"The following is a campaign commercial brought to you by," Maya started. "The Riley: Imagine your education in a magical kingdom and unicorns roam the halls." I finished, and walked off with Maya. Riley rode into the room on a horse that had a cone taped to it's head.
"Say goodbye to too much studying." Riley said. She pointed her wand to a couple of students with books in their hands. The books disappeared. "Say goodbye to meddling teachers." Riley said, as she pointed her wand at Mr. Matthews as he walked by. "But, Riley, I'm your fa-" Cory started, before he disappeared. "A vote for me is a vote to live happily ever after." Riley said. Maya and I stepped forward.
"She is princess Riley Matthews and she approveth this messageth." I said, all royally. "The campaign of Riley Matthews is not responsible for anyone who thinks a horse is a unicorn." Maya said, as I gestured towards the horse. "No, we're not." Maya said, as she and I petted the horse.
~~~~~~~~~
"Democracy. Our form of government where the power lies with the people. So who here can tell me another form of government where the power doesn't lie with the people?" Cory asked us in class, "Farkle!" "Thank you, sir." Farkle said, "Dictators! Love 'em. They get to do whatever they want. I wanna be one someday." Farkle said. I turned to him. "I'm sure you'll do fine with that," I told him.
Right at the moment, Lucas walked into the room, and handed Mr. Matthews a late slip. "Mr. Friar!" Cory said. "Sorry for being late, sir. My flight was delayed." Lucas told him. "You went back to Texas again this weekend?" Riley asked. "Visited my friends." Lucas replied. "He misses his old friends." Riley said. "Aww. Cowboy's got the blues." I said. Maya and I shared a knowing look.
"Campfire for one. My friends are all cows. And I miss 'em. Ha-hur, ha-hur-hur," Maya and I sang together. I heard a harmonica playing. I turned around and saw Lucas who was playing one. "We will never get to you, will we?" I asked. "No, but I sure do appreciate the effort." Lucas said. He winked at me. I turned around. "Ooh!" I shouted, angrily.
"Okay, guys, seventh grade student council elections are coming up." Cory told us. We all groaned. Except Farkle. He said "Yay." Cory chuckled. "Why that?" He asked. "Because every year somebody runs, makes promises and nobody does anything." Riley said. I nodded. "Yeah. What lunkhead's running the elections this year?" Maya asked. "How ya doing?" Cory asked, answering Maya's question.
"Can't you just make a change? Like. Those people do on TV?" I asked. "You know what? It's up to you guys to make changes. Since we're studying alternate forms of governments this year, why not let the candidates run in any form of government they choose?" Cory asked. We all groaned while Farkle said "Yay" again. "So any nominations?" Cory asked.
"I, Farkle, nominate I, Farkle, for dictator." Farkle said. "How come he gets to be a dictator? I want to be a dictator!" I said. "You can't do that Dylan. You're too nice," Riley told me. "I am?" I questioned. "She is?" Cory questioned at the same time. I glared at him. "S-Sorry. I just. You know what? Never mind," Cory said, before turning back to Farkle, "You can't nominate yourself, Farkle." "I'll nominate him." The rebel spoke. "Really?" Farkle asked, shocked. "Yeah. I like ya. I got your back." The rebel replied. "I thought you had his back." I told Lucas. "I got his back." Lucas said, turning to the rebel.
"Whoa, easy there, harmonica." The rebel said. "Who are you? Where did you come from?" Lucas questioned. "He's the rebel." Riley told him. "Well, what am I?" Lucas asked. "Oh, you're the good guy. You're our moral compass." Farkle replied. "Wow. That sounds hard to pull off." Lucas admitted. "Yeah. But you're really good at it." I told him, giving him a small smile. He returned it. "Thanks." Lucas said. "They're right, Friar. Represent democracy." Cory ordered, in a way. "I don't know, Mr. Matthews. If democracy worked, maybe I'd have gotten a vote on where I get to live." Lucas said.
"I nominate Lucas Friar for president." Riley announced. "Okay. Second?" Cory asked. Riley raised her hand. "No, honey, you nominated him. You can't second the nomination," Cory told her. Riley put her hand down in defeat and looked at me. I gave her a confused look. She picked up my hand and raised it up. "All right, fine. That works for me," Cory said. "What are you doing? He's your competition." I told Riley taking my hand back. "I'm not running for anything." Riley said. "Yes, you are. We got plans for you. Yeah." Maya said. I nodded.
