Riley was normally one to obsess. Riley was also normally one to be wrong.
I mean, Riley was a straight-A student that could tell you Alexander the Great's entire backstory, but when it came to love, relationships, or anything of the sort, Riley was almost always wrong. Also, she tended to obsess over what she thought was right.
Like, in ninth grade when she was absolutely certain that she was in LOVE with Lucas and that they would get married and have babies.
After three weeks, when Riley had taken down her pictures of Lucas in her locker and decided that the idea was silly in the first place, Lucas told her to meet him at the Amothe park, three blocks from P.S. 118, after he got out of baseball practice. Wow, she thought, maybe I was right after all.
After baseball practice, in Amothe park, Lucas had sat them both down on a bench, looking out over the blue-green pond with a mother duck and her babies swirling round and round, Riley thought that this was their romantic get-together moment.
"Riley," Lucas said, sighing afterward, "I have something important to tell you. Please don't freak out on me."
This is it, Riley thought, he's going to confess his love to me. What Lucas said after that surprised her.
"Riley… I don't- I mean, I do- I like boys, Riley." Lucas said, a nervous look on his face and shaky sound to his voice.
"What?" Riley scrunched her eyebrows. She wasn't against it or anything, in fact, Farkle had come out to the group as gay in eighth grade at the Ukrainian bakery they all loved. Everyone was super supportive and, if anything, the girls were happy to have someone to talk about boys with.
"I'm gay." Lucas smiled, and Riley did too. It must have been hard for him to do that, and Riley was happy that Lucas felt he could tell her things about his personal life. His parents were from the South, Texas, actually, so they might not be the most supportive people.
Riley pulled Lucas into a friendly hug, and that was that.
When Lucas had come out to the whole gang (Farkle literally squealed with excitement), and eventually the school, the art teacher (who was apparently bisexual), helped them arrange a GSA.
That year was a mess.
Now that the kids are all in eleventh grade and the GSA has over 20 members (the largest organization in the school), they've had some realizations.
First, a realization of the whole group: Maya is a flaming homosexual.
Second, a realization of Riley's: Maya looks really attractive with blue hair and black lipstick.
Third, a realization of Lucas and Farkle's: They actually are really, really attracted to each other.
Fourth, a realization of everyone except Riley: We are all super fucking gay.