Chapter 20: Free Fallin'

Lucas

The night before Holden's accident, I had one of the dreams where I felt like I was falling down a rabbit hole. It seemed like I was suspended in the air for an eternity, until I was jolted awake seconds before I hit the ground. I woke up that morning knowing that it wasn't going to be a good day. I didn't know how or why, I just knew that something was going to happen that would cause me to feel like I did the second before I landed onto the pavement in my dream. And I was right. When I found out that my little brother had been in an accident, it felt like I was free falling into nothingness and I was due to hit the ground any moment. But I didn't. Because Riley was there to pull me back before I got that far. She was my jolt awake.

I had another one of those dreams the night before the homecoming dance. Same feeling, except this time as I craned my neck to the right, I could see Riley falling next to me. She looked calm, almost as if she had known all along that she was meant to be there, making this descent with me. I tried to reach for her, but the second I did, she started falling faster. She fell through clouds, past mountains, until I could see water approaching as we got closer to the ground. I called out her name just as she hit the water and then -

"Riley!" I sat up quickly in my bed, my heart beating fast and a bead of sweat dripping off my forehead.

It took me a few seconds to realize that I was in my bedroom, safe and sound, and Riley was not with me. I immediately grabbed my phone off the nightstand and messaged her, my fingers shaking as they touched the screen.

Are you okay? I asked, the image of Riley falling towards the water flashing through my mind as I waited for her response.

A little tired - couldn't sleep much. She responded, and I couldn't help but sigh in relief.

Yeah, me either. But you're alright? I just wanted to hear it from her. I wanted her to confirm that she was okay and in no danger of any kind.

I'm fine Lucas. You don't need to worry about me. I could almost hear her sigh as she sent me that message, once again annoyed at my ability to be overprotective.

I'm afraid that I do worry about you, Riley Matthews. I admitted, hoping that she would find this endearing rather than borderline stalker-like behavior. About a minute passed, and I was starting to get worried that I had freaked her out or driven her away, but just as quickly as the paranoia set in, my phone vibrated in my hands at her incoming text message.

I'll see you tonight. I sighed as I read her response and was just about to set my phone on my nightstand and go back to sleep when another message popped up on the screen. By the way... It's nice to be worried about sometimes. Thank you.

I smiled to myself as I clicked off my phone and tossed it onto my bed. As I got ready for the day, I tried everything I could to swallow that bad feeling that was brought on by my dream, but I never could. It lingered as I made my way to the homecoming dance, stepped into the auditorium, and saw Riley standing next to Jensen, and it never went away. In fact, it only grew with each step that we took in the plan to reveal the truth about Jensen Haynes. But the moment that I knew that the bad feeling wasn't just a feeling after all - that was when I became terrified. That was when I knew that Riley and I were in way over our heads. And we were in trouble.

I was huddled behind a set of lockers closest to the hallway where Riley was supposed to lead Jensen. This was where my father and Jensen's mother were seen kissing the night of the homecoming championships. And this was where I was going to confront Jensen about everything that he had done this past year once and for all. This was where it was all going to end.

I peeked my head around the lockers just in time to see Riley and Jensen walking slowly around the corner into the hallway. I needed to wait until they got close enough, and Riley brought up Jensen's parents before I could intervene. The truth was that I just wanted to get her out of there as soon as possible. I turned my head away from the hallway to see the two guys who threw me into the dumpster pinning a poster to the bulletin board near the back entrance of the school. Assuming it was nothing, I ignored them, and turned my attention back to the task at hand.

"He pushed her into the water," I heard one of them saying at the end of the hall. "And then walked away like it was nothing."

"Yeah, and he let Jensen Haynes take the blame for all of it," the other one spat, glancing up to see if I was listening to them. "Some leader that is. Is this who they want as their team captain?"

"And now he's going to do the same thing to that tutor of his," he shook his head solemnly, and then looked up to smirk in my direction. "Poor girl. Didn't stand a chance with Lucas Friar. Now she's going to end up just like Jessica at the bottom of the lake."

"Hey!" I stormed down the hallway towards Jensen's two lackeys, but they slipped through the door just as I reached the bulletin board they were crowded around.

I quickly searched the board to see that the poster they had pinned was a flyer promoting the homecoming championships last year. I angrily slammed my hand against the wall and ripped off the poster, bursting through the doors to follow them in one swift motion.

