Kristy Boyce
1. Riley borrowed her mom’s car to drive her and her best friend, Hoshiko, to a musical out of town even though she doesn’t have a licenses. Her punishment is that she has to work at her dad’s game store for eight weeks. Shannon (mom) drops her off and things are cold between the parents as the store was a contributing factor to their divorce. Riley feels like her dad chose the store over her and Shannon. Joel (dad) welcomes her and shows her inside. When he goes to help a customer, Riley talks to a kid about Pokémon before asking his parents if he can have a sucker. She goes behind the counter to get him one, but sees Nathan, a kid from school, come behind the counter and take some cards. She tries to stop him, but the kid asks for a sucker. Joel comes back to her to show her the game room where people play. He introduces her to Nathan, but has to go talk with a vendor. She confronts Nathan on the cards and he tells her he works there and paid for them. She is embarrassed for jumping to conclusions. He is not happy they she (as someone who doesn’t game at all) will be working there.
2. At school, Riley enjoys her music class. Her ex-boyfriend, Paul, had broken up with her over the summer because he wouldn’t have time for her while he was in the community theater production. She tells him she is fine and has moved on. She tells him she even has a job. At the end of the class, there is an announcement in that since the music director has retired, they will be cancelling the musical. Riley’s dream of being the student director seems lost . As she talks over the situation with Hoshiko, Paul points out that many students are going to the teacher to complain. Riley thinks she has an idea, but decides to plan it all out before talking to the teacher about. The final bell for the day rings and she has to go meet her dad to be picked up for work.
3. Riley shuts down her dad’s attempts to converse about school on the way to the shop. When they get there, Nathan is there early for a Warhammer session. Joel has him help her figure out the new inventory. When the game starts, Riley is left up front alone to deal with customers. A disgruntled customer comes in with an opened game saying a piece is missing. When he refuses to to take store credit, Riley goes to get her dad. Joel leaves Nathan in charge of the game. A boy named Lucas calls Riley over and introduces her to Anthony (who flirts with her) and John (gay and has no interest in her as a non-gaming person). A girl named Sophia comes in 1.5 hours late and sits with them. When Lucas introduces her to Riley, so asks if she will be joining them. Riley says she is just working for her dad and mentions how she and Nathan don’t get along. Sophia seems to get jealous and goes over to Nathan to flirt. Riley goes back out to the store front. When the game is over, they boys go through the store to leave. Nathan hangs back to talk to Sophia who doesn’t seem interested in him. Lucy’s and the others says Sophia just wants whatever she can’t have, but Nathan is smitten. When Nathan approaches, they quickly change the subject.
4. Riley has a movie night with her mom and tells her about how the Spring Musical at school has been cancelled. When Riley says she is working on a plan to keep it alive, her mom tells her she needs to focus on earning her parents’ trust back. Riley says she will, but secretly still plans to continue. The next time she is at work, Paul brings in his girlfriend, Lainey, who starred opposite him in the community theater production of the Music Man. Riley becomes flustered when Paul keeps asking if she is okay with them being there. She tells him she has moved on and is dating Nathan. When he appears from the back room, she acts flirty with him and presses her lips against his arm. She tells him to be cool, but when they are back in the stock room, he asks her what is going on.
5. Riley explains the situation with Paul to Nathan and he can already see what her idea is going to be before she says it. She points out that Sophia was hanging all over him the other day because he thought Riley was interested. He admits he has wondered about it. He doesn’t think she will be able to pull it off based on how everything just went. She assures him she can act. He goes back to the stockroom while she continues to shelve more board games. Lucas comes in and asks if she has given any more thought to joining their D&D game. She tells him she would have to ask her dad. Lucas calls for Joel in the back room and he appears. They discuss it and decide it is a good idea because it will help her understand the products better and she gets to practice her acting in role playing. When Nathan finds out, he asks to speak to her in private. He asks her what she is doing and not to ruin the game he loves. She tells him it wasn’t my her idea. He agrees to her plan to make Sophia jealous and starts flirting with her. She is surprised and thinks he is serious at first. When she hesitates, he tells her she is going to have to do better at fake flirting for their story to be believable.
6. The guys help Riley pick out a class and race. She decides to be a human bard named Elphaba and fills out a character sheet. They start the game and decide to start their quest rather than waiting around for their rogue, Sophia. Their party meets Riley’s character, but Nathan is reluctant to let her join. She uses a persuasion spell on him and sings the first verse of Say My Name from the Beetlejuice musical. The rest of the room applauds when she is done. Nathan tries to roll to avoid her spell, but he fails. Elphaba joins their party and Riley is having fun.
