*Maya's POV*
We just finished the Romeo and Juliet play and are back in the school's hallway. Also, guess who played who, exactly, Riley as Juliet and Lucas and Romeo. Thankfully Farkle's jealousy stepped in so they didn't have to kiss. Another thing, he sucked.
"Farkle, come here" I say to him, I hate destroying his hopes and dreams but I have to keep him grounded, he thinks he did a good job!
"Maya, don't. He thinks he was good" Riley tries to stop me
"Yeah, I'm gonna fix that"
"But you can't tell him the truth. You'll crush him"
"Oh, I can tell him the truth. It's you who can't tell him the truth because you're afraid.
"I'm not afraid. I'm nice" I frown, am I a bad person?
"You're saying I'm not nice?"
"No, I'm afraid to say that"
"Tell him the truth. You know Farkle. You know what will happen if you don't" he comes up to us
"Farkle. You were so-- What are the best words?"
"He killed the play. Those are the words. Those are the only words. You killed the play. Tell him"
"What? What does she mean?"
"She means you killed it, Farkle. Killed It! Showbiz talk" She has to tell him the truth, one way or another.
"I actually I thought I ruined the play. If you would've told me I ruined the play, I would have believed you. I would have been crushed, but I would've believed you" she sighs
"How could I crush one of the best actors working in middle school today?"
"I'm a good actor? What if I'm better than good? What if I'm great? What if I'm the greatest actor who ever lived, and I never knew it? That would be sad. Wah. It's okay, it's okay. I was acting. Thanks, Riley, my public awaits. Hello, everybody!" This is what I was talking about
"You can't lie to him, Riley. You're gonna break our little Farkle"
"Oh, I will not. I didn't do anything. This will all go away" sure, knowing Farkle, he'll probably think that he's Leonardo DiCaprio's long lost child. I decide to ignore the situation and go in class, it's history time!
"Nice locket" my best friend says to me, distracting me
"You likey?"
"If history's about discovering the truth of what happened in the past, we should spend some time finding out what truth is"
"Where'd you get the nice locket?" I shush her
"Shh, I come here to learn" we both start laughing
"All through history, people have suffered consequences for telling the truth"
"Is that real gold?" I shrug
"Don't know. Doesn't matter"
"They all suffered dearly for having the courage to tell the truth"
"So sometimes it's better not to?"
"But aren't there consequences for that too, sir?"
"Yes, there are, Mr. Friar. But in my experience with the universe, no matter what you do, the truth always finds a way of coming out" the bell rings
"So... Where'd you get the locket?"
"France" I say quickly
"You were in France?"
"Si, señor"
"You didn't go to France because if you went to France, you would have brought me back a croissant" I pull out one
"Bing"
"Ooh. Piping hot. Wait a minute. Where did you really get this?" I smirk
"I found it on the street" I reply before going to my locker to collect some of my suff
"Come on, where'd you get the locket?" why is she so curious about it?"
"My father sent it to me"
"He did?"
"You don't believe me?"
"Did you just tell me?"
"I just told you"
"Then I believe you"
"So this is over?" I really don't wanna talk about this
"Like it never happened. I do, however, have one question for the locket. Where'd you get the Maya?!" Never mind
"You don't believe my father sent this to me?"
"Why don't you just tell me?"
"Why don't you just call me a liar?"
"Why don't you just tell me the truth?" because it's none of your business
"Oh, you think that's important?"
"I do"
"Did you think Farkle was good in the play?" I ask her before leaving
Riley's POV
"I want to skip ahead in your truth lesson. Is it okay to tell a little white lie to spare somebody's feelings?" I ask dad, we're having dinner right now
"No. My feelings?"
No"
"Then always truth" He looks at the funny-looking dinner mom made
"Well, what do we have here?"
