12. Girl Meets Bullies

Riley doesn't remember how she got home, she doesn't remember what happened after she walked into her father's classroom. The only thing she remembers is the smell of cedar and warm arms carrying her away. She opened her eyes to the darkness of her bedroom, and the sound of her parents talking to someone. They had left her bedroom door open, and the voices traveled towards her room. She tried her best to sneak towards the living room to hear what was happening without the floor creaking as she walked.

"Mr. Matthews," Farkle said. "It's bad, and from the looks of it it's been going on for a while, it might have started the night of the party."

"What are you talking about Farkle," her mother said.

She heard the genius sigh. "Riley's coordination has gotten better, especially with the time she spent on the cheerleading team in middle school. So it would have been impossible for her to trip by mistake without someone making sure she did. She might have not noticed it had started at the time but there have been a lot of accidents lately."

"I think we should find out who is doing this," Lucas said and Riley felt her heart clench. She could hear the pain in his voice, the anger he was trying to hold back. "They sent her messages today, telling her that she shouldn't be with me, that she's not good enough for me, and it just breaks my heart that she didn't tell any of us that this was happening."

As his words sank in Riley realized that she didn't have her phone, she hadn't seen it on her nightstand where it had always been since she puts it there to charge. They had read the messages, and she didn't know how since she had her phone locked to keep her parents out. But she remembered that she was friends with geniuses, and Maya knew the code even though Riley had changed it several times.

"She was probably more worried about those exams that only evaluate how we've learned a certain subject and not whether it is good for our minds," Smackle said. "They are truly useless exams, if they wanted to know if we were really learning they should just administer smaller test throughout the year and not one big one at the end of every semester."

"Those test sometimes force teachers to teach material that they don't know how to teach," her father said, she could hear the weariness from him. "It's one of the reason we have to have training every summer, they want us to learn the new techniques."

"What are we going to do?" Maya said and Riley knew that it was hurting her friend. "We can't keep Lucas tied up forever, it was hard enough to drag him through the street tried up like that."

"We're lucky we didn't get arrested," Zay said.

Riley walked into the living room as if the weight of the world's problems on her shoulders. "I'm sorry for dragging you into this," she said in a quiet voice, but when she looked up she saw her friends all looking between her and Lucas.

"Riley," Lucas said, he was the first to talk the moment she stepped into the room. "Don't be sorry, fight like you did for the girls at school. Fight for yourself, please, just fight."

"Lucas, I didn't keep this from you because I wanted to but we're all stressed because of the test, I didn't want everyone to get caught up in something else that would cause problems come test day."

"It doesn't matter because I'm involved now," he said walking up to her. His body tied up in ropes. "You deserve to be treated better than they have."

"But what was I supposed to do?" she said hoping her hands on the ropes that tied him up. "I don't even know who they are, last time it was easy I knew who the person was, but this time it's like a ghost is haunting me."

He put his head on hers and held his breath for a moment. "We'll help you, we'll study together, we'll make sure that whoever it is learns that it's not okay to treat someone like this. Just don't shut me out when you need me the most."

"Okay," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Lucas laughed as he took in the scent of her hair. "I would hug you back but I'm a little tied up."

"Sorry man," Zay said from across the room. "It's for your own good."

"Come Riles," Maya said pulling her away from Lucas. "We need to talk, so let's go to the bay window."

Maya walked her over to her room and sat down at the bay window waiting for her to sit down, but Riley's heart wasn't in it. She was afraid, for herself, and for what this could do to her friends. It seems like ever since sophomore year started her life has been upended in one way or another.

"Come over here now," Maya said smiling at her. "Ring power."

Riley knew that she couldn't get out of it now, ring power was sacred, once the words were said it became authority. She walked over and sat down. "I don't want to talk about the whys of it Maya."

"How about we just talk, like the last time."

"I don't want to cry anymore, I feel like everything is pressing down on me."

"I know hon, but you can't keep it all bottled up, it's not good and you know it. Let's just talk about something else, not about how you're feeling but something about the last couple of weeks. Starting with the party."

"What about the party?" Riley asked remembering what she had heard Farkle say but it was impossible that it would have started then.

"Do you remember who had pushed you?"

"No, I don't."

"Riles you have to think back, there's something in all of this that you're missing, something that connects it all."

"Fine," she said closing her eyes trying to remember the party. "Let's see, Lucas and I were dancing and I had gotten thirsty so I told him I was going to get something to drink. While I was there I grabbed the first thing off the table and poured it into a bottle."

"Was there anyone around you?"

"Maya how do you know what questions to ask?"

"I watch those crime shows with my mom some nights, Shawn loves them so it's bonding time for us, so of course I picked some stuff up. Now was there anyone around you?"

