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seriestrash · 7 years

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Reality High

- One Shot -

Summary: The clique six feature on a reality television series that follows them around school. Exciting at first but Riley quickly realises that reality TV might not always be real.

Word Count: 6141 (Haven't written a one shot in a while so here’s a long one!)

♢ ♢ ♢ ♢

“Riley, hurry!” Maya yells from the comfort of her friends sofa, “It’s starting!” “I’m coming!” Riley shouts back from the kitchen. The brunette bolts over with two cans of soda in hand.

The two best friends watch the season finale of their favourite reality tv show, ‘Reality High’. Each season has the same layout; it follows a number of students from the beginning of the year to the end of the year but the only difference being, when a new season begins the show would follow a new set of students in a new school and a new city. In it’s third season - the one the girls sit and watch now - it’s set somewhere in LA.

The two soon to be juniors sit with their eyes glued to the screen hanging off every bit of drama as it concludes their favourite season to date. When the show wraps up the girls are on the brink of tears watching their favourite of the students - A girl name Miranda - graduating.

After the end credits roll, Riley and Maya are about to enter a loud discussion about their thoughts on the finale when a clip pops up advertising the entry period for season four.

“Did that just say Abigail Adams High?” Riley’s mouth is agape as she stares at the television in disbelief.

“No way!” Maya springs up from the sofa in excitement, “Season four is being filmed at out high school?”

Riley squeals, “Maybe we’ll know the kids on the show!”

“Maybe we’ll be the kids on the show!” Maya jokes but secretly wishes for it to be true.

It’s the following day that the principal formally addresses the excitement buzzing through the school. He outlines how the audition process will take place. On the last day of the school year - as an incentive to show up - the producers will be filming audition tapes for those who wish to participate where they’ll take the summer to filter through applicants and choose the winners.

Ever since the news broke it was all anyone was talking about. The majority of students were all dying for a place on the show.

“So is anyone going to sign up to audition?” It’s Riley who poses the question that afternoon in the bakery.

“Why bother?” Zay laughs, “They only ever feature seniors.”

“Not true,” Maya chimes in, “In season two they had two students from each year level.”

“Why would you want to be on it anyway?” Lucas speaks up, “It’s all just manufactured television.”

Farkle lets out a snort in agreement and Smackle points out she’s too smart for the show. Riley rebuts with the fact that they all watch the show, wether they were too smart for it or not.

By the looks of it Riley and Maya were going to be the only ones in their friend circle to sign up. That was until Riley convinced Lucas it could be fun and with Lucas on board it didn’t take much convincing for Zay to join the party. It seemed that only the two geniuses were opting out of auditioning.

It’s two days before the auditions when Riley’s Uncle Josh comes barrelling through their apartment door with some exciting news of his own. After two years at NYU Josh got accepted into his dream school, the New York Film Academy in which he transferred his junior year. It’s at this school that he was given the opportunity to sign up for a contest; the prize being an assisting position to an executive producer of a national television series. He won the contest and as it turned out the television series he would be affiliated with was Reality High.

The end of the week arrives quickly and Riley’s nerves bubbled inside her the closer she got to auditioning but she manages to get through it without passing out or embarrassing herself completely.

The hype surrounding the upcoming season of Reality High dies down a few weeks into everyones summer vacation. That was until Riley received the phone call. It was the producer of the show wishing to see Riley for the second round of the auditioning process. So excited over the phone call Riley immediately rings her best friend to share the good news but before she could get a word in Maya was screaming down the phone about her own phone call with the producer.

It was later revealed that all of her friends got the same call. Which came as a surprise to Riley, not that she didn’t believe they were worthy of spots on the show but because she didn’t think two of them even auditioned. It’s during the second round of the audition process that they learn the producers new angle for season four was to follow a group of friends rather than random students.

That was the beginning for them. Things moved quickly after that second round. Each of the six friends were put under contract for the show and went into various meetings. About a two weeks before school is due to start camera crews came to each of the high schoolers apartments to film their ‘get to know me’ packages.

The way the show worked was pretty simple, the camera crew would follow each of the chosen students around school, a couple hours after school and selected times on the weekend. To make the show as ‘authentic’ as possible there is only a two week lag between episodes aired and real time.

