Sunlight peeked in through the windows of Riley's room. Rays of sun graced her cream comforter as she used her hands to smooth it out. She neglected to make up her bed earlier that morning, she was in a rush. Looking around her room she saw the stack of papers on her desk. I really need to get to those. Deciding in that moment that she'd get them done, she plopped down in the hard wooden chair and got to work. Paper after paper, she quickly graded. This was the best thing that could get her mind off of her other problems. Between the mutant legislation that was on the horizon, her relationship with Maya, her relationship with Charlie, and her now complicated relationship with Lucas she was overwhelmed to say the least. Now to add being in charge of all the students, she just needed to feel like she was in control of something.

The stack of papers was nearly diminished when her mind started to drift away. Maya, Charlie, the school, the future of all mutants and Lucas. They'd known each other for years. They'd been through so much together. If he had feelings for her, why act on them now? Why now? She was already with Charlie. She had been with him for the past year. Granted, they had been growing apart. Hell, they didn't even sleep in the same room. Josh and Maya did but they didn't. Charlie had just been so focused on his powers and this crazy new life they'd started that their relationship had fallen to the side. It didn't bother Riley at first but then, her feelings for Charlie started to change. And she felt guilty about it.

Lucas was just there and he'd always been there but it was different. He was different. He was no longer calling the shots he was just being himself and Riley hadn't seen that in a long time. Riley's long hair swept past her shoulders as she ran her fingers through her brown locks and took a deep breath. Focus, Riley focus. But she couldn't. She couldn't get it out of her head. She couldn't get him out of her head.

The lush greenery of the school's exterior contrasted against the paleness of Riley's skin. She walked around, clearing her head as the day weighed heavily on her. The once sunny day slowly started to turn grey as she absentmindedly turned its skies with her powers. "Hey," a voice interrupted her thoughts. Riley looked up from her hands and saw Lucas standing in front of her with a finger pointed up at the sky. "Feeling alright?"

Riley looked up and noticed the sky. "Sorry," she apologized. "Let me fix that." Riley quickly returned the weather to its normal patterns and then smoothed her dress with her hands. It was a soft purple, accenting her skin. An anxious smile graced her face as she looked at her friend.

Lucas frowned and sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I went to your room. I was looking for you. You weren't there. I figured you were with Charlie."

"No, he's in the city with Farkle."

Lucas raised his brows. "Really?" Lucas looked to the ground and back up at her. She was anxious. "I just thought that with today being-"

"He doesn't know." Riley said abruptly. "I, um, never told him."

Lucas slowly nodded his head. "Well I'm here. And I know what today is." He took a step towards her. "And I know how hard it is for you. You've never been alone on this day. Maya's out of town and Charlie's in the city, you shouldn't be by yourself today."

Riley smiled softly at him. "Thanks Lucas."

He held out his hand. "Come on. Let's go for a walk."

Riley took his hand and they walked around the school's grounds. They laughed and talked reminiscing about their days before their lives were forever changed. Lucas helped brighten her mood and she helped bring him out of his own shell. Mid-laugh Lucas paused and took a hard look at Riley. The way her nose scrunched when she laughed, and her brown eyes lit up with every word. Riley's laugh faded out as she smiled and took note of Lucas staring at her. "What?" She reached a hand up to her face. "Is something on my face?"

Lucas shook his head slowly and moved closer to her. "No," he breathed. "There isn't anything on your face." He moved in steadily and cupped Riley's cheeks in his hands. "I love you Riley."

Riley laughed nervously and looked up at her friend. "I love you too Lucas. You're one of my best friends."

Lucas shook his head and brought Riley's face closer to his. "No...not like that."

Lucas closed the gap between them and pressed his lips against hers. Their lips folded together as pink met pink and soft met soft. Riley pulled away from the kiss with her hands covering her mouth. "I should go," she whispered. "Charlie should be back soon. Um. That shouldn't have happened Lucas."

Riley turned on her heels and ran away before Lucas could even speak. He felt guilty yes, not for kissing her, but because of what this would do to her.

Blinking her memories of that day away, she turned to see Charlie standing in the doorway. "I didn't even realize you were there."

Charlie, who leaned against the frame, shrugged his shoulders. "I was just observing. I figured that you already had a game plan ready with it just being us watching over the students tonight."

Riley forced a smile on her face. "Right. I actually do." She reached for a notebook and flipped it open. "Let's get started shall we?"

.:.

The car ride to D.C. wasn't too long. The Professor and Farkle sat in the back while Zay sat up front with Lucas, who was driving. They were a few hours into their drive and Farkle and the Professor droned on in the back about whatever it was they were talking about. It was honestly going over Zay's head so he tuned them out a long time ago. People often thought that Zay was clueless or didn't ever know what was going on, which was true most of the time, but sometimes he knew more than he let on. One of those things being, something was going on between Lucas and Riley.

