Our first day of high school! I'm feeling confident! Nothing can go wrong! Riley and I open the entrance doors, followed by Lucas, Elliot, Farkle and Isadora
"This is it!"
"High school!"
"We're gonna own this place!" As we visit the hallways I keep looking at all the seniors and Elliot, who is now ahead of us. They all move so nonchalantly, so relaxed, so chill, unlike me. I'm like a lost kid
"Riles? What if we don't own this place?" I ask my best friend
"Maya, life wouldn't do that. We're us"
"Us are in Jurassic Park" Zay adds when he sees the basketball team and Elliot rolls his eyes
"Come on, they're just people in high school" Lucas raises his eyebrows
"You know who goes to our high school? Thor" Riley takes my hands
"I heard that even the best of friendships can come apart in high school. But that couldn't happen to us, right? Promise me that no matter what happens, we will always stick together" As I'm about to answer the bell rings and we're all drifted apart by all the student going to class. Am I still alive? Yes. The others? Affirmative. Elliot? Is at his locker, still calm
"Look! A patriot. We're Abigail Adams Patriots. We're just as much a part of this place as anybody else"
"Get in the hole" I glare at the trio. Nobody tells me what to do
"Of course get in the hole"
"What are you?"
"I'm Riley"
"What are you?" she better back up before something bad happens to her. I move in front of Riley to protect her. Why the hell is Elliot watching this scene with a smile?!
"She's my best friend, and we can do without the attitude, madam"
"What'd you call us?" Okay, maybe I feel a little bit intimidated now
"I'm gonna probably need help now"
"Guys, come on. Leave them alone" Thank you Elliot, it was about time
"Do you know these people?"
"Yeah, the brunette is my sister" Thor smirks
"So I guess that the blondie over there is your girlfriend" I frown, what?
"She's not"
"Tell that to Anna" I chuckle
"Guys, you've got the wrong person. Anna is his girlfriend" one of the girl frowns
"She doesn't know, so you better not tell her. Got it?" Farkle looks like he knows about this story, what are they hiding from me?
"Know what?" the girl smirk
"You're spunky. You know what I'm gonna call you? Spunky"
"And what are you, Spunky?" Lucas rests his hands on my shoulders
"Her name is Maya. And you can call me Lucas" he steps in front of a random guy
"You wanna know what I am? I'm as strong as a horse. I don't know how. I just am" Thor smirks
"Yeah, he's not even with us. When my friends tell you to do something, you do what they say"
"This hallway here is for people who have earned it"
"Why are you doing this?"
"You wanna hear your freshman song?"
"Oh, we have a freshman song. I want to hear our freshman song" same old Riley, too innocent
"I think you don't" they start singing
"Oh, we have come to Abigail
With innocence of soul
And what we are is freshmen
So, we go into the...
Hole" the brunette does an amazing run while hitting a high note, amazing.
"It's beautiful"
"Riley!"
"You know, it's not so bad down here" we look at Zay
"You're already down there?"
"Oh, I saw how this was going" Riley goes down there with Smakle and Farkle.
"We were kings" I say in a whisper
"Yeah, that's over, Maya"
"Elliot, you're in this too?" he nods
"Yeah" I groan and get down there. Lucas in the only one who refuses to join us
"You know we're not gonna stay down here, right? You guys know as soon you leave, we're just gonna go to class"
"Oh, we want you to go to class"
"But spend your free time down here because of what Spunky said" I raise my eyebrows
"What, 'We were kings'?"
"Yeah. In middle school, you were"
"We all were"
"Right now, you're not. We are"
"We walk anywhere we want and you don't"
"Why? Because you say so?"
"Yeah" Thor walks up to Lucas. Is he gonna hurt him? I better do something
"Now get down there, little buddy" Elliot pushes them apart
"Calm down, Thor, they're my friends. Don't even touch them, got it?" Weird, even though those are seniors they are being controlled by a junior. I get that Elliot can represent a threat to Thor since he's his same size but this is very unusual.
"You'll know when to come out"
"This is a service we perform. You don't have to thank us"
"Yeah, trust me, we won't"
"Trust me Lucas, you will"
"If there's nothing else, we wish you good day" How can Riley stay so calm? I'd punch every single one of them if I could
"Good luck in high school" the seniors leave
"I'm sorry we're in here, guys" I wish I could hug him and tell him that everything's gonna be fine. I wish I could comfort him with my kisses but I can't.
"It's not your fault, Lucas"
"You can't protect us"
"I used to"
"You don't have to protect them" Huckleberry looks confused
"One day you'll understand. Just stick together, okay?" Elliot glances at me before walking away. He's been avoiding since the graduation party and I don't know why. Maybe he still feels guilty for making me drunk but it wasn't his fault. I drank without even asking for his permission. To be honest, I don't even remember what I did that day. I just remember waking up on his bed, nothing more.
