𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 — 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏𝒆

❝ 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 ❞

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

Amanda Matthews was strolling through the halls of John Quincy Adams Middle School in excitement. She hadn't seen her family in so long and she was eager to see them. She had gotten her schedule and was now on her way to her Uncle's class where he teaches eighth grade History, which was her favorite subject. As she had gotten closer to the door of the classroom, she could overhear lesson that had been taking place, "alright, what's going on here, guys," Amanda heard her uncle's voice.

"Nothing," she also heard the voice of her cousin, Riley, "could we please for once read from the book," there was a slight pause, the daughter of the History teacher going through a book and proceeded to read from it, "'the boy and the girl had no idea of the changes they would soon be facing. Everything was different, including their own bodies'—what the—" that was Amanda's cue.

"You're reading your health book."

The class snapped their attention to the front of the room, the teacher's eyes widen as he looked upon his niece, "Amanda Matthews," she could hear the gasps around the room, "you're late to my class. Care to explain, niece of mine."

Amanda smiled at her Uncle before pulling him into a quick hug and then responded, "I had to drop off my stuff at the apartment before I could come here. Mom dropped me off, I packed light," she shrugged.

"Well I'm glad you're here," Cory Matthews smiled, "take a seat next to Riley, please."

Her eyes found Riley, her cousin, who tried to start a new topic surrounding Amanda but was cut off by Amanda herself, telling Riley to save it for after school.

"Please proceed with the lesson, Mr. Uncle," Amanda teased.

"Thank you, niece. Riley, what is going on here," her father pressed.

The blonde girl sitting next to Riley suddenly blurted out, "Farkle kissed my hand!"

"Farkle," Amanda muttered, her brows furrowed at the boy, she hadn't seen him since they were around eight or nine. He looked exactly the way she imagined him to be older.

"You did?" Mr. Matthews asked.

"It was glorious," Farkle confirmed.

"It was. I went home and questioned everything," the blonde added.

Mr. Matthews furrowed his eyebrows, before he moved toward his daughter, who was sitting with her hands folded together neatly on the desk, her eyes facing forward. Her father slightly crouched down toward her desk and asked, "okay, where were you while all of this hand kissing was going on?"

His daughter replied, almost instantly, "nowhere with no one, doing nothing with nobody."

Amanda chuckled at her cousins antics.

Her Uncle then moved to a boy with sandy blonde hair, Amanda noticed him when she walked into the room, her first thought was, cute. Her Uncle and the boy stare at each other for a few seconds before the boy jumped out of his seat, climbed onto the desks and ran out of the classroom.

Her Uncle went back to look at Riley. Mr. Matthews glanced at Amanda, who was trying to contain for laughter. Amanda turned to her cousin and gleefully said, "oh, you're in trouble now, honey buns."

❀❀❀

After classes were over, Amanda stuck around with her cousin and her best friend, Maya. The three were huddled around Riley's locker, and the three were huddled by all the girls in their class. Amanda and Maya were talking and catching up with each other, seeing as they haven't seen each other since they were younger. Amanda couldn't help but noticed the stares of the other classmates, and saw that their eyes were focused on her cousin, who was too focused on her locker to notice anything.

"Everybody stop looking at Riley," Amanda confidently spoke to her new classmates, "you guys look ridiculous."

"Tell us!"

"I don't kiss and tell," rejected Riley as she finally was apart of the conversation.

"Did you kiss," a student asked eagerly.

"Yes," she answered.

"Tell," the student said.

"And take your time," another student, Sarah, spoke up.

From what information Maya gave to Amanda; The sandy haired boy, who was named Lucas Friar, and Riley went on a date and they kissed. Now everyone thinks they have to change their status as friends because of said kiss. Amanda thinks it's quite dumb, but she knows Riley, she doesn't do well with peer pressure.

"Nothing happened. Back me up, Maya," Riley motioned to Maya for help.

Maya did the only thing she knew how to do in that situation, make it worse. The blonde turns her back toward the group, wrapped her arms around herself and started to make kissing noises. The group laughed at her antics, including Amanda, who hasn't contributed her opinion, she was waiting for the right moment.

"That's inaccurate," Riley told the group.

Maya shrugged, then pulled her cheeks together, make a kissing noise.

"Yeah, that's pretty good," Riley told Maya and the group with a smile.

On the other side of the hallway, were the boys. Amanda knew they were talking about the same situation the girls were talking about and she was waiting for them to come over to said girls and ruin the relationship of two people who liked each other for their own enjoyment.

As she predicted, the boys traveled to the other side of the hallway, Lucas being carried over. The girls, who saw the incoming boys, carried Riley to the middle of the hallway, with Riley and Lucas in the middle of the classmates and the circle.

"What are ya?"

"What are we," asked Riley the boy after Maya's encouragement.

"Are we boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"Are we?"

"You really wanna do this, Riley?"

Riley turned her head towards Amanda as she continued, "oh, dear cousin of mine, so innocent and ready to be peer pressured into the world of relationships. Do us all a favor and don't get forced into something you're not ready for. I can already tell you're not ready, you're all stiff and awkward. You don't have to date if you don't want to."

"Yeah," said a new voice, "what she said."

Riley gasped, "Andrew?"

Andrew McHolland was Riley's other bestfriend when they were little, Riley having a huge crush on him, but had to move away in the fifth grade. Before he moved, Riley and Andrew made a pact that whenever they saw each other again, their relationship that was left behind when he moved, would pick right back up when he returned to her, or when she saw him again. Riley never knew that time was now.

"Oh, my God. Andrew," Riley lightly ran towards Andrew and was pulled into a hug, which she happily returned.

Amanda smiled at her cousins happiness. As Riley and Andrew caught up and the crowd of students died down, Amanda noticed the defeated look on Lucas's face. She walked over to him and sat down on the bench next to him and bumped his arms with her elbow to catch his attention, "hey," she smiled gently, "I'm sorry if I ruined your chances with Riley."

"It's not your fault," Lucas softly reassured, "even if you hadn't said anything, that guy would've popped up."

"His name is Andrew, and I've met him once or twice when I was little. He's a very nice guy," she stopped when she saw Lucas' face sink, "and that's probably not helping. Uh, sorry, I just thought since you care about Riley a lot, I thought you would be happy to see her happy."

"I am," Lucas said, "I am."

"Come on, Lucas," Amanda stood up from the bench, and offered Lucas her hand, "I'll take you out on a comfort date. My treat."

Lucas smiled at her and took her hand, "Thanks, Amanda."

"No problem."

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

edited: 25 feb 2021