"I apologized!"
"I don't care!"
"I apologized like 50 times."
"You don't do that to me."
"How many times are you gonna make me say I'm sorry?"
" Are you actually sorry?"
"No!" Maya and Riley had been arguing since school. The situation wasn't very good and was bad.
"Oh, this one's bad," I had said whilst stood with Cory, Topanga and Auggie.
"It's Riley and Maya," Cory said.
"They love each other," Auggie said right after.
"Fine, you don't want to sit by me? Fabulous."
"I will not stink up the integrity of our bay window with this ridiculous argument."
"You come here and stink it up right now."
"No, this one's really bad," I reiterated.
"It'll go away."
"They're gonna marry each other," Auggie said.
After the incident, Maya and I had to go home. We didn't talk for most of the night as I knew that Maya was not in the best of moods, so I left her be. The next day in school, however, the argument had started all over again.
"You stood up for Lucas and not me!"
"I'm not standing up for him."
"You didn't disagree with him."
"Well, when you think about it, he wasn't wrong."
"Who cares?"
"Oh, right and wrong don't matter now?"
"The only thing that matters is you and me. When have I ever not stood up for you?"
"When I'm wrong!"
"You're always wrong! Or you're always right. Who cares? I don't listen, I just stick up for you automatically."
"Ooh, chick fight! Chick fight right here, ladies and gentlemen. One dollar to see the shocker by the lockers. Brought to you by Zay Babineaux enterprises." I smacked Zay across the back of the head and he looked at me with a devil stare, and I just smirked back his way, and a little giggle may have escaped through my lips.
"I'm not gonna be the cause of this," Lucas said, being so dumb.
"Too late, huckleberry," Maya had shot back at him.
"Huckleberry," Zay giggled at the nickname.
"You know why it happened, Maya? All you do is call me names. I finally struck back once," Lucas had said. It was true, but I do the exact same thing to him and he didn't strike anything back at me.
"This has nothing to do with you, who I will deal with later."
"Yee," Me, Zay and Farkle all said in unison.
"This happened because she stuck up for you."
"I didn't stick up for him."
"You didn't disagree with him."
"How could she disagree with him, he's right," Farkle had said.
"You're next!"
"I want to be first."
"Yee," Maya and Riley said in unison towards Farkle.
"He is right, you know," Zay said to Maya.
"Why does that mean so much to everybody? When being right is more important than being friends, then that's the end of being friends."
We walked into History with Mr Matthews stood at the front of class. Farkle looked at 'Belgium 1831' written on the board.
"Yeah, no chance," Farkle said as she grabbed the scrubber and took the chalk off.
"Is this still going on?"
"Look at 'em!"
"Yowzas!" Even Mr Matthews was starting to see the issues between them, and how serious it is actually becoming.
"I'm moving my seat," Maya said.
"Yeah, you just do that," Riley responded.
"Mr Friar?" Mr Matthews was talking to Lucas.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't take it anymore. I finally called her a name. She's called me a thousand names. I called her one name," Lucas said.
"Move," Maya had said to Zay. He started break dancing with just his arms and Maya grabbed him by the shirt and brought him close.
"Do it," he said to her. Lucas, however, grabbed Maya's hand from Zay's shirt and placed it on his own.
"He's under my protection. You want to tangle with me?"
"Not yet," Maya reiterated.
"Move," Maya had said to Yogi. He copied Zay and actually made Maya giggle, so she went and sat back in her own seat.
"Why didn't you disagree with him, Riley?"
"Maya, how can I disagree with what he said if what he said was true?"
"In life, no matter what happens sometimes all you need is someone who will be there for you no matter what."
"What he said is true!"
"I'm not talking to you!"
"Then I'm not talking to you!"
"Well, that's the way it would work, wouldn't it?"
"Not the way we're doing it."
"Okay, darlings. If everyone will focus their attention to the front of the room War. World wars can begin with a single gunshot. And wars between friends can also begin with an isolated event. One time in college, all my friends had a war, and it was great... Until it wasn't."
"I won't let it come to that, Mr Matthews," Lucas had said.
"Neither will I," Farkle concluded.
"That's my sister and best friend. If they fall apart, then so does my friendship with Riley and my relationship with Maya. I cannot let this ruin what good we have."
"Maya?"
"What?"
"Let me tell you how much I am not going to talk to you."
"You're pathetic at this."
"Well, we've never done this before."
"Sorry, guys, but I think this is gonna take someone a little better at this than us. This is gonna take someone with a very unique set of skills. This is gonna take - "
I think Maya ended up going to Rileys because I ended up home alone, as Katy was at work. I spent the entire night on a video call with Josh. He always knew how to make every situation better. I told him about the Riley and Maya situation and he really was a great person to talk to at that time. We stayed up for a while and it felt truly great talking to him. We said goodbye and he hung up and I went to bed. When I woke up the next morning, Maya was making us some french toast for breakfast.