When we're sure that we're fully alone we decide to head to class
"Good morning and welcome to World History. Who's ready to learn?"
"What's that on the board?" a girl asks
"We were Kings. Now we're Patriots"
"Why does it say that? It's cryptic. You can't teach us cryptic. What are you trying to get away with? Huh?"
"I'll be right back" Mr. Matthews asks his daughter her name
"What's your name?"
"Marly'
"Marly"
"Marly sees right through me"
"Just keep on teaching about our lives, and she'll come around"
"Abigail Adams was the wife of John Adams and the mama of Johnny Q. They were quite the historical triangle" I roll my eyes
"Ha"
"Triangle"
"Ha"
"And I'll tell you that the one thing they understood about this brand-new nation was to stick together because every direction they turned was brand-new, undiscovered country"
"I am an Abigail Adams Patriot" Lucas replies to Riley
"How? We don't even get to walk in the hallways"
"Lucas, these seniors are older and more experienced than us, and I think that they're trying to help"
"Riley, they're making fun of us and we're letting it happen"
"But most of all, these patriots knew to remain loyal to each other because their survival depended on it in a dangerous, new land"
"Riley, we don't even know our way around the school yet. Why would we just park ourselves in a hole?"
"Okay, so you just want to throw us into whatever goes on in this place and just see what happens?"
"Yes, because you know what I call that? Normal" Marly smirks
"Let me see if I get how you teach. My boyfriend and I get into a fight..."
"Aww"
"I was talking about you" great, now people think that Riley and Lucas are a couple here too...
"Uh, me? Why? Are we fighting?"
"Oh, I don't know. Let's go to the weird, undefined area between the two floors and talk about it"
"We are fighting. You have to fight with him exactly as much!" Why should I?
"But I don't know what he-"
"Do it!"
"Okay!" I stand up and rest my arms oh his desk. Do I have to? I can't look at him in the eyes so I just look at the ground instead
"Huh-hurr! Huh-hurr! Huh-hurr! Huh-hurr? Huh-hurr huh-hurr! Huh-hurr!" when I look back up I can see a smirk on his face, ugh, he's aware of my feelings for him. I sit back down
"Who misses middle school?" Everyone raises its hands.
*At the end of the day*
"Okay, school's over. Can we go home now?" Yeah, we're still in the hole
"Who wants a hug?" Zay slaps Smakle hands away
"Stop with that!"
"This is not how I'm gonna live my high school life"
"What if there's a good reason the seniors wanted us here? What if it's to teach us something?"
"What if you just have too much faith in people?"
"What if I have exactly the right amount of faith in people?" I sigh
"Bird" Riley looks towards I pointed
"How am I a triangle with that?"
"Okay, you know what? That's it. I'm going to look around. Come on, Zay" They walk away
"They left?"
"Maybe they have the right idea"
"Yeah, I don't know what we're supposed to be learning down here"
"Okay, everybody! Follow me!" I sigh and we get out of the hole
"Undiscovered country in every direction" I notice a nice spot to sit and point at it
"Riles!" we sit on it
"I think this may just turn out fine" Yeah, never mind, two cheerleader approach us
"You're in our spot. This is where we sit"
"In the window?" we leave them sit on it
"And you guys talk about life?"
"No. We sit in the window..."
"And go like this" they imitate our handshake and the blonde one smiles at Lucas. Excuse me ma'am but he's not yours
"Hi. What's your name?"
"Lucas" he wraps his arms around me and Riley. She keeps looking at me with a smirk. I don't like her. She looks familiar but I can't remember where I've seen her.
"And these are my... How would you like to be called?" Riley hesitates
"Uh, girlfriend" Is she serious? I thought we were friends!
"And how would you like to be called?" I smirk and give him a quick kiss on the cheek
"Girlfriend equally as much"
"Hi, my name is Zay. I'm completely available"
"Girlfriend-eses?" I smile
"It's complicated"
"You know what's not complicated? Zay. Available"
"Well, I'm sure you're all adorable together. And thanks for being a distraction until the football team finished practice" Zay raises his hand
"I'm trying out for football"
"Yeah? Good luck to you" the whole football team approaches our little group.
"You're the football players in high school?"
"Hey, that's great"
"You're the cheerleaders in high school?"
"Hey, that's great" I don't get why Riley is still obsessed with cheer leading, it's boring and exhausting.
"Anna?" Elliot asks
"Elliot" the cheerleader replies, coldly. Oh! Now I remember! She's his girlfriend!
