Jacob's POV

"Inside of the Matthew's Apartment, I was sitting in the special "Bay Window" with my childhood friends Riley Matthews and Maya Hart. We were debating whatever or not to go out of the window or through the front door to sneak off to take the subway to school. I sat in the middle while Maya was on the right and Riley was on the left of me, as we were all sitting on pillows. "

"Why do we need to sneak out of the house if we're not doing anything wrong until we sneak onto the subway?" Riley asked Maya, which was at least the fourth time now since I came here.

"You think you're ready to just walk by your parents?" Maya asked.

"I think I'm ready."

"Are you really sure, Riley?" I asked, joining the conversation. "You know this isn't easy, right?"

"I know, and I'm ready!"

"Let us see your face as you walk by your parents," Maya instructed.

Riley looks at me then at Maya, giving a really scared looking expression that made her seem more nervous than confident in her action.

"Why are you making that face at us, Riley?" Maya imitated her parents.

"Because I'm sneaking out to the subway."

"Seriously, Riley? Seriously?"

I thought this while giving her my normal amused expression.

"What do you think, Jacob?" Maya asked.

"I'll go along with whatever you ladies choose. But yeah, we don't got much time."

After I stated that, we were finally at a decision.

"Out the window." She spoke.

Maya and I nodded in agreement.

"Let's go." We agreed as the three of us all began to crawl out of the window. 

A few moments later, we were met with an unexpected guest as we were making our escape.

"Daddy! What are you doing out here?" Riley asked.

"Being smarter than me;" Maya started. "How come you're always smarter than me?"

We climbed back inside of the room and the two girls sat on her bed as I stood and crawling through was Riley's father, Mr. Cory Matthews, as he came inside as well, starting another one of his "lectures."

"Here's what I'm thinking." He begins. "It's not your world yet. It's still my world. Because if it was your world, Maya would have you on the subway already, thinking you put something over on me. But you didn't. Know how I know? Look at you. You're right here."

"How long do I have to live in my father's world?"

"I wonder too."

"Until you make it yours." Mr. Matthews replied. "Riley, do you know what I want more than anything? Go ahead. Make it yours."

"I will. And when I do, will you still be there for me?" She asked back.

"Right here." A female's voice came from the door and we looked to see Mrs. Tonpanga Matthews, Riley's mother standing by the door.

"We'll be right here." She said, entering the scene.

"Thank you, Mrs. Matthews." I bowed. "You too, Mr. Matthews."

Maya, Riley and I all linked arms as gave each other a reassuring look, and skipped on out the door, ready to embrace the new day.

✦✦✦✦

Finally arriving at the subway station, we were greeted by the strange and familiar vibes of the subway. The sewer rats, people all fumbling to make it to their location early in the morning, and footsteps coming left and right as they go. The three of us turned to someone who was drumming on some garbage cans as Maya began to dance to the beat before greeting him.

"Dweezil!" She exclaimed.

"Who is he?" I asked Riley.

"I wished I knew."

He then looked at Riley and then at me, like he was examining us.

"Oh, it's you, dude!" He said to me.

It took a second before I recognized him as the drummer who's often here at the station whenever I use the train.

"Oooh, that Dweezil!" I nodded. "What's up?"

"Who's the new chick?" He pointed to Riley.

"Chick! Down here I'm a chick!" Riley said happily, before realizing how weird it sounded. "No wonder my parents don't want me on the Subway..."

"Y-Yeah..." I whispered.

We continued walking towards the subway train when then two girls passed by us.

"You're slouching, Maya."

"Thanks, Gretchen!" Maya replied to a passerby, before standing straight up and putting her hands on her hip as she walked with a much better posture.

Riley and I shared a look as we watched.

"Well...that's something."

Riley begins to try and mimic Maya's walking manner as she followed her. Shrugging my shoulders, I chased after the two and walked normally.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside the interior of the subway, I glanced around the passengers onboard and noticed something completely surprising about Riley as I looked.

"Whoa, Riley are you sure about what you're putting on?" I asked.

Maya noticed as well and slightly widened her eyes in amusement and surprise.

"You don't do lip gloss." She added.

"Agreed."

"Oh! What I forgot to mention is that I'm completely reinventing myself. I ride the Subway now, I have kiwi lips now, and I'm just as cool as you now!"

"There are so many things wrong with that logic I'm not sure where to begin."

But I still couldn't help but laugh at it.

"Yeah, let's see how cool you can be when you look at him."

Maya looked over Riley's shoulder and gesture toward a brown-blonde-haired boy as Riley and I looked at him as well. He looked around our age and was reading a book when he saw our gaze, smiling back at us.