"Hey, are you okay?" I walked over to the small table with two chairs and sat down. Maya forced a smile and placed the food on the table.
"No, not really. This situation with Riley isn't fixed yet, and Eric tried to help a bit last night but it was kind of pointless." I looked at Maya and I stood up and hugged her.
"Maya, its Riley we are talking about. No matter what, you two will be okay. You always are." I smiled at her and kissed her on the forehead. We ate really quick and grabbed our bags and ran to the subway to get to school as quick as possible.
"What are the primary causes of war?" We were sat in History and there was Eric in the room. I actually met Eric not too long ago because of Josh. They were both in Philly and I was on a video call to him.
"You may be wondering why I'm -"
"Not now," Mr Matthews said, cutting Eric off.
"Freedom," Riley said.
"Religion," Lucas said.
"Money," I quickly added.
"Pancakes," Maya said.
"You may be wondering why -"
"Not now!"
"Ah," Eric shouted in frustration.
"Can't we be friends again?"
"We're at war, Riley."
"Why?"
"Because when I knew I could count on you to defend me, I felt at peace. Now, I'm not at peace," Maya glumly explained to her.
"Maya, what's the difference what anybody says?"
"Because even if I am short, I never felt like I was until you didn't disagree," Maya argued back to Riley, who now looked a little shocked at Maya's statement.
"In any war, the immediate danger is escalation to other countries," Mr Matthews said to the class.
"It seems like this is about Riley and Maya. How could it escal-" Maya had thrown a paper ball at Farkle whilst he spoke which caused him to pull out a ping pong ball gun and shoot them all at Maya. "I get it now."
"Right. So, in order to avoid that, the next step would be to bring in a mediating body, like the united nations. But, unfortunately, they said no, so I've decided to bring in a respected intellect from the north," Mr Matthews pointed to Eric who had tape all over his face, causing me to laugh out loud, causing me to get looks from the class. "Now, Eric!" He ripped the tape off of his face rather quickly.
"Oww! Now, what was I going to say?"
"You may wonder what it is," The class started to say.
"Yeah?"
"I'm doing here," the class continued.
"Uh-huh."
"Who is this guy?" Zay pointed towards Eric who was still at the front of the class.
"Well, this guy is my brother Eric, and, to be honest, there's no one that I trust more when it comes to the art of mediation," Mr Matthews had said.
"Mediation. Sitting cross-legged going ohm my legs are killing me," we all weirdly looked at Eric, but I had to laugh, causing Eric to turn to me, he looked confused and then his face lit up as he knew me.
"Right, so, it's certainly no secret that war has broken out among us. I thought it might be an interesting lesson for you guys to see how rational and caring people can bring war to an end," Mr Matthews said.
"Dad, are you sure?"
"Yeah. He's got this," Mr Matthews said. Eric walked to the door, opened it and got everyone to scramble out of the classroom. "Uh, Eric, Eric? You do have this, right? I mean I know we mess around a lot, but the stakes are kind of high on this one," Mr Matthews asks his less intelligent elder brother.
"Look, I just wanna thank you for believing in me," Eric replied.
"My brother."
"My brother."
"Okay, I need there to be as many people around as possible for this."
"Why?"
"Well, as mayor, I'm around other people all the time. When you begin to understand them, you get that everybody has the same thing in common. Now, here we have two friends at war. Why? Who fired the first shot?"
"I called Maya a short stack of pancakes," Lucas said to Eric.
"Okay, now was that really the first shot, or did Maya call you anything to make you say that to her?"
"She called me huckleberry," he said.
"There's also a possibility I may have called him "Ranger Rick" once."
"Once?" He looked at Maya slightly confused.
"Oh, yeah, "Ranger Roy" once, "Ranger Rick" is every day."
"Oh, don't forget about Bucky McBoing-Boing. "
"Oh, that was a fun day."
"Oh, and she comes up to my face and goes, - Ha - Hurr Like it's the way I talk."
"Oh. Okay, now why do you do that?" Eric turned to Maya.
"Because he lets me," she said back to him.
"Oh. Well, why do you let her?"
"Yeah, I'd like to know that myself. And all he does is call you a short stack of pancakes, and you're mad at him?" Zay looked at Maya and Lucas.
"I'm not mad at him. I'm mad at her," Maya said pointing at Riley.
"I'm sorry, Maya, but how can I possibly defend you from how tall you are?"
"The same way I defend you from how tall you are."
"What?"
"Let's say somebody here called you I don't know, "Riley Superklutz"," Maya said to her best friend.
"What?"
"It's okay, Riley. You know, maybe you got these big old gawky legs and arms that you're not really in such good control of yet. So, maybe sometimes you don't walk around so good," Maya said to Riley whilst walking and kicking her legs high in the end.
"Do I do that a lot?"
"No, but sometimes you do this," Maya said rolling over and falling over the back of the bench.