"Chicken" she replies
"I'll tell you right now, Topanga, this was never a chicken"
"Why don't you just eat it, Honey. I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of it after"
"Oh, great teller of the truth, please demonstrate how you're going to get out of this one" this is gonna be fun. Mom cracks her knuckles while waiting for dad's answer, she can be really intimidating sometimes
"Psst, what'd you get?" he asks Auggie
"S'ghetti and meatballs"
"Ooh, yum. Yum that! Why this me?! Why yum him?!" She moves the chicken closer to him
"All right, fine, I'll eat it. Here we go. Have we prayed? Have we prayed as a family? We haven't done that in a while" Is he serious?
"Go ahead, pray"
"Oh, I'll pray. The world is a beautiful place... Full of many beautiful things...Look what she did to your chicken!"
"Eat your dinner, Honey"
"Okay" he looks up
"I'll see you soon" Dad takes a bite of the chicken
"Well, what do you think?"
"Um, you know, from eating this chicken, I'll tell you right now how this chicken died. It ate this chicken"
"You know, Daddy, sometimes when I don't want to eat something, Mommy feeds it to me like it was an airplane" Auggie is so cute!
"That's very sweet, Auggie, but Daddy's a little too old for Mommy to feed him" ops, wrong choice of words, mom puts a fork in the chicken and moves it like an airplane to dad while making the same motor noise Auggie made earlier.
"Wait, where is Elliot?" I ask and mom shrugs while putting the chicken down, making dad sigh in relief
"He said that he's doing a school project"
"Yeah but he's always out" mom frowns
"You're right, I'm gonna call him, it's also very late so I better pick him up"
*in the meantime in Maya's apartment, Elliot's POV*
"Isn't the view amazing?" I ask Maya while looking down her bedroom's window. Recently I've been visiting her a lot, turns out that I actually like her company after all
"Yeah, it is"
"So, I've heard that today there was the school's play, how was Riley?"
"She was amazing"
"Lucas?"
"He was pretty good too"
"Farkle?" she laughs
"Well, a disaster" I laugh as well
"I've heard about it"
"Yeah"
"I feel like we could've been a better Romeo and Juliet"
"You think?" I wrap an arm around her
"Absolutely" I look in her eyes but I then notice a new and beautiful locket
"Nice locket" she looks down
"Thanks"
"Where did you-" I'm interrupted by my phone ringing
"Sorry" I say before kissing her cheek and picking up
"Hello?"
"Elliot?" Oh no, it's mom
"Yeah?"
"Where are you?
"Uh- at a friend's house, I'll be back soon"
"It's too late, I'm gonna pick you up, give me the address"
"N-no! It's fine! It's nearby!"
"But-"
"Bye!" I hang up on her
"It's mom, she can't know I was here, I gotta go" Maya looks at her phone and sighs
"Looks like I gotta go with you, Riley asked me when I'd come"
"But we can't arrive at the same time" she rolls her eyes
"I know that genius, since I'm faster than you I'm gonna come a few minutes earlier"
"I don't think you're faster than me" I say with a playful smirk
"Oh yeah?" I nod
"Yup"
"Race!" we scream before running towards the building I live.
Maya's POV
I'm sure I arrived before Elliot, especially because a pigeon started following me. I come through the bay window where I find Riley
"There's a serious pigeon following me"
"How you doing? Hey, here's a new thing. Where'd you get the locket?" here we go again
"He's a very sneaky pigeon, but I'm onto him"
"Because it's gold, it's expensive, and my curiosity gets the better of me."
"So I ducked behind the tree to fake out the pigeon. And you know who came over? A squirrel. I didn't say hello though, because I was already in my thing with the pigeon"
"I need to know if you're stealing things" is she serious? I'm not a thief
"You don't think my dad sends me stuff?"
"Maya, you've cried to me because your dad doesn't send you stuff" I sigh in defeat, I have to tell her
"Sometimes I walk around the village and I pass stores and I look in windows at things I know I'll never have. So one day, I saw this sitting in a lost-and-found basket. Do you think it's right that somebody loses something so beautiful and never comes back for it?"
