CHAPTER 6:

LUCAS POV: Riley has now been going to therapy for 4 weeks. I love that she's back. She's smiling, she's happy, she's hanging out with us. It was all I could do when she asked "Do you wanna go grab some ice cream or something?" to not cry when I hugged her. It was so nice to have a confident Riley. Maya and I are still together, and we've had our share of moments. We also had a short fight where she got at me for being "too perfect" and poured her water on my head. It ended when we both cracked up, thinking of when she poured the smoothie over my head in eighth grade. Farkle and Smackle are pretty good, less awkward now I think. I haven't really talked to them much, but Maya and Smackle are talking nonstop to each other. It's like some discovery that they were switched at birth or something was made. They're the best of friends. Which is kind of insane. Maya and Smackle are the best of friends. Not Riley and Maya. What happened there?

FARKLE POV: It was like a somewhat-daily tradition: one of us to enter in the other's room, I would say a message of greeting, she'd tell me exactly how much her life sucks and what a bad person she is. It would almost be amusing to see her pick at every single bad thing about herself and crawl in as deep as that darkness would go...but it's not. Once she was done ranting, I'd tell her how much her life doesn't suck. I'd crawl a couple inches into a few great qualities that she has, and tell her that her greatness overshines the little flaws she has. Riley's been going to therapy for 4 weeks, and it seems to have helped her a lot. Mrs. Matthews told me that Dr. Tenor said after 1 more week, she'll be great to go. I'm really proud of her. We've grown a lot from this, more than we'd ever imagine. Smackle, Lucas, Maya, Zay, Riley, me...we're better than ever. Smackle and Maya have really clicked too. They're the new thing, and Riley and I are the other new thing. Lucas and Zay are still great friends, but Lucas and I have been talking a lot, too. Pretty much everyone loves everyone.

MAYA POV: "Hey, Charming. What are you up to?", I said as I walked in Lucas' room.

"That's a new one. I like it, Cinderella."

"You'll die if you call me Cinderella."
"Will you be the one that kills me?"
"Yep"

"I wouldn't have my death be any other way, Cinderella." I gave a short bowi.

"So then we'd have to have a ball to fall in love with each other?"
"I'll invite everyone!"

"No, Lucas! I was kidding. Please don't…" He already texted somebody.

"Riley's coming!" oh great. Now we can never call this thing off.

It was Friday night, we had our "ball" today in the cafeteria. It was amazing how willing Mr. Matthews was to this idea. Mrs. Matthews was all over it as well. Already a recipe for disaster. Isadora, Riley and I got dresses at Demolition and I heard the boys were all going to be in tuxes. The Matthews' provided the food even though it was just the 6 of us. I picked out the music, and was really excited about it. We knew the boys would be in there already, and the "big reveal" of us would be made when the double doors opened. They'd be standing in a certain order, and so would we. That would give us our partners for the first dance, and we got to choose our partners the rest of our dances. The first song was an upbeat slow dance, and the rest of them were romance-y songs. We lined up and walked in to see our partners. I told Lucas to be on the left, and I was on the left too. But we forgot that we were facing each other, so I was on his right, and he was on my right. I was with Farkle. Riley with Zay. Izzy with Lucas. That thought made me laugh. It may have just been me, but I think I heard her say "You planned to be with me for this dance, didn't you, hunk?"

FARKLE: Maya was my first dance. A great opportunity to talk to her. She laid her head on my shoulder, her arms wrapped around my shoulders, my arms around her back. I liked this.

"What are you thinking about?", I asked.

"I don't even know. Just reflecting on the 6 of us. Our friendship. How far it's come. Lucas and I are in a relationship, Smackle and I are best friends. You and Riley are-" She stopped.

"What are we?"

"You're the one who should know!" She exclaimed.

I started the reminiscing this time. "It still is crazy to me that we're sophomores."

Together we reflected on the past four years. It was a great 4 minutes before the next song came. Riley and I started dancing together for a few dances before Lucas came over and asked if he could dance with her.