"Do you think this is funny?" I yelled into the empty parking lot, my eyes searching frantically for any sign of movement. "Do you even know who Jensen Haynes is?"

I couldn't see anything. The street lamps had been cut off in this area, so I was relying on all of my senses to find the two guys that had put up the poster.

"He's a liar!" My voice echoed off the brick walls, and I spun around towards the school as I heard a noise coming from the bushes. "He's just manipulating you! He's just - "

Before I could even finish my sentence, one of of the guys grabbed me by the arms from behind and I struggled to fight his grip. The other one sauntered towards me from the other direction, a piece of cloth in one hand, and what looked like a zip tie in the other.

"It's time you got what you deserved, Friar," the tall one with the long hair, growled, reaching around me to restrain my hands and tie the blindfold around my eyes. "Let's go!"

I was being lifted in the air and moved forward before I could do anything to stop it. This felt exactly like when I got tossed into the dumpster, except this time, it felt like I was being transported somewhere instead of being thrown into something.

"What are you doing?" I demanded to know, trying to wriggle my hands free from the restraint. "Hey, let go of me, I have to - Riley!"

I heard the sound of a car starting, and one of the guys lifted me into the vehicle. He pushed me into one of the seats, and left me alone as he hopped back out of the car.

"You'll see her soon enough, Friar," he promised, his voice taunting me with every word. "We're taking a little trip into your past. Buckle up."

With that, he slammed the door shut, and moved around the vehicle to hop into the passenger seat. As the car began to move, I knew exactly where we were going. I couldn't see anything, but I felt it. We were going back to the lake where Jessica Evans had drowned last year. And I didn't know how, but Jensen was going to bring Riley into this. I only hoped that I could stop them before she met the same fate that Jessica did.

"Untie me!" I struggled to free my hands from the zip tie and felt their hands on my elbows as they dragged me out of the car. "You're all a bunch of cowards! If you're going to tie me up and bring me to a lake in the middle of nowhere, you can at least let me see it!"

"Shut up, Friar," the driver spat, moving ahead of me to unlatch what sounded like a gate in front of us. "Kyle, would you shut him up? Jensen will be here any minute with our special guest."

"I swear, if you do anything to her I'll -" I was so angry that my cheeks felt like they were on fire, and the guy who was holding onto my elbow stopped abruptly to turn me in his direction.

"You'll what?" Kyle scoffed. "Push us in the water too? Like you did to Jessica Evans?"

"He really has you guys brainwashed doesn't he?" I mumbled, shaking my head in utter disbelief. "If you only knew the truth."

"We know everything that we need to know," the other one, whose name I had yet to hear, assured me. "We know that Jensen is the real leader here. He's the hero - the martyr. You're the guy who stole his life, and killed his girlfriend."

"Rick, he's here," Kyle called from behind us. He had dropped me off with the guy that I now knew as Rick, and ran back in the direction that we had come from.

"Looks like it's showtime, Friar," Rick informed me, reaching behind me to grab ahold of the blindfold and letting it drop from my eyes.

It took a few seconds for me to adjust to my surroundings, but once I did, I knew that my suspicions were confirmed. We were at the lake behind Jessica Evans' house, and my fear that Jensen was bringing me back to the night of the lacrosse championships was coming true. Everything looked the same, except instead of being at the bottom of the hill near the shoreline, we were at the top, positioned near a drop off that served as a mini cliff looking out over the water.

"Well, well," I heard a voice say from behind me. I spun around to see Jensen leaning against a white van parked in the grass right in front of us. Kyle was standing next to him with one of his hands on the backdoor handle. "Deja vu, am I right, Lucas? Some good memories we had here, huh? Hang on, we're missing something. I thought that since you just couldn't stay away from her, and that she seemed to be so much more important to you than my sister, I'd bring along your little girlfriend for a visit."

Kyle threw open the door to the van and dragged Riley out onto the grass, her hair sticking to her cheeks from the tears that had been streaming down her face.

"Riley!" I called out to her, my heart jumping into my throat at the sight of her in such distress.

"Relax, Friar," Jensen smirked, taking a few steps closer to Rick and me at the edge of the drop-off. "I'm not going to hurt her. I just want to have a little chat."

