Chapter 3: Fortune

Unpacking her backpack into her locker on the first day held some sort of sentimental feeling. The school always felt the same way it did every year at the beginning of each semester. This year the lockers were assigned alphabetically according to everyone's last name. So Maya's locker was in a different area of the school than Riley's.

"Hey Riley," Isadora Smackle said as she found her way to Riley's side.

"Hey Smackle!" Riley replied, looking away from her locker for a moment, "How was math camp?"

Smackle rolled her eyes at Riley, but still kept the grin on her face. "Again, it was Harvard's Junior Mathematics Accelerated Program, and it was fantastic. You wouldn't believe all of the scholarly learning opportunities we've been missing out on. We've been at a real disadvantage."

Riley nodded, while it wasn't her version of a fun summer, she was in no place to disregard Smackle's. The smaller girl held multiple text books and binders in her arms tightly.

"That's great Smackle. I'm glad one of us had an enjoyable summer. I spent mine working in my mom's café, the most exciting thing that happened was when some guy riding a bike accidently rode through the front window and broke his collar bone."

"That's unfortunate," Smackle replied with a frown. "Try to think about all the money you made instead," Smackle offered.

"Well I would, if I hadn't already spent it on a new wardrobe," Riled replied dryly. "But they are beautiful clothes, so maybe it was worth it."

Smackle laughed while Riley continued to organize her locker. "Well there you go."

"Riley Matthews, we meet again," a voice behind her called. She felt her heart skip a beat, but attempted to keep a relatively calm and cool neutral face, even though she knew exactly who was beaconing her. Smackle eyed Riley carefully, with a mischievous grin.

"Hey, Lucas," Riley piped up. Riley had to stop herself from fixing her hair. There stood Lucas, looking just as gorgeous as he had earlier that week – more so, even, because the light was an improvement from the glow of the streets.

Beside her, Smackle cleared her throat, obviously wanting an introduction. Riley rolled her eyes. "Lucas, this is my friend Smackle, she's president of our class. And Smackle, this is Lucas. He just moved here from Texas."

"Indeed, I know everything there is to know about Abraham Lincoln High, so if you need any help with your schedule, or have any questions, I am an expert."

"Nice to meet you Smackle. Riley, you should try introducing me differently next time," Lucas told her throwing a casual arm around her as if he did it all the time.

"Really," Riley laughed, going along with his little game, "and how would you prefer to be introduced?"

"They call me Mad Dog," Lucas said proudly.

Riley stepped away from his arm and pushed it away, erupting into a laugh. "Oh yeah? You and what army?" Smackle was giggling on her own and with one look, Riley new that she was more than amused by their bickering.

Lucas mocked hurt, clenching his heart. "Why are you always so cruel to me?"

Riley rolled her eyes again.

"Well I've have a brief meeting with the Principal now. I'll see you two in later."

"Bye Smackle," Riley waved, turning back to her locker.

"So I was thinking," Lucas continued, leaning against the locker next to Riley's.

"What about?"

"About the stops we would take on our tour. But that was when I realized that I didn't have your number. So how on earth was I going to contact Riley? I don't know. And here we are."

"What a coincidence," she teased.

"It really is, I was just walking, and there you were, like it was meant to be." Lucas passed her his phone so she could enter her contact information.

Riley rolled her eyes, upon looking at the phone. "Nice background picture," she snickered. It was a photo of his car.

"Hey, that car is my baby," he said. "What else would I use as my background picture?"

Maybe a picture of his girlfriend, she thought, but said nothing as she found his contact list. The list seemed extremely long, at least compared to hers. She had barely finished putting her number in when the bell rang signally homeroom.

"Who do you have for homeroom?" Riley asked, returning his phone, and grabbing her books from her locker. Lucas glanced down at his schedule, narrowing his eyes.

"Mr. Matthews. Wait – are you related to him?" he asked.

Riley blushed, shutting the locker door. "He's my dad," Riley muttered. "We have the same class."

Lucas's eyes widened. "Your dad is your teacher?"

"All my life."

Lucas whistled lowly, and the two walked to class.

X

"Mr. Friar, a word please," Cory Matthews called after the bell rang and the class was making their way out of the room. Riley paused for a moment and looked between her father and the boy, before making the decision to leave the room.

"Sir," Lucas acknowledged, taking a seat in front of the teacher's desk, and shifting awkwardly waiting for the man to continue.

"I wanted to welcome you to Abraham Lincoln High, I like to meet all of the new students. Also, I understand that you brought my daughter home last week."

"That's right." Mr. Matthews crossed his arms in front of his chest and took a seat leaning against his own desk.

