I'm Home

Chapter 9

I swear, I had seen Lucas mad before, but this was a whole new level. His eyes had lost all of their sparkle, instead turning to a shade of almost hunter green. Every muscle on his body was flexing, like he was preparing to attack something or someone. If we weren't in my room right now, I would genuinely be scared for my life.

"Riley, what exactly did that son-of-a-bitch Gardner do to you?" He asked me through clenched teeth.

"Lucas, don't make her explain it now. She's still traumatized." Farkle pleaded with him, clearly trying to protect me.

"No, Farkle. It's fine." I took a deep breath and moved over to my bed so that I was sitting on the edge with my friends gathered around me, except for Zay who was still guarding the window.

"This morning in history, before the rest of you guys showed up, he passed me a note. It said that if I needed someone to talk to about whatever was going on, I could meet up with him in the library. I wanted an unbiased third party to talk to, so I decided to go there for lunch. I knew if I told either of you guys why I was really going, you would just keep asking me questions. When I got there, he was sitting all alone in the corner. I sat down and we started talking a little bit; nothing super deep, mainly just me venting. First, I saw him scoot closer to me. I didn't think anything of it at first. Then, he looked over my shoulder and saw all of my unread texts. By then, he was right next to me with his arm behind me. I looked around and the library was pretty much empty. When I tried to leave, he grabbed my arm and yanked me down." I pointed to the slowly developing bruise on my right arm. "He then leaned over and kissed my neck, but he was aggressive and violent, so he instead bit me. Before he left, he said I would regret it if I told anyone else what had happened."

When I was finished explaining everything, I looked around at all of my friends. Smackle was now standing right next to Farkle, clutching him like her life depended on it. Zay had his head in his hands. Maya was silently crying, her cheeks stained with tears. Lucas, who looked like he was about to kill something, instead came over and sat next to me.

"Why did you feel you had to talk to him in the first place? Why couldn't you talk to one of us?" I looked up at him and saw that the emerald color was slowly coming back into his eyes.

"Riley, we've seen what happens in this group when you hide your feelings. You can tell us anything. No matter what happens, we're all here for you." Farkle reminded me.

"I- I went to talk to him because the reason I was acting differently was because of Lucas and Maya." I looked and saw pure shock on both of their faces, with some sadness mixed in as well.

"W-What do you m-mean Riley?" Maya said, clearly caught off-guard by my response.

"Ever since I came back, it's felt like all you two do is fight over me. It seems like no matter what I do, I'm making one of you upset. If I'm having a study date, I'm ditching my best friend. If I'm out shopping with my best friend, I'm ignoring my boyfriend. You two have always cared about each other. Why is it that all of a sudden that's disappeared? The triangle's over. Why do I feel like I have to make a choice between the two people I care about the most?"

I looked between them. They weren't just shocked anymore. They were angry. The hard thing was, I couldn't tell who they were mad at; themselves or each other. I took a deep breath and stood up.

"Thank you all for coming and listening to me. It's getting late, I'm exhausted, and I have homework to do. I'll see you all tomorrow." I stood there until they all left, not making eye contact with any of them. As soon as Lucas had left, I closed the window and made sure that all of them were locked. I didn't want anyone coming in and surprising me.