A/N: Be sure to check out my AO3 Homeschooled_Hermit. I'm much more active on there.
The first place Riley takes him to is the cafeteria. There are several kids there. Some are holding instruments, some appear to be working on projects of some kind. Even though classes don't actually start for a few days. The entire room is in varying shades of blue. "What are they working on?"
"Oh, those are the stagehands. They make the props for all school productions. But they never stop working. Even now."
"So what do you do?"
"Dance, acting, piano, cello, violin, guitar and songwriting."
"Wow, and I thought Abby was an overachiever."
"So do you do anything other than dance?"
"Well… I mean, I can sing, I guess. But I'm not very good."
"Can I hear?"
"What? No? I mean, it's for the best. You really don't want to hear me sing." She smiles, and seems to accept this answer.
"Riley!" Lucas turns to see a dark skinned boy coming towards them.
"Zay, you actually got here on time."
"Funny. That's funny. But I really need Maya's help. I need her music."
"Okay. But why don't you ask her yourself?" Riley says. "Or I don't know, ask someone."
"What?" Zay squeaks. "1, Maya makes the best mixes on campus. 2, Maya is scary. Need I remind you that she threw a shoe at me? I still have the scar!"
Zay lifts his chin to reveal a (barely visible) scar on his chin. Then a piece of bread Zay on the back of the head. The boy turns around to see three kids laughing at him. "You wanna fight, techies?!"
Zay grabs a handful of spaghetti from a nearby tray, and flings it at the kids. "Food fight!"
Riley grabs Lucas' hand, and pulls him out of the cafeteria just as food starts flying. "I'm so sorry. I probably would've joined in but one downside of having your dad as your teacher is that you can't act too crazy at school."
She does jazz hands, and smiles.
"It's okay. And this is kind of my favorite jacket."
"Oh, did you get anything on it?" She touches his arm, and starts to peer around to look at his back.
"Riley Riley, I'm joking." He laughs.
"Oh." She smiles, and her cheeks redden. But if Lucas was to do something, even get into a food fight, his dad would bring drag back home so fast he'd get whiplash. "So let's continue."
"Right." He can't help but notice how they're hands are still joined together. "So you know about my family. What about yours?"
"Oh. I have a younger brother, Auggie. He's eight. Then there's my mom. She's a lawyer. Then there's my Uncle Eric, who's a senator. Then my Aunt Morgan. I don't really know what she does… she just kind of… does. Then my Uncle Josh. He's actually a student here-"
"Wait, your uncle is a student here? Did he fail or something?"
"No. He's a late-in-life baby. He's only a year older. So he's more like an older cousin than an uncle. He's also the drummer I mentioned earlier."
"Ah."
"He should be around here somewhere." Riley starts to look around. Then Lucas hears a high pitched scream, and turns to see a man running over to them.
"Noooo!" The man gets in between them, and pulls Riley to him.
"Dad!" Riley whines.
"Who are you?"
"Lucas Friar, sir. I'm new here."
"He's my new roommate."
"But he's a boy!"
"The dorms are co-ed, remember? You didn't have a problem with my roommate last year."
"Well, he was gay! You aren't gay, are you?"
"No, sir."
"Why are you even here? Classes don't start for another two days."
"To keep an eye on you."
"Why don't you ever do this to Auggie? He's married at eight years old. I haven't even been on a date."
"Auggie… Auggie has his own issues. Your mother and I agreed that she'll deal with him while I deal with you. And I'm giving the tour. You don't want him to get lost, do you?" Mr. Matthews scowls before releasing Riley, and slowly walking away. "I'm so sorry about him."
"It's okay."
"Let's continue with the tour."
They make their way back to their dormitory after the tour. "These are the showers for our floor. Also co-ed."
"What about the bathrooms?"
"Oh, there's one in our room. And I showed you the ones at school. And that concludes our tour." They reach their room. "So I hope you like our school so far."
"Oh yeah. It's, it's big."
"Yeah, it might take some time to learn your way around the school but I'll be here to help you in any way I can." She smiles at him, and there's something unrecognizable in her eyes.
"Thank you." Before he can stop himself, he starts to lean closer. She blinks at him, and bites her lip. Their lips connect just as the door opens behind them. They break apart, and Riley rushes past Maya to get into the room.
"Did I interrupt something again?"
"No." Lucas walks into the room, and makes his way to his bedroom. His phone rings, and he pulls out his phone to see it's Abby. He answers the phone, and Abby's face comes on the screen.
"How's it going at fancy school, baby brother?" He inhales sharply.
"It's going great so far. I mean, all I've done is meet my roommates and one other student, and walk around the school."
"Ooh, tell me about these roommates."
"Their names are Riley and Maya-"
"Wait, you have girl roommates?"
"Yeah, turns out the dorms are co-ed."
"Right. So tell me about these girls."
"I mean, I don't really know much about them. I just met them like a couple hours ago. Maya's blonde and petite. Riley's tall and lanky. Riley's a dancer, an actor, a songwriter, and plays piano, cello, violin, and guitar."
"You seem to know a lot about this Riley girl. Do I smell love in the air?"
"What? No! Riley's my roommate. And my guide. I can't date my guide and roommate."
"Uh-huh, sounds like someone's in denial." Abby says in a sing-song voice.
"I'm not in denial, okay. I think you're projecting your issues onto me. You have been not-so-secretly in love with one of your background dancers since high school." Her eyes go wide, and her mouth drops open.
"Xavier and I are taking things slow."
