Later that evening, once school had let out, three-fourths of the group meet up at the Mattews' to discuss what to do next. Riley was being, well Riley, and freaking out that her crush was sitting in the cove next to the window in her room. Maya on the other hand was doing the same thing, although internally, as this was a very important spot to her and Riley. Sharing it was rather taboo and made her a bit uneasy at the prospect of it not being as special any more.
"This is a very special place to us, Lucas." Riley's words slurred off her tongue.
"This is where Riley and I figure out our most important stuff." Maya explained.
"Do you ever talk about me here?"
His smile was easy, as his curious mind searched out an answer. Riley turned to Maya, visibly freaked out while Maya's blue eyes widened; not expecting him to be so blunt about the question. Lucas never taking his eyes off of Maya since her knew her cerulean eyes gave away every emotion, and every truth.
"What do I do now, I don't know what to do." The short brunet whispered frantically to her best friend.
"Start over and move on." Her eyes flickered to Riley's before giving a warning glace to the Cowboy.
"This is a very special place to us, Lucas." The blond smiled at her friend while still giving a warning signal to Lucas.
"Do you ever talk about me here?"
Maya's eyes widened once more and her smile instantly fell. Not fully comprehending that he didn't head her warning. Then again he never did follow the rules of their game. Not that they specified any, but that still didn't condone playing it wrong.
"You give me bad advice!"
Riley glared menacingly, well it wasn't all that menacing, and Maya could only shrug and roll her eyes simultaneously. The rebel not sure how to respond to her weird little friend.
"Well, I appreciate you having me here. Whatever Farkle's dealing with, he shouldn't have to go through it alone."
"I want my Farkle back. We're not as good without him." Maya proclaimed. Farkle was like a weird little brother to her and no-one messes with the few people that Maya loves. Because for her, they're all she has. "If you tell him I said that I will jack you up son."
Lucas only nodded while trying to comprehend the 'My Farkle' part of that statement. Riley pulled back immediately assuming that it was an indication that Maya had a crush on Farkle. Thankfully it was then that Corey Matthews walked through the door with an ultimatum of twenty-four hours to fix their friend or adults would get involved.
Once the door clicked shut Maya piped up with her idea.
"If we just knew who this guy was I know you would take care of him." She gestured towards her Cowboy.
"What?" As flattering as it was that she had faith in him like that, it wasn't the best idea. "Beat him up? Maya, all those people on the blackboard never became like the people who were attacking them by resorting to their methods. It's just not the first response of an intelligent person."
Not even a second later Corey flew back into the room and chased Lucas out the open window. Riley commandeering the boot that the older Matthews had pulled off the boy. With the two girls huddled against the corner and a triumphant father sitting beside them, Maya couldn't help but feel a little disappointment in what she let slip out. She knew that violence wasn't the answer, it always made more problems in the end, but she couldn't help but think that their stronger male friend could handle a fight. Although, as far as she knew it wasn't in his nature. What really hurt though was the disappointed look in his dark brown eyes and she wasn't sure why it hurt this badly. It was worse than when she was being scolded by Mr. Matthews after the failed homework rebellion.
It was fourth period and even though Farkle was back in class he was way out of character. So, when Riley and Maya stormed their way over to Lucas after changing into their gym apparel, it took the tall Texan off guard.
"Where's Farkle?" Maya catechized. She had her last period with him, but he wasn't there.
"I thought he said he wasn't going to miss any more classes." Lucas' jaw tightened, worried about the small tween.
"Then why haven't we seen him?" She glared at him. Wordlessly accusing him in her need to release some of her frustration.
Billy hopped into the gymnasium not a moment later inviting Lucas to baseball practice. Of course, being the civil Cowboy that he is, he declined in favor of helping Farkle.
"Ah, I don't think I'm going to make it. My buddy's still being hassled and I wasn't to be there for him."
"Your buddy? You mean Farkle?" Billy looked as though he couldn't believe one of his fellow teammates would want to hang out with such a weird little nerdling.
"Yeah, nobody has seen him."
"You're better off."
Riley and Maya shared a confused glance as they began to piece together the pieces. Lucas on the other hand clenched and unclenched his hands. The tension spreading through his back and shoulder. Like a rattlesnake about to strike at its pray.
"Excuse me." The teen's volume rose in disbelief.
"Come on Lucas. I don't really see Lucas as your buddy."
"Why not?"
"You don't think he's different than us?"
"What do you mean? Smarter? Yeah, he's the smartest kid in school, but he doesn't make a big deal about it." It went unnoticed by the brunets that Billy was not listening, Maya on the other hand was trying to piece together if this was arrogance or if he was their friend's tormentor. Lucas just kept talking.
"Lucas, Farkle is a nothing." Billy interrupted.
The girls were stunned and Maya looked as though she was about to kill, however Lucas beat her to it by grabbing Billy's shirt and shoving him into one of the gymnasium walls. Hard. Billy was shocked, the docile Texan actually attacking him.
"You're the one who did this to Farkle? Why would you do something like that to a guy like him?"
Lucas was now beyond pissed and a few other kids were beginning to notice the altercation. He held Billy against the wall with one hand as he semi- faced the girls. Gauging their reactions. Riley was stunned and Maya's fists clenched.
