I don't own Girl Meets World!!!
Mr. Matthews's History class sat watching the ads for the next class president. It was Riley's turn.
Maya's voice came from the television "The following is a campaign commercial brought to you by the Riley For Princess Committee."
A drawing, clearly done by Maya as it had no purple cats in it, appeared on the screen as Riley's voice said "Imagine your education in a magical kingdom and unicorns roam the halls."
Maya pulled the drawing away from the camera to reveal Riley in a blue princess dress, holding a sword, in the hallway, sitting on a horse with a horn taped to its head. What. The. Heck?
TV Riley raised the sword in the air "Say goodbye to too much studying."
She brandished the sword at the camera and purple magic shot out at two students, Darcy and Sarah, who were suddenly holding balloons rather than books.
A TV version of the twins' father walked down the stairs into the hallway.
"Say goodbye to meddling teachers." Riley pointed the sword at their father.
"But, Riley, I'm your father--" Cory protested but was cut off by more purple magic that made him disappear.
The camera cut back to Riley on her pony "A vote for me is a vote to live happily ever after. I am Princess Riley Matthews and I approveth this messageth."
TV Maya walked up next to the horse "The campaign of Riley Matthews is not responsible for anyone who thinks a horse is a unicorn." She looked at the horse "No, we're not."
***
4 Days Earlier
Cory stood in front of his class "Democracy. Our form of government where the power lies with the people. So who here can tell me another form of government where the power doesn't lie with the people?"
Farkle put his hand up and shouted "Farkle! Thank you, sir." He put his hand down "Dictators. Love 'em. They get to do whatever they want. I wanna be one someday."
The back door opened and Lucas walked in, late as he usually was on Mondays, since he would go home for the weekend to visit his friends in Texas.
"Mr. Friar!" Cory exclaimed, holding his arms up in relief.
"Sorry for being late, Sir. My flight was delayed." Lucas explained handing the teacher a late slip.
Riley turned in her seat to face the handsome Texan "You went back to Texas again this weekend?" She asked.
"Visited my friends." Lucas nodded.
"He misses his old friends." Riley smiled tightly.
"Aww." Maya smirked "Cowboy's got the blues."
"Don't make fun of him Maya." Val admonished, speaking for the first time all day "You would miss Riley if you had to move far away."
Maya ignored her and started singing with a Texas twang to her voice "Campfire for one my friends are all cows and I miss 'em. Ha-hur ha-hur-hur..."
Lucas pulled out a harmonica and started playing along with Maya's song. She turned around, hearing the music, and the grin slid off her face.
"I will never get to you, will I?"
"No." Lucas shook his head "But I sure do appreciate the effort."
Maya shuddered angrily "Ooh!"
"Okay, guys," Cory said, drawing everyone's attention back to the front of the room "Seventh grade student council elections are coming up."
The class groaned, with the exception of Farkle who said "Yay." and Annie who was asleep and Val who forced a smile that turned out more like a grimace.
"Why that?" Cory asked.
"Because every year somebody runs, makes promises, and nobody does anything." Riley explained.
"Yeah," Maya laughed "What lunkhead's running the elections this year?"
"How ya doin'?" Cory asked, glaring at her.
"Can't you just make a change?" Riley shrugged innocently.
"You know what? It's up to you guys to make changes. Since we're studying alternate forms of government this year, why not let the candidates run in any form of government they choose?"
Again the class groaned, Farkle said "Yay." And Annie snored.
"So any nominations?" Cory asked, clapping his hands together loudly and waking Annie up.
"What did I miss?" She whispered to Val.
"Nothing much. Student council elections are coming up and we're allowed to run in any government form we choose." Val whispered back.
"Why does everything have to be so complicated?" Annie mumbled, putting her head back down on her desk.
"I, Farkle, nominate I, Farkle, for Dictator." Farkle said, raising his hand.
Cory chuckled "You can't nominate yourself, Farkle."
"I'll nominate him." The Rebel said from the back of the room.
"Really?" Farkle asked, turning to the boy.
"Yeah. I like ya. I got your back."