"How are you?" she looks away
"I'm good"
"Riles, why is she so cold towards him?" Anna gasps
"You're even asking why?!" I frown
"Yeah"
"Woah, you were very drunk that night I guess" she stands up with her friend and walks away. What happened that night when I was drunk?
"Elliot, what did I do?"
"Nothing Maya. Don't worry"
"Are you sure you don't wanna tell her?" Thor asks and Elliot nods
"So you guys decided to come upstairs, huh? You think you're ready for the big time?" Lucas looks down and starts walking away
"Maybe not just yet" we follow him until we reach Mr. Matthews' classroom
"This is all your fault!"
"Uh... What is?"
"Things are going bad, man. We need somebody to blame"
"I am also feeling these emotions!"
"We've fallen on hard times, Matthews"
"Fix it, sir" he claps
"Bravo. Wonderful performance. Shall we begin again?"
"Lovely. What shall we do differently?"
"Well, um, this time, I think I'd like to go first" I already know what's gonna happen next
"Oh, by all means! In five, four, three..."
"You did this!"
"Yikes!"
"I was fine in middle school! I could've gone on there forever, talking about whatever I wanted, and you suckers believed everything I said! But you had to bring me here. I gotta teach stuff now! That is not why I got into this!"
"Did you prepare us?"
"What? Did you prepare us for this?"
"We're not important, Matthews"
"You always made us feel important"
"You never prepared us to be unimportant, and now we don't know what to do" Can Smakle shut up?
"You didn't even go to our school!"
"But I'm here now and I catch on fast. I wanna be in the triangle!" I gasp. I can't believe it.
"Smackle!"
"What'd I say?"
"It already has four people in it" I chuckle
"Farkle, a triangle has three people, not four. You can't even count now?"
"Trust me Maya, I know what I'm talking about" well, I don't.
"We're not kings anymore"
"The seniors are the kings"
"Are they good kings?"
"No"
"We don't know that yet. We don't know their reasoning"
"They don't have a reason, Riley. They're just putting us in a hole"
"Riley's looking for the best in people, right?"
"Yes, would you tell her to stop?"
"What's the matter, Lucas? It's not so easy to protect 'em anymore, right?" he whines
"Don't look at me" I take his hand to comfort him and he squeezes it.
"All right. Let's see what we got" I let go of his grip and we bring him to the hole
"They want you to stay down here?"
"Until we think we're ready to leave"
"Well, why would they pick just you guys out?"
"Because we're freshmen and they think that we're easy targets"
"Yeah, but there's a whole class of freshmen"
"Why do you think they picked out just you?"
"They said that we'd thank them for this"
"We're never thanking them"
"Dad, would you tell him that there's a purpose here?"
"Mr. Matthews, will you please tell her that they were messing with us?"
"This is on me. Mm?"
"What?"
"You were kids. I taught you to always look for the lessons that life is trying to teach you. Now you're not kids. It's day one in a bigger world. You've asked me if I've prepared you for it" he leaves
"We'll see"
"It's not just a hole"
"What is it then?"
"You don't have to get angry" he rolls his eyes and places himself in front of Riley
"I am angry, Riley. This isn't how I want to start high school. I want to walk anywhere I want. I want to go out for the football team"
"Lucas, you'll get killed on the football team" Please tell me that she didn't. This is not the Riley I know. If she supported him to ride Tombstone the bull then why can't she support him to get into the football team?
"Whoa. Really? That's what you think? So, you'll put your faith in some random seniors you just met, but you don't have faith in me?"
"I don't think that they're random. I don't think that anything that ever happens to us is random" he takes a deep breath, he's really pissed off.
"Sometimes you are just too much for me, Riley" Okay, I better do something
"Guys, can we just calm down? This isn't who we are"
"Yeah? Who are we?" he leaves
"I better... You... you know, this is when he does something" I look at the two scientists
"You guys are the geniuses. You got this all figured out?"
"Your dad's right. You do always look for the good in people, Riley. You were a great leader in middle school, Riley. You always made us believe the world loved us"
"This just isn't the same world. What if this one just doesn't love us as much? No matter how optimistic you are, Riley, I think this time, you just led us down a hole" they leave too, leaving us alone. Is this the end of us?
You sure you still wanna know me?" I take her hand
"Always"
*Later that day, at Topanga's*
I can't believe it, they stood us up. They left. Traitors. Riley closes her laptop
"I can't think"
"I know"
"They're not gonna show up, are they?"
"No"
"We do our homework here every night together"
"Yeah"
"They're actually upset with me. The fight I had with Lucas was real. Is this happening? It's the first day of high school and we thought that we were so ready"
"I told you we shouldn't go"
"Friendships can come apart in high school. I guess I just never thought that it could actually really happen to us. How stupid was I to trust people I don't even know?"
