The hallways were far too crowded for my liking. I winced as I squeezed through a crowd of freshman blocking the entire corridor. They were all collectively gossiping about something that I couldn't care less about.

The number 108, written in blue pen across my palm was smudged when I tried to read it.

When I came to my locker, Danielle was already there, slumped against it. She was checking some sort of social media on her phone to pass time until the person she was waiting for arrived.

"Hey!" She smiled and waved at me.

I was ready to turn around and sprint the other down the hallway. Why was this girl everywhere? "Uh, hi?" I greeted, deciding that it was too early in the morning for me to be an asshole.

"They needed a volunteer to show the new student around the school. Guess I had the luck of being assigned to you!" Her voice was forced and unnaturally preppy.

"Got it." I opened my locker door and started putting my essentials in. Danielle stood to the side with her arms crossed, watching my movements like a hawk.

"What is your problem with me?" She asked.

Her nerve was unbelievable. "Is that a joke?"

"One of the first things you said to me was a ignorant comment about my new dad." I snarled, almost taken aback by the fact that I was defending Shawn.

Danielle stepped forward and shut locker for me. "I was just warning you."

"What are you saying?"

She bit her lip and looked me straight in the eyes. "Shawn dated my mom 3 years ago. He moved in and everything, just like he's doing with you. Trust me, he doesn't care about you, or your mother." Danielle tried to be sympathetic but I could see the jealously burning in her eyes from the fact that I took something away from her.

"Shut the fuck up." I replied, shoving her against the locker and pinning her against it by her wrists.

"Stay out of my personal life, and you can shove your so called advice up your ass." I let go of her wrists and turned around to look for my first class, not believing what she just said to me.

It was difficult to keep my emotions hidden, because once again, Danielle was right. Shawn probably didn't care about me as much as he claimed he did.

Danielle still wanted a fight. Her voice called out from behind me while I tried to storm away. "You're not helping her. Riley deserves better than you!" She shouted across the hall.

My pride always overpowered my common sense. I backed up slowly, until we were standing face to face again.

"W-what?" My voice came out as a whimper, the emotions that her comment invoked in me were evident. For the first time ever, someone has said the biggest fear hidden in the back of my mind aloud. There were too many restless nights where I laid  awake, not sure if I was helping Riley by taking her in or holding her back from the world that she used to be in.

It was selfish to admit, but I almost didn't want Riley to gain her memory back. Once she did, I would be nothing to her. Why would she stay when she has the opportunity to go back to her perfect life? She would leave me, just like everyone else did.

Danielle paused for a second, noticing how I went from a freak with anger issues to a girl who was about to break into tears. "I'm sorry, for everything Maya. I didn't mean that." She stuttered nervously as she continued to speak.

"I know everything is new to you right now, and your dad is a sensitive issue. I've been through the same thing, and I want to be here for you but you keep shutting me out before I can try. Can we start over?"

The girl in front of me has been hurt before. She was vulnerable. As easy as it would have been for me to say no and leave her, I decided to take Riley's advice, and break down my walls. I hesitated briefly before answering her. "Okay, we can try."

Danielle smiled so wide that I wanted to compare it to Riley's tooth-full expression. But I couldn't, It didn't even come close to how Riley's smile made me feel.

She took me out of my thoughts. "Listen, about Riley. I didn't mean what I said back there. I was just-"

"Save it. It's fine, we were both thinking it anyways. If we're going to be friends, you don't have to lie to me." I cut her off, surprising her with my bluntness.

There was still 10 minutes left until class started and according to our schedules, we had home room together.

Danielle took a deep breath and cautiously asked. "Why does Riley live in your basement?"

"She told you that?"

"Well, we were exploring together for like, 3 hours."

I still haven't gotten over the fact that Riley left without warning to explore with someone she didn't know. We definitely needed to have a talk about stranger danger once I got home.

"She's a family friend from California. Riley is only visiting for a couple weeks." I lied, impressed with how naturally I came up with the excuse. If Dani was allowed to lie about how ended up in my backyard, I was allowed to lie about the girl I was protecting.

Dani frowned and tilted her head in confusion. "She told me that she lost her memory and you found her one night and took her in."

My heart raced, she knew the truth. I cleared my throat, embarrassed that I was caught in my well constructed lie. It was hard not to be a little jealous that Riley confided so easily in Danielle. "Sorry for lying. I didn't think Riley wanted anyone to know." I apologized.

"It's okay." Dani smiled. "I would've done the same."

I opened my mouth to reply to her, only to be cut off by two familiar boys.

Lucas and Farkle came up to us, with surprisingly joyful expressions and waved.

