A/N: Hey, guys! I'm back. Thanks for the adds, alerts and to those who reviewed the last chapter. My deepest apologies for taking months to update. I had a lot going on, and it took some time to finally get this done. Hopefully there is still interest out there. I do advise to read the previous chapters to refresh your memories. With that said, this is a lengthy one so I hope it will be worth the wait. Enjoy.

CHAPTER SIX

"Well, that was an interesting dinner."

Riley was in the middle of grabbing books from her locker when a familiar voice cut through her thoughts. Looking up in surprise, she gave a small smile when she saw Lucas leaning against the lockers. He looked handsome with his piercing green eyes and short dirty blonde hair. She felt she was staring at him for too long and it made him chuckle. She blushed and finally looked away.

"I'm so sorry." Wrinkling her nose in embarrassment, Riley closed the locker door shut. "I know my family can be weird, especially my Dad."

A light chuckle escaped him once again, which made her look up at him curiously. "No worries. Your family is great, Riley. I had a good time."

She smiled in relief, her gaze softening in his. "I did too."

Lucas didn't bother to hide his own smirk as he naturally fell into step with her down the hallways of Thomas Jefferson Prep. Behind them, Riley could faintly hear the whispers. They were clear but subtle voices and she knew what they were talking about. She also noticed a lot of the girls were openly staring at him.

"Hi, Lucas."

"Morning, Lucas."

"Hello, Lucas."

The girls greeted and smiled at him warmly as Lucas made his way through; seemingly eager to have him around for reasons he knew but thought it best to play oblivious. He politely smiled at them before gluing his gaze back on the ground. Riley had to press her lips together from laughing when she heard their squeals.

"Wow…who knew you're so popular with the ladies." She teased and grinned when Lucas gave her a death glare. "What?! It's not exactly a bad thing. You have…options." She giggled, warranting an un-amused look from him as they ascended up the stairs.

"Stop it." He said, but even he can't help but smile about it.

They reached the second floor and entered the main dining hall before the lunch bell rang. Students began to poor into the room by the tens and twenties, the warm aroma of gourmet food served in buffet style filling their noses. Lucas and Riley stood in line with trays in hand as they waited patiently to grab some food.

Meanwhile from across the room, Lucas' friends Zay, Farkle and Maya were happily enjoying their meals, engaged in random conversations and occasionally breaking into laughter. Zay briefly looked up, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips when he saw Lucas say something to the brunette causing her to give him a playful shove. "Well, would you look at that." He muttered, nudging on Farkle's shoulder as Maya too looked in their direction.

"Who the hell is she?" A feminine voice sounded as the pretty light brown haired female sat down at their table beside Maya, causing the others to exchange bewildered looks. "And what is Lucas doing with her?" A nauseating wave of jealousy arose in her throat and she had to fight the cruel feeling from taking over. With her hair pulled back in a ponytail, the others had a clear view of the different expressions darting across her features.

"Ah, Missy Bradford. What an unpleasant surprise." Maya glared irritably.

"Well hello there, beautiful." Zay turned to quirk up one eyebrow at her flirtatiously. "How you doing?"

"Is that girl serious?" Missy scoffed, ignoring the others as her attention remained elsewhere but them. "Who the hell does she think she is attending a rich school and wearing shoes that are obviously from Macy's?"

Maya's eyes widened, her pink-tinted lips parting in disgust. "Oh for fuck sake, no one cares!"

"Language, Ms. Hart." The Dean warned as he casually walked by their table.

"Sorry, Mr. Matthews." She forced a smile before turning back to Missy who was rolling her eyes dramatically.

"Of course you don't care." She continued, picking at her perfectly manicured nails. "You are Miss Maya Hart. You may not be the richest, but you are indeed the most popular girl in school. You could be wearing rags for all I care, and yet everyone here would still admire and worship you. Shock."

Maya's jaw clenched as she fought the urge to scream at her.

