Guess who's back with a sequel? I've had this sequel idea in my head for a very long time and now I decided to get it started! :D

Anyway, I'm sorry that my chapter is so short. I was out of ideas and I thought I ended it in a kinda cute way. This chapter kind of is more like a prologue than anything, but I don't recall having a prologue in Lie To Me (it's been a while since I reread it; maybe I should do that), so I wanted it to match.

Oh yes, and I'm lacking ideas thus far for what to put as filler things before the plot starts going, so if anyone reading this has any ideas, feel free to let me know if you want something special in here! :)

And also, I'm sorry if I make Zoe come off badly. Even though Riley's changed a bit in this, she still doesn't really like how girly she is. And plus I haven't watched Dinosaur King in forever XD

Well enough of my babbling. I hope you enjoy this first chapter! R&R please!

In The End

—Chapter One: Our Way

"My gosh, Riley, I don't believe how cute you look in that outfit! You'll be turning heads wherever you go! Oh, and it's on sale too!"

Most people probably wouldn't believe how much my life was changed just so I could hear words like those. I wish I could've taken more credit than due me in regards to just get as far as I am. In one aspect, I was like a chess piece. While I may feel significant, in the great scheme of things I was just a little pawn merely used as a minor stepping stone for someone more important to get to his own personal aspiration.

In another aspect, I was like a snowflake. Unique in my own way, but still small and relatively similar to everyone else. But only with the combined effort of others could I grow bigger, and at that point, I'm still just one out of many.

But honestly, I had no room to make my complaints. I had everything I had been searching for. A good home, my own freedom, good friends. And another thing that I wasn't expecting, but still graciously received anyway.

Someone to call mine.

Yeah, I hardly deserve all that I have now. After all that I had done, after finding a way for my new friends to say, "Lie to me. Just lie to me again," I earned forgiveness from them. I didn't expect them to have such compassion, such mercy to come from them, much less to welcome me to their team with great big smiles and arms wide open just for me. Yet they did it all so willingly, so graciously that one wouldn't believe such kindness existed in the world we lived in. Or maybe it was a surprising amount of stupidity that seemed totally nonexistent. It was one, the other, or a combination of the both. The answer? I didn't think God Himself knew.

Whatever it was, it was the very thing that allowed me to be right where I was at that moment; in the middle of a clothes store in the mall with my unofficially-titled "best friend and outfit-picker-outter" Zoe Drake, while wearing something that I wasn't even certain was clothing.

All I knew was that it was tight, pink, and barely covered me.

"There is no way in heck that I'm going to be seen wearing this in public! And you're right when you say I'd be turning heads wherever I went, 'cause at first glance, most people would probably think I wasn't wearing any clothes at all," I stated, frowning at my reflection in the mirror after giving the pink-haired girl beside me a disproving look. "I'm going to change back…" I turned to head back into the dressing room.

"Riley, wait, I just wanna see you in that one more time." Crap. I shoulda known escape wasn't that simple… I mentally noted, turning back around, dropping my down at my side as soon as I realized it had been on my hip. Stupid Zoe for trying to pound girliness into my head… I watched narrow-eyed as she got this creepy glint in her eyes and said over-enthusiastically, "It's all about the sex appeal, Riles!" Riles? That's a new one… "If you walk into your house wearing that, you'll turn. Rex. On!"

I raised my index finger, wishing to put my two cents into the conversation. "Objection." Zoe gave me a look that made me believe she thought that I was going absolutely bonkers. "I think all this outfit will do is make that poor boy hungry. 'Cause doesn't this color remind you of marshmallow peeps?"

Zoe merely stared at me as I returned a wry grin. It was a rather common sight nowadays, but back during my days at Zeta Point, a smile was as legendary as the Big Foot or Nessie or something. But I digress. It wasn't often that I traced back to those times in my head, as they'd put me in a weird little slump that'd force me to go off and sulk in my depression for the remainder of the day.

I shook those thoughts from my head as I realized Zoe had already gone off to find me another outfit that I'd look like a hooker in. I sighed in annoyance. It was so typical I had to wonder why she hadn't gotten bored with playing dress-up with me yet. Oh well. At least I got her to solemnly swear there'd be no hair dye and make-up involved… That would have drained the rest of my dignity, I knew with a great certainty.

Shrinking back into the dressing room before she returned with something worse, I peeled those repulsively-pink clothes off my skin and replaced it with my usual gray hoodie over my white tee and faded jeans. My gray eyes matched pretty well, leaving my blue hair to be the brightness about me, though even that was even a hint darker than my brother's.