"Um… I remember hearing a couple of girls giggling nearby, I don't know about what, and then one of them slammed into me… she had blonde hair, and I think I've seen her before but I don't think she's in any of my classes."

"Okay that works, do you remember who her friends are?"

"Well, I remember there was a girl with dark brown hair, another one of them had light brown hair, but I didn't see any of their faces."

"Okay, um let's see the next time you fell was on your birthday do you remember anything?"

Riley opened her eyes looking at Maya, "She had stuck her foot out, I swore it was me but no her foot was clearly sticking out waiting for me."

Riley thought back to every time she had fallen, she always heard a bunch of girls laughing but hadn't thought about it. The calls had started on her birthday as well, the messages soon afterwards, but that wasn't what had pulled her out of her thoughts, it was the girls in the bathroom after she had fallen asleep in class.

"Maya I have a class with one of them," Riley said wondering why she hadn't thought about it before. The blonde was in the class she had had with Lucas.

"Do you know who it is?"

"Maybe, but I want to confirm it with what Farkle and Smackle find from my accounts, since I know you guys have my phone."

"Yeah, Farkle picked it up after you passed out, he was also the one who made Zay tie Lucas up as we discussed everything at your mom's café, and the first thing we decided was to talk to your parents."

"Thanks," she said bringing Maya into a hug. "For everything."

"No problem, I'd do almost anything for you, because honestly there are something I wouldn't do but that's most things like being forced to watch a marathon of Cuddle Bunnies."

Riley laughed for the first time, it felt real and her heart didn't hurt as much. "Let's go find out what the others know."

Maya got up and walked over to her and gave her a quick hug, "No more secrets," she said.

"Well at least I know one thing from this," Riley said as they walked back to the living room."

"What's that?"

"You have a career in law enforcement, considering you are good at asking questions."

"Yeah good luck with that," Maya said laughing. "I want a nice cushy job with minimal effort."

Riley felt lighter for a moment, she didn't know if it was Lucas giving her courage, Maya talking her through everything, the fact that Zay made sure that Lucas didn't go Texas on everyone, or even the geniuses hacking her accounts to get through everything. Her parents being there to help them, and listen to them closely. They loved her and they were going to make sure everything was going to work out in the end.

"What you got for me Maya," Farkle said as the two girls walked in through. He had been working on a program to go through Riley's social media accounts and pick up the IP addresses for each of the messages that had been sent to her.

"Riley may have a class with one of the girls," Maya said as she sat down on the chair by the door. Riley walked to where Lucas was sitting on the bench still tied up wondering how she was going to undo the knots.

"Okay, what else?" Farkle said as Smackle typed away at the computer.

"She had blonde hair and I think she sits next to Lucas," Riley said wondering why she never noticed the girl before, but then remembered that when they had class together all she saw was him smiling at her.

"I know that girl, her name is Emily, she's always talking to me before Riley comes to class," he said wondering if he remembered any of their conversations, but the moment Riley walked in he always forgets what he was talking about and with who.

"Got it," Smackle said pulling up Riley's class schedule along with Lucas' making sure to have the rosters for both classes.

"I feel like I shouldn't be watching this," her father said as he watched the geniuses hack into the school social media network.

"You're staying," her mother said pulling him back before he could run off. "We'll make dinner, and we'll be their alibi, because no one hurts my kids without getting away with it."

"Fine," he said pouting as they started work on dinner.

The teens worked in the living room, trying to make a list of girls in their school who might look like what Riley had described. Riley could feel herself getting sleepy and with the permission from her parents to stay home from school the next day. She didn't want to leave her friends so to keep herself busy she worked on the ropes that bound her boyfriend. While everyone else worked on the girls who were in the same classes as she was, sometimes calling out their names to Riley to see if they could trigger something in her memory.


When she finished with the ropes and Lucas was free, the two of them sat at the bay window in the living room in each other's arms. They all ate together, and kept talking but the later it got the more tired she was, and after a while she had found herself falling asleep on Lucas' lap as the rest them talked. He was stroking her hair, running his hands through the strands, which calmed her down even more until she gave into the tiredness of her body.

Maya watched as Lucas took Riley to her room, she had sent a message to her mother telling her that she was spending the night with the Matthews because she didn't want to leave Riley alone. It was nearly nine o'clock when the Matthews sent everyone home and Maya walked upstairs to Riley's room and watched her best friend sleep in her bed. She was worried about what this had all done to her. Placing her phone next to Riley's on the nightstand she worked on getting ready for bed.

Instead of climb into the bed she took her phone and sent a message to Josh, she told him about what was happening, she told him that she was scared for Riley because he was such a pure person and yet people found it to be a weakness. He messaged her until it was almost one in the morning, the two of them talked about Maya feeling partially responsible for some of what was happening, but he had told her that she was crazy. He told her that some people find joy in causing others pain, usually it was those same people who were jealous of what the person had. When they were both close to falling asleep they sent each other a good night before Maya climbed into bed next to her best friend and fell asleep.