(I know this is impractical for how TV actually works but lets pretend it’s real. I need the immediate response to how people react to the show to see how Riley’s reacts to their reactions etc.)

The first day of the new school year approaches quickly and everyone had heard the news of the six juniors scoring positions on the show.

Riley was half expecting the extra attention from her peers but to the extent she received she wasn’t prepared. Riley likes everyone but not everyone likes Riley and she knew that but come first day of school it seems as though everyone wanted to be her best friend.

At first the cameras were hard to get used to. The producer had to keep reminding the teens to try and avoid looking directly at it when they were going about their business. After a few days it normalised for them.

The first week acts as an introduction episode. The six friends gather in the Matthews living room to watch it air. It opens with a clip of their school. The halls are deserted so Riley figures this must have been filmed prior to school commencing that year. It segways into each of the students get to know me packages. Each clip pauses on a cute or quirky picture of each high schooler with their name and a byline like ‘The Jokester’ etc. None of which were offensive or bad but Riley would later learn that was the producers branding each of them.

Once the episode wraps up the teens are left chattering excitedly amongst themselves and it’s Maya whom first points out that her social media was blowing up. Everyone else checks their phones and find the same thing happening to them.

As the first few weeks pass things are definitely not normal for the teens but they were all certainly loving the attention the show brought them. Each of them felt special and were overall pleased with how the episodes were turning out. That and the small sum of money they’re paid for participating was nothing to complain about.

The producers were loving every bit of it as well. The whole ‘history lesson applied to each of their lives’ bit was something they couldn’t have written better themselves. As it’s their job to monitor ratings etc. the producers are very in the know when it comes to how their viewers are receiving each episode. They’re constantly scouring hashtags about the show on social media. Gathering intel on how to better the show etc. Overall the response to the new angle was positive. The viewers seemed to love the mismatched group of friends.

It’s after six episodes, when they’re eight weeks into filming that Riley steps back from the hype and looks at how the show is affecting her friends. Each of them seemed more confident which wasn’t a bad thing by any means but Riley had an off feeling brewing inside her. A feeling she chooses to keep to herself for the time being.

Another few weeks pass and viewers are loving Riley’s goofiness and the way she obsesses over little things. They love Lucas because of his loyal leader nature - that and he is f i n e - Zay never failed to have the viewers in fits of laughter with his witty comebacks, The geniuses seemed to divide the audience, half of them didn’t understand their quirky behaviour and saw their intellect as braggy and pretentious but the other half, maybe more than half loved their dry honesty when it came to their friends. Maya was probably the crowd favourite, her pretty girl look was something that captured the audience and her ‘I don’t care’ attitude won them over completely.

As for Riley’s observations of her friends she obviously notices how being on the show is affecting them in social situations. Random people would recognise them wherever they went which was exciting at first but then it started to become a little bit of a hassle. When the cameras were around they had people to make sure filming wasn’t interrupted by the casual viewer but when the cameras weren't there they were free gain. Every study session or movie date was interrupted. Riley didn’t hold it against anyone, if anything she was extremely flattered that people wanted to meet her but it still weighed on her a little. More than it did anyone else's. Riley would never say it aloud but she had a feeling her friends wanted to be spotted. She’d notices them posting more pictures and posts about where they were which she knew was encouraged by the producers to create hype around them but again that off feeling inside her stirs.

It’s soon after this that things start to blow up for Riley and not in the good way. For the most part the filming of the show felt natural for Riley. Yes, they’d give certain queues for the six friends and suggestive topics to discuss etc. but it didn’t feel too fake for Riley. That’s why Riley misinterpreted the genuine nature of the tenth episode aired.

The show had been on a two week hiatus over Thanksgiving. Snippets were still filmed and added into the following weeks episode, but for the most part they had a break from daily camera life. Even these little snippets they filmed were optional to take part in, they weren't obligated in the contract to film over school breaks. Riley took this opportunity to recoup her thoughts and rest. Something about the constant attention and how aware she was that everyone was watching her exhausted Riley. So the brunette takes her week off school and opts out of any filming.

