Lucas arrives home to find his mother there

"Hi sweetie" she greets her son

"Hey how was your business trip?" he asks

"It was good we got the job done early " she explains as Lucas nods

"What you got there?" she asks seeing her son carrying something

"It's a book, a...friend let me borrow it" Lucas explains

She grabs the book to look at it "Oh Pride and Prejudice, I love this book, I didn't know you were such the romantic" his mother teases

He rolls his eyes "Trust me I'm not, my friend recommended it so I thought i give it a shot" he shrugs

"A friend huh, would this friend happen to be a girl? she asks smirking

"Maybe:"

"Does my son have a girlfriend?"

"absolutely not" Lucas says

"Well you must like this girl if your reading her favorite books"

"She's just a friend mom" Lucas rolls his eyes

"Whatever you say sweetie" she hands him back the book as he heads upstairs

He lays in bed and opens the book to the first page. He is surprised to find that the story wasn't that bad, he actually ended up reading the first 50 pages before falling asleep.

The next day Lucas finds himself outside on the bleachers by himself reading again. He's so into the book he doesn't realize someone approach him.

"So how you liking it so far?"

Lucas turns to see Riley standing over him

"I'll admit, it's not that bad" he says smiling at her as she takes a seat next to him

"Although I do have to say this Darcy guy seems like a jerk don't know why Elizabeth likes him' he says making Riley laugh

"I wouldn't say he was a jerk, but yeah he doesn't make a good first impression" Riley teases.

They begin discussing the book and their favorite parts. Lucas had never enjoyed talking to someone as much as he enjoyed talking to her. He liked how enthusiastic she would get when she talked about books. He didnt say a word, he just admired her.

"Sorry, i talk to much sometimes" she says embarrassingly realizing that she had been talking the whole time as he just sat there.

Lucas chuckles "No it's fine, I don't mind, you make reading actually interesting" he teases

Riley giggles "Thanks"

"So have you given anymore thought to trying out for dance?" he suddenly asks

"Yeah, I don't think so" she answers

"Why not?" he asks curiously

She shrugs "I wanna catch up on my work" she answers not looking at him

Lucas felt she wasn't being completely honest.

"But I'm sure you can do both, I mean you juggled school and dance before, and you got straight As"

"Yeah, but I..I just wanna take a break from dancing for a while"

Lucas nods feeling there was more to the story than she was letting on but he didn't want to push her.

"So, you ready for your game, its coming right?" she asked

Lucas nods "Yeah, Coach has us training like crazy"

"Sounds rough" she comments

Lucas nods "It is but I like it"

"Do you ever get nervous before a game?" she asks

"Alittle I guess, but once I step onto the field I'm fine"

"I know what you mean, It's like when you step out there, all your worries seem to fade" she says, and she seems in her own little world.

"You sure you wanna quit dancing" Lucas asks

'I'm not quitting, I just taking a break" she says defensively

Lucas raises his hands in surrender "okay, sorry"

They stay silent for a moment

"I just think if you like something you shouldn't stop" Lucas finally says

Riley thinks for a moment before speaking

"It's just too much drama for me"

"There was drama with your last team?" he asks curiously

"A little bit yeah"

"What kind of drama" he asks

"No big deal, just girl stuff" she says quickly and stands up trying to get away from the conversation "I better get to class, see you" she walks off before Lucas could say anything else.

He felt Riley was hiding something. That's when he realizes that Riley hid a lot of things. She really didnt like discussing New York or her old school or friends.

Lucas was very intrigued to know what the brunette was hiding.

After Baseball practice is walking out the locker room after showering.

"Hey man" Josh says approaching him

"Hey what are you still doing here?" Lucas asks

"I had to make up a test, so i thought i would wait for you to finish practice and see if you wanna grab a bite to eat" he asks

"Sure sounds good, I'm starving" he says

They soon arrive to Chubbies and found a booth. The place isn't that crowded , most tables are full of other classmates.

"So how was practice?" Josh asks as they take their seats across from each other

"It was good, but Im getting anxious, I just want it to be over with" he confesses. The waitress soon comes and takes their orders.

"So are you coming to the game?" Lucas asks

"Of course, I would miss it, even Maya says she's going"

"Great, so she can shout insults to try and mess me up like she always does " Lucas chuckles

"Don't worry, hopefully Riley can distract her" Josh says

"Riley coming?" Lucas asks and feeling a part of him felling a little happy knowing she was going to be there, he tried to shake it off.

"Proably, I know Cory and Auggie definitely want to come" he explains

Lucas nods "Cool" he tries to say as casually as he can.

As their food arrived Lucas looked over th entrance to see Riley and her friends enter. She hadn't seen them yet but Josh stopped them when they passed their table.

"Hey Riles" Josh greets

"Hey" she greets them with a small smile, she looks over at Lucas

"Hey" she says

'Hey" he repeats

"Uh, these are my friends Smackle and Farkle" she introduces them and they say hi and then excuse themselves as they make their way to a free table.

"I'm glad, she's making friends" Josh comments as he watches his niece.

"Yeah, that's great for her" he comments and Josh nods agreeing.

"You said her parents were worried about her because she had issues" Lucas asks recalling that conversation they had a while ago.

Josh nods "Yeah that's what Cory said"

"Do you know what kind of issues?" Lucas asks curiously

Josh shakes his head "no, Cory didn't say much he just told me to keep an eye out for her"

Lucas nods. He was so curious, What could have happened in New York.

Lucas and Josh had finished eating and were just sitting in the booth talking about random things until they finally realized it was getting late.

"Okay let me hit the restroom and then we can head out" Josh tells his friend

Lucas nods and Josh heads off to the restroom.

Once he was gone he looked over to Riley's table and saw that she was getting up to head over to the counter.

Lucas hesitated finally stood up and headed over to her.

"Hey" he says as he stands right next to her

"Hey"

"Look I just wanted to apologize for earlier today, I really didn't mean to get in your business" he tells her.

"No it's okay I'm just annoyed, that everyone has been on my case wanting me to dance , and I really just wanna lay low this year" she explains

Lucas nods "I understand, and it's okay"

"So we're cool" she asks

"We"re cool" he confirms

The waiter at the counter comes back and hands Riley her drink.

"Well I better get back to my friends" she tells him

"Okay, well I'll see you later"

Riley smiles "Later" she walks back to her table. Lucas watches her as she walks away, The brunette was sure a mystery.