"Hm, pretty cute, still not as cute as "him" though."

Riley turned to us with a silly goofy grin shown right on her face.

"Hehe," I chuckled. "But yeah, you're gonna need some lessons."

"Let me show you everything you need to know about boys and girls," Maya said, as she walks over to the boy and talks to him, us still being within earshot to hear.

"Hi, I'm Maya. You're really cute. We should hang out sometime. You make me happy. You don't pay enough attention to me. This isn't working out. It's you, not me. We can still be friends, not really."

"..............."

"That was...fast," I mumbled.

She walks away and heads back to where the two of us were, not letting him say a single word.

"He's available. We just broke up."

"Um...are you okay...?" I asked, confused if I needed to ask her.

"Do we need to talk about it?" Riley asked as well.

"You still wanna be like me, Riley?" Maya responded.

"I wonder about that. Do you, Riley?"

"I want to be exactly like you. I think too much and you don't think at all. Even Jacob doesn't think too much."

"Huh...? Um...thanks?"

"Was that a compliment?"

"See? You get us, so let's all not think."

"Please don't rope me in with you, Maya." I denied.

"Too late, you already are," she said quickly, before looking back to Riley. "Thank me later."

She then unlatches Riley's hand from the bar, and Riley goes tumbling towards the boy, falling onto his lap.

"Did you have to do that?" I asked.

"Someone needed to." She replied. "How about I help you with "Farkle"?"

"I-It depends on your definition of the word "help." I stuttered. "Plus, it's not...like that...You know he likes you and Riley. A lot"

After discussing that, we glance over to see how Riley was doing with the charming boy.

"Hi. We were just talking about you. You used to go out with my friend, Maya."

"I'm Lucas." He introduced.

"Not a bad name. Still, Farkle sounds much cuter in my opinion."

"I love it." She said, grinning widely.

Waking over to the two was a woman who was wearing a dark pinkish and purple jacket.

"Perhaps someone would like to give their seat to someone older."

The boy named Lucas begins to stand up.

"Not you, sweet potato pie." She smiled.

She gestures to Riley and she then stands up to talk to her.

"Please don't make me move. I just wanna see where this goes."

"I've just worked a 12-hour shift and I just wanna see where this goes." She replied, gesturing to her rear end. "Okay?"

After that Riley then returned to us, looking defeated before smiling with a dreamy look.

"That was great!"

"You're welcome." Maya smiled.

"What if that was the best moment of my life? What if nothing ever happens to me again?" She asked.

"Hm...."

Maya and I both stared at each other with a smirk on our faces, getting the same idea. 

We then turned and grinned shrewdly at Riley before we then grabbed Riley's hand and unlatched it from the bar together, sending her tumbling back over towards him, landing on the woman's lap instead. She looks at her and then turns to the boy, Lucas.

"This" is for you." She said, placing Riley on the boy's lap.

"That was fun."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Theme Song: Take On The World

I've been waitin' ♪
For a day like this to come ♪
Struck like lightnin' ♪

My heart's beating like a drum ♪
On the edge of something wonderful ♪

Face to face with changes ♪

What's it all about? ♪
Life is crazy ♪
But I know I can work it out ♪
Cause' I got you to live it with meI feel all right, I'm gonna take on the world ♪

Light up the stars, I've got some pages to turn ♪
I'm singing oh oh oh ♪
Oh oh oh ooh ♪

Take on the world ♪
Take on the world ♪
Take on the world ♪
Take on the world ♪
Take on the world ♪
Take on the world ♪

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Making it to school, which was John Quincy Adams Middle School, we were in the hallway after first heading to our lockers to grab our homework and things necessary for our early classes. I shut my lock after grabbing my history textbook, as Riley and Maya followed suit. That was when Riley spoke up.

"Did you two have trouble with the homework?"

"No problem," I replied.

"Piece of cake," Maya said, but obviously, that didn't sound genuine.

"You didn't do it, did you?" We both questioned.

"I don't even know where my books are."

"Knew it."

Riley opens her backpack and hands, Maya, her books from inside.

"Here. And they're heavy."

The bell rang, indicating that it was time for history class, and we continued to chat amongst each other while walking there.

"You have to do the homework, Maya. This teacher's insane, a total nut job. I think there's something seriously wrong with him." Riley said as we walked towards our seats.

"Hi, honey." Mr. Matthews said, standing in front of Riley.

"Hi, daddy."

It took her a moment to react shocked as she realized that he heard what she said about him basically.

"You're late to your father's class."

"Oh, crud."

