Riley's POV

"Thanks for coming over," I said to Vanessa, grabbing a couple of Miller Lite's out of my dorm room mini fridge. I handed one to her. We sat on my bed. Unfortunately dorm rooms don't come with bay windows, so the bed will have to do.

"Are you okay, Riley?" she asked.

"Not really." I admitted.

"What's going on?" she asked.

I took a few sips of my beer. "Promise me you won't say anything to Zay about this?"

"Okay, I won't," she agreed. "But now I'm worried."

"I think I need to break up with Lucas." I sighed.

Vanessa looked shocked. "But weren't you guys planning to join the Peace Corps together, like right after graduation?" she asked.

Lucas and I had been talking about the Peace Corps since high school. I can still remember the discussion that sparked the idea. It was sophomore year. Our whole group sat down to have lunch together in the cafeteria and Zay was pretty riled up about something.

"Your dad lied to us!," he declared rather loudly, slamming down his lunch tray.

"Hey man, are you okay?" Lucas asked him, surprised to see his best friend so aggravated.

"You mean my dad?" I asked.

He looked at me like it should've been obvious. "No, I meant her dad," he replied sneeringly, pointing at Maya. I glared at him for this unwarranted comment.

"I'm sure he did Zay," Maya responded calmly. "He's already trying to ruin my life all over again, so I wouldn't put anything past him."

"Please don't make Maya's dad the subject of your sarcasm right now, Zay," I scolded him.

"I'm sorry, Maya," he softened his tone as he apologized to her. "I didn't mean-"

She waved her hand at him. "I know. It's fine." She turned to me. "I'm fine," she assured me.

I knew she wasn't fine. After Shawn and Katy got married, Shawn wanted to adopt Maya, and she was thrilled. All they needed was for Maya's dad to terminate his parental rights. He had basically abandoned her in every possible way but the legal way for the past decade. Nobody expected him to put up a fight now. He sure shocked us all. Not only did he not want to sign away his parental rights so Shawn could adopt Maya, he decided to take Katy to court to sue for full custody of Maya. Maya was so…wait…I'm digressing. This is a story for another flashback. More about that later. Back to the cafeteria.

"So why are you pissed at Matthews?" Maya asked Zay.

"Remember that 'lesson' he taught us," (he made air quotes around the word "lesson") "about Hurricane Katrina?" he asked.

"Yeah. Of course, I remember. He called on me and made me answer his question," Maya replied.

"Of course you remember, Maya, because he made that lesson about you," Zay's tone sounded a bit accusatory.

"That's not her fault though," I defended her.

"Zay, why are you upset about this now?" Lucas asked.

Zay turned to Lucas "And you didn't help either with your sunshiny talk about 'Hurricane picnics' and 'Hurricane barbecues'," Zay said with more air quotes.

"I was just speaking about my experience being there," Lucas answered.

"I like the way Matthews teaches us," Maya spoke up for my dad.

Farkle chimed in too. "Good teachers find ways to relate the content to their student's lives. It makes school more relevant and keeps students interested."

Zay turned to Farkle, "Yeah, except Hurricane Katrina had nothing to do with Maya. It's not some metaphor for hope for anyone."

He turned to me. "I just learned about it in my African American studies elective. Your dad failed to mention that 1800 people died."

I dropped me spork. "Oh my gosh," I said.

"Kanye West was right when he said George W. Bush didn't care about black people," Zay continued.

"Eighteen hundred people?" Maya asked in disbelief. Zay nodded.

This new information really disturbed me. "Why didn't anybody help them get out?!" I asked.

"That's a great question, Riley. One you should've been able to ask your history teacher, if only he had actually taught us the facts," Zay said.

The more I thought about it the more it upset me. We can forecast extreme weather. We can tell when a Category 5 hurricane is coming. We know New Orleans is below sea level. We can evacuate people to higher ground before the storm gets closer. Why didn't we?

I just kept shaking my head, vehemently. It was just all so incomprehensible to me.

"Riles?" Maya put her arm around me. "Are you okay?"

"Preventable," I said. "Every single one of those deaths could have been prevented, or at least a vast majority of them."

"But what can we do about it now?" Maya asked.

That hope she had during that Katrina lesson was a distant memory. Her hope had been fading lately because of her home situation. I can understand why, I mean, her family's future was being decided by a court and what could she do about it?

"I don't know but I want to do something about it. I always have. It's why I pitched that idea to your dad," I said, turning to Farkle, "about turning Halloween into Malaria day. People are dying from Malaria because they don't have access to something as simple as a mosquito net. Again, more deaths that are preventable. Someone should be helping them. I want to help them."

"I remember that lesson. Your dad taught us that most of the world lives on less then two dollars a day," Lucas said.

"Yeah, and a mosquito net costs five dollars," Farkle said.

"So the difference between life and death for these people is three dollars?" Maya asked, incredulously.

"That's exactly why money spent on halloween candy would be better spent on mosquito nets," I contended.

"What did Mr. Minkus say about your idea?" Haley asked me.

