A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed! Here's the next chapter for you guys!

Disclaimer: Don't own it

Riley walked into her father's classroom with Maya and Farkle, set her books down on her desk, and sat down. Even though she was gone for a day, Riley was eager to get back to school. Despite her eagerness, it felt strange to be there without Lucas.

The bell rang, and Mr. Matthews stood up from his desk. His mouth moved as he spoke to the class, beginning his lesson, but Riley didn't hear a word of it. She tried her best to focus on her dad's lesson, but her mind was somewhere else.

Despite Maya and Farkle offering valid points on why it wasn't her fault, she had a hard time convincing herself that it was true. Riley knew that Lucas wouldn't have listened and would have done anything to make sure that she was safe, but there was still a small voice in the back of her mind that told her otherwise.

You could have done something, said something, so he wouldn't have been hurt.

The battle in her mind continued as the class seemed to drag on. Once again, Riley tried to focus on the lesson, but the argument took over her focus.

Mr. Matthews began to split the class into pairs for a partner work activity, but when he called Riley's name, she didn't respond. He walked up in front of her and placed his hands on the edge of her desk. Riley came out of her sea of thoughts and looked up at her father.

"You okay?"

Riley sighed and shrugged, but she knew she wasn't okay.

"Riley, you'll be partners with Maya," he continued and began to hand out the worksheets to class. "If you are not able to complete this during class, it will be due next time."

Everyone set to work on the sheet. Luckily for Riley, it was a worksheet on the information in the textbook instead of what her father just lectured on, so the two friends began skimming the text for the answers.

"Are you okay?" Maya said after a few minutes.

Riley shrugged again. "I don't know…I know that you said it wasn't my fault, but I still feel like I should have been able to do or say something."

"Riley, this is just one thing that you can't fix," Maya said gently. "You can't go back in time and changed what happened. And I'm sure Lucas doesn't blame you; it was his own decision. He'll tell you that when he wakes up."

But what if he doesn't? Riley thought.

The bell finally rang and Riley stood up along with the rest of her classmates and headed out into the hallway, but someone's familiar voice made her freeze in her tracks before she could reach the door.

"Well, well, well. Look who decided to make herself known."

Riley's blood ran cold. "Missy," she replied, trying to get out of the classroom before she said anything more. But it didn't matter. Even though Riley made her way out, Missy followed her to her locker.

"So, how does it feel to know that you're the reason Lucas is in the hospital?"

Riley closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "It wasn't my fault, Missy. He would have done the same thing even if I tried to stop him," she replied. Despite her confident answer, she still wasn't fully convinced that it wasn't her fault.

"I highly doubt that. In fact, if that was me he was with, none of this would have happened."

"You weren't there. You have no idea what happened."

Missy gave Riley a look. "Besides you were hiding behind a bookcase in fear after Lucas went out?"

"That's not what happened! Lucas told me to stay there! He was protecting me!"

Missy clicked her tongue. "Sure, you believe that sweetie. Just accept that the reason that he may die was because of you, and if anyone else was in your place, namely me, that we both would have been fine. I wouldn't have let Lucas go out to die…I would have had his back, and he would be standing here with us today."

A few tears slid from Riley's eyes and down her cheeks. Stop, just stop. Leave me alone. I know it's my fault, leave me be!

"Hey!" another voice yelled. Missy turned around to see it was Maya, her face reddened with anger.

"What do you want, Hart?" Missy groaned.

Maya stomped forward towards her. "What do you think you're doing?"

Missy smiled. "Telling Riley what she needs to hear…the truth. Unlike some people that comfort her with lies."

Maya lost it. She tightened her fist and drove it across the smug teen's face. Missy's head snapped back against the lockers and she slumped to the ground. "How could you do something like that? You don't even know what Riley's been through these past couple of days! You weren't there! You may think you know, but everyone knows that the media twists almost everything to make it into a pathetic sob story. If you ever do anything like that again to any of my friends, I'll introduce you to my second best friend. And believe me…it's not pretty."

"Maya."

Maya slowly turned her head and made eye contact with Mr. Matthews who was standing in his classroom doorway. "May I speak to you?"

She nodded and walked into the classroom.

"Miss Bradford, don't go anywhere. I want to speak to you next." He walked up to Riley and placed one of his hands on her shoulders. "If you want you can stay here for now. Don't worry about any other classes, they'll understand."

Riley nodded and slumped down to the ground while Cory went back into his classroom and shut the door behind him. He found Maya slouched in her chair, looking into dead space. Mr. Matthews walked up in front of her and sat down on the edge of his desk. Maya came back to the present and looked up at her teacher, but remained silent. "You want to tell me what happened?"

Maya looked down at her hands. "Missy was telling Riley that the reason why Lucas is now in the hospital was because of her, and kept trying to drive that into her head. She said that it was the truth, when I knew it wasn't. Even if Riley tried to stop him, Lucas wouldn't have listened. He loves Riley too much to let anything happen to her. So, I shut her up the only way I could think of. I admit it wasn't the brightest thing to do at the time, but she hurts Riley, she is going to find pain too."

Mr. Matthews crossed his arms. "I appreciate you trying to stand up for Riley, especially after you and Farkle made some progress yesterday. But you can't go around hitting people."

"I know."

"I appreciate your motives, but you know I am going to have to punish you."

Maya nodded.

Cory thought for a moment before responding. "Lunch detention…today only."

Maya raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't it be detention for a week?"

"Yes, but right now Riley is going to need all the time and support from her best friend. And you can't do that if you're in detention now, can you?"

Maya shook her head. "No…but what if Missy got to her? What if I can't change that?"

Cory sighed. "Then Lucas will have to tell her. You may go."

Maya stood up from her chair and walked out into the hallway. A few seconds later, Missy appeared in the classroom, her face already swelling from the punch she took.

"Have a seat," Mr. Matthews said, gesturing to the desk right in front of him.

"I don't know why you're keeping me here," Missy replied as she sat down. "I didn't do anything to provoke Maya. I didn't do anything wrong."

Cory pushed down the wave of anger that threatened to spill out. "Missy, I heard everything you said to my daughter."

Missy's eyes widened. She had never been caught before.

"What did you think you were doing? You're lucky Maya only punched you in the face." Mr. Matthews paused before continuing. "You'll have detention for a week," he finished, turning to the other side of his desk to continue grading the papers he started.

"What? Detention for a week? Mr. Matthews you must be—"

Cory looked up at the teen. "I'm sorry, Miss Bradford. Would you like two instead?"

Missy swallowed and shook her head.

"Good, you may go."

Missy stood up and took off out of the room.

Before going back to his grading, Mr. Matthews walked to his doorway and peeked around the corner. He found Riley crying into Maya's shoulder, and Maya doing her best to comfort her friend.

"It's my fault…it's my fault. I knew it was."

Maya shook her head. "No, it wasn't. Don't let Missy get to you."

The two were silent for a few more moments before Cory asked, "You two wanna come inside? You can go home after lunch."

Both teens nodded, but Riley asked, "Why after lunch?"

"I've been sentenced to 'hooked on Matthews' during the lunch hour for hitting Missy. But if you're in there, I don't think I'll mind it."

Riley smiled slightly as she and Maya stood up and walked back into the classroom for the remainder of their day.

A/N #2: Just for clarification, Missy knew because when the media got the police's report, they twisted it around to make it more dramatic. Anyone catch the Boy Meets World reference? Had to change it slightly since Cory's the teacher. Maya in this chapter is heavily based on my best friend, including some of her dialogue. The next chapter will have some Lucas in it. Until next time :)