Graduation came quicker than I had anticipated. The names were called and everybody was marching too fast. It was terrifying. I vaguely remembered walking onstage when my name was called, and overhearing a bunch of people cheering but that was it. My mind was too full of thoughts about Lucas, Maya, and Farkle, as well as the situation we somehow managed to get ourselves involved in.

I caught sight of a woman talking to Lucas in hushed whispers once graduation was officially over and everyone was basically just mingling. I had tried to head over there to see what was going on, but someone yanked my arm back. I reluctantly spun around to face the person, a recklessly sarcastic retort on the tip of my tongue, but I silenced myself the second I realized who it was.

"Aunt Morgan!" I yelped, throwing my arms around her. She laughed lightly, gently embracing me before taking a single step back, looking me up and down once. Not in the scrutinizing way, but in a curious type of way. It made sense - it had been ages since the last time we had seen each other, and I was sure I most likely looked different.

She nodded after a moment, her wavy blond hair bouncing up and down with every movement. "Someone inherited the pretty gene from their mother. Seriously, though, I'm so proud of you! You're officially graduated from middle school!"

Uncle Eric and Uncle Shawn came up from behind Aunt Morgan, along with both of my parents and Joshua. I managed a weak, breathless laugh, running a hand through my hair nervously. I wasn't used to being the center of attention with people that were not Maya or Lucas. "Thank you, Aunt Morgan. And I'm so glad you guys could make it! It really means a lot to me."

"Anything for my niece," Uncle Eric said, chuckling to himself. "But hey, where's that pretty boy toy of yours that your dad is so worried about? I wanna congratulate him on freaking out Cory so much."

My dad rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Eric." Then he paused before turning to look at me, tugging me into a bone crushing hug. "You're not a little baby anymore!" he yelled, practically in my ear. I heard my mom laugh lightly before joining in, wrapping her arms around the both of us. The warm embrace ended too soon for my liking as my dad wiped away what I hoped were fake tears and my mom ruffled my hair playfully.

"We're so proud of you, Riley," she said softly, dropping her hand from my hair after a moment.

I smiled slightly, glancing around at the people surrounding me. My family. "Thanks, guys," I said quietly, my voice barely audible over the loud roaring of the people around us.

Shawn grinned. "Hey, I'm just glad you made it through middle school with that one as your history teacher," he teased. "But do you know where Maya is? I wanted to congratulate her, too."

I raised my eyebrows slightly. "You didn't come with Maya and her mother?"

He shook his head, looking slightly awkward. "No, I did not."

Aunt Morgan glanced between Shawn and I before smirking. "Aww, does Mr. Cory have a little something-something going on with Maya's mother? Because if so, props to ya. I've met Katy before, and she's a definite keeper. So don't screw it up, buddy."

"Okay, Morgan, thank you for your opinion," my dad said shortly. Aunt Morgan raised her eyebrows, crossing her arms slightly. I knew she was only messing with him, though - this was the kind of relationship Morgan and my dad had always had. They were always playful with each other, your typical brother and sister. She still tossed the occasional insulting nickname in his direction, but I knew at the end of the day, they still cared about each other. That was just how usual brother and sister relationships were.

I could have sworn a few puzzle pieces clicked in my head then and there, but I couldn't pinpoint what exactly they were. Especially not with the loud chattering of the teenagers and adults surrounding us, everyone practically jumping up and down with excitement. Usually I would be doing the same exact thing, considering the fact that I had honestly been looking forward to this day since I started middle school, but it was no use. I was too weighted down by the complication I currently had with Lucas to be very cheery.

"Okay, Brillo Pad," she said, grinning innocently. My mom and Uncle Eric both snickered, not even trying to disguise it when my dad shot them a pointed look.

My father rolled his eyes after a moment, turning back to face Uncle Shawn. "I think Maya was across the room. The last time I saw her, she was talking to Farkle. It looked like the conversation wasn't exactly the greatest they have ever had, so approach with caution, buddy."

My eyebrows furrowed together tightly as I stood up a little straighter. "What are you talking about? Did you overhear what they were saying?"

My dad stared at me blankly. "Are you kidding me, Riley? I can barely hear you, and you're standing right in front of me."

I pressed my lips together tightly. "Yeah, okay. I should have seen that coming. But would it be all right if we all headed back to our apartment? It's a little bit crowded here and I'm starting to feel somewhat claustrophobic." Everyone nodded except for Shawn, who mumbled something about still wanting to congratulate Maya, but claiming that he would meet up with us later on.

