Hey everybody! My name is Riley Matthews. People call me Riles, Smiley Riley, and maybe some people call me Riley Super Klutz behind my back but that's beyond the point. I was born from two of the most legendary people I've ever known. Cory and Topanga Matthews. They grew up in Philidelphia. People say that my parents have been together since they were two years old. It doesn't get younger than that. They were destined to be together all their lives. In the 6th grade, my mom was a bit of a spiritual weirdo, people would say. Nobody understood the way she thought and people made fun of her all the time, including my dad. At that age, my father and his best friend in the whole world, Shawn Hunter, were desperate to be cool and popular and didn't want anything to do with my mom. My father and Shawn were opposites. Shawn always got into trouble, was a rebel and never did the right thing. His mother left when he was too young to understand why and his father was in and out half the time. His parents were never there for him and that really broke him. While my dad was raised by Alan and Amy Matthews, the strongest parents who were always there to teach their children a lesson. Oneregualr day in the 6th grade life of my father, he had a really bad hair crisis and because he looked so ridiculous, he was forced to sit with my mom at the weirdos table. They were all running a petition to save the really old librarian from forced retirement. My dad, mom and the weirdos all handcuffed themselves to the lockers so nobody could pass without signing the petition. Thanks to my dad, the weirdos got their petition signed and they all uncuffed themselves and went home, victorious. That is, except for my mom and dad. My mom was still handcuffed to my dad on the lockers, and he had no escape. His hair looked bigger than the moon and she was the weirdest girl he knew. She pushed him up against the locker and kissed him. He didn't want his first kiss to be when he thought he looked weird, but it was, it was both of their first kiss. And that was only the beginning. Years passed and they finally got together. Ever since, they had been inseperable. Neither of them ever loved anyone else. My mom proposed to him at their high school graduation and they struggled to get a place and make their lives work together for a while, but they did indeed end up moving to New York after my mom got a scholarship to NYU and they ended up okay. My father became a history teacher and my mother became a successful lawyer. They made a living together and became a permanent family.
New York City is where I was born. Somewhere around 6:00 in the morning on December 8th of 2001, Topanga Matthews gave birth to a baby girl they called Riley. My parents raised me in New York and taught me the most amazing things and gave me the best parts of both of them. They taught me to love, to laugh, and to always look out for others. I grew up letting others go first, respecting and honoring them and loving absolutely everyone I met. In the 1st grade, I met a little blond girl called Maya Hart. She wasn't like me at all. She never did what she was told to do, she ignored the bells, she attacked other kids, she failed all her tests and talked back to the teacher. Sometimes I found her sitting in the corner all alone, crying or clenching her fists too tight so she wouldn't. Nobody would ever confront her because she wasn't the nicest person and people feared her. I was brought up to always try my best to do what I can to make everyone feel good, so I became a friend to Maya. Everyone judged her and believed she was just a mean person and was a misbehaved brat that no teachers or students liked all through out elementary school. People never took the chance to find out the real reason Maya was so...the way she was. But I took that chance, I wanted to know her and what was making her act the way she did. I soon discovered that her father had left her less than a year ago and her mother was a failing actress as well as a full-time waitress working on minimum wage who payed little to no attention to Maya at all. She went home everyday, and spent most of her time alone. She taught herself everything she knew and that wasn't much. She could make herself simple meals, pack her own lunch and get herself to school somehow. I knew I could never survive living like that. I don't know what I would've done. She was struggling to understand why one day her father claimed to be going out for a walk and never came home. She was struggling to understand why her mom neglected her along the way. She convinced herself that it was her fault, that she did something to make her dad leave, to make her mom neglect her. I brought her home one day and introduced her to my parents. We all grew to love her, and I always wanted her around. We did everything together, we were Riley and Maya and nobody knew one of us and not the other. She was my best friend, and that would never change. My friend, Farkle Minkus had a huge crush on me and he and I were good friends. I introduced him to Maya and the three of us took on elementary school together. A year and a bit later, my mom announced that she was pregnant when I was nearly eight years old. She had a boy, August Matthews and I became a big sister. I loved him, we called him Auggie for short and I always wanted to help out with him. He loved me too but never appreciated Maya because she always hogged up all my attention. When he was three years old, he bit the face off my favorite stuffed animal, Beary The Bear Bear. I was very very mad and I never forgave him for it. Time flew by faster than I could blink and before I knew it I was starting 7th grade. I began my second year at John Quincy Adams Middle School. Maya and I took the subway to school on the first day. I told Maya that I wanted to be exactly like her. She pointed at a very attractive looking guy sitting on the seat a few meters away. "Watch" she told me as she approached him. "Hi, I'm Maya. You're really cute, we should hangout sometime! You make me happy. You don't pay enough attention to me, this isn't working out, it's you, not me. We can still be friends, not really." she blurted to him and walked away. She never let him speak one word and took maybe half a breath in that entire statement she made to him. "He's available, we