"Hey! Nobody laughs at her but me."
"I've never once heard anybody call me "Riley Superklutz"."
"Because I've always had your back."
"That's how you all see me?"
"Yeah," everyone said.
"Okay, well, that kind of hurts. Why does it hurt?"
"Because it's true, Riley. Some of these things are true about us."
"But, you defended me?"
"Of course I defended you."
"Even when it was true?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Why?" Eric had now entered back into the conversation.
"Why what?"
"Why doesn't it matter?"
"Cause we're best friends."
"I can't hear you."
"Because we're best friends!"
"I still can't hear you. Something's wrong!"
"They're best friends, Eric. They realize that. You did it," I heard Mr Matthews say to Eric near me.
"No."
"No?"
"No, we knew that already. That's not it. This goes deeper."
***
"Do you think I'm a super klutz?"
"Yeah. Do you think I'm super short?"
"I think you're regular short."
"Thanks."
"So, you knew that everybody was calling me this, but you didn't tell me?"
"I didn't want to hurt your feelings," Maya said to Riley.
"Well, that didn't work," Riley said as she sat on the floor.
"I'd join you, but I'm already down here."
"What do you mean it goes deeper than that?"
"You know, I've never admitted this before, but sometimes I wonder if my desire for world domination actually comes from deep down feeling like I'm squeaky the mouse," Farkle said coming into the conversation.
"What makes you feel like that?"
"You do," Farkle says towards Lucas.
"How?"
"Just by being alive, you freak!"
"I'm a freak?"
"Look at you! Look at your freak face and your freak hair. You make me sick!"
"Hey, you think this is easy? You think it's easy being me every day?"
"Shut up!"
"Yeah, okay."
"One dollar to look at the freak," Zay said.
"Oh, be quiet, flat butt," Lucas replies to him.
"What? Really? I had no idea."
"I love hearing you lot insult each other," I laughed.
"Sit down, bone. You are no different," Maya had said to me, making me part of this all of a sudden.
"Bone? Why bone?" I looked at them weirdly.
"You wear women's size 0 clothes. You are as skinny as a twig, I could tap you and you'd snap." I looked at Maya shocked. She wasn't wrong about my clothes but knowing that is how everyone saw me, it felt weird.
"You got this?"
"Yeah, the people elected me mayor because they trust me with their issues," Eric said.
"You mean political issues?"
"Nope. Don't know anything about those. No, they trust me with their people issues, which, it turns out everybody has, and they all seem to show up right about now. The enemy's not each other, guys. You're all going through the same thing," Eric said.
"It's part of growing up."
"I'm a klutz," Riley said.
"I'm a pancake," Maya added.
"Squeak."
"Freak."
"Bone."
"That's why it hurts to sit," Zay said finishing off the conversation.
"Well, what a bunch of weirdos we are."
Next day was Saturday and we were in Topangas with the group.
"Maya?"
"Riles?
"I think when there's a whole world of people out there who might say something about who you are or the way you look, it's a real good idea to have friends who will defend you no matter what. I'm that from now on."
"Thank you, Riley."
"You're welcome, you fierce Amazon warrior."
"You know, if you just let me mess you up a little bit, I think you'd be a lot more relatable to people," Farkle said to Lucas.
"Okay, go ahead," Lucas said, which proceeded to make Farkle mess up Lucas's hair.
"Okay?"
"How did that make you better?"
"Seriously, does it not hurt anyone else to sit?" I looked at Zay and laughed.
"Hey, I'm probably the only guy you know who shops in the women's size 0 aisles at the mall because everything is too big for me. I need to gain some bloody weight. I'm 6 stone 1."
"Whoa, what's that?" Maya looked at Eric, and so did I. I hadn't even seen him like that.
"That's my Uncle Eric, mayor. He's great with the issues. The people in France are lucky to have you."
"Yeah, I gotta say, you did really well for us," Maya said.
"Thank you, Mordecai."
"You really know how to talk to people. Have you ever thought about taking over the world?"
"World, you say?" Eric had this look on his face that I couldn't help but laugh at. Eric taking over the world? that would be great to watch.
"Yeah, uh, fortunately, the world has protective mechanisms in place that would never allow that to happen," Cory said.
"Yes. Fortunately."
I stood up and hugged Eric. This was the first interaction I had ever had with him. We had talked hundreds of times on the phone, but this was the first time in person.
"Thanks for helping, Big Bear. You saved my friendship with my best friends." I looked at Eric who smirked at me, as I called him big bear.
"No problem, Panda. You calling tonight?" I nodded at him and smiled from our nicknames and I gave him one last hug.
"Panda and Big Bear?" They were looking at me weird.
"And Josh is Brown bear, and we call Cory Polar Bear." Cory looked at me weird. "Josh told me about when you and Topanga were gonna elope and you ran home in the rain and you both came back wet and cold." They laughed.