It turns out that staying away from Lucas Friar was going to be more difficult than I had anticipated.

It wasn't because we had loads of classes in common, in fact, the only class we had in common was my dad's history class. No, it was simply because of the fact that my dad was right - I was infatuated with him. Not in the romantic, school girl crush way. Of course not, I had a boyfriend. More like in the awkward, I-want-to-know-him-better way that usually ended in cringe worthy events. Especially for people like me.

"Maya, would it be so terrible if I went against my father's orders just once, got to know Lucas, and then proved to everyone that he wasn't so bad?" I asked my best friend quietly. It was lunchtime and we were sitting in our usual table in the cafeteria. Typically, Farkle would be sitting with us but today he was preparing for a debate against his nemesis, Isadora Smackle. So it was only Maya and I this afternoon, watching the new boy try to find a place to sit for the third afternoon in a row. That wasn't going to happen - every single table was already full. Aside from the one that I was sitting at, of course.

"Yes," Maya answered dully. "Besides, what did I tell you? It wouldn't be fair to Farkle, either. You know, your boyfriend?" There was and edge to her words that I didn't quite understand, but I brushed it off. My head was already messed up enough today, but I promised myself that I would try yet again to figure out what was going on with her tomorrow. Hopefully by then I will have figured this whole Lucas situation out.

I didn't like what she was implying, though - that I had feelings for the new boy. Falling into his lap on the subway had been an accident, everybody who was there would agree. I was naturally clumsy, it shouldn't be such a huge surprise. It could have been worse - I could have fallen into Crazy Hat's lap instead. "I just want to help him out a little. Everyone needs a friend."

"Yeah, well, this Lucas guy seems like the type of person to have more than just friendship on his mind around girls, Riley. For once, something is out of your control. Can't you please accept that so we can get back to our boring, normal middle school lives?" she pleaded.

I shook my head. "No. My parents raised me to always do the right thing, yeah? This is the right thing. I know it." And with that I stood up and walked over to where Lucas was lingering, still looking for an empty table to sit at.

He glanced towards me fleetingly before snickering quietly, almost under his breath. "I thought you weren't supposed to be talking to me?"

So he had heard everything. All right, well, that could be a slight dilemma. "I'm supposed to always do the right thing, too. Do you want to sit with my friend and I?"

He stared at me blankly for a second before snickering. "I sincerely doubt your little friend wants me anywhere around either of you. Why are you talking to me, anyway?" There was nothing malicious about his tone. If anything, he only sounded mildly curious.

A group of kids rose from their lunch table, stepping over and dumping their trays. I glanced over at Lucas, smiling. "Then we can just sit together, then. And well, because, you're new here and I want to help you out, if I can."

He raised his eyebrows before seemingly shrugging it off. "Fine, whatever." He sat where those four kids had just been, gesturing for me to join him. I hesitantly sat across from him, picking at a loose fingernail.

"You left your food over with your friend," he pointed out.

I briefly considered getting up and grabbing my food before shuddering slightly. No amount of food would be worth facing Maya's inevitable wrath so soon. "I'm not hungry." My stomach was feeling weird enough, anyway. Not like I felt sick or anything, just ... something I had never felt before. Something that I didn't quite understand.

"Okay, then. So, if you're basically skipping lunch today, why are you still here? You could be loitering in the halls or whatever New Yorkers do." He had only a faint country accent, almost like he was trying to lose it.

I shrugged simply. "I feel like talking to you. So, go ahead. Tell me stuff." I hoped that I wasn't coming off pushy. The last thing I wanted to do was scare this guy away when I could tell that he needed a friend. Like I said, everyone needed a friend. I could be that friend for him, if he let me.

"I don't know if there's anything about me you would honestly want to know, Riley." He remembered my name. "I'm not exactly rainbows and sunshine, if you get what I'm saying."

I couldn't keep myself from rolling my eyes. "Oh, please. No one around here is all rainbows and sunshine, not even me. I'm used to it by now."

He paused for a moment, keeping his gaze locked on me before looking down at his lunch tray. "It isn't anything worth talking about. What about you? I don't think I know anything about you."

"I'm Riley Matthews," I said, grinning. I wanted to press him for more details, but I would let it go for now. "I've lived here in New York my entire life."

He smirked. "City girl, huh?"

I nodded a bit. "Pretty much."

He shook his head slightly, cracking a small smile. "I'm from Texas. So, I see that isn't something we have in common, Riley Matthews."

It was surprising to see him smile so abruptly. I wasn't used to him smiling very much, which wasn't saying a lot. I had only known him for a few days, obviously. "Apparently not. I've always wanted to live in the country, though. Maybe on a farm. It would be so amazing to be around all those animals."

"You know, I lived on a farm for a few years before I moved here. It was pretty great to be around so many animals. Just not so much when they decided to make most of them supper," he cringed slightly before exhaling. "Your father is Mr. Matthews, right?"

I opened my mouth to respond but was cut off before I had the opportunity to. "That is correct," my dad said, coming up from behind me. "In fact, I've been her dad for fourteen years. Small world, huh?"

I winced internally, reluctantly turning around to face him. "Dad, can you just hear me out?" I asked pleadingly. I wanted him to realize why I was doing this more than anything. He had always taught me not to judge a book by its cover, so why in the world was he so freaked out over Lucas? He should be accepting, like he had always expected me to be.

