Asher strums another note on his guitar before looking up at his best friend. He couldn't see her, but he could hear her finger drum on the table and the fact that he could no longer hear the sound of her scribbling in her notebook told him all he needed to know.
"Arrêtez de faire la moue."
"Je ne fais pas la moue," Rose responds, taking the pencil from her mouth.
He shakes his head. "Alors pourquoi n'avez-vous pas écrit de notes au cours de la dernière demi-heure?A quoi penses-tu?"
"Pourquoi je suis parti,"
He stops strumming and places his guitar by her bed. "Rose…"
"Do you think I made the right decision. I mean it wasn't that bad."
He growls. "She symmetrically edged you out of your family Rose. You spent seventy-five percent of your time at my place."
It was horrible, Riley was a terror. It started off softly with Riley avoiding Rose, nobody taught anything about it for a while. Until it became Riley not eating if Rose was at the dinner table, Riley not getting in the car for school, Riley throwing a tantrum when they were going to Coney Island, there grandparents house, any family occasion if Rose were involved Riley would lose it.
Topanga and Corey didn't know what to do, the taught it was only a phase, but when she continued to it nine months later, they knew it was a problem, they still didn't have a way to solve it though.
It became apparent what Riley was trying to do though: she was trying to get her parent's to choose between her and Rose. They never did though which would make Riley work harder until Rose was sick of it and took the choice from her parents. She was just lucky that her best friends were able to convince his family to move to Paris.
"I still don't know why she did it though, or what caused it," Rose muttered.
"Why do you still love her?" Asher asks.
"'Cause she's my sister, my twin sister."
"And that's why you refuse to admit that you like Lucas."
"I have no idea what are you talking about."
"Huh-huh. Even after everything she did you don't want to hurt her. Just promise me something?"
"What?"
"If Lucas makes it known that he has feelings for you, think about it, don't instantly say "no" 'cause of Riley. Be selfish."
She smiles sadly. "I can't do that."
He lets out a expastrated sigh and falls back on her bed. "I knew you were gonna say that."
"Morning," Yulia greets as she walks up to Asher and Rose. "Who's ready for Monday?"
Rose peeks at her from behind her locker. "Bonjour. Where's Lily she usually comes to school with you?"
"She's running late," she explains. She looks over at Asher who was on his phone. "Asher! Asher! Asher!" she snaps her finger in front of his face. "Asher!"
"I heard you the first time," he response barely glancing up from his phone.
"Then you should have responded," she replies. "Who are you texting anyway?"
"Imani," he responds. "She came down with a fever."
"Aww poor girl," she replies. "We should go visit her after school."
"You say that now, but you're not gonna be able to do anything. Not only do we have sex Ed with Mr. Fanucchi we have PTF."
"Why is the male gym teacher teaching Sex Ed again?" Yulia asks.
Asher shrugs. "Search me. I personally think the boys should be separated from the girls."
"Sorry I'm late," a muffled voice yells.
Asher final looks away from his phone and tucks it away. "Are you to sick too?
Lily shakes her head. "No I'm fine." she sneezes a couple time.
"Uh-uh," Rose says. "That's why you're nose is as red as Rudolph's." she places her hand on her forehead. "And you feel like a sauna. You should have stayed home Lily."
"I'm not sick you guys," Lily response before going into a coughing fit.
"Okay that does it," Yulia grabs hold of Lily's hand and starts dragging her away. "I'm gonna take her to the nurse's office. I'll meet you guys in Sex Ed."
At that moment the school bell rang, and Rose closes her locker. "Shall we?"
Asher holds out his arm for her. "We shall."
A few minutes later Rose was seated beside Asher waiting for class to start when she felt somebody sit on the other side of her. Looking up she saw Lucas smiling down at her.
"Morning," he greets her.
"Bonjour," she responds back. "Shouldn't you be seating over there." she gestures to the other side of the room where Lucas usually sat with his friends.
He shrugs. "Does the fact that I'm seating there bother you."
She shakes her head. "No, I don't mind."
He smiles at her. "Great."
Riley walks into the room with Maya a depressed look on her face which only got worse when she saw that Lucas was sitting beside Rose and that he was smiling at her. A smile that he used to give her.
