A best friend is someone you can count on, no matter what. Someone who sticks up for you, whether you're right or wrong. Either way, I've got one of those. Riley Matthews. She and I aren't exactly...similar. We have very different interests and journeys were taking, but we do indeed have one thing in common, our love for each other. Our differences help balance each other out, that's why we fit just right together.
Riley and I have been best friends since the 1st grade. I'm not exactly a very positive influence on her. I've gotten her into trouble and she's had to get us both out of it. Times have been tough but we've always made it through anything that's stepped in our way.
I'm the rebellious one, always getting into trouble, serious when it comes to people and relationships of any kind, and determined when it comes to situations. When someone jokingly tells me to go get into trouble, swear to god, I'll actually do it. A couple days ago that is, I really did. Riley's uncle took us to a mountain climbing equipment store and told us to go get into trouble as a joke. I climbed an off-limits climbing wall, unhooked the climbing wall, sat on an expensive bike, rode a children's bike as fast as possible around the store and threw a pair of gloves off the upstairs balcony. It was kind of funny until I got in trouble, which only happened twice. I didn't get caught most of the time, which was lucky because I usually do. I was a dark-dresser. I usually wore darker colours that expressed my personality. Now Riley, was and still is, very different. She's the cute one, the innocent one and the goofy one. She's always getting us out of the trouble I'm getting us into and it's been a real adventure. She's bright and fun to be around, she's got a strong personality that you'd never want to leave behind. She's a great person, someone I saw as a better person than I was. She dressed in pink and other assorted colors that didn't always match.
Our family and situational lives were also very very different. I grew up in a broken home. My dad, Kermit Hart, left us when I was very little. He found another girl and had another family. My mom, Katy Hart, worked as a waitress at the Nighthawk Diner and didn't pay much attention to me. She liked to think she was an actress, she auditioned for parts she never got and refused to admit she was no good. We were pretty poor considering she was an only parent working as a full-time waitress, and that's all we really lived off of. Meanwhile, Riley's parents are amazing people. Cory and Topanga Matthews. Mr Matthews is a history teacher at John Quincy Adams Middle School. Which is also Riley and my school. Yes that's right, he's our history teacher. Mrs Matthews works as lawyer, and as I like to call her, a fierce Amazon warrior. She's amazing, they live in a beautiful apartment. Also, I almost forgot Riley's now 6-year-old brother, Auggie Matthews. Sweet kid, they're the role model family I never had. Riley took me in and made me feel like apart of their family, they all love and care for me, even though there were times Mr Matthews didn't think I was a very good choice for Riley and the family.
Starting 7th grade last year, Riley and I met our current good friend, Lucas Friar, or as I call him, Huckleberry, Ranger Rick, Ranger Roy, Hop-a-long, Sundance and plenty more, on the subway. I flirted with him in attempt t show Riley how to flirt. Then later we discovered he was in our history class as a new student all the way from Austin, Texas. Riley had an immediate crush on him at first sight and that grew into something big. They became really good friends and even more than that. I knew they really liked each other and I helped her along the way to find the relationship she wanted with him. Our friend, Farkle Minkus, liked both of her and I at the time, but that caused no problems for Lucas and Riley. Lucas' Texas heritage, the way he talked, the things he said, just got to my head. This was New York City, not Texas, I thought he really should've dropped the whole annoying Texas thing, well at least that's what I put out there. I picked on him constantly, called him nicknames, made fun of him all the time. I even go in his face and go "Ha-hurr!" because it's the way he talks. It was a little game we played, it entertained me for quite some time. Neither of us felt offended by it and it's always just been kind of our thing. After almost a year, Riley and him went on their first date. I helped Riley prepare for her date, I was overly happy for her, it's what she's always wanted. I went with her, on a double date with Farkle. The date went exactly as she wanted it to. They kissed in the end and it was perfect. I was unbelievably happy for her.
Everything kind of went as you'd expect from there. They dated and found it hard to talk, so they decided not to call it officially dating and have nothing change. It was exactly as you'd expect. It was what everyone expected. Expect there so much attention on their relationship and I've grown up and was raised very differently than Riley did. I knew when to keep quiet, what to say, and what not to say. And that's what really saved me, for 2 entire years. It was the easiest thing for me, keeping things inside when it was best for everyone, I was good at that. And thank god I was because it would've gotten ugly. Except you can't keep things in forever, not even I could, no matter how hard I tried. It just isn't possible.
