𝐓𝐎𝐎 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 » ғᴀʀᴋʟᴇ ᴍɪɴᴋᴜs

five

smackle continued for him. "the patriots desperately wanted reinforcements, but reinforcements never came."

"what happened to 'em?" matthews asked.

"they stayed in their fortress and gave everybody a friendly smile, and eventually, they walked upstairs." misha said. she didn't actually believe that happened. she just hoped it did.

"they were massacred." mr. matthews told her. she looked to her feet underneath the desk, only to turn her head up and see farkle staring at her.

"then they walked upstairs?" riley asked. misha had faith, but riley had so much faith in the world that it made misha look unfaithful.

"no, but that battle gave birth to a slogan. what was the slogan?"

"remember the alamo," farkle mumbled before cory could say "remember the alamo!"

"and why do we remember the alamo? lucas, zay, a duet."

lucas stood up next to zay, who shot up as soon as his name was called. "because the patriots gave their lives for a greater good. that battle had only just begun, and some years later that land became ours, and the name of that land was..." lucas said, waiting for zay to speak.

"texas!"

marly stood up and pointed to mr. matthews. "stop it!" she shouted.

"right, texas, your home. so, guys, that's why we remember the alamo and why we remember all the battles that we fight in an effort to make a new place our home. now, you can stay massacred or you can realize the battle has just begun." cory taught.

"we were kings, matthews," maya frowned as she spoke.

"kingdoms fall. everyone who believes they're gonna rule the world falls. everyone who believes they're strong eventually comes up against someone that's stronger. and every patriot fighting for a cause, they're only as strong as the cause they're fighting for.
what's the cause you're fighting for?" cory spoke in words that flow so well. he knew how to get the teens in his room to think; to really think.

mr. matthews gave the class the last five minutes so he could grade papers.

riley turned to maya. "they won't even look at us." maya scoffed. "i don't blame them."

"it's my fault," riley told them something she had been thinking for the whole week.

"what did we do?"

"we didn't go after them, maya. they left. we stayed behind. we got to keep more eyes on me. sometimes i go too full-on-riley." riley was beating herself up over this.

misha stayed silent as riley and maya spoke. she was listening, just too sad to talk. she missed friday night study sessions with farkle, when they'd actually be watching pokemon.

after school ended, riley, misha, and maya were headed to topanga's for a snack and homework. it was friday and the whole week sucked for all three of them.

they sat on the benches, scuffing the bottoms of their shoes. the door opened and they felt people standing over them.

"look at us," lucas told them. they didn't. "look at us," farkle repeated. "we're sorry."