seven - Never Put A "We" In A Box
People go on and on about our differences. But, you know, our differences are less important than our similarities. We can have a lot in common with one another, whether you can see that or not.
Unfortunately, our differences are what we pin against each other at most, now a days.
Pursing her lips, Ryan rolls her eyes and questions the urgent and impatient peers around her, who remained with eyes trained on the ticking wall clock displayed in front of the classroom. ''What's the big deal? He's just a little late.''
''But where's your father?'' Lucas counters, averting his attention onto Riley.
''Are we getting a sub? I don't want a sub. You never know where they've been,'' Farkle interrogates too quickly before he, himself, could even process.
''Would you calm down, he's one minute late,'' Riley shrugs. ''Stop overreacting.''
''What if he never shows up? What if I never learn anything else?''
Ryan narrows her eyes at him incredulously as the bieber cut boy began to blink rapidly, his body leaning off of his seat from suddenly being light headed. ''I'm going down sir- Oh, he's not even here.''
As the perky brunette was on her feet in seconds, gaping widely down at Farkle and her blonde sidekick making her way towards Mr. Matthews desk, Ryan shakes her head and mumbles, ''And down he goes.''
''We lost Farkle!'' Riley exclaims. ''A little help, Maya?''
''Matthews is out, Farkle is down. It's Maya time,'' The blonde cheered with a wide grin, that could only lead up to no good.
Riley was able to manage all on her own when lifting Farkle back into his seat. ''Farkle is fix. No Maya time.''
It was iconic to see how those words backfired on her so quickly as Farkle came quickly crashing down, once again.
''You may proceed.''
''During Maya time, we open the confiscation drawer and take back all the stuff from the land of unfairly taken toys,'' Maya briefly explains.
''Maya,'' Riley chuckles. ''I don't think anyone wants-''
Her words were cut short once almost every student in her class started cheering for the blonde rebel.
''Alright,'' Maya mumbles as she pulls out the first object from the drawer. She looked back up to the class with a brightly neon frisbee in her hand. ''Whose is this?''
A kid who sat in the very back of the room raised his hand. Ryan watched the frisbee be released from her touch just as a certain boy genius got back on his feet, asking around, ''What did I miss?''
She cringed when the frisbee came colliding with his head, causing him to go back down.
Riley slammed her hands against and blurts out, ''Maya! He is going to walk in and catch you and you're going to be in trouble and I am here to keep you out of trouble and I will have failed. Do you want me to fail?''
Maya points a finger into her chest and negates ''Do you want me to show you, how to have fun?''
''Behaving is fun!''
''Come here!''
''I really don't want to,'' Riley's voice softens, her toughen and strict facade crumbling to her good girl acts.
''You come here, right now! Ring power!''
Ryan never seen a person move so quickly, explaining such so, ''When we say ring power, you have to. It's a rule.''
The brunette began to lose interest as she pulled out her phone from her back pocket. A notification popped up on her screen, directly from her messenger app.
It was the T-Mobile company.
''Your bill is due on 10/3/15. If you do not pay $62.48 within the time limit, your service will be shut down..''
Slamming her phone against the desk, Ryan props her arms on top of the table and plants her face into the palm of her hands.
For a split second, she was pleased to see her father wasn't found in the house this morning. Until she discovered the hurried stash of empty liquor bottles stored under his bed.
''When did you guys decide, there were no rules in here?'' Mr. Matthews disbelievable thoughts tore Ryan away from hers. ''When did my generosity and allowing you to express yourselves, make you think, you could turn my classroom into a zoo?''
''Well let's do the math, shall we,'' Ryan starts, folding her hands flat against her desk. ''School plus no teacher, times the fact that there's stored toys equals a full blown party and a bomb host like Nicki Minaj.''
The brunette jerked back at the sudden wide eyed glare Mr. Matthew shot her way. Though, a bubbly sensation to laugh at his constipated features were an urgent feeling Ryan knew would be best to subside.
''I'm sorry,'' She mumbles, sinking into her seat.
''I'm sorry,'' Maya and Riley mumbled in unison.
Farkle popped one of many various balls that were shot at him, out of his mouth, repeating, ''I'm sorry.''
''I'm sorry,'' The class spoke as one.
