Chapter 9

A Corn

Chip Mystery

Disclaimer: I own nothing but what you see here.


February 21st, 2016 Monday

After the reconcillation between Riley, Farkle, and Maya, life had seemingly gotten more of a positive vibe flowing about at John Quincy Adams Middle School since their reunion. One that had made a lot of people happy as a good trio of friends like that definitely belonged together rather than apart. Though one particular person was a little bummed over the whole thing since he had yet to reconcile with any of them just yet. Though he had certainly tried but it never seemed to work out like he wanted. That person being Lucas Friar who was currently leaning up against some lockers as he watched the three doing whatever with wide smiling faces a depressed look on his face. A slap on his shoulder drew him out of his trio watching and he turned to see Zay shaking his head at him. "Man, you really gotta quit lookin' at them like you're a lost puppy."

"I'm not!" Protested Lucas even though Zay was pretty much on the money about it.

Zay gave him a look like he didn't believe him and the blonde Texan repeated himself again that he wasn't. "Dude, you are lookin' at them like a lost puppy. Just go over there and get them to talk to you."

"Easy for you to say Zay, you're not the one havin' problems with them."

"That's cause I know not to treat my friends like crap."

Lucas looked down in shame over that and Zay quickly muttered out an apology for making him feel bad. "No, you're right. I did treat them like crap and now I gotta pay the price for it." If only he could go back in time and stop himself from being such an idiot!

The young Texan then walked off for his next class, no longer wanting to see the happy trio and Zay was about to follow him when Dave came by carrying tubes and rolled up wiring. Leaving for a very confused Zay as he wondered what the heck the guy was doing! And it seemed no one else was paying much attention for that matter either! He was about to follow when the bell rang, making him snap his fingers in annoyance. "Ah, I'll just ask him later."

Later as it turned out wouldn't be until later that week during Friday. And young Zay had certainly seen a whole lot of weird when it came to Dave. The fact no one seemed to be really even paying attention annoyed him a great deal! He'd even asked his friends about it but none of them seemed to think much of it. Lucas even thought his buddy was just seeing things brought on by the stress of not seeing Vanessa much thanks to the distance between them. Earning himself an eyeroll from his fellow Texan in the process. But on Friday, Zay decided to stay after school since he had it on good authority that Dave was staying after for some unknown reason through out the week and the teenager figured it would be his chance to see what the heck was going on! Hiding within a trash can, Zay watched as Dave made his way down the hallway with more wiring and several long white boxes.

"Alright Lord of the Corn Chips, what are you up too?"

Watching as his fellow classmate stopped at a door and setting down the wiring to knock on it, Dave quickly made his way inside after it opened. Making Zay frown as he quickly got out of the trash can. Completely oblivious to the fact he had a banana peeling on his shoulder. Coming to it, he saw that the door Dave had gone in was the Janitor's closet. Looking down both sides of the hallway to ensure no one else was coming, he grabbed hold of the door knob and rushed inside. "AH HA!"

His sudden appearance and voice made Dave and Janitor Harley jump, along with dropping what they were doing. "Holy crap! Kid, I think you just scared off ten years of my life." Groused Harley with a hand on his chest as he calmed down.

"Zay? What are you doing man?"

A smirk came on Zay's face as he sauntered up to the two with his hands clasped together in front of him. "What am I doin'? What am I doin' you ask? I think the question is… What are YOU two doin'? Which, you know, is a more pressing question here then my bein' here."

The two looked at one another, unsure of what to do. "Uhh… Well we were putting some things in storage for a later time." Dave finally answered.

"Yep, Chippie here's been helpin' me out the past week. And let tell you somethin', he's been a real big help for me." He would have gotten Lucas to help out but the kid had been way too depressed over the situation with his friends to do much.

He'd been surprised when Dave approached him about helping out and seeing what had been presented to him through a miracle, quickly enlisted the boy to the Janitorial Cause. A cause so vital in the day to day operations of the very school they were still inside of. "Uh-huh. So basically, if what you are sayin' is right… I've been kind of… You know, paranoid for nothin' then?"

A nod from Harley happened after that. "Pretty much kid."

"Well I guess this explains why nobody thought it was weird!"

"Lucas and sometimes Farkle usually are the ones who help out Janitor Harley since last year. Soooo yeah… Nobody but you thought it was weird."

Zay looked thoughtful for a moment as he digested all that. "Huh… Well alrighty then." And with that, he was gone as he mentally smacked himself for thinking something that obviously wasn't the case at all.

Harley and Dave just watched him before looking at one another. "Kid's been hangin' around Matthews and her bunch way too long." The older man finally said with a shrug of the shoulders, making Dave laugh. The two then got back to work on organizing the storage areas.

Matthews' Apartment Around Two Hours Later

After getting home from school, Riley had gone to her room to quickly start on homework so that she'd have it out of the way with little worries for the rest of the night where it was concerned. Though part of the reason she quickly started it was so that she could keep her mind off the fact that things still weren't fully okay between her group of friends. Yeah, things were great now between her, Maya, Farkle, and Zay thankfully. But the lack of Lucas in it all just really sucked. She could tell he wanted to talk with them but life it seemed just wasn't allowing it. Something she really wasn't liking at all and all her mom and dad would say is that sometimes one had to wait for the right moment to happen as some things just couldn't be rushed. But for Riley Matthews, this was definitely something she wished could be rushed as she wanted all her friends back together again. Why she herself had yet to approach him about the whole thing she wasn't sure of and Auggie had chalked it up to her being afraid over it.

Why she was afraid she wasn't sure of entirely but she felt like she was lying to herself over that anytime she thought about it. Once she'd gotten her homework done and grabbed a snack, the young Matthews girl laid on her bed and listened to music while she browsed the internet on her phone. And still feeling very glad that her bully was still no longer bothering her as that had been a really horrible time for her. Thankfully she had her friends to support her once the truth about it all had come out. But she couldn't help but wonder if the bully would try again once she got her courage back. Riley hated to think about that but it sometimes came up in her thoughts until she forced it down. Her mom coming inside made her pause her music to see what was up.

"Riley, sweetheart, there's someone here to see you."

That made her curious since Farkle and Maya would just show up through her window. But Farkle was off with Smackle and Maya was at a thing for art. "Oh? Who?"

"Me." Came the voice of one Lucas Austin Friar as he stepped up next to her mom. Riley's eyes went wide as she definitely wasn't expecting him of all people!

Topanga just smiled and left as she had a feeling, a hopeful one that things would get patched up between her daughter and Lucas. "Wow, um… What brings you by Lucas?"

Walking up to her bed with a hopeful look on his face as he looked around at the room he hadn't been inside of for quite some time. Turning his attention back to her with that hopeful look still on his face, he spoke up. "I was hopin' that you and I could finally talk."

Oh, well color her surprised!


Author's Notes: May there have been much enjoyment of this one! I think after things are fully resolved between the group that I may end this. Even though I had a very long term plan for this story that would likely go to 50 chapters. But my motivation for it has been lacking very strongly for some time now where this story is concerned and the last thing I want to do is keep making you all wait for more updates due to my lack of motivation. I had planned for things between Lucas and Maya to improve around the time of her birthday/graduation but since that's not until around June where the graduation is concerned, I figured doing that would make it unbelievable where their making up is concerned.

So I may do that sooner then planned. If any thoughts on all this, hit me with them!