Stuck on Replay

The Old Lucas

Lucas' Pov

Two weeks. It has been two weeks and Riley hasn't said a word to me. I keep trying to talk to her, you know, reel her back in, and nothing. Why is she being so diificult. It's probably because of something Maya said. Maybe Riley is finally listening to her. I cannot stand this.

Then I hear something. Like screeching.It's yelling. It sounds familiar. Wait, I would know the scream anywhere. It's her.

Riley.

I jump out of my seat in the cafeteria and follow the yelling. It leads me to the junior hallway. Then I see it. Joey has Farkle up in the air pinned against the lockers. His so called "friends" are hitting Farkle over and over again. Farkle seems almost unconscious. Then I see Riley, on the ground, with a cut and a bruise already appearing by her lip.

I run up to her and pick her up. I place her on the steps and run to farkle, who's still having the crap beat out of him. I push him out of the way and start swinging my fists. What happened after that is just one big blur to me right now.

I wake up in a hospital bed. I know this hospital well. It's where my dad was being treated before he died. Then I notice Riley, asleep, in the chair next to me. She has bandages on her lip and by her eye, but other than that she is okay. I don't know why she'd be here with me. She hates me for breaking her heart(again).

I can hear the doctors talking on the room next to me. I hear Farkle's name, so I assume Farkle's in there. They say he has a mild concussion and some damage by his shoulders and stomach, where Joey and the other douchebags were pounding him. I wonder what happened to them.

My mom walks in and sees that I'm awake.

"Mom, what the hell happened?" I ask, because honestly I can't remember anything after everything went black.

She goes on telling me about how Joey was trying to get with Riley and kept getting closer to her before he pinned her to the lockers. When Farkle saw he told them to let her go, which they didn't of course. Farkle ended up punching Joey. When Joey swung to hit him back he missed and hit Riley instead. She fell down and Farkle tried to help her up, but Joey's guys pinned him against the lockers and started pummeling him. When Riley saw Farkle being hurt she started screaming.

"That's where you come in." Riley says,with her eyes shut as if she were seeing it all happen again. "You ran in and put me on the steps, then you ran over to Joey and farkle. You pushed Farkle aside and knocked out his friends with two punches each, but Joey put up more of a fight. Watching you guys fight and get hurt was one of the worst things I've ever experienced. I felt like i couldn't do anything but sit there and watch. I sprinted out to get the school security guard but by the time we got back, you guys where both on the floor unconscious. You know, it's already been three days since then." Riley looked different. I'd never seen her so serious and upset, not even when we'd been fighting. My mom left us alone to keep talking.

"Where's Farkle?" I ask. She points and nods her head to the room next to us."Why are you talking to me?" I ask. She's supposed to hate me right now.

"You did something the old Lucas would do, you defended the people you cared about. And for showing me that deep down you're still in there, thank you." Her eyes look show this look of gratitude. I don't deserve it. Is it possible I'm still the same guy? Do I even wanna be the same person I was before? Change was so hard when I moved from Texas to New york, I don't want to have to change again. But I might have to.

Farkle's Pov

Finally out of that horrible hospital room. Three weeks I've been in that plain room and now Im finally out. Riley and Lucas got out two weeks ago. They're a couple again. It's really hard for me to watch, but I understand why Riley would go back to him this time. But all the other times, she should've never gone back to him. Joey and his group were sentenced to 9 months for this and for other various crimes they've been caught for. Now here I am again, one of my favorite places. School.

I walk through the door and I see our entire grade standing there. Everyone runs up and hugs me. I feel Riley's arm wrap around me. I hear her whisper in my ear, "I miss you". I say the same to her. But what we both mean isn't the time in the hospital where I missed school, but for the past year and a half we haven't talked. She and maya, who still feels something isn't right with lucas, walk me to class. Lucas is already sitting there, in his seat, but is no longer facing Brandon. He's turned toward my desk. He comes up to me and hugs me.

We all sit back down and Mr. matthews welcomes me back. He calls on Lucas to read. As i hear lucas talk, i see Riley smiling, Mr. Matthews reading along in his head, and maya not paying attention to the book, but to riley and lucas. I find myself doing the same. Maya's right, something's still not the same, something's still different. And in one second, in one look, Maya's eyes meet mine, and we both know Riley's going to get hurt. And lucas will never change back.