''Lucas,'' Mr. Matthew calls. ''Why are you the only one that didn't say, I'm sorry?''
''Because I never do anything,'' He clearly states.
''No,'' He corrects. ''Because you respect the rules. Because you know without them, civilization becomes chaos.''
'As if I didn't feel small already, you had to make the shade be real,' Ryan thought to herself.
''The rest of you are gonna spend the afternoon thinking about that, with the exception of Lucas the good.''
''Oh boy,'' Lucas groaned. He peered down at the blonde who sat in front of him with machines gearing in her head. ''Is that gonna stick?''
''I'm already making t-shirts.''
While Lucas was getting out of his seat, Ryan was shaking her head with furrowed brows. ''What did I do that was so bad?''
She couldn't afford having detention. Life was becoming a little rocky and the last thing she needs is stress to have her going over the edge.
''Thank your mouth and your phone.''
She opened her mouth to protest when Lucas approach, caring more for his reputation than the future banter that would surely be hold between Ryan and Corey. ''You put me in a real bad position here, sir.''
Ryan cocks a brow and sneers at the odd look he was giving back at the class.
''I gotta do something.''
Mr. Matthew nods. ''You can fight this, Lucas.''
''No, I can't sir. Everyone's looking.''
''Okay,'' He shrugs his shoulders. ''Do what you gotta do.''
Ryan watched with curiosity as Lucas sent a message that caused an immediate alert chime from Mr. Matthews phone.
Mr. Matthews looked back at Lucas astonished from what was shared between them.
''Detention.''
''Oh, thank you sir,'' Lucas sighs in relief.
Lucas got back in his seat and Maya rolled her eyes at him. ''Feel better, huckleberry?''
''I'm just like you now,'' He smirks.
''Yeah, we're exactly the same.''
Mr. Matthews waved them off. ''Yeah, you're all the same. Detention, all of you!''
Riley raises her hand.
''What do you want?''
Placing her hand back onto her desk, she responds, ''I'm going to be home late today, daddy.''
''I know, honey.''
×××
''I've always allowed you to bend the rules,'' Mr. Matthew starts off, just as his students return to their homeroom class for detention. ''But the best of students know just how far they can push before those rules are broken. Today you are not the best of students.''
''Yeah, yeah, yeah,'' Ryan waved him off as she slides into her seat.
''But you know we're good people most of the time, don't you, daddy?'' Riley points out, a toothy grin brightening her features. ''Daddy? You're my daddy.''
''Why do we need rules at all?'' Maya shakes her head.
''You think you could make it in a world without rules?''
''I think I could do fine in any world,'' Maya contradicts.
Mr. Matthews looked up towards the rest of his class. ''The rest of you believe that?''
Ryan furrows her brows around those who nodded their heads.
''Seriously?'' She judged quicker than she intended. ''I can barely make it through a school day.''
''Okay,'' Mr. Matthew nods. ''Well, guess what, guys? School's out. You've got the whole place to yourselves. No rules. One hour to behave however you want. Let's see what becomes of you.''
''Well,'' Riley perched.
''Oh my god,'' Ryan mutters, looking away with a sneer.
''I think we'll be perfectly behaved ladies and gentlemen.''
''And I think within one minute, you'll be eating each other.''
''Where are you going?'' Riley wanted to know as her and the rest of the students watched their teacher pull out a ring of keys from his pocket as he walked to the front door.
''I'm locking you in. The best punishment I can give, is to force you to spend some time with yourselves. I'll see you in an hour. Whoever's left.''
Ryan narrowed her eyes to slits when Mr. Matthew eye her especially on the last part.
''Don't do that to me, Corey. I Didn't Eat Lunch Today!''
Her bottom lip was jutted out, forming a frown on her countenance while the door closed on them.
''I can't believe it. He locked us in.''
''That's fine. I don't have a problem with that. I'm not claustrophobic or anything,'' Farkle informs with short breathes.
''You sure about that Farkle?'' Ryan teased. ''You look kinda crazy eye there.''
''We're trapped!'' He declared abruptly. ''I can't breathe. There's more carbon dioxide than oxygen! The ratio is all wrong!''
''Okay. Farkle gotsta go,'' Maya says.