. . .

We all basically divided once we reached our tiny New York apartment. Mom, Dad, and Uncle Eric hovered in the kitchen while they talked, and meanwhile, Aunt Morgan, Josh and I sat in the living room. We talked about trivial things - how we had been, our thoughts on the weather, even our favorite hobbies. Eventually Aunt Morgan turned the subject around on me, asking me about how my friends were, and who exactly was this so-called "pretty boy" Uncle Eric was talking about back in the school's gym.

"He's Riley's boyfriend," Joshua said, smirking.

I shook my head, biting my bottom lip lightly. Although I didn't feel comfortable mentioning the situation with Lucas in front of my parents, Uncle Shawn and Uncle Eric, things were different when it came to Joshua and Aunt Morgan. I knew that they would understand better, and besides, they might be able to help me out. Even if they couldn't, I knew they wouldn't chase after Lucas with a chainsaw, so there wasn't really anything to worry about.

"He's not your boyfriend?" Aunt Morgan asked, already sounding confused.

And that's when it all came pouring out. It was almost completely out of my control, the way the words just spewed out of me. It was most likely a good thing that my parents and Uncle Eric were so caught up in their conversations about the nineties, because it was as if I had no filter at all. I started going on and on about how I had called Lucas's mother and managed to convince her to come out here for his graduation, and how upset Lucas was with me right now. I told them about the argument we had gotten into, and how Lucas had ended our unofficial relationship. Irrationally enough, I even told them about the "I love you"s, something even Maya didn't know about. Not only that, I told them about my concerns over Lucas and Maya's supposed "friendship," as well as the idiotic jealousy I felt whenever they were around each other.

Needless to say, if my father had overheard my life would have turned into an actual horror movie, where the crazy guy chases everyone down with a sledgehammer and hammers them into tiny pieces. Or however those scary movies always seemed to go. After all, I had never watched them - that was Maya's thing.

They both stayed fairly silent for a long moment before Aunt Morgan cleared her throat quietly. "It sounds like this pretty boy of yours has it bad, kiddo."

I frowned. "Aunt Morgan, you did hear everything I just said, right? There's no way Lucas actually returns my stupid feelings. If anything, he likes Maya and-" I cut off suddenly, feeling something lodging in my throat again. My eyes were stinging painfully, and I forced a halfhearted laugh, hoping that I could make this feeling go away before it became too obvious. I didn't want Morgan or Josh worrying about me, they had bigger problems in their own everyday lives.

Josh chuckled. "Riley, you really do have tunnel vision, don't you?"

"His mom probably wants to drag him out to California, right?" Aunt Morgan asked, making sure to keep her voice soft to make sure nobody else could overhear our conversation. I nodded, and she shook her head to herself. "He obviously doesn't want to leave you."

"Or Maya," I suggested in a total deadpan.

"Riley, Riley, Riley," she said quietly, almost teasingly. "He's your typical sort of boy. He doesn't understand how exactly to communicate his feelings."

"Um, hi," Josh interrupted indignantly.

Aunt Morgan waved her right hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. Hate to break it to you, but you're a typical boy, too, Joshy. Anyway, Riley, I'm betting he's just afraid of being forced to leave you, which would explain why he was so aggravated. Admittedly, he totally screwed up by lashing out at you, but I'm fairly certain he regrets it by now. The only question is whether or not you can forgive him."

I chewed on my lower lip nervously, feigning interest in my shoes. "I don't know. What are the fight we had? When you argue with someone and purposefully say things that you know will hurt them, I figured that meant you didn't care about them anymore."

"You either care about somebody or you don't, Riley," Josh interjected, pursing his lips briefly. "There is no in between. You don't ever really stop caring about a person. I happen to think it's kind of impossible."

"But you shouldn't have so many issues with people you truly care about!" I yelped. Then, realizing that I had raised my voice and almost caught the attention of my parents and Uncle Eric, I spoke softer. "If Lucas and I were meant to be, would we honestly be going through this?"

Joshua shrugged. "That depends."

"On?" I pressed, my voice already sounding somewhat hysteric. I had never realized how much I had been yearning for other people's opinions on this situation until right now. It was kind of shocking, to say the absolute least.

"On whether or not you think love is worth all the problems you guys will have to face time and time again," Aunt Morgan murmured. "Nothing worth having comes easy, Riley. If your relationship with him wasn't real, there would be no problems at all. But this isn't honeymoon avenue. You're going to have problems with each other."

