The school bell rings and students throughout the school rush to pack their things and get out of class.
"Class, please finish reading chapter 7," Mrs. Kalami yells over the fuss her students were making. "Finish the worksheet assigned with the chapter, and I have it ready for tomorrow morning."
Dmitar lets out a yawn as he walked out of the classroom.
"Tired," Trinity asks her.
"A little," he replies, opening his locker. "I was up late finishing some homework."
"You're always up late finishing some homework," Sofie tells him. "You would think you would have learned by now."
He scowls at her. "I'm too tired to deal with you today."
She frowns at him. "What do you mean by deal with me?"
While the two of them had their little lovers spar, Trinity turns her head to a quiet Violet. "What are you doing?"
Violet looks up from her phone. "Checking our schedule for this weekend. The Fagan wanna know if you can come early."
"What time?" Trinity opens her locker and takes out her History book.
"They want you to come at 5 instead of 6," she replies. "You good with that?"
"I would be leaving at the same time, right?" Violet nods. "I'm good with that."
"I'll email them back and let them know." The warning bell rings, Trinity sighs. Violet pats her on the back. "You got this Trin."
Trinity smiles at her. "Thanks. I'll see you guys in an hour."
Separating from her friends, she heads to the history class and takes a seat at her regular spot. Two minutes later, everybody was seated, and Mr.Matthew started the class.
"You guys don't connect with each other. It's like you can't exist without these. You use emoticons rather than emotions. You're an unfeeling generation of zombies." Mr.Matthews lectures, causing Riley and Maya to mimic zombies. "Stop eating her." at that moment, Myzell walks through the door. "You're late, Miss Myzell."
Myzell gives him a flat look. "My goldfish died."
"You see?" Mr. Matthews as the class. "This is what I'm talking about. Miss Myzell has clearly suffered a tragic loss. Yet, she does not seem in touch with her actual emotions!"
"Excuse me?" Myzell asks despondently. "I am crying my eyes out. I'm gonna have to leave class early." she turns on her heel and exits the classroom, the door closing behind her.
Mr.Matthews blinks. "Oh, she actually made it out the door this time."
The door opens, and Myself reappears, a smile on her face. "I actually made it out the door this time!"
"Dad, adjust, and deal. Cell phones have been around for, like, ever," Riley tells her father.
"It'll amaze you to know that there was a whole world before you and cell phones," Mr.Matthews replies.
"And it'll amaze you to know that I have 394 friends in here," she taps her phone.
Trinity rolls her eyes. "394 'friends' that don't know anything about you."
"And I'm amazed that you believe that," Mr.Matthews tells her thinking along the same line as Trinity. He walks back to the chalk board and draws a line. "This is a timeline of all human existence. Starting here," he points at the start of the timeline. "is everyone who ever lived, laughed, loved, and understood the value of life. The cellphone era, which begins right around here," he draws a line almost at the end of the timeline. "pretty much destroys all of that. Way to go, you."
Lucas raises his hand. "Sir, if I may take a different position?"
Mr.Matthews nods. "Yeah, save me, Mr. Friar. Do I go too far?"
Lucas nods. "Always, sir. I understand your point, but I use my phone to video chat with my old friends and to find out what's going on in Texas."
"Yeah. How else can he keep tabs on all the hoedowns and cattle pageants?" Maya mocks.
"Childish," Trinity mutters under her breath.
"Maya!" Riley scolds.
"It's okay, Riley. I'm unaffected by Maya's views of country life," Lucas tells her. "As my Uncle Buster always says, "Be like an eagle and soar above the mockingbird.""
"You're the mockingbird," Riley teases Maya.
"I know," Maya tells her before turning to glare at Lucas. "It kills me that I can't get to you."
"Sorry," Lucas tips an imaginary hat. "Ma'am."
Maya shudders in annoyance and turns back to the front.
Having had enough Trinity takes out The Scarlet Pimpernel and starts on her Language Arts homework. It wasn't like she was gonna learn anything in this class anyway.
Farkle raises his hands. "Farkle time, sir?"
"Oh I love Farkle time," Mr.Matthews takes a seat at Farkle desk allowing Farkle to take over the class.