just broke up" she said walking up to me again. She pushed me down the asile and I landed in his lap. I nervously looked at him and said "Hi, we were just talking about you" I smiled. "I'm Riley" I added. "I'm Lucas" he introduced himself. "I love it!" I giggled. Then some lady came and kicked me out of my seat and I made my way back to Maya. She shoved me down the asile once again and this time, I landed in the lady's lap. Oops. She glared at me before saying "it's for you" and pushing me over ontp Lucas' lap where I nervously fixed my dress. When we walked into history class for the first time, the teacher standing in front of me was none other than my father, Cory Matthews. You heard right, my father was my history teacher. Later in class, Lucas walked in claiming to be a new student from Austin, Texas and sat in the seat behind me. Long story short, Maya used firecrackers and almost lit the school on fire and caused the emergency sprinklers to rain down on the classroom. Maya never lost that whole rebellious and misbehaved touch, and as she got older, it became a popularity booster rather than a decreaser. She was more popular than I was and she did exactly what she wanted, and that's why I wanted to be just like her. My parents thought I was crazy and my dad almost broke up my friendship with her. But of course, I didn't let that happen. My dad only then discovered that Maya's home life wasn't as stable as mine. He took pity on her and her and I stayed best friends. All through out 7th grade, Lucas, Maya, Farkle and I became the best of friends. Everyone at John Quincy Adams Middle School called us the Core Four and knew we were inseperable. Lucas and I would've done anything for our friends. He and I were very loyal people and no sacrifice is took big for our friends. Farkle was a very loyal friend as well and Maya loved me more than anyone in the world, which taught her true loyalty as well. We took on 7th grade together and the four of us were inseperable, unstoppable and the best of friends in the entire world.
Now that brings me to now, 8th grade. Lucas and I grew closer and closer as friends and crushes. He and I finally went on our first date near the end of 7th grade and we had our first kiss on the subway where we met. It was beautiful. It was inturupted when Maya was upset because of my Uncle Josh (long story, he's my dad's 18-year-old brother who was unplanned and Maya had a huge crush on him) and so Lucas told me to go be with Maya because she needed me. Lucas and I had plenty of time to be together. When we finally became boyfriend and girlfriend, it was pretty awkward. We were both nervous and our relationship was weird. We decided it was best to be just friends so we didn't lose what we had, which was always being able to talk to each other about everything. Earlier this year, Maya and I signed Lucas up to ride in the rodeo back in Texas that he didn't do so well in when he was eight. When he was eight, he rode a sheep. What Maya and I didn't realize was that he was now too old to ride a sheep and was placed in the adult rodeo where he was required to ride Tombstone, the deadliest bull in Austin, Texas. When Lucas agreed, we all went down to Texas to support Lucas in riding the bull. When Maya and I saw the bull, she freaked out and practically begged him not to ride it. When he didn't listen to her, she threatened that if he did ride, she would never speak to him again. He asked me what was wrong with her and I couldn't say because well, I didn't know. She walked away and didn't watch the rodeo. Farkle and I stood along side and watched and supported Lucas when he got up on the bull. He broke the record and ended up okay. I was relieved and it was a good day. Then I looked over and saw Maya in the distance. She looked terrified, and so I decided to go talk to her. I sat down with her and put the pieces together in my mind. "You couldn't watch him, because you were afraid something would happen to him, because you like him" I spoke my mind. She said nothing, just looked at me then looked away. "You're right, I love him like a brother" I said. Later that night, I told Lucas that I love him like a brother, that I love being able to talk to him and that we couldn't do that as a couple. He was confused. We all decided to go have a campfire together and sit around and just be together. Maya refused to tell Lucas how she felt, so I decided if she wasn't going to, I would. I sat next to Farkle and stood up, and sat next to Lucas. "Maya likes you" I said. "Riley! What are you doing?" Maya freaked. "She's been hiding it all this time" I said standing up. "Farkle, do you want me to buy you ice cream?" I asked him. He was clearly confused and I forced it upon him, so the two of us left Maya and Lucas alone. When we got back from Texas, Maya told me that something happened between her and Lucas. I know I practically forced them together, but I didn't want to hear it. On New Years Eve, Farkle pulled me aside and told me that he knows I still like Lucas. Maya is my best friend and I'd sacrifice anything or anyone for her. And Farkle knew that. I denied it and he told me if I didn't tell them how I felt, he would. Lucas and Maya grew closer, played the couples game together and even stood together at midnight. Until Farkle blurted out in front of everyone that I still like Lucas. Maya and him both stood there, I knew she was hurting inside and Lucas was completely stuck. We were in a love triangle and that was just the beginning of it. Lucas hasn't spoke his opinion about this, meanwhile Maya and I begin to wonder what we should do. We have been basically ignoring the entire situation lately, but I know we'll have to come back to it eventually. I guess that's what the future holds.
JQA Middle School was from Grades 6-8. Next year, we will be moving to a brand new school, Abigail Adams High, where we will be doing high school, Grades 9-12. I'm afraid to be starting at a new school, but I think it will be good for us. Change is hard but it's not always a bad thing. Thank you for taking the time to read my first entry, I know it may have been a little long and boring but thank you all for bearing through it with me. I love you all and I hope you guys will continue to view Always In Rileytown.
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