I'm growing up

It started off as any normal day, Maya picked her up so that they could take the subway to school where they were supposed to meet the boys on the outside steps. A routine, something they had started from the first day of high school and something that she cherished even after doing it for over a year. But when Maya and Riley reached their designated spot that morning, they found it to be empty. Strange considering the boys always beat them to it, but a quick check of the time made them realize that they had left earlier than usual, therefore arriving at school earlier than anticipated.

After a few moments of looking around, her gaze found Missy Bradford and a few of her cronies talking to someone, and for a minute Riley’s heart stopped. It was Lucas. He looked uncomfortable with the attention, but something inside of her seemed to just break at the sight of Missy  Bradford putting her hand on his arm. She obviously made some flirty comment because she was doing that hair flip thing along with the hip thing. “I have to pick up an extra credit assignment” Riley told Maya quickly, her best friend had been checking her phone and had missed the spectacle that Missy Bradford was making.

“Riles?” Maya threw her a confused look as she pushed past her best friend and bolted up the stairs.

She heard her name again as she reached the door but she didn’t turn around, her mind was to get into a classroom and to get into one quickly. No one would think to find her in there, and she could wallow in her own insecure misery in there with no questions asked. She decided on French class, Mademoiselle Klein would be there early and she could just hide in there since it was her first class.

She muttered a good morning to her teacher and she settled in her seat, her mind tugging her in a thousand different directions. She shouldn’t have been surprised, after all Lucas was gorgeous. Why he was with someone like her still baffled her sometimes. She’d heard the upperclassmen enough times in the locker room, asking the very same question she herself always asked.

Why would Lucas be with the strange girl who was pretty at best, and had no real athletic ability or no real talent. The fact she had somehow managed to make it onto the cheerleading squad didn’t help because most people felt that it had been a pity thing. She was still clumsy, at the best she could go one day without falling flat on her face.  So how did she manage to snag such a cute boy who was not only attractive, but also athletic and extremely smart?

She doodled into her notebook until she looked up and realized that Mademoiselle Klein was gone, and Lucas was standing in front of her now. She looked quickly down at her notebook again, not wanting to have any conversation right now.

“Riley”

“I’m doing homework” an obvious lie and he knew it, but she didn’t have to listen if she didn’t want to.

“Princess, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

“Why are you with me?” Finally the question that ran through her mind constantly came out of her mouth and she wasn’t even sure how she had managed to get it out.

“What?”

“Why me? Out of every girl who you could have. What makes me so special? I’m clumsy, I have a made up town I live in to deal with my strangeness, I only got on the cheerleading squad out of pity. But you, you are smart and gorgeous and everything I’m not”

Lucas looked at her, only because he wasn’t sure what to even say.

“Riley, You are far more than anything I could have dreamed of in a girl. You are kind, optimistic, you have so much hope for everything. I could never picture myself with anyone but you after you fell on my lap in the subway that first day of seventh grade. No matter what, it’s always been you. It will always be you”

His words made her heart swell, all insecurities pushed down as she realized just how amazing her boyfriend really was.

“You really are sweet as sugar” she said with a smile.