A/N: Remember back in Episode 12 of this story, where Lucas sends Riley the link to that website. Well that's how this part of the story was born.

21. Girl Meets Talent

It was a warm spring day when Riley realized that she may have found her talent, although she hadn't noticed it before. It had started with a few articles for a website she usually went to when she was alone and thinking about her future. She wrote to them, and sent them articles, but she hadn't thought much about it. Most of the articles were about her love of fashion, or about the struggles of being a teenage girl. She used her mother's maiden name, and the name of her purple cat Violet to hide that it was her.

Even her picture on the website was he in a wig hiding who she was because she didn't want her friends to find out. She wrote about the triangle, her feelings for Lucas, her friends, her family, and all of her insecurities. The website constantly asked her for more articles, because they liked her writing style and so Violet Lawrence was born. Fashionista, with a very real backstory. They knew her real name and understood her need to stay hidden in the background because she didn't want her friends and family to find out.

She hadn't realized that it when she started writing for them that it would turn into something, she was a teenager after all. But after the first of her articles had become huge hits they asked for her parents' permission to be a staff writer, at the age of sixteen Riley had accomplished something without anyone knowing. The problem was that now she had to tell everyone about it, and honestly she wasn't ready for that.

The papers arrived by courier the next day, they only wanted one maybe two articles a month along with a column where she could talk with readers about their problems. Riley read over the papers over and over again. Wondering if she could forge her parents' signatures, but knowing her mother, the lawyer, it wouldn't go very well. It took her most of the afternoon to build up the courage to talk to her parents. She had told her friends that she couldn't meet up with them but asked Lucas to come over later. She wanted him to know because he was the one who sent her the first link, she clicked on a link on the same website and found herself on a website that discussed everything from fashion to personal problems. He had given her this chance without even knowing that he did it, so he deserved to know before the rest of her friends did, this included Maya.

"Riley," her mother called out forcing her to step away from her thoughts. "Lucas is here."

Riley grabbed the papers and took them with her, she needed to talk to them before dinner and with Lucas there it would give her a little strength to say what she needed to say. When Riley walked into the living room her father was glaring at Lucas like he would do something as bad as sneezing just so he could kick him out.

"Mom," Riley said trying her best not to crinkle the papers in her hand. "Daddy," she said trying to get her father's attention. "I need to talk to you about something."

"You," her father said looking at Lucas like he had done something wrong. She watched Auggie jump up off the couch and step between Lucas and her father.

"Lucas quick run, save yourself," her brother yelled out pushing her father back.

"No Auggie," her father said. "He did something wrong and now he must die."

"I warned you," Auggie said stepping away from her father and running to their mother. "Daddy is going to jail tonight."

Her mother laughed but turned to Riley ignoring her husband chasing the teenage boy around the living room. "What do you want to talk to us about sweetie," she said.

"Well… this," she said handing her mother the contracts.

Her mother looked at the papers before looking back up to her. "Riley these are contracts, how did you get these?"

"Well that's what I want to talk to you about but well," she said pointing at the chase happening behind them.

"He always thinks the worse of everything," Auggie said smiling at her. "I think daddy's afraid of Lucas taking you away," he whispered to her.

"Cory come sit down before you die from chasing Lucas around," her mother said looking exasperated with her husband. "You forget that he's an athlete."

"Fine… but… only… because… I… can't… breathe…," he said before plopping himself on his chair trying to catch his breath.

Riley pulled Lucas towards the bench seat that Maya usually occupied when she was over, as her family looked at her.

"Okay Riley," her mother said looking at her. "Explain this contract."

"Wait…," her father said slowly trying to suck air back into his lungs. "What… contract?"

"I wanted to talk to you about something I've been doing for a while," Riley said smiling at them. "Remember back in January during the bullying incident?" The all nodded at her, Lucas taking her hand to calm her nerves down. "Well Lucas sent me a link to this website for teens and people who were going through a hard time to find comfort from others… and well I looked through the website and found a link to their main site, and well… um… they were asking for articles from regular people, and I wrote to them. So for the last couple of months I've sent them a couple of articles and stories for them to publish."

"You're a published writer," her mother said surprise in her voice.

"Yes, for the website, and well I write under another name because… well a lot of what I write about is personal and I don't want it to get back to anyone I know."

