Ari POV:
"What kind of teacher is your father supposed to be? I'm going to fail this assignment and he's going to cost me my noble prize" Smackle says as Zay and I walk outside alongside her. "Does he know what he's doing?"
"Yes, he does. Finches and mockingbirds, his boat was the beagle, and for extra credit Galapagos" Maya says.
"Charles Darwin" Farkle says softly.
"How do you know the theory of evolution?" Smackle asks her shocked as Lucas comes behind me wrapping me in his arms and kissing my neck.
"Because I failed it. I know it because I failed it, but he made sure I knew it because he knew I'd need it someday. He's a great teacher, he's the best there is" Maya says looking at Smackle.
"And like always he's just trying to get us to evolve" Riley says softly as we sit there taking in the moment.
Lucas POV:
After we gathered together outside and discussed the importance of the assignment we all moved into different groups. Riley and Maya had left to go talk to Topanga. Smackle went to go work on other assignments. The boys, my wonderful girlfriend and I went to come up with a plan to show Farkle that Smackle only liked him.
That's why I'm handing outside ready to start the plan as the rest hide behind the counter to overhear what happens. I shake my arms around and sigh before heading inside, I love helping my friends but I hate how whenever people in the group have problems, it's me who has to act like I like the girls in order to fix them. I love Ari and right now I just wanna take her back to her place so we can cuddle and take a nap like I promised her.
"Hi" I say sitting next to Smackle causing her to jump.
"Hello" she says looking around. "There are lots of empty seats around, and yet you are sitting very close."
"Oh. Does that bother you?" I say looking at her.
"Well as you know, I don't like to be sat right next to except for Farkle" Smackle responds nervously.
"You have very nice eyes" I say trying to flirt even though I haven't had to flirt in years. Yup I've been dating Ari for four years and calling her adorable all the time is about as much as I flirt besides all the complements I say to her because come on my girl is amazing.
"Okay. They formed in utero, starting with my optic nerves and then my retinas" She says.
"So it's okay with you if I just stay right here, right?" I ask her.
"Well, you know, Farkle's not here and your kinda invading my personal space like a Hun" She tells me still kinda shocked at what was happening.
"If Farkle was here, you would be making a joke like I was hitting on you" I say seriously. "And now, here we are. Finally alone. And there is something I want to admit to you."
"You're hot for my mind" Smackle asks.
"No" I respond sort of quickly.
"You mean you only see me as a steaming cauldron of woman?" She asks.
"Okay" I say.
"Lucas Friar my heart belongs to someone else" she tells me softly.
"Say it louder" I tell her.
"Must I torture you?" She asks confused.
"Would you please" I respond.
"I just always say those things because I guess I'm a little insecure that Farkle doesn't really, really like me as much as he says, so I guess I'm just trying to protect myself" Smackle admits before Farkle pops up from behind the counter.
"You don't have to Isadora. I like you exactly as much as I say. It's possible I might even like you more than like you. I don't know, right now that's just a hypothesis" Farkle says from behind the counter as I smile at the two.
"Based on what?" Smackle asks before Zay pops out.
"Should have seen how nervous he was from back here" Zay responds.
"I think we're a perfect match" Farkle tells her as he walks over to sit next to her.
"You do?" She asks.
"Yeah. Lucas and Ari knew how you really felt, but I wasn't sure. You can go now" Farkle says as before I start to get up.
"No, stay where you are" Smackle says.
"Smackle" Farkle says before Ari pops out from behind the counter.
"Step away from my man" Ari says pointing her finger towards Smackle as she giggles causing me to laugh as she blows a kiss towards me.
"You may proceed" Smackle says looking back at Farkle.
"Lucas set this up so I could see how you really felt." Farkle tells her.
"Now you know" Smackle responds before they look towards me and I stand up walking towards my girlfriend who jumps into my arms kissing my cheek.
"You're really sweet you know that?" Ari asks causing me to shrug before I sneak a kiss to her cheek.
"Define "I might even like you more than like you" Smackle asks Farkle.
"I like you so much that when I'm 16, I'll tell you to go study in Sweden if you really want to" Farkle says looking into her eyes.
