𝐓𝐎𝐎 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 » ғᴀʀᴋʟᴇ ᴍɪɴᴋᴜs

six

"i'm just gonna put down whatever," maya started typing on her computer, but riley stopped her by slamming the lid on her fingertips. "no, our profile on the abigail adams high school social network is who we are in high school and it'll follow us into college and into our careers and into my marriage and into your five."

misha rolled her eyes at how dramatic riley was being. "she's not going to have five marriages," misha said to reassure maya.

"she was married to farkle for six weeks," riley countered. she grabbed maya's hand. "may he rest in peace."

"i'll tell you right now the boy died happy." maya told them. misha scoffed, looking back on her laptop. riley let go of her best friend's hand to do the same. "shall we begin?"

"name. maya penelope hart," maya grinned. "really?" misha asked. misha would never put her full name out there, she thought her middle name was embarrassing.

"i've decided to embrace it." misha smiled and continued typing. "riley matthews. interests." riley stopped. misha looked up to riley, who was sitting at the top step. "why'd you stop, riles?"

"i don't know my interests." she huffed. riley knew her interests, just as misha knew this was something she'd blow way out of proportion. misha wasn't upset at this; at least her life wasn't as boring as it used to be.

"you can think of your interests. you're just worried that your interests aren't interesting and your profile will bore the whole school," maya told riley. she beamed in response. "why are you only smart when it's at me?"

"just skip it and go to the ones you know. like favorite movie." misha said. she filled that out easily. clueless.

riley shook her head. "why?" maya asked. "maya, what if people here don't share my passion for farm animals who save the day?"

"why do you care about what people think?" misha asked. "that's all i do," riley responded.

maya sighed. "well, i think no one else knows what to write either," riley shrugged.

misha ignored what riley said. this was easy for her. she only cared about two people's opinions— one of those people being herself. favorite song. mowgli's road.

"why is this so hard for you?" she didn't mean to speak out loud, she just did. "when one makes a decision, one must consider the consequences of one's choice."

"listen, i think you should just be yourself. there won't be any consequences if you make the right decisions, riles. i'm gonna go find smackle," misha told her. she folded her laptop and walked away.

about an hour later, misha was walking to class with farkle. people were talking a lot more than usual, so the two stopped. "jexica says everything i'm thinking," one girl said.

misha exchanged a glance with farkle. "jexica?" she said. he shrugged. they approached yogi, but he didn't make any sense. "i went to summer camp with her."

"this had to be riley," farkle said. misha nodded in agreement before heading to class.

—

after school, farkle and misha met up at the front steps as they did every day. they walked over to misha's to do homework. most of the trip was silent except when farkle would mention something he learned.

"hey dad, we'll just be in my room if you need anything!" misha tried to get into her room with farkle before her father could mention anything, but she was stopped. "dammit!" she whispered under her breath.