Riley's dreams start off nice, Lucas holding her hand as they walked through a meadow, Maya drawing the scene around them while Zay talked to her about some crazy thing he saw on youtube. Farkle and Smackle trying to catch butterflies for their collections, talking about the species that were around them. It was calming, and then she heard the distinct buzz of her phone, and the messages started coming in. Lucas pulls away, Maya is gone, Zay, Farkle and Smackle are too far for her to reach. Everything goes dark as rain clouds start to form around her, the thunder rolls and brightens the sky for a moment. All of a sudden she's alone, in the bathroom stall at school listening to the same girls that had talked about her. The ones that brought out every one of her insecurities and talked about her like she was nothing but a spec in the wind.

The girl with the dark brown hair turns around and looks at the stall and Riley notices who she was, Missy, the second girl turns around and she sees Emily, they laugh as the third girl turns around and Riley sees the face of the girl who had bullied her in middle school, just because she had found her acting goofy. She didn't understand why they were saying and doing these things to her but she wanted to know. All of a sudden the stall door slams open and they pull her out by her hair and push her to the ground.

One of them pulls out a bottle of soda and starts to pour it over Riley's head soaking her. The girl kneels down and whispers in Riley's ear, "You don't deserve to be happy with Lucas," automatically she knew it was Emily.

Missy walks up next and takes out a yogurt, "I told you to grow up before, but apparently you don't listen, let the big girls take care of that."

The last girl steps in, "You're useless, they will forget you the minute they realize there's something better out there."

Riley could feel the tears form in her eyes but she didn't want to show weakness, so she waited until they were gone before she started crying. She was alone in a dark room, with no one around, no one to help her.

"Fight Riley," Lucas' voice said to her. "Fight for yourself, fight for what you believe in, don't let them tear you down."

His voice, his sadness, everything that had happened, everything they had worked for, she loved him and she wanted to tell him everything. She wanted to fight, for herself, for her life, for her friends.

She woke up the next morning long past the time Maya had left for school and sat down at her computer. Farkle had reactivated all of her accounts the night before so she decided to go on there and look at the messages, the first one on top was from an unknown name and she knew that it was them, the three girls who wanted nothing more than to bring her down. She decided to send them a message because Lucas had been right, both in her dream and what he had said the night before, she needed to fight for herself.

We need to meet, tomorrow after school the hallway by the hole.

She opened up her email and saw something from Lucas, and she smiled, she opened the email to see a picture of his smiling face and a message.

I found this last night when I got home, it's a website for people who are going through any number of problems. I thought it might give you a little strength and help bring back that sunshine that had slowly been growing dim.

When she opened the website she saw articles from all kinds of people, some talking about current affairs and how they impacted the communities, others talking about everyday problems and solutions, and then she found articles about how to deal with bullying. As she read their words she felt herself get stronger, she wanted to fight for these people as well.


Riley asked her friends not to come over after school that day, she wanted one day to herself to think, and to give herself a bit of strength for what she was going to do the next day. She sent them all a message telling them that she was going to do what she did in middle school, she was going to confront her bullies, and she wanted them there when it was over. She slowly worked on her confidence, thinking about what she was going to say to them when she saw them all face to face.

When she walked into school the next day and saw her friends waiting for her, she smiled at them and said to them that everything was going to be fine. She didn't want anyone to worry too much because she wanted to do this on her own, she needed to stand on her own two feet and she told them all that it would be alright. It wasn't until she walked into class and looked Emily face to face as she tried to flirt with Lucas that Riley realized just how much courage she was going to need. Not for herself, but for Lucas who was trying to make it seem like he hadn't known anything was going to happen.

"Hi Lucas," Riley said as she walked to her desk next to her boyfriend. Emily looked up at her and rolled her eyes, obviously not knowing that Riley knew who was bullying her. The other girl bent down and whispered something in Lucas' ear before walking towards her desk.

"Are you okay?" she asked him in hushed tones, but he shook his head and mouthed Later to her. She touched his arm and saw him relax a little.

The rest of her classes went by normally, nothing major happening, at lunch she talked to her friends and felt herself relax. The day was going by as if it were any other day. Until the last bell rung and everyone rushed off to go home. She knew her friends were nearby, they always were, because they wanted to be there just like she was for them. She sat on the stairs and waited, wondering if they would show up, if any of them would show. She waited fifteen minutes and almost gave up and gone off to her locker to get her stuff before leaving. That was when she heard the sounds of their shoes coming near her. Her heartbeat started to speed up as she came face to face with the three girls who were tormenting her, two of which had bullied her before in one way or another.

Now or nothing, she thought to herself as she stood in front of them.