Disclaimer: I do not own Girl meets World or their characters or the TV shows or Books I reference in this story.
Author's Note: WOW thank you guys so much for the love! I'm so happy people like this story so far. I think there is only going to be one more chapter. Oh and a guest wrote they like the story but they are a Rucas shipper and I think it might appear that I'm a Farkle/Riley shipper but I'm not lol. I'm a hardcore Rucas shipper, if you look me up on Tumblr you'd know. However, I LOVE Farkle, I love his friendship with Riley and wanted to show that he's usually the most supportive out of all of the friends without motive. ANYWHO I hope you guys like this. Please review and let me know thank you thank you!
XOXOX
"What is friendship?" She hears her dad ask the class the next morning and Riley has to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Really, this is how he is going to try and save their friendship?! What does this even have to do with history!? They are supposed to be learning about the Holocaust. No wonder teachers think her father is bat shit crazy.
"Maya?" He asks her fondly.
"Friendship is like history...it's going through so many things together and being there for each other." She says softly looking at Riley sadly.
"Samantha?" He asks to make it look less obvious on what this is about.
"Friends are like the family you choose...the people you care about and help more than others." She answers.
"Farkle?"
"Friends are people you would do anything for. Even if it hurts you at times." Riley turns around and she gives him a small smile as he looks at her tenderly.
Riley raises her hand.
"Yes Riley?"
"Can I go to the bathroom?" She asks and he looks at her disappointingly.
"I really think you should stay here. Wait until after class." He replies and is about to ask something else when she raises her hand again.
"I have my period and need to go to the bathroom right now." Riley lies knowing he can't stop her if she says that and stands up to grab her books and back pack.
Just as she is about to leave she looks over at Maya and Lucas.
"Next time, try and talk to me instead of running to my clueless father."
And with that she walks out of class and doesn't come back.
When she goes to the library at lunch she looks at her friends Zoe, Mike, Lucy, and Octavio fondly. They are all sitting at one of the rounded tables with the book "Gone Girl" in front of them.
"Riley!" They all exclaim when they see her and she smiles as she walks near them.
"Alright who's ready to talk about the craziness that is this book and why I'm in no rush to get married!?" She jokes as she sits down next to her friends.
"Oh I am but make sure Zoe tells you what we are doing for Halloween! We are having a old horror movie marathon and you HAVE to be there!" Mike her new friend and Biology partner says excitedly.
These people care about her and value her opinion, why is it a bad thing that she wants that instead of her old friends that never took her seriously?!
XOXOX
After school she walks home and sees her mother and father at the kitchen table looking at her seriously. She supposes she couldn't avoid them and their opinions forever.
"Hey." She says as she puts her bag down and takes out her journal.
"Come here sweetie, we need to talk." Topanga says and moves out the bench for her to sit. Riley sits down wordlessly and looks at her two parents without emotion. Thankfully, she saw this coming and she has some back up.
"Where's Auggie?" She asks them trying to stall them.
"With Ava, but that's not what we are talking about. We need to talk about you and this new attitude." Corey says and Riley looks at him in disbelief and almost humor.
"Why, because I don't like that Maya and the rest of them go running to you to fix their problems?" She asks and Corey looks at her almost hurt. He's probably just upset she's talking about Maya so harshly. After all the poor girl has been through so much.
"That is exactly what we are talking about Riley. This is not you; we want you to talk to us." Topanga says softly trying to get her daughter to open up to her. With that, Riley has had enough!
"I really don't know why I should. I have been trying to get you both to see how miserable I've been for too long and you haven't noticed. For almost two years, you BOTH haven't noticed nor cared about the suffering I've been going through. It's only when Maya comes to you that you drop everything. If you love her so much why don't you be her parents? Oh wait, SHAWN, my Godfather that never gave me the time of day is about to be her new father! Now he doesn't have to pretend to like me, he will have a new step daughter to worry about!