''I gotsta?''
''Stop,'' Riley slammed her hands against the desk and stood. ''This is exactly what my father wants. He wants us to panic and fall apart. We have to show him that we can get through this without turning into a pack of wild animals.''
There was a moment of silence. It was brief, but it was there. Until Lucas spoke, ''I'm hungry.''
Farkle whipped around towards Lucas with wide eyes. ''What do you mean by that?''
He shakes his head and stands. His steps were slow and taunting around the Minkus assigned seat, leaning his physique against the desk behind Farkle's. ''Nothing. I'm just really hungry.''
Farkle turned in his seat to face Lucas. ''Because we're best friends.''
''Yeah,'' Lucas smiles, nodding along with his logic. ''You know what else? I don't think I've ever been this hungry.''
''I feel ya, Ranger Rick,'' Maya agrees, her tone as low and demeaning as Lucas' was while standing up from her seat. ''I'm kinda hungry, too.''
''And it's not like a regular kind of hungry, right?''
''No. No. This one's deep. It must be attended to,'' Maya adds.
Lucas peers away from Farkle for a split second to glance at Ryan. ''Ryan-''
''Say no more, I got a toaster oven shoved in my locker.''
As Ryan raced onto her feet, Riley moved herself in front of her so she couldn't move any further. ''Oh, guys, can we just show a little discipline? I mean, how much more time in here could we possibly have?''
Ryan, Lucas, Farkle, Maya, Riley and the rest of the students in Mr. Matthews history class looked up towards that slowly ticked from its mark seen only moments ago.
Riley looked back down at Farkle with her eyes boring into him. ''You know, I could eat, too.''
''What?'' Farkle was on his feet in an instant, taking each step backwards and away from the group who'd take one step forward. ''What are you looking at? Guys, what are you seeing right now?''
''Stop talking, chicken.''
Riley shakes her vigorously. ''All right, come on! Let's prove my father wrong. Let's form our own perfect society. Riley town is a land of goodness and rainbows where everybody folds their hands nicely like so. Who wants to live in Riley town?''
''Nobody wants Riley town. It's too lollipop,'' Maya cringed.
''You're lollipop!'' Riley fired back.
Maya chuckles dryly. ''Sister, I am a lot of things, but I ain't lollipop.''
''Riley town has order, structure and our hands folded like so. What do you got?'' Riley tested with eyes narrowed to slit.
''I got Maya ville,'' Maya then climbed on top of Lucas unoccupied seat. ''No rules, no laws, no hand folding and nobody says no!'' Farkle immediately looked up at Maya, a hopeful grin plastered on his lips. ''No.''
''You got chaos is what you got! I got order, you got chaos!''
''You got lollipop, I got whoo!''
''And what do you got?'' Farkle asked, pointing to Ryan.
The corner of her lips quirked into a lazy, half sort of smile as she plopped back into her seat. ''I got chill, dude.''
''Okay, detention may be bringing out the worst in us, but at least we're making the time pass.''
They all looked back at the time. That same mark the hand was on from last time they checked, moved onto another.
''Eat Riley.''
Riley covers her eyes with a hand an extended an arm out, saying ''Okay. But no biting.''
×××
Blinking rapidly at the bright lights blurring her vision, Ryan pulls out her headphones and sighs. ''What?''
''You joined Riley town,'' Riley takes obvious note of. ''How come?''
Ryan shrugs her shoulders and pulls her phone out from her sweater pocket. ''Because I can't take my daily nap at home, so I have to do it here.'' Pulling the wires out of her ears, she wraps it around her device. ''And what are you doing, disrupting my daily nap?''
Riley had her hands clasped behind her back and the upper half of her body twisting from side to side. ''No reason. Have you met Dave?''
Furrowing her brows, Ryan turns her head to gaze at the row of good noodles already eyeing her with plain features.
''What're you doing in here?'' Janitor Harley genuinely asks the group as he enters the classroom. ''They're having a lot more fun out there.''
''We're in detention, janitor Harley,'' Riley informs.
''How 'bout that? Little zippy crossed the line.''
Riley smiled. ''Maya influenced me.''