My brother…Seth… I grimaced at the thought of the life I had left behind me. I hadn't spoken to my brother for months, not since I bailed on the mission I had been sent to Japan to complete. This had surprised me. I would've thought that he'd have tried to send me back to that prison I once called home or tried to get revenge or at least something a little Sethy. The fact that he had just left me alone to live my own life brought me that small amount of faith that some good in him still remained.

I heard a loud, rapid-fire pounding on my dressing room door and Zoe's voice coming out urgent from the other side, "Riley, I found you something you have to try on! It'd look perfect on you!" First, define perfect. Second, I don't have to try on anything. And it was like she had read my mind. Somehow, she could do that when it came to things like these. "FYI, you plus this outfit equals perfect! And I don't want you going around in those grubby clothes all the time, which is why it's imperative for you to try this on!"

How does she do that? Did she put a chip or something into my head while I was sleeping? Instead of spending time pondering about my pink-haired friend's mind-reading skills, I walked out of the dressing room, almost hitting Zoe with the door in the process (an inch away from knocking her out cold. So close…), and right out of the store. I looked at my watch; a new record for how long I was able to stand playing dress-up with Zoe. Haha, a personal best. That's one for the books.

I headed for the sporting goods store a short distance away, dodging other shoppers all along the way. I had grown quite fond of the sport of soccer, it being a popular pastime amongst my new friends (though my poor boy always being stuck as the goalie wasn't his favorite occurrence). And as I headed to the section that displayed all of the soccer gear, I stumbled across one of these said soccer fanatics, who also happened to be hiding from Zoe and her shopping addiction.

I pretended to be distracted with some of the gear, which by some dumb chance happened to be just socks (-_-), so maybe he wouldn't notice me and start talking—"Yo, Riles!" Crap, you too? What is with you people today with altering my name?

I turned and acted as if I had just taken in his presence. "Oh, Max…uh, yo." I gave him a cheesy smile, not used to using his own sort of lingo. He was one of those people, much like me, that had changed in the last few months. Not quite in the same way as me, but he was still significantly more manageable than he was before.

As it turned out, having and overly-messy room had its consequences. Going through all of his crap in there (with gas masks and rubber gloves in tow is probably important to add), we stumbled across some sort of moldy food that had mold growing on its mold. Intense scientific testing led us to believe that it used to be some kind of cheese, but there was absolutely no way we could be certain of this hypothesis. Anyway, it created massive fumes that this oblivious brown-haired teenager unknowingly took in every moment he was in his room, making him nothing short of the definition of loony.

But, lucky for us all, his nutso-ness (Is that even a word?) was easily and safely curable. A newly-refurnished room now on the second floor of the Taylor household, some extremely powerful meds, and he was good to go.

…But we never did figure out how he managed to burn the water.

He returned my grin with one of his own that held his naturally-wild personality up for display. "Finally got away?" he questioned, sounding rather pleased that I had decided to hang with over the only other girl in our little posse. Girliness was never really deeply embedded in my genes, as I had never been close to Ursula back at Zeta Point and she had been the priss of the Alpha Gang.

"Yeah. Thankfully. You neglecting your shopping-bag-carrying duties?" I retorted with a small chuckle to myself. The only true reason Max was here at the mall, a place that hardly satisfied his interests, was so Zoe would have someone to carry the bags holding all of her purchases, and it seemed like this poor sucker was that unfortunate candidate. I thought it may be because she wanted to spend time with him because she liked him or something, but if that were the case, his escape wouldn't have been as easy as it was. Sometimes that girl confused me.

"Yep!" He showed all his teeth in his beaming and his brown eyes sparkled with excitement. He was hyped up with contagious ambition, and the way he could show off all these emotions with a single, simple expression he put on his face ever so easily was just astounding. Although, this made him the most open of books I've ever encountered, and that wasn't always the best of features.

"Think again, Max!" Zoe had managed to materialize out of seemingly nowhere and gave the brunette all of her purchases. And when I say that she gave them to him, I mean she pretty much threw them at him like an overpowering avalanche that knocking him to the floor from all of the weight. Heh, the poor sap… "Neglecting your job encourages laziness! And we want you to have a strong, dedicated character! Right, Riles?"

I jumped to attention, not expecting that she was going to ask me to agree with her. "Uh…sure?" My eyes darted back and forth between them, uncertain what to do. Sure, Zoe made some sense with her words, but Max and I had to stick together, since we were both slaves of this pink-haired teen's shopping spree wishes. It was almost like a pact: One loser for another.

"O-kay! We're done for today!" Did you just try to rhyme? "Come on, guys!" Zoe's tone severely changed to her sweet, innocent voice and her eyes disappeared when she smiled. She grabbed me by the wrist and led me out like I was a lost puppy. But this didn't surprise me; actually her army-general-roughness was a typical thing that made me wonder just how gullible I really was.