"Who knows? I don't have a criminal mind. I don't think like you people"
"I walked by the window for months. Nobody claimed the locket, okay? It sat there like a kid that has no- like an orphan. So I claimed it. It's mine now"
"It's not. You took something that doesn't belong to you"
"How come you don't tell Farkle the truth, but you have no trouble telling me?"
"Hey, my father tells my mother the truth, even when he knows she's gonna shove a chicken in his face" that must've been fun
"Sorry I missed it"
"Yep, I was thinking about you"
"Thanks"
"Cause I love you"
"I love you too"
"Then why do you want to end up in the slammer?" I roll my eyes
"Here we go"
"You won't do well in the slammer"
"I will so"
"You won't pack right. And you'll forget to bring shower shoes and you'll take somebody else's from the lost-and-found. And I think... You're gonna get toe fungus! And I think you deserve to get toe fungus because they're not your shower shoes. They're not!"
"That's adorable"
"I think you're a thief" Unbelievable
"That's not"
"You think I'm afraid to tell people the truth? I'm not, and I now await your praise" she extends her arms wanting fir me to hug her but I go out of the window, I've had enough of this.
the next day at school
"I got something to say to you" here we go again, I put my fingers in my ears and sing
"I can't hear you. Baddada dadaa dadaa..."
"I'm talking to you" It doesn't matter, I continue for another while
"Whether or not you're a thief, or not a thief, or you stole the locket or you didn't, it doesn't belong to you. It belongs to somebody else. And you have to tell the truth about it because you are upsetting the universe. And the universe is going to have the truth come out anyway"
"And what about you? When are you gonna tell the truth to Farkle?"
"I hardly think the universe is upset with me for being nice to Farkle. I mean, what could possibly go wrong there?" we watch him getting closer to the club
"Hey, Chess Club, you can move King's Knight to Bishop Six and then you can eat it! 'Cause I quit the Chess Club 'cause I'm an actor, 'cause Riley said so"
"Cause Riley said so" I repeat after him
"Hey, Chemistry Club, you know what you get when you put sodium and chlorine together? You're a bunch of losers!"
"Farkle!" I'm sorry Riley but you're too late now
"Riley. You changed my life. The Farkle you knew is gone. I am now...Farkle!" what could possibly go wrong?
later that day, Elliot's POV
I come home after another visit to Maya, seems like she's fighting with Riley but doesn't wanna tell me about what, I've tried everything but she just kept refusing telling me so I just came back. I know that I don't have to force her to tell me things, she's Maya, she'll tell me when she's ready
"I'm home!" I'm greeted only by mom
"Hey honey"
"Where's dad?" I ask her
"He's out" she frowns and smells me
"Why do you smell like a girl?" That must be Maya smell!
"N-No reason at all! It's just that the classmate I'm doing my research is a girl"
"Nothing happened?" I nod because it's true. After that last kiss nothing else happened between Maya and me.
Maya's POV
I come back to the bay window in hope that this whole situation it's already forgotten
"Hey" I see Mr. Matthews, what is he doing here?
"Well, now she's back. Maybe it's not as upside down as you think. It's a nice locket, Maya." Not again!
"Thanks, Mr. Matthews"
"It looks like someone else's expensive gold locket" Can Riley shut up already?
"Maybe it is. But, you know, I don't think that matters to Maya at all"
"You don't?"
"You know, it's an interesting thing about lockets. It's usually what's in the inside that matters most to people. Isn't that right, Maya" he tries to open the door only to find Topanga standing in his path
"Yeah, okay. Please don't tell anyone this is how I live in my own house" he goes out the window.
"What's inside the locket, Maya, that's so important to you?" I guess this is it, I open the locket with a family photo inside
"Who is this family?" she asks me
"I don't know. A father, a mother and a little girl. I just like that they're all together. I'm keeping it"
"Oh, boy" Mr. Matthews re-enters through the window
"She's at the front door too. It's like there's two of her" he opens the door to find his wife with a chicken making airplane noises and he screams before closing the door and sitting between us
"So what do we do now? Just sit here or what?"
