Chapter 13: Timing
Author's Note: HI! I'm going to clear up some confusion. I apologize for the whole necklace/charm bracelet situation. At first, I was going to have Lucas give Riley a necklace but then I remembered he gave her a necklace already so I changed it to charm bracelet and I thought I had changed it in every paragraph that had the subject of the necklace in it but I didn't. I know I mentioned both but he gives her the charm bracelet. I hope this sort of helps. Also, I sort of messed up in the last chapter where Riley thought that there was no one in her family that had name that started with a letter T. But the T does not stand for Topanga. Enjoy Chapter 13!
Riley's POV:
T? Who is T? I mean the letter said that they had passed this onto my mom, and now they're passing it on to me. So it can't be my mom. But shouldn't it be her? Since the broche was passed onto her. She was the last person to have it. I was lost in my own thoughts until someone came up and hugged me. Knowing their scent, it was definitely Lucas. "Hey, you." he said as he gave me a kiss on the cheek. "You okay?" he asked as he noticed my frown. "Yeah, I just have a lot on my mind. But I don't really feel like talking about it right now." I said as I closed my locker. "Okay, well I can certainly cheer you up." He said as he gently pushed me against my locker and kissed me. We were kissing for a good two minutes when all of a sudden we heard a sound of disgust. "Everyday." Maya said as she put in her locker combination. "I'm sorry." I said as I blushed. "Mhm." Maya said. "Lucas! Team meeting!" one of his teammates yelled. "Oh shoot, I forgot about that. I'll see you afterschool." He said as he gave me another kiss and ran after his teammates. "I thought we were prom shopping afterschool." Maya said as she put books in her bag. "We are. Lucas and I always give each other goodbye kisses afterschool before he goes to practice. You know that." I said. "Oh, right. Anyways, do you have any idea what type of dress you want?" Maya asked as we walked away from our lockers. "No clue. I mean this dress is the second most important dress to my wedding dress. It has to be beautiful." I said. "Knowing you, you can wear a simple dress and you would still make it beautiful." Maya said. "Aww, thank you peaches." I said. School had gone by so fast, it was already afterschool and I was waiting for Lucas at his locker.
Fifteen minutes had already passed and he still didn't show. "Hey," Maya said as she walked over to me. "I've been waiting for you for fifteen minutes. Why are you standing here alone?" she asked. "Well, I've been waiting for Lucas." I said as I kept my eyes to the ground. "Really? Because I just saw him leave with some of his teammates." Maya said. I could feel my face turning red, my hands start to sweat and my whole body start to shake. "Riley?" Maya said as she put her hand on my shoulder. "I can't believe him. I know I see him every day, but this is our tradition. I always give him a kiss before he goes to practice." I said as I put my hand into a fist. "I am going to kill him, but let's go to the mall and get your mind off of this. A little retail therapy should do it." Maya said "Let's go to the lounge first, I want to hear his story." I said as we walked out of the school with our arms around each other's waist.
Lucas's POV:
"Hey, Lucas! Want to go to the lounge with us before practice? There's some pretty hot chicks there." Bryan said. "I have a girlfriend dude." I said as I zipped up my backpack. "Oh, right. Well I mean you can still come and chill with us." He said. "Okay, but I have to go say goodbye to my girlfriend first." I said as I stood up. "Just text her, dude let's go." He said. Bryan said as he dragged me away. "Dude, I need to say goodbye to my girlfriend." I said as I tried to let go. "And like I said, just text her." he said as the rest of the team joined him. Riley is definitely going to be mad at me. I was about to text her when all of a sudden Bryan took my phone from me. We were all hanging out in the lounge, and we were all surrounded by girls except for me. Riley was the only girl I wanted and no one was going to change that. All of a sudden, Missy Bradford came over to me. "Hey you." she said as she poked my nose. "Missy, I'm with Riley." I said as I scooted away from her. She followed along and scooted closer to me. "Oh I know, but that doesn't mean I still can't try." She said as she ran her hand down my leg. "Okay, Missy that's enough." I said as I got up. "I know you liked that." She said as she put her arms around my waist. Out of nowhere, the room got quiet. I looked around and my eyes finally locked with Riley's. She was standing there with Maya. Her eyes were big and teary, her jaw was dropped, and her face was pale. Maya looked red as a tomato, her nostrils were flaring and her hand formed into a fist. "Riley!" I said as I pushed Missy off of me. Riley began to walk towards me, "Riley I can-". I began to say before she interrupted me. "Shhh." She said as she got closer to me. I was beginning to feel more frightened than nervous. "Missy, get up." Riley snapped. Maya came up behind her. "What do you want?" Missy said as she got up. "What do I want? I want you to keep your dirty hands off of my boyfriend. That's what I want." She said. "Missy, if you haven't noticed, you lack this thing called respect." Maya said. Riley looked at her. "I got this." she said as she turned back to look at Missy.
"Oh you got this? Give it your best shot, because I know I could say one little word to you and you will just be running away like a little cry baby." She said. "Now see, that was the old me. The one who let every little word you said get to her, and she believed everything she saw and now all she sees is a desperate, wannabe, who lacks respect, morals and spends most of her time chasing guys that are already taken because she can't get a man of her own and you want to know why? Because you spend most of your time treating people like dirt, you rip people apart just to make yourself feel better. You think that everyone views you as a diamond. But most of us don't, besides trying to make people afraid of you. Try making people want to be around you without the fear that you are going to hurt them if they don't follow your orders. You're not a saint. I know that behind all of this little act, there's actually a decent human being in there. Now that was for everyone but for my boyfriend I'm coming after you personally, we have gone through this so many times, when are you ever going to get it through your head that Lucas and I are together. All the little encounters we have had I thought you would've backed off by now, but it's my fault for thinking that. If you want someone special in your life, then try changing the way you treat people and maybe, just maybe you will get to have that special someone in your life." she said.