"And that's what happened," Farkle says. "Riley got her way, and Rose left the country." Lucas sat there in silence for a moment before speaking. "Wow." "Wow is right," Zay says, he aims wide eyes at Riley. "You bullied your own twin out of the country." "I did not bully her!" Riley denies. "I didn't know she was gonna leave the country." "Did you care though?" Lucas asks her. "We've known you for two an half years, and there was no mention of Rose. If she hadn't decided to come back home would we have known she even existed? Would you have continued to lie to us.." Riley's lips quiver. "Lucas…" "Okay, that's enough. She was a kid, he made a mistake," Maya defends, wrapping her arms around Riley. "She would never chase a person out of the country. You know her that's not the type of person she is." "Except she did," Lucas reminds her, angry racked his body. "Remember when you were getting bullied, Riley? Remember how that made you feel? Can you imagine how Rose felt?" Tears ran down her face. "I'm sorry. I honestly didn't know she was gonna leave." "But it's what you wanted." he jerkily got to his feet. "Riley when Zay first came here you told me that you didn't know me anymore. Well, I don't know you anymore." Maya jumps to her feet. "Lucas she's still the same girl you meet on the train." "Stop defending her! She's been lying to me! In fact, she lied a month ago about Rose not wanting to be friends with us. Rose told me, and you know what I did. I defended her because that isn't Riley. But it is. I have no idea who Riley would've been if Rose didn't leave." Riley stands between the two of them and turns to face Lucas. "I would have been the same person. I was only like that toward Rose!" "And that makes it better!?" Lucas yells at her. "Like Zay said. "You bullied your own twin out of the country!" Was it worth it? Did you get what you wanted out of it?" "Actually," Farkle pipes up for the first time. "I've always wondered why did you do that to Rose? You two used to be inseparable." Riley crosses her arms. "That's none of your business." Lucas lets out an aggravated breath. "Riley I think I need to take some time from you." "Lucas…" Ignoring her he crawled through the window, Zay following him. Maya glowers at Farkle. "Why did you have to say anything?" "Because Lucas was right!" Farkle replies. "They're our friends we should keep any secrets from them. And how long do you actually think Asher was gonna keep his mouth shut for. He would have told Lucas, and that confrontation would have been worse." he turns sad eyes towards Riley. "I'm sorry Riley." "It's okay," Riley replies eyes teary.
Since then Lucas has been actively ignoring her, and she didn't know what to do or how to react.
Shaking her head, she returned back to the present. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I can't control who likes me or not, but there's more to life, like Health class. I am so excited for today's Health class." Riley tells Maya as she took a sit in the front.
""Our bodies, our friends." Yikes," Maya reads from the board.
"Oh, I'm sure that the teacher's sensitive take on life will be a lovely way to learn how our bodies work," Riley assures her best friend.
"She's going to be sadly mistaken," Yulia mutters as she steps into the room and takes a seat in front of Rose.
"How's Lily?" Asher asks her.
"Resting," Yulia replies. "Her Mom is coming to pick her up in an hour."
He nods. "That's good."
Their attention turned to Riley when she let out a gasp. "What is this?" she was looking at Mr. Fanucchi in shock. He didn't look like somebody who was sensitive about how the body works.
Mr. Fanucchi turns to face his student. "All right, all you creepy little child-adults, settle down. Let's get this over with, huh? Ugh." Riley raises her hand. "Put your hand down, Sunshine. You'll all pass no matter what. You know why? 'Cause if I fail ya, I gotta meet your parents. I don't want to meet your parents. I don't want to meet you. All right." he snorts and rubs his hands together. "Let's talk about your bodies,"
Thud! The class turned their attention to Farkle who had taken one at the health book and faints.
"Yeah, I don't blame him," Mr. Fanucchi says.
"Are you sure that you're the right person to teach us this?" Riley asks.
"Why don't you give me a chance?" Mr. Fanucchi asks her in return. "I may surprise ya."
"I want this to be taught to me in a delicate and sensitive manner," Riley explains to him.
"Yeah?" Mr. Fanucchi asks her. He spreads his arm out. "Well, surprise."
"You can't control this either, Riles," Maya tells her.
"Welcome back, beloved," Isadora greets Farkle as he stood from the floor.
"All right, everybody open your Health textbooks to page 73," Mr. Fanucchi tells the class. Thud! Farkles had fainted again. "He is the only one here that knows what he's doing."
Riley's smile disappears, and she sinks into her chair.
After the class was over Lucas packed up quickly and ran to catch up to Rose- completely ignoring Riley on the way.