"No. I'm going to stupid Princeton with you" Smackle responds hugging him as Ari lets out a small awe as she looks at the pair.
"Sweden? Princeton? What's the difference?" Riley says stepping towards the group. "They're going away. Why do people become friends if it's not going to be forever? I don't want a sweet sixteen" Riley says looking at all of us.
"You don't?" Maya asks shocked.
"No. I don't want any surprises. I don't want anybody to go anywhere. I don't want anything to happen to us at all." Riley says clearly getting upset.
"But isn't that the opposite of life?" Ari asks her.
"I don't care. Nobody move. Nobody love at all." Riley says seriously.
"You heard her" Maya says causing Ari to sigh.
"But cuddles and nap" Ari asks as her puppy eyes come out unconsciously as I hold her closer.
"We gotta go, we have a date" I say kissing her forehead before we say bye and leave as we hear Riley calling for us probably because we left but I don't any to sit still. I want to grow alongside my girlfriend and right now I promised her some cuddles and a nap.
When we get to her house we lay on her bed cuddled together. We lay there for a little while before my leg starts to bounce unconsciously. I had stopped taking my ADHD meds a few days ago because I just didn't want to take them anymore but I hadn't told Ari afraid she would get upset.
"Charming? What's wrong?" She asks putting her hand on my leg to stop the bouncing.
"Nothing I'm fine" I say as my leg slows down under her hand.
"Did you take your meds today?" She asks causing me to sigh before shaking my head. She quickly climbs out before grabbing my extra pill bottle i keep at her house and handing them over to me along my water. "I know you get annoyed at the medication sometimes, I get the same with my eczema ones but bubs you have to take them" she says after I down the pills and hug her close.
"I guess I just wanted to see what a few days without them was like" I say sighing as she runs her fingers through my hair.
"I know bubs, I know" she whispers as we continue to cuddle together. "Where do you think we'll be when we're juniors?" Ari asks a few minutes later as we lay in the comforting silence of her room.
"I think we'll be making some tough decisions about where we want to spend college and what we want for our future careers, but I know that we'll be together and I know we're going to do whatever we can to make us last forever because we believe in our love and our future together." I say looking down at her as she nuzzles herself into my chest.
"I love you so much" she says kissing my chest.
"And I love you, where do you see yourself going to college like at this point?" I ask her.
"I kinda want to go back to Texas for college. I mean I love New York but Texas is just..." Ari says before I cut her off.
"It's home" I say finishing her thought as she nods as we smile at each other before we lean in connecting our lips.
Ari POV:
We sit in class a few days later as we present what we think our futures are going to be. Lucas and I talked a lot about ours, what colleges we were thinking about at this point and what states we thinking of going to if we didn't go to Texas, we talked about what we would do if we did go to different ones. We talked about our future and everything we wanted for us and our relationship, and in the end we decided that no matter what we were going to be together, that we would fight for us until the end.
"Okay, juniors, how are your lives going? What's next for you? Smarkle." Mr.Matthews asks as he calls Farkle and Smackle up.
"Well, Smackle and I have applied early decision to Princeton and I have a pretty good feeling we're gonna get in." Farkle says as they start their presentation.
"Is that because you've maintained your excellent academic record?" Mr.Matthews asks the two.
"Yes, and because in the last two years, we've cured the common cold, invented an alternative fuel source, solved global warming, and" Smackle says before she sneezes, "Ah, crud."
" So, I take it Farkle and Smackle are still together." Mr.Matthews says.
"Yeah. We have feelings for each other we must figure out." Smackle tells him.
"Because we're people of science. It may take forever." Farkle says.
"Good." Smackle smiles.
"Good." Farkle responds smiling back.
"Thank you. We are Smarkle." They says together before they bow and take a seat as everyone claps.
"All right. Ari Lucas and Zay." Mr.Matthews says calling us forward.
"Well, I think that the big news is that Lucas peaked in his sophomore year and now it's Zay time." Zay says when we get to the front causing me to laugh.
"Hm. This is not what we decided on." Lucas says wrapping his arm around me.
"It is not his fault that you peaked." I say laughing.
"You're over." Zay and I say laughing.
"Yeah? What happened to me?" Lucas asks us.
