We were in history class, like usual. I was twiddling with my pencil, ready to jot down information. So far, everything was basic facts. A volcano that destroyed an entire civilization. I looked at Maya, worried.
"Pompeii. Lucas!" Uncle Cory said.
"You mean Farkle?" Lucas questioned.
"I mean Lucas," Uncle Cory corrected him.
"Oh."
"I want to see what you know," Uncle Cory said.
"Okay. Here's what I know. Farkle." Lucas hit his arm.
"Why, thank you." Farkle bowed his head to him. "Pompeii was an ancient village in Italy located near the beauty and culture of Naples. It was a resort town where the wealthy would go to soak up the sun."
"It was like the Hawaii of Italy," Lucas added.
"Thanks, Lucas." Uncle Cory smiled.
"Call on me anytime." Lucas saluted to him sarcastically.
"Pompeii sounds so beautiful, girls. We should go there," Riley said dreamily. "We should go there and be calm."
Uncle Cory laughed. "Let me tell you about a whole city that became very calm, very quick. Now, who here knows about Mount Vesuvius?"
"Mount Vesuvius was a pent up, boiling cauldron of I-wanna-do-somethin'," Maya said, making me worried and realize what's going to happen.
"Vesuvius sat quiet for a long time, but then it did what volcanoes in time must do. It 'sploded!" Uncle Cory exclaimed.
"Why does a volcano have to 'splode?" Riley pouted.
"Because if it doesn't, it'll just blow up worse later." Uncle Cory continued. "Vesuvius wiped out the entire population of Pompeii. It was one of the greatest natural disasters the world had ever known."
Riley pivoted on Maya. "Okay then, do it right now. Do what you need to do to be Maya, but please don't wipe us all out Peaches."
The fire alarm rang loudly. I covered my ears, wincing at how loud it was. The lights flashed blindingly. I could barely uncover my ears without wincing. I always hated the way they built these things.
"Hello, students. Sorry about that. A little glitch in the system. False alarm. Our mistake. Back to work."
I uncovered my ears a few seconds after it stopped. Farkle knew I had auditory sensitivity overload to certain things. One was fire alarms. He put a hand on my shoulder. I kissed his hand and nodded, assuring him I was okay.
~~~
We were sitting in the cafe. Maya sat a little way away from us. Riley looked at Maya pleadingly. The angel of a teenager wanted more than anything than to get this over with. What was the devilish teen going to do?
"Explode! If you're going to explode, explode! Just do it. I can't wait. Explode!"
Farkle made a rumbling noise. I raised an eyebrow. Maya looked at him, bewildered.
"What are you doing?" Maya questioned.
"Mount Farkleuvius has awoken in all its bubbling glory," Lucas said in a terrible British accent.
"What is that?" Farkle asked, stopping.
"That's my fancy British guy, Mortimer," Lucas said, making me snort.
"Sounds like you're eating meatloaf," Farkle commented.
"Meatloaf."
"Okay, thing number two hundred and eleven he can't do. Accents," Farkle decided.
"Oh, but it's so charming when he can't do things," Riley gushed.
"He's a face! He's just a face! What's the matter with you?" Farkle questioned.
I walked over and leaned against the back of Farkle's chair. I tilted his head up to look at me. He smiled dreamily at me. "Hi, beautiful." Farkle looked at the girls as I played with his hair. "You say nothing."
I sat back down, making him pout.
"Mount Farkleuvius sends two billion tons of burning lava straight into the air," Lucas declared. "And right back down on his head."
"Why?" Farkle questioned.
"Because you insulted Mortimer," Lucas snapped.
"What's his last name?" I asked, playing along with the game.
"Twiggle-bottom-smythe," Lucas said, making me burst out into laughter.
"Okay, fine. I'll do it." Farkle raised his hands in the air. His hands came back down, smothering his face.
"Maya, what's going on with you?" Lucas asked.
"It's like I don't have a role here anymore," Maya admitted. "Riley the Sweet, (Y/n) the Brave, Farkle the Genius, Lucas the Good-"
"Oh. I thought that was gone."
"It's not gone. I'm gone. I'm the one that's gone."
"Maya, I've been down that road." Lucas stood up. "Forget it. I missed a whole year of school because I thought I had to be something. That doesn't get you anywhere."
"Yeah. And now you say please and thank you, and what does that get you?" Maya questioned.
"It gets me to like him," Riley pointed out. "Do you still like him?"
"I don't know what I like anymore."
"Whoa," Farkle breathed.
"No whoa. No whoa while I'm figuring things out," Maya snapped, lifting Farkle up by the collar.
"Maya?" Lucas questioned.
"I need to know who I am before I know what I like," Maya reasoned.
"Hey, you know what's up with me? The cash register is short a hundred dollars. So what's up with you?" Ms. Hart asked. "That's great. You know what's up with me? Who took my one hundred dollars?"
Riley grinned. "Just do it."
"I didn't take the money!" Maya protested.
"Yes, you did! Maya, you took the money! She took the money, everybody! Yeah! She's a cat burglar!" Riley shouted.
