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"48, 49, 50!" riley brushed through her hair, counting after every brush. "this is the song when i'm brushing my hair," she sang. misha laughed on the spot beside her.
"what's that, what's that? do the other side? okay!" riley moved the brush to the other side of her hair. just then, maya climbed through the window. she snatched the brush out of riley's hand, throwing it out of the window.
"maya?" misha whispered, totally perplexed. "i have extra brushes," riley announced, holding up a basket. maya knocked it out of the room too. "and now they're gone!" she exclaimed.
misha looked shaken up, so riley explained the situation. "maya decided that she wanted to make lucas stop liking her by going back to her old self."
misha squinted at the two. she turned to maya. "didn't anyone tell you not to change yourself for someone else?" maya shrugged. "it doesn't matter, this is different."
she turned to riley. "and you don't care?" riley shrugged in response. "i will always support maya. i don't think it's right, but she probably doesn't like lucas anyway. i mean, i know stuff about him!" she exclaimed.
"okay rapunzel, i'm in a hurry to get to school," maya hopped up from her spot on the bay window. "that's a first," misha scoffed. "yeah, maya wouldn't say that!" riley stood up, leaving misha as the only one seated.
"i've been held back by your goody-moon-dust spell so long that i haven't done any real damage to this high school situation at all." maya frowned. so did misha. riley smiled.
"okay, then let's discuss. what kind of damage we talking about?" she stayed smiling. misha was just observing at this point. "damage," maya repeated.
riley still smiled. "i will allow you just enough freedom to," riley started. "no," maya shook her head. "for one fun-sized maya episode," riley continued.
misha jumped in. "i agree!" maya still shook her head. "ain't gonna cut it."
"well, then i will allow one medium-sized maya episode that allows me to go, 'heavens to betsy, maya. will you never learn?'" riley exclaimed loudly.
maya scoffed. "listen, petunia, i've been living life on candy cane lane the past year and i'm a pent-up, boiling cauldron of i'm-gonna-do-somethin'." she crossed her arms.
"c'mon maya! this is ridiculous. you told me you l-" misha started. she was interrupted by maya throwing herself onto misha. she practically hissed at the brown-haired girl.
maya looked up at riley and back to misha. "mama gonna do a big, bad thing." misha rolled her eyes. "well, I don't believe that you will. because riley only brought you back to exactly where we all need you to be, and she was very careful not to go too far. right, riles?"
"yeah. right maya?" riley turned to maya, but she stayed silent. "peaches?"
maya chuckled, climbing back out of the window. riley went to follow. "let me talk to her. this is mostly my fault; i need to fix it." misha got up from the floor and climbed out of the window.
she climbed down the fire escape and eventually caught up to maya. "dude, what the hell?" maya didn't look at misha.
"look at me! you're really hurting yourself for what? for riley? she doesn't even know you like him! you're an actual idiot, you know that right?" misha caught herself yelling, so she toned down.
maya sighed. "well, she had him first."
misha laughed at what maya said. "are you kidding me? maya, i'm not new. i had to deal with you guys being the center of attention for two years. you saw lucas before she did! they're like siblings, it's weird." she ranted. misha could rant about this for hours. riley deserved better than lucas.
weeks ago lucas was calling the poor girl a loser; she didn't need that. misha and maya eventually reached the school and met riley there. the day dragged slowly, but mr. matthews taught an interesting lesson.
"pompeii," he shouted out, causing anyone who was asleep to jolt up. "lucas," mr. matthews continued. lucas looked around in confusion. "don't you mean farkle?"
cory laughed. "no, i mean lucas." lucas sighed. "oh."
"i want to see what you know," cory continued on. lucas smirked. "okay here's what i know. farkle." he turned to the blue eyed boy who had a smile on his face.
"why, thank you. 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," farkle started. misha interrupted. "it was like the hawaii of italy." farkle nodded to her. she felt her cheeks burn a maroon color.
"thanks, lucas." mr matthews said sarcastically. lucas saluted. "call on me any time."