"I happen to like her shoes." Zay added after a moment of tensed silence. "It certainly emphasizes her long, amazing legs." Farkle looked down at his food and chuckled. "And besides, Lucas doesn't seem to mind at all considering he is over there with her and not here with you." He pointed out suggestively, hitting a nerve in Missy as she shot him a look.

By the time Lucas and Riley moved along the lunch line and paid for their meals, they headed towards the nearest empty table. It wasn't until Lucas briefly glanced up where he was a mere inch away from bumping into Thor. Luckily, he stopped before they rammed against each other as Thor glared at him and simply walked away.

"What was that all about?" Riley asked worriedly, stirring Lucas from his thoughts as she sat down across from him. When he didn't respond, she looked him straight in the eye. "I saw you two in the halls. Does it have anything to do with what happened yesterday?"

He nodded, hesitating slightly. She took in the uneasy expression on his face and smiled. "You don't have to tell me, Lucas. I just want you to know that if you need someone to talk to, I'm here." She reassured him when he still seemed reluctant. "And I'm a great listener."

With a steadying breath, Lucas focused on controlling his own emotions as he clasped his hands together in front of him. Her words, uttered with such assurance, warmth and sincerity had his control wavering. There was something about Riley, something that just gave off a different vibe than the other girls in school. Maybe it was her smile, shining bright and effervescent. She was cool, less desperate for attention, a little tomboyish in spite of how pretty and obviously feminine she was naturally.

"It wasn't always like this between Thor and me." He began, a sad tone entering his voice as he spoke. "We were pretty close once."

Riley frowned. "What happened?"

Lucas shifted in his seat nervously, feeling once more the trepidation he always felt when revealing parts of his life. "My Mom, she umm…she had an affair with his father a few years ago. It tore both his parents apart, and my parents…" he paused briefly and sighed, meeting her worried gaze, "well, let's just say it's a big mess."

She blinked twice and saw how guilty and ashamed he looked, feeling immense sympathy for him. She wouldn't know what to do if her family were put in the same, crazy situation. "It's not your fault, Lucas."

He scoffed a bitter laugh. "Yea, you should tell Thor that. He's taking it out on me as if what happened was all my fault."

"Or maybe he has no one else to turn to, and this is his way of crying out for help." Riley thought carefully as she raised her brow at him.

"Why wouldn't he just tell me?"

Riley gave a little snort as she popped a French fry into her mouth. "If you haven't noticed, males naturally have big egos. So of course he wouldn't say anything. I mean, would you?"

Lucas chuckled, sheepishly nodding his head in reply. "Good point."

The rest of lunch was spent in comfortable silence with Lucas eating and occasionally glancing at Riley, which was caught on when she looked back and smiled at him. She kept to herself most of the time, reading her book while munching on fries and sipping on ginger ale.

It was a few minutes before they were startled by a voice.

"Hello, Lucas."

He immediately glanced up and forced a smile that looked more like a grimace. "Oh hey, Missy." He replied as he trained his eyes back on his tray, bracing himself for what's to come.

"Who's your friend?" She asked, eyeing the brunette suspiciously and then at Lucas who was feeling slightly nervous when Missy glanced her way, squinting and sizing her up.

"Hi, I'm Riley." She grinned, standing up from her seat and extending her hand in greeting. Lucas could feel his own smile brightening at seeing her so giddy. "I'm new here."

"Missy." She said, narrowing her eyes in scrutiny as she reluctantly shook her hand.

"It's nice to meet you."

Missy raised her brow, clearly taken aback by her quirkiness. After a moment, Missy glared at her and forced a smile. "Yea, okay. Anyway, Lucas." She turned back to him, her ponytail whipping around her neck. "My parents are vacationing in the Hamptons for the weekend. I have the penthouse to myself and I'll be throwing a party Friday night. You should come."

He pursed his lips and sighed heavily, running his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry, Missy. But in case you haven't heard, I'm on thin ice and the last thing I need is a party that could get me in all sorts of trouble."