"I thought you had my back." Farkle teased Lucas.
Lucas turned to look at the Rebel, slightly confused "I got his back."
"Whoa! Easy there, harmonica." The Rebel joked.
"Who are you? Where did you come from?" Lucas readjusted in his seat to get a better look at the boy behind him.
"He's the Rebel." Riley nodded.
"Well, what am I?" Lucas asked.
"Oh," Farkle leaned over "You're the good guy. You're our moral compass."
"Wow." Lucas sighed "That sounds hard to pull off."
"Yeah, but you're really good at it."
Lucas straightened up proudly "Thanks."
"See?"
"He's right, Friar." Cory stood up "Represent Democracy."
"I don't know Mr. Matthews. If Democracy worked, maybe I'd have gotten a vote on where I get to live."
Riley looked at the blond boy sadly before perking up "I nominate Lucas Friar for President."
"Okay." Cory nodded "Second?" Riley put up her hand "No, honey, you nominated him. You can't second the nomination--all right fine."
"I'll second the nomination." Everyone looked at Val who shrugged "What? I believe in him."
Both Maya and Annie shook their heads and said "What are you doing?" Maya to Riley and Annie to Val.
"I nominate Val and I as Diarchs." Annie said loudly.
"What are you doing?" Val hissed.
"What's a Diarch?" Cory asked, very confused.
"A Diarchy is a government in which two Diarchs are made heads of the state. Many times, these Diarchs are rulers until their death. Today, the only country that can be seen as a Diarch is Andorra. Val and I will run as co-princesses." Annie explained.
Riley looked at her sister betrayed "You're going to be a Princess?" She asked.
"Hey! This wasn't my idea." Val defended.
"You're going to be a Princess?" Riley shrieked.
"Oh no, she's not!" Maya leapt to her friend's side "Because I nominate Riley Matthews for Princess."
"You're goin' down blondie." Annie said, standing up "You too, Girl Scout."
Val rubbed her temples "Why me?"
***
Riley was sitting at the table when her father walked into the apartment "Hey, Dad, campaign question."
"Impartial." Cory raised his right hand "As your teacher, I must refrain from showing any favoritism. But as your father, whaddya got?" He jogged over to the table.
Riley held up a giant cardboard cutout of her 'serious' face "I got Serious Riley."
"Loser!" Cory shouted "What else ya got?"
Riley put down the first head and pulled out the second, this one had her face with an enormous smile and little arms that were waving in the air "Smiley Riley!"
"Love her!" Cory cheered "See ya at the victory party."
Val walked in and ignored her sister completely as she kissed her father on the cheek and dashed upstairs.
"What was that?" Cory asked, pointing confusedly at the door to the stairs.
"Val's still not forgiven me."
"For what?"
"For not believing she's being bullied." Riley said, completely nonchalant.
"What?!" Cory shouted angrily "My daughter, your sister, is being bullied and you didn't tell me?"
"She's not being bullied, Dad. She's just saying it for attention." Riley shrugged.
"Riley," Cory groaned "Nobody says stuff like that for attention. They actually rarely tell anyone unless they're really in need of help, and sometimes not even then."
"Val wouldn't have said it if I hadn't made her mad, she regretted saying it right after she did and--"Riley tried to protest.
"Riley what's the basis of your campaign?"
"Anti-bullying. I don't want anyone to go through what Farkle went through." Riley smiled, expecting praise.
"Then how's the student body going to feel when they learn that you don't believe your own twin is getting bullied and are doing nothing but hurting her more by not believing her?" Cory asked.
"So you're saying, to win, I have to make Val like me again?" Riley asked "That'll be easy! Thanks, Daddy!" And she skipped upstairs.
Cory paused before shouting "No!"
***
Val was sitting in Auggie's room, reading to him, when Riley burst in loudly.
"Val!" She shouted.
"Riley!" Val whispered angrily "Be quiet, I almost got him to sleep."
"Too late." Auggie sat up, yawning "Thanks, Riley."
"Go see Mommy, Aug." Val said "She can try again."
