Riley was deep in thought, her mind rushing like white water rapids as she came up to the dorm building, and Gretchen was outside waiting for her. Seeing Riley, Gretchen approached cautiously,

"Hey, what's going on?" She said coming towards Riley, who just clutched her bag tightly and slightly avoided the thoughtful hand Gretchen had tried to touch her with.

"Okay, let's go in and then we can talk, okay?"

Riley quietly nodded, and followed along through the security door into the building. Walking through the halls, Riley imagined herself as a student, and recognized how undeniably confused she felt. She stopped dead in the hall, calling out to Gretchen,

"I'm going to stop at the bathroom quick."

""Oh, want me to hold your bag?" Grethchen asked, she barely finished her sentence before Riley answered,

"No."

Shly walking in the room, she walked in, and saw girls in various stages of getting ready, touching up makeup, and talking. Two girls caught her eye, a bleach blonde with her back leaned against the counter, and a redhead in front of her, leaning in. They were smiling and holding hands, Riley saw for a moment the electricity that was suspended in the air inside the small space between their faces. Unable to move, she watched the blonde peck the redhead on the cheek, and both just sweetly spending a moment together. Riley felt that moment deep in herself, and time slowed like that moment lasted hours. In actuality, it lasted maybe 10 seconds, and Riley forced herself to move to a stall. Once she hung up her bag, she stood back against the door, and had to think for a second.

Is that what we looked like?

Riley closed her eyes and felt Maya all over her, the weight of her head on Riley's chest, Maya's hand on her waist, their hands touching, and those kisses…

She could hear the girls out there giggling at each other. When she heard them exchange quiet "I love you" 's, Riley felt something snap inside. Those girls got to be together, go to college together, live together. What a beautiful dream that could be, one that still seemed out of reach to her.

Suddenly there were footsteps coming towards her stall, and one of the girls asked,

"Are you okay?"

RIley hadn't quite realized she had let out a few broken sobs, which they had noticed. She sucked her emotions in, and tried to turn off seeing Maya in her head. She didn't even think before answering,

"Breakups, right?"

What? Where the hell did that come from? Maybe they would believe her and leave her alone?

The other voice follows,

"Mhmm, yeah fuck breakups."

"Anya, language."

"Sorry, we'll go." With that, the girls leave, and Riley noticed she was almost sad, some of her hope leaving with them. Gretchen talks to them out in the hall, Riley trying to hear their faint voices. She decides to try to take a moment and breathe, and with no one else in the bathroom, she puts her bag back on. Leaning on the wall, she pulls out and grips Maya's envelope like it was a lifejacket on a sinking ship. She tries to think of what is going to happen, because this was done impulsively, and beyond getting to the dorms, she didn't have a plan. Maya was the ultimate schemer between them, the only successful one of Riley's was for Shawn to become part of Maya's family. She pulled out her phone, and decided to turn it on. Once it slowly came to life, the sounds of notifications erupted out of it at full volume, which made her jump and urgently shut off the volume. To be expected, her parents had called a million times, and she read some of the texts in fragments as they relentlessly continued to pop up. Seeing "Peaches" flash by grabbed her attention, and Riley went to her texts and opened Maya's message. Noticing there was a voicemail attached, she gathered herself and listened to it. As soon as Maya's voice could be heard, Riley felt herself melt a bit.

"Riley, please,"

Maya's voice cracking getting more concerned as she spoke,

"Please let us know that you are safe. If no one else, tell me…

You can tell me."

The line goes quiet for a moment, and RIley can imagine that Maya is fussing with her hair, and probably biting her lip out of stress.

"I love you."

The voicemail ends, Riley saddened not to hear Maya's voice anymore. She replays those words in her head,

"You can tell me, I love you."

She glances at some of the other messages, seeing her moms text, beginning with "Tell us wher-", and Riley could fill in the rest. Even Farkle had messaged, which she was not afraid to open. He was with Lucas and were going to go out and look for her. He asked if she was okay, and asked if she wanted to meet them. Riley knew that it would be a trap, setup by her parents. In some way, she felt they were ripping her away from everyone, but she had also agreed with Maya, Auggie, and her dad, when they came to Topanga at the bakery and agreed to accept her decision. Now it sank in, she had betrayed that agreement, and trust between her and her parents. But new things had happened, she was allowed to change her mind. Hell, she and Maya kissed.

We kissed…

In a way it actually hit her, the duality of her dilemma. If she left, she could never explore this new relationship Maya, or be with her friends. They had to get visas, and she was already enrolled in school in the UK, and had even zoomed with the counselor at her new school. Being somewhere new excited her at first. The reality of leaving slowly eroded away that 'joy'. She knew her mom would be so hurt and angry. She could understand them being angry, because they are flying to leave tomorrow. She also thought about what Maya said when they were sitting in the bakery that day. Maya knew it.

"Actually, I know she's not going anywhere, because life knows there's no replacement for her. Because no one cares about me as much as she does. That's how I know she is not going anywhere."

Maya still had hope at that point, even though the threat of moving 3,459 away loomed over them.

A door off in the distanced opened, bringing RIley back to reality.

Anya and her girlfriend had said something to Gretchen, who thought to text Charlotte to see how close they were. They were heading up, but Charlotte stopped for a second to text Maya.

"Hey Maya, Riley came by the dorm. Did something happen?"

With that, unbeknownst to Riley, she had been found out, and it was only a matter of time until would be dragged onto that flight, and ripped away.