"Somebody read that." Cory said to the class
"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it' Winston Churchill." Lucas reads
"And he did. Who's gonna write their own history here? What is history? I keep forgetting." Mich looked over at me
"Isn't he a history teacher?"
"It's Cory what do you except?" Cor playfully glared at me while Riley answered.
"History is time passing."
"Oh yeah? How much time? Someone once said, "100 years from now, all new people." Maya raises her hand
"100 years!"
"Wrong." Cory says making her glare at him.
"You set me up." She accuses him
"When should you guys begin to make your own history?" he asked
"Right now." I said
"Good. So, today we're talking about Winston Churchill. When the new people come, how do you want them talking about you?"
"Nicely?" Riley said as a question
"Sweetie, not everyone is going to like us.. That's one of the downsides about life." Mich told her
"How long do we have before history makes its decision about us?" Maya asked
"What if they're writing it down now?" Farkle asked as well.
"Doesn't matter. Chapter one: Introduction. Please read." Riley starts reading.
"There is a comfort in knowing that history is fixed. You can no sooner change history than you can change the nine planets in our solar system from Mercury to Pluto." I hissed.. Damn it
"Oh." Riley looked confused
" What?" I looked over at Cory and clapped
"Teacher of the Year."
"Nice job, Mr. Matthews." Lucas says
"What'd he do?" Riley asked
"He just showed us history books can be wrong. You can change history." Liam told her
"I don't get it." she says
"How can she not know?" Mich asked
"Look at the bird!" Maya points and Riley looks for a bird.. Indoors..
"She doesn't know because she has us." I rolled my eyes
"You mean she has y'all, Deja and I are not included in that. We're not gonna lie to her." Mich said
"The Riley Committee." Farkle says, ignoring what Mich had said.
"The committee exists to keep certain information away from Riley." Maya said
"Like what?" The Texan boys asked
"Everything, really. " I just shook my head
"Listen, this committee can't protect her for the rest of her life. She's getting too smart." Cory said and I gave him a look.
"She's looking for a bird.. Indoors.. I don't think your statement is correct."
"Well, someone's gotta tell her." Cory said.
"um sir that's your daughter.. Yo DNA, which means yo job." I said but he just ignored my comment.
"You do it." Maya tells him, as she should.
"Nah, you do it!" He says and Maya turns to her
"Hi, sweetie." she says softly
"Peaches." Riley smiles at her
"See, we've all been protecting you from something. You know Pluto?" Maya asked
"Pluto? I love Pluto. Everybody knows that. Pluto's a little cutie-pie. The smallest planet with the biggest heart. I love Pluto so much, I would kiss it on the face." She said and scrunched her face up adorably.
"Not doing it!" Maya says and I sighed.
"I'll do it." I said
"Ok but don't be mean about it." Cory said making me roll my eyes and nod.
"Gumdrops.." Riley looked over at me slightly shocked since I haven't called her that in a while
"Bubbles!" she exclaimed with a smile
"Pluto is not a planet anymore.." I said and her smile fell.
"What's that you say?" she asked and Mich stepped in.
"They made a scientific discovery that Pluto's not a planet anymore. Will you be okay?" Mich asked her
"I'm fine. I am too old now to flip out over something like that. Dad, please continue." She said but we knew she really wasn't okay.
"You sure, sweetie?" Cory asked her
"Please continue." She said sadly
"All right, guys. So, we're talking about who we are now, and who we hope to be someday. How will we write our own history and decide what's important to us?" Cory asked
"They found a 100-year-old time capsule in Boston last week. Could we do one of those?" Farkle suggested
"I love that idea, Farkle. In fact, we did one of those when i was in high school. We were gonna see what became of us in 15 years. Wait a minute. We were gonna see what became of us right now! We were gonna go back and see how much we've changed." Cory said excitedly
"Yeah, well, I hope some of us never do." Maya said, looking over at Riley.
▿ ▿ ▿
We were all at Topanga's and Riley was talking about Pluto, not being a plant anymore. Needless to say, she's upset.
