3rd
Lucas, Farkle, Maya, and Riley had become inseparable since there 8th-grade year of school, when they had realized that Cori wasn't coming back and they were unable to change how they treated her, they changed how they treated one another. And, a new person was soon added to the group, his name was Zay, Lucas' best friend from Texas. And now, the fab five were trying to paint Lucas' parking space at their high school, since he was the only one with an actual license they thought helping him paint was the nicest thing they could do since he drove them everywhere.
"I just don't understand he had to come," Farkle said to his friends as Riley's uncle Josh just smirked at them, his arms crossed. "He's not even helping."
"He's just eye candy," Maya said, smiling at Josh, it was safe to say that her crush was still a thing and possibly worse now that they were both slightly older, "damn."
"Shut up, and grabbed this," Zay said rolling his eyes, handing her two cans of paint. Lucas was right behind him with more cans, he bought probably too much but he didn't really know where he was going with, so he hoped the creativity that his friends had would just take over. All of his peers had already painted their spaces weeks ago, but being the procrastinator that he was, he put it off 'til the very last minute. But, looking around the lot, he knew he wasn't alone.
"Okay, what about...friends but like the show?" Riley asked, scrolling through pictures on her phone of painted parking space.
"Too predictable," Josh said to the kids, "now if you want something fun and quirky, how you paint nothing," he said his voice uninterested because he definitely had ulterior motives for being here. He'd overheard his brother talking to Shawn on the phone and had an inkling that Cori Hunter-Reed might be back in town, so he texted hoping she had the same number as before she had left—the two hadn't talked to one another in years, and she did, and you know what he found out? That Cori Hunter-Reed would be in this very same parking lot, around this time and he had to see her!
"That's stupid," Farkle said, not catching the sarcasm, "how about we do the periodic table, it's fun yet smart." He said nodding his head as Josh got a text, his face lighting up immediately.
"This is all really fun, but I have to go meet someone," he told them, stuffing his phone in his pocket.
"I wanna go!" Maya said quickly, putting the paint on the ground and running to his side.
He was too lazy to fight so he shrugged, "whatever."
"If she gets to come, so do I!" Riley said coming to her best friends said.
"Adventure!" Farkle said, following the other two.
"What about my space," Lucas said to his unbelievable friends.
"If they are going to so am I," Zay said abandoning his best friend.
"Guess I'm going to then," Lucas mumbled under his breath, annoyed. Putting this off for any longer wasn't going to do any more harm anyway.
"Whatever just be quiet please," Josh said to his niece and her friends before he started walking, his eyes on the number of the spaces. Thankfully the walk was a fairly quiet and short one but when everyone got the destination they were shocked to the core.
_
Cori had been home for almost a month now, but she had been doing much when it came to hanging with a friend or anyone in general, she was just trying to adjust back to life in the big apple. To say that she was shocked to receive an out of the blue text from Josh Matthews would be an understatement, she hadn't talked to any of the people she'd left behind in years, she tried to text Farkle but the kid just never responded and the same thing happened with Lucas, so she just gave up. But she held no ill will toward any of them and that's why she told Josh that she would be at the school.
For the last week, her and her parents were helping with the concept for the parking space at the school, and today she was putting on the final touches; but all of it was Shawn's idea, he actually made a bet with her to see if she would do it, and she was not one to turn it down. She didn't want to do anything that was dramatic or predictable but something fun, and different.
She was in her own world listening to her music on shuffle as she painted over her stencil a final time before letting it dry. She'd pressed her face against the dry paint, getting a closer look when a dark shadow was cast over her. "What the--?" she asked, rolling over and squinting her eyes before realizing who was standing over, "Josh Matthews?" she asked, losing her breathe because damn, he got hot!
"Cori Hunter-Reed?" he asked mocking her, putting a handout for her to grabbed on to, "long time no see, right?" he asked her as she stood up.
"Right," she said, peering over his shoulder, "and I see you brought friends." She told him; her voice slightly unsure of what was going to happen.
He looked behind him to see his nieces group of friends who all just stared at the two awkwardly; when they had seen her for the first time, a lot of profanity flew around before they'd finally shut up, "hope that's okay," he said nervously, he knew the group's history with Cori was a colorful one.
"Totally," she said told him, "are they going to come over here or just stare?" she asked her hands on her hips. Before josh could answer her though, the fab five slowly back away and turned around, she couldn't help but laugh, "well, I guess that answers that, huh?"
He waved them off, "they're just missing out."
"Totally," she said before bringing her attention back to her parking space, "what do you think?" she asked, removing the stencil.
He laughed, "is that your actual number?" he asked after he read her big 'for rent' sign.
She nodded, "yeah, Shawn bet me that I wouldn't put my real number but I ain't no bitch, so here we are!" she said, making her voice slightly deeper and puffing her chest out to make herself look tougher. "Can you take a picture of me with this behind me actually?"
"Without question!" he said to her, taking the phone from her as she posed. Josh couldn't help but feel some sort of when his niece's friends had left because he finally had a friend in New York that wasn't a kid or 2+ years younger than him, it felt nice and selfish but still nice none the less. After, he took the picture, the two of them sat on the ground with the shadow of Cori's Vespa in there faces as they caught up on everything that happened in the years of her absence; it felt nice and normal.
Maybe, being back wouldn't be so lonely after all.
_
The first chapter of the sequel 'HUNTER, CORI HUNTER.' and I hope you guys like it and will be honest about what you are thinking. Please, please don't be mad about the time skip lol...
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