"I don't like Riley being in danger. She was alone in the city with a stranger, a dead phone, in the middle of the night. That is not a safe setting for a young woman." Lucas watched the teacher carefully, wondering where this conversation would be going.

"I did not mean to unsettle you, sir," Lucas said.

"Let me finish," Cory told him. Lucas looked away from Cory's glaring eyes. "Thank you for bringing her home. It was a difficult situation for her and you made it a little bit easier. So thank you."

Lucas looked up surprised. "You're welcome."

Cory nodded, dismissively. "You're free to go."

X

Alone in the hallway again, Riley had a few minutes before her next class started. Everyone around her was still buzzing with the excitement from the new school year, chatting, catching up and comparing schedules.

What struck Riley as strange, however, was that she still hadn't seen Maya yet that day. Riley had gotten a ride with her father to school that day when Maya never showed up to walk to school with her.

She heard a familiar laugh across the hall and noticed Maya standing with four other girls Riley had seen her with at the party. She recognized these girls from Maya's art class, so she knew that they had something in common.

Riley leaned against the wall and watched Maya from afar, trying to figure out what was so special about these new people that resulted in the sudden change.

"Who are we spying on?" a voice behind her suddenly said. Riley yelped and dropped her books on the floor. She wasn't supposed to get caught staring.

She turned to see Lucas laughing at her, clenching his stomach from his fit.

"Lucas," Riley groaned. "Give a girl some warning will ya?" She bent down to the floor to pick up her spilled books.

"I'm sorry, but your reaction, was priceless. You should have seen it," he said trying to calm his laughter. Riley narrowed her eyes, but couldn't stay angry.

Riley looked back at Maya who was still busy engulfed in a conversation that Riley was not a part of.

"Who is that?" Lucas asked.

"Hmm?" Riley asked with her attention back on Lucas. He had a fairly neutral expression, with small traces of wonder.

"That girl over there, the blonde one? You've been watching her. Is that the friend who dragged you to that party?"

"That's her," Riley replied, starting on her journey to class. "She's my best friend."

"Oh, you're going to have to introduce me. I have to meet the girl who has the pleasure of knowing all your darkest secrets." Riley cracked a smile, and rolled her eyes.

"All of my darkest secrets?" she asked, in an unconvinced tone.

"Well," Maya came up behind the two, surprising both of them and interrupting their conversation. "Riley cried on her first five days of kindergarten, she hasn't even had a sip of alcohol in her life, except for the time when she was 11 and she grabbed a can of beer thinking it was coke. She didn't make it through half a sip before she ran to her parents apologizing. She has an addiction to coke, and-"

"Okay Maya, that's enough," Riley interrupted, clearly embarrassed by all the information was dropping to Lucas.

Lucas was trying to keep in a laugh, but with one look at Riley he couldn't keep it in any longer.

"What?" Riley asked flabbergasted.

"I'm just imagining baby Riley crying in front of-

"Ooo-kay," Riley groaned, and this time Maya laughed along with Lucas. "I am never going to live that down. I don't even remember it Maya, why do you hold it against me."

"Because for some reason I remember it, and I consider it to be a sign, that I have to maintain its legacy. I have made it my duty to remind you on the first day of school every year until you die."

"Oh yah," Riley replied with disappointment crawling all over her words, and a pout on her face.

"Awe, that's alright Riley, we all have embarrassing stories. They are what make us, us," Lucas assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Riley looked up at Lucas who nodded convincing, and she didn't feel so embarrassed anymore.

"So, Riley is this Lucas?" Maya asked. Riley rolled her eyes. Maya was never subtle, and that wasn't about to change anytime soon, but now Lucas would know that the two girls had been talking about him.

"They call me Mad-" Lucas began.

"Yes, this is Lucas," Riley said quickly. Lucas eyed Riley suspiciously, while Maya wore an amused expression.

"I hear you just moved here from Texas, that you are a bull rider and that you aren't too shabby at football," Maya said, as the three of them continued down the hall together.

"You told her that I am a bull rider?" Lucas asked Riley. Riley shook her head and glanced down at her phone.

"Nope, she either made that up, or got it from someone else," Riley explained.

"That's not even the best one, I was just talking to someone who said that you rode into New York on a white horse."

"What?" Lucas's gasped. This time Riley laughed, and began to imagine Lucas riding through Times Square on a white horse. Lucas nudged Riley slightly. "Stop picturing that Riley! Who are these people starting these rumors?"

"Who knows," "the dutch," the girls said at the same time. The looked at each other and shrugged, as they entered their next class, and Lucas continued on his own to his next class.