"Jensen, let go of her," I demanded, trying to move towards him, but was stopped by Rick's hand planted firmly on my chest. "Do whatever you want to me, just please let her go."

"Not until we've cleared some things up," Jensen gestured for Kyle to bring Riley forward, and he obeyed him just like a dog obeys his owner.

"Untie her first," I ordered, my voice remaining calm and steady. Jensen met my gaze with a leveled expression for a moment, as if he was contemplating whether or not to oblige my demands.

"Fine, since it seems like Mr. Team Captain is running the show here, do what he says," Jensen gestured for Kyle to cut Riley free, and he did so without so much as a hesitation.

"Now, it seems like we need to get our stories straight, doesn't it Lucas?" Jensen grabbed Riley's arm, and led her closer to me, and I could see that her eyes were full of panic. "You say that I pushed Jessica into the water, right? I was in an angry rampage trying to attack you, and I knocked Jessica into the water in the process. But why would I be in such a blind fit of rage, that I would be more worried about hurting you than saving my own girlfriend?"

Jensen raised his eyebrows at me, but I simply averted my eyes to meet Riley's gaze. I didn't need to explain myself to him. I knew the truth. And if Riley had gotten the audio clip that we needed in the hallway, everyone in Jensen's life would know too.

"You were jealous," Riley stated simply, turning her head to look him straight in the eyes. "You were scared that Lucas was stealing the life you've worked so hard to build. The life that made you special. You were trying to protect what you thought was rightfully yours."

"Now, why would I be jealous of Lucas Friar?" Jensen scoffed, shaking his head at Riley like she had just said the most ridiculous thing that he had ever heard in his entire life.

"You thought that I knew about our parents' affair," I chimed in, the fear starting to dissipate as I caught on to what Riley was trying to do. "You thought that I was trying to wreck your perfect life and weasel my way into your family."

"That's why you were so angry that night," Riley continued, smiling at me confidently before turning her attention back to Jensen. "You were afraid that Lucas was going to be a better Jensen Haynes than you were."

"Wow," Jensen laughed humorlessly, clapping his hands together slowly as he switched his gaze between Riley and myself. "Sounds like you've got it all figured out. But you forgot to factor in one little detail."

Jensen turned towards Riley, locking in on her gaze as if he wanted her and her alone to hear what he had to say.

"Lucas was the jealous one. He was terrified that he was never going to be as good as I was at anything that he did. He was never going to be the team captain or the leader that this school needed. He was never going to be good enough to be a part of my family. If I wasn't , then surely Lucas Friar couldn't be. That's why he was the one who attacked me. That's why he pushed Jessica into the water. He wanted to strip me of the life that I had always known."

I scoffed at this, but he simply ignored me and continued on with his speech. He turned his attention back to me and started to walk even closer, leaving Riley a little bit behind him.

"But I took the blame for you because I believed that you could have a second chance to prove me wrong. To prove that you were worthy of being the leader that I used to be. But instead, you proved me right. By cheating on my sister. By making a mockery of the lacrosse team. By needing a tutor to pass 11th grade English? Come on Lucas."

Jensen knitted his eyebrows at me in complete awe, and I quickly averted my eyes to stare at the ground.

"Now I get to prove it to everyone else."

"That's crazy, Jensen," Riley told him, taking a cautious step closer to me.

"There's no way anyone's ever going to believe that," I agreed, wanting so badly to pull her to my side and bolt in the opposite direction.

"They will," Jensen assured us, stepping around both of us to stand near the edge of the drop-off that looked out over the water. "When they see that you were willing to repeat the horror that the entire school went through a year ago with Jessica. They'll believe me when they see that you were willing to put another person in danger to fulfill your personal vendetta against me."

"What are you talking about?" I muttered, my voice low and full of anger.

"I think you know what I'm talking about," Jensen whispered, his eyes shifting from Riley, to the water directly below us, and back to me.

"No way," I shook my head, finally starting to catch on to what he wanted me to do. "There's no way, Jensen! Do whatever you want to me, but leave Riley out of this. You can't make me do this. You know that I would never do this. I would never push her."

"See, I never said that you had to push her," Jensen reminded me. "It just has to look like you did."

Jensen signaled for Kyle to grab Riley from behind and he brought her towards the edge of the drop off.