"Not stupid" It's them.
"You" I say under my breath
"Why would you guys do this to us? Our friends left, you know"
"Yeah, that's what happens. People leave" what are they doing here?
"So, what, you're following us now?" Thor chuckles
"No. You're following us, actually"
"Yeah, we're in here all of the time. This is our place"
"How come we never noticed you?"
"Because you guys have been stuck in your own little world all this time. Now you want to grow up and join ours? You guys have to stop and look around more"
"That's why we put you down there. Don't jump so fast. Look around" I don't need to look around. I already know this is gonna be a mess
"Are you guys good people or are you just messing with us? Just tell us that"
"Well, we're definitely messing with you. But we like to believe we're good people. You know, you guys will just have to figure that out, okay"
"Not okay. I don't believe in you. But I do believe in her. Thanks for coming. Hope you find another project" Elliot approaches us
"Hey, any problems here?"
"Relax Matthews, we're telling them why we put them in the hole. Oh, while you're at it: give me a smoothie" I glare at the brunette
"Would you mind asking in another way? He's not a slave" she slightly laughs
"Keep your girlfriend under a leash, she's very protective" he sighs
"She's not my girlfriend!" Thor pats his back
"Whatever you say" they walk away
"Why does everyone keep saying that I'm your girlfriend?"
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it"
"Why have you been avoiding me all summer? Did I do something while I was drunk?" he blushes, what happened?
"Like I said earlier: don't worry"
"Why did you break up with Anna?" Riley asks
"I cheated on her" my eyes widen. I was wrong about him, he's still a player.
"What?!"
"Well, not really. Uh-a drunk girl kissed me but then I pulled away. I decided to told Anna what happened because it was the right thing to do"
"And she broke up with you?"
"Nope, she asked me if I had feelings for that girl"
"What did you say?"
"I told her the truth. She deserved it. I couldn't lie to her"
"What happened to the other girl? Why aren't you dating her?" he chuckles
"She's, uh, it's complicated" he takes my glass and walks away. Okay, maybe I was wrong. At least he told Anna the truth.
We notice Farkle, what is he doing here? I thought he wouldn't be here.
"Hey. Look, I spoke to everybody. I know we were supposed to be here. Everyone is just a little upset. You know, you kind of ruined our first day of high school. So, we all just did our homework at home tonight" I can't believe it.
"Farkle, I'm upset with you" he glares at me
"And I'm upset with you"
"This is how a real fight begins"
"No, I actually think we're in one right now. Hey, we're not the ones who made high school harder than we thought it was gonna be"
"And we're not the ones who trusted complete strangers" Riley stands up
"I believe in people, Farkle, and you know that"
"Maybe this will teach you not to"
"Okay. You tell them that it doesn't matter if you think standing in a hole is stupid. What matters is us, Farkle. We don't leave. And I'm gonna go back in that stupid hole tomorrow, and I don't know what I'm going to learn. Because I believe that I'm gonna come out knowing more than I do now. And I hope I'm making the right choice, Farkle. I hope my friends will be there right with me. You tell them that" he doesn't reply and just leaves. How could something like this happen?
"Girls, let me walk you home" Elliot says while taking off his apron
"Thank you El" he closes the bakery and we start walking
"Elliot?"
"Yes, Riley?"
"Have they ever put you in the hole" he nods
"For a whole week. I learned who my true friends were and who just wasn't worth it" we finally get home where we find Auggie, Mr. and Ms. Matthews and Ava, she looks upset. What's happening to her?
"He left. My dad left" As soon as I hear those words my eyes become watery. This can't be happening, not again
"Ava, I'm so sorry. I've been speaking with your mom"
"It's just me and her now. I can't believe it"
"lI'll help you" Auggie, sweetie, there's nothing you can do. I know, I've already been there.
"Thanks, but I don't think you can. Who can I talk to who knows how to do this?"
"I just heard"
"Are you sure you can do this?" I nod
"Yes, Elliot, I think I can" he kisses my head
"Okay"
"What happens next, Maya?"
"When people you've loved all of your life suddenly decide to leave? Well, you sit by yourself for a while and you'll try to figure it out. And you'll blame yourself. But it isn't your fault. You probably won't believe that, though, and you'll think you did something wrong, but... you didn't. It isn't your fault. Most of all... you stay with your best friend. People make their own decisions. And sometimes, they decide to go away for a while. And sometimes, it takes time to understand why. It isn't your fault" I try to contain my sobs but the in the moment both Riley and Elliot hug me I explode. Why? Why does it keep happening?