groupchats//gmw

thirty

riley entered the school, skipping as usual and chatting away to maya happily. for a moment there, he thought she was better until he saw her tear stained cheeks.

he kicked his locker before heading to class, angry at himself. he made riley cry. he's the reason she's sad.

during lunch, he told himself to suck it up and go talk to her. lucky for him, she happened to be waiting at his locker. she was looking down at her shoes and playing with the ends of her hair.

she was nervous. she didn't have to be. it was only him. that was until he screwed up 10 years of friendship.

as soon as she saw him, her face lit up but it turned into a fake smile the more he walked toward her. that's when he saw the mop of long blond hair behind a locker.

maya was forcing her to do this. he gulped nervously, he had to apologise now. if he didn't, he knew maya would have him dead by the end of the day.

"riley." he breathed out once he reached her. that was the only thing he could say.

her eyes widened and she reached into her bag, taking out the flannel he gave her when she was cold the night before his outburst.

"here. i just wanted to return this to you and apologise. i know i was acting really weirdly in the chat. i was just tired."

she was apologising? farkle wanted to hug her and tell her he was sorry and that she didn't need to apologise but she offered him a smile before walking away.

there he stood. in the middle of the nearly empty hallway, with a flannel in his hand that smelled like riley matthews.

he came to his senses and began chasing her. "riley! wait!"

riley turned around, her brown curls flipping over dramatically, in slow motion. or maybe that was just in farkle's head.

he ran towards her before screeching to a stop a few centimeters behind her. he engulfed her in one of his bear hugs.

"farkle, whoa-"

"i'm sorry, riley. i really am. i know that you overheard my huge temper tantrum on saturday morning and none of that is true. i know this is the worst explanation ever but i was just frustrated with all of them bothering me and i just want you to know that i'm always here for you. i'm canada, remember? i love you more than anything ever and i'll always want to clean up after you and take care of you. i'm so sorry."

riley hesitantly wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled away from the hug. "you really mean that?"

"i do."

"then, you're forgiven." riley leaned in to give him a short hug.

"now, come on." she grabbed him by the hand as they made their way to lunch.

they found a table and took a seat. "i'll go get us lunch. what do you want?"

"nah, i'm good."

"alright, then. take care of my phone!"

a few minutes after she left, her phone buzzed. it was an instagram notification. farkle instinctively looked at it before pulling out his phone. that's when it hit him.

he unlocked her phone and read the full message.

sluttymatthews : let's be real, riley. you may have forgiven farkle but we all know that he's lying to you just to get in your pants. shocked? why, riley, don't you know who mystery man from the elite party is? just ask farkle, he knows mystery man more than anyone else. what a slut. the only reason he wants to get in your pants is because you're easy. sleeping around with a different guy at every party? pathetic.

farkle's eyes widened. who was the person behind this account? he would probably know the answer to this if he traced the account. he whipped his head around to look at riley. she was in the middle of the lunch line, chatting away to a girl who looked like she wanted out of the conversation. riley was going to take a while.

he grabbed his laptop from his backpack and started typing away. before he could trace the account number, he knew he had to delete the message first. he hacked into the account and unsent the message after writing down the passcode.

he didn't want riley to know he was her mystery man and he didn't want the person behind the account to know he or she was hacked.

he left the account and put away his computer just in time.

"I'LL TALK TO YOU LATER, SHELLY. SHELLY. I LOVE YOUR NAME!" he heard riley yell obnoxiously from one end of the cafeteria.

"uh, thanks."

"SEE YOU IN MATH NEXT PERIOD!" she yelled at the poor girl who just wanted to eat her lunch. farkle chuckled. how could anyone not love riley? he knew he did, just not in what way.

riley set her tray on the table before smiling that special smile she always reserved for farkle.

as she was digging into her food, farkle spoke up. "i'm really glad we're friends again. i'll always want to be your friend, riley matthews."

riley forced a smile before looking down at her food.

"and i you, farkle minkus."

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
figured you guys deserved a double update!! so, enjoy !! also, wattpad is being annoying and not letting me post my a/n's.

love, l.