Auggie got up and walked out rubbing his eyes sleepily.
"What is it Riley?" Val asked, getting out of the bed and putting the book she'd been reading on the bookshelf.
"I want you to like me again." Riley said with a smile.
"Why should I?"
"What?" Riley was confused.
"Why should I?"
"Because I'm your sister, and I love you, and you're supposed to love me." Riley tried.
"Riley, you are my sister and I'm always going to love you. But, right now, I'm trying and failing to like you. You called me a liar and made me feel worse than ever. It may be wrong but I'm not just going to forgive you like that." Val snapped her fingers "Now, I'm tired and going to bed. Goodnight."
She brushed past her sister, leaving Riley staring after her open-mouthed.
***
The next morning Val came downstairs to start making breakfast only to see her Father and brother asleep on the couch, the game was still playing on the TV.
"Wasn't that game last night?" She wondered aloud.
Soon her father awoke to the aroma of hot coffee being made and the sound of cereal being poured.
"Morning, Val." He yawned and stretched.
"Morning, Dad." Val said "Come on, I've got breakfast ready."
Cory woke up Auggie and the two sat down at the table to begin eating. Auggie was very, very tired.
Mere minutes later, Topanga stormed in "Twenty-six innings?"
"We're men." Cory defended "Men watch the whole game or we're not men. Right Aug?"
Auggie fell facedown into his cereal.
"Auggie!" Val exclaimed, pulling his face out of his bowl "Are you okay?"
"Mm fine." The sleepy little boy mumbled.
"Look, honey, you got what you wanted! He's sleeping!" Cory cheered.
"Oh, honey, I want him sleeping at night, and now he's not gonna sleep again tonight. Why won't he sleep at night? Tell me." Topanga begged, starting to wipe off her son's face with a towel.
Cory fell face first into his own bowl of cereal.
"You I'm leaving there."
Topanga picked up Auggie and carried him upstairs to bed. Cory lifted his face out of the bowl and Val handed him a towel.
"And that's how you get outta that." Cory explained.
***
That day, at school, Lucas was standing in front of a small crowd of students.
"Everybody deserves the right to vote. Because if that right is taken away you know what you get?" Lucas held a hand out to where Farkle stood on a stage.
The nutty little genius was wearing a military green cape and hat and was decorated with medals.
"I am Farkle! And these are the dictatorettes." The boy cried "They are part of the new Farkle Nation. How would you like to be part of the new Farkle Nation?"
The kids watching Farkle all groaned and muttered "Meh."
"Nobody's buying, Farkle. Nobody wants you for dictator." Maya said, rolling her eyes.
Farkle turned to her "I was afraid something like this would happen. But, genius that I am, I have a plan." In a Brooklyn accent he said "I got an Uncle Morty in the T-shirt business. Who will become part of Farkle Nation for a free T-shirt?"
The kids cheered and shouted "Yeah!"
"Dictatorettes," Farkle looked at the two girls on either side of him "Give the peoples what they want."
The girls started tossing shirts into the cheering crowd.
"Uh-oh." Maya muttered.
She looked over at the large group surrounding Val and Annie.
Annie was explaining their plan to help improve school lunches by making them healthier and more delicious to half the group while Val was answering questions for the other half.
Maya turned back to Riley.
"Instead of learning on books, we should learn on tablets. The whole world will be at our fingertips. Instead of reading about Spain, we hit a button and we go there! Ole!" Riley threw her cardboard cutout head to the side and waited for cheers from her soon to be adoring subjects.
There was only silence.
Maya stomped up the stairs and stood next to Riley "What you doing?"
"I'm addressing the issues."
"Nobody cares about the issues, Riles." Maya gestured at the empty seats before them "They only care about who's having the most fun."
Farkle screamed "Farkle Nation!"
His crowd echoed back "Farkle Nation!"
"Holy moley. I got me an army."
"He's got him an army." Riley grumbled "I need me a kingdom. I'm not Princess enough yet, am I?"
"No, honey, you're not." Maya shook her head.
"Farkle Nation!" Farkle started to chant and the kids quickly joined in.