"Hey, Dad. Can you tell me why I kind of think trying to help Farkle may have been wrong and maybe Maya should keep the locket?"
"I should?"
"Maybe. Is it me that's upside down?"
"You know what, girls? The universe is the most confusing place you'll ever live. But if you listen carefully, you'll find out that it's paying attention and that it cares about you"
"Is that the truth?"
"It's the only one I'm still sure of" right then Auggie opens the door with a plate of spaghetti and meatballs
"Hey, Auggie, is that for me, Buddy?" his dad sis him
"I made it for you"
"Oh, Auggie, thank you so much. Thank you" he sits down and looks at the plate
"Look at this, ooh. This looks good. It's-- It's cold s'ghetti"
"I know it's better warmer, but I don't know how to do that"
"Auggie, I appreciate that you did anything for me at all"
"You said that very nice. Why didn't you say it that way to Mom?" that kid is a genius!
"What? But all I did was tell Mom the truth"
"Then why did you get cold s'ghetti?"
"Whoa. Auggie, are you saying the truth doesn't matter as much as how you treat people?"
"Auggie, are you saying that the truth does matter, but you should tell it to people warmly?"
"Auggie, are you saying that the universe pays attention to me?"
"Do you people realize that I'm only this many?" I chuckle and give him a high five.
the next day, at school
"Farkle, I need to talk to you. I've been looking all over for you" we find Farkle in the school's theatre. I jab him with a spear
"Farkle"
"Farkle's gone. He gave up the chess club. He gave up the chemistry club"
"What happened?"
"You happened. You told me I was good. Well, I just auditioned for the next play"
"Are you gonna be in the next play?"
"I'm not even allowed to watch the next play" ouch, that must suck
"I'm sorry you stink"
"I'm sorry I could never hurt you"
"I'm sorry you stink"
"I heard you!"
"Well, it was very important" he sigh
"You made me think I was this great actor. You filled me up with confidence that I was really special. You made me think I could go after something totally unrealistic...Thank you" he gives her a kiss, oh my god, I have to laugh
"Well... that happened"
"Is it over?"
"Can we talk about this?"
"No"
"Because that was your first kiss and it was with Farkle"
"He missed"
"Still counts. Now for the rest of your life when people ask you, 'Hey, Riley, who was your first kiss?" you're gonna have to say-"
"Eyes, look your last" Oh no, it's Lucas. Riley lies down with her arms folded
"Arms, take your last embrace. And, lips, oh, you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss" she breaks the character
"Hi"
"Hi"
"How long you been here?"
"Yeah, I saw the whole thing. I just can't believe that little guy stole my moment... Again"
"You thought that was your moment?"
"No"
"Oh"
"My moment will be my moment" ew disgusting
"My moment will be my moment" I hear a familiar voice whisper in my ears
"What th-" I turn around to see Elliot
"My moment will be my moment" he repeats before kissing my forehead and fading away in the darkness...weird, but also romantic, kinda.
"How you doing?" I ask Riley when she manages to stand up
"I like that we end up in situations like this"
"Me too"
hours later, in the subway
0You're doing the right thing, returning the locket to the store" I shrug
"I guess so"
"Maya, I know how much you want a locket with a family inside it"
"You want the truth?"
"Yes, please"
"My father hasn't sent me anything in a long time. And the universe is probably much too busy to notice whether or not I'm doing the right thing" I hate admitting it but it's true. I see my best friend pointing in the direction of a family; the same family from the photo in the locket! Now or never. I walk over them and kneel down
"Hi. I think this belongs to you"
"Oh my Gosh. I've been looking all over for that. Thank you" I return the locket to the little girl
"Thank you"
"Never lose this" or at least, again
"A cool universe, huh?" we walk away as a pigeon walks right towards us. Pretty weird.