Riley's POV:
Man that felt good. I thought to myself once I told Missy off. "Look at my little chump." Maya said proudly. Missy didn't say a word. She stood there and all I saw was pain in her face. Then guilt started to pour over me, Missy and I used to be best friends when we were younger, we all used to be. We were the three musketeers. But then middle school happened and she kicked me to the curb. She surrounded herself with "friends" who only hung out with her because of how wealthy she was. Missy took one last look at me and then she walked out of the room. The room remained silent and Lucas was staring at me like he had just seen a ghost. Then I looked over at Maya and she was smiling from ear to ear. "Let's go." I said as I dragged Maya out of the room. I look back at everyone once more, and they still remained in their spots, with their jaws dropped.
"That was amazing! I didn't know you had it in you, Matthews." Maya said excitedly. "Let's just go to the mall. I definitely need retail therapy now." I said as we walked to the parking lot.
"So what's the theme of prom?" Maya asked as we looked at different dresses. "Winter Wonderland I believe. I want to get either a silver, blue, or ivory white. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't hurt to get a white dress. But if I love the dress, then the color won't matter." I said. "Well, you are pretty clumsy, so I don't think you should get a white dress. There is going to be a chocolate fountain you know." She said. "Yeah, never mind. White is out of the question." I said. As I looked through dresses, I found a creamed color ball gown dress, with a sweet heart neckline, beaded bodice and a tool skirt that flowed out along with it. It also had a tiny crystal belt wrapped around the waist. Which made it even more beautiful. I went to go try on the dress, while Maya still searched for hers. Once I came out, Maya was already sitting in one of the chairs, waiting for me. "Oh my god, Riley you look amazing in that dress!" she said. "I know I love it!" I said. "And so will Lucas." she said. "Well I found the perfect dress as well." Maya said as she held up a simple baby blue mermaid style dress, with a sweetheart neckline, and there was a beaded belt wrapped around the waist of it and it had a dramatic tool skirt at the bottom. "That is totally you." I said. We went to go pay for our dresses and left for Maya's afterwards.
"I hope I didn't freak Lucas out, I mean you should've seen his face when I let all of that out on Missy. I mean he usually doesn't mind when I do that. But I haven't heard from him and baseball practice ended like ten minutes ago." I said as I checked my phone again. "Does he have to text you right away?" Maya asked. "No, I'm being crazy. I mean he could be driving." I said. "Don't worry, he will text you or call you, or maybe he'll come over to see you." Maya said. "You're right. I should probably go though, it's almost time for dinner. Do you want to come over?" I asked as I got up. "Not tonight. I feel like painting." Maya said. I gave her a hug goodbye and drove back home.
When I got home, I found Lucas sitting on the couch in my living room. "Hey, what're you doing here?" I said as I walked over to him. "Just wanted to see you." he said as he gave me a kiss on the cheek. My dad cleared his throat. "I'm right here." he said with a smile. "Is that your prom dress?" My mom asked. "Oh, I forgot I was holding it but yes it is. I'll show it to you later." I said as I took Lucas by the hand and took him upstairs. I put my dress away as soon as we stepped into my room, "So, I didn't scare you earlier, did I?" I said as I made my way over to the bay window. "Of course not, that was hot." He said as he came over and sat next to me. "You left me absolutely speechless. When you left, the guys were telling me how lucky I was to have you. Even though, I already know how lucky I am." He said as he started to kiss me. "No, no making out." I said as I pushed him off. "Why not?" he said. "I'm not in the mood. But anyways, my prom dress is a cream colored. So good luck!" I said. "It's not going to be that hard to find a cream colored tie, but I owe you an apology. I was going to go give you a kiss goodbye, but Bryan was dragging me to the lounge, and when I was about to text you, he took my phone away. I felt so bad because I didn't want you to feel like I stood you up. I would never do that. So I'm sorry." He said as he rested his forehead onto mine.
"It's okay, I know how Bryan can be and I'll admit I was thinking that you stood me up at first, I was angry so I was about to go over there and yell at you but then things didn't go according to plan." I said. "So what was wrong this morning?" he asked. "What do you mean?" I asked. "You didn't look to happy and when I asked you, you said you didn't want to talk about it. Do you still not want to talk about it?" he asked. "I don't know, I just found something and I'm still in a little shock, so I think I should talk about it when I start to adjust the situation." I said. "Riley, another way to help you adjust to a situation is by talking about it too. I know you don't want to talk about it, but I'm here for you, so will you please tell me what's going on?" he said as he gave me that puppy look. "Fine, the other night I was getting ready for bed and I found this small brown box in my closet and on the inside, it had a broche in the shape of a rose, along with a note." I said as I handed him the note. He began to read it carefully. "T?" He said. "Yeah, I mean it can't be my mom, because the note said they passed it onto my mom and now their passing it on to me. But wouldn't it make sense for it to be my mom? She was the last one to have it." I said. "It would make sense, have you asked her about it?" he asked. "No, I haven't. But I'm planning on it." I said. Lucas and I spent the rest of the evening brain storming on who T could be. We even looked through old photo albums, old yearbooks, and we made a timeline for ourselves. I knew that with him by my side, I will crack this once and for all.
In the next few chapters, Riley and Lucas do find out who T is, it's not Topanga. But they go on a hunt to find this person and it gets pretty interesting. Also, I know some of you are anxiously waiting for prom night because something big happens on that night, but it's not anything you're expecting. Also, I forgot to add Farkle's story on how he got into Harvard and I will add that in to the next chapter as well. So stay tuned for Chapter 14 xx