I am completely overwhelmed by the support this story is getting! I'm so glad all of you enjoy it. I'm really trying hard to make the characters true to life instead of two dimensional (all of them, even Lucas and Maya and Smackle) so I try and put a lot of time into each chapter.
Also, there's a book mentioned in this chapter: A Guide to Gender: The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook . You can get it online for free, and I really recommend you do. It's absolutely amazing.
Because this fanfiction is set to address several real-life situations (including but not limited to depression, being LGBT+, ADHD), I want to clear some things up before I really dive into that stuff. I don't have ADHD, so all my information there will come from research and first-hand accounts (I do have a close friend that has really severe ADHD, so I do ask him about this stuff, but I want it to be known that I'm doing my best to represent it with what information I do have). However, I have been diagnosed with mild Depression and I am LGBT (if you're curious, I identify as queer) and so everything in those veins is a mix of research and personal experience.
Whipped Cream & Other Delights,
TheHarleyQueen
Riley had first learnt about the LGBT+ community when she was six-and-a-half. The addition to her education came at the heels of her walking in on Uncle Eric (who was temporarily staying with them) and kind-of-Uncle Jack kissing on the couch. Uncle Eric had sat down with her and told her that some boys liked boys (and some girls liked girls) the same way mommy and daddy liked each other. Then kind-of-Uncle Jack told her that some girls were born in boy's bodies, and vice versa.
Uncle Eric had told kind-of-Uncle Jack that he was lumping too much on her at a time, but Riley had taken it in her stride. All that had really changed was her vocabulary. Even at six-years-old (six-and-a-half!), Riley incorporated they/them pronouns into her daily speech She also made sure to ask any new friends about their pronouns. It wasn't hard, but everything she did made Uncle Eric really happy, and now he kissed kind-of-Uncle Jack when he left for work, and he talked about dates with his boyfriend, and he was happy.
When Riley was fourteen, the Supreme Court of the United States legalised same-sex marriage in all fifty states.
She hadn't expected it. She'd read a little bit about Obergefell v. Hodges but it had been a trying week and by Friday morning, she was tired and couldn't deal and overworked and wanted the week to be over. And for a couple of hours, it seemed like it was going to be another ordinary Friday. Lucas walked her to class (he was talking about something, something that was probably important and Riley should be listening, but her head was somewhere far too high in the clouds to listen. And she tried, she really did, but at that moment focusing on Lucas seemed like it would require more energy than she had- than she'd ever had) and Maya smiled at her and made comments that Riley was too tired to curb.
Not that she'd stop Maya from doing what she did anyway. Riley adored Maya. Farkle had once said Riley was like the sun and Maya was like the moon, but he was wrong because Maya was Riley's sun and all her stars, what kept her breathing and alive and something. So that was the one time Farkle was wrong, because Maya was the sun, who gave life, and Riley was the Earth, who took what she could and stayed near the sun.
She was in History when the day turned around for the better.
It was 10:10 when Uncle Eric burst into the classroom, Josh right on his tail (she'd long since given up calling him Uncle Josh, mostly because people looked at her funny when she did. She knew he was only three when she was born, but Josh had somehow always been an Uncle figure to her- not to be confused with her other Uncle figure, of course).
"Pack your stuff, neech, we have a family emergency!" he called out. He and Josh were both wearing about a billion colours; Uncle Eric had on a rainbow sweater, rainbow sneakers, and had somehow managed to find rainbow pants. Comparatively, Josh was dressed down, only in jeans, a three-tone shirt, and glitter.
"I'm her family. I think I'd know if there was a family emergency," her dad told her Uncle, but Uncle Eric just pushed Josh over to help her with her stuff and smiled at her dad, "Listen, Cor, I've never asked you for much. But I have a neech-related emergency. I need a Riley." And, well, her dad's weak spot was always family. As she walked out, she placed a kiss on his cheek and he reminded her that she had to be back by the end of school.
After that, she and Uncle Eric and Josh were running to the subway, "What's going on?" She tried to ask, but her uncles just shouted at her to keep up, so she put her recent growth spurt to use and ran.
