tassels from one side of their caps to the other and now they were graduates. Adults. With two-and-a-half months before they found themselves scattered across the country, pursuing the next stage of their lives. It was their one last summer. One last summer before everything changed. One last summer before jobs and coursework and new friends and internships and adult life. One last summer together because none of them realistically knew where they'd be this time next year.

Mr. Rahmani had offered to have Amit cover her shift. "It's a big day. You shouldn't be working on your graduation day," he told her. But Maya explained she needed the money, that there would be plenty of time left in the night when she left the convenience store at nine. So Mr. Rahmani shrugged and let her work her usual shift, but he had left her an envelope inside the register, FOR MAYA scrawled in his loopy script. It was a card, $20 tucked inside with a note. "Consider it your graduation bonus. Congratulations on your achievement." She smiled to herself. Amit showed up at nine on the dot and by 9:10, Maya had cashed out her register, deposited the envelope of money in the safe in Mr. Rahmani's office, clocked out, and gone to the bathroom to ditch her jeans for the red sleeveless dress Lucas liked.

Her phone buzzed. A text from Ranger Rick himself.

"You coming to Zay's party?"

"Miss me already, Huckleberry?"

"Always. You're the life of the party."

She grinned to herself as she slipped her phone into her bag and exited the store, walking the two blocks to where she'd parked.

She had taken the car today. The beat-up red Jetta she'd been saving up for since sophomore year. It cost $900, purchased from a twenty-something stoner in Staten Island who was the car's fourth owner. She didn't care that it was crappy. She didn't care that the car had mysterious stains on the front passenger seat or that it carried the faint odor of old cigarettes. She didn't care that the sheet metal on the hood was faded to almost-pink, that the odometer was pushing two-hundred thousand miles. She didn't care that it wasn't as big or as shiny as the blue RAV-4 Lucas received as a hand-me-down when his dad decided to trade up to a Lexus, or that it didn't have leather and seat warmers and a three-pointed star badge like Farkle's graduation present. A car meant freedom. Freedom to leave the city. To go where subways and bus lines didn't. A car meant escape, even if escape was just a trip over the George Washington Bridge and into Jersey. She had taken the car today because it would be easier than taking the subway from Murray Hill to Zay's place in the East Village, then taking the subway again to get home. The drive felt longer than ten minutes. The radio conked out the day after she bought the car and driving was so much more tedious in silence.

Zay's party promised to be the biggest senior party of the year. Every member of the graduating class was invited. Kids postponed their own parties to come. Rooftop, killer views of the East Village, music, and plenty of beer and wine coolers 'borrowed' from his parents' stash. And with seven floors between his parents and them, they were pretty much guaranteed to remain undisturbed. Maya left the car curbside four blocks from Zay's apartment building and walked the rest of the way. She could hear the music blaring as she made it to the fire escape and hoisted herself onto the first step, clambering to the top of the building.

Riley stood to one side of the roof, searching the city skyline and the windows of the buildings directly across from her. Taxis piled up in the streets, crawling and weaving around one another, jockeying for position, sounding their horns angrily. And yet there was some kind of chaotic order to the city that she'd gotten used to. Rochester wouldn't be like this. Rochester would be quiet. She sighed, turning around to glimpse the other partygoers. This wasn't her scene. She knew that. But Zay asked her to come, and her friends were going to be here. The music was too loud and the chips had run out a half hour ago. It was only 9:30 and some of her classmates were already too tipsy to stand up straight. At least they had the good sense to keep away from the edges of the roof, she thought to herself. Charlie had offered her a beer, which she had politely declined. She spotted Lucas hanging out with Farkle and some kids from the basketball team. He had a beer in his hand, which was unusual considering the fact that he rarely drank at parties. And Farkle, who hadn't let a drop of alcohol touch his lips throughout their entire high school career, had decided tonight was his night and downed an impressive quantity of alcohol, which prompted him to act as if he were on a sugar rush. Riley had to smile to herself just a little.

"What're you doing all by your lonesome?" Zay approached, coming to rest beside her. He stared in the same direction as her, trying to pick out what captivated her so deeply.