After Riley returned to school feeling refreshed, some of the original excitement the show brought her creeps back in when they begin filming again. At the end of this week that the clique six gather to watch the new episode like they had every week. It’s only two minutes in that the mood amongst the group changes completely.

The episode opened with some fluff piece about friends, family and thanksgiving. One that they subtly worked in the absence of Riley as the others had all opted to film. But it wasn’t just a simple “Riley is away for thanksgiving” explanation. No, it had been manipulated to look like Riley was avoiding her friends during the break or it at least implied that was the nature of her absence.

The six friends watching remain quiet, partly because they were shocked. As the episode unfolds more it seems the manipulation didn’t end there. It looked as though Riley was still being distant from her friends even after returning to school. This is all achieved with cheap editing tricks and they insinuated that the reasoning behind this had to do with relationship trouble. To make it worse they implied there was a triangle forming between Riley, Maya and Lucas. A simple Ha Hurr between friends was showed in a way that looked like Riley reacted sadly to it.

The episode wraps up and the entire room is tense. Isadora, Farkle and Zay quickly make excuses to bail and Riley is left quietly shocked on the sofa.

“Riley, that obviously wasn’t what it looked like,” Maya says quickly.

“I know.” Riley gives a slight nod.

“I have no idea why they’d try to make out like Maya and I like each other...” Lucas frowns.

“It’s okay,” Riley says softly.

“No it’s not,” Maya frowns too. “You’re upset.”

“It’s fine.” Riley says more firmly.

It took a bit of persisting but Riley manages to get her boyfriend and best friend to leave without discussing it in-depth.

Riley retreats to her room and takes her laptop to bed with her. Every single thing inside her said not to do it but curiosity won out in the end as she clicks on the hashtag surrounding their show. Riley spends an hour scrolling through countless comments about her and her relationship with Lucas or more so her ‘triangle’ with the addition of Maya. It quite literally devastated Riley to read everyone favouring Maya and Lucas’ relationship over her own. It’s after she feels herself being unable to hold back tears anymore that she closes her computer.

When they return to school on Monday Riley feels all eyes on her but this was different to people being interested in her position on the show. Riley knew these glances came out of curiosity regarding her apparent ‘triangle’. Lucas and Maya were undoubtedly awkward around each other and they both insisted on making things right with Riley but she continues to assure them that she’s alright and she knows there is nothing going on between them. Still her heart is weighed down by the negativity being sent in on her social media.

It’s when the episode revolving around that week airs that Riley finally cracks. Maya and Lucas’ awkward behaviour around one another was portrayed as suspicious and Riley’s wandering mind about the whole thing provided perfect material for them to edit as a broken heart. Riley gets up and leaves mid episode. Both Lucas and Maya chase after her.

By the time they get upstairs to Riley’s room she’s already crying in the bay window. Lucas and Maya trip over each others words as they try and spit out apologies and explanations to her. Both stressing how they’re not intreseted in one another romantically.

“Riley, you have to know that’s not real.” Lucas holds her gaze.

“Of course I do but does that make it hurt any less to see it portrayed that way?” Riley wipes at her damp cheeks.

“I’m so sorry,” Maya tears up seeing her friend so upset, “We can go talk to Mick [the executive producer] tomorrow and sort out this mess.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Riley chokes on her tears, “Everyone already sees it a certain way. Have you read what they’re posting online lately?”

“No, I try not to check the tags, people can post some nasty things...” Lucas explains.

“Yeah well I did,” Riley says, “And they’re starting a Team Riley or Team Maya hashtag war.”

“What?” Maya frowns.

“Yeah and you’re winning,” Riley snaps at her best friend.

“What?” Maya asks more shocked than before.

“I just want to be left alone,” Riley stands up from the bay window and moves over to her bed, “Can you please leave?”

“Riley-” Lucas starts but Riley cuts him off.

“Please?” Riley asks desperately. The two other teens give in and leave her alone.

Once school commences again on Monday - after two days of silence from Riley - they all return to school. Both Lucas and Maya spring on their mutual interest before the camera crew arrive at school.