"Oh come on." She whined, not taking no for an answer. "It's nothing major, Lucas just a few friends. Besides, Zay, Farkle and Maya will be there." She explained, fluttering her eyelashes. When he didn't say anything, she glanced over at the brunette whose head was down and focused on a book. Missy bit her bottom lip, thinking for a moment before she spoke again with an exasperated sigh. "You can come too, Riley."

Lucas raised an eyebrow at Missy, his lips parting slightly in disbelief.

"What?" Riley's gaze lit up, matching the surprised look on Lucas' face. "Really?" She smiled with a subtle hint of excitement in her voice.

"Sure. Whatever." Missy gave a light-hearted shrug. "You can even bring a friend."

Riley looked directly at Lucas with uncertainty filled in her brown eyes. It took her a long second to finally respond. "Um, yea. Okay."

"Great! Lucas can give you the address. I'll see you there." Missy then turned back to him. "I hope you change your mind, handsome." She winked before leaving their table as he sat there staring after her. Riley bit her bottom lip, suppressing a smirk.

"So…are there girls in the school that don't like you?" She teased after a moment of silence. "Because she obviously likes you."

He sighed and looked back at Riley, allowing her to see the concerned expression on his face. "You should be careful with Missy."

"What? Why?"

"She can be manipulative. I've known her for years. She has a history of scheming and creating scandal."

Riley drew her head back and frowned. "And you think her inviting me is another one of her schemes?"

"I certainly hope not."

She pursed her lips in thought as she stared at him. "Well, she seems nice. And I like to believe that there is good in everyone. So I'm going to take my chances and attend the party."

Lucas's emerald-green eyes skimmed her face in admiration. "Alright then." He said after a brief pause, knowing he wouldn't change her mind. "I guess I'll see you there."

"You're going?" She gave him an inquiring look. He returned her wondering gaze and smiled.

"Someone has to look after you."

"You don't have to."

"I know, but I want to."

She furrowed her brows slightly. "Why?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I just feel like I'm not supposed to let anything bad happen to you."

Her gaze softened and brightened a little as a slow flush came rushing to her cheeks. "Thank you, Lucas. But I am capable of taking care of myself."

"And I'm sure you are." He smirked, sneakily grabbing her phone from the table beside him to dial in his number before she could protest. The bell suddenly rang, indicating lunch was over as he quickly saved Riley's number and texted the address. "But I'm still going to that party." He said, handing her back the phone before grabbing his lunch tray and getting up from his seat. "I'll see you there, Riley."

A few days later…

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this."

"Smackle, you know you let me talk you into everything." Riley grinned, glancing at her dark brown haired female friend from behind the closest door.

"Tell me again why you are dragging me into this party and not Evan?" Smackle retorted as she examined herself in the body-length mirror wearing a long sleeve blue dress with a pair of beige high-heeled booties.

"Well, I told my parents I will be sleeping over at your place for the night, so there's that. And knowing how Evan feels about Upper East Siders, he'd try to talk me out of it."

"Why are you even going? You dislike the Upper East Siders as much as he does."

"Some of them are actually really nice." Riley explained as she emerges from behind the closet door, fully clad in a knee high black dress with a tortoise shell buckle across her petite waist and a pair of black pumps. "And besides, this is my chance to get acquainted with everyone." Riley does a quick twirl as Smackle beams brightly at her. "What do you think?"

"You look so chic, darling." She smiled, chuckling softly as they spent the next ten minutes adding the finishing touches to their ensemble before sneaking out the bedroom window to catch a cab.

They've been at the party for half an hour and Riley had already lost Smackle. What she thought was going to be a small gathering turned out to be a big party with dozens of people filling up the entire floor of the penthouse while loud music played in the background. Riley separated from Smackle as soon as the first guy who she recognized from one of her classes pulled her to the side and asked her to dance. Noticing the stench of alcohol and smoke in his breath, she politely declined and managed to get away, only to bump into several more people. After apologizing profusely, Riley found herself leaning against the wall near the bar, beginning to feel ridiculously out of place. She sighed, wishing she had stayed at home instead.