They had pulled over into a gas station when Lucas got out to go pay inside. Zay quickly excused himself and followed him in the store. Walking next to him as he perused the aisles for snacks, Zay cleared his throat. Lucas stopped walked and looked at Zay out of the corner of his eye. "May I help you?"

Zay raised his eyebrows held up his hands in the air as he pretended like he didn't have a motive behind his actions. "Me? Nah. Just browsing." He picked up a bag of chips off the shelf. "Found some Cheeto Puffs. Good snack you know? Especially the Cheeto part."

Lucas's green eyes pierced Zay for a moment before he shook his head and grumbled. "Whatever."

Zay followed Lucas up to the clerk as they waited in line. There were three people ahead of them. He looked down at the bag in his hands and fiddled with it. "Yeah. These are my favorite. They're stable, reliable. A classic you know?"

"Um, okay?"

Zay licked his lips before continuing. "I tried the flamin' hot ones once, they weren't so kind to me. I got burned." He smirked as he alluded to Lucas accidentally burning Riley not too long ago.

Lucas, who was growing frustrated at Zay's antics, sucked his teeth and turned his head towards his friend. "Dude what are you getting at?"

Zay looked down at Lucas's hand and noticed a spark come from it. He held up his left hand and immediately iced it. "Cool it, hot head."

Lucas took a deep breath and looked ahead of them. There were two people in line now. "Sorry man," he apologized. "You're just acting real weird. It's honestly really annoying."

In this moment Zay had two options. He could spare Lucas or he could be blunt as hell. And let's be real here, when has Zay not been blunt? He licked his lips and spoke calmly and clearly. "How long have you liked Riley?"

Lucas felt his cheeks grow hot as he awkwardly cleared his throat. "What are you talking about man? Riley and I are just friends."

Zay scoffed and laughed. "Alright man sure." There was one person in line now. "I just hope you know what you're doing."

The taller of the two furrowed his brows together. "Why do you say that?"

"Because. Maya has one foot out the door already and if whatever this is pushes Riley away too? Our family, our friendship or whatever we are is as good as dead." He turned his body towards his best friend. "Look man. We've experienced some crazy shit together. I just don't want to lose the only family I have left." It was their turn. Setting his chips on the counter he said one last thing. "If she makes you happy go for it. If you make her happy go for it. But don't hurt Charlie just because you want to be selfish and get the girl."

Lucas's jaw dropped as he realized he still had to pay for everything. He set his snacks on the counter and opened up his wallet. "Um, that's it. Also put fifty on pump number four."

Zay was a lot of things but he surely wasn't an idiot.

.:.

Both adorned with their respective jackets, Josh and Maya looked up, amazed at what was in front of them. "So this was one of the things Charlie and Farkle were 'tinkering' with?" Maya said with air quotes around the word tinkering.

Josh took a deep breath and laughed. "Yup. They really are geniuses aren't they?" He held up a set of keys in his hand and grinned. "I'm flying this thing."

Maya pouted and rolled her eyes before staring up at this sleek, stylish aircraft in front of them. It was midnight black and styled like a sleek air fighter jet. It really was lavish. The entrance to the plane lowered from its belly as Josh and Maya climbed aboard. "Woah," Maya breathed. She looked around to see black leather seats at the front of the plane with two a feet behind them and more along the walls of the plane from where she entered. "And why haven't we taken this the last few times we've gone across the country?"

Josh laughed and sat down in the pilot's seat. "I guess it wasn't ready for us then. But now," he closed the door to the plane with a click of a button and fastened his belt. "We get to take this baby to Chicago."

Maya grinned and made her way up to the other seat. "Then what are waiting for? Let's fly this thing."

In no time they were up in the air, gliding through the sky. Maya had her feet kicked up and admired Josh as he skillfully flew the plane. "Where'd you learn how to fly?"

Josh kicked on auto pilot and looked over at Maya. "My dad taught me. He was really into planes. We bonded over it."

Maya slowly nodded and set her feet down. "You know you never talk about your family. We just kind of up and left whatever life you had behind in Holden. You didn't even think twice about it."

Josh shrugged. "You never asked."

Maya frowned and grabbed his hand. She never meant to not be interested in his life. She was just a little too wrapped up in her own to ask. Minus one point for her in the girlfriend department. "Tell me about them. Tell me about your life before I came barreling through."