"With all due respect to history, Mr. Matthews, what's important to our generation will be on this side of the timeline, when Farkle and technology rule. And I will easily be able to make another one of you.easily be able to make another one of you. And I will easily be able to make another one of you." he reaches out and plucks a strand of Riley's hair.
"Ow."
"And another one of you," he pulls a stand of Maya's hair.
"Ow."
"Wait, so now there's four of us and one of you?" Riley asks him.
Farkle lets out a creepy laugh. "That's awesome. The future, you can't escape it, I am Farkle!"
Mr.Matthews walks back to the front. "The assignment, you can't escape it, I am a teacher! Okay, so here's what we're going to do, guys. We're going to split into teams and discover whether or not new technology has made us better people. You'll do presentations on your findings. And here's a twist. No computers."
Farkle's eyes pop. "What!?"
"We're going old school. You're going to do your research at the New York Public Library."
Maya turns to Riley. "Where?!"
"And here's another twist because I trust you not at all. Give me your cell phones."
Riley holds her cellphone to her chest. "No!"
"Yeah," Mr.Matthews holds out a basket. "Come on, hand 'em up, hand 'em up. Thank you, thank you. Okay, so our teams for this assignment. Maya-"
Farkle leaps over to Maya's lap. "What up!" Maya pushes him off.
"And Riley, you will be with..." Riley and Lucas glance at each other. "No! No! No!" the bell rings, and Trinity immediately starts to pack up. When she reached the front Mr.Matthews stops her.
"Ms. Hart, you didn't hand me your phone."
She gives him a sardonic smile. "Can't do that Mr.Matthews. '
"And why not?"
"'Cause I need my phone."
"I'm sure the rest of your classmates think the same way. As a teacher, I can't give you any special treatment."
Trinity scoffs. "Okay, Mr.Matthews here's what's gonna happen. Instead of me calling you out on your bull, I'm gonna do a paper on why technology is important. Every argument needs a counter, and I'll be the counter. Now unless your gonna write me a note explaining to Mr.James why I'm late, I'm gonna leave now."
With that Trinity turns on her heels and out of the classroom.
________________________________________________________________________________
"So he really took everybody's phone?" Sofie asks seating on Trinity's bed.
"Yep," Trinity replies petting Sekhmet under the chin as she typed.
"What if an emergency happens? What about those that stay after school and need to call their parents to pick them up? And he wants them to go to the library, how are they gonna let their parents know when they're done at the library if they don't have their phone? Did he think through this at all?"
"I don't think he did," Dmitar replies, patting her on the back.
"He's an idiot!"
Violet reaches over Trinity and deletes her paragraph. Trinity turns to glare at her. "Why did you do that!?"
"I don't think it's a good idea to start your sentence off with 'Only an imbecile will think that technology is not needed and would take his students phone.'" she tells her. "I thought you said he has been easing up on you. That he stopped being nosy."
Trinity sticks her tongue at her. "And he has, but that doesn't mean I suddenly like him. I mean he's still trying to get Maya and me to get along; he's just more subtle about it. And you guys know I don't like busybodies."
Sofie's head perks up. "Which makes me wonder..."
"You're wondering why Riley isn't as involved, aren't you?" Dmitar prods.
Sofie points her pencil at him. "Exactly."
Trinity sends Violet an amused look. "You wanna answer that?"
Sofie sighs. "What did you do Violet?"
Violet rolls her eyes. "I didn't do anything. She was the one that came up to Trin and basically told her 'she was a horrible person for causing Katy and... ukk... him to divorce, and she should apologize to Maya so that they could become sisters again.' So I kindly dropped her bag in the Orangutan exhibit."
"I remember that," Dmitar laughs. "It was in third grade, and we went to the zoo. Those Orangutans tore her bag apart. Riley was crying her eyes out, and you looked her dead in the eyes and told her to'"Get lost before I really give you a reason to cry. he looks over at Sofie. "You probably don't remember cause you were sick that day."
"Hmmm," Sofie hums. "I don't remember you guys telling me about it but I do know when I came back to school the next day, everybody was giving Violet a huge breath, and they were calling her "Violent Violet.""
Trinity smirks. "It's been a while since we've seen "Violent Violet." Two years I think." she turns from her computer to look over at Violet. "What happened to her?"
Violet smiles at her. "Oh she's still there, they just have to push the right button."