7. Riley spends the weekend at her dad’s apartment and spends most of the time researching to try to save the spring musical. On Monday, she shows the choir teacher, Miss Sahni, all of the notes she has been taking. Miss Sahni admits she doesn’t like the arts being cuts. She says Riley will have to do most of the leg work in a big presentation to convince the administration that they are serious and should still have the musical. She says she will set up the meeting for after homecoming because she is already swamped with that committee. Riley is excited to get a chance to argue for the arts, but tries to hide her nervousness at presenting to the administration. Miss Sahni warns her it will be an uphill battle. Riley texted Hoshiko after she leaves. They agree to meet at her dad’s shop Saturday morning to discuss things before her dad gets there.
8. Sophia shows up at the next game night and Nathan wants to back out of their deal. When he doesn’t run up to greet her, they notice Sophia’s behavior changes toward Nathan. The game starts and Nathan decides to protect Riley’s character over Sophia’s. They flirt back and forth throughout the night. When it’s time to close, Joel asks Riley to help with the register and Nathan follows. When Lucas asks them what is going on, Riley has to stop him from explaining because Sophia is approaching. She mentions her character wants to date Nathan’s and then asks him to walk her out to her car. Riley watches him go and tells herself she will have to warn him about giving into Sophia too much. The others ask Riley what is going on between her and Nathan. She doesn’t have time to explain before Joel kicks them out so she can finish at the registers.
9. Saturday morning starts out quiet with Nathan and Riley sitting in the store. Nathan paints one of his figures and tells Riley how well it went when he walked Sophia to her car. She kissed his cheek. Hoshiko comes to the shop with homemade hot chocolate. Riley asks if he minds if they go to the back room to work and he tells her to go ahead. Hoshiko demands to know what’s going on between her and Nathan and Riley tells her. They then lay out a time line of what they need to do and the key dates for the production. A few minutes before her dad is due to show up, she goes out to the counter. Lucas and his dad come in and Hoshiko joins them. Lucas demands what is going on and Nathan tells him the truth. Lucas invites Hoshiko to join their game to watch everything blow up in their faces and she agrees. Nathan is reluctant, but Lucas shoots him a glare because he clearly likes her.
10. Back at school, Paul approaches Riley at lunch and starts apologizing for bringing Lainey to her dad’s shop so soon after their break up. Riley tells him she is fine. Nathan finds her and comes over. He puts his arm around her waist and Paul is shocked they act like an actual couple . When they walk away to get Pizza, they both admit they had fun. They sit at a table alone so they can lay down some ground rules for their arrangement. They agree that a pinch is a signal that they are uncomfortable with something going on.
11. Riley’s mom picks her up from school on Tuesday. Riley tells her about how her dad has been telling his regulars about her. Her mom encourages her to have a relationship with her dad before dropping her off at the store. When she walks in, she sees Nathan talking to Sophia. Riley tells him lunch was fun and he agrees high giving her over their alliance of frosted pop tarts against Lucas and Anthony’s unfrosted preference. Riley jokes that if she had a car, she would go by a box of frosted ones to eat during their game that night. Nathan says he will ask her dad and drive them. Sophia walks away. Nathan comes back and says Joel asked them to get diet pop for the store. Riley asks why he would get diet when he hates it. Nathan says he is trying to change his diet per the doctor’s orders. They joke around on their way to the store and split up to get what they need. By the time they make it back to Swords and Board Games, Riley thinks they have actually become friends.
12. When the game is getting ready to start, Nathan and Riley show off their box of frosted Pop-tarts. Hoshiko shows up and Riley can tell Lucas likes her. She encourages Lucas to help Hoshiko create her own bard character. Sophia tells Nathan that she finished the first Wheel of Time book and they start talking about it. When she asks Nathan to help her pick out a new set of dice, he agrees to go. The others tell Riley that Sophia strings Nathan along to get him to buy her things. They want her to stop him from buying Sophia anything. She goes out to the counter and tells him not to buy something for Sophia. She tells him to pick out a set of dice for her instead and she will pay him back later. She kisses his cheek and leaves them to go back to the others. When Nathan and Sophia return, Nathan drops a bag of dice in front of Riley. Sophia says they were overpriced and she’ll order online. Riley looks at her dice and they are very colorful with gold numbers. She loves them. She thanks him and puts her head on his shoulder in appreciation.