I'm finally happy with how things have been going in my life. I am finding friends that genuinely give a crap about me and not just about me making them happy. I talk to family that don't think of me as a dumb little bimbo that will never amount to anything! I have people that don't look at me like I'm a naive idiot just because I like to see the good in everything and I REFUSE to let you take that away from me! I REFUSE to let you make me go back to being that girl who stays in the shadows while pretending that the world is mine. Because it has never been MINE! It's been yours, it's been Maya's, it's been Lucas' but it has never been mine!" Riley was shouting by the time she was finished with little tears streaming down her eyes as she looks at her parents.
Just as Corey was about to say something, the door opens and Eric and Josh walk in. Riley quickly jumps up and wraps her two uncles into big hugs.
"You ready to go my little Neech?" Uncle Eric asks fondly as he wipes some of the tears from her eyes and she gives a smile at her little nickname. Her Uncle Eric and her can relate so much; too many people look at Uncle Eric like he is an idiot and have been since he was in high school. He keeps telling her not to let people bring her down because that's what he did. He didn't make it in any college so people thought he was stupid when in reality he was more focused on girls and looking good than studying and applying himself and after awhile he started acting how people expected him to. What was the point of trying to make people take you seriously when you thought they never would? It was something he told her he would never let happen to her.
"Yes please!" She says as she grabs her jacket.
"Eric, Josh, Riley needs to stay here; we all need to talk." Topanga says trying to sound stern but her voice crackles as she processes what her daughter just said to her. Has she really been miserable for
that long?! Hoe could she not see it? That's her daughter, her baby girl.
"Sorry Topanga, but I'm over ruling you right now. Riley needs to talk to people that aren't bias over her friends." Eric says seriously to them for the first time in a long time. There were times in his life he resented Corey, Topanga, and Shawn's bond but right now he is glad he never had to deal with the effects if that friendship turned south like Riley is right now.
"We are her parents Eric, we are always on her side!" Corey exclaims and Josh shakes his head at his older brother.
"No...no your not. Go talk to your Amazon Warrior and we will talk to our niece who is amazing at things other than sleeping and dressing nice! You're daughter is a diamond among people and I'm sick of you constantly viewing her as a stone." Josh says to them angrily. He hasn't been able to look at those two after Riley admitted to them her parents told her she is really good at sleeping or that they didn't believe she was a little genius, when she really needed a parent to talk to give her the confidence she was missing. Even if they were joking that's no excuse for them not to see that Riley was slowly falling apart and needed her parents' help.
Right now Topanga and Corey are failing Riley and him and Eric refuse to watch that happen.
Both parents look at the three like they've been slapped. There's no way they overlooked Riley that much...right!?
The two uncles take Riley out of the house without a word.
They don't even hear a word from Riley until she leaves them a note on Halloween with an address of where she was and that she was staying at her friend's Zoe's house. They were so ashamed that they didn't even know who Zoe was.
(November)
Not much changed after the giant blow up from Riley to both her parents and her middle school group of friends. Corey decided that he wasn't doing enough as her teacher and tried to force the group of friends to talk by telling the cafeteria monitor that Riley has been skipping lunch to go to the library so she was forced by the Vice Principal to be in the cafeteria during her lunch period.
Riley knew she was ratted on but she didn't let that bother her or cause a scene like she knew was expected of her. She just would go to the lunch room, sit down with her headphones on and eat her lunch in silence. Farkle would sit down next her along with the rest of the group but she wouldn't say a word voluntarily to any of them for a long time.
They all tried to talk to her. Maya would try and go to bay window but she was shocked to find that her window was locked! What hurt worse was Riley's friendship ring was sitting on the window sill. It broke her heart because it was Riley that wanted her to promise that they would always stick together and yet it was Riley that abandoned her. Her best friend abandoned her, just like everyone else in her life has. She misses her best friend; she's been wanting to talk to her about Shawn proposing to her mom since it happened but she hasn't had the chance. She knows Shawn knows about what's been going on, she's sure Mr. Mathews told him and he is trying to be helpful and supportive to her which she appreciated and yet she couldn't help but notice that Riley had a point about what she said to her.