"Jensen, no!" I protested, twisting and turning my wrists in the zip tie, sure that I would have a blister the next day, but desperate to do what I could to save Riley. "Riley!"

"Lucas, it's okay," Riley promised, tears falling onto her cheeks as she did her best to smile at me reassuringly. "I'm going to be okay."

"Brave girl," Jensen praised her, coming around me to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. "See, I knew I liked you. And I do, Riley. But the world needs to know what kind of guy Lucas Friar is once and for all. Besides, there's a good chance that you'll be fine. The drop isn't very far, and I'm assuming you're a good swimmer. It's just a matter of avoiding the rocks. So what do you say, Lucas? Ready to recreate the night that changed all of our lives?"

"Jensen, please," I begged, taking a step forward so that I was directly in front of him. "I'm begging you, okay? Just let her go. She doesn't deserve to be wrapped up in any of this. She's the best person I've ever known. She saved me. I was so close to becoming you, but she saved me from that. She's the real hero. She's my hero."

"Oh please, you barely know her," Jensen spat, rolling his eyes and grabbing Riley by the arm to scoot her closer to the edge.

"I do know her," I assured him, my eyes pleading with him to understand. I quickly turned my gaze to Riley and smiled sadly at her. "I know her better than anyone. She's not someone on that list of people I may know, she's someone that I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I do know. I know her. And I'm completely, totally, irrevocably in love with her."

For just a moment, Riley and I were the only ones on that hill by the lake. We were the only two people on the entire planet. I could have lived in that moment for the rest of my life, and I would have been happier than I've ever been.

"How sweet," Jensen mocked, snapping us back to reality. "But we're wasting time. Jessica's brother said that the camera only runs until midnight, and then it resets. So if we're going to do this, we need to do it now."

"Wait, Jessica's brother?" Riley furrowed her brows in confusion for what seemed like an eternity, until finally her expression changed as realization hit her. "He's the student at Dalton Academy that you needed to help you get the footage from the night of the championships. He's the one who has access to the security camera."

Jensen glanced up at the house quickly, although I had heard from Merritt that Jessica's parents had moved upstate and her brother was staying with their uncle closer to the city, so I knew that no one was home.

"He agrees that Lucas should get what he deserves for being responsible for what happened to his sister," Jensen explained, glancing up at me and frowning solemnly. Rick came running down the hill from the house, and I realized at that moment that I hadn't even noticed that he had left.

"We're all set, Jensen," Rick announced, and Jensen clapped his hands together excitedly.

"Let the games begin," Jensen smirked, handing Riley off to Kyle and circling around me so that we were face to face. Before I knew what had happened, Rick had cut me loose from the zip tie and Jensen was lunging towards me, fists in the air, ready for the fight to end all fights.

"Wait!" Riley protested, nudging Kyle in the stomach and shuffling her feet to stand between us. "Jensen, you're not responsible for your parents splitting up."

"What?" Jensen dropped his fists, and looked up at her in surprise. I had to admit that I hadn't seen that coming either, but it definitely got Jensen's attention.

"I've listened to you these past few weeks," Riley told him, her eyes full of concern and honesty. "I don't think you're a bad guy. And I don't think your parents should treat you like you are. Like you're worthless. Because you're not worthless, Jensen. And you can't be the cause of the decision that they made on their own. They're the adults. This is their fault."

"Shut up," Jensen hissed, his eyes shining wildly at her in the moonlight. Riley ignored him and stepped even closer.

"Jensen, you felt like Lucas was taking over your life and you panicked. You needed to be team captain, Mr. Popular, all of those other things to prove to your parents that you were worth something to them. That you were worth being a member of the Haynes family," Riley explained, and I held my breath as she stepped right in front of him. "So when things went the way that they did the night of the lacrosse championships, you saw that as an opportunity to prove that to them. To prove that Lucas Friar was so much worse than you could ever be. And to give your parents a reason to stay together."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Jensen snapped, and I was terrified that he was going to grab her by the arm and toss her into the water himself right there.

"I know that you didn't mean to hurt Jessica," Riley hurried to explain this to him, as she was starting realize that he was beginning to lose his patience. "And I know that the reason you're doing this is partly because you feel guilty, but this isn't the answer, and I think you know that. I also don't think you want to hurt me or to get Lucas in trouble. I know this because I'm on your side Jensen."