"Farkle Nation! Farkle Nation! Farkle Nation! Farkle Nation!" Two kids lifted Farkle onto their shoulders and cheered.
"What do I need to be Princess enough?" Riley asked, throwing her arms in the air.
Maya got an idea "You need a unicorn."
"You'll get that for me?"
"Yeah. I know a guy."
***
Riley and Maya stood in Riley's room petting a horse when the door opened and Topanga and Val walked in.
Topanga was half asleep and holding a hat box. Val stood in the doorway gawping at the white horse in shock.
"What horse?" Maya smiled and put a lampshade over the horse's head.
"Uh, that horse!" Val said, eyes about to pop out of her head.
"I was up again with Auggie last night." Topanga explained her zombified state "I'm very tired. Cory," She looked at the horse "We need bread. I wanted you to have my princess hat from when I rallied against gender stereotypes. I was going to light it on fire, but...It's too pretty. Good luck to you." She handed Riley the box and patted the horse on the nose "Bye, honey."
As Topanga walked out of the room Val stared after her in shock "Seriously?"
***
"A vote for me is a vote to live happily ever after." Riley's ad for Princess was finishing playing on the TV "I am Princess Riley Matthews and I approveth this messageth."
"The campaign of Riley Matthews is not responsible for anyone who thinks a horse is a unicorn."
The class applauded politely and Cory turned off the TV "Well, America's always held a special place in its heart for Princesses. Perhaps Riley will be the first one ever voted in."
Farkle leaned forward "Not after everyone sees Farkle's commercial. Play it Sheephead."
"'Sheephead'?" Cory asked, slightly offended.
"T-shirt?" Farkle offered.
"Ooh! Free stuff!" Cory took the shirt and the disc from Farkle and put it in the player.
Spanish guitar began to play as a Dictatorette flipped the nameplate on the desk from "Mr. Matthews" to "Dictator Farkle." Farkle sat behind the desk petting a pure white, fluffy cat.
"Good evening, Farkle Nation. It is I, your benevolent Dictator. As you can see, I'm kind to all the creatures of Farkle Nation. Our animal friends need room to roam free, but my opponent Riley Matthews feels the proper place for a horse is trapped within the confines of her New York apartment bedroom."
The screen showed a video of the horse in Riley's bedroom.
Riley turned red with rage, got up, and stomped over to turn off the TV "How could you do this to me, Farkle? You told me you were just gonna take a picture of the horse." She raged.
"I wanna win." Farkle shrugged.
Riley shook her head "Farkle, don't even talk to me."
"Riley, I--" Farkle trailed off.
"Okay, this campaign just got dirty." Maya smirked "Yay. Team Princess needs to strike back hard."
"Fine." Riley mumbled then got up and moved to the front of the class "The truth is...that horse had a dream. All that horse ever wanted was to be a unicorn, and I made that dream come true. That horse loves me!"
The class started applauding and Maya cheered loudly.
"It is amazing what people will believe." Riley whispered under her breath.
Maya jumped up "He spys on us, he'll spy on all of you! I bet there's cameras on all of you right now. What you have to decide is if you wanna live in a magical kingdom or a police state."
"Hey, cut it out!" Lucas said angrily "Friends don't attack each other. No going after Farkle."
"Yeah!" Val joined the cowboy.
"Okay, Moral Compasses, I promise we won't go after Farkle." Maya smiled devilishly.
Lucas smiled "Good, thank you."
"Oh, no." Val groaned as the bell rang.
She and Annie gathered their books and headed into the hallway.
Annie smacked Val's arm gently "You just had to say something, didn't ya? Now she's gonna come after us."
"I know, I know, and I'm sorry." Val moaned "But I can't just let her pick on Farkle and Lucas. They're my friends just like you."
"Ugh, I hate it when you're right."
***
Auggie sat on the sofa reading a book. His mother and eldest sister were sprawled on either side, sleeping soundly.
"'Once there was a tree...and she loved a little boy. And every day the boy would come, and he would ga-- He would ga--What's this word Mommy?" Auggie tapped Topanga's foot but she snored on "What's this word Mommy?"