"Oh, don't worry, Mr. Matthews, you wrote her a note," Maya informed him, pulling out a slip of paper.

"I did?"

"He did?" I asked, just as puzzled.

"You did." Maya gives the paper to Riley.

"You did," Riley stated, delivering the note to Mr. Matthews as he read it.

"Riley's late. Deal with it."

"That's not very convincing."

He looks up and at Maya.

"Oh, you got my signature down pretty good this time."

"Praise on the signature, Maya," I said. "Not bad."

"Oh, it was easy, he writes like a girl."

After she said that, we all sat down in our seats, with me between Riley and Maya and I looked behind me and waved at Farkle, one of our closest friends since elementary school, to greet him as he returned the friendly gesture, causing me to cover my mouth with my hand to grin gleefully to myself. 

"Hehehe."

He had light brown hair and blue eyes and also sat just right behind Maya.

Mr. Matthews then officially started class.

"Okay, let me get back to jamming some learning in your heads, The Civil War."

"The Civil Bore." Maya mocked.

"Thank you, future Mini-Mart employee of the month." He said back.

"Would I be making more money than you?"

Mr. Matthews hesitated and paused to answer that and then continued.

"The Civil War! Anybody?"

"Good one."

"A war we fought against ourselves," Riley answered surprisingly, especially since I was about to raise my hand.

"What, you actually studied it?" Mr. Matthews claimed.

"No, I'm actually living in it," Riley replied, bumping her head on the desk as he continued on with the lecture. It was at that moment that Farkle suddenly spoke to the class as a whole, making me focus, intrigued by what he had to say.

"People, people, are we here to learn or not?" Farkle asked. 

I shifted my attention to face him as Mr. Matthews addressed him. 

"What do you mean, Farkle?"

"I've been in love with Riley since the first grade. But I'm also equally in love with Maya. Some might say the great mystery of the universe is who's going to be the first Mrs. Farkle."

Maya turned to him.

"You don't want this." She warned him.

"Bring it on."

"I don't think she's playing Farkle," I rebutted.

"I always thought that he'd wind up with back-of-the-class Brenda," Riley said, pointing to the back of the room.

We all followed her gaze to a girl with glasses and sorta, and I mean sorta in a really tiny way, resembled Farkle, but only in intelligence as far as we could see. The thought though, made me shudder a bit at the thought of Farkle ending up with her.

"Ugh..."

"Yuck!" Farkle said with a disguised expression.

"As sad as it sounds, I'm actually relieved."

Since I had a crush on Farkle for years now since elementary school, I tried to just be okay with just being best friends. But even still, it bothered me somewhat whenever he flirted with any girl, although it was different in Riley and Maya's case.

"Those two make it pretty obvious that they don't like him like that. Plus, Maya's pretty..."pushy" about getting us together, even despite my objections."

"Actually, the great mystery of the universe is how you can love two women the same who couldn't possibly be more different." Mr. Matthews told Farkle.

"We're not so different," Riley disagreed.

Farkle then raises his hand and looks to Cory.

"May I overstep my bounds, sir?"

"You always do."

Mr. Matthews and Farkle then switched spots as Farkle walk over to his desk and flips over the name tag on Cory's desk so it says "Farkle" instead of "Mr. Matthews".

"Oh, I love this part! Here comes Farkle Time!"

Farkle slams his hands on Riley's desk, looking at her.

"Riley is the sun. Warm and bright and lights up my whole day."

He then ran to Maya's desk.

"Maya is the night. Dark and mysterious. And the night has always been a mystery to me. Because I go to bed at 7:30."

Surprisingly, he comes over to my desk as well, shocking me a bit as he slammed his hands on my desk and came within inches of my face.

"Jacob, my best buddy and like the dawn of sunrise. An open book and yet a complete eluding mystery, loyal and trusting."

"Um...thank you, Farkle," I replied, slightly flustered by his praise.

Farkle steps away and stands back in front of the class.

"Maya and Riley, how can I love these two different women? How can I not? Thank you, I am Farkle!" He shouted while bowing forward.

"And that's the end of Farkle Time!" I spoke, clapping as I went along. "You may continue, Mr. Matthews."

Farkle walks back to his desk and Mr. Matthews walks back to his. flipping the name tag back to his.

 "So, we were indeed trying to find out who we were, as a people. Who am I? What should I be? History shows that bad things happen when you don't know who you are." Mr. Matthews explained.

Suddenly, the back door opens and it reveals the boy from the subway earlier as he walks into the class.  The whole class all look and turned to see him enter in.

"Who are you? I don't know who you are." Mr. Matthews said as the boy walked up to him.

