A/N
Okay I'm back. Hope you are all doing well. Definitely going for some new perspectives with this one. Not sure where I'm going with this story so this ought to be interesting.
I am a broke college student now so I own exactly three quarters of one can of ramen noodles. This chapter was brought to you by diet coke (please don't sue me). Thanks for reading!
Auggie Doggie Matthews
I lay on my bed, talking on the phone with my girlfriend Ava.
"I know, right?! I laughed so hard, the milk came out of my nose!" I heard her beautiful laugh coming through. I checked the time on the clock on my nightstand: 12:30 am.
Hm. Riley really should've been back by now...
"I know, I saw! Your face was almost as funny as the picture!"
There was a knock on my door.
"Hang on," I said to Ava. "Come on in!" I called out.
My door opened to show my mom and dad, looking somber.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"It's Riley," my mom said.
I arrived at the hospital after picking up Ava from her house. When she overheard my conversation with my parents she'd insisted that she come along.
I checked the time on my phone: 1:34.
We walked into the front door of the large, sterile building.
"Hi," my mom said to the lady at the front desk, "we're looking for Riley Matthews."
"Mrs. Matthews! Mr. Matthews!" a voice called from the hallway. "Glad you could make it."
"Farkle? Lucas? What are you doing here?" I asked.
"We brought Riley in," Farkle said softly.
"What happened?" my mom asked.
"You'll have to ask her. The nurse said that she's awake now, I think," Lucas told her.
"Okay. Where is she?" my mom demanded.
"Follow us."
We followed them to the elevator and up to the third floor, down the hallway and through a set of double doors into a long corridor. We walk a short ways down the hallway and then Lucas opens the door to a room, holding it open for us.
We go inside to see a sleeping Riley and-
"Maya?!"
"Hey," the small blonde says casually, though I can sense the nervousness and anxiety behind her voice. Ava squeezes my hand and I smile gently at her.
"What are you doing here?" my dad asks, and she pretends to look hurt. "I mean, uh, good to see ya. What are you doing here?" He backpedals a bit.
"Well, I said some things to Riley that I really shouldn't have said, and I felt bad, and I knew that I needed to apologize because she's the best friend I've ever had, and I couldn't bring myself to do it over the phone. So I've spent the last 22 hours on 3 buses, 4 trains, a helicopter that really shouldn't have been allowed to fly, and then when I'm in a taxi three blocks from your house and running out of cash I get a text from this bozo," she motions to Farkle, "that Riley is in the hospital. So now I'm here."
My dad smiles gently. "Okay, well that explains that pretty well. Now-"
"What happened to my daughter?" Mom uses her scary lawyer voice this time.
Lucas and Farkle share a look.
"...I'm not entirely sure," Lucas speaks hesitantly. "I know she was drinking, which was probably my fault. But then she got really cold, and she was totally unresponsive, and we didn't know what to do so we brought her here."
"Excuse me," a nurse came into the room, checking one of the IV drips attached to Riley's arm. "Were you with her when she was drinking? She seems to have traces of some other kinds of drugs in her system as well."
"Drinking?! Other drugs?! That's not our Riley. What did you do to her?" Mom spun around to glare at Lucas.
"Nothing! Honestly. I wasn't even there when she was drinking. I did something stupid earlier and Riley ran off before I could apologize, so I went back to her house to wait for her but she never came back. Next thing I know, this crazy girl from school is sending me pictures of her and Riley drinking together, and then Farkle found her driving around, and brought her to my house, and now here we are," Lucas frowned thoughtfully. "I wouldn't put it past Missy to do something underhanded like putting drugs in Riley's drink. In fact, that's probably what happened. I have no idea what she did or why, though."
There was a moment of silence.
"She'll probably be fine," the nurse was the one to break the silence. "She's extremely dehydrated and has a severe concussion, but whatever drugs were in her system seem to have worn off now. We'll probably keep her here for a few days just in case, and then she'll need a few days of rest at home. It's good that you guys brought her in."
"...Why does she have a concussion?" I asked.
Another silence. "...She crashed her car," Farkle said finally. "She was driving and she almost hit me, but then she swerved at the last second and slammed into a lamppost. I think she must have hit her head on the steering wheel or something."
"She was driving drunk?" Dad spoke for the first time in a while.
Riley finally stirred a bit.
"Wha-? Malala? Falafel? Lulu? Doggie? Aba? Mama-dada? Wha hap'n? Whur im me?" she asked groggily.
There was a long, punctuated silence in the air.
"...Riley," Dad finally spoke, "you're in the hospital. You were drinking, and apparently ended up with some kind of drugs, and then you were driving. Honey, what were you thinking?"
"Wha? I drink-dry? Why?" she slurred.