I raised a single eyebrow. "Even problems that lead to arguments?"

"Especially those. It's normal for couples to argue, Riley. The other question is whether or not you want to give up on the whole darn thing because of these inevitable complications."

Fortunately, Uncle Shawn barged in before I got the chance to think of a coherent response. Vaguely remembering Maya muttering something about how Shawn and her mom had gotten into a disagreement, I jumped up, darting over to Shawn before he could stride over to my parents. "I have a question I need to ask you."

By now my parents and Uncle Eric were looking in our direction, but I couldn't even bring myself to care. I was not exactly gutsy when it came to speaking to Uncle Shawn, so I had to use this random burst of courage while it was still fresh. Even if it meant the risk of my life suddenly transforming into a gory horror movie.

Shawn glanced down at me, seeming completely unfazed. "Ask away, kiddo."

"Is it true you got into a disagreement with Maya's mom, even though you two are kind of in a relationship?"

He paused for a long moments, lips pressed together firmly. I didn't bother to look around to notice everyone's reaction and see if they were even aware of his apparent issues with Maya's mother. I had bigger things to worry about. Like, for example, whether or not he was going to answer me.

"Yes," he finally said, exhaling lightly. "Is there any reason you're asking me about this, Riley?"

I nodded. "There is. Do you still care about her, even though you guys got into a fight? Even if you both might have possibly said things you regret and didn't mean?"

Shawn hesitated, obviously unsure of whether or not to reply before eventually nodding once. "Yeah. One little argument with Katy isn't going to change anything, Riley, so you don't need to worry about sprinkling your fairydust on the situation and trying to fix up right up. This is the type of thing we have to work out on our own."

"Because it's a conflict," my dad said, and I noticed him walking towards us in my peripheral vision. "Which inevitably leads to growth. And sometimes you have to grow without anyone's help, okay, sweetheart?"

Selfish as I felt, I hadn't been planning on trying to repair things with Shawn and Katy. Then again, I might just feel like that because I never really considered anything as broken between them. Even my parents had gotten into disagreements before - for example, when my father was trying to teach Maya and I a lesson on the truth. It hadn't worked so well for him at first, but he ended up fixing everything on his won in the end, aside from a bit of help from Auggie.

I glanced around at everyone in the room - Mom, Dad, Uncle Shawn, Joshua, Aunt Morgan, Uncle Eric, Auggie. They had all had seemingly endless conflicts in their lives, even my younger brother. They had to learn from it, though, and grow on their own. Even when sometimes everything seemed totally hopeless, they still had to power through and never give up.

This time, I needed to be like them. I had to learn and grow and never give up, on anything or anyone. That was the kind of person I had always wanted to be. It was time to quit procrastinating and actually become that person.

"Is there something wrong between you and Lucas?" Auggie asked, his eyebrows furrowing. "Because if so, I can hunt him down."

If everything didn't seem so painfully serious to me, I might have actually laughed. I managed a half-smile instead, nodding a little in spite of myself. "There is. But you don't have to worry about it, Auggie. This is something I have to resolve on my own."

An abrupt banging on the door cut me off, and I sighed quietly. Since Joshua was sitting closest to the door, he hopped up and answered, which was a relief. I didn't think I could handle anything else at the moment, especially when my father was already calculating what I had just confessed. I would have to make sure there were no shovels he could get his hands on. The last thing any of us needed was him getting arrested. After all, he was our Mr. Feeny, the voice of logic and reason.

Unless it involved Lucas Friar, of course. Then, he was simply the voice of overprotective fatherhood.

"Uh, Riles?" Josh asked, his voice sounding slightly confused. I spun around immediately, about to ask him what was wrong before I exhaled shakily. the sight in front of me literally taking my breath away.

Lucas and his mother, along with Maya and Farkle right behind them, all four of them standing in the hallway right outside of our doorway.

It was highly irrational that my heart still skipped a beat when I saw those piercing green eyes of Lucas's. Especially at a time as serious as this one.

. . .

A/N: No real Rucas moments in this one, sorry about that, guys! However, I mostly wanted to focus on the lessons I had been wanting to teach in this story. Not only that, Morgan and Eric are finally here! Yaaaaaay! Feel free to leave your thoughts on this chapter, it's amazing to hear what you guys think!

Also, I still shall not own Girl Meets World. Yeah, okay, I'm too tired to come up with a clever disclaimer this evening. Goodnight, Rucas warriors!