Josh set his hands in his lap and started to gesture as he spoke. "I lived in Holden my whole life. Coasted throughout the years in school. Didn't make any close friends. I guess that's why I took pictures of everything. Made me feel like I was apart of it. It was fun though, being the eyes of everyone at Holden. I liked being lonely and mysterious. It was good for my image."

Josh smirked at the end of his sentence as Maya playfully pushed his shoulder. "I think I made your image better."

"I mean duh. I'm basically married to a superhero."

Maya smirked. "Married huh?"

Josh blushed and adjusted his jacket. "Shut up."

Maya laughed and turned ahead. "I didn't say I didn't like the sound of it."

Leaning forward they each fell into a comfortable silence as they traveled. They sat hand in hand as Josh ran his thumb over Maya's as they got closer and closer to their destination. "So what are we doing once we find this guy?"

"Simple. We get answers."

.:.

Night fell upon the school as most of the students were in their beds tucked away and snoring loudly. Riley sat in the kitchen at the counter fiddling with the true men of her dreams, Ben & Jerry. She scooped the spoon in her mouth and moaned as the taste of cookie dough ice cream hit her tongue. "You're the only men I'll ever be sure about," she whispered as she hugged the tub to her chest.

"Mind if I steal some?"

Riley looked up to see Charlie walking into the kitchen. "Charlie!" she exclaimed. She blushed and set the tub down on the counter. She tried to maintain a normal appearance. "Yeah, sure. Here." She scooted the tub towards him as he grabbed a spoon and stood on the other side of the counter.

She watched as he scooped up a spoonful and popped it in his mouth. "This really is good," he mused. "I see why it's your favorite." Riley smiled and pushed a stray hair that fell out of her claw clip behind her ear. Noting her lack of response and strange demeanor, Charlie set his spoon down and frowned. His brown hair shook from side to side as he spoke. "Riley, what is going on? You've been acting so distant and strange lately and I don't know what to do."

Riley feigned innocence. "Have I? I haven't meant to."

Charlie narrowed his eyes and crossed his chest. "Cut the crap Riley." Riley instantly grew nervous. He knew. He knew that she and Lucas had kissed. Even worse, he knew that she knew and hadn't told him yet. He walked over to her and stood in front of her, his shoulders squaring hers. "I know you're missing your parents." Or maybe he doesn't know. "I asked Zay the other day. He told me it was your dad's birthday." He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Why wouldn't you just tell me? I would've been here for you."

There he goes. Being so sweet and Riley couldn't take it. She had to tell him. "Charlie," she breathed. "I have something to tell you." Charlie looked up at her with expecting eyes. God this is gonna suck. "Lucas and I kissed."

Charlie's hands immediately dropped from her shoulders as he took a step back from her. He looked so hurt, so defeated. Then his face contorted into anger. "You what?"

As soon as Riley opened her mouth to speak, a young girl entered the room. Red hair, freckles and a pure smile. "Riley?" she asked.

Riley gulped and quickly turned to her, remembering she had a job to do. "Hey Marissa. What's up is everything okay?"

The girl nodded, her red curls bouncing as she moved. "I was just thirsty. I came for some water. May I have some?"

Marissa began to shuffle into the kitchen as Riley let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding. She looked over at Charlie, who was livid and quickly helped the girl with a glass. "Of course Marissa. You know you don't need to ask to get water right?"

Marissa laughed and nodded quickly before leaving the room. She was quiet any other time but when she had the gift of super sonic screeching. Everyone was happy whenever she decided not to use it. Making sure she was out of ear shot, Riley turned to Charlie and tried to quickly explain. "Listen Charlie-"

Both their heads snapped as they heard one of Marissa's screams escape her mouth before being abruptly cut off with a quick thud. immediately forgetting their conversation the two ran out in the hallway in their pajamas to investigate. Seeing the young girl on the ground, unconscious with the glass of water dropped they noticed a small black dot on her shoulder. Charlie ran over to check if she was breathing and let out a sigh of relief. "She's breathing," he told Riley who had her hand rested on her chest.

"What the hell was that?" she asked. Hearing footsteps above her she realized the other students were up. "Perfect," she groaned. As she turned to go up the stairs she heard a light tracing sound and stopped in her tracks.

Charlie, who now had the girl in his arms, stopped behind Riley. "What are you doing? We have to get her upstairs."

Riley held up a finger. "Shush. Do you hear that?"

"Hear what Riley?"

Riley turned her head down the hall and took careful and quiet steps, listening to the noise. "That." As Riley took another step, the windows suddenly burst open and shards of glass flew everywhere. She covered her face with her arms and ran back to Charlie and pushed him up the stairs. "Move Charlie!" They got to the top of the stairs and shared a nervous look and looked back at all the kids who were now staring at them worriedly in the hallway.

Someone was in the school.