"pompeii sounds so beautiful, maya," riley interrupted the lesson with her daydreams once again. "we should go there. we should go there and be calm," she smiled.
misha laughed to herself at the comment.
"let me tell you about a whole city that became calm very quick. now, who knows about mount vesuvius?" cory ignored riley's comments.
maya responded without raising her handz "mount vesuvius was a pent up, boiling cauldron of i-wanna-do-somethin'." cory nodded. he added to her statement. "vesuvius sat quiet for a long time, but then it did what volcanoes in time must do."
"it 'sploded!" maya shot up from her seat. riley looked down. "why do volcanoes have to 'splode?" she asked.
"because if it doesn't, it'll just blow up worse later." misha answered out loud, realizing a lot about maya's true intentions.
cory nodded at misha. "vesuvius wiped out the entire population of pompeii. it was one of the greatest natural disasters the world had ever known."
riley turned to 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." there was then a loud buzzing sound. the red alarms on the wall flashed. there was a fire drill.
"that's it! oh, a fire alarm! ooh, you sassy troublemaker!" riley hugged maya. she continued yelling. "fire alarm, everybody! yes! oh, my gosh! this is bananas!"
"your blood pumpin'?" maya chuckled. "oh, it's so pumpin'!" riley exclaimed. maya just continued to laugh. "good; it wasn't me."
riley laughed back. "of course it was. okay, single file, everybody! choo-choo! everybody find a safety buddy. my safety buddy is maya. she exploded and now she's tired."
misha just stood, watching. she felt frozen. she was nervous for what maya could pull off and how it could affect everyone.
"um, I didn't do it." maya protested once again, still in riley's arms. "yes, you did! but you can't do anything more for 3,000 years." she let go of maya.
a voice came over the p.a. "hello, students. sorry about that. a little glitch in the system. false alarm. our mistake. back to work."
riley stared at maya. "you didn't do it, maya the volcano?" maya shook her head. "no explodey."
"do you need a nappy?" she shook her head once again. "wide awakey."
"well, you're gonna wipe out the whole village, ain't ya?" misha joined in. "and the neighboring towns," maya laughed.
after school, the group made it to their usual spot in topanga's. nobody had seen smackle all day, but it wasn't their main priority just yet.
they all sat and tried to figure out what maya was going to do next, without her knowing of course.
misha was about to give up. she leaned onto farkle's shoulder, tracing her name over his folder with her fingers. maya sighed loudly and dramatically. "you know what guys, i'm going," she announced and started to walk out.
"where?" riley asked. "none of your business," maya laughed out. riley looked down. farkle and misha tried to comfort her, but nothing worked. she stood up to leave too.
"don't forget to come over tomorrow," she reminded farkle and misha. they nodded and she walked out.
eventually lucas and zay left too. it was just misha and farkle sitting at the chairs. she turned to the talk boy. "so, how is everything? i feel like we haven't spoken too much recently."
he laughed. "misha, we facetimed for eight hours on saturday..." she laughed too. "okay, point proven."
it wasn't dark yet, so they had awhile to talk before it was too late. farkle sighed. he needed to get something of this chest. "misha?" he grabbed her attention when it became silent.
"yup?" she smiled to him. misha saw nervousness in his eyes, so she put her hand onto his shoulder to comfort him. he blushed lightly. "i need to tell you something."
"go ahead," she nodded to him.
farkle sighed.
"i have been thinking, ever since smackle ended it.... she was right, about how i feel for you. misha, ever since the last day of eighth grade i have always felt something for you. i've tried to push it down, but now i've decided i want to tell you. no more secrets."
she started at him, speechless. misha was shocked. of course she liked him, what's not to like about him?
"can you say something so i don't feel like an idiot?" farkle blurted out. misha swallowed. "i don't know, farkle." he stared at her in silence for a moment before opening his mouth to speak. "i have feelings for you, but i don't understand them. i don't know what to say to you because i don't know what i want anymore."
he nodded, sighing. "it was worth a shot," farkle mumbled. he stood and gathered his things. "see you tomorrow, mish." he started to leave, but misha ran to catch up with him.
