A/N: Heeey, guys! Pebblemist here! Ready for a new update?

Thought so :D

~~~Lucas's Point Of View~~~ Chapter Eleven: The Road to Recovery

Within the few month's since Maya's accident, I don't think I had ever seen Riley more happy than she was the day Maya was able to return to school.

Even since we found out that she was going to be okay, Riley acted different. She wasn't the same, "Smiley Riley," that I knew and loved, and it killed me to see her like that. And things were already killing me enough without the added weight to my chest.

Maya was like a sister to me, as much as I didn't want to admit it. We certainly argued enough to pass off as brother and sister, that was for sure. It had torn me apart when it looked like she might not live. I'd tried to stay strong on the outside, if only for Riley and Farkle's sake, when on the inside...

I was breaking.

"There we go," Mrs. Matthews said as she helped Maya out of the car and into her wheelchair. The girl smiled gratefully, whispering a soft 'thank you.' Topanga smiled. "You're welcome. Are you ready, Maya?"

Maya scoffed, brushing a strand of blonde hair out of her eyes. "Of course I'm ready. Why wouldn't I be?"

Her voice trailed off, her gaze shifting towards the road. Her breath hitched in her throat, and her eyes widened, then instantly squeezed shut. Riley's hand quickly found hers.

I stood there, watching the whole thing and feeling somewhat unhelpful. But I knew there was nothing I could do, nothing anyone could do to help her. It would be a long time before Maya would be able to look at a road and not relive the accident. We all understood that. Not one of us blamed her.

The best thing we could be was there for her, and that's what we were.

Maya opened her eyes as Riley slowly let go of her hand. She took in a few deep breaths, and then gave a weak smile.

"I'm okay," she said firmly.

"Are you sure?" Mrs. Matthews, Riley, Farkle, and I asked in unison. We all looked at each other, and though no one said anything, I knew we were all thinking the same thing. Whoa.

"Of course," Maya laughed. "I'm always okay. As long as I've got friends, I can get through anything."

Riley beamed, and my heart melted. "So much has changed in the past few months, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah," we all agreed. Things were so different before the accident, I thought, trying to push the though of Riley out of my head as I felt my face start to turn red. It feels like a whole lifetime ago.

"It's almost scary," Maya admitted softly, shifting in her wheelchair uncomfortably. She wouldn't meet anyone's eyes, staring at the ground.

Mrs. Matthews smiled, her eyes sparkling. "It's not scary. It's just a part of life."

"Then life is scary," Riley concluded, dead serious and all.

Shaking her head as she got back into the car, Mrs. Matthews laughed. "That it can be."

...

"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate being in this thing?" Maya said for what seemed like the millionth time as we pushed her up the steps. I tried to ignore the gawking stares of the other students.

"Just ignore them."

It was like Riley could sense how agitated I was becoming. She looked at me with big, pleading brown eyes, and her message was pretty clear. Whatever you do, don't lose your temper.

I won't, I silently promised her. She smiled, and I tried not to melt inside.

"Is that the girl who got hit by the truck?" I tried to ignore them, but the whispers still reached my ears.

"She's alive?" was the reply, the speaker sounding genuinely surprised. "But I thought she was dead!"

"I can hear you, you know," Maya snapped, turning her head towards the students. The conversations stopped instantly, though the gawking didn't.

I grit my teeth, a million things to say jumping to mind. Taking a deep breath to keep my temper in check, I met the other kid's eyes.

"What are you looking at?" I snapped, my words coming out slightly harsher than I meant them to. "There's nothing to see here."

The students scurried away with wide eyes. I guess I got my point across.

"I don't need your help, Ranger Rick," Maya spat, turning in her seat to glare at me. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, so you don't need my help?" I asked, pausing in my pushing of the wheelchair. I heard Farkle whisper 'Oh no.'

"No, I don't," Maya said firmly.

"Yeah?" I smirked at her, then said what I knew would shut her up. "Well, then I guess you can wheel yourself up these stairs yourself, can't you?"

She sighed, looking defeated. "Okay. You got me."

...

The staring and whispers persisted as we entered the school. Luckily, however, I was able to shut them out and ignore them. The rest of the morning went by pretty smoothly, actually, if you were to ignore the fact that Maya had to move her chair out of the way in all of her classes, and we weren't always there to help her.

Either way, by the time lunch time rolled around, we were all in a pretty good mood.

"I wonder how Maya's English class went," Riley wondered out loud as the two of us walked through the halls to meet Maya and Farkle for lunch.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Hopefully it went well. Not that it would really matter to Maya, anyways. It's not like she actually pays attention in any class other than art and gym."

Riley laughed and brushed a strand of chocolate brown hair out of her eyes. Her laugh is so cute, I thought, smiling to myself. Everything she does is perfect.

"True," she agreed.

An awkward silence settled between us after that, and I found my mind drifting back to the events of the day before Maya's accident. It was kind of weird. In some ways, it seemed like lifetimes ago that I got Riley out of the locker and confessed my feelings for her.

