A/N: It's been a looooong three days, but I'm officially back. Sorry that it's a bit late, I expected to be home a couple of hours ago, but we left later than I thought. Anyway, on with the chapter! Now, for some answers on Riley's past. Enjoy!

*Two Weeks Later*

"Doesn't it bother you that your dad works here sometimes?" Lucas asked as they continued to head down the deserted hallway. About once a week, Lucas and Riley would stay after school to chat. It was nice; rarely anyone stayed after unless they had sports or detention, so it was like they had the whole school to themselves.

Riley shook her head. "No, it gives me the opportunity to spend more time with him. I know a lot of people would think it would get annoying, but it doesn't."

Lucas smiled. "You sure seem to find the positive in everything."

Riley shrugged, knowing that wasn't completely true. "I try. But sometimes it's harder to find in certain situations."

The next time the two of them looked up, they saw Missy Bradford walking towards them with an irritated expression plastered across her face. Both Riley and Lucas stopped where they were and hoped that Missy would continue on her way down the hallway, but they had no such luck. Missy stopped right in front of them, or to be more accurate, right in front of Lucas.

"What do you think you're doing?" Missy demanded.

Lucas raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

Missy face turned a deep shade of pink as the anger grew inside her. "Don't play dumb with me, Friar. Clearly you didn't take my warnings seriously when I told you to stay away from this," she said, gesturing towards Riley. "All she does is whine and complain about stupid little things that no one cares about and ends up dragging her friends down with her. Do you really want to be around a person like that, at the bottom rung of the social ladder? Even saying that is generous considering her antisocial behavior around everyone in this school."

Riley's breathing hitched; hearing those words felt like a punch in the stomach. She felt as she couldn't breathe. After hearing those words, Riley desperately tried to keep a tight lid on the anger and sadness that tried to make their way out of her emotional box. However, her attempts failed, and hot tears began to fill her eyes.

"Y-Y'know, Lucas? I-I forgot I had to g-go do something," Riley stuttered before she turned around and dashed down the hallway.

Lucas was only able to process half of what Riley said before he saw her take off. "Riley!" he called after her, hoping that she would stop and come back, but there was no such luck. She rounded the corner at great speed and disappeared from his vision.

Lucas turned back to Missy, whose supposed anger had been replaced with a pleased smile.

"So, Lucas," Missy began as she took a step towards him. "Are you doing anything within the next hour? Some of my friends and I are heading to the movies."

He narrowed his eyes. "What is the matter with you?"

Missy cocked her head. "Beg your pardon?"

"Why would you say things like that about Riley? Especially since she was right here! Do you even know what kind of a person Riley is? Did you even bother to know her at all? Or did you just judge from a distance?"

Missy shrugged and didn't take much consideration in answering the question. Personally, she didn't get why Lucas was reacting the way he was; Riley was a nobody. She always has been, and she always will be. Why he cared about what happened to her, Missy had no clue. "I've gotten up close and personal with her."

"I highly doubt that."

Missy acted like she didn't hear his last comment, for she continued her argument. "Look, you don't deserve to be around people like her. Granted there aren't that many, but still. Lucas, you have the potential to one of the populars like me! You have the looks; all you need to do is act the part!"

"Well I'm not interested in it, thank you very much!" Lucas replied before he headed in the same direction that Riley did a few minutes ago, leaving Missy all alone in the hallway with a look of surprise now on her face.

Lucas rounded the corner, hoping that Riley was in her usual spot that she often sat with Maya, but she wasn't there. He continued to jog down the hallway, making sure to look in the classrooms as he went by them. Riley wasn't in any of them.

When Lucas returned to where he originally started, he was very confused. Riley wasn't anywhere to be found; it was as if she disappeared into thin air. He checked all the classrooms, the library, and the gym. She was nowhere to be found, but he had an idea of who might know.

He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Maya.

Mockingbird, Riley took off. Checked all the classrooms, library, and gym and I can't find her. Any ideas?

After a couple of minutes, Maya's response came in.

Try the girls' locker room, locker 23. Be there in a few minutes to help ya, stuck in detention :P

Lucas sighed when he read Maya's text. Even though it was after school, he kind of didn't want to go in there. He shook off the fear and inhaled deeply. If Riley was in there, he'd go in there for her. He would do almost anything for her. Lucas slid his phone back into his pocket and headed for the locker room.

Once he was inside, Lucas walked around quietly, making sure not to startle anyone else who may have been in there (which there wasn't luckily for him), and made his way towards the back of the locker room. Once he reached the back wall, Lucas found a locker halfway opened. He walked up to the locker and slowly opened the door, hoping that it would get Riley's attention.