"listen, we should try this out. i don't want to throw away something because i'm scared of what could happen. it's just that i finally have a place with all of you and i don't want to toss that away over a crush," she rambled.
farkle grinned. "i don't want to pressure you. what's happening with maya probably overwhelms you and i'm not helping. just think about it, okay?"
she nodded. "is sarah coming to get you?" misha changed the subject to avoid awkwardness. farkle nodded. "i told her to get me from your place so i can walk you home, if that's okay."
they walked for a while, talking about maya and everything going on in their lives. it was all quite hectic. misha's phone vibrated in her pocket a few times. she grabbed it quickly, not even checking the caller id.
"hello?" she didnt know who could be calling her. "misha babe! i've missed you. how come you havent been returning my calls?" the voice was loud and clear. it was landon. timing couldn't have been any better, she thought to herself.
"that's because i blocked your number," she scoffed. nervousness overcame misha. she wasn't ready to tell farkle about landon. "sugar, it's going to be okay. i'll see you before the holidays so we can be a happy family again," his voice croaked over the phone.
misha gagged. "we were never happy, and you aren't my family. go to hell," she wanted him far away from her friends and family. misha hung up the phone, catching her breath.
farkle put his arm over his shoulder. "you need to tell me what is going on. i'll tell sarah to pick us up here in ten minutes so you don't have to walk. let's sit," farkle led misha over to a bench.
they sat down together, farkle more worried than he ever has been in his entire life. misha sighed. "that was my brother," she informed him. "miles?"
misha shook her head. "i have an older brother named landon. h-he isn't a good guy, farkle. he went to jail because he hurt people. landon hurt my mom. she's not in my life anymore because of him and somehow he's getting out of jail." she let it all out. it hurt to remember, but calmed her knowing farkle would help her through this.
misha felt him wipe a tear off of her cheek. his hand lingered in front of her face for a moment. the streets were loud around them, but the two only focused on each other. "i'm always here for you. come get me, call me, or whatever if he bothers you."
she nodded, sniffling. farkle wrapped his arms around the brunette in front of him. he hummed to sedate her. misha felt safe in the boy's arms. she buried her head into the crook of his neck.
they separated once sarah beeped the horn of her car at them. the two teens were red of embarrassment. misha laughed the situation off as she hopped into the car. they were really close to misha's apartment, so the awkwardness wouldn't last too long.
"thanks for the ride, sarah! i'll be fine to walk up on my own," misha hopped out of the car and waved to farkle.
in the car, farkle scoffed to himself. sarah laughed. "i guess she didn't want a repeat of the 'i love you' convo."
farkle rolled his eyes at the thirty year old. "i told her today, that i like her. you'll never guess what she said." he blushed in excitement just thinking about what happened just moments before.
"lemme guess, she likes you but wants to take this slow." sarah said as if it were obvious. she rolled her eyes at the young boy in the seat behind her. he nodded.
"i'm very happy," farkle stated. sarah ignored the comment and parked in front of his building. "good night, farkle," she waved him off. he said good night to sarah and went back into his building.
farkle practically sprinted up to his room. he kicked his shoes off and pulled his laptop out. the search engine popped up and he quickly typed in two words, a name to be exact.
landon baron.
tons of articles came up from websites and news stations, even tabloids. he was shocked at what he read. farkle couldn't believe he had no idea any of this happened, especially to a friend of his.
farkle's breathing quickened as he read more about what landon has done. he felt awful for misha, that she had to go through this at only eight years old. it takes a toll on people, yet she stayed positive and happy.
he sighed to himself, not knowing what to do next. farkle decided to think over this tomorrow. he had a lot on his plate recently, so maybe sleeping would help him. he drifted off quickly.
in the morning, farkle woke up to the smell of warm pancakes being made. he crawled out of bed with a tired grin, putting on slippers. though he told him not to, farkle's butler already put out an outfit for him. he put it on anyway before going into the kitchen.