"You know what? It'd be an honor to run for president. Thank you, Riley. And I guess, Dylan," Lucas said. "My pleasure, buddy." Riley said, giving him a thumbs up, "I don't know how it happens." "Don't get use to it, Sundance," I told him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We're nominating you for something." Maya told Riley, as she, her, and me walked out of the classroom. "This is your chance to be the voice of strong-willed, confident women everywhere." I told her. "I wanna be a princess." Riley told us. "Listen to me-" I started. "No! You listen to me. I'm 12 years old. The window is closing on my princess dream. And I ain't winning any pageants until I grow into these limbs." Riley said, moving her legs around in a weird way.
"Princess is all I have. Get it for me." Riley told us. Maya and I shared a knowing look. Then we turned back to Riley. "As you wish, m'lady." We said in unison. "Yay!" Riley cheered. I giggled.
~~~~~~
I went home with Riley while Maya went home. I think. I honestly don't know anymore. Anyways, I was helping Riley with her campaign. We were making signs as Mr. Matthews walked in. "Hey, dad, campaign question." Riley told him. "Impartial! As your teacher, I must refrain from showing any favoritism." Cory said, raising his hand, "But as your father. What ya got?"
"We got serious Riley." Riley said, holding up her face that we plastered onto a stick. Her face didn't show any emotion. "Loser! What else you got?" Cory asked, turning to me. I held up a different sign with Riley's face on it. This time she was all happy. "Smiley Riley!" I shouted. "Love her! See you at the victory party." Cory told us. "Told ya, we should go with Smiley Riley!" I whispered/shouted at Riley as we walked to her room.
~~~~~~~~~~~
I stood in the gym where the election was taking place and watched Lucas and Farkle with Maya. "Everybody deserves the right to vote. Because if that right is taken away you know what you get?" Lucas asked, his crowd of people. I then turned to Farkle, who was dressed in a World War 2 type of outfit, with two people wearing similar outfits to Farkle's.
"I am Farkle! And these are the dictatorettes. They are part of the new Farkle nation. How would you like to be part of the new Farkle nation?!" Farkle shouted. "Meh." All the kids said. "Nobody's buying, Farkle." Maya started. "Nobody wants you for dictator." I finished. "I was afraid something like this would happen. But genius that I am, I have a plan. I got an Uncle Morty in the t-shirt business." Farkle said, "Who will become part of Farkle nation for a free t-shirt?!" "Yeah!" The kids shouted.
"Dictatorettes, give the peoples what they want." Farkle instructed the two girls. They picked up some t-shirt cannons and begun to shoot t-shirts up into the air. "Uh-oh." I mumbled, as the crowd cheered. I turned to Riley.
"Instead of learning on books, we should learn on tablets. The whole world will be at our fingertips. Instead of reading about Spain, we hit a button and we go there! Ole!" Riley said, to no one. "What you doing?" Maya asked. "I'm addressing the issues." Riley told her. "Nobody cares about the issues, Riles!" I shouted, "They only care about who's having the most fun." We turned back to Farkle. "Farkle nation!" Farkle shouted. "Farkle nation!" The crowd shouted back. "Holy moley. I got me an army." Farkle said.
"He's got him an army. I need me a kingdom. I'm not princess enough yet, am I?" Riley asked. I shook my head. "No, honey, you're not." Maya told her. I nodded. Farkle's crowd began chanting "Farkle Nation". "What do I need to be princess enough?" Riley asked. "You need a unicorn." I replied. "You'll get that for me?" Riley asked. "Yeah. I know a guy." I replied.
~~~~~~
Riley, Maya, and I stood in Riley's room petting the horse I had got Riles. Topanga walked in. I put a lamp over the horse's head. "What horse?" Maya and I asked. "I was up again with Auggie last night. I'm very tired." Topanga said, before turning to the horse, "Cory, we need bread." I held in my giggle.
"I wanted you to have my princess hat from when I rallied against gender stereotypes. I was going to light it on fire, but. It's too pretty. Good luck to you." Topanga told Riley and then turned back to the horse, "Bye, honey." She walked out.
~~~~~~~~~
"A vote for me is a vote to live happily ever after." TV Riley said. "She is princess Riley Matthews and she approveth this messageth." TV me said. "The campaign of Riley Matthews is not responsible for anyone who thinks a horse is a unicorn." TV Maya said. We were watching the campaign commercials in class.