"So does that mean you finally asked him out?"
"I… goodbye." Abby hangs up the phone.
"Yeah, that's what I thought." Lucas puts his phone away. Then his stomach growls. He hasn't eaten since before he left Austin, and that was over six hours ago. He opens his door, and hears hushed whispers from the living room. He walks into the living room, and can see Riley and Maya talking in hushed voices.
"Look, here's your boyfriend now." Maya says.
"He's not my boyfriend."
"I was just going to get some food."
"Oh well we know just the place." Maya says. "There's a restaurant right here on campus."
"You just want to go there because you know it's where Josh and his friends hang out." Riley says.
"Shut up. Come on, let's go!" Maya walks out of the room, and they follow after her. They walk to a restaurant, and he can see the word Starlight above the double doors in neon lights. They walk into the restaurant, and take a seat at a table. Or rather Lucas takes a seat at a table. Maya and Riley talk to each other in hushed voices, and appear to be in an argument. Then Maya pushes Riley into the chair next to Lucas then Maya takes a seat herself. Riley smiles and waves at him before looking away. He can't help but smile back.
A man walks over to them. He's dressed in a yellow short sleeve polo shirt, and white pants. Which he assumes is a work uniform based on how others in the restaurant are dressed. There's a name tag on his shirt that says Derrick.
"Welcome back to Starlight, girls. And I hate to break it to you but Josh isn't here tonight."
"I'm not here to see Josh. Do you guys think all I can think about is Josh?" Derrick and Riley both don't say anything. "Oh, screw both of you. Especially you, Riley. Considering you-"
There's a kicking sound, and Maya jumps. Then glares at Riley.
"So I already know what you ladies like to drink. What would you like to drink, sir?"
"I'll have a Sprite."
"You even like the same soda." Maya says with her arms crossed over her chest. "You're perfect for each other."
Then the door opens, and a boy enters the restaurant. Maya gasps, and leans forward in her seat. "He's here."
"What was it you were saying about me earlier?" Riley says.
"Shut up. He's coming over. He's coming over." Maya leans back in her seat. She laughs nervously as she looks up at the new boy. "Hi, Josh."
"Hey, I didn't know you kids would be here tonight." Josh takes a seat at the table.
"Well, it's Lucas' first day, and you know the lunch ladies always cook bad food on purpose before classes start." Riley says, gesturing to Lucas.
"Oh yeah." Josh nods his head. Derrick comes back over to the table with their drinks.
"Here are your drinks. And we're about to set up the stage. Would any of you like to start us off?"
"Alright, I'll show these amateurs how it's done. Riles, Josh, would you like to join me?"
"Oh no, I'm good." Riley says.
"Me too. I'd rather watch."
"What about you?" Maya looks at Lucas.
"Oh no, I don't sing. Or play an instrument."
"Fine. I'll rock the show myself." Maya gets up from the table, and follows Derrick over to the stage. Derrick walks on stage.
"Hello hello, as some of you know we like to highlight the musical abilities of Carrington's rising stars every night. And tonight is no different." Derrick says into the microphone, while Maya pulls something out of her pocket. "So here's one of our regulars to start us off."
Derrick backs away, and Maya steps up to the microphone. A disco beat starts to play, and a purple light comes on, and shines down on her.
"Ah-ah. Made it clear when you told me (ah-ah). Don't know why, but you gotta be lonely (ah, ah-ah). Say it's hard, but you make it look easy (ah-ah). So I'm trying to live in reality (ah-ah, ah-ah)." Maya starts to sing, pulling her hair free of its ponytail with the hand that wasn't on the microphone stand. Lucas looks at Riley, who was watching her friend in admiration. The purple light was shining on her skin, and it somehow made her look even more beautiful. 'Damn it, Abby was right. I do like her. I hate it when she's right.'
"Decompressin', tryna ease the tension. But you got me stressin', feelin' like I need to call when. You sneak up on me, tell me that you miss me in your life. I can't read your mind." Maya dances to the music.
"She can dance, too? What can't she do?"
"Uh, nothing. She can sing, dance, act, write songs, and direct." Riley says.
"Not to mention she can play just about every instrument under the sun. She makes us one major's look like chumps in comparison to her." Josh adds. "It's almost infuriating."
"So you mean, you didn't like those drum lessons you gave her last year? It seemed like you did to me." Riley grins.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You say that you need to be alone. But night and day, want me at your beck and call. You say you know that you might be crossin' a line. Wastin' all our time. To think that we could be casual. You're not my friend and baby, you never were. Why the fuss if you say you just wanna be mine?
I can't read your mind." Maya gets off the stage, and walks down into the open space between the stage and their table. And continues to dance. She exudes confidence, and she almost reminded him of Abby. Not just in her confidence, but in her incapability to not show off it seems. And in the way she could draw a crowd, as he could see several people in the restaurant have pulled out their phones, presumably to record the performance. A boy steps into the makeshift dance floor that Maya had created. Maya pushes the boy away with one hand, and the boy stumbles backwards, falling into a booth. Yep, she definitely reminded him of Abby.
"Tell me, what's gonna happen. When it's you and me in a room, but you know you can't have it? Oh, I'll be laughin'." Maya beckons the others to join them. Riley and Josh both shake their heads. Maya pulls the microphone away from her mouth, and approaches their table. "Get your asses up here."
"Maya, you know I can't dance." Josh complains as Maya grabs his hand, and pulls him up onto his feet.
"I don't care." Riley and Lucas step out onto the floor, and wind up dancing close to each other.