Riley's POV 

The next few days were full of peace and quiet, which was really needed. Lucas and I got to spend it all together, while Maya was gagging in the background. 

I wish that I hadn't gotten my hopes up that soon. Every time things start to look good, everything goes downhill. This time was another example. 

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"Lucas!" I yell so he can hear me. 

"Yeah Riles?" he responds. 

"Do we have any pop tarts?" 

"I think so." 

I burst with excitement and sprint towards the pantry. I rummage around for a minute or so, and I finally found my treasure. 

"Ah, yes!" I exclaim. I hear Lucas laugh from the other room. "That's my girl." he says. I smile. 

I grab the remote from the island and plop down on the couch, ready to watch some Spongebob and eat my pop tarts. Man, this was going to be an amazing day. 

BOY, was I wrong. 

Just as I sat down, I hear the door open, and I see Bethany walk in. Maya's head pops up.

"Hey, look! You know how to properly enter a building!" I say sarcastically. Bethany rolls her eyes and shoots a magic spark that sends me flying into a bookshelf, which knocks me over and falls on top of me, creating a huge CRASH! 

I groan in pain as I hold my hip, which dove straight into a hard-cover book. 

"Riley?!" Lucas comes running to me, and he helps me get back up. 

"Oh god, Riles. Are you okay?" he asks quickly. 

"Yeah, I'm fine." I nod. He begins to hug me, but he's interrupted by Bethany. 

"Okay, okay. We get it! You guys are SO in love! No stop all of this mushy-gushy stuff and free Maya!" she demands. 

"I'm sorry. Can't do that." I cross my arms in front of my chest. 

"And why not?" Bethany sounds pissed as she grits her teeth. 

"Because Maya just tried to freaking kill me, maybe?" I say sarcastically. 

"Well, yeah, there's that." she shrugs. "So are you going to free her or not?" she eagerly asks. 

"Not a chance." I fight back. I kind of regret doing that now, though. 

"You've asked for it, Matthews!" Bethany yells as her foot meets my face and knocks me down immediately. I sit up and hold my nose, which is now bleeding. 

"Riles! Are you okay?!" Lucas kneels next to me. I nod. "Yeah, just a little blood. No big deal." I respond. Lucas then stands up and walks right up to Bethany and punches her right square in the face, while his other fist is jabbing her stomach, all while he's kicking her shins. She cries out in pain as he takes out her legs from under her, causing her to fall with a THUD!  

Bethany grabs her side while moaning with pain. At first, her face looks hurt and helpless, but it switches back to evil and mischievous within seconds. She slowly stands up, trying to regain her balance. Next to her is Maya, who is banging on the bars of her cage and screaming. 

Lucas pushes me behind him. He has his fists up and ready to throw a punch. Bethany walks slowly over towards us, and suddenly stops. She raises her hands and pushes backwards, and, as if her arm were like a spring, she pushed her hands outwards, sending a spike of dark magic hurdling towards us. 

A sudden pain shoots throughout my arm and to my sides. I cry in pain, tightly grasping my arm. "Riles!" Lucas' voice cracks. I look at my arm, and there is a trail of black magic in a straight line with blood oozing from the edges. I fall to the ground and wince at the pain. 

Damn I wish I had healing powers. 

Bethany then rushes towards Maya's cage and tries to unlock it, but has no luck. I see this time as a perfect opportunity. So, I wave my arms around a little, still wincing from the pain, and send sparks soaring towards Bethany. When it reaches her, glitter sparkles all around her and forms a cage just like Maya's. 

"Oh poop." Bethany says. 

"Good going, Einstein." Maya rolls her eyes. 

"Well now we have two out of the three." Lucas says, standing up. 

"Yeah. But where is Missy?" I ask. 

"She could be anywhere right now." he says. 

"Well thanks for giving me hope..." I roll my eyes and crack a small smile. 

I then remember something very, very important. I sprint towards the couch, jump on it and grab my pop tarts and start to watch Spongebob. 

Ah, much better. 

Lucas joins me and we lay there cuddling for hours, with Maya and Bethany gagging in the background, of course. 

It's gonna be okay.

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The next day was a drag, and I was so anxious that Missy would just walk in, that I never really let my guard down. I was always alert, just in case, so I really didn't get much sleep. 

Lucas and I spent our day like we usually do; PJ's, movies, popcorn and pizza. It's kind of like a "date night" thing. 

We were sitting on the couch when someone knocked on the door. I got up to investigate. 

"Who is it?" I ask. 

"Aw, Riley! You don't remember us?" I hear a familiar voice say. I gasp. 

I swing the door open and smile wide to what I saw. There were four girls standing there, two of them holding a tired Missy, who was falling asleep on them. 

"Hey guys!" 

A/N 

Sorry this chapter is short! I'm really not sure how many more chapters there are going to be, but I can promise that it's not going to be as long as the first book. 

Oh, and I have changed the title again! Sorry, I just liked this one better. So, I've changed it from "Catching Up" to "My Ugly Heart" and now, "Falling Faster." "Falling Faster" just makes much more sense. And I'm actually thinking about doing a book called "My Ugly Heart." I'm not sure yet, though. 

Oh yeaH THANK YOU GUYS FOR ALMOST 10K READS ON FALLING SLOWLY!!!!! I'M DYING RN. I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT IT HAS BEEN THIS SUCCESSFUL. AHHHHHH THANK YOU GUYSSS!!!

XOXO <3