He shook his head without hesitation. "No, Riley. I told you to stay away from this boy, and then you go and do this!" He emphasized "this" like I had robbed a bank or something.

My eyebrows furrowed together tightly. "Sit at a table with him? Oh, yeah, you better call the authorities," I snapped, shocking myself. I rarely ever talked back to either of my parents, or anyone, really. Where was all of this coming from? "How did you even find out, anyway? You aren't supervising lunch until Friday."

"How ya doin'?" Maya asked, coming up from behind my dad. Her expression was completely blank, and her tone was a total deadpan.

My face slowly fell as it began to sink in. Maya had told my father. "Oh," I mumbled, unable to think of anything intelligent to say. It felt like the whole room, the whole world, was spinning. It was impossible to comprehend that Maya would have actually done something like this. She was supposed to be my best friend.

"I have a bad feeling about this guy, Riley," she explained, as if that fixed everything. But maybe she was right. Maybe some things could not be fixed.

"Of course you do," Lucas muttered. I had almost forgotten that he was even there, too caught up in Maya tattling on me and my anger directed towards my father. I vaguely considered saying something to him, trying to figure out some way to apologize for my dad and Maya's behavior, before realizing that I could come up with absolutely nothing.

My stomach clenched as I looked back and forth between my best friend and my dad. I had never thought I would see the day where she would choose his side over mine. "I can't believe you guys," I said quietly, my voice barely audible over the loud chattering in the cafeteria. I stood up, brushing right past them.

I wasn't sure where I was planning on going. All I knew was that I needed to get away from them both before I said or did something I might regret. Regrets were definitely not the best thing in the world, and I already had enough for now. I didn't want or need any others.

I distinctly heard Maya's footsteps fast approaching me, but I couldn't even bring myself to care. I didn't have my next class with her, so there was no way she could continue following me, anyway. It wasn't like I had anything to lose if I kept walking.

"I couldn't let you hurt Farkle." By now we were out in the empty halls, our footsteps even more audible than before.

I halted to a stop before spinning around to face her. She was still a few feet away from me, her huge black book bag slung over her shoulder. "So instead you hurt me." My voice was barely a whisper now as I came to the conclusion that she had hurt me. A lot.

"I had to make a choice," she said quietly.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "So you chose ratting me out to my father instead of allowing me to be nice to someone? How would me having a friendship with Lucas Friar hurt Farkle, anyway?"

She rolled her eyes. "You seriously don't get it? Lucas is the type of guy that would make Farkle feel threatened. I don't want him to feel that way, and if you honestly care about your boyfriend, you don't, either."

"Of course I care about him," I snapped. Wow, I was snapping a lot today. "But if the roles were reversed, there's no way I would have told on you."

She laughed humorlessly. "It isn't like you have the option of tattling to either of my parents. Neither of them are ever around."

"That doesn't even have anything to do with this and you know it. How could you do this? You're supposed to be my best friend! You're supposed to be there for me and accept my decisions, even if they could be mistakes in the future. That's what I do for you all the time. It isn't fair that this is suddenly one-sided."

"It isn't fair that you're dating someone you don't even like!"

I paused for a long moment, mulling over her words. "... You're jealous, aren't you?" The thought of Maya liking Farkle as more than a friend had never once occurred to me. She had shot him down even more often than I had, always acting like she would prefer hanging around an ax murderer than him.

But maybe I had been wrong all along. And if I was finally right, that would mean that everything would make sense. Her bitterness and her attitude around me lately, why she was seemingly so obsessed with protecting his feelings and pushing me away from Lucas. All of it.

She paused, too, even longer than I had. Her expression was totally emotionless again when she answered, "Maybe I am."

I bit my bottom lip hard, taking another step away from her. My best friend had feelings for my boyfriend. It was a hard thing to even begin to comprehend. "That's still no excuse for what you did. You're letting a boy come in between our friendship, Maya."

"No, Riley. That isn't what I'm doing. I'm just protecting another friend, because see, think about this. If I walked up to Lucas Friar and started hitting on him, you would feel jealous, wouldn't you? Especially if he flirted back. For the first time ever, Riley Matthews would feel envious."

I blinked slowly, shaking my head. "I don't like him. I haven't known him long enough." I had only had a single decent conversation with him, for Pete's sake. I couldn't believe what she was saying.

She shook her head slowly. "That doesn't matter to you, Riley. You like him because he's different. Dark and broken, you're infatuated with him."

She was the second person to have said that, and I was getting tired of it. Even if it was true. I wasn't a big fan of people trying to tell what I felt. It was hard enough for me to figure out how I felt without a million people telling me what they thought I felt. "So what? I'm also infatuated with the color purple, I don't have a crush on it."

She rolled her eyes yet again. "Whatever, Riley. Don't believe me. You'll realize it for yourself eventually. But until then, it isn't fair for you to continue leading Farkle on."

The bell rang then, cutting our conversation short. "I'm not leading him on," I said, speaking louder so I could be heard about the new hustle and bustle.

"Whatever you say, sweetie."

. . .

A/N: I don't own Girl Meets World. Also, what did you guys think? Are you on Riley's side or Maya's? I love hearing what you think, so don't hesitant to leave a review. Thank you for reading!