It was only when they were on the subway, headed to Times Square when Riley finally got the story out of Josh between pants.
"The… supreme court… legalised gay… marriage," he huffed out, but that was all she needed. Today was a good day; how could a day when something so amazing happened be anything else? So while they were on the subway she got Uncle Eric to do her hair nicely, and she texted Farkle to let him know about the verdict, and then she sat in a happy silence until they reached the station, at which point the three of them tumbled out onto the street and into (what Riley supposed was) the middle of an impromptu pride parade. There were stalls and people yelling and people crying, and she was pretty certain that that couple over there was straight-up getting married, but it was awesome. She'd never been to New York Pride before, her parents had always said that she was too young, but she figured that for a first-ever pride parade, this one was pretty good.
Then Uncle Eric was going to find Uncle Jack (they still weren't married, but now that they could, all over the country, it was only a matter of time) and Josh was pulling her over to a small group of temporary stalls and browsing through rainbow gear and merch.
While he was picking out face paints, Josh turned to her and mumbled, "You know I'm pansexual, hey Riles? And you're okay with that?" And in that moment he was so nervous, and all she could possibly do was throw her arms around his neck and hug him tight, "Yeah, it's okay with me, Uncle Josh." (He still smiled when she said it).
And when she felt other bodies piling onto the hug and pulled away to see Uncle Eric and Uncle Jack and Uncle Shawn (who had apparently been with Uncle Jack) she laughed out loud, because she wasn't sure that there was anything more beautiful.
And the Uncle Eric presented her with a shirt that read 'I LOVE ALL OF MY GAY UNCLES', and shouted, "For you to wear today! I'll buy you something else if you'd rather have that!" and Riley knew that there was only one thing that could possibly make this day any better, so she pulled out another shirt instead, "I was thinking of maybe getting this one?"
"World's Okayest Bisexual," Uncle Eric read aloud, before realising what she was telling them. And so Riley was pulled into another queer-Matthews-family hug, but not before Josh had pulled the shirt out of her hand and replaced it with another, one with a pink sword and a protest sign on the front that read 'BI-FURIOUS'.
"Much more your style," Uncle Shawn commented.
And so Riley turned back to the parade, slipping the new shirt on over her other clothes.
Later in the day, Josh would paint the bi flag on her cheek, and Uncle Eric would sprinkle glitter in her hair, and she'd dance to Hayley Kiyoko. Later that day, she'd drag her uncles back to her school, to drop her off before her last class of the day (art) started, and they'd all dance together to a last song on the subway. Later that day, Maya would see Josh and wave at him through the school window, and Josh would suddenly be distracted (and Riley wouldn't think that she was getting left behind by everyone. This was their thing, and she refused to let herself ruin it).
These days, Riley Matthews might have a day that ranged from anywhere between top-of-the-world to so-low-you-can't-move.
This was one of the (steadily fewer) top-of-the-world days.
On the day Riley was challenged by Maya to make a new friend, something changed. She'd picked a girl she'd met before (even though Maya was unsuspecting). She knew Chai- they'd spoken before. Chai was at Pride. Chai had hugged her, wearing a rainbow knit sweater. She knew Chai, but she would have liked to know her better, to know small things like her favourite colour instead of just big things like her sexuality. She'd been struck by Chai, her pretty clothes and her pale blue eyes and her long legs. And when Chair didn't like her (didn't like her at all) and all Riley could really remember was Her- Her texts and Her voice and when She told Riley she should "Get out of my school, freak!"
But Riley acted well (well, acted Riley) and made it out to be about someone not liking her, instead of someone lying to her face.
Riley had spoken to her mom about it and her mom had been… Topanga Matthews about it (when it was later revealed that Chai's family had four accounts of tax evasion, Riley would never admit to being happy).
She'd spoken to Lucas and he'd been unsympathetic. He'd tried to help, but Riley didn't think that there was anyone in the world who didn't like Lucas (except her, sometimes).
She'd spoken to Zay, but he'd told her to run away from her problems.