Trinity smiles back. "What buttons her those?"
Violet reaches out and pushes a lock of Trinity's hair out of her face. "I wonder..."
In response, Trinity blushes but continues to hold eye contact with her.
On Trinity's bed, a forgotten Dmitar and Sofie roll their eyes. The two of them were to mushy.
Almost two hours later the four of them were out in the living room watching old reruns of Ned Declassified when there was a knock on the door.
"I got it!" Trinity keeps her eyes on the t.v as she went to open the door.
"I see you're watching Ned Declassified," a soothing voice says loud enough that all four of them could hear.
Trinity smiles at the handsome blonde. "Hi, Uncle Simon."
"Hi, Dad," Sofie waves half-heartedly eyes glued to the t.v.
"Hey, Uncle Simon," the other two greet.
"Hi, kids," he greets. "Sofie do you want me to come back in another hour?"
"No," Sofie sighs as Dmitar begrudgingly turned off the t.v. "I'm ready to go."
"Thank you," Simon turns his eyes on Trinity. "Now, I heard from a little bird that you had another anxiety attack recently."
Trinity presses her lips together in a slight grimace before shooting a quick glare at apologetic Sofie before turning back to face Simon. "It wasn't that bad."
He raises an unamused "Uh-uh, and you left school early for what reason?"
Dmitar chuckles. "Really, Sofie? Did you tell him everything?"
Sofie scoffs. "Like you and Violet didn't tell your parents that she had another attack?" when neither Dmitar and Violet answered, causing Sofie to smirk. "Exactly. Besides, I didn't tell him that Sofie and Violet left school early." she gives her father a curious look. "How'd you know?"
"When I get a personal call from my driver telling me that he took Trinity and Violet home, it's kind of obvious," Simon smirks the same smirk that was on Sofie a few seconds ago. "Now Trinity if you need me to I will call in some favors and get you out of that class."
"I'm okay, Uncle Simon," Trinity tells him exasperation in her voice. It wasn't the first time Simon had offered to take her out of Mr.Matthews class.
He sighs. "You're as stubborn as your mother." he ruffles her hair. "If you change your mind, you have my number. Come on, Sofie."
"Coming," Sofie says, running into Trinity's room to get her bag.
"Can you give me a ride home, Uncle Simon?" Dmitar asks him.
"As long as you and Sofie don't get blood in my car I don't see why not," he teases. "Go get your bag."
Five minutes later, Trinity sees the three of them out of the apartment. Once they were gone, she turns to Violet. "Do you wanna sleep over?"
Violet grins. "It would be my pleasure. Want help with dinner?"
"I would love that."
Together the two of them work together to make a delicious pot of Pork & Ramen Stir-Fry. Trinity grabs two servings for the two of them while Violet headed home to tell her family that she was sleeping over. Covering the rest of the pot for her family to eat later, she set the food on the table and filled two cups of water.
When Violet returned, the two of them sat at the table and ate. It was enjoyable for Trinity, unlike when she dined with Maya, the conversation was light and fun instead of stilted and uncomfortable. Once done with dinner, Violet offered to do the dishes while Trinity grabbed some cat food and poured into Sekhmet bowels.
Hearing the sound of food hitting the bowel, Sekhmet came scurrying into the room. Trinity scratches behind his ear, she looks up when she felt a shadow behind her.
Violet yawns. "Are you ready for bed?"
Trinity covers her own yawn. "I guess I am."
Ten minutes later, Trinity walks out of the bathroom, her contacts replaced by her glasses.
Violet lifts her head from her book. "I don't know why you don't wear your glasses more. You look adorable in them."
Trinity rolls her eyes. "Because they're Harry Potter glasses and they make my eyes bigger than they actually her. Now budge over," Violet chuckles and scooches over on the bed. Trinity lays down and pulls the covers over both of them. "Do you think I should take Uncle Simon offer?"
Violet closes her book and looks directly at Trinity. "I've been wondering about this for a while but why didn't you change class at the beginning of the year, and you could've asked for transfer last week when you had your attack. You didn't have to go to class you had ample reason not to, I mean if you didn't you wouldn't have gotten wet." Trinity turns over so that she was looking at the ceiling. "Trin?"