"Hey, Rose!" He calls out other.
Rose stops and turns to face him. "Yeah?"
"I was wondering if you were free to this afternoon," he tells her.
"She is," Asher responds for her. "She's free all afternoon."
Lucas grins. "Great we have a big test in Precalculus tomorrow, and I was wondering if you were available to study with me."
Rose fought the disappointment she felt. "Sure I would be happy to."
"Great it's a date," Lucas tells her before walking over to Zay who was beckoning him over.
Yulia nudges Rose in the waist. "Ooohhh it's a date."
Rose rolls her eyes at her. "We're just studying," she says before walking past her and Asher.
Yulia raises an eyebrow at Asher. "is she that blind."
Asher sighs but nods. "Yeah, she is."
_
That evening Lucas and Rose were seated in his room with a Precalculus book between the two of them. Lucas kept glancing at her, he was open for a topic besides math for them to talk about.
"You didn't seem that embrace during Health class today," Lucas starts. He mentally slapped himself. Yeah, that's a great topic, great way to start the conversation, Lucas.
Rose shrugs. "I really don't understand why everybody so awkward about sex?"
"Sex is an awkward topic," Lucas tells her.
Rose snorts. "Only when you're talking about it with your parents."
"Did you have a Health in France?"
She nods. "Yeah. They even passed out free condoms."
His gapes at her. "You're joking."
Rose giggles and he couldn't help but smile softly at her. "No joke. We even interact with a 3D printed clitoris."
Lucas tumbled back from his chair. "A what!?"
Rose giggles down at him. "A 3D clitoris."
He struggles up from the ground just in time to catch the wistful look in Rose's eye. "Do you miss it there?"
She rested her cheek on her hand and sighs. "Sometimes."
"What do you miss the most?"
"Shopping at the market, the food, the fashion, the sea, my friends, even the bread," Rose chuckles.
"The bread?"
"Yes, the bread. Going to the bakery with my girlfriends and getting a baguette. It's straight outta the oven, crunchy, and smells divine."
Lucas rests his chin on his hand as he listens to her. "Tell me more about your friends."
"Well, there's two that Asher and I are really close too, Melodie and Elliot Their cousins and they're considered Royalty in France. There grandmother and grandfather her really famous actors. At first, there a little stuck but once you get to know them, you know that they are the sweetest people in the world."
"So I guess Riley chasing you out of the country ended up been a good thing," Lucas tells her causing her to look up at him in shock.
"How?"
"Farkle told me."
"Oh. That will explain why you sat with me instead of Riley."
He shakes his head. "I would have sat next to you anyway. I told you, Rose, I want to get to know you more, and I'm enjoying doing just that."
She tucks a piece of hair behind her ear her face flush. "I like getting to know you two Lucas."
He places his hand over hers. "I'm glad."
The two of them returned to studying, they enjoyed each other's company until it was time for Rose to go. Lucas led her out of the chatted with her while they waited for Corey to arrive.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Rose turns away from Lucas, "That's Dad." she says gesturing to the old white car stopping in front of them. "You better get back inside."
"Bye Rose," Lucas tousled Rose's hair and tucked a strand of her hair back behind her ear, before walking back into his home.
Rose blinked, before walking towards her Dad in a daze. She slips in two the front seat in.
"You okay Rose?" Corey asks.
Rose nods. "I'm fine," she tells him her thoughts till on Lucas's goodbye. "Am I dreaming, or did he casually stroke my cheek?"
The next day Rose walks into Health Class with Asher, Imani, Lily, and Yulia. She did an about-face when she saw who the teacher was.
"Nope not doing it," she says walking out of the room. Asher grabs her by the collar before forcing her to sit. She covers her face with her hand. "Tell me this is a dream. My father is not standing in front of me right now. I did not walk into Health Class and see my father standing in front of the board. Somebody tell me that."
"I don't wanna be here any more than you want me here," Corey tells her.
Rose groans and lays her head on the cold desk surface. "Don't talk! If you don't talk, I can pretend this isn't real."
It wasn't long before Maya and Riley walk into the room. The stop as soon as they catch sight of Corey.
"What could be worse than learning about my body from the boy's gym teacher?" Corey asks Riley. "Nothin'. Ya happy?"
"Do it," Riley tells Maya.