She'd spoken to Smackle, who'd been more concerned about whether this was happening to her.
She'd spoken to Farkle as they stargazed in the day, and he'd just smiled softly and told her that a lot of people didn't like him and that he'd had to learn to live with it (she'd rolled on top of him and hugged him tightly, trying to tell herself that she'd never let go).
She'd asked Maya, but Maya was perfectly content with their friend circle as it was, and didn't understand why Riley wanted a new friend so badly (didn't understand that this wasn't about a new friend anymore, that it was about a girl who Riley had felt a connection with, a girl who was lying).
Now, before anything more was said, Riley would never cheat on Lucas. She wouldn't. She didn't want to be a selfish-greedy bisexual (she was already a selfish-greedy human). But maybe… maybe she had a crush on Chai, a little one, and while she'd never act on it while she was with Lucas (would never act on it at all if Chai continued to hate her) a small, small part of her needed to know that it wasn't just Lucas. She liked girls, but she didn't think that girls liked her back (or at least, that was what Chai was proving- why's she lying?).
It may have taken a week (a week filled with many other dramas) but when Riley finally got Chai to come around (they weren't friends, not even close, but Chai smiled and Riley was counting it) it felt like a hollow victory. Riley felt shallow again, two sides warring within her (it's just a crush, you wouldn't have acted on it versus you betrayed Lucas after causing so much drama over him, you shouldn't be having these feeling while you're in a relationship, you're a terrible person, you're the reason bisexuals get a bad name) it was obvious which side was winning.
Her week had suddenly fallen to so-low-you-can't-move.
Between the newly-dubbed 'Trials of Chai', there was Health Class. Originally, she'd felt she was raising a valid concern. "I don't want to meet you" wasn't exactly a great way to start a compulsory class that taught her something that was important to the way of the world.
The thing was: Riley didn't like Coach Fanucchi. At first, she didn't like Coach Fanucchi because he didn't like them. But ten minutes into their lecture on page 73, she didn't like him because he would be the reason that they didn't learn anything, and that would make him the reason someone suffered. His complete lack of input on the subject would result in someone making a stupid choice, and then a girl somewhere might end up like Sage (who Riley liked, who was eating lunch in her dad's class now, who was crying in a bathroom stall on Breakup Monday for a completely different reason to all the other girls) or they'd end up like Kyle (two years above them, he'd been rushed to the hospital in the middle of her dad's class on the Civil War, only to be told that his vomiting was a rare symptom of the HIV he'd contracted somewhere).
Either way, at least one student in this class would end up like Uncle Shawn (completely repressed, embarrassed to admit that they may not be cishet) because the statistics said two in twenty, and Riley was one. Because this course, for what little it did say, glossed over twice the amount of that information. Coach Fanucchi didn't mention contraceptives beyond condoms, didn't cover safe sex beyond not having it until marriage, and didn't bring up the LGBT+ community either way.
So yes, Riley used her privilege as a teacher's kid and asked her dad to talk to Coach Fanucchi, but instead, she got her dad talking about soup and Smackle describing page 73 with an enthusiasm that was surely only found in erotica. And Riley had heard about the terrible standard of sex ed in America, but she'd somehow not thought it would happen to her.
And the story of Health Class and Chai blended together in her head until it was three in the morning and Riley couldn't sleep, too busy thinking about how much her school sucked.
It also led to Riley creating her own committee.
There weren't many kids at the first meeting of the Sexuality and Gender Acceptance Committee that Riley hosted. She didn't expect there to be. She'd fought through hell to get the committee to be allowed, but she hadn't been allowed to openly advertise it (the principal said that it was "inappropriate brainwashing" - it had taken Riley threatening him with the superintendent of schools to even get permission to hold the meeting).
But she tried her best with what she had. She hung up a rainbow flag at the back of the classroom (a class that was usually used for art theory, and so there was nothing in the room aside from a couple of desks and chairs). She baked cookies with rainbow m&ms and served jelly tots and three different shades of kool-aid. She brought several memory sticks with copies of A Guide to Gender: The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook and Love, Simon.