"morning minkus!" sarah yelled to the boy. farkle stopped in his place, blinking at the sight before him. "i thought you were fernando," he chuckled under his breath.
sarah shook her head. "he's out sick, so i'm here." she handed him a plate of pancakes while snacking on her own plate. farkle indulged into the delicious plate of warm chocolate chip pancakes with delight. it was a nice thing, those pancakes. they made him forget what was going on with misha.
he thanked sarah once again, heading to get changed. farkle changed and went into his bathroom. he stared into his complexion, noticing the new bags under his eyes. the blue eyed boy just laughed himself off, grabbing a comb.
he combed out the strands of hair before adding gel. farkle stared at himself in the mirror before heading to sarah's car. she was already in there when she arrived. "took you long enough!" sarah exclaimed before driving off.
they reached the school quickly. farkle practically leaped out of the car to get inside quickly. he went to misha's locker. as expected, the brunette was there. farkle waved to her. "misha, what he did to your family, to you, is not okay. i'm sorry." farkle blurted, speaking about the infamous brother of hers.
"please don't tell anyone about this. i don't want any sympathy right now," she spat. misha didn't mean to be harsh to the tall brunette boy, it just came out that way. people in the hallways split as the bell rang. "i've gotta go to algebra," she informed him. farkle stood there, watching misha slip away.
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"if you choose to live next door to a volcano, why should you be surprised by the destruction that comes with it?" mr. matthews asked his class. "because they lived next to it so long," zay answered.
"maybe they forgot what it was," lucas suggested. a few students nodded in agreement. misha looked up to mr. matthews before she thought our loud. "because it's not."
"what?" he asked. matthews didn't expect for an answer like that to come out of misha.
she sighed. "'cause you've always lived right next to it and you have faith that it would never do anything bad to you," she explained. farkle looked at misha, with an empathetic expression. she turned away from him.
"where is she? she's cutting school?" lucas asked his friends. riley nodded with a frown. "that's what she decided to do." cory frowned too. he began to teach again.
"our question for discussion is: there's a whole world out there, pompeii, why live next to a volcano then? huh? farkle."
farkle wiped the expression of his face. "the soil from volcanoes grows the most beautiful flowers," he stated. "and deep down, maya is beautiful," misha mumbled under her breath. the class was silent.
"you live in ireland. you learn that there's over 300 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." matthews grew the lesson off of what farkle said. "now, what makes these wonderful peaks and valleys?"
"volcanoes," riley answered with an upset tone. she knew maya. she knew this wasn't who she was. riley felt guilty. "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."
the bell rang just as his lesson finished. riley, misha, and farkle stayed behind as other students flooded out. the classroom was silent; only the sounds of mr. matthews gathering his things to take home. the man left, telling the three to make it home before dark. they nodded.
misha stood up and walked a few inches over to farkle's desk. he stared blankly into his book to ignore her. "farkle?"
after a moment, he turned his head up. "i want to apologize for snapping at you this morning. you have to understand this is hard for me, though." misha pulled a grin for the boy in front of her. he smiled back. "misha, i understand. i only want to help you."
the room grew silent again. brown eyes were looking into blue ones. riley stood up. "let's go. i'm worried for maya." misha snapped out of whatever trance farkle put her into and grabbed her bookbag.
they expected to find maya in the bay window. they expected for this to be unreal.
the three ran to the matthew's apartment. worried parents were sitting at the table. lucas was with them too. there was still no word of where maya could be.
"where is she?" misha worried out loud. "it's my fault. i'm not there to stop her," riley looked down. she wasn't allowed to search for maya because of her overprotective father.
"it's not your fault. you're her best friend." farkle comforted his friend. riley ignored him. "i didn't want this, for her to explode."
misha rubbed her arm over riley's upper back for comfort. "riles, we don't know that she exploded. we don't know what she did." the room was silent. the amount of stress grew in the room. a loud knocking on the door broke the silence.