RILEY POV: Why did Lucas want to dance with me? Wasn't he happy with Maya? Something must've happened. And it was my fault. Why did I always ruin things?

"How are you doing?", Lucas asked.

"Good."

"Umm...I just wanted to let you know that" it was all my fault. "I'm still here for you if you need. If you need someone to talk to, I can talk. I still feel like I'm not helping anyone with anything, and I just don't like that."

We talked for the rest of the dance and I left him with a small kiss on the cheek when he said "I love you, Riley"

FARKLE POV: I watched Lucas' lips as he said "I love you, Riley." I saw her kiss him on the cheek. I was not paying any attention to Smackle, whom I was dancing with. The question came back to my mind. What are we? What do I want to be? What about her? I took her back for the next dance and asked her.

"What are we?"

"We're good friends."
I can't believe I was saying this after eight years. "Riley, do you want to be my, um, girlfriend?"

She looked in my eyes. "I would." Her lips grazed mine for a moment and we danced the rest of the night.

RILEY POV: Farkle and I have been dating for a whole month now. It's the best thing ever. We've had our more intimate moments, but for the most part it's just helped knowing that things that could be perceived as romantic would be alright to be perceived like that. It made it less awkward. It wasn't stiff and unreal like when Lucas and I tried to date. It was wonderful, comfortable, and real.

School has been so stressful. In Science, Lucas and I are partnered up and we're working on a project on stress relief. Coincidentally, it's the most stressful thing I've ever done. I've pulled 2 all-nighters already, and stayed up until at least midnight working on it everyday. We only have until Thursday (it's Tuesday) to finish it, and we're barely halfway done now. As Lucas and I were working on it in the evening, Farkle came in the window. I really just didn't have time for him at the moment.

"Hey Farkle, wanna help?"

He started helping us, but he didn't know exactly what he was doing. It still was faster since there were three of us, so I appreciated it. He had to leave at 9:00, kissed me, and told me to get some sleep tonight. As he left, I muttered "I wish." Lucas laughed. We both knew we would be here well into the morning.

LUCAS POV: Riley and I decided to go to bed around 5 in the morning, so we got 2 hours of sleep. I ended up sleeping on her couch, because we didn't want to make her parents drive me home, and I'd fall asleep on the way if I walked. I was woken up by Mrs. Matthews.

"LUCAS!" she yelled in a whisper, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hi Mrs. Matthews." I yawned, "Sorry, I ended up sleeping over because we were so tired."

"Well ya better get up before Cory see-"

Mr. Matthews walked in the room right then. His expressions were confused, understanding, and then furious. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?!", he yelled. You can imagine we had a very interesting conversation after that.

FARKLE POV: Riley obviously didn't get the sleep I told her to. Mr. Matthews seemed really pissed off about something, and it was obvious from his lesson. It didn't even relate to history, he just started babbling this nonsense about boys and sleep and Mexico. Lucas tried to raise his hand and Mr. Matthews gave him the most evil glare and moved on. I talked to Riley about it.

"Hey Riles"

"Farkle."

"What time did you get to sleep?"

She tried to shake the question off. "Um..not too late. Got sleep."

I rolled my eyes. "What time, Riley?"

"About 5."

"I'm going to have to put you to bed tonight. You need your rest! You and Lucas both" I stopped there because I saw Mr. Matthews looking at me and totally eavesdropping on our conversation.

"What's up with your dad?", I asked.

"Well, Lucas slept over last night and-"

"HE WHAT?"

"Oh, he just slept on the couch. It was so late and-"

I laid my head back. "Riley, I'm really going to have to put you to bed tonight."

"But our project is"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR PROJECT. I CARE THAT-" I stopped myself, realizing I was yelling. I looked into Riley's eyes and saw them tearing up.

"No, no. Don't do that." I said as I brushed a tear off her cheek. "I care that you're sleep deprived" and let Lucas sleep over. "I'll help you with your project again today, and we'll try to sleep some, too. Okay?" She nodded, blinking back the rest of her tears. I did that. I made Riley cry. It felt awful.

"I love you, Riley."

There was no response.