"Know, you say that a lot now, where you're just like, "What happened to me? " and we pull you around in your little red wagon. You're like, "What happened to me? " and I'm like, "I don't know! It's Zay time. Stop bringing me down." Zay says as I try to hold in my laughter.
"So, I'm guessing you've managed to remain friends." Mr.Matthews asks us.
"That'll never change." I say smiling.
"I used to have a little red wagon." Lucas says as he remembers the wagon.
"You used to pull us around in it." Zay says nodding as he smiles.
"You said I wasn't allowed to walk cause I was the princess" I say giggling.
"Hey, if things ever do go bad" Lucas says looking at Zay.
"I'll be there." He finishes.
"You two still together?" Mr.Matthews asks Lucas and I before we look at each other and smile.
"Yeah he's the love of my life" I say looking into Lucas' eyes.
"And your mine" he says "which is why" he continues before getting down on one knee causing me to drop my jaw.
"Bubs i love you, you know that but..." i start to say before he cuts me off.
"I'm not proposing" He says smiling at me as I let out a breath nodding.
"You may continue then" I say giggling.
"You promised me that you would love me forever. You promised that you'd stand by my side through all the ups and all the downs. And now I'm promising you the same. I'm going to love you forever, to stand by your side through all of it the ups and the downs. You can break my heart, Ari. Break my heart into a thousand pieces. Do whatever you want. Because I'm yours always." He tells me as I start to tear up and I don't notice that everyone else is either tearing up or awing at us.
"I love you" I whisper to him.
"I love you too" he whispers back as he pulls out a ring. "So will you accept my promise ring?" Lucas asks me.
"Yes, and I'm never gonna break your heart" I say before he slips it on my finger and stands up pulling me into his arms and kissing me passionately.
I run my fingers through his hair as we lock our lips before we remember that we are in a classroom and pull apart whispering our i love you's.
"Que quowle, Nayeli" i whisper.
"Stay with me forever, I love you" he whispers before pecking my lips again as we walk to sit down.
"Thank you, you three" Mr.Matthews says as we take our seats.
"So when did things start going bad?" Lucas asks as we walk back towards our seats.
"Oh the square and triangle took all the life out of you" Zay says.
"Yeah" Lucas says as I giggle while we all sit down.
"Riley, Maya?" Mr.Matthews asks calling them up
"We looked at all the landmarks of our lives" Riley says as she and Maya start their presentation.
"We don't really have any control over being born" Maya says.
"We just know we're real lucky to be here"
"And if we get even luckier, we climb in through the right window" Maya says.
"Yeah. We examined all the landmarks of our lives from the very beginning right up to wanting a surprise sweet sixteen party" Riley tells the class.
"And we found that they have one thing in common" Maya speaks up.
"They all put us in a world of people, and what we do control is the people that we want to keep in our lives, and a party at any age is just another chance to be all together."
"So I take it your not ready for your sweet sixteen" Mr.Matthews asks Riley.
"No, maybe never. I didn't want us to go anywhere. I wanted us to sit still. But that's not life. We're freshmen, exactly where we're supposed to be. We should enjoy this now. That's life" Riley says looking at the class.
"Sweet sixteen will be a lot sweeter when we are sixteen." Maya says.
"But for right now we're protected" Riley tells the class.
"We know exactly where we're gonna be for the next three years" Maya continues.
"So no party?" Mr.Matthews asks.
"No of course party" Maya says shrugging.
"What our landmarks have shown us is that we picked the right friends and we'll always be together" Riley says.
"Life loves us. Hope isn't for suckers after all, and that's the best thing to celebrate anytime" Maya finishes with a smile.
Soon enough the bell rings as we walk out, Lucas grabs my hand smiling at me. "Do you like your ring?" He asks causing me to smile widely nodding enthusiastically.
"Yes, bubs It's so pretty thank you" I say hugging him.
"Anything for you. I love you so much, your literally my past my present and my future. Your the love of my life always" Lucas says causing me to smile as my eyes tear up.
"And forever the love of mine. You're my world Lucas Friar I'm not giving you up and I'm excited for my future with you." I respond smiling widely as he leans down to press a living kiss to my lips.
A/N: one more episode and the epilogue. I literally can't believe this book is almost over :(