“We’ve contacted Mick and he’s set up a meeting for us before homeroom,” Maya explains quickly.

“I promise we’re going to sort this all out, Riley,” Lucas gives her a small smile.

“Okay.” Riley wears a weak and unconvincing smile as the three of them make their way to the auditorium where Mick has a temporary office set up for the duration of the filming. He doesn’t spend everyday there, as he has a lot to deal with but he does have a very hands on approach when it comes to this show - hence the allocated spot for him that’s close to all the action.

It takes only a matter of minutes for Mick to brainwash both Lucas and Maya from angry to compliant. They open with obvious distaste to the way they were being ported and Mick spins the situation to a positive.

“Approaching thanksgiving we were coming to the part of the show where viewers start to cut in and out of watching. It’s the time of any season where we have to step things up a notch.” Mick explains, “That’s where we came up with the triangle idea. Nothing picks up ratings like two best friends fighting over the same boy.”

“But we’re not fighting over the same boy.” Maya says firmly.

“Maybe not but we’ve been picking up on a buzz surrounding you and Lucas, so it’s our job to explore that further.”

“Why?” Lucas asks, “Riley’s my girlfriend.”

“And no one is saying that has to change,” Mick sits back in his seat with arms folded against his chest. “But you can’t deny chemistry.”

Riley sinks into her seat. This was like the cutest couple yearbook revelation only on a nation wide scale.

“So you want us to play the part?” Maya is confused.

“Exactly,” Mick leans forward. “Throw in a few weeks worth of confusion between the three of you and we’ll work the whole ‘who’s it going to be?’ angle. Maybe take a poll and make the viewers think they have a say in who Lucas chooses and then we can circle back to Riley and Lucas. These last few weeks have been the highest rated episodes of any season to date. This kind of exposure is amazing for kids your age. Each of you is almost guaranteed college scholarship offers after this.”

“Really?” Maya fails to hide a smile.

“Yes.” Mick nods.

“So you want us to actually pretend to be in a triangle?” Riley speaks up for the first time since sitting down.

“Exactly,” Mick grins, “It’s better that you’re all aware and on board with the plan. That way it eliminates any real tension between you.”

“So Lucas and I wouldn’t actually have to date?” Maya questions.

“Maya?” Riley asks in shock that she was considering it.

“What?” Maya asks defensively. “Imagine if an art school is willing to give me a scholarship..”

“Why don’t I give you three kids sometime to talk this over and we can meet up again after school to talk about our next move.” Mick rises from his seat and leaves the three alone.

“We don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with,” Lucas says softly but Riley was already too hurt.

“Don’t you get it?” Riley snaps, “It doesn’t matter if we agree or not they’re going to manipulate the show any way they want!”

“Doesn’t that make it easier to agree to faking it then?” Maya asks. “Besides, he said that it would only be for a few episodes and then they’d go for the fairytale ending for you and Lucas.”

“I already lived through months of a real triangle, now you’re asking me to do it again for the world to see?” Riley asks.

“It’s just fake Riley,” Lucas says softly.

“Not to me it isn’t.” Riley is in a state of disbelief that they were even entertaining the idea of being compliant.

“This could be huge for us, Riles..” Maya gives her a small smile.

“I wish I never applied for this stupid show,” Riley is on the verge of tears as she storms out of the room.

Riley hides away in the bathroom as she saw the cameras preparing to begin filming. It’s inside one of the stalls that Riley calls her mother. Over the weekend after Riley sent away Maya and Lucas she talked - or more accurately, cried - things over with her mom. Topanga was immediately upset on her daughters behalf but Riley was quick to convince her mom to let her handle things before she gets her lawyer mom involved. Hence why Riley turned up to the meeting with Mick alone. It’s after this meeting that Riley decides she wants out and Topanga is there within the hour.

During first period the six reality television stars are called for a non filmed meeting with Mick. Topanga is already standing by with folded arms and a mean look on her face. Josh was also present, as Mick’s assistant and he’d heard from him about the proposal he offered the teens and was just as disgusted as Riley and Topanga.

Everyone but Riley was confused about the nature of the meeting. She knew why they were there, she initiated it but the other teens weren’t expecting to be called in. Even Lucas and Maya thought they weren't reconvening until that afternoon.