"Subway boy," Riley whispered to me and Maya.

"I think his name is Lucas," I whispered back.

"I'm Lucas Friar, from Austin, Texas," he said to Mr. Matthews, giving him a note.

"Oh. New student, Mr. Friar?"

"Yes, sir."

"Great. You're just in time for today's assignment. Have a seat."

After being told that, Lucas nodded and took a seat behind Riley. I could tell that Riley was practically watching him with her full attention, understandable since he was pretty good-looking.

"Okay, so we..." 

Mr. Matthews notices Riley not paying attention and walks over to her, and turns her head forward. 

"So, I'd like you guys to open your books to page 48. Now, I'd like you to turn to page 1. Now, I'd like you to read from page 1 to 48."

Most of the students except for Farkle groans to his words and I rolled my eyes.

"It isn't that much."

"Oh, too bad on you." He stated. "Okay, so for tonight's assignment, I'd like you to write me a three-page essay on anything. Anything at all, that you guys believe in so strongly, you fight for it."

"That! I'd fight for no homework. I come here every day; why can't you teach me everything I need to know while I'm here." 

"Woo!" Riley cheered, pumping her fist. She then earns a glare from her father and changes her words. "Not woo!"

"He gets our days, let's take back our nights. No homework, more freedom!" Maya yells this before appealing to the other students. "Who's with me? No homework, more freedom! No homework, more freedom!"

Most students began to chant this along with her.

"No homework, more freedom!" 

Maya then leaned down to Riley and me.

"This is it, kid. You wanna be like me? Stand up."

Riley looks to me, and I decided to just first see how this goes for a moment. As she began to stand up, Mr. Matthews talked to his daughter.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm making a choice about who I want to be, about whose world I want it to be."

"Riley, I know you." Mr. Matthews responded. "You know exactly who you are."

"Then who am I, Dad?"

"You're just like me."

"Oh, yeah? Would you do this?" She asked before starting to chant along with Maya and the other students, leaving pretty much just me and Farkle, as well as Lucas.

"No homework, more freedom! No homework, no freedom! No homework, no freedom! No homework, more freedom! No homework, more freedom!"

Maya then stops chatting to looks at me.

"How about it, Angel Cake?" She asked. "You joining in?"

"I'm good...but good luck with that though."

"Wait, should I be wishing them luck?"'

"Suit yourself! No homework, more freedom! No homework, more freedom! No homework, more freedom!"

Riley then looked at Farkle.

"Farkle, are you with us or not? No homework, more freedom! No homework, more freedom!"

As she went back to chanting, Farkle walked into the middle of the class as I stood up, and looked back and forth as he thought about which to choose between following them or staying in class.

"My education? Or my women? My education? Or my women? My education? Or my women?" He starts to look a little dazed as he questioned himself and looks at me and Mr. Matthews. "Oh, it's happening again, sir."

"I got him," I said, hastening over and swiftly catching him as he slumped in my arms. Last time it was Mr. Matthews, so this time it was my turn.

"This be far more enjoyable if it wasn't always like this with the fainting thing."

✦✦✦✦

After getting home from school, I went up to my room immediately after dinner and got started on my homework while I sat at my desk. On top of it laid my history essay paper, which I was still trying to decide what to write about.

"Something that I would fight for..."

To be perfectly honest, the one thing that came to mind was...Farkle. While I have known Maya and Riley as my closest friends, Farkle is one of my best friends and also someone who I'm willing to defend, even if it means physically. 

"He can be quirky, curious, a bit of a flirt, and sometimes very colorful in a way. But Farkle's also very loyal and cheerful, which I like about him."

With my choice in mind, I got started on my essay and did the best I could to get my feelings out and convey them properly on paper.  

✦✦✦✦

The next day, I sat at my usual spot in the cafeteria with Riley and Maya at lunch as we ate our lunch. I chose to have some of the sloppy joe special for today. I was feeling pretty confident in my essay and how it turned out, despite the small nervous feeling I felt when I finished it.

"I did kind of spent most of the time writing about why I would fight for my friendship with Farkle..."

As I thought this, I noticed Maya and Riley talking about the new kid, Lucas, and turned to join the conversation.

"Aw, look at him, looking for a place to fit in." Maya teased.

"He's looking pretty out of place." I smiled.

"Do you think he'll sit here with us?"

"Who knows?"

Maya and I then scooted over from Riley to make room for Lucas so that he could sit between the two of us. Just as he approached our table, Farkle, suddenly appearing out of nowhere, jumps in and steals it before he could sit down. Lucas then begins to move in the opposite direction.