In the end, ten kids showed up. Farkle, Zay, and Smackle (who stated quite plainly when she came through the door that Farkle had insisted she come, even though she didn't want to), a sophomore lesbian couple (one of whom had purple hair!), a junior who sat quietly in the corner in dungarees wearing a badge that said 'ASK ME ABOUT MY PRONOUNS' , a girl in a flowy dress that Riley absolutely loved, and, to Riley's immense shock, Thor, Nikki and Francesca.
So she put on a brave face (to be honest, she'd expected maybe Farkle) and her new T-shirt, and stood up to speak.
"Um… good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the first meeting of the Sexuality and Gender Acceptance Committee, or SAGA for short. I didn't expect such a huge turnout, and I'm so glad all of you came. I want this group to be a safe space, and even though I'm not allowed to have the meetings during school hours, I'm truly touched that all of you took the time and effort to show up after school." She gave a soft smile and was gratified when the two sophomores and the junior smiled back at her.
"So when I was googling how to start one of these, they recommended we go around and introduce ourselves. Um, I'll start, and then hopefully you'll all catch on?" She asked it as a question, but no one said anything in response, so she took it as a go-ahead, "So, I just want everyone to remember that you don't have to say anything that makes you uncomfortable or anything you're unsure of. So, uh, I'm Riley. I'm a freshman, I'm bisexual and I use she/her pronouns. Also, my favourite show is the Red Planet Diaries."
She looked around, hoping someone would pick up from her without a cue. There was silence. She was about to ask Farkle to go next, when the kid in the corner spoke up, "I'm Ashley. I'm a junior. I use they/them pronouns, and I'm pretty sure I'm genderqueer. A fun fact… I, uh, love photography."
And that opened the floodgates, allowing the others to introduce themselves and be sure that there wouldn't be judgement.
The sophomores introduced themselves as Emma and Mila. Emma had purple hair and they both used she/her pronouns. Emma owned three cats and Mila collected snowglobes. They also confirmed the rumours Riley had heard, saying that they were both lesbians.
The girl in the cool dress introduced herself as Heather. She was transgender, used she/her pronouns and didn't know how to ride a bike.
Zay said that he was an ally, used he/him pronouns, and did ballet (Riley wanted to say it didn't count because she already knew that, but relented).
Farkle also said ally and he/him, but he didn't do ballet (that Riley knew of. The boy knew the Waltz, the Foxtrot and the Cha Cha, so she wouldn't be surprised). Rather, he did his entire introduction in six languages: English, Spanish, Dutch, German, Mandarin Chinese and Sesotho.
Smackle said she used female pronouns and that she was also an ally, and said something about all the joints in her hand being hypermobile.
When the attention of the room turned to the three seniors, Thor took both Nikki and Francesca's hand and pressed a kiss to each of them. They each said their names and their pronouns, and then Nikki started speaking, "So the three of us are polyamorous. Um, I'm bi and Francesca is -" her girlfriend broke in to announce that she was demisexual, but liked boys and girls, "and Thor is just really straight and proud to have two girlfriends."
They started answering Heather's questions, and Mila joined in on their conversation every now and struck up a conversation with Ashley about their outfit and Zay and Emma helped begin an in-depth discussion on the merits of dungarees, which Farkle followed confusedly.
Later, the two groups sort of merged into one and began a discussion on the lack of LGBT+ focus in Health Class, and Nikki and Francesca shared what knowledge they had garnered over their years of research. It was all that Riley had hoped for.
When everyone left at four, Farkle stayed behind to help her clean up. He was talking animatedly, and as he tied the flag into a short skirt over her leggings using an over-complicated knot, Riley smiled.
She brought a college student, a photographer, and the Mayor of New York in for the second meeting of the SAGA community.
Two meetings later, Chai sat through a meeting. She didn't talk to anyone, only listened, and she introduced herself as an ally. But it was a start, and Riley thought very firmly that the SAGA Committee was a far better investment than The Riley Committee.