Topanga is the first to address everyone, “We’re here because Riley wants off the show.”

Surprise stirs amongst the teens. Mick is looking smug behind his desk. Like he knows how this is all going to play out already.

“Now Riley is legally bound to the show by contract,” Topanga explains, “The only way out of it is if all of you refuse to participate.”

“What?” Zay says what everyone was thinking.

Riley awkwardly sits in her seat wishing the ground would swallow her whole.

“Can’t Riley be released from her contract if we all agree to continue filming?” Maya thinks she’s offering up a solution that worked for everyone. Since they all enjoyed the hype the show brought them.

“Maya!” Topanga scowls out of shock.

“Mrs. Matthews if Riley doesn’t want to be on the show why should we all have to give it up?” Farkle asks sheepishly.

“If Riley’s not on the show anymore that means that she won't be able to be in any of your classes, nor will she be able to take part in any of your after school hang outs.” Topanga knew she was dealing with teenagers but still she couldn’t hide her disgust in them.

Riley again reaches her breaking point due to the lack of support from her so called friends and runs out of the room.

“I expected more from all of you,” Topanga evens out her glare around the room, “And you,” she turns to Mick with a look that sent shivers down the grown mans spine, “I will be coming after your show and then you personally for exploiting my daughter like this.”

Topanga leaves in search of Riley and the teens are left with the shows producer and Josh hovering behind with a similar look of shock and disgust at how they were acting.

“Maybe we can talk to Riley and convince her to be on the show,” Maya speaks on behalf of everyone. “Is there anyway we can drop the triangle thing? I think she’d be okay if that wasn’t featured.”

“If she doesn’t want to be on the show don’t make her!” Josh snaps.

“We can do the show without her,” Farkle agrees with Josh. He didn’t want to exploit Riley but he also didn’t want to give up the show.

“She’s the only reason you’re on the show,” Mike half scoffs.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Maya pricks up a brow.

“I need a smoke,” Mick sighs heavily and exits the room.

“Josh, what did he mean that she’s the only reason we’re on the show?” Maya asks him.

“Maya your whole standoffish interview wasn’t enticing by any means, Lucas your Mr. Perfect answers were also boring and Zay you came across as a try hard.” Josh is blunt with his response. “Farkle, Smackle you two didn’t even audition, how do you suppose you got a spot on the show?”

“I just figured with the whole friend group angle they decided to include us...” Farkle shrugs.

“I stood there and watched them put a cross next to each of your names after your audition tapes.” Josh explains, “But then Riley sat down and everything changed.”

“What do you mean?” Lucas asks, feeling terrible for everything that has transpired in the last few weeks. He wasn’t exactly pushing to stay on the show but his silence in the matter was just as bad.

Josh uses the laptop on Mick’s desk and pulls up a file. He clicks play on the file labeled ‘Riley Matthews audition tape’ he turns the screen to the other teens, hits play and leaves the room.

“Next up we have Riley Matthews.” A voice from behind the camera calls.

Riley walks nervously up to the stool and takes a seat. A soft giggle escapes her as the chair swivels with her when she tries to readjust her position.

“So, Miss Riley Matthews can you tell us why you’d be a good participant to watch on Reality High?” The producer asks from behind the camera, “What makes you special?”

Riley takes a few seconds to answer. You can see her brain ticking as she smiles softly to herself.

“To be perfectly honest with you I don’t know why I should be on your show.” Riley answers, “I don’t know what makes me special or more important than anyone else auditioning…I just know that my friends and I love your show.” Riley is nervous and the producers pick up on it.

“You seem nervous,” Mick highlights from behind the camera.

“I’ve never been really good at talking about myself..” Riley states honestly.

“Why don’t you tell me about your friends, the ones you watch the show with?” Mick asks in an attempt to get Riley to loosen up.

Instantly Riley’s face lights up. She sits up straighter in her chair and looks eager to answer. Still she takes a moment to ponder the perfect thing to say.