"What?" Jensen looked up in complete surprise, and I thought that he was going to cry with the way that his eyes were glimmering as he stared at her.

"I know that you think everyone is against you," Riley explained, and I could see that Jensen's facial expression was starting to soften just a little. "But I believe in you. And I'm on your side."

That's when Jensen lost it. The tough, vindictive, manipulative Jensen Haynes that we were trying to tear down tonight, had finally given in. We had broken him. And we had won.

"How could you possibly be on my side after everything I've done?" Jensen scoffed, his face falling and his entire body going limp as he let the emotions of the past year take over. "That night I tried to get Lucas expelled by taking him to the school in the stolen school bus. I practically forced him to hold the beer in his hand as I waited for the principal to leave his office to go home. But he had left early, so my plan had completely failed. And that just made me so angry. That's when something just snapped, and I couldn't see straight."

"I know," Riley soothed, reaching out to place a cautious hand on his shoulder. "But it's okay. We can get you help. We can talk to your parents and-"

"No!" Jensen yelled, and Riley quickly drew her hand back, afraid that she had gone too far. "They're never going to understand me, don't you get that? That's why I had to do all of this. To show them that I'm worth more than what they've given me credit for. That I am the hero that they need me to be."

"There are other ways to prove that to them, Jensen," Riley reminded him, bringing her hand back up to his arm and rubbing it up and down reassuringly. "Just give us a chance to help you show that to them, okay?"

"You're on my side?" Jensen asked, vulnerability written in his expression.

"I'm on your side," Riley promised, moving her hand from his shoulder to hold it out in front of him. He looked at it for a moment, as if he wasn't sure what to do with it, until he finally took her hand in his. She smiled at him in relief, and I thought that it was finally over. That's when I heard a whole heard of cars coming to a screeching halt at the top of the driveway.

"Riley!" Came a voice from behind us, and we all turned around to see Maya Hart, Farkle Minkus, and his date Isadora come barreling down the hill with flashlights in their hands. I could tell by the footsteps coming from behind them that they were not alone.

"Lucas, are you guys okay?" Zay appeared next to them, along with my parents, Jensen's parents, and a whole team of police officers.

"What is this?" Jensen snapped, turning to Riley with questioning eyes.

"I, uh -" Riley fumbled for an explanation, as she protectively covered up the small pocket on the right side of her dress with her hand.

"You had your phone on you, didn't you?" Jensen removed her hand from her dress to reveal the silver corner poking out of the top of the pocket.

"Jensen, it's over," I told him, placing a hand on his chest in an effort to push him away from her. "Like Riley said, we can help you."

"No, she's a liar!" Jensen accused, pushing past me to come entirely too close to Riley's face."She doesn't believe in me. That's why she called them. She's not on my side. Nobody is on my side. It's all about you!"

Jensen turned on his heel to point in my direction. It never occurred to me how close to the edge they were. I was on the side closest to the house, but Riley and Jensen near the side facing the water.

"Jensen, calm down," I begged him, trying to keep my voice as calm as possible.

"I thought that you were different," Jensen mumbled, looking at Riley with sadness in his eyes. "But you're just like all of them. You betrayed me!"

In one swift motion, Jensen closed the space between them and pushed her backwards. My eyes went wide, and my heart jumped out of my chest as I scrambled to the edge after her.

"Jensen, no!" I reached for her, hoping that I could grab an arm or even the end of her dress, but I came up short and she went flying off the edge of the drop-off. "Riley!"

Time stopped. I watched Riley falling, the lace fabric of her dress flying forward, the wind started to pick up as the storm approached. I was immediately reminded of my dream and the image of Riley falling next to me popped into my mind, causing my heart to race in my chest. For anyone else, this jump would have been fine. Like Jensen said, the drop wasn't very far, and as long as you avoided the rocks, you would have been fine. But Riley confessed to me a long time ago that she was afraid of the water. Oceans, rivers, lakes, even swimming pools. And because of this, she never learned to swim.

As the storm started to pick up, making the water that much more treacherous, I didn't even have to think twice. I took the two long strides forward, and jumped, wishing with everything I had that I could be jolted awake just like in my dream, so that I was safe in my bedroom with Riley right there with me.