"Ladies," Farkle started. "And Jacob!"

"Farkle!" We all acknowledged.

"Thank you for including me."

"So, what brings you here today, Farkle?" I questioned.

"Glad you ask. Just an Interesting lunch-line dilemma; Sloppy Joe, or Chicken Pot Pie?"

Farkles asks us this, specifically the girls while changing his direction back and forth.

"Sloppy Joe, or Chicken Pot Pie?"

"That all you got?" Maya asked.

"That's it, same time tomorrow!" Farkle replied, standing up and starts walking off.

"See ya later, Farkle!" I said, before turning back to them. "So...that was something."

"Sweet, sweet, naive Angel Cake." Maya smiled. "You better get right on that one soon."

"Now's not the time for this, Peaches." I retorted.

After dismissing Maya's remark, I glanced around and noticed that Lucas was still looking around for somewhere to sit and nudged Riley.

"There he is. Invite him to sit down, Riley." I suggested, moving closer to Maya and pulling Riley along as well so that he would sit directly next to her.

"Words?!"

"You're ready for this!"

"I think."

"What do I say?!"

"Hey Lucas, looking for someone special?" Maya suggested.

"I can't say that."

"Hey Lucas, looking for someone?" I proposed.

"Too forward."

"Hey, Lucas," Maya replied lastly.

"Like we're on a first-name basis?"

"Hey!" We both spoke to her.

"Hey!" Riley repeated.

"Hey, I'm back!" Lucas joined in, sitting next to Riley.

Riley looked towards him with almost a strange frightened forced smile on her face.

"Hi. You're sitting here."

As Riley said nervously, I felt like banging my head on the table from seeing how embarrassing this was to watch.

"Is that okay?"

Riley gives a weird thumbs up.

"Oh, dear...it's like looking at a mirror of myself when I'm around Farkle. Is "this" what I'm like?"

"Can you excuse me for just one sec?"

Riley then turned to Maya and me. The three of us cried in excitement before returning to our lunches.

"How ya doing?"

"Huh?"

I heard a familiar voice and turned around to see that Riley's father, Mr. Matthews was standing right next to us.

"Oh, crud."

"Dad...you have a choice here." Riley started. "You can either understand this is just a boy talking to me in the cafeteria--"

"I'm gonna do whatever you say next!"

"But this is so innocent!"

"Fathers don't see anything as innocent. We see it as...what's the opposite of innocent?"

I turned my attention to Maya immediately as she raised her hand up as if it was natural.

"Right here!" 

Mr. Matthews waved his hand gently as if to dismiss her.

"Dad, please don't embarrass me." Riley pleaded. 

"I'm just going to talk to Mr. Friar about geometry!"

 He then turned to Lucas. 

"You know, I've been to a lot of places. Never been to Texas though. What part of Texas is closest to Mexico?" He asked the kid. 

"That'd be El Paso, sir," Lucas answered. 

"Great. Let's go right now." Mr. Matthews said. 

He took Lucas's chair and pulled him and the chair away. Lucas gave us a small wave. I shrug my shoulders and stood up along with my friends to put our lunch trays away.

"So, did you do the homework?" Riley asked Maya.

"No, I didn't do the homework." She answered. "The question on everybody's kiwi lips is did you do the homework?" 

"I did my homework, of course," I answered.

"Well as for me, no." Riley rebutted. "I'm one of the founding members of the homework rebellion. You think I did my homework?" 

I looked at her with a smug look. 

"I think you did hers too," 

"I did, I did and I really liked it," Riley cried happily. 

"Riley, don't save me," Maya said. 

Riley gave Maya a perplexed glance. 

"What?" 

"Let me be me," 

"Maya..." 

As Maya stated that, I noticed that Farkle walked over to us with three different cakes on his tray. 

"Oh, you got three desserts?" Riley asked, 

"Angel's food cake." I pointed out.

 "Red Velvet food cake," Riley said. 

"And Devil's food cake. Let me guess who's who." Maya teased, before winking at me. "Is Angel food Cake—"

"Hey, Farkle's just hungry." Farkle cut off. "Not everything is about you." 

Farkle then started walking off with his tray full of cake.

"It's nice to see that Farkle has a sweet tooth." I kidded.

We all giggled a little at my pun before heading off to throw away our trays. 

✦✦✦✦

In our next class, I started taking out my history textbook after I got seated at my desk and then began turning to the assigned page. As I was doing that, I heard an accelerated sound of footsteps making a dash somewhere and turned around in my chair to see Mr. Matthews glaring at Lucas from behind Riley.

"Here we go again..."