“You know the breakfast club?” Riley asks with a smile. “We’re kinda like that but without the whole detention aspect..” Riley chuckles. “Each of us are so different but in a unique way we’re exactly right for each other.”

With his interest peaked Mick asks Riley to elaborate.

“There’s Isadora and Farkle, they’re quite similar to one another with their genius minds and despite science - the thing they believe most in - saying they’re wrong for each other they still found love. It’s quite funny actually,” Riley gets lost in her ramble but Mick doesn’t stop her. “Both Farkle and Issy went through a great deal of growth on the outside as well as the inside and it seems that people focus mostly on the physical differences rather than the emotional.. I guess it’s not funny actually... To me I’ll alway admire how they embraced the feelings that scared them most. They’re the embodiment of the statement that looks don’t define who you are. Then there’s Zay, he was the latest addition to our group and he admitted to feeling like an outsider at first but we were never really complete until he showed up. He’s hilarious and is known to stir the pot a little but when it comes down to it he has all of our best interests at heart. Then there’s Maya, she’s my sister - well not literally - but DNA can’t tell me otherwise. She’s fierce and strong and she hopes, even when it scares her, she hopes. She may be small but she has the heart the size of… Something really big,” Riley giggles. “Ive always wanted to be more like her.” “Then there’s Lucas,” Riley takes a deep breath, this was the big one. “He’s my boyfriend but that’s not really relevant because we were friends first. He’s overcome a lot in his life and he prides himself in being respectful and there’s not a thing that could stand in his way if he thinks one of us need protecting... He wants to be a veterinarian,” Riley giggles softly, “I guess the protection thing is just his nature…” At this point Riley had completely forgotten she was being filmed. She lost herself in talk of her friends just like she had with Evan at the ski lodge. Riley could go on and on forever when it came to her friends. “And there may of been a time in our relationship when I was scared of losing him but now I know that no matter what the future holds he’s always someone I want in my life. I always want to talk to him… So he may be my boyfriend but he’s kinda my best friend too.” Riley wears a shy smile before letting out a nervous giggle, “But you can’t let Maya know I said that because we have this ‘you and me against the world’ thing going on.” Riley pauses for a moment. “And you know at the end of the movie how Judd Nelson throws his fist into the air victoriously? I know it’s because he got the girl or whatever but that’s kinda how I feel everyday because of my friends.” Riley looks back at the producer with a sheepish smile. The kind she gets after realising she’s gone off on a ramble. “So to circle back to your original question, ‘What makes me special?’ Well, the answer is, them.”

“Thank you, Riley, I think we’ve seen enough.” Mick steps into view to give Riley a hand shake and the tape cuts out just after Riley skips away.

“Wow.” Maya says and each of the teens wear guilty expressions.

“Well I feel like scum..” Zay says light-heartedly but he and everyone else felt even worse than scum.

Lucas storms out of the room without another word.

Topanga took Riley home after the meeting and she assured Riley she would sort this out as quickly as possible. It was not long after she arrived back at the apartment that Riley received a text from Maya saying they were all going to stop the show and they’d fix everything. A little too late in Riley’s eyes as she was already so upset over the whole situation. Part of her did feel guilty for asking them to give up the show, she saw how much they were enjoying everything it brought them but at the same time she didn’t like where things were going. They were only three months in imagine what the rest of the year would bring them with life in the spotlight? Sadly, Riley tosses her phone to the side without replying.

After a quick nap, Riley takes hot bath and dresses in some comfy pyjamas. Riley goes downstairs to watch some television in the lounge and is surprised to see her friends and Uncle Josh all sitting down waiting for her. At this point Riley is feeling cornered and has no choice but to sit down and hear everyone spit apologies at her. All of which sounded sincere but Riley’s heart still ached at the situation.

They plead with Riley to stay put for a few more moments and she obliges. Maya turns on the television and Riley’s unsure what was going on but they ask her to just watch. Riley sits there as her best friend presses play on something.

The screen opens with Maya, Lucas, Farkle, Isadora and Zay all standing together.

“ ‘Sorry we’re such jerks’ take one.” Josh can be heard from behind the camera.

“Do we really have to call it that?” Maya frowns.

“Yes.” Josh says, “Are you denying that you were a jerk?”