"I think she needs some space. Anyone who isn't immediate family, please step outside now," the nurse instructed. Ava squeezed my hand and slowly retreated out into the hallway. Lucas and Farkle followed closely, and Maya tried to follow, but Dad stopped her. "You're family, too." She smiled softly at that. The door closed heavily behind me.
It's going to be a long night...
Lucas
I stepped out into the hallway with Farkle and the little blonde girl. The door closed heavily behind us.
"Lucas, I'm sorry," Farkle apologized. "I should've been there for Riley. I picked her up after she left the first time and dropped her off at her house, but I should've stayed. It's my fault that she-"
"No," I stopped him. "It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault, really. We all messed up tonight, but that doesn't mean that any of us are to blame."
"But she could've died, Lucas. She almost did!" A tear streaked across his cheek. "She was this close to crashing into my car. What if she-"
"Don't think like that. She's here now. You saved her. You brought her back, Farkle. She's alive now because of you."
I quickly grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into a hug.
The door opened behind us and we pulled apart.
"So, what's the verdict, your honor?" I asked as Riley's parents and Auggie came out into the hallway, leaving Maya alone in the room with Riley.
"She's grounded for two months," Mr. Matthews said, "and don't think we won't be watching her 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You won't be coming in through that window anytime soon." He smiled a bit, though I could tell he meant it.
"And, she's not going to be driving anytime soon either. From the sound of things, her car is totaled, and there is no way she's getting a new one anytime soon. So, I hope the two of you like giving her rides to and from school, because you'd better get used to doing that a lot more," Mrs. Matthews added. "You two really had her back tonight, and for that we are eternally grateful."
"That being said," Mr. Matthews said, "Lucas, we will have a long talk on Wednesday about school. You've been missing a lot of classes lately, and you've got some serious ground to make up. And Farkle, your dad called. He was worried about you, so we told him you were with us."
"My dad called you?" Farkle repeated.
"Yeah, he did. We told him everything, and I want you to know that I'm pulling for you," Mr. Matthews grinned softly.
"Thank you, sir," I offered sincerely.
"It's getting late. You should all go home, try to get some sleep. We'll keep you updated on Riley's condition," the nurse said slowly as she and Maya finally emerged from the room. Maya's face was still wet with tears.
"Maya?" I asked softly.
"She's going to be fine. We're going to be fine. Go home, Ranger Rick," Maya said slowly.
So I did. And I didn't sleep a wink.
The next day I swung back by the hospital and explained everything to Riley. We spent the day together watching television, laughing, talking and singing together.
As I drove home that night I braced myself for what I knew was going to be a long week.
Zay
After spending the entire weekend in bed I finally managed to get up Monday morning for school. We had a game tomorrow and we couldn't have two players stuck on the bench for the same game.
Lucas immediately approached me as I came up to my locker.
"Zay, I am so sorry, please just let me-"
"No, Lucas, don't even talk to me right now." I shoved past him and quickly got in and out of my locker before walking towards my first class.
"Zay, please, I-"
"Shut up! Just leave me alone, dude. I thought we were friends but I guess I was wrong so just leave me alone," I quickly walked off down the hallway and he didn't bother to follow me. I sighed. Today's going to be a long day...
Lucas approached me between every class period all day long Monday, and all day long Tuesday, trying to talk to me. I didn't want to hear it. Missy was nowhere to be found. I don't think I could've handled seeing her today anyways.
Finally our last class ended. I headed for the gym locker rooms to get ready for our game. This was going to be one of the biggest games of the season, against our rival school Thomas Jefferson Academy (what was the deal with all of our schools being named after those history people?) and I had to keep my head in the game. I was on the starting line-up in Lucas' place since he was stuck on the bench.
We all changed and got our gear all ready to go. The coach gave the usual pep-talk and we headed out to the field.
"Zay!" Lucas called out as we went out onto the field.
"I'm trying to play a game here, man!" I called, then ignored him. We all lined up to start the game. We won the coin toss. Looks like we get the ball first.
The game started. I dodged and weaved through the other team's players, trying to get open. Finally I did and my friend Matt passed the ball to me. I caught it easily and turned to run with it down the side of the field, which was wide open.
My eyes caught on Lucas as he looked at me apologetically. I hesitated for a single second. This should be his moment, not mine.
Maybe I should try to forgive him? Or at least let him explain. He's been my best friend since pre-school, no way he would hurt me like that for no reason. Maybe I was wrong...
I felt someone hit me hard from behind, pushing me down flat and knocking the wind out of me as several other players were suddenly on top of me.
I heard the whistle blowing loudly, bringing me back to reality.
No. This ends now.
I quickly stood up, ignoring the player who had tackled me and was currently offering me a hand up. The timer was still running but I couldn't care less. I pushed myself to my feet and shoved past all the other players, hot tears stinging behind my eyes as I marched straight over to Lucas, throwing down my helmet.