"Not your type of scene, is it?" Stated a familiar voice to Riley's left, and she nearly jumped three feet in the air in response. Her head snapped towards the sound, eyes landing on his emerald gaze. He was wearing black slacks with a checkered blue and white short sleeve dress shirt and tie, standing out in comparison to her more casual look. She stiffened slightly, trying to ignore the growing heat on her face.

"Oh, um, no." She muttered, looking down self-consciously as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I just, well…I've never been to a party like this one before."

"Yeah, I figured." He smirked, looking her over a bit while she isn't facing him. "You look nice by the way."

She glanced up at him and smiled. "Thanks, Lucas. So do you." Riley turned her head back to the party, eyes scanning the crowd once more, not seeing a trace of Smackle anywhere.

"Looking for someone?" He asked.

"Yea, my friend. She's about this tall, dark hair with glasses and wearing a blue dress. I came here with her and she disappeared on me."

"Is her name Isadora by any chance?"

Riley's eyes snapped back to his. "Yes! She also goes by Smackle. Have you seen her? Where is she?"

"She's outside in the patio with a few of my friends. I can take you to her." He smiled before holding out his arm towards her. Riley stared at it in confusion for a moment before it dawned on her that he's offering it to her and she takes it without question. She allowed him to lead her through the crowd, surprised at the wide break they were being offered by the other guests as all eyes were on them. She'd had to practically fight her way through to get to the bar earlier.

They walked in silence for a few minutes until they reached the back of the penthouse and exited through the double doors that led to the patio. Riley was thankful for the cooler evening air the second she stepped out. The growing heat inside the building wasn't making her feel any more comfortable.

Once outside, she briefly looked up at Lucas out of the corner of her eye, but he was staring straight ahead. Turning her gaze back ahead of them as well, her eyes widen in relief at the sight of Smackle, who was busy talking with another guy, seemingly enjoying his company. Riley noticed she was smiling a lot, and in a better mood than she was earlier. Riley cleared her throat loudly before taking a few steps towards her, causing them and two other people to look her way.

"Riley!" Smackle excused herself from her tall male companion as she came stumbling towards her. Riley felt Lucas leave her side as he went to join the others on the opposite end of the patio. "Where have you been? I've been looking for you."

"And I've been looking for you. Are you okay?"

"Yea." She grinned. "I'm great. I'm more than great."

Riley took a step forward and glared at her. "Have you been drinking?" She asked, concern etched in her features. The alcohol on her breath was obvious and extremely pungent.

"Maybe." Smackle slurred and chuckled.

"How much did you drink?"

She shrugged. "A glass or two perhaps? I don't know, Riles. These fancy servers they have walking around kept offering me drinks." Riley sighed heavily. There was a brief pause as Smackle gave her a quirky little smile and chuckled. "You know, if I knew there were this many hot guys in your school, I would have begged my parents to make me transfer." Smackle whispered playfully. "I mean, it's no wonder Evan is jealous of Lucas."

"Smackle!" Riley hissed.

"What? He's such a dreamboat. And the other tall one next to him. His name is Farkle and he is very sweet. He kept an eye on me and made sure I stopped drinking." Riley smiled, glancing ahead of her where Lucas joined him and two other people, one short female with gorgeous blonde hair and another male with dark brown skin. "But anyway, we've been talking for half an hour and he is giftedly brilliant as I am. I mean, who would of thought I would come across someone with a perfect jawline who is also a threat to my superior intelligence. But don't tell anyone I said that, especially him."

Riley giggled for a moment and then frowned. "Well, I'm glad you had your fun, Smackle. But we're going home while you are still somewhat coherent."

She pouted, but said nothing to protest.

"Is everything alright?" Lucas asked as he approached them with three of his other friends standing at a respectable distance.