"Hi, apparently you have a better sense of direction than I anticipated." Mr. Matthews whispered. 

Lucas only just smiles and nodded to him, while Riley on the other hand, was hiding her face under her hands.

"Oh, poor sweet Riley."

Mr. Matthews continued to make weird hand signs while pointing at Lucas' face.

"You are a really good-looking guy!" He noted.

"He really is...still..."

I looked behind me and at Farkle, who just beamed a smile at me and waved as I did, making me turn back around to hide my growing grin.

"Yup! Farkle's "much" more handsome in my opinion!"

Mr. Matthews then returned to the front of the class to ask about our assignment. 

"Okay, so today we're gonna find out. If anybody here believes in something so strongly, they'd fight for it." Mr. Matthews said, walking over to Maya's desk, 

"Maya." 

"Yes, sir," Maya replied. 

"Present your homework." 

"Can't do that, sir." 

"Why not?" 

"That's what I'm fighting against, sir." 

"Oh, this could go on for a while," Farkle said, breaking the conversation. He put his feet on his desk and put on a blue night sleep mask over his eyes. 

"Farkle Farkle Farkle Farkle...." Farkle snored cutely in his sleep.

"Why do the eyes look...creepy? Still, his sleeping face looks so adorable!"

"Jacob. Present now," Mr. Matthews told me. 

"Um... Mr. Matthews, I don't mind presenting and all, but it's a little...personal," I told him. 

"How personal could it be?"

"Like "Farkle" personal."

".........."

Mr. Matthews looked at me for a moment before responding to my explanation.

"Riley, you're up!"

"I didn't do my homework either," Riley declared. 

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, we're the same now. I don't believe in homework."

"Guess what, Riley? That doesn't make you the same as Maya at all." Mr. Matthews announced to his daughter.

"I have something to say," Maya said, raising her hand. 

"Wow, I don't know what to do. I've never seen this before. The floor is yours, Ms. Hart."

Mr. Matthews offers Maya the floor to speak up as she stood up and turned to Farkle, who was still sleeping in his chair while pulling on his sleeping mask.

"Get up, Farkle. You're gonna want to be awake for this." 

 "Is it our honeymoon?" Farkle asked hopefully, standing up. 

"Really?" I peeped at him.

"No, you missed that."

"Now it's time to hand in our essays," Maya told him. 

"Oh, Farkle goes first!" Farkle shouted. "Farkle always goes first!"  

He ran out of the classroom. I think it was to his locker knowing him.

"So adorkable."

Maya stepped up to the front of the room. 

"All right, everybody who did their homework put it on your desks," Maya commanded. 

"Why?" I questioned confused.

"Just do it, Angel Cake."

Listening to her instructions, I decided to just do it and then began to take out my essay from my school things and placed it on my desk.

"Careful there, Ms. Hart," Matthews advised. 

 "Are you sure about this?" Riley asked.

"I got this," Maya reassured our friend and proceeded to collect the homework from the students, including us.

While she did that, I detected the backdoor open and turned around to see Farkle walk in with a big and picturesque diorama of Atlanta in his hands. It was pretty realistic and I don't even think it was an exposition at this point. It actually had sparklers. 

"Wow, nice display Farkle." I nodded.

"Thanks, Jacob!" Farkle replied. "This is the burning of Atlanta that led to the end of the civil war and to peace. I believe that peace is worth fighting for." 

Maya walked over to Farkle with all the essays in her possession and snatched one of the sparklers from his display. 

"Hey, that's a pivotal part of my diorama!" 

Maya snatched another sparkler from the project. 

"And there goes, Virginia..." 

"Not Virginia!"

Maya strolled back to her desk and stood up on her chair, holding the sparklers and the essays in separate hands. She thankfully had them within a length of each other. 

"The burning of the homework led to the end of the homework rebellion because there was no more homework," Maya declared proudly, standing on her seat.

"Wait, what?!" I exclaimed.

"Has she lost it?! You can't burn our homework!"

She began to bring the sparklers down to the homework. 

"All right, all right, that's far enough, Maya! I get it!" Mr. Matthews yelled, running over to Maya to snatch the homework away from her. 

However, she just ended up holding the sparklers up high. "No homework, more freedom!" Maya roared. 

Just as she shouted this, the sparklers' fire hit the fire sprinklers over us, and at that moment, icy freezing water spurt down on everyone. 

"Yup, I should've seen this coming..." I uttered, crossing my arms.

"Man, that's cold!"

The whole class began to shriek as an alarm began to resound, indicating to leave the classroom. 

"Okay, so those work," Maya said while pointing up. 