13. After choir, Ms. Sihni asks to talk to Riley about her progress in the musical presentation. Riley gives her a packet of papers with research on three different musicals they could potentially pull off. Ms. Sihni points out they dropped the musical due to low interest and even Riley can’t change people’s minds about that. She starts to head outside and spots Nathan. They walk together and end up talking outside. He suddenly backs her against the wall and starts flirting. When she asks, he tells her Paul just walked out. He uses his hand to move her chin so she keeps looking at him. She thinks he is about to kiss her when her dad calls out to them. They jump apart and she rushes to his car. He seems glad she is friends with Nathan, but thinks he might have seen too much she doesn’t want to explain. She asks him what his favorite of her tiles has been. He says he has loved them all, but when she played the little girl in Mary Poppins was his favorite. She hadn’t realized he had even been there to see it. He starts talking about how he hopes she decides to continue working at the shop even after her punishment is over. She knows she won’t be able to if she gets her way for the musical.
14. At the store, Riley gives Nathan more than enough money to cover the dice he bought for her. He tries to refuse, but she insists. Nathan notices Riley has painted her nails to match her new dice and says she did a good job. Joel sees them like that with her hand in his and calls them back to his office. He is happy that they are dating; but Riley tries to tell him they are just friends. He doesn’t believe them and tells them to keep things appropriate in front of the customers. When they get back out in the floor, Riley makes a joke about her dad trying to marry them off. They make jokes about a pottery wedding cake. Neither of them like lying to Joel, but they admit, telling him their plan doesn’t seem like an option. They decide to continue on as they have been.
15. Riley and Hoshiko have gotten signatures of 40 students they said they would be interested in auditioning for a musical. When they sit down for lunch, Lucas suggests they get those people to put on a number for the board to convince them. Riley admits it is a great idea, but doesn’t know how she would find the time to complete the task in three weeks. Nathan takes a Riley’s hand and kisses it. The table groans and Riley scolds them saying they will give them away. They start talking about Homecoming. Nathan says he will not go and Riley should just tell Paul she has to work since she isn’t sure if her mom would even let her go. When Riley asks Lucas if he would go, he says he might. Riley and Hoshiko take off for the bathroom. Hishiko admits she thinks she wants to go to the dance with Lucas. She asks Riley about her feelings for Nathan and Riley admits they exist. Hoshiko tells her she thinks Nathan would go to homecoming with her if she asked right. Riley isn’t sure how Nathan is feeling about it all.
16. Riley has picked out two songs from Shrek the Musical so they can showcase as many talents as possible in their presentation. She ends up casting Paul as the lead. She starts handing out copies and Paul offers to help. He makes a comment about not letting anyone make her second guess herself. She wonders if people are actually saying she can’t do it or if he is just trying to get into her head. She wishes Nathan could come to a rehearsal, but she knows that would be too distracting for her
17. Tiley has been staying after school a bit to “practice for Ms. Sihni” but is actually using the time for her proposal rehearsal. That Saturday, Nathan runs a Pokémon tournament in the back room and Sophia joins him about half way through. Riley’s mom calls to say she is dealing with a few problem clients and will be late. She asks Riley about Nathan and Riley insists they are just friends, but mentions he is a great guy and can see how her dad would want her to be with someone like him. Riley’s mom agrees to have Nathan take her home that night as a trial run for him taking her to the store after school. After hanging up with her mom, she goes up to Nathan and Sophia to ask Nathan if he can drive her home. He says he can and tells Sophia they can get ice cream some other time. Sophia leaves and Nathan and Riley go to tell Joel the arrangement. Joel is in some pain, but says it is just from lifting too many boxes. Nathan takes Riley on a detour to show her the holiday house that has so many Halloween decorations the lawn is not visible. She is taking it all in when a man comes out of the house dressed like Michael Meyers and carrying a knife. They hurry out of there not wanting to wait to see if the knife was fake. They laugh about it together when they have some distance. He says if she is still around, he’ll show her the creepy Easter bunnies in the spring.
18. Riley works with her volunteers on the singing, acting, and movements while Hoshiko teaches some basic choreography. They have a week and a half until the presentation and she thinks they’ll get there. Paul stays after to show her the Shrek mask he has and how it muffles his voice. She makes a few suggestions. He follows her out and offers to drop her off at the store on rehearsal days. She declines. Ms. Sihni calls her over and she is relieved to leave Paul behind. Ms. Sihni has been watching Riley directing her peers and is impressed. She asks if Riley would be interested in helping her coach the younger kids in choir for an upcoming performance. Riley says she is interested, but will have to talk to her parents about it.