X

The end of the day came quickly, it always did on the first day of school. Classes, teachers and students sped by in the fast lane, and Riley watched them all go by. She watched as different students, mainly girls come up to Lucas all day, introducing themselves, and asking him out. Riley would have found it amusing, if it hadn't happened so many times.

But each time he politely turned them down, and returned to his conversations with Riley. Even though she was having a great time getting to know Lucas, she couldn't help but wonder why a jock, football player, would want to be spending all of his time with a nobody like her.

Riley had to walk home after school, and it wasn't a long walk, she had been doing it every year since she started high school. The difference was that this time, Maya wasn't with her. Maya had mentioned something about joining the art club which was having its first meeting that day, so Riley wasn't offended.

Walking down the steps leading out of the school, Riley noticed a familiar face, talking with a few of her classmates. Charlie; her ex-lover. Tall, fit, brown haired beauty. He was everything Riley always wanted in a boy. He cared enough about his studies, he had a personality, he laughed at all the same things she did, and they got along better than Riley could have ever expected.

But good things always come to an end, and their time together like that was long over. Riley had no hard feelings over it anymore, even if she had cried for two days when it happened.

"Hey Riley!" Charlie waved at her with a smile, he said goodbye to his friends, and made his way to Riley.

"Hey Charlie, how was your summer?" Riley asked, descending the last of the stairs.

"It was great, I spent most of the summer in Maine working at my Uncle's Restaurant, it was great, I got to harvest lobsters, learn to cook them and then every night was a party, it was a blast." Riley smiled; it had been Charlie's excessive partying that caused the major riff in their relationship. "Mind if I walk with you? We're going in the same direction anyways."

Riley shook her head. "Not at all," she replied. "That sounds like a great summer."

"It was, I met a ton of cool people. How was your summer?"

"Oh, I was just working for my mom again. I went to Philadelphia a few times and spent some time there. It was a pretty low key summer." Riley tried not to wince, every time she explained her summer, because she couldn't help but feel bad for herself. She didn't do anything exciting, and everybody else was busy discovering the world.

"That's still cool," Charlie told her, and Riley nodded, unconvinced.

"So uhm, have you decided anything about college yet?" Riley asked, trying to fill up the uncomfortable silence.

"Yes actually, I've narrowed my schools down to the University of California, Arizona, and Princeton. I want to study English and Literature, so that I can teach, but also write at the same time. I think it's really the best of both worlds."

"Wow, Charlie that's great. Sounds like you've got it all figured out." It was always Charlie's ability to be so decisive and how he knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life that always made Charlie so appealing. Maybe Riley was just hoping that his habits would wear off on her.

"I guess," Charlie agreed. Riley looked back to the sidewalk, distracting herself with her phone, wondering when she would see Lucas's name pop up on her screen. It was a waiting game she guessed; he had her number, but she didn't have his. So she would just have to wait for him to text her, and somehow that made her feel a little bit desperate. "Have you figured out what you want to do next year yet?"

Charlie's voice pulled Riley out of her trance and she looked back up at him briefly. "Uhm. No, not really. But I know what I don't want, so that's something."

"It's definitely a start."

"I still have a few more months before a need to make a decision."

"It's plenty of time. You'll figure it out, I know you will," Charlie said slowing down to a new pace, Riley knew they were approaching his street.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. I'll see you around, Riley. Have a good night!" Charlie called as he began walking backwards and spun on his foot walking in the other direction.

"Bye, Charlie."

X

At home, Riley collapsed onto the sofa, dropping her bags on the floor and sighing after the long day at school. It was still early, so she had the house to herself, her parents were at work and Auggie wouldn't be home from school for another fifteen minutes.

Riley couldn't remember the last time she was in the house alone; she always had someone, and it was usually Maya. But not today, and Riley wasn't sure if live would ever really be the same again.

She always felt so insecure. And she hated herself for it. She hated that she relied on Maya for excitement and for her world to continue spinning, because suddenly each minute that passed by felt like hours. She hated how without Maya she had such a difficult time getting out of her comfort zone.

She wanted something different, exciting even. Something that she didn't have to wait for. But Riley knew that she couldn't just wait around forever, because nothing good ever comes from waiting. She had to go out and make her own fortune; that's just how it was going to have to be.

Just then, Riley's phone buzzed in her pocket. She turned it on and read the message, smiling immediately.

Pack your backpack and spelunking gear city girl, come Friday you will experience New York City like you've never seen in before. – Mad dog Friar

Or maybe fortune had found her.