"What is your problem, dude?" I could feel my face turning red with anger.
"My problem?! You won't even talk to me!" he shot back.
"Oh, and why is that, I wonder? Maybe because you kissed my girlfriend!" I shouted back.
"I didn't-"
"Oh, save it. We all saw it happen. Hell, there's about a hundred videos of it on social media to prove it. You're not my best friend, you're just a stupid jerk and I should've realized that a long time ago. Well, now I know, so good riddance," I spat.
"You don't know what you're talking about so why don't you just shut up?!" he shoved me backwards.
I blinked, stunned.
"Don't touch me," I cried, taking a swing and cringing a little as my fist connected harshly with his face.
The entire stadium and the entire world went dead silent.
Lucas froze, shock and rage written across his face as a dark bruise slowly started to form around his eye. He hesitantly reached up to touch his face as though to check whether that had really just happened.
"Lucas, I-" he tackled me, and an all-out brawl ensued. Kicking and screaming and punching, limbs flinging and flailing everywhere and bodies rolling around through the grass.
"You hit me!" he cried indignantly as his knee came in contact with my stomach. "Why'd you hit me?!"
"I hate you!" I screamed, harshly grabbing him by the hair and slamming his head into the ground.
"I've been trying to apologize for two days but you won't even let me! Whose fault is that?" he screamed as he struggled against me and then landed another punch.
"How could you do that to me?!" I sobbed, as I felt a very strong pair of hands gripping my shoulders and pulling me back away from him as I struggled and flailed wildly. We faced each other once again as our coach held him back by his shoulders and the other team's coach held my own shoulders. He had bruises all over him and a black eye and it looked like he might have even broken a rib or dislocated his shoulder and I couldn't imagine I looked any better.
"She kissed me, I told her to stop and I should never have let it go that far in the first place and I'm sorry," he screamed, his voice cracking as he trailed off into a ramble. He slumped over in coach's arms.
"I'm sorry, too, Lucas. I miss you and I just wanna be friends again."
"Me too." The two coaches wearily let us go and we fell into a big hug, both crying softly.
"Now let's get you two to the nurse's office since clearly neither one of you will be playing for the rest of the season," our coach said and we both cried harder at that.
Lucas
"In school suspension?!" I cried.
"Yes," the principal responded. "Between all of the classes you've missed recently, on top of practices, meetings and various other things, then to top it all off starting a fight with Zay, I think that's the bare minimum. You're honestly lucky you're not getting expelled at this point, but since you've always been a stellar student and you've never caused any trouble before, plus being student council president I felt that expulsion would be too harsh."
"But-"
"Lucas, please," Mr. Matthews said, "your suspension is only a week and you'll still be attending all your classes. You've got a lot of work to do if you want to pass your classes and not have to take another year."
I hung my head. "Yes, sir. Thank you." I slowly walked towards the door of the office, pushing up my sunglasses and tugging down on my beanie to cover the black eye I was sporting. I opened the door and turned to look over my shoulder.
"Hey, please go easy on Zay. I know it looks bad for him but this whole thing is my fault in the first place. So just... go easy on him." With that I turned and walked out of the office, going to my car where Riley was waiting for me to give her a ride home.
"Princess." I smiled softly when I saw her face. She had gotten out of the hospital this morning and I hadn't seen her since then because she'd only gone to one class, which I had missed to have my meeting. The bump on her head was healing. quite nicely and she still wore my oversized blue sweatshirt from the other day, with nothing else. I came up to her and wrapped my arms around her waist, gently sweeping her off her feet as I brought my face down to hers in a deep kiss. She smiled against my lips as I gently ran my fingers through her soft hair, grasping a fistful of sweatshirt with my other hand. It had only been five days since we had kissed, but it felt like five hundred years.
"Study with me?" she asked breathlessly, gently pulling her face back from mine.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world." I pushed our lips back together again.
A/N
Okay, so this seemed like a good, non-cliffhanger-y kind of ending (I think). There's still some things to tie up (What's going to happen with Maya? Will Zay and Lucas stay friends? Will Zay and Missy make up (nope)? Will Farkle and Lucas become friends now? Will Lucas be able to pass all of his classes? Will I write a little fluffy side chapter of Auggie and Ava (probably (not))? Will I pass my calculus exam (definitely not)? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z! Hey, wait a second...)
Anyways, thanks everyone for reading. See you all soon(ish) (maybe) (probably in another 4-7 years)
Until then, so long, farewell, adieu adieu adieu! (Sorry, I recently watched the Sound of Music and that song's been stuck in my head for a while now)
Frolic on and be a Wiggly Walrus named Wally!
^Rikki the Fab One Out!^