Auggie put the book aside and started lifting and dropping his mother's foot "Mommy. Mommy. Mommy." He grabbed the pillow Topanga had been holding and tossed it up in the air, it landed on her face.
Then Cory walked in.
"Daddy, try this!" Auggie exclaimed, about to throw the pillow again.
"Oh, Auggie!" Cory dashed forward and caught the pillow before it hit his wife "She doesn't like that. Trust me. So you know what? Why don't we gather all these little pillows here..."
"Gather! That's the word!" Auggie shouted, finally waking Topanga and Val up.
"Oh! What happened? I dreamt I was vulnerable and unprotected and somebody was throwing pillows at me." Topanga said, still slightly sleepy.
Everyone looked at Cory who held half a dozen pillows in his arms.
"Let me tell you why this is funny." He chuckled.
"We can't do it, Cory." Topanga sighed, not paying attention "We can't get him to go to bed. I give him to you, you give him to me, I give him to Val, Val gives him to you."
"Well, honey, you know what? We're two working parents." Cory said, trying to calm down his wife.
"I know, but we always arrange it so that one of us is with him. And Val always helps." Topanga sighed "What are we missing here?"
During this conversation, Auggie had spread himself out over his parent's legs and was almost asleep.
"Look, honey, he's real close." Cory pointed at the sleepy boy "You put him to bed. I give you this victory. Topanga?" But Topanga was soundly asleep again "Honey?"
He gently pushed Topanga off his chest and she fell back on the couch cushions, then he moved his youngest's legs off his lap, got up, and walked back upstairs.
Auggie sat back up and picked up his book again.
"'And the boy would gather her leaves and play king of the forest.'"
Val jolted up "I'm awake!"
"Hi, Val." Auggie smiled sleepily.
"Auggie? What time is it?" Val asked groggily "Why are you still awake? You should have been in bed hours ago."
"I can't sleep." Auggie confided "I don't want to go to sleep unless Mommy and Daddy are there with me."
"Oh, is that why you haven't been sleeping?" Val asked.
Auggie nodded "Mm-hm."
"Honey, you know how Mommy and Daddy both have jobs?"
"Yes, Mommy's a killer shark and Daddy's a teacher." Auggie smiled.
"Well, kinda. But they both work hard and a lot, so that means that they can't always both be here. But there's always one of them with you. I know you want them both at night, but we can't have everything, and what we have is pretty good."
Auggie yawned widely "I guess."
"Come on, let's get you to bed." Val picked up her little brother and carried him upstairs.
***
One Day Before Elections
Maya and Riley slammed their lockers shut as Maya complained.
"He's squeaky clean." She grumbled "I haven't found one thing to attack this guy on. Nobody at school has a bad thing to say about him."
"Good." Riley grinned.
"Our only hope is finding something personal." Maya thought aloud.
Lucas walked down the stairs into the hallway on the phone looking very upset.
"Hey, Huckleberry." Maya greeted.
"Hi, Lucas." Riley smiled.
"Excuse me, I'm dealing with something personal." Lucas said, putting the phone to his shoulder.
Maya's face split into a Cheshire Cat grin "Hello."
The two girls moved closer to Lucas to eavesdrop on his conversation.
"I don't understand why I can't go back this weekend, Sir." Lucas paused "No, I'm not trying to argue, but this isn't my home, Texas is my home. But, Dad, you told me I'd be able to see my friends on weekends if I wanted and I want to see my friends." He paused again "Yes, I have friends here. Right now we're all trying to destroy each other. Well, I'm sorry too, Sir, but I was the one who didn't want to come to this school in the first place." Lucas turned around and saw Riley and Maya watching him "I have to go now."
He hung up the phone and walked over to the girls "I suppose you guys will be using that against me."
"I would never." Riley tried to assure him.
"Quiet, Princess." Maya shushed her friend "What, that you don't want to be in our class? How could that hurt you running for President of our class?"
"Don't worry," Riley tried again "It's only her word against yours."