"Just…waiting for Maya," she answered.

"You do know there's other people here, right?" he questioned. "People we've known for at least four years of our lives?"

"I know," Riley shrugged, sweeping her dark locks to one side. "I just wish Maya was here, that's all."

"You know, you didn't have to come," Zay told her. He didn't sound hurt. In fact, maybe he'd been expecting her to be like this. "You look miserable. And that's not allowed. This is a Zay Babineaux party. Everybody has fun at a Zay Babineaux party!"

She smiled in response. "I am having fun," she insisted half-heartedly.

"You'll just have more fun when Maya gets here," he filled in the rest. She smiled again. "Look, I'm not gonna force you to mingle," Zay began to back away. "All I'm saying is, Farkle's getting pretty hyped up over there. Never seen the little guy so energetic. Lucas could probably use some help wrangling him." He sauntered off to entertain the rest of his guests, leaving Riley alone once more. She didn't hear Maya sneak up on her.

"Hey, Pumpkin!" the blonde greeted. Riley started and wheeled around to face her best friend.

"Peaches, you made it!"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world. Were you standing around waiting for me the whole time?"

"Party can't start without you," the brunette answered.

Maya smirked cockily. "Huckleberry said the same thing. You might be onto something."

"Easy now," Riley urged with a grin. "I'm your best friend, he's your boyfriend. We might be a little biased."

"Still counts," Maya insisted, grabbing the other girl's wrist and pulling her toward the center of the rooftop, where Zay had placed the two 'borrowed' couches and the 'borrowed' table from the building lobby (after paying off the doorman to keep his mouth shut). She dropped down onto the couch beside Lucas, who was tending to Farkle who had, by now, fallen into a half-asleep state. The blond boy didn't seem to notice her presence until she draped a playful arm around his shoulders. He froze, then turned to face her with a grin.

" 'Bout time you showed up," he greeted.

"Easy, Cowboy, I only came for Riley," Maya teased, pecking his cheek. "You're just a bonus."

Riley perched on the arm of the couch and leaned against the blonde. "I was lonely without you."

"Me, too," Lucas imitated, leaning against Maya's other shoulder.

The girl in the middle let out a good-natured sigh and put a hand on each head. "You two are so needy. Why can't you be like Farkle? Nice, quiet…what's wrong with him?"

"He had a little too much," Lucas answered.

"Did not," the genius mumbled, shifting on the couch.

"Whatever you say, buddy," the other boy soothed.

"Maya!" Zay interrupted, wedging himself between Lucas and the aforementioned girl. "Glad you could make it."

"Are you kidding?" Maya gave him a one-armed hug. "Rooftop party? You couldn't have kept me away."

"Always happy to have you. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna make a speech," Zay announced, seizing the remote for the speakers. The music faded. "Ladies and Gentlemen," he stepped onto the table and faced his audience. "I have something to tell you. Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Soon, we'll be shipping out to cities all across the country. I'll be at Navy Academy. My pal Lucas here is gonna be killing it right here in this city at Hunter. Farkle's gonna be off getting some genius grant at some school the rest of us are too dumb to even spell," he paused for the laughter to die down. "Riley, you're gonna be hitting the books in Rochester. And Maya, you'll be painting the town at Cal Arts. Sarah, those business classes at Penn State won't know what hit 'em. Brenda, try not to blow up any labs at Stanford. Darby, you're gonna do great things in journalism at Rutgers. Dave, best of luck at the Culinary Institute of America. And Yogi, congrats on getting that basketball scholarship to Villanova. Who'd've thought? My point is, some of us probably aren't gonna see each other for a while. Maybe not ever again. But we're all friends and we're all here. Tomorrow will worry about itself. Tomorrow we'll be freshmen. Tonight," he raised his beer can and waited for the others to follow suit, "we are kings!"

The partygoers cheered as Zay raised the stereo's volume back to full-blast. Riley glanced at Maya and broke into a broad grin. Tonight, they would be kings.

A/N: So there's our intro. Kind of short, yes, but this is setting up every subsequent chapter. Basically, every other chapter will be various moments throughout the kids' summer. I hope you like it so far. I'll be updating as I go!