"'Cause I feel like then I lose."
"Lose what?"
She didn't answer for a moment before turning back to face Violet. "I don't know, but if transfer classes than I will never know."
Violet sighs. "Than don't take Uncle Simon on is offer just yet, wait until you find your answer, and when you do tell me?"
"Of course, I will."
Violet squeezes her hand. "Don't forget we've got your back. I've got your back."
"Thanks," she smiles before reaching over and turning of her lamp. They two of them fell asleep snuggled together.
________________________________________________________________________________
In class the next day Mr.Matthews rushes to pass everybody back their phone. "Here you go, take your phone. Take it now. Very good. Here's your phone. Good, great, nobody talks to nobody. No more feelings. Thank you. Okay, guys, the great technology debate. Let's boot it up!" he gestures for Farkle, Lucas, Maya, and Riley to go to the front.
Farkle holds out his phone. "I have always believed that technology would help us fulfill our potential as a species. But when Farkle does rule the world, no matter what devices we come up with, we should also never forget what we can do with a pencil, a piece of paper and our own imaginations." he takes out a drawing of the night sky. "I've been keeping this in my pocket where my phone used to be. I keep looking at it. I'm fine."
Maya smiles at him. "Thanks, Farkle."
"Look in my eyes."
"No."
"I thought my whole life was in my phone, but it turns out that I don't really have any friends in here," Riley points to her phone. "And you don't need your phone to connect with your real friends."
"Allows us to demonstrate," Lucas says before turning to Rely.
"Hi."
"Hi."
Mr.Matthews turns to look at Trinity. "Ms.Hart it's your turn."
Standing up, Trinity walks up to the front. "First let me say I understand where you're coming from Mr.Matthews, social media can be a hindrance in real life communication."
Mr.Matthews nods. "Thank you."
"But social media isn't all of technology. Now raise up your hands how many of you stay after school for clubs or other activities." quarter of the class raises their hand. "Now raise your hand if you had to call your parents it was time for them to pick you up from school." this time three-quarters of the class raises their hand. "The rest of you I assume take the bus, subway or walk home, but you still have to keep in contact with your parents or guardian, so they know you're safe right?" the class nods. "How many of you came home and your parent's freaked out?" this time the only people that didn't raise their hand are Maya and Riley.
"Here is the point that you missed in your lesson yesterday Mr.Matthews is that you forgot that technology has improved communication. Now I didn't give you my phone yesterday, my mom works a seventeen-hour shift on most days, now if she needs to contact me and I'm not picking up my phone, she will worry. The other reason is, something that most of the teacher know and if you knew, then you wouldn't have asked such a ridiculous thing as for me to give you my phone!"
She could hear Violet at the back of her head. "Rein back the aggressiveness."
Taking a calming breath, she continued. "Along with my friends, I own a mini babysitting company. The only way my clients can get to me is through technology. They email me the times they need me there, want they need me to do, emergency number, etc. By the time I get to their home, I know what needs to be done. While social media can be horrible, the progress technology as given to communication is amazing. Inclusion technology is not an enemy, it's the way we use technology that is the issue if we use technology probably than we as a people will progress."
With her presentation done, Trinity sat back down and watched as the rest of the girls went up. When the bell rang, she was quick to pack her stop only to be once again stopped.
"Mr.Matthews this is becoming a bad habit," Trinity tells him.
"Your essay was good, but that can't happen again when I give an assignment please accomplish that assignment," Mr.Matthews tells her uncharacteristically serious. "Is that understood?"
"Understood," Trinity replies a hint of respect in her voice. "May I go now?"
"Why don't you like me?"
Trinity blinks. "What?"
"You seem to have an aversion for me, and I want to know why."
"Mr.Matthews why did you ask for me to be in your class."
"I..."
"Don't bother lying. I know you asked me to be in this class."
Mr.Matthews frowns. "Why does that matter?"
"Because you seem to forget that I'm not Maya, I might look like her, but I'm not her. That means I don't appreciate you, busybodies, even if it comes from a good place. So if you would cest interfering in my life I might like you a little better. Can I go now?"
Mr.Matthews nods. "Yes, Ms. Hart, you may leave."
"I'll see you tomorrow Mr.Matthews," without waiting for a response Trinity left the classroom.