Maya places her hand on Riley's head. " Lee, lie, loo, la Shh, Shh. La, la, la. "
"So I said, "Hey, Fanucci, don't take this the wrong way." He did. "Can you be a little more sensitive in Health class?" He can't. So, here I stand in front of you begging you to make this easy on me," Corey explains to the class once everybody was the students were settled down and had all taken a seat.
Maya raises her hand.
"Put that hand down forever," Corey tells her.
"You have to answer my question about the body," Maya tells her.
"Ugh," Rose groans, head still on the desk.
"Maya, it's my father! He doesn't know anything," Riley tells her best friend.
For the first time in a very long time, Rose and Riley were of the same mindset: Their father teaching Health Class is hell on earth.
"I know things," Corey denies. "What is the body? What does the body want? I'm gonna tell ya. Soup. Now you know everything. Goodnight!"
Smackle raises her hand.
"What do you want?" Corey asks her.
"Smackle time, please," Isadora offers.
Corey nods. "Absolutely," he quickly takes a seat at a desk and gestures for Isadora to walk forward.
"Hey, I thought it was "Farkle time."" Lucas tells Farkle.
Farkle glares at him. "It is Farkle time. It's always been Farkle time. It'll always be Farkle time. Farkle time is a worldwide phenomenon, a division of Farkle Enterprises and the incontrovertible essence of my soul," Isadora gives him a kiss on the cheek as she passes. "It's Smackle time from now on."
"Mr. Matthews is our teacher and our friend who always encourages us to pursue the subject matter," Isadora starts her lecture.
Corey shakes his head. "Not this time, baby."
"We will begin. On page 73 of your Health books, what they're trying to teach you is…"
Rose wanted to die. Like she told Lucas "Sex is only awkward when you're talking with your parents about it." She should have added that knowing they're and the same room as you learn how you were created is the best way to die of embarrassment.
After class Lucas caught up with Rose, who was crouched on the floor hoping that the ground will open and suck her in.
"Hey," he greets her.
She groans and hides her face. "Leave me alone. Let me die in peace."
He chuckles taking hold of her hand and hauls her up. "Can't do that we have a test to take, one that I' pretty sure I'm gonna ace thanks to you." he looks around the hall. "Where are your friends?" he laces their hands as he drags her to Precalculus.
"I chased them off," she tells him. In truth as soon as the four of caught sight of Lucas they dispersed so that the two of them can talk.
Rose was in denial but they knew she likes Lucas and Lucas likes her back. They were just waiting for her to realize that.
"Hey can I ask you to something for me?" she asks, ignoring the electricity she felt as they held hands.
He looks down at her and smiles."Yeah, anything?"
"Talk to Riley," she tells him. "You shouldn't let a strong friendship like that fall to the wayside because of me."
"It's not just 'cause of you. Last year something I kept hidden came out about me when Zay moved here, and Riley told me that "She didn't know me." She made a big deal out of it. When she kept such a big secret from me."
"I get that, and I get the dynamics of your relationship is going to change if you do decide to return your friendship, but you guys need to talk."
Lucas hesitates. "I'll think about it."
She looks up at him with pleading blue eyes. "Promise."
Lucas knew he was gonna has soon as he looked into her eyes. "Promise."
The next night Rose tossed and turned in her bed. The day was fine, Mr. Fanucci had return back to Health- thank God, and she and Lucas had both got a hundred on their test. It was basically a typical day, but Rose had a lot on her mind.
Sighing she slips out of her bed, ambling through the hallway she stops in front of Asher's door.
Asher blinks when he hears a knock on his door. Grumbling her gets out of his bed and opens his bedroom door. He blinks down at Rose.
Covering his yawn he glares. "What are you doing up Rose? It's what two am?"
"I need your help?" she tells him.
He leans on the door. "Yeah?"
"I think Lucas likes me."
He rolls his eyes. "You think?"
"And I think i like him back."
A/N: Sorry it took so long. You must have noticed that I skipped Girl Meets True Maya. Reason? Didn't see a point of doing it. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Don't forget to comment and vote.
Translation:
Arrêtez de faire la moue. - Stop pouting.
Je ne fais pas la moue. - I'm not pouting.
Alors pourquoi n'avez-vous pas écrit de notes au cours de la dernière demi-heure?A quoi penses-tu?- Then why haven't you written anything in the last half an hour? What are you thinking?
Pourquoi je suis parti - About why I left?