"How can they just do that? She works her whole life to become a planet and then it's just taken away from her. Do our hopes and dreams even matter?" she ranted
"Well, in 15 years, we're gonna find out." Lucas said, holding a buffalo nickel.
"A buffalo nickel. That's what you're putting in the time capsule?" Farkle asked
"Yeah, my grandfather gave it to me for..." He paused, noticing Maya grinning.
"Anyway, my grandfather gave it to me." Maya shook her head, still grinning.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, for what? Papa Joe gave it to you for what?" she asked, making me snort.
"Don't call his grandfather pappy Joe." Riley said
"It actually was pappy Joe." Liam and I said in unison.
"You knew that?" She asked Maya who shrugged.
"Eh, it would've been anything I said. Why'd he give you the nickel? Why?" She asked before turning to me.
"You know, don't you? Tell me. Tell me. Tell me." Lucas covered my mouth making me roll my eyes. Like i'd ever tell her the reason why.
"Nothing. He gave it to me for being a good little boy." Mich gave him a look
"Really? That's what you came up with?" She asked and he glared at her.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, tell us." Maya pushed and of course, Lucas caved.
"I was a little kid, I went to a kiddie rodeo, and I was the only one who made it the whole eight seconds." He said vaguely
"You rode a bull?" Riley asked
"It was sort of like a bull." Liam, Mich, and I gave him a look.
"Here comes funny." "I rode a sheep." They all started laughing at him, when he first told me I damn near peed my pants.
"It's a real thing! It's called mutton busting." He turned to me, placing his head on my shoulder, pouting.
"Aww my poor baby, stop laughing at my boyfriend before I get to exposing." They shut it up real quick.
"That's what I thought."
"You're scary." Farkle commented and I smiled
"I've been taking classes from Topanga." Mich turned towards me in betrayal.
"Without me?" I shrugged
"I wanted to be a rodeo star. But I got older and gave up on it." Lucas puts the nickel on the time capsule.
"So, what are you guys putting in the capsule?" Liam asked Mich and I as the rest were talking to Katy.
"I don't think I'm going to be putting anything in there if I'm being honest." I told him
"Why not?" They asked and I shrugged
"I don't think I have any worth putting in there." They looked like they didn't believe that statement but let it go for now.
"What about you Mich?" I asked
"I was thinking the letter I wrote for my parents." we smiled at her
"I think it would be wonderful, you Liam?" He thought for a minute
"I don't know yet, once I find something, I'll let you guys know." We nodded
"Hey, isn't that your dad?" I turned to the door to see him walking in with Cory and Topanga.
"Road trip!" Cory said excitedly
"Who wants to go instead of me?" Topanga asked smiling and I shook my head at her amused.
"I'll go. I'll do anything with anybody." I turned to Mich
"Get yo mans, you can't have him being too friendly out here. I already had that talk with Lucas." I told her
"No deal. There's not enough room in the car for you and all your words." Cory said and I threw one of the magazines on the table at him.
"Don't be rude Cornelieus." I scolded
"Yes ma'am" He leaned to look at the box
"What's this here? " He asked
"This is what we're putting in our time capsule." Lucas told him
"Oh...Nope. Not good enough."
"These things are important to us." Riley said
"Why are there only three of them?" Panga asked and Maya held up her hand while pointing at me.
"We're not playing." She stated
"Oh, you're playing!" Cory said and I rolled my eyes.
"Nice shovel shirt." I said
"They got plenty left." He replied
"I don't see how." Maya says and I looked over at my dad.
"Dad, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in Philadelphia?" I asked and he placed a kiss on my head.
"Well, I was doing a story in Philadelphia till my friend here brought me to New York so we could go back to Philadelphia." He sighed
"You were the dingus that believed he was dying." Topanga said and I looked over at my dad who looked away.
"Why am I not surprised?"
"Come on! It's a chance to go back and see what time has taught us. Come on, it's our history. You and me, Feeny, Shawn and Angela." Cory said making me look at him confused.
"Give me a shovel. No reason. Give me a shovel and your head." Topanga said, pulling Cory away.