"I don't know. Because he's a guy like him." Billy scoffed. "You want to let me go now?"
"You're the nothing Billy." He was practically growling now.
"Lucas don't." Maya stepped forward, yet her heart was set on keeping her Cowboy out of trouble. Keep him from becoming the type of person she knew he wasn't.
"I thought this was what you wanted Maya." Lucas let Billy go to face the blond, his eyes softening slightly at her expression. She was scared. Not for herself. Not for Billy. But for him, yet his fury still held strength in his heart.
"What? She wanted you to pop me Mr. Perfect? Well, I don't think that's what he's going to do."
"Yeah." Lucas was quick to agree, than quick to take it back. "No, that's what I'm going to do."
"No!" Maya than sprung onto the taller boy's back. Stopping him from doing anything else physical to Billy without hurting her as well. "That's what he wants. He wants you to be like him."
It was now taking a lot of focus for Lucas to remain mentally in this fight. The feeling of Maya pressed against his back was distracting enough, but with her words brushing against his ears he was losing control of the mental capacity to do much of anything. Maya was having a similar struggle. She was beginning to come to terms with the notion that she had some kind of feeling towards Lucas. She could feel the lean muscles in his back and shoulders as she clung to him. Her legs wrapped around his waist and they both had a brief moment of realization in that the contact left amazing little sparks on their skin, even with the layers of clothing.
"Hmm, well you see, Lucas is like me. We live in a cloud of awesomeness remember? Handshake?" Billy reenacted the more awkward part of the complicated handshake that was more wiggling than anything else.
Riley had her arms crossed. Her focus more on her best friend that was still hanging on to her crush's back than on the fight going on. The thoughts running through her head were not very pleasant as a small bout of jealousy reached her mind at the thought of them together. It passed a moment later when she knew that Maya would never betray her that way. No boy could ever stand between them. There was a girl code or something like that.
"I don't like you like this. This isn't the Billy I know and I want to know why and I want to know now." He was getting less and less aggravated the longer Maya clung to him. "And would you get off my back."
Lucas looked at the blond, registering this was the first time he was looking up at her. Maya barely registered the words as she was having a silent conversation with Riley about why she was still on Lucas' back. She hopped off, a bit reluctantly, and went to stand beside her best friend as Billy kept berating Lucas about how teammates come before real friends. Riley threw an arm around Maya and they shared a look.
"Boy are you wrong, these guys are my friends all the time." He gestured to both of them. Riley smiling at the complement and Maya gave a small hurt smile to Riley. "Not just on the field."
"How are you even friends with that little guy?" Billy demanded, his tone outraged.
"Because I can depend on him. Because he is the most loyal person I have ever met. Because he's my best friend!" Lucas was shouting now. He was compelled to hit Billy upside the head to smack some sense into him. How could he not understand this?
"You really mean that?" The high pitched voice of their troubled friend came from above. All eyes focus on the ceiling and found Farkle clinging onto the rope for dear life. "You're my best friend too."
"Farkle, how did you get up there? I thought you couldn't climb the ropes." Lucas called up to the small boy.
"I can't, but in desperate situations apparently I can fly."
He was getting more and more anxious of being this high up. The girls shared a look before racing to pile as much matting beneath him as they could. Knowing that his grip wasn't going to last much longer.
"You really don't want to be friends with a goofball like that?" Lucas questioned Billy.
"Not really, no." He began to walk away.
"Let me ask you something. What's wrong with you?"
"There's nothing wrong with me."
"I've never actually seen you hang out with anybody who isn't on the team."
"Dude, whatever. I don't need this." Billy tried brushing off the verbal assault from Lucas. The questions and accusations giving him a headache.
"You don't. Well, too bad. Because friends like Farkle don't just fall out of thin air."
Of course it was in that moment that Farkle's grip on the rope slipped and he fell with a loud thud onto the mats below. Riley and Maya checked him over to make sure he didn't break anything. The rest of the class just looked on and a few questioned once again where a teacher was during this whole ordeal.
"You can have him. You'll figure out sooner or later that they're no us."
"Who's us?" Lucas' voice dropped into a confused whisper.
Billy just shrugged him off and walked out of the gymnasium. He was stopped by Janitor Harley who basically told him that if he kept up this me not we mentality that he would end up just like him.
"Okay we're done." Maya stated in a manner that gave away she was expecting something to happen. "It's all over. Nothing left to do except carry on with our normal middle school lives, except…"
She gave a grand gesture at pointing at Riley. Not even noticing the odd looks she was receiving from her male friends.
"What are we going to do about Billy?" Riley pondered.
"Riley, you can't fix everything." Maya gave her a pointed look and after a brief pause and a shake of her head, "Okay, go ahead."
It sometimes surprised Lucas how much Maya knew Riley and vice versa. Their friendship was amazing and the Texan knew that if he did what he wanted to do than it would tear them apart. It wasn't in his nature to be selfish like that. But, sometimes, he really wanted to be.
"I almost died." Farkle stated in a rather peppy voice after the events that have transpired over the last few days.
"I know buddy." Lucas chuckled as he followed the girls out of the gym.