''I've noticed that over the years,''Janitor Harley walked over to the other side of the room and grabbed onto the open door, looking back at Riley with a cocked brow. ''You do realize the back door is wide open don't you, little zippy?''
She nods her head. ''We're aware.''
Janitor Harley grabs the small plastic bag full of garbage from the blue recycle bin set behind Ryan's seat. ''And yet this group stays in here, while the other group is rampaging down the hallway.''
''Wanna tell us what year it is, while you're stating the obvious?'' Ryan remarked, tilting her head back to look up at the tall man.
Harley jerked his head back, wondering the thirteen year old was using the sass on someone other than him.
''Don't mind her,'' Riley waves her off.
''Yeah, I'm this sarcastic on a daily. That and I'm low key married to Dylan O'Brien with three gorgeous kids.''
Harley shakes his head, his chest heaving from the short chuckles of laughter heard from him.
''What do you make of the door being open, Janitor Harley?'' Riley asks.
''I'm sure we'll find out. This lesson has your father written all over it.''
As Janitor Harley walked back to the front of the room, Riley makes sures to prompt, ''You're supposed to lock the front door.''
''Actually,'' He shakes his head. ''I'm not. It's time to find out what Maya is up to. Goodbye.''
Ryan watched as the Janitor closes the door from behind him on his way out.
''Maya will be fine,'' Riley assures. ''Lucas and Farkle won't let her get into trouble.
Dave shrugs his shoulders. ''She's stronger than them.''
''She's better when you're with her,'' Sarah makes note of.
''Oh, please. 14 years of good influence can't possibly come apart in...''
×××
''Oh my god, they're taking Riley!'' Ryan exclaims. ''Hurry before she doesn't pick goose!''
Lucas and a bunch of others came running and screaming and ululating into the classroom just when Riley was playing duck, duck, goose, excluding Ryan, who felt utterly awkward playing the game at this age.
They placed a fishnet bag found in the gym for storing all sporting equipment over Riley's head, causing her to scream, ''Wait!''
The room fell silent, until she tapped someone's head. ''Duck.''
She leaned back up and smiled. ''Okay.''
The screaming filled the stilfull air of the room as they carried the brunette out of the classroom and down the hall, leaving the rebel best friend behind.
''Why are you guys lookin' at me like that?'' Maya questions the same row of good noodles that had wicked grins towards the blonde.
''Help us.''
''Make us more like you.''
''Okay. You guys want to have some fun?''
By now, Ryan was back in her seat, in her own little world.
Where she prefers it to be called, City Ryan.
In City Ryan, everything is played fair, for everyone's happiness. No drunken fathers, no deceased mothers or teared apart friendships. Everything is just right.
Of course it was far from reality, but that's just how Ryan Collins likes it.
Ryan pulls out a plug from ear, a vague beat heard from the removed earpiece, as she felt a gentle tap on her arm.
''You didn't take my side,'' Maya says, pulling a chair towards the brunnette. ''Why?''
Ryan shrugs her shoulders, her brown orbs gazing to her left where the small group of good kids were running ink from the markers across their faces. ''Personally, I didn't take no one's side. I just didn't wanna move.''
''Then what side did you take?''
Ryan tilts her head to the side, her dark colored locks moving with her as she shakes her head. ''Why do you wanna know? Don't you hate me?''
She flattens her lips travels her gaze elsewhere, becoming a little difficult to look the former best friend in the eye. ''Hate is.. Kind of a strong word.''
''Coming from the girl who kidnapped her own best friend.''
Maya looked away and smirked, a form of humor settled upon the two.
It was the first, since Ryan got back, that they've had a decent moment. Where neither wanted to rip each others throats out.
''You told me the other day, that I didn't get to be the only one with family issues,'' Her features soften, but Maya didn't noticed as she lost focus into a random corner of the room. ''What was that, exactly?''
She bit into the corner of her bottom lip, her eyes shifting thoroughly through Maya's features.
She's not no Lucas Friar, but she was Maya Hart, the girl whose father walked out on her.
''Do you remember that accident last year on the interstate-''
''On the New Jersey line?'' Maya finally looked back at Ryan. ''Yeah, I do. They made a big fuss about it for a couple of weeks.''
''My mom was one of those that died.''