"Well, America's always held a special place in its heart for princesses. Perhaps Riley will be the first one ever voted in." Cory said. "Not after everyone sees Farkle's commercial. Play it, sheephead." Farkle ordered. "Sheephead"?" Cory asked. "T-shirt?" Farkle asked, holding up a t-shirt. "Ooh! Free stuff." Cory said, grabbing the t-shirt. "Seriously? You sell out for a t-shirt?" I questioned. "Uh... yeah," Cory said. I turned around to face Farkle. "Well, I'm not buying Farkle," I told him. "T-shirt?" Farkle asked, holding up another t-shirt. "Ooh! Free stuff!" I shouted, taking the shirt. Maya gave me a look. "I'm sorry. I just like free stuff," I told her. We turned back to the TV to see Farkle's commercial.
"Good evening, Farkle nation. It is I, your benevolent dictator. As you can see, I am kind to all the creatures of Farkle nation." TV Farkle said, petting a cat, "Our animal friends need room to roam free, but my opponent Riley Matthews feels the proper place for a horse of her New York apartment bedroom." A picture of us in Riley's room with the horse appeared on the screen.
"You told me you were just gonna take a picture of the horse." Riley told Farkle. "I want to win." Farkle told her. "Farkle, don't even talk to me." Riley ordered. "Riley, I-" Farkle started. "Okay, this campaign just got dirty." Maya said cutting him off. "Yay." I said, underneath my breath. "Team princess needs to strike back hard." Maya said. "Fine." Riley said, standing up.
"The truth is that horse had a dream. All that horse ever wanted was to be a unicorn, and I made that dream come true. That horse loves me!" Riley told the class. They all clapped. "It is amazing what people will believe." Riley said, sitting back down.
"He spies on us, he'll spy on all of you! I bet there's cameras on all of you right now." I said, standing up. "What you have to decide is if you want to live in a magical kingdom or a police state." Maya added. "Hey, cut it out! Friends don't attack each other. No going after Farkle." Lucas told us. "Okay, moral compass, I promise we won't go after Farkle." I told him. "Good. Thank you." Lucas said. I nodded. The bell ringed and everyone but Riley, Maya, and I left.
"We're going after Lucas." Maya told us. My eyes slightly widened. "What?" I asked. "Why?" Riley asked. "Farkle's nothing without his army. Lucas is the competition now." Maya told us. "I'm not attacking Lucas." Riley told Maya. I nodded. "I agree, Maya. I don't think we should," I added. "You two don't have to do anything." Maya said. "No." Riley and I said in unison. "Riley, this is your last chance to be a princess. Everybody's got something they're hiding." Maya said. I closed my eyes.
"Even Lucas." I said, re-opening my eyes. "I'm gonna find out what it is." Maya announced. "Maya, if you do," Riley started. "Yeah?" Maya asked. "Don't tell me." I replied.
~~~~~~~~~~
I sat on the couch in my house's living room. I stared down at my diary, not knowing what to write. Then it struck me like lighting.
Dear Diary,
I don't understand what is happening. Usually the normal me, would be fine with what Maya's planning. But. For some reason, I'm not. I have no idea what is happening to me. Why do I not want to go after Lucas? I. I just don't get it. Something is wrong. About me...
~~~~~~
"He's squeaky clean. I haven't found one thing to attack this guy on. Nobody at school has a bad thing to say about him." Maya told Riley and I, the next day. "Good." Riley said. I nodded. "Our only hope is finding something personal." Maya said. I shook my head at Maya, as Lucas walked past us. "Hey, huckleberry." Maya and I greeted. "Hi, Lucas." Riley greeted. "Excuse me. I'm dealing with something personal." Lucas said, walking away from us and over to a corner. Maya gave Riley and me a look, before dragging us to a bench to listen to Lucas.
"Hello... I don't understand why I can't go back this weekend, sir.... No, I'm not trying to argue, but this isn't my home. Texas is my home... But, dad, you told me I'd be able to see my friends on weekends if I wanted and I want to see my friends.... Yes, I have friends here. Right now we're all trying to destroy each other.... I'm sorry too, sir, but I was the one who didn't want to come to this school in the first place." Lucas said. I let out a tiny gasp and looked at Lucas wide-eyed. He made eye contact with me. "I have to go now." Lucas said in the phone.
Lucas walked up to us. "I suppose you guys will be using that against me." Lucas said, staring at me. "I would never." Riley told him. "Quiet, princess." Maya told her, before turning to Lucas, "What, that you don't want to be in our class? How could that hurt you, running for president of our class?" I stayed silent, and just kept staring at Lucas. "Don't worry. It's only her word against yours." Riley reassured.