"Who's Angela?" I asked with a blank look on my face and my dad didn't really know what to say.
"Oh, you know. Someone who used to be in my life." I nodded, trying not feel anything about this new information.
"Ah, yes. Well, we all have one of those, don't we Dee?" Maya asked, silently asking me if I'm okay and I gave her a small smile.
"We sure do May, we sure do..."
"Do you miss her? I know I'd miss Elle if I didn't see her for a long time. Do you think your old feelings will get stirred up for her? And you'll miss her? And you'll go back and live wherever she is?" I frowned, playing with my ring and Maya throw Pluto at Farkle and Liam smacked the back of his head. Mich and Lucas held my hands, giving them a squeeze.
"Do you two ever miss?"
"Deja, all of a sudden, I think we should be going with them. Do you think we should go?" Riley asked and I glanced at my dad before looking at Cory.
"We're going with you." I looked over at Mich
"You're coming with me right?" "Always, you don't ever have to ask."
"All right. Katy, do you mind if we take this one off your hands for the weekend?" Topanga asked Katy
"Have fun, baby girl."
"All right, girls, grab a shovel." Topanga told us
"We're digging up the past! Yay." Dad said and Lucas pecked my lips
"Don't overthink too much and text me if anything happens." he whispers and I nod, hugging him before walking out with everyone else.
▿ ▿ ▿
I would've stayed my ass home if I knew I was going to be literal labor, this is illegal. I'm going to need a cane by the time I'm 20, this back pain ain't it.
"Come on, Topanga! Put some back into it, will you?" Cory said and I was waiting for Topanga to swing the shovel at him.
"I have blisters! And it's not exactly like I'm wearing my shoveling shoes. What about you guys?" She asked
"We're on a mandatory break." I glare at them
"If you two don't start helping in the next two seconds, the next thing you guys will be on is a stretcher to the hospital." They jumped back, and started digging. Mich came over and took my shovel.
"Ok I'm just going to remove this from your reach." I huffed and crossed my arms.
"Hey, I thought we were only doing every other hole." Dad said
"You said you knew exactly where this thing was buried." Topanga sassed
"Well, it's in this general vicinity, yes."
"How is this fun? You said this was gonna be fun. How can anybody make this fun?" Maya complained
"It's Cory, of course he lied so we would help him." Mich told her making Cory gasp.
"That is completely and utterly true." He shrugged and Riley came twirling over to us. She placed a flower crown on the girls' and I's heads.
"I made one for Maya's head, don't think I forgot you and Dee Michelle." She said
"Gumdrops as beautiful as they are, you were supposed to be helping us dig." I told her
"Oh, but I was digging for an hour, and all I found was this old metal box." She picked up a metal box. The rest of them dropped their shovels and Mich held me back before I could strangle Riley.
"Cory..." Dad trailed
"What?" Cory answered
"I'm concerned."
"What's there to be concerned about, Shawnie?" Cory turns around
"That." Feeny looked them with a flashlight making them gasp.
"Mr. Matthews, Mr. Hunter. We meet again." He says
"Detention?"
"Big boy detention."
"I won't do well in big boy detention." Cory says, shaking his head while Mich and I were snickering at his misery.
" Feeny! Fee-hee-hee-hee-heenay! What, what, what, what... Hey, hey, hey, hey" We all just looked at these two idiots and blinked as they hissed.
"Okay, let's go." They walked away and Feeny looked over at us
"They kidnapped us and made us do child labor, call the police." I told him
"Deja!" My dad and Cory exclaimed
"What did you expect?" Mich shrugged, pulling me over to where the girls were. Feeny came over and sat between us.
"Excuse me. Is he a good father, you poor, poor, little girl?" I let a laugh while Riley smiled.
"I'm very lucky." She claims but I would say about half.
"You should ask her who her father is." Mich said with a grin, making Feeny look over at me.
"Please don't tell me.." He sighed and I nodded
"Yea, I'm Deja Hunter." I told her
"You poor child. Are you okay? Please tell me he's feeding you?" I chuckled
"More like I'm feeding him. But there wouldn't be anyone else I would want to be my father expect for him." I said proudly, not realizing my dad was listening and watching with a smile.