Shawn never put an effort into knowing Riley, and it must have hurt her to see that someone she's wanted to know her whole life, someone who her parents loved so much chose someone he just met over his own god child. That he left New York almost immediately after she was born.
Lucas has been very quiet since everything happened. For him, this whole situation hurt him more than he could ever describe. Riley was the first person that welcomed him to New York. She was the one that always believed in him. She was the one who said he could be anything he wanted to be whether it be a vet, a bull rider, or whatever; she believed in him and now she can't even look at him. He's had strong feelings for her since they first met; whether those feelings were romantic or not he's always been unsure of. That's why he's been so confused about her and Maya because he cares about them both so intensely; one platonic and one romantic and yet he can't tell his own feelings apart. They are just so strong that not being in her life was killing him. When she pushed her feelings aside so Maya could be happy it just threw him for a loop. He was angry at her for saying she didn't like him; that her feelings weren't as strong as his; that's why he thought maybe it was Maya that he really liked and tried to figure it out. He lashed out on Riley for confusing him; he hurt her more than anyone. It was his fault she ran away from their friendship and he can't really blame her.
He's sent her texts, also tried to go to the bay window to find it locked, went to her front door and nothing. She wouldn't even buzz him in her apartment complex. He started hating himself and even Maya for putting each other in this situation. If Maya didn't admit to Riley that she was starting to like him in Texas, everything would have been fine. In a way, he resented Maya for bringing this drama but he knew that was unfair. Her feelings are her own and she had every right to express them but after everything; he just can't deal with any dating. He stopped flirting with Maya and was slowly starting to become Texas Lucas again. Why shouldn't he, if Riley wasn't around to see the best in him, how could anyone else?
Farkle was the only one that could get even a slight reaction out of Riley. Sometimes at lunch, he would bring her books he's read that he thinks she would like. When he gives them, she will just smile a little and scribble something in her journal. What Farkle didn't tell the others was that he wrote things in the book that Riley would have to see. Just little things like he misses her, he knew about her being in the library and didn't tell anyone, how he just wants her to be so happy because he will always want her to be happy. How she doesn't need to make everyone happy to be the sunshine in his life. He tells her things he should have been telling her their whole friendship.
When she'd finish, she would hand him back the book and say thank you and tell him if she liked it or not. Usually she did, and on some days, Farkle and can even get into book discussions. She never mentioned the notes, but he can tell that she read all of them. It wasn't much, but it was more than anyone else got.
By the end of the month, it was almost time for Thanksgiving and Zoe was telling Riley she was having a Friendsgiving and wanted her to come.
"Oh come on! It's the Friday before Thanksgiving so you won't be missing any family time!" She says and Riley shakes her head at her friend's goofiness. The first day she met Zoe, she came off so shy, but once she let you in her life she was like a hurricane of fun, friendly, and protectiveness.
"Oh you don't have to worry about that. I wish I didn't have to go to Thanksgiving at all." Riley mumbles and Zoe goes somber. She knows her relationship with her family and friends were strained and wanted to help her new friend yet didn't want to push her. She knows that Riley is still depressed over how she was treated and pushing her to them would only make it worse. Riley has become an important person in her life and only wants what's best for her.
"Unfortunately chica you do have to go to Thanksgiving, but why don't you come to Friendsgiving too?! Come on! Ohana! You know what that means!" Zoe jokes and Riley starts laughing.
"I know, I know, Ohana means family and family means no one gets left behind..." She stops and looks at Zoe to finish the sentence.
"Or forgotten!" She says with a giant smile.
Riley shakes her head at her.
"You know that's Hawaiian right? You're Dominican." She points out.
"Ah but Disney trumps heritage." She winks as she stands up.
"Alright you go to lunch, I'm going to the library before Lucy and Octavio start cursing each other in Spanish again over Mrs. McLean's view on Hamlet. Te quiero mucho!" She says before giving her friend a quick hug and walking down the hall.