“No.” Maya deflates.

“Then, action!” Josh says.

The five friends look awkwardly amongst themselves wondering who was going to start. Zay chuckles half heartily, “We’ve had cameras following us around for months, so why is this so hard?”

“Because this actually means something.” Lucas sighs out of disappointment in himself. “Riley, what makes you special is your faith in the universe and the limitless amount of belief you have in people.”

“Riley, I believe in you more than I do science.” Farkle states and Smackle looks lovingly up at him and nods in agreeance. “Riley, you’re special because you’ve helped us both navigate through those emotions that scared us most.”

Smackle takes a turn. “You’re special because you helped me accept a part of myself that I wasn’t willing to acknowledge.”

“You’re special because YOU have everyone’s best interest at heart.” Zay stresses. “I only ever tried to do the same.”

“You’re special because you would have given up the show - or anything for that matter - if we asked, without hesitation.” Maya speaks up. “You’re special because there’s not a thing in this world that you wouldn’t share with me. Family, friends, boys... Things I wanted because I always wanted to be more like you.” Maya wears a weak smile. “What makes you special is that you’re going to forgive us, even though we don’t deserve it..”

“Because you’re Riley.” Farkle adds.

“And Riley’s special.” Lucas delivers the last line before raising a fist in the air and the other friends all do the same.

“And cut..” Josh says softly before the video stops.

“I take it you saw my audition tape?” Riley lets out a quiet laugh as she wipes at her damp cheeks.

“Riles, you’re so much more than us.” Maya reaches for her best friends hand.

“We’re so sorry for getting caught up in the hollywood lifestyle.” Farkle says.

“You make us better.” Lucas says with a small smile.

“Are we forgiven?” Zay asks. “Because I’m willing to grovel.”

“You’re forgiven.” Riley laughs quietly. “But what about the show?”

“We are done with it.” Maya states as a matter of fact.

“Even if we all refuse to film, surely there are more legal repercussions than them just allowing us to break the contract?” Riley knits her brows together.

“I wouldn’t worry about that.” Josh wears a proud smirk as he pulls out his phone. “After the meeting I went to look for Mick so I could quit and I found him outside…”

Riley gives him a puzzled look so without further explanation Josh plays a video he recorded on his phone. It’s of Mick taking that smoke break he mentioned he needed but he’s also on the phone to someone where he quite horribly laughs at Riley’s expense and in detail talks about the way he manipulated the love triangle etc. At first Riley was confused as to why Josh would show her this, his nasty words didn’t exactly make Riley feel better about the situation but then Josh goes on to explain how the video may or may not of been anonymously sent into a few dozen entertainment news places.

As a result of Josh doing this the video went viral as a show beloved by many was exposed for it’s cruel treating of the shows participants. Reality High was immediately pulled off the air by the network and the six teens - Riley more specifically - were issued with an apology from the head of the network.

The show was put to rest but the buzz around the teens was the craziest it’s ever been. Everyone rallied behind Riley after they heard the horrible things said by her shows producer. Suddenly her relationship with Lucas was the most adorable thing in the world but Riley chose to tune out what she could and take back ownership of her own life again.

After the apology video Lucas apologised again to Riley in private and sweetly expresses how he never wanted to fake date or real date anyone but her. Riley accepts his apology and understands he just got caught up in things. Lucas being Lucas made a point to continuously shower Riley with gestures that prove his sincerity. It was a form of smothering but Riley didn’t let it annoy her because she knew Lucas was just trying to show her he cared.

Eventually things die down and return to normal for the six friends. Riley harbours no pain or resentment towards her friends or the show because if one good thing did come out of it was the fact that Riley learnt something very important; sure her friends made her special but she made them special too.

End Notes: Yo this was long. Sorry if theres heaps of errors, editing long one shots like this is a complete nightmare!!!

A prompt sent to me SO LONG AGO!! It took me ages to get to.. I actually started it way back in the day! But heres the anon credit: (I did change a few things like leave out the R x F manipulation etc. But I hope this suffices okay!

#rucas #one shot #rucas one shot #rucas fic #rucas imagine #riley x lucas

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