A.N.- Dance part two, here's a roller coaster of feels. I hope you enjoy it. Hoping that Lore will come quickly soon.

Last Time on Rhetoric:

"Meet Josh and Riley Matthews, twins, but what you don't know is Riley has been pretending to be her brother over the last three weeks." And suddenly I felt like a deer caught in headlights.

I knew that I had to act quickly if I wanted to get out of this situation unscathed, but all eyes were on me and I felt my body stiffening under the pressure.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I stated in my most convincing voice, I had to use all the techniques that Maya had taught me over the years. But even after the words came out of my mouth it still didn't feel like an effective lie. My brown eyes jumped over to the headmaster, because as much as I would love to convince Lucas with this, she was one I had to make her believe me if I wanted to avoid any suspension. I heard Missy gasp in shock as her anger was starting to catch up to her.

"That's not true! She confessed to me!" I did feel bad, because I did technically admit to what she was accusing me of, but I wouldn't be the first one to admit that in this moment.

"I've barely seen this girl in my life. I think she's in my English class. I do remember a conversation where she wanted me to drop out of the Homecoming race." Immediately upon the words, the headmaster turned upon her daughter. She had a sickly sweet smile, but even I could tell that she was frustrated underneath.

"Missy, congratulations, you have proven nothing except that they are twins." She hissed the last word. I watched Missy's body scrunch back obviously intimidated by her mother.

"No, I'm telling you."

"Missy that's enough." I flinched at the harshness and she wasn't even talking to me. The older women regained her composure and straightened her jacket.

"Now if you excuse me, I have to make sure that the rest of the school population doesn't sneak off on my watch. GO." She started to scoot her away before turning back and apologizing on behalf of her daughter. I had never seen her act so nice; I was starting to wonder if it was because I was part of the top of my class. I could imagine her getting a bonus for sending a certain amount of student in the Ivy League schools. I watched the two of them head back in the direction of the dance. Josh had made himself scarce as well. I couldn't believe that I had gotten away with it; I let out a sigh of relief.

"Why did you lie to them?" His voice was low which caused a shiver down my back. I whipped around to see Lucas there with his hands in his pockets.

"What?" I asked almost in a panic.

"That guy was not Joshua Matthews," He pointed in the direction that Josh had run off in. "I talked to Josh, I roomed with"- He stopped himself and let his head drop.

"Missy was telling the truth, wasn't she?" He looked so wounded at the possibility. He reeled back when I hesitated to give him an answer, the silence was enough for him.

"Lucas"- He cursed and put more distance between us causing my hands to drop to my side. I couldn't bear the way he was looking at me, I felt cracks start to form in my heart.

"Tell me you're lying, tell me that Missy doesn't know what she's talking about, tell me that if I called up Josh right now someone would answer." His voice seemed almost desperate. My eyes fell to ground, almost if I was bracing myself for what was to come.

"I can't." I needed to explain, he needed to know why.

"My brother he has a passion for photography, and he got kicked out of school so they transferred him here. He got in his head to join this competition but because of his past, he would get sent to a military school, I couldn't let them send him away. So I pretended to be Josh. At first it was only supposed to last two weeks, but then everything became so much more complicated when you were my roommate."

"Were you even going to tell me?" He lashed out which made me flinch.

"Lucas, I tried so many times to tell you"-

"But you didn't"- He interrupted. My eyes narrowed in defense.

"What was I supposed to say, oh hey Lucas, it's awesome being your roommate and all, but hey guess what, I'm really a girl and I like you." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"I would have listened." He fired back.

"Would you really?" I snapped.

"Yes." His voice raised, allowing the anger to take control. "You knew that I had problems with lying Riley, and so the best thing you could think of was to keep something this major for me. It's almost like"- He paused, but I needed to know.

"Say it." I ordered.

"It's almost as bad as Missy." Tears threatened to start to fall, but I had to remain strong, I wouldn't cry in front of him.

"How could you say that?" I knew exactly how he felt about Missy so for him to even compare me to her was like a knife in the back and then twisting it.

"How could you not tell me? Don't real friends talk? You didn't trust me enough to tell me"- He cut off and shook his head. He almost looked like he wanted to punch a wall. I felt like I was losing him and I was grasping but I didn't know how I could save the situation.

"Lucas"- He shook his head stepping back.

"I need some space."

"Lucas,"-

"I said I need some space!" He yelled, his eyes suddenly widened and he backed away. He turned his back and started to walk away despite me whispering his name. I let some of the tears roll down my cheek, the night started out so well; how did everything go so wrong? Was it really that easy to just tell him sooner. Everyone told me to, why couldn't I just listen to them. With the way he was looking at me I would be surprised if he ever wanted to speak to me again.