"Hmm...Is he a good teacher?" He asked Maya
"I think he's the best there is, but he says you are." She tells him
"Oh, and that's what you were digging for?" He gestures to the box.
"It's our time capsule, remember?" "I remember everything."
"We wanna see how time treated us, if we turned out like we hoped we would. Got any advice for us while we're all out here together, Mr. Feeny?" Cory asked
"Well, yes. It's been a long time, and you're still together. What else do you need to know?"
▿ ▿ ▿
I really don't want to be here right now but if I leave now, it might make my dad feel some type of way.
"All right, I'll go first." Cory says
"Now, no one knows what anyone else buried, right?" Dad asked
"Yeah, that was the deal."
"Don't open it." My head turned to Mich and I shook my head, which she ignored.
"Yeah, wouldn't you rather believe your lives are perfect?" Riley agreed
"You make a good point, girls, you do. But here's another point, have you even met me? There it is." Cory says, opening the box.
"It's the jean jacket. It's the first time we said, "I love you." And it still fits." She says putting on the jacket.
"Time has been good to you, Topanga." "Time has been good to us all." Cory then turns towards us
"And that's how you do the time capsule!"
"Okay, your turn!" he turned to Topanga
"Okay, don't overreact." Topanga tells him
"Why would I overreact." Has he not met himself yet?
"Because I know you're going to misinterpret this." She hands Cory the letter.
"Let's see "Dear Cory, if you would let it happen, I think you and I could have a future.". Topanga, what's wrong with this? This is great."
"It's not from her." Dad and I said in unison
"How did you know?" Topanga asked
"Common sense." Cory freaks out and throws the letter.
"Aah!" Topanga picks up the letter for the floor.
"It's from Lauren"
"Who's Lauren?" Riley asked
"Well, before we got married, your father met a girl at a ski lodge, and she really liked him." Panga explained
"Matthews, you dog!" Maya grinned
"Is this why we never go skiing?" Riley asked but never got an answer.
"Why would you do this, Topanga? I...I buried a symbol of our love." Mich leaned over towards me.
"This seems like it was straight out of a telenovela." She whispered making me stifle a laugh.
"Cory, I was threatened by this because I was young. The jean jacket was the first time we said "I love you". But I almost let this little piece of paper hurt us because I was young. You always knew, but I didn't understand that our love will last forever and that nothing could hurt it. I buried this because I hoped that when we opened it, I would be next to you and that I could go like this." Topanga tear the piece of paper and toss it into the box. I let a shaky sigh
"Here goes..."
"All right, here goes." My dad takes a book out.
"Shakespeare's sonnets. Vivaldi's four seasons, a Van Damme movie ticket and lip gloss." Riley takes the lip gloss.
"Kiwi mango."
"Ah, me and Angela, we were gonna be Cory and Topanga. I guess there can only be one Cory and Topanga. But still...Me and Angela. I wonder what she's up to nowadays?" He wondered and I blinked back the tears in my eyes. The girls wrapped their arms around me, trying to comfort me.
"Goodbye, Shawn..." I whispered
▿ ▿ ▿
"Dee please come out..." Mich said from the other side of my room.
"Mich, I'm okay. We'll talk tomorrow." I sniffled, wiping my eyes
"I'm not leaving you alone, open the door before I get Lucas to break it down." I got up from my bed and opened the door.
"Aw honey." She pulled me into a hug
"Dee, Shawn isn't going anywhere. He's not your parents, he's going to stay by your side." I shook my head as she walked us to my bed.
"You heard him Mich, he obviously missed this Angela. I'm holding him back.." I cried and she rubbed my back.
"Deja, don't talk like that... You know that's not true."
"Yes, it is, soon enough he's going to get tired of me and leave, just let the rest. It's only matter of time before he does."
"Have faith Dee."
"I don't believe in faith anymore. I had faith that things would get better when I was younger but instead, they got worse." She turned my head towards her
"Then I'll believe for you."