"And how 'bout we get some take-out for everyone for lunch? I know of a great Chinese place that actually happens to be on the way home!" Whenever she asked a question in that sort of manner, it was a rhetorical inquiry. She might as well have just told us we're picking up Chinese, rather than sounding like she cared if we wanted it or not, because it seemed that when she was like this, everything she said was immediately carved into stone like a distinct command.

But in all honesty, I really must digress. Even though I've been making her sound like a bossy jerk-face, her intentions were usually pretty good and selfless. We were just two completely different people with colliding personalities, and so it was usually uncommon for her to not get on my last nerve and jump up and down on it. But I thought that was just her way of saying that she liked me deep, deep down; although, I could've been very, very wrong.

I loved the feeling I always got when I opened the front door to the Taylor household. I felt that it was where I truly belonged, where I was sincerely, perpetually welcomed to. It was the one location I could honestly call home. Because home is where the heart is. This was the place that I actually found my heart.

I knew I was home as soon as I saw him. That silky, sleek, blonde hair that I loved to run my fingers through, that swept so fluidly with every motion of his head, that got my breath caught up in my throat when wet. Those beautiful, crystalline cerulean eyes that shimmered like a thousand cut sapphires, holding every emotion with the radiance of the blue, blue moon. He held the very likeness of an angel.

He was my angel.

"Hey, Riley." His voice got my heart pounding at double-rate, like drums resounding in my head. I loved those notes that hit my ears whenever those warm, soft lips moved. They were just as honey-sweet as they had been the day I met him those months ago; he still put me under that same hypnotizing spell that made me simply crazy for him.

"Rex. You're the first one to say my name right today." I smiled up at him, looking into his eyes that were deep like the seas. I felt my chest jolt when he touched my hand. His touch was light and soothing as his fingers traced delicately up to my wrist. He knew how I felt about his touch, so he slid his index and middle in a circular pattern. This was our way of keeping our relationship in relative secrecy from most people, little inconspicuous actions.

Note how I said 'most'. It meant some knew of our current status. And unfortunately, "it just so happened" to not include Zoe. And another unlucky thing was she wanted us to have this big, Romeo and Juliet sort of thing going on.

…And we didn't.

So that being said, as Rex was sending me up to cloud nine with his calming touch, we were abruptly interrupted with Zoe squealing like a creepy, love-obsessed fangirl and exclaiming, reaching octaves never before heard of, "Awww! You two are just so cute! Riley, just imagine how much hotter things would've been if you were in that outfit I picked out for you!"

I stared hard at her, my eyes narrowed to show that hint of annoyance that dwelled in me. But then I glanced back at my boy, my lips curved upward slightly, and I shrugged indifferently as if saying, 'Oh well, what are ya gonna do?'

At an unfamiliar sound, we all turned our attention away from the current awkwardness in order to see Max stumbling into the house, panting in exhaustion from being a hopeless pack mule for Zoe all day. At the sight of us all gazing at him with puzzled expressions, he slapped a cheesy grin onto his face and said, "Hey…I got Chinese!" With that, he dropped all but the take-out and headed for the kitchen (making Zoe glower in accordance with his laziness).

I followed suit and entered the clean, off-white kitchen. I went to the cabinet and got out four plates and glasses. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor (they didn't like me using formalities with them, telling me to call them Spike and Aki, but I felt rather strange doing so) were both out for the day most of the time lately, leaving us to fend for ourselves. We didn't really mind it, as long as we each did our share. Any sluggish, weak link usually wasn't fed. It sounded like a worse system than it really was and was actually quite effective.

After dropping the proper amount of chopsticks into the glasses for easy transportation, I carried everything out to the dining room. I noticed Rex and Zoe had cleaned off the table and neatly arranged the chairs, two on each side and one on each end like it was how it was supposed to be. This was one of those houses that got messy very quickly, so everything stated was an important step in meal preparation.

Everything put into place, the Chinese food boxes placed in the center of the table, we all sat down at our usual lunchtime seats. Zoe next to Max on one side of the table, Rex next to me (isn't that obvious?) on the other. The three little dinosaurs that were also in our little circle called the D-Team, Chomp, Ace, and Paris, were off doing whatever they felt like, which most of the time was a total mystery to me.

We dished out what we wanted for a first helping, said our thanks, and then proceeded with enjoying our meal. I had to crack a hardly noticeable smirk as I used my chopsticks in my left hand, glancing at the blonde boy on my right. He was eating with his right and gazing back at me out of the very corner of his eye. Sometimes the secrecy of our way was sweet and enjoyable, in a distinct way that really made the butterflies take to flight in my stomach. Rex always had the best ideas.

Out of sight, under the cover of the table, our hands were touching, our fingers interlaced.