"Is this still part of your presentation or is this actually going on?!" Farkle asked.

"I think it's actually happening, Farkle!" I shouted over the water.

As I announced this, everyone began to bolt out of the classroom, using their books to cover their heads. 

The only people left in the room were me, Farkle, Maya, Riley, Lucas, and Mr. Matthews as we were getting drowned and soaked. 

As I attempted to cover my head with my backpack, I watched as Lucas put his jacket over him and Riley. 

"Why didn't you stop your friend?!"

"I wonder that too!"

"Cause that's not what I do anymore!" 

As the two of them continued their conversation, I went over to Farkle to try and cover both of us up with my bag, but he then started panicking back and forth.

"Farkle, what's up with you?! We gotta move!"

"I am!"

Farkle then suddenly starts making a dash for Mr. Matthews and hopped onto him over his shoulder.

"F-Farkle?!"

"Ms. Hart, you have detention. The principal will determine if it goes further than that." Mr. Matthews told Maya, while Farkle continued to hang from him. He turned to me and Riley.

"Ms.Matthews, Mr. Holland, you both please leave," Cory told us. 

"I deserve detention too!" Riley objected. 

"Me too!" I protested. "I'm just as responsible!"

"No, you're not. You both didn't do anything." He refuted. "And because you both didn't do anything; your best friend is in very deep trouble." 

Riley stormed out of the classroom after hearing that, leaving just the rest of us.

"Um, Mr. Matthews, do you want me to get Farkle... off you?" I asked.

"Please!"

"All right, Farkle, you can get down now." 

"Get down!"

"Well, you're actually quite comfortable, sir," Farkle commented. 

"Thank you, Farkle. Mr. Matthews said. "GET OFF!"

I raced over and started pulling on his body, dropping my bag while attempting to put him over my shoulder. 

"Holy mess, he has a strong grip!"

"Farkle isn't going anywhere!" Farkle yelled.

"Stop being stubborn!"

"Actually, if I'm being honest, I'm kinda enjoying this little tug of war, haha..."

I had to admit, seeing Farkle drenched in water wasn't a bad sight for the eyes.

"Seeing his clothes clinging to his skin...Wait, stay focus!"

✦✦✦✦

Eventually, I finally managed to get Farkle down from Mr. Matthews but now...he was clinging to my back. I walked out with him still on my back into the hallways alongside Mr. Matthews, when we saw Maya and Riley at their lockers.

"Okay, down Farkle," I demanded.

Fortunately, he listened and off my back, giving me some breathing space.

"I swear I felt like my heart was gonna burst being that close to him for so long..."

As I adjusted my posture, I moved over to the two as Mr. Matthews stared at the three of us with a stern expression.

"You're looking at us pretty hard there Mr. Matthews," Maya said, trying to break the mood.

"We just wanted to stand by my girls," Riley spoke. 

"Yeah, she's our friend..." I added.

Riley, Maya, and I all looked at each other worriedly.

"You missed the moment to stand by your girl, Riley." Mr. Matthews addressed. "You were so busy trying to be her, you forgot the best thing you can do for her is be yourself. And as for you, Jacob."

"Yes?" I glanced up.

"I'm not really sure if you did anything at all."

"Technically no... but still, I should've tried to stop her." 

"After all, I'm the rational one." 

"Now Jacob, you and Riley take Farkle for a walk." Mr. Matthews told us.

"Um...okay..."

We looked at Maya one last time before walking off with Farkle.

✦✦✦✦

After seeing the three off, Cory walked forward to address Maya on her actions.

"Listen, for as long as I can remember, it's always been Jacob, Riley, and Maya. Now I always believed a friend helps another friend out of trouble, not into it." 

"I'm sorry..." Maya spoke, barely a small whisper.

"I am too." He spoke. Because both of you go too far. Do you understand me?"

"I have no one at home who helps me with my homework," Maya responded, before walking off. 

✦✦✦✦

Jacob's POV

Riley, Maya, and I were standing on the train on the way back home. As I was looking around, still glancing at my still damped shoes, Maya called out to us.

"Hey Sugar, Riles."

"Yeah?" 

We turned to Maya, who had a serious look on her face, which was pretty unusual for her.

 "If you, Jacob, and I can't hang out with each other as much anymore, don't worry about it,"

Riley looked at me confused as I returned the same gesture to her.

"Wait, why wouldn't we all—"

He's going to make you end the friendship." Maya said, cutting her off. 

I could feel my face fall hearing that.

"He said that?" I asked questionably. 

"He's really upset with me."

"He loves you." Riley opposed.

I nodded my head in agreement. 