When she tells her parents at dinner she's going to a Friendsgiving on Friday night, she looks at them and waits for the lecture...
Topanga looks at her husband in a silent communication.
"What are you and Zoe going to be doing?" She asks her daughter softly. She's talking to her own daughter like she was a scared animal; one wrong move and she would bolt. It kills her to know she has to be so careful with her own child. She also knows if she doesn't try and be supportive of Riley broadening her horizons, she will lose her.
Riley shrugs.
"I think it's just going to be all of us eating junk food and watching The 100." She replies and Corey looks at her curiously.
"The 100?" He asked.
"Yeah, we all read The 100 book series but agree that the TV show is so much better, so we watch old episodes on Netflix and watch new episodes on The CW website." She says and Auggie looks at his big sister excitedly.
"Oh sounds cool! Can I go?!" He asks and Riley lets out a laugh.
"Maybe at our next marathon. I think we will be watching old 90's cartoons... I'll tell Zoe, I'm sure she'd love to see you again and you can hang out with Tyler." She tells him and both parents look at their kids surprised.
"Auggie, when did you meet Zoe?" Topanga asks and Auggie shrugged.
"Oh a bunch of times! Zoe has a little brother Tyler at my school, he's a year older and her and Riley will come and walk us home when they can." He tells them and smiles at his sister. He likes Riley's new friends and likes that they include him in his sister's life. There were times that he was really jealous of Maya, but Zoe never makes him feel let out.
It's nice to see his sister happy again.
XOXOX
Riley's Friendsgiving comes and goes and before she knows it, it was Thanksgiving morning. As much as she was dreading Maya, Shawn, and Katy coming over she's happy her Uncle Josh and Uncle Eric promised to be there too. They both have been so amazing to her and she values them as her family. She needs to figure out what she's going to get them for Christmas, but she doesn't want to get ahead of herself.
She dresses up in a pretty deep purple velvet dress and curls her hair to give her something to do. She grabs her journal and writes down a quick passage before she finally goes into the living room to see her dad checking on the turkey while Topanga makes plenty of mashed potatoes.
"Morning. Happy Thanksgiving." She says and both of them turn around and gasp.
"Oh sweetie look how beautiful you look! Happy Thanksgiving!" Her mom says before pulling her in a soft hug that Riley returns lightly.
"Yeah honey you look great. Happy Thanksgiving." Her dad says as the two women break apart and Riley just gives him a small smile.
"Thank you. So when is everyone coming over?" She asks and her parents look at each other.
"A little later. We want to spend some time just the four of us before our house gets overfilled. I was thinking of putting on Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving while we finish up prepping the food." Corey says and Riley lets out a smile.
"That sounds great." She says and she finds out she really means it.
They go and get Auggie and everyone helps get all the food together. They all joke around and fling some food at each other and for once it seems like things are going to be okay.
"Oh Riley, I heard from Mrs. McLean you are getting a perfect score in English. She really admires you and your work. We just wanted you to know we are very proud of you." Corey says to his baby girl and he can see the tears swell into her eyes.
"Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me." Riley whispers and Auggie gives her a giant hug.
Just as they finished the movie, they heard the doorbell and got ready for all their guests. When they all come upstairs she hears her uncles scream her name before pulling her into a hug. It was great to see them and her grandparents.
Shawn and the Harts came in not too long after, which caused some tension because Shawn was clearly on Maya's side and thought Riley was being a brat. He kept making comments about her new life and her new friends but all his jabs went ignored on her part until Uncle Josh told him to back off before he makes him. Riley told him that wasn't necessary. If Uncle Shawn didn't want to get to know her, it was his loss; Uncle Eric and Uncle Josh have been more like godparents to her than he ever was.
Maya and Katy were silent most of the night, clearly feeling out of place for the first time in the Mathew's company. Maya was especially upset that Josh wouldn't even look at her. They were getting a friendship going last time they saw each other but now he looks at her like a stranger. It really hurt because not only did she loose Riley, she lost Josh too.
TBC!