"Yea, everything is okay. But we are going to take off." Riley said, motioning to Smackle who was suddenly leaning on her shoulder and yawning. She then turned to Farkle and flashed him a smile. "Thank you for looking out for my friend."

"You're welcome."

"I'm Riley by the way."

"I know. I'm Farkle." He replied as he shook her hand. "Lucas talks about you all the time."

Lucas paled for a moment, breaking in an uneasy chuckle. "Okay!" He responded, waving him off and lightly elbowing Farkle as he watched the small smile Maya and Zay shared. "Riley, this is Zay and Maya. Guys, this is Riley."

"Hey."

"Sup?"

"Hi…" Riley greeted, smiling shyly at them.

"So do you need a ride back home?" Lucas asked. "I can have my driver take you guys."

"No, it's okay. We are taking a cab. We'll be fine."

He frowned, giving off a look of genuine concern and slight disappointment. "At least let me walk you out until your ride gets here?"

She looked at him and smiled. "Sure. I'd like that."

"We'll head out too." Maya said as she summoned her things nearby. "This party is a bore."

The others agreed as they began making their way back inside the penthouse where the music was blaring loudly and people were dancing. It seemed as if there were more people in the building than there were just twenty minutes ago as the smell of alcoholic beverages and smoke polluted the air, clouding their surroundings. They were about to exit when a voice stopped them in their tracks.

"Lucas! Where are you going?!"

Maya rolled her eyes, immediately recognizing whom the voice belonged to before they all turned around. Riley glanced at Lucas from the corner of her eye as a heavy sigh escaped his lips. "Missy."

She closed the distance between them, placing herself in front of him. Her hair was loosely down, her eyes red and glazed over, and her breath smelled like alcohol. "Come dance with me."

He grabbed her arms before she could wrap them around his neck. "You're drunk."

"And you're not drunk enough." She slurred as he deliberately took a step back before she could put her hands on him again. Missy flinched, her eyes glossing with a faraway haze as the hurt began to show in her eyes.

"Look after her, Chai." Lucas said, a sudden annoyance filling him as he shifted his gaze over to one of Missy's friends standing nearby. The blue-eyed, dirty blonde female nodded mutely. She then craned her neck, straining to get a better look at the brunette as Lucas and the others turned around and left.

"So is that the girl?" She asked curiously.

Missy folded her arms across her chest and heaved a sigh. "Yup."

"She's cute."

Rolling her eyes, Missy replied sharply. "She's in my way." She could feel the buzz starting to wear off, as she was able to think a bit clearer again. A pang of nausea hit her in the stomach and she groaned.

"So what are you gonna do about it?" Chai questioned, a mischievous smirk playing across her features as Missy paused at the comment and narrowed her eyes.

"I'm going to take her down."

The ride home was quiet as Lucas just stared out the window, exhausted. He sighed and shifted around in the back of the car until his tired body was in a comfortable position.

"Are you alright, Friar?" Asked his driver, peering at him through the rearview mirror.

Lucas stared at the back of his head for a second before he took a long, deep breath and let it out slowly through his mouth. "It's nothing."

By the time the driver pulled up by the sidewalk in front of the penthouse apartment building on East 66th Street, Lucas was out of the car and rushing to get inside and onto his bed. Instead of taking the slow service elevator to his apartment on the 6th floor, he quickly ran up the grand staircase. While passing through the hallway, he could hear muffled voices drifting in from behind the door to his apartment. He frowned before he slowly opened the door and stepped inside.

"Lucas." He saw his mother immediately get up from the living room couch, a worry expression worn upon her. His gaze shifted over to her male companion standing beside her; a man his height, but with graying hair and deeper lines around his eyes. He was thin, but with slightly wider shoulders. Green eyes stared at him from a hardened face as Lucas swallowed nervously.

"Dad?"

And then the hardened expression melted away and the eyes softened, glimmering a bit as extra moisture collected on them.

"Hello, Son." He smiled. "I'm home."

To be continued...

A/N: Thanks for taking the time to read. Let me know what you guys think!