Any lines creased on Maya's countenance vanished in a matter of seconds. ''Ryan-''
The brunette shakes her head looks down at her lap. ''My parents were already divorced by the time it happened. I mean, yeah, the custody case was hard but eventually my mom won and my dad moved. So, when mom died, I had to fly out all the way to Texas.''
She looks up to the ceiling with glossy eyes, a dry chuckle emitting out of her. ''Oh my god, I was miserable there. I didn't have my mom, or you guys, or Corey, or Topanga. I didn't want to start over and find new ones either. I couldn't. And I was mad that I couldn't. That's how I met Zay. He, uh.. He thought I was the bad kid, born and raised, whatever whatever. But, I wasn't. I was just mad.''
Ryan pursed her lips while wiping away the stray tears forming wet streaks on her skin. ''And I thought, since I still have my dad, we can make it in this world. That I could make it in this world. But I was wrong. It's only worse.''
Maya brushed her fingertips across her water line, where there, tears were ready to burst. But, she didn't want to ruin her war paint.
''That's why we moved back,'' She shakes her head. ''I don't know how bad it'll get, either.''
''Hey, Ryan,'' Sarah calls, pulling away from Dave's face for only the moment being. ''You in?''
Ryan opened her mouth to respond, only to close back. She didn't imagine herself being apart of those sort of activities.
''You don't have to,'' Maya suggests, and that assured Ryan's answer.
''Nah, I think I will,'' She looks back at Maya with a smirk. ''This might be the last moments of fun I'll get.''
Maya mirrored her smirk, only hers were more lopsided. ''Not on my watch.''
Maya offers her hand out, smiling when Ryan takes it.
It wasn't long until Ryan came back into the classroom with Maya Hart, chanting and marching a catchy melody to their mood with the rest of the good kids following from behind.
Riley, Lucas, Farkle, and all the others who were originally on Maya's side watched the replacements march to their seats, ending it on a bomb note and a powerful pose.
''You have fun?'' Riley asked Maya.
The blonde nods. ''Yeah,'' Her gaze travels back over to Ryan who was smirking at her already. ''We did. It was quite enjoyable actually. And you?''
As Riley and Maya continued to converse, Farkle mutters quickly, ''Did that-''
''You saw it too?'' Lucas assures wearily, eyeing Maya curiously.
''Saw, what?'' Ryan giggles.
''That,'' Farkle mimics the smirk and overexaggerates the eye contact shared between the two friends.
''It's something only we know,'' Ryan smirks again. She was only glad to have her friend back.
×××
Ryan sets her keys in the dish bowl set on the dresser in the main hall, a happy sigh falling from her lips. It would be an understatement to say that today, was a good day.
''Hey, Dad!'' Ryan calls, picking up the messy pile of mail next to the dish bowl and sorting it out for her father. ''You gotta pay our phone bill soon!''
She listened in on the footsteps coming in her direction, not looking up to know fully well it was her father.
''I got good news.''
''Which is..''
''I quite my job!''
Ryan slammed the pile of mail back on top of the wooden dresser and glared at her father. ''What?''
''No, Ryan, it's fine. I found an even better job reliable around my schedule,'' Marvin attempted to reason, but it only had his daughter furrowing her brows.
''What schedule? All you do is work and pay the bills.''
''I bumped into my old friend, Jimmy, when I was on my way to the deli, during my lunch hour and he's willing to let me work with him, and make a few pounds.''
Ryan shakes her head. ''I am so confused- A few pounds of what?''
''Cocaine.''
Her eyes went wide. ''What? Dad, you could go to jail, or worse.''
Her temper rises when her father shaked his head and waved her off, making his way into the living room.
''Dad, this is serious,'' Ryan follows after him. ''Do you not care about me?''
''Yeah, well guess what?'' Her father stopped and turned at the heel of his foot. ''My job isn't cutting it. It's either this or all our boxes out on the streets. Does that answer your question, Ryan?''
She stood silent, stunned that this is the turn her life was taking. And boy, was she glad that she had her fun while it last. Because there won't be no more happy days in her future.
''And go take off that shit on your face, you look stupid.''
Ryan's Outfit For The Chapter!
authors note; fun fact, this took me three days to write. your welcome.