"What name do you use?" Lucas asked looking at her.

"Well the last name is Lawrence," she said smiling at her mother. "The first name is Violet."

"The purple cat," he said smiling at her, while she nodded at him.

"Is it alright if we read some of your writing?" her mother said to her.

Riley nodded smiling at her mother. "It's alright, but remember a lot of it is things that are well in the past but I wrote it to give others the chance to look at it and remember to find the good in life when everything seems to be going really bad. I also wrote fashion articles, and make up articles on samples they've sent me."

Her parents nodded knowing that Riley had gone through so much, "So the contracts are for?" her mother asked. Riley knew that the lawyer was coming out of her.

"Well I got a call from the editors a few days ago, and they want me to start writing an online Dear Abby column, and an article a month for their magazine. But this is up to you because I need your permission to do it."

"So why is Lucas here?" her father asked.

"Well since he was the one who gave me the link, I figured he deserved to know before everyone else does," she said smiling at Lucas. "It's only fair."

Her mother stood up and walked over to her and gave her a big hug, Riley was surprised by the sudden affection since she wasn't done talking but she was happy to have her mother's arms around her.

"I'm so proud of you Riley," her mother said not letting go. Soon enough the rest of the Matthews clan came over and hugged her too. The four of them embraced until Riley pulled back.

"What the hell," her father said smiling. "Come on Lucas," he said pulling the green eyed boy into the embrace. "Thank you, for taking care of my daughter… even if I don't show it all of the time, I'm glad you two met."

Riley laughed hearing her father's words because for the last four years Lucas has been a thorn at his side, always afraid of Lucas taking away his daughter.

"So what now?" her mother said once they all pulled apart.

"Well you're the lawyer, so I'm thinking you read them and make sure there's nothing weird on there, and that I can only work on certain days."

"I can see if she could get credit at school for doing this," her father said smiling at her. "Might as well use it to your advantage."

"We also have to make sure her cheerleading schedule is a part of this," Lucas said.

"And she had to have family time too," Auggie said.

The five of them talked about how everything needed to work, just to make sure that she isn't overwhelmed by it all. Riley decided that her current schedule was fine, since she had already done her writing during the days Lucas had his mandatory family dinner, and Maya would be with her family.

"No more working at the café," her mother said once they had finished. "We can get Maya to work your shifts if she wants to work, or we can hire someone. I know Josh is looking for a part-time job."

"Are you going to keep writing under your pseudonym?" her father asked right after her mother had finished.

"I would like to so that it doesn't interferes with how people look at me when I'm in school," Riley said trying to hide how she felt about everyone knowing that Riley Matthews was a known writer. "I mean Violet has a certain look to her, I made it up when I sent them the picture for my profile. They had asked why I didn't want anyone to know and I told them that everyone already knew my business at school, so it would be nice to be someone else for once."

"Okay, but remember when you start writing books in the future, use your real name," Lucas said smiling. "You're stories are as good as anything you can write for this magazine."

"Deal," she said smiling.

They decided on having everyone over for dinner on Saturday so that they had advanced notice about the day. Riley had told them that it was just a regular dinner, they just wanted the family to meet their grandchildren's friends. She had also convinced Maya to use the day to tell the elder Matthews about her relationship with Josh. She had used every excuse she could so that no one would suspect the real reason for the dinner.

She was in her room getting ready when Lucas knocked on her bedroom door. "Hey princess," he said smiling at her, but she could feel her hands shaking. "What's wrong?" he took her hand and sat her down on her bed holding her close hoping to calm her down.

"How do you tell people that you've been writing articles about them?" she said as it all hit her. "I mean I never mentioned them, and they were really all about my feelings on how the situations were but I wrote a lot of personal stuff on there."

"Riley, honestly after you told me about the other day I read one of the articles," he said and she could see sadness in his eyes. "It hurt me at first, but only because I wished so much that I had known about what you were feeling during the triangle."

"Sorry I didn't tell you how I felt… I just didn't want you to feel like…"

"Riley I understand, just be honest with everyone, plus it's a great step forward in your life, you know you have a talent in something. Plus you have a way of helping so many people," he said smiling at her.