▿ ▿ ▿
"Mich leave me alone." I said as we walked into Topanga's where our friends, my dad, Topanga, and Katy were.
"Dee you have to talk to him." She said and I turned to give her a tight smile.
"I don't have to talk to anyone, just like how I don't want to talk to you right now." I turned and walked to one of the sofa chairs.
"What's going on here?" Liam asked
"Nothing, Mich is just trying to make something out of nothing." I glared at her so she could keep her mouth shut.
"So, you crying is nothing?" I face palmed
"You were crying?" Dad asked, walking over
"No." "Yes." Mich gave me a look
"And she was crying because of you." She, for some reason kept talking
"Precious, what's going on here?" Lucas asked
"Wait, what did I do?" Dad asked before looking at me.
"Kiddo, tell me." Thankfully, Cory ran in but that relief was short lived.
"Knock! Knock!"
"Who's there?" Dad asked
"The only person who could change your life from things are going pretty good right now to... AHHH!" I shared a look with Mich and knew something was going to go wrong.
"The only person who could change my life from things are going pretty good right now to..."
"AHHH!" Cory finishes
"Who?" And the person that walked nearly made me fall on my ass.
"Angela??" She turned to me, and her eyes widen. She ran over and pulled me into a hug.
"Deja..." I just stood there in shock as she hugged me, making eye contact with my dad. Everyone looked either shook or just confused.
"Okay what the heck is going on here?!" Farkle yelled, throwing his arms up.
"You guys know Deja?" Angela asked
"Uh yea... the question is how do you know Deja?" Shawn asked
"She's my niece." "WHAT!???" Everyone yelled
"Wait a damn minute, what do you mean she's your niece?" Liam asked, standing up.
"Wait Asia is your sister??" Topanga asked and Angela nodded.
"I'm not surprised she didn't tell you guys. I haven't seen you in so long, you're grown into a beautiful young lady. Where's your mom and dad?" she asked making everyone wince
"Um how about the three of us sit down while the rest eavesdrop on our conversation?" Dad says as all of them ran out of the bakery to literally watch through the window. Someone please help me through this conversation.
Michelle's POV
"What's going on with Dee?" Liam asked
"She's scared that Shawn is going to leave her... She thinks she's holding him back." I said
"She knows that's not true right?" Cory asked
"I tried to convince her but she won't listen to me."
Deja's POV
"So they're in jail? Oh gosh, Deja I'm so sorry you went through that alone. I was always wondering where your mom never called me all these years. Once you were born, she just packed up and moved away. Not telling anyone where she was taking you. And when you turned 8, that's when she finally let me meet you." I smiled, that was one of the best times I had as a kid.
"It's okay Angela, I'm much better now than I was before." I told her
"So who are you staying with now?" she asked
"My adoptive father but I count him as my biological father." I said, acting like I didn't notice the smile on my dad's face.
"Oh where is he? Do you think I could meet him?" I laughed while nodding.
"I'm sure you'll get along with him just fine. Right dad?" I turned to him to see him trying to hold back a laugh.
"W- you?" She points at him
"Yea I know, who would've thought? But I know I made the right decision." He smiled, pulling me into his side.
"You better take good care of her Shawn, or I'll hurt you." Angela threatens him
"Of course... Now that we're finished with that, Angela what are you doing here?" He asked
"I need someone to talk to. It can only be you. How about that?" He looked at her confused
"Okay, what's going on?" Angela lifts up her left hand, showing off her wedding ring.
"I'm married now" I couldn't stop the huge grin from forming on my face.
"YAY!" I snorted, that was definitely Riley and Maya.
"How long have you been married?" Dad asked
"Four years. He's a military man." She smiled
"Why did you leave me?" I grimaced before standing up
"This conversation just got awkward for me so ima go... like right now. But it was nice seeing you Auntie Angela, make sure to get my number from my dad. I'll be in the apartment." I kissed my dad's cheek before walking out, ignoring the calls of everyone else.
Shawn's POV
Angela and I watched as Deja walked out.
"You know something is bothering her right?" Angela asked me
"Yea... and I'm going to find out what."