But yet I could still close my eyes and bring myself back to that very moment.

"Do you know why what she said isn't true, Riley?" I asked her.

"Why?" she whispered softly, her voice getting caught in her throat.

We locked eyes, and the butterflies in my stomach began to flutter wildly. Her bright, chocolate brown eyes met with my plain emerald green ones. All I could hear was the sound of our hearts beating, rapidly against our chests. She was nervous... well, really, we both were.

I bit my lip and took a deep breath. "Because... because I do like you, Riley... a lot. Every time I'm near you, I feel all nervous and awkward. I can never think straight, because every time you look at me, my mind turns to mush. When I see you frown, I would do anything to put that smile back on your face. And keep it there."

Riley's jaw dropped. "L-Lucas, I-"

I didn't let her finish."The truth is, I've always felt this way. Since that day on the subway, when Maya pushed you into my lap. But I never thought you could feel the same way. I mean, I knew you had a crush on me, but I thought it was just one of those stupid, little kid crushes, that every one gets, but never actually true love. I thought you were too good for me- I didn't think that you would never share the same feelings as me."

"But I do," she whispered. "I do feel the same way. I thought that you were too good for me. I didn't understand how you could ever feel the same way... we're only twelve. I didn't even think we knew what love was. But now I think we do..."

"Maybe we don't know what love is," I suggested hopefully. "But what I do know is that I never get this feeling anywhere else, with anyone else, and when I don't feel like this, I want to more than anything."

"Hey, Riley?" I asked quietly, breaking the silence. She looked up at me, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"Yeah?"

I took a deep breath and looked around. We were almost to the cafeteria, and the hallways were empty. The lunch bell rang, echoing down the corridors. We would be late, but with good reason, as we were going to be assisting a girl in a wheelchair.

"Do..." I looked down, having trouble finding the words. "Do you remember... the-the day before Maya's accident?" She nodded slowly, and I thought I saw a trace of hope flicker in her bright brown eyes.

"Yeah... Why?"I noticed the way her voice rose, in an almost excited manner. I smiled and took her hand. We locked eyes, and the butterflies in my stomach began to flutter wildly. Her bright, chocolate brown eyes met with my plain emerald green ones. All I could hear was the sound of our hearts beating, rapidly pounding against our chests.

"Well, I-" I paused as a familiar voice reached my ears. A voice that was not Maya's or Farkle's.

But who else could it be? I looked at Riley, and it seemed she heard it to. We leaned against the walls to keep out of sight, cued by some unspoken agreement. The voice was coming from just around the corner. I could just barely make out what it was saying.

"...were foolish enough to get yourself crushed by a truck, I see," the voice was saying. Riley and I locked eyes. We knew this voice.

Missy!

"That was a fairly stupid move on your part," Missy continued. The sweetness in her voice sickened me. "Don't you think, Mia?"

"It's Maya," spat a new voice. I could practically see the scowl on Maya's face as she spoke. "What do you want, Missy?"

"Oh, nothing," Missy said.

"Then what are you smiling about? I know it can't be the fact that with so much makeup caked up on your face you look like a clown. Because, well, you must not have looked in a mirror recently."

Gotta hand it to you, city girl, I thought. That was pretty good.

There was a scoff, obviously from Missy. "Is that the best you got?"

"No, in fact, it isn't," Maya said, sounding fully confident. "I would just hate to waste my best ones on the likes of you."

"You think you're all big and bad, don't you?" Missy sounded amused, speaking no differently than she would have if she was speaking to a dumb child. "Drop the act, Hart. You know you're at a disadvantage."

"I loathe you," Maya hissed.

"Yeah, well that's how everyone feels about you," Missy told her. I felt anger boil up inside of me, clenching my fists. Riley looked at me with wide, pleading eyes.

'Don't,' she mouthed. 'It'll only make things worse!'

"That's not true!" Maya growled.

"You'd like to believe that, wouldn't you?"

There was a pause. "... what do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean," Missy said sweetly. "Your so-called friends? They don't care about you. They all hate you. Do you know why they're helping you? Because they pity you. You're so pathetic and useless now that you can't walk, they feel like they have to.

"No!" Riley whispered. But she was too late. I stepped forward, moving into Missy's line of sight. Maya's face it up like a Christmas tree.

"Oh, there you are Lucas," Missy smiled brightly, making my stomach churn. "Tell her, tell her what I said is true!"

"No." I said, my voice sounding frighteningly calm, even as I trembled with anger. "I won't."

"Why not?" Missy pouted. "No use sparing her feelings..." her eyes widened in fear. "... Lucas? You-you're not going to hurt me, are you?"

I started to lunge forward, but I stopped as fingers laced through mine. A pair of wide brown eyes stared up at me, a pleading look in them.

"Lucas don't," Riley whispered softly. "I know you're better than this. Don't be like her."