19. Riley’s parents agree to unground her early after the next week and let her go to homecoming. She spends the weekend with her dad and is allowed to have her friends over to watch movies on Sunday. Hoshiko shows up early and they watch Hairspray together. They are singing and dancing along when the boys arrive and clap at the end. Lucas and Hishiko announce they are going to homecoming together. Someone makes a comment about Nathan going with Riley, but he starts the movie to stop them. Joel orders them pizza. Riley asks if Nathan will go to the musical if she gets it going again and he says he might be able to be persuaded. They flirt some more until the others point out they don’t have to do it since no one they are trying to make jealous is there. Riley blushes and goes back to her pizza.
20. One day after lunch, Nathan follows Riley to her locker. He thinks they should pretend date all the time to make it seem more natural. She asks about Sophia and takes the opportunity to tell him he deserves better than her. He gets closer to her and a teacher tells him to get to class. He heads off and Tiley is flustered for the rest of the day. After rehearsal, Paul comes up to talk to her. She tells him she doesn’t have a lot of time because Nathan is picking her up. She continues outside where he is waiting for her. He comes up to them and Paul asks if he’ll see them at homecoming. Riley is about to tell him no when Nathan says he will. They get to the car and Nathan takes back roads to get to the shop quicker. He asks Riley if she is considering taking Paul back, but she is disgusted by the idea. He understands how Paul’s arrogance drives her crazy and admits he likes doing the opposite of what he expects, including going to homecoming with her. She agrees to it, but is starting to worry about when this will end and she has already fallen too hard not to get hurt.
21. Nathan keeps up with acting like Riley’s boyfriend. Before their D&D game on Friday night, Nathan is running his hands down her hair and arms. He says he loves when she messes with him. She pinches him and tells him it is too far. He is confused by what he did wrong. She tells him they can flirt with insults, but not straight up lying. He tells her he wasn’t, but she tells him she doesn’t have the energy for it that night. She doesn’t buff his paladin during the game and he shifts his focus away from her. When homecoming is brought up, Riley says she and Nathan are only going as friends. She leaves them at the end of the game to help her dad close up. Nathan and Sophia stay behind. The rest of the group ask Riley what she is doing and she tells them she saw the opportunity for Nathan and Sophia to get together, so she stepped back. She tries to act like she is fine. Sophia is smiling when she leaves. Nathan says she asked him to her homecoming the next weekend and he said yes. Riley says she is happy for him. She tells him he doesn’t have to go to her dance, but he insists knowing her dad would be mad at him if he cancelled on her last minute. She tells him she can deal with Paul on his own, but he says he might slip back into the boyfriend role if Paul gets too annoying.
22. Riley and Hoshiko spend Saturday getting ready for the homecoming dance. When Riley’s mom calls them down, the boys are there as well as the parents. Riley is shocked to see Nathan in a suit and asks about his parents. He says they had to work, but thinks his mom felt guilty about it and spent a lot of on the suit because of it. He tells Riley she looks perfect. They let the parents take pictures and then go to dinner. Anthony joins them with his date. Later, John and Jordan join them in their LARPing costumes. Riley is amazed they made them themselves. When they get to the school parking lot, Paul is getting out of his borrowed BMW at the same time Riley and Nathan are getting out of his car. Nathan mumbles under his breath takes her hand and then apologizes because he doesn’t want to do anything to make her uncomfortable. She tells him they are just there to have fun and there are no rules that night.
23. They go in and start dancing. Hishiko and Lucas have been working on a choreographed song together they dance to. Nathan asks Riley to a slow dance and she agrees. They end up kissing, but when Riley opens her eyes, she sees Paul. She realizes that just be why Nathan kissed her and excuses herself to the bathroom. Paul finds her on the way and tells her he wants to get back together with her. She is shocked silent and he tries to kiss her. She turns her cheek to him and tells him they are over. She makes her way to the bathroom.