The two of them sat at there for a moment until her door swung open and Maya walked in with Farkle behind her.

"We're not bothering you two are we?" Maya said trying to act innocent, before she pushed Lucas aside and sat next to Riley. "Too bad."

"Hey Riley," Farkle said smiling. "Your mom asked us to come and get you since the last person she sent up ended up staying up here."

"Oh right," Riley said standing up. "Family… downstairs… dinner."

Lucas nodded his head taking her hand, Farkle and Maya both gave her a weird look but just shrugged it off. Riley knew that they were thinking that this was normal for Riley to be spacey. Once they were downstairs Riley saw her grandparents on the couch talking to her Uncle Eric about his job, while Uncle Shawn and Aunt Katy stood in the kitchen with her parents. Josh was sitting at the bay window with Zay and Cassie, while Smackle made goo goo eyes at him, until Farkle showed up and took her hand, and Maya sat down with Josh.

"This is our family," her brother said walking up to her and hugging her, just as the front door opened and Ava smiled at him. "My woman's here," he said before rushing to meet her at the door.

"Everything is going to be alright," Lucas said squeezing her hand.

Riley nodded at him and then looked over at her mother, they had gone through the contract with the magazine after school, and they were signed. The contract put her under a one year contract, to be revised at a later date if Riley wanted to stay with them. She nodded at her mother to tell her that it was time to tell everyone, dinner was done but they wanted to make the announcement before everyone ate.

Her mother pulled away from table with champagne glasses filled with sparkling cider, and started handing them out.

"Well isn't this a fancy dinner party," Maya said as she took the glass.

"Well we're celebrating something," her mother said smiling at everyone.

"Alright everyone gather around the table," her father said smiling. "I have a lesson to teach."

"But we're not even in school," Zay said while Farkle and Smackle both Yayed in the background. "Zip it you two," he said glaring at the geniuses only to have everyone laugh.

"Anyway," her father started. "A long time ago, a little girl once asked me what her purpose in life was, and how she was going to live up to the legacy that was her parents." Everyone looked over at Riley and smiled, as her friends remembered that lesson. "Well a few days ago she ended up doing something that showed her that she not only had talent, but she would one day surpass her own parents."

As her father spoke Riley felt so proud to be their daughter, because she had really received the best present in the world, and that was that she had them as her parents.

"Wait a minute," Josh said.

"This is a party for Riley," Maya finished.

Her mother laughed before nodding towards Riley, "Okay sweetheart, do you want to tell them?"

Lucas squeezed her hand and gave her a soft smile. "For the few months I've been writing articles for this online teen website, and they called me last week to tell me that they would like to have my article appear in their magazine, as well as run an online advice column for its readers."

The entire room erupted in congratulations as everyone came in close to hug her before she finished telling them the whole story. She was so happy to have this many people in her life who were proud of her. Riley took out the magazine where her first article was set to appear, it was originally just supposed to be a one-time thing because of her age but they had told her that they wanted someone who would connect with their readers, so why not have an actual teenager on staff.

"Wait," Maya squealed. "I know this magazine, everyone at school reads it."

"I've been to the website," Cassie said excitedly.

"I have also looked into it, although it's not my kind of thing," Smackle said as they flipped through the pages.

"You're names not in here," Maya said when she reached the table of contents.

"Actually," Riley said making them all look up. "I use a pen name, mainly because I don't want anyone at school to put two and two together. Especially since I write a lot of personal stuff on the articles I normally write for the website."

"So what's the name?" Josh asked as he looked over Maya's shoulder.

"Violet Lawrence," she said smiling at her mother once again.

The three girls all looked up at her like she had grown a third head.

"Riles," Maya said. "I've read your articles… they're about us?"

"Mostly our adventures, my feelings towards things, and random stuff," she said trying not to feel like she violated her best friend's privacy.

Instead Maya surprised her by giving her a hug. "Thank you," she said in her ear. "You've given me more strength than you know."

"Really Peaches?"

"Yes," Maya said. "I loved those articles, it was nice to read something that was so encouraging especially considering how much we've gone through."

They talked for the rest of the night, about what she's writing, her schedule, and what it meant for her future. Riley was happy that the nerves she had felt earlier in the day were gone. Her friends and family loved her and they would stand behind her no matter what.