"I didn't do it."
"Yes, you did. This is all over."
"Well, if no one took my one hundred dollars, then what happened?" Ms. Hart questioned. "Huh? Somebody just put two fifties under the whole drawer and forgot all about it? Somebody just... did that. Stay in school, kids."
"I don't want my role with us to be someone you think takes money or sets off fire alarms," Maya protested.
"You've done both of those things," I reasoned.
"You think you know what I'm capable of?" Maya questioned. "You have no idea what I'm capable of. You guys want the Maya back, the Maya I really am? You got her."
Maya left.
~~~
Maya's desk was empty the next day. I got more and more worried. Even Ms. Hart didn't know where her daughter was. My leg bounced with anxiety, and even Riley looked like she wanted to reach out and hold my hand.
"If you choose to live next door to a volcano, why should you be surprised by the destruction that comes with it?" Uncle Cory asked.
"Because they lived next to it so long."
"Maybe they forgot what it was."
"Because it's not."
"What?" Uncle Cory asked.
"'Cause you've always lived right next to it, and you have faith that it would never do anything bad to you," Riley explained.
"Where is she?" Uncle Cory asked.
"She's cutting school?" Lucas questioned.
"That's what she decided to do," I reasoned.
"Our question for discussion is... There's a whole world out there, Pompeii. Why live next to a volcano then? Huh?"
"Farkle."
"The soil from volcanoes grows the most beautiful flowers," Farkle stated.
"Deep down, Maya is beautiful," Lucas said. "So is the 'splody part of (Y/n)."
"Okay, calm down," Riley joked.
"You live in Ireland. You learn that there's over three hundred days of rain a year. On the other hand, it's one of the most beautiful, green places on Earth. And places, like people, offer wonderful peaks and valleys. Now, what makes these wonderful peaks and valleys?"
"Volcanoes," I realized.
"Right. It's up to you to understand what you've chosen to live with. Learn from Pompeii. As you live next to each other, understand that every once in a while, things explode. That's nature. And that's human nature."
~~~
Farkle grabbed me from my apartment. I was nervous in the back of a police car. The officer led us into the park. I noticed the new mural and the statue. It was definitely new and different from the park setting.
"I had a brick in my hand," Maya said.
"Why?" I breathed.
Maya looked at the statue of five kids. "Because somebody went after you."
"Who, Maya?" Uncle Cory asked.
"These two girls I used to know," Maya admitted. "I could have been them. Riley, I would have been them. But, I'm not. Because they think having a brick and hammer makes you strong. And as much as I wanted to throw the brick through a window, I know that if I did that, that's what would make me weak. I'm strong... because there's something inside me that stops me now. You know? It knows how important you've been in my life, and it'll never let me do any real damage as long as I live. That part inside me... I'm gonna call it Dorothy."
Riley smiled. "Call it whatever you want. I'm just glad that you didn't do anything bad."
"Yeah," Maya agreed. "How come I ain't bad, Matthews?"
"The friends we choose can have the most profound influence in our entire lives, one way or the other," Uncle Cory explained.
"This way," I breathed.
"I'm proud of you, Maya," Ms. Hart said.
"What happened to the girls?" Farkle asked.
"Oh, well, I might have had a brick and a hammer, and I might have swung them over my head a little bit, and ran, like, right towards 'em like I was-"
"Maya?" Lucas cut her off. "So, you're Maya again?"
"Well, they seem to think so," Maya admitted. "They ran away so fast."
The officer stepped in front of us. "My park. I watch this park every day."
"I'm sorry," Maya said.
"You know, I'm not going to give up on that Carla and Renee. And I don't want you to be like them, okay?" the officer questioned.
"I can't," Maya assured him. "Dorothy won't let me."
"New York code one-four-five. Vandalism. I'm gonna write this one up. Then I'm gonna put it into a folder. Then I'm gonna misplace the folder. And if I never hear from you two little hoodlums ever again, that folder remains misplaced."
"I'm a hoodlum," Riley commented.
"Why are you giving me a break?" Maya questioned.
"My park. I look at this park every day. I have hope for this park, too. Thank you."
Aunt Topanga stepped forward. "Thank you."
"Hey, sometimes the system works," the officer joked.
The officer walked away. Farkle wrapped his arm around me as we stood with the girls.
"Thanks for putting my head back on," Riley teased.
"You, too," Maya replied.
~~~
We went to the park the next day in the sunlight. Farkle and Lucas were looming over the statue, and Riley and I were on the sides of Maya on the bench. I stared at the statues in wonder.
"Huh."
"Yeah."
"Before I knew you-"
"You always knew me," Riley and I cut her off.
"When I was real young, I used to come to this park and look at this statue and wonder if I would ever have friends as good as these. That would hold hands with each other and smile. I used to wonder what it was they were so happy about. Now I know."
The three of us took hands, then joined the boys. I stood between Farkle and Riley in front of my statue. I laid my head on Farkle's shoulder, just like my statue. And I smiled, just like the statue.