24. Hishiko comes into the bathroom to help Riley fix her makeup and get her back out to the dance. When they get back to their friends, Anthony tells the girls to come dance with them. Riley sends Hoshiko with them and stays to talk to Nathan. She tells him she is calling off the arrangement. He did well enough to make Paul regret dumping her and he has his date with Sophia. She tells him heartens are lifting the punishment and she will be stepping back from the store and the game because the musical will be her main focus for a while. He asks how long she has known she would be ungrounded and she tells him a week, but she just made her decision that night. She gets up to dance with the others. Nathan asks if she can get a ride home with Hoshiko and she says yes. He goes home.
25. When they get back to Riley’s house, her mom had snacks spread out across the counter far them and asks about the dance. Riley tries to bring the focus back to Hoshiko and Lucas. The next day when her mom comes to talk to her, she sees Riley’s papers for her musical presentation. She comes clean and tells her mom everything. Her mom is disappointed that she lied to her, but impressed with all the work she has done. She tells Riley she has to tell her dad in person that she plans to quit working at the store. She drives Riley to his apartment and asks Joel to drive her home after. Riley tells her dad about everything that is going on and that she won’t have time to keep working at the store if the musical is revived. He is upset that he will be losing the time with her, but says he loves to watch her perform. She asks why he tells everyone about it except her. She is mad that he refuses to bond with her unless it’s at his store. He points out she and her mom put up walls. He accepts her notice of leaving the store and takes her home.
26. Riley spends the next few days avoiding Nathan and the store. Hoshiko begs her to come to D&D, but she cannot face her father either. The day of the presentation comes and Hoshiko tells Riley the costumes didn’t get done and the narrator is out with strep throat. They decide to work on what they can at lunch. In their next class, Arlen’s called down to the office. Her mom tells her over the phone that her dad is in the hospital. Riley asks her to pick her up on her way there. They sit and don’t know much because tests are being run. Hoshiko tells Riley to stay at the hospital and they will take care of the presentation. Nathan texts asking if he should skip school and come find her. She politely tells him no, but decides she will have to tell him how she feels about him.
27. It is a few hours before a Riley and her mom, Shannon, are able to go in to se Joel. He had a heart attack scare and Neil be out on cholesterol medication and needs to make some lifestyle changes. Shannon leaves them along to talk. Riley apologizes for the things she said to him the last time she saw him. She apologizes for being selfish and tells him she will keep working at the store to help reduce his stress. He tells her he wants her to spend her evening a how she wants. He admits he is kind of glad she took her mother’s car and got punished because it has really helped their relationship. He apologizes for not making more of an effort previously. He says they can do stuff outside of the store and promises to take her to a musical when he gets out. Riley is so relieved, she is finally able to relax and she hugs him.
28. Riley is sitting with her dad and he asks about how the musical planning is going. She tells him they will know soon because the meeting will take place in a few minutes. He insists she go to the meeting and calls Shannon to take her. She doesn’t want to leave her dad, but both her parents assure her he’ll be fine. She gets to the auditorium in time to see both performances (with Lucas narrating) and is surprised to find the fairy tale creature have some costumes to define their characters. Afterwards, Riley has a chance to present the information in her folder. The principal tells her she should go back stage with her friends while they discuss the matter. Riley goes backstage to find Hoshiko with the rest of their friends. They say Nathan encouraged all of them to help. Riley is called back out to be given an answer and her friends come with her. They each speak out that they will help out with whatever they can. Nathan comes in with a few of the shop regulars that are willing to donate time and resources. Shannon says she will be able to donate and she is sure Joel will as well. They announce they will have the musical as they were able to demonstrate the community interest. Shannon leads Joel’s friends out to fill them in on his condition before she goes back o the hospital to tell him the good news. Riley assures her she will be able to find a ride home.
29. Riley thanks everyone and they start to clear out until it is just her and Nathan left. He offers to driver her to the hospital taking the long way. They race out of the building and into his car. Riley blurts out that she is crazy about him and has been for a while. He says he feels the same way since the night he bought her the dice and she kissed him on the cheek. He has been making excuses to be near her since. He says he loves her and she says she loves him.
SIX MONTH LATER
Riley has gotten her license and everyone helps out with the school musical as they said they would. Hoshiko is the lead in Legally Blonde. Riley and Nathan are going to Prom together and he tries ti guess what her dress is like because she said she cannot drive in it. When they get to the store, she gives her dad a kiss on the cheek before they head back to the game room to join the others. Joel complains about his new diet. They moved their game night so Jordan can join them. He keeps their new DM, Johnny, from going to power crazy. Riley tells Nathan her prom dress is red (both of their favorite color).