"Unless I have some kind of, like, electronic listening device and. Oh, look at that!" Maya said, holding up a phone, "Boopity beep boop bop bing!" "I'm sorry too, sir, but I was the one who didn't want to come to this school in the first place." The phone Lucas said. Lucas gave me one last look before walking away. "Lucas. Wait," I said, finally speaking. Lucas turned around. "Uh... Never mind," I told him, avoiding eye contact. I heard Lucas' footsteps fade away.
"Maya, get rid of it." I told her. "Dylan, we got him. Riley,you want to be a princess? We got him. I know exactly what we're gonna do." Maya told us. Riley and I shared a look. "So do we," We said in unison.
~~~~~~~~~
"The winner and new leader of the seventh grade of John Quincy Adams middle school is-" Cory started, as Maya, Riley, and I walked in. "Hold on!"Maya shouted, as we walked on stage. "Not now, Maya." Cory told her. "It has to be right now, dad." Riley told him. "We have one more very important campaign commercial that everybody needs to see." I said.
"Girls, we've already seen the campaign commercials. The votes are in. This isn't gonna change anything." Cory told us. "Yes, it will." Riley told him. "This isn't about the votes. It's about Lucas." I said, quickly glancing at him. "Did you know about this, Mr. Friar? Is this okay with you?" Cory asked. "Yeah, I know about it. If this is the kind of friends they want to be. It's okay with me." Lucas said to us, but mostly me. "Yeah, this is the kind of friends we want to be." I told him. We sat down as our video played.
A teenage boy walked on. "Hey, my name's Asher Garcia. I've known Lucas Friar just about all my life. I'm here to endorse him for your seventh-grade president." Asher said. Another kid walked on. "I'm Dylan Orlando. How you doing, bud? Looks like you made some new friends. They thought it was important we recorded this for you." The Dylan in the video said. "Is there really a Farkle?" Asher asked. "And, Lucas, after Riley, Dylan and Maya went out of their way to find us, and we got to know them a little, I think we can endorse them too." Dylan said. "Yeah, I approve that message." Asher said. "I second that." Dylan added. The video ended.
Farkle walked over to Maya, Riley, and I. "I don't wanna be dictator anymore. Dictators don't have any friends." Farkle told us. "You don't say?" I asked, sarcastically. Lucas walked over to us. "Thank you for the video. That. Wasn't what I expected to see." Lucas admitted. I stared into his eyes, and he did the same to me. "No more going home for the weekends?" I asked. "I am home." Lucas replied. I smiled, gently at him.
~~~~~~~
Riley, Maya, Farkle, Lucas, Cory, "the rebel", and I stood in the empty gym. Lucas won the competition, so we were just going over a couple of things. I sat on the stage and just listened to everything.
"Hey, Mr. Matthews, I'd like to name Farkle my vice president." Lucas told Mr. Matthews. Cory chuckled. "You're kidding?" Cory asked. Lucas shook his head. "You mean if something terrible happened to you, I'd be president?" Farkle asked. Lucas nodded. "I accept." Farkle said, giving Lucas a very creepy look. "Stop! Please!" I shouted at Farkle. He nodded, and looked back down.
"Maya I'd like you to be my secretary of state." Lucas told her. "I'm nobody's secretary, Ranger Rick." Maya told him. "Hey, Hart." The rebel said. "What?" Maya asked. "Secretary of state is the president's ambassador to the world. It also means he's trying to get you out of the country." The rebel told her. I giggled.
"Wait a minute. What about me?" Riley asked. "You? What about you?" Lucas questioned. "What am I to you?" Riley asked. "What are you to me?" Lucas asked. He whistled, and a white horse walked in. My mouth hung open. Lucas helped Riley on to the horse and placed a blue veil on her. "To me. You're a princess." Lucas told her. Riley smiled at him and trotted around the gym on the horse.
Lucas came over and sat down next to me. "Hi," He greeted. "Hey," I greeted back. We sat there in silence. Until I spoke out. "So, what about me?" I asked, breaking the silence. "What about you?" Lucas asked. "Farkle'a a vice-president, Maya's a secretary of state, Riley's a princess. So, what am I to you?" I told him. Lucas smiled, softly. "To me. You're my Hart," He told me. I smiled. I quickly gave Lucas a quick kiss on the cheek, and walked over to Maya. I could see out of the corner of my eye, Lucas blushing.