Deja's POV
"I'm sorry Dej!" I continued to ignore her
"I just wanted to not hold in your feelings all the time and be able to talk to Shawn because he's your dad. You need to know that he won't leave you."
"She's right y'know?" I quickly turned to see my dad standing at my door.
"Michelle, can you give us a second?" she nods before walking out, closing the door behind her. He sat next to me on my bed, but I wouldn't look at him, I didn't want him to see me break.
"Deja look at me..." I shook my head, unable to stop the tears from falling.
"Babygirl, look at me." I turned towards him with watery eyes.
"I'm not going anywhere; I can promise you that. I've been so use to people leaving my life, I would never put you through that. Especially knowing everything that you've been through. Just know if I would be going anywhere, you're coming right along with me. It's me and you kid, remember that." I tackled him into a hug, crying into his neck as he holds me.
▿ ▿ ▿
The group was back at the bakery, putting in our items for our time capsule
"Okay, I'll go first" Lucas opens the box.
"You putting in your sheep nickel, Billy Bob?" Maya asked making me shake my head at her with a smile.
"No, I changed my mind about that, I'm not putting a reminder of when I gave up on a dream." He says and holds up his transfer slip, making me smile at him.
"Your transfer slip." I said and he pecked my lips.
"I'd rather be reminded of when something good started." He winked and puts it in the box.
"Me next." Farkle said
"Your science fair trophy?" Liam asked
"Wasn't important enough for this." He holds up his orange turtleneck and a movie ticket. Mich looked at it and smiled
"Your favorite orange turtleneck" Riley pointed out
"What's that piece of paper?" I asked knowingly
"It was the one I took off when I felt like I was nothing, but you guys wouldn't let me be nothing and since it's us that's gonna be together when we open this, I can't wait to see the something that I am. And this is the movie ticket from the first date I had with Elle." He puts it in the box, before giving Mich a kiss. They're lucky they're cute together or I would've gagged.
"Riley, Pluto?" Mich asked and she nodded
"Yeah, still Pluto. Whenever we open this, I hope I haven't stopped believing in things." She said and put Pluto in. She turns to Liam who pulled out a plane ticket and a piece of a paper.
"This is the plane ticket from when I first came here, and this is the pass that had Mr. Matthews's class number on it. You guys are the first true friends that I had since Luke, others wouldn't even pay me any mind, but you guys took me in." We smiled as he placed them in the box.
"Okay it's my turn, I decided to put in the letter i wrote to my parents to reconnect with them. That was also when things started to look up for me." She placed the letters in the box and then the group looked at me and Maya.
"We'll play but but you guys have to leave. My dad along with Cory and Topanga didn't tell each other what they were putting in and that's the way we want to do it. I'm hoping we'll all be surprised." I said and they all started to standing to leave but Riley trailed behind.
"Hey, whatever it is, I hope it works out the way you both want it." We smiled at her
"We do too." Maya says as she walks out.
"Do you want me to move to the side?" I asked and she shook her head.
"Stay? Please?" I nodded
"Of course.." she pulled out a drawing of the group along with her mom, my dad, Cory, Topanga, and Auggie. And then she pulled out a letter.
"Hope is still for suckers..." she said placing them in the box and walked out. I sighed
"For once in your life Deja Precious Hunter, have faith." I said to myself. I pulled out a hospital band, a picture of me and Lucas, and a copy of my adoption papers.
"I'm going to hold on to Faith for as long as I can.." I placed them in the box before closing it.
———
Hey guysss, it's Thursday... once again. I almost didn't update today, only because I was so busy and didn't think I was going to have time. But I was able to put this up for you guys. I decided to mash up Girl Meets Pluto and Girl Meets Hurricane with a twist, honestly I got the idea for it last minute. Also I bet you guys didn't see Angela being Deja's aunt coming did you? I also got that idea last minute. Well I hope you enjoy the chapter; Please comment what you liked or dislike, a comment is a comment. Sorry for any misspellings or errors, let me know and I'll fix them. I'll see you lovely people in the next chapter. Mwah!
Love,
Kaila