I held my head up high pushing down the tears that were threatening to appear. Just because it seemed that my night was ruined didn't mean I had to ruin it for everyone else. I slipped back into the gym, it seemed that everyone was so caught up the music and the dance floor to notice my return without Lucas. I took a moment to watch them live in a world without me in it. Farkle and Smackle were doing the weirdest dance that I had ever seen, but they looked elated while their bodies moved to the music. The sight that caught me most off guard was the sight of Josh and Maya dancing; he worked fast all things considering. If Missy's mom had believed her and dug deeper then he could have been suspended. I didn't see Zay, but I had no doubt that he was trying to find Sarah somewhere in the crowd. They all looked happy, I couldn't interrupt that, I turned back around and started headed back to the door when I heard Maya call my name. When I turned around I saw her body tense.

"Riles, what's wrong? Where's Huckleberry?" I put on my most convincing smile, praying that the darker atmosphere along with my mask would hide the rest.

"Nothing," I watched her study my face, but she didn't call me out on my lie. Instead she grabbed my hand.

"Come on dance with me." She insisted.

"Maya"- I didn't even get through my excuse before we started to walk towards the dance floor.

"Come on, someone has to show Boing how it's done." She smirked which brought a hint of smile. Maya always seemed to have the ability to make me smile no matter the circumstances; she had a gift that way. The next song that blasted through the speakers turned out to be song here which was one of my favorites. Smackle and Farkle scooted closer which made it almost like a group dance. Maya spun me around. Her goofy nature caused a laugh to exit my mouth lifting my spirits little by little. I almost forgot what just occurred with Lucas.

All the fun seemed to fade as the music did and the administrator assistant came up on stage.

"It is the time that you all have been waiting for, time to crown the king and queen of the Homecoming dance." Everything seemed to slid to a stop as part of my anxiety started to kick in.

"First the king, we have Kyle Hemsburg, Reed Sterling, and Lucas Friar." Goosebumps spread across my skin as I was losing the ability to breath.

The crowd burst out in cheers and I just shook my head, I couldn't deal with this right now.

"Riley?" I shook my head back and forth, my emotions spilling out onto the floor.

"I can't do this." My head started spinning and the only thing I knew was that I needed to put as much space from this room that I could. I pushed past everyone that I could ignoring Maya's shouting my name behind me. The second I pushed through the door the water works that I had been trying so hard to hold cam bursting out. My legs gave way crashing my body to the floor. I scooted resting my back against the cool lockers. I ripped off my mask, there was no reason to hide when I had already been exposed enough over the night. My fingers ran over the mask in my hands, it was beautiful, but it's main purpose was to deceive. I tossed the mask watching it skid across the floor.

"Riles?"

"I messed up Maya." The blonde didn't say anything at first simply slid down on the floor next to me, but even the heat she radiated was comforting. My head found her shoulder.

"What happened with Lucas?" I closed my eyes to prevent more tears from falling.

"He knows everything. Now I doubt he ever wants to see me again."

"Now you don't know that." She chided running her fingers through my hair in a soothing fashion.

"You didn't hear what he said or the way he looked at me." Maya stood up looking down at me.

"Come on Riley, get up." I looked up at the blonde figure. She wasn't seriously suggesting that I go in there now, was she.

"Maya, I can't go back in there right now, please don't ask me to," I pleaded. She offered out her hand and helped me off the floor.

"Alright Riley, you win. I'll take you home."

I was grateful that Maya drove me home, especially since doing so would ruin her own dance experience. When we pulled up into the driveway she threw her arms around me in a tight hug.

"I'm going to go surprise my mom, but if you need anything, I'm only a phone call away." She whispered in my ear. I climbed out of the car and waved goodbye as she drove away. I didn't want to have to explain to anyone what happened, and this was the one of the last places that Lucas would look at least for the time being.

"Riley?" I heard my mother call out as I closed the door. I ignored her voice and started up the stairs, my brain couldn't even process that her pace had quickened.

"Riley," She pulled at my arm so I would face her. Her hand ran to fix some hair that had fallen over the course of the night. I was so strong throughout the night, and the last person I wanted to break down in front of was my mother, but the tears came anyway. I wrapped my arms around her in a sudden hug catching her off guard. When she eased into the hug she rested her hand on my back rubbing it trying to calm me down. She led me to my bed and I curled up with my head resting on her lap.

"I don't think things will work out between Lucas and I." I was surprised that I had tears left to cry. I don't know why I felt this way, I was never one of those girls who let the little stuff affect me, and after all I only knew him for a month.

"I'm so sorry sweetheart." No more words were said; we just sat there in silence. It was nice to see her concerned for me. Normally she would jump at the chance and tell me to brush it off and that she had this friend with a cute son.

"I really liked him." My words were quiet, but they were just as impactful. A couple seconds of sheer silence passed before she replied, "I know." She stayed with me till my eyes drifted close as sleep claimed me.

A.N.- So by show of hands, who cried? My bad. If you think this is bad, wait for Lore. Let me know what you think. Lore will probably be up on Saturday/Sunday.