"Glad you two met!" Lucas greeted. "I assume Danielle has already told you we dating?" He inquired.

I nodded silently, with a faint smile in my face. "Yeah she has."

Lucas wrapped an arm around her proudly and continued the conversation. Everyone else in the circle nodded and hummed accordingly, like they were used to being forced to listen to him.

I tried my best to follow along with what he was saying. His mouth moved with each word but I couldn't hear any sounds. My mind tended to tune out irrelevant things when it was worried. I guess Lucas has been deemed irrelevant.

After what felt like ages, the bell finally rang. Danielle kissed Lucas on the cheek before turning and gesturing for me to follow her to our first class.

~

When I got home from school, I felt something pulling me towards Riley. As soon as I set my bags down, I ran downstairs to the basement and told my parents that I was doing "homework."

"Riles?" It pained me to think about how hard it was to separate from her for 6 hours. How did I survive before she was in my life?

"Maya?" She was laying lazily on the air mattress that we set up. Her beautifully long legs stretched so that she could rest the laptop on it and watch all of the movies I recommended to her.

From what I saw, it was some unfamiliar cheesy heterosexual romance movie.

Riley shut the laptop closed when she saw me and waved.

"These movies are so straight it hurts." She rolled her eyes jokingly. "Why don't they make one about a teen girl romance. Now that's something I would watch."

I nodded my head in agreement with her, enjoying the fact that we were finally alone together. Riley was one of the few people whose presence was enough. We didn't need to be talking for me to know that there was something special between us.

Riley turned to look at me. "Have you ever thought about kissing another girl?"

"I'm gay." I deadpanned, hoping I would at least get a smile out of her.

The opposite happened. She looked disappointed, her head tilted. "Oh. How come you never told me?" Riley asked.

"I don't know, didn't think it mattered." I shrugged.

Riley frowned. "Maya, if you were worried about me treating you differently that won't be a problem. In case you forgot I'm-"

"I know." I cut her off, keeping my head hung low.

As much as I longed to hear her utter the words "I'm gay." again, I knew it would only cause me more heartbreak.

Heartbreak that's bound to come from falling for a girl you don't know. One who is going to leave your life just as quickly as she came into it. A girl who seems like she was sent from the heavens to love you. She was everything I could've asked for, and into girls as well. Everything was always too good to be true. That's why I cut her off, to keep myself from falling farther in love with her. I'm only protecting myself.

As much as I wish I could say it, I don't know who Riley Matthews is. The girl beside me has simply constructed out of fragments from the time she's spent with me. Her memory was and continues to be a clean slate that we can't seem to recover

Riley stared blankly at the white wall in front of us, her knee brushing against mine. She reached out to lay a hand over my thigh, grabbing it possessively.

"Sorry for being a complete bitch the other day." Riley apologized, her voice low. "You were right, I don't know what I was doing wandering New York alone like that."

Actions always spoke louder than words. Bravely, I placed my hand overtop of the one she had resting on my thigh. In a swift movement, I turned her palm around and intertwined our fingers together.

I thought that it would've been enough to tell her that it was okay, and that she didn't need to apologize for anything, because she would always be perfect in my eyes. No matter what she did.

Riley thought otherwise, she squeezed my hand and continued talking. "You were looking out for me, and I couldn't see that."

"There's nothing to apologize to me about, Riles. I overreacted, let's forget that anything happened."

Riley returned to her familiar happy expression for only a moment. "Did you mean it?" She asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"Yesterday. When you said that you didn't care about me." Riley said, recoiling at her own words.

My shook my head, letting out a fake laugh. "I didn't say that."

"You basically did." She answered in record time

"We all say things we don't mean when we're upset. I wish I could say I regret them, but if at some point in time my last me decided to say that, then it must have been for a good reason." I stated. Stubbornness has always been one of my worst personality traits.

"Maya, I'm not leaving." She replied desperately. "Even when I get my memory back, I won't forget you. I won't leave."

Riley repeated it, unsurely, as if she was convincing herself that she wouldn't leave more than she was convincing me.

My head nodded automatically in response. Promises have been broken to me too many times before, I don't expect anybody to actually keep them anymore.

She paused, turning her head to face me before whispering in my ear. I shuddered when her hot breath tickled my ear. "Thanks for taking care of me, Maya. I mean it." I could practically feel Riley's grin when she pecked a light kiss on my ear, letting her lips linger for a second before pulling away.

My head was spinning and then all of a sudden the thought that I've been trying so hard to suppress hit me all at once. The way she held my hand and kissed my cheek made me aware of the fact that my biggest fear has come to life.

I've fallen in love with someone I don't know.