If it did, Riley made no motion towards it. Lucas looked inside the locker, and what he saw made his heart break slightly. Riley had managed to curl most of her body inside the locker. Lucas knew that Riley was small, but he never realized that she was that small. Her arms rested on top of her knees, and her face was buried into her arms. Her small frame was jerking every few seconds, most likely from Riley trying to control the sobs. Despite knowing her for only a few weeks, Lucas cared for Riley very deeply and felt that she shouldn't be going through this alone.

Lucas knelt down beside the locker. "Riley?"

Riley froze for a moment. "What do you want?" she finally replied, her voice not revealing any emotion at all.

"Come out of the locker."

Riley shook her head.

"Please?" he asked softly.

Lucas saw Riley's body deflate slightly as if she was letting out a sigh. After a few more moments, Riley worked her way out of the locker, but immediately curled herself back into a ball. Lucas shut the locker door and took Riley into his arms. At first, her body seemed a bit stiff, like she wasn't expecting something, but she soon relaxed in his arms and buried her face into his chest.

"Shh, shh, it's okay," Lucas soothed. "Everything's going to be okay."

But Riley shook her head. "No it's not. Everything's not going to be okay."

"And why's that?" Lucas inquired.

Riley shifted herself and inhaled deeply. "Because Missy Bradford has been bullying me for years about the same thing, whether it be verbal or physical, and she's not going to stop. No matter how I try and tell her the reasons for my actions, she scoffs and continues. She doesn't know the pain I've been through! I barely have any friends; I feel so alone here despite the crowded hallways. People who I thought were my friends don't care about me. They take advantage of my kindness and then leave me hanging. They have their fun events afterschool and invite everyone in the friend group, including Maya! But do they invite me? Almost never, even though they talk about the events right in front of me. And when they do invite me, they treat me like I'm not even there despite my efforts to fit in. They say things that hurt me so, and when I try to defend myself, they act as if what they said was only a joke, when I know better. I'm so afraid to trust anyone anymore because I'm so afraid that they'll just leave me when I need them most!"

Once the words spilled out of her mouth, Riley's eyes widened. She told him. Riley only knew him for a few weeks, and she told him. But for some odd reason, Riley felt that she could trust with the information.

Lucas gently moved his hand up and down her arm as he absorbed what Riley just said. There were so many questions that he wanted to ask, but all he could find the words to say was, "So that's what you wouldn't tell me at first."

Riley nodded. "Yeah."

"Do you mind if I ask you something?"

Riley's shoulders slumped as if she didn't want to talk about it anymore, but nodded anyway, allowing Lucas to continue.

"What did you mean by Missy bullying you physically?" he asked. Lucas knew that bullies sometimes picked fights, but Missy didn't appear to be the type of person to go around hitting people.

Riley bit her lip as she tried to find the words to answer Lucas' question, but she didn't need to. A voice in front of them answered. "She tried to cut off Riley's ear."

Both Riley and Lucas shifted their focus to see Maya standing in front of them.

"What?!"

Maya shrugged. "It's like I said. Missy cornered Riley and tried to cut a piece of her ear off with a pair of scissors," she repeated as she sat herself down next to Riley.

"Why?"

"Because it's Missy," Riley finally said. "She does whatever she can to make my life miserable."

Lucas frowned. "You can't let people like that get to you."

"Lucas is right, Riles," Maya commented. "The only people that matter are those that care about you… which is us!"

"No matter what, we'll always be here for you. No matter what time it is, or what happens, you can always count on us being there," Lucas finished.

"I know… but I feel like I'd be bothering you if I tried to talk to you! Everyone else feels that way."

"Riley Matthews!" Maya exclaimed. "How in the world am I – we – going to help you if you don't talk to us? Don't you ever think that again! You've pulled me out of my own troubles; don't let these people drag you down because of their idiotic behavior. They're not us. I know technology sometimes interferes, but you have to try! And now, you have Cowboy over here if you can't reach me. Just don't do this to yourself anymore, okay?"

There was a brief silence before Riley answered. "I know what you're saying is true, but why don't I feel any better?"

"It's not like flipping a switch," Lucas explained. "I don't know how long you've felt this way, from what I gathered it's been quite a while, but you're going to need time to heal. And we'll be there with you to help you through."

A small smile crept across Riley's lips. Now that's what I like to see, Lucas thought.

"Thanks guys."

Maya returned the smile. "No problem. Now why don't we get out of here before volleyball practice lets out, especially for Lucas' sake?"

All three friends agreed, and made their way out of the locker room. Once they were in the hallway, Lucas wrapped his arm around Riley's shoulder.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked as the three of them walked towards the doors.

Riley shrugged. "I don't know," she responded, her voice faltering slightly as she did so.

Maya placed her hand on Riley's arm. "You want us to stay with you for a while?"

She nodded. "If it's okay with you guys."

"Of course it is," Maya responded.

"Amen to that," Lucas agreed.

A/N #2: So what did you think? Missy's plan attempted and failed. But, will Lucas and Maya reaching out help Riley? Let me know what you think by leaving a review! Until next time!