"you can't be with her all the time, riley. the job of being somebody's best friend is to make sure that even when you're not with them, you're still there." cory tought his daughter as he went to open the door.
maya came through the doorway, a tall police officer standing next to her. with a frown, she scowled at matthews. "you have failed," he laughed. topanga slapped his arm.
katy hart came running from topanga's side. "babygirl, what did you do?" she hugged her daughter. "new york code 145." the officer answered for her.
topanga, being the only other person in the room to understand what this meant, gasped. "vandalism?" she asked
each person in their was shocked. "maya," riley exhaled deeply. "you," maya practically growled at her best friend. "you did this. put me in jail for the rest of my life and don't allow visitors or else she'll come and bring me a stupid lemon meringue pie!" she rambled.
"it's for you and all your jailbird friends," riley smiled. the police officer interrupted the quarrel. "you're the girl whose head she put back on," he sighed.
misha became lost. "what?"
"she's my best friend and she ruined me over a dumb boy!" maya yelled. riley smiled, as usual. "well, she's my best friend and i love her."
farkle jumped in to the conversation. "we couldn't find her." lucas approached the small blond. "looks like somebody found her. maya, what did you do?"
the officer explained what happened. "she did a number on a public park. a park on my beat. my park. i watch that park every day."
maya apologized to the officer for the tenth time. he ignored her. "you all care about this girl?" he asked the large group of people filling the small room. they nodded. "well, we're gonna take a little field trip. i'm gonna show you all just want this girl did to my park. pet's go."
because it was nearby, everyone walked to the park. once they approached, everyone realized what the big fuss was. misha couldn't believe her eyes. a brick wall, obviously once white, was beautifully painted. the brush strokes spoke volumes.
maya turned to her tall brunette best friend. "you did this. not even just you, all of you!"
riley chuckled nervously. "hat? maya, i wasn't even with you." maya rolled her eyes at this. "yeah, you were. i had a brick in my hand. why? because somebody went after you."
riley became more serious. "who, maya?" she asked. "these two girls inused to know. i could have been them. riley, i would have been them. but i'm not. they think a hammer and a brick makes you strong. as much as i wanted to throw a 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. 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." she stopped to take a deep breath but continued immediately.
"i know we have something that we need to work out. i need to stop running away from my problems," maya groaned. "we all do," misha piped in.
farkle looked down at misha. "you know your circumstances are different than maya's," he whispered to her. she nodded. "yeah, but i can't run away from the changes that are coming, farkle."
maya turned to her teacher, and best friend's father. "how come I ain't bad, matthews?" he smiled. "the friends we choose can have the most profound influence in our entire lives, one way or the other. this way. i'm proud of you, maya." she thanked him.
misha turned to maya and away from farkle. "what happened to the girls?" she asked her blond friend.
maya laughed. "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... who i used to be. lucas laughed. "so, you're maya again?" she shook her head. "well, they seem to think so. they ran away so fast."
the officer grinned at the large amount of people in the park. "my park. i watch this park every day," he reiterated. "i'm sorry," maya apologized once again.
"you know, i'm not gonna give up on that carla and renee. and i don't want you to be like them, okay?" the officer almost made her promise to not become who everyone expected of her.
"i can't. dorothy and toto won't let me," she wrapped her arms around misha and riley. "am i toto?" riley asked. maya shook her head. "no riles, you're dorothy."
"new york code 145: 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."
riley grinned. "i'm a hoodlum." misha laughed loudly. maya sighed. she was glad to he back with everyone. she turned to the nice officer. "why are you giving me a break?"
he sighed. "my park. i look at this park every day. i have hope for this park, too. thank you." maya nodded. "thank you."
maya turned to the small statue. "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."
misha smiled. the four faced the statue. it had a few cracks, but there were attempts to put that together. farkle grabbed misha's hand. the warmth comforted her. she leaned her head onto his shoulder, feeling more than just butterflies in her stomach.