"He didn't go for it," I said.

"Yeah my pitch tanked too," Lucas said.

"What was your pitch?" Haley asked Lucas.

"World Peace," he replied.

"Awwwwwww!" Haley gushed.

"No, please don't -" Lucas tried to stop her.

"But that's so adorable!" she continued.

But that's what sparked my idea. When he said the word "Peace" it just clicked.

"That's it! Lucas, you're a genius!" I exclaimed.

"Uh no, I'm the genius. He's an idiot with a face," Farkle said.

"I'm not a genius, I'm not adorable, and I'm not an idiot with a face! I am a secure western hero!" Lucas proclaimed confidently.

"Yes you are!" Zay agreed and patted Lucas on the back.

"The Peace Corps! I can join the Peace Corps, maybe after college. I can go to Africa with them and distribute mosquito nets to people. I can actually help prevent some preventable deaths. I can actually do something," I said, beaming at this revelation.

Maya smiled at me, "Have I told you lately, how amazing you are?" she said.

I blushed at her compliment.

"That's a great idea, Riley. I think I'd like to do it with you," Lucas said.

"You would? Do you really mean that?" I asked him.

"Yes. Your dad is always telling us to 'Dream. Try. Do good.' I may not be able to accomplish World Peace, but I can bring peace of mind to people if they know they won't have to worry about mosquitoes giving them malaria," he said.

"Riley? Earth to Riley?"

Vanessa's voice snapped me back to the present.

"Yeah, sorry, what was that you said?" I asked her.

"Weren't you and Lucas going to join the Peace Corps together?" she asked.

"Sure, that was the plan, but Lucas is out of town right now interviewing with Veterinary schools. I thought he was going to put that on hold and serve in the Peace Corps with me first, but then why would he be interviewing now? I mean I guess they could be informational interviews, but still, I get the feeling he's not into the Peace Corps plan anymore," I said.

Vanessa looked perplexed. "Back up. I'm confused."

"What about?" I asked.

"Are you saying that Lucas told you that the reason he went out of town right after his last final was to check out Veterinary schools?" she asked, looking concerned.

I nodded slowly. What is she implying?

"Okay, that's weird because that is not what he told Zay," Vanessa revealed.

Now I'm sure I was the one looking perplexed. "What did he tell Zay?"

"He's going to meet with some baseball scout, for a tryout or something," Vanessa said.

"I didn't know Veterinary schools had baseball teams." I said, surprised.

Vanessa shook her head. "No sweetie. I'm talking about Major League. Zay wasn't supposed to tell me, but he was so excited for Lucas, he couldn't keep it to himself."

I could feel my eyes widen and my jaw drop involuntarily.

She continued, "He went to Dallas to meet someone from the Texas Rangers. The draft is coming up soon and Zay thinks The Rangers are interested in Lucas for their draft pick."

"WHAT?!" I got up from the bed and started pacing. I guzzled my beer.

"Please don't tell Zay that I told you any of that," Vanessa requested.

"I don't understand. I'm his girlfriend. Why would he lie to me about something like this?" I asked, pacing and binge drinking at the same time.

"I'm guessing to avoid this reaction?" Vanessa supposed.

"This reaction is to the lying part, not the baseball part," I said.

"But he probably knew that getting drafted would put an end to your Peace Corps plans. If they pick him, he's going to Dallas. Maybe he wanted to wait and see if it actually happened before letting you down," Vanessa reasoned.

This seemed rational. But I kept pacing and chugging beer and talking really fast. I couldn't help it. My words were trying to keep up with my racing thoughts. "It's not just the Peace Corps, Vanessa. It would completely change our relationship. He would be in Dallas and I don't know if I want to move to Dallas. I've never even been to Dallas. Let's say I did move there. He's only going be there half the year right? The other half is on the road at away games and spring training, and I don't even know anybody in Dallas-"

"I'm cutting you off," Vanessa got up from the bed and took the beer out of my hand.

"I can't believe that Zay knew and you knew, but he didn't tell me. This is a huge deal! Couples are supposed to make life changing decisions together!" I exclaimed.

"Okay, sweetie, please come back from crazy town and breathe," Vanessa pleaded.

"You mean Rileytown."

"Yes, please come back from there." She took my hand and lead me back to the bed.

"Look, you said you thought you needed to break up with Lucas before you even knew about this, so what was it that got you feeling that way in the first place?" Vanessa asked.

I looked at her, not sure how to respond.

"Did something happen?" she asked.

Something definitely happened. But right now the only people who know about it are Maya and myself. Just then my phone rang. Saved by the ringtone I guess.

I checked the screen.

"It's Lucas," I told her.

"Well, I'll leave you to it," she said giving me a quick hug.

"Thanks, Vanessa" I said as she left my dorm room.

I answered the phone "Hey Lucas."

"Hey Riley. I'm on my way back and I was wondering, if you were still awake, maybe we could talk," he said.

"Yeah, I'll wait up for you," I said.

We definitely need to talk.