"Unless I had some kind of, like, electronic listening device and oh, look at that! Boopity beep boop bop bing!" She pulled out her phone and pressed play.
The recording of Lucas said "Well, I'm sorry too, Sir, but I was the one who didn't want to come to this school in the first place."
Lucas looked sad and walked away.
"Lucas!" Val came down the stairs and caught his arm "I wanted to wish you luck with the--what's wrong?"
"Your sister and Maya got a recording of me saying I don't want to be at this school and they're gonna use it against me so I lose the election." Lucas sighed "I'm just hurt, I guess. I thought they were my friends."
"Really? That doesn't seem like Riley."
"Don't you believe me?"
"Of course I do. But I'm worried about how Maya might change Riley. And of course I'm worried about you. You have great ideas and you'd work hard to make them a reality. You deserve the presidency." Val smiled.
"But don't you wanna be a Diarch?" Lucas asked.
"Not really, I'm doing it for Annie. She's the one who wants to be a Diarch. She's my friend and she needed a running mate so I'm running with her. I'm supporting her."
"You're a good friend, Val." Lucas smiled tightly "I wish--"
"Don't. Please don't say anything bad about my sister." Val sighed "I know we don't always get along but I love her and I'll always try to protect her."
"I wasn't." Lucas said hurriedly "I was going to say I wish I could be a better friend."
"You are an amazing friend, Lucas." Val put her hand on the boy's arm "Remember you told me what you did for your friend back in Texas, and while it wasn't the right way to go about it, you really care about him and showed it."
"Thanks, Val."
"You're welcome, Lucas."
***
Election Day
Val sat with Lucas on one side and Annie on the other in the gym, waiting for the votes to be counted. She knew what would happen, Riley had come to her asking for help getting in touch with some of Lucas's friends from Texas. She was proud of her sister's thoughtfulness.
"And now the moment you've been waiting for." Cory announced "Dictatorship versus Monarchy versus Democracy versus Diarchy. Which form of government have you chosen? The winner and new leader of the seventh grade of John Quincy Adams Middle School is..."
Riley and Maya rushed in.
"Hold on!" Maya interrupted.
"Not now, Maya." Cory hissed.
"It has to be right now, Dad." Riley ordered her father.
They jumped up on the stage and Maya said "We have one more very important campaign commercial that everybody needs to see."
"Girls, we've already seen the campaign commercials. The votes are in. This isn't going to change anything."
"Yes, it will. This isn't about the votes. It's about Lucas." Riley pointed to the blond boy.
"Did you know about this, Mr. Friar?" Cory asked "Is this okay with you?"
"Yeah, I know about it. If this is the kind of friends they wanna be...It's okay with me." Lucas nodded.
"You might wanna see the commercial before you make a decision, Lucas." Val stood up and joined the other two on stage.
Lucas looked hurt and betrayed "Val?"
"Just watch."
Maya handed Cory the disc and he put it in the player. A Texas scene appeared on the screen and Lucas's friend Asher walked on.
"Hey, My name's Asher Garcia. I've known Lucas Friar just about all my life. There's nobody finer I know. I'm here to endorse him for your seventh grade president."
A boy with long hair crashed into Asher on screen "I'm Dylan Orlando. How ya doing, bud? Looks like you made some new friends. They, uh, thought it was important we recorded this for you."
"Is there really a Farkle?" Asher asked.
"And Lucas, after Riley, Maya, and Val went out of their way to find us, and we got to know them a little, I think we can endorse them too." Dylan smiled.
"Yeah, I approve that message." Asher pointed at the screen like Uncle Sam.
Dylan copied him.
Farkle stood up "I second that. I don't wanna be Dictator anymore. Dictators don't have any friends."
The girls wrapped Farkle in a hug as Lucas got up and sat down next to them.
"Thank you, for the video. That...Wasn't what I expected to see."
"You really think I'd let them do something like that?" Val smiled.
"No more going home on the weekends?" Riley asked.
Lucas glanced at Val "I am home."
Word count: 4571 words
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Love,
The Author