"I don't think so anymore," She replied. "I just want you to know that I get it wouldn't be your fault," 

"Beyootiful!"

We turned to see that the clapping and cheering were coming from the same lady who we saw earlier on the train when Riley was with Lucas.

"You three little bumblebees got a sweet thing going." She conversed. "But where's your hunk?

"Huh...?"

We all looked at the lady with a doubtful look on our faces.

"You ain't got no hunk, you ain't got no story!"

"Hunk? Who is she talking about?"

Shrugging off her words, we continued our discussion about our friendship with Maya.

"I haven't been a very good friend to you guys," Maya stated. 

"You're our best friend," Riley rebutted.

"Exactly, it wouldn't be the same without you."

"She's your best friend! Best friends are important." The lady chimed in. "I got a best friend. I'm not talking to her right now." 

"Who ARE you?"

 "I go too far," Maya said. "And I don't think that's gonna stop. I'm bad for you two." 

"So is junk food but we still eat that," I replied.

"Did he say that?" Riley asked.

"He will," Maya responded.

The train then came to a stop.

"This is your stop," Maya said. "Don't be me," She started taking our hands off the pole. 

"You two don't go as far as me," 

"Maya!"

"No. No." 

Riley and I continued to protest as Maya started to shove us out of the train with one hand each.

"Maya, stop."

Despite my protest, she didn't listen and ultimately, pushed us off. 

I could still hear the lady on the train still talking while she did.

"No! Do not push those two off this train! You do not push your best friends off the train."

"As nosy as she is, she's right!"

"Riley, let's help our friend!"

"Right!" She nodded. "We're not her."

We hurried over and grabbed the doors, forcing them open.

"Oh, they're back!" The lady shouted. 

Maya whipped her head in our direction, seeing us.

"Those two little young ones pushed those doors open with the power of love!"  

"I'm starting to like her commentary. But seriously, who is this amazing woman?"

Ignoring that though, I turned my attention back to Maya as Riley and I entered back inside.

"You're not allowed to abandon our friendship." I declared.

"We would never do that," Riley added.

"Riley, Jacob, I'm pushing you both away because I'm not good for you guys anymore." Maya finished. 

"Only we decide that!" I yelled. 

"You know why?!" 

 "Why?" Maya asked. 

"Because if this is my world now, the first people Jacob and I want in it is you," Riley told her. 

"You're gonna save me, aren't you?" Maya asked. 

"We are," We both said together. 

Riley and I grabbed Maya both of her hands and we quickly start running to her house to talk to Mr. Matthews.

✦✦✦✦

"Where is he?!" Riley blurted as we entered the Matthews's house. 

Mrs. Matthews and Auggie, Riley's little brother, instantly pointed to Cory who sat across from them at the table in the kitchen as we walked towards them.

"There is no way I'm gonna let you break up our friendship with Maya!" 

"Is that what you think I want, Riley?" Mr. Matthews asked. 

"No." She answered. What you said you really want is for me to make the world my own. And you want me to do my homework. Well, I'm doing it right now. Here's what I think is worth fighting for."

We put our arms around Maya as she stood standing between the two of us.

"This is our best friends."

"And she's going to get me into trouble and I'm going to get us out of it," Riley explained. "And I did."

"Because here we are." I smiled.

"Look at us, dad. We're right here. My civil war is over, dad." Riley announced. "I won."

There was a moment of stillness in the air after Riley's moving speech.

"So... what happens now?" She asked.

✦✦✦✦

Following the next day, I stood in the subway station with Riley, Maya, Farkle, Lucas, and even the Matthews family as Cory was making a declaration. 

"Family, friends, and all you other subterranean mole people." Mr. Matthews began.

"Huh? I-Is he referring to the people on the subway?"

"We're here today to celebrate Riley being Riley. Now some may call this a New York City subway pass. But you, Riley, can consider this a "ticket to the world." 

Cory declared this while holding up a subway pass.

"You think I'm ready?" She questioned.

"You showed us you are." Mrs. Matthews responded.

" Riley, I've already met the world. It's your turn." 

Mr. Matthews hands Riley her very own subway pass, signifying that she was growing up.

As I smiled, watching the beautiful scene, Lucas spoke suddenly.

"Hey, this isn't so different from Texas." He said, walking forward as Farkle and I followed behind curiously. "Look, there's a pony."

"That's not a pony...." I stated.

"That's a rat." Farkle corrected.

As Farkle said that, two girls walked by us and he turned around to greet them.

"Ladies!" 

"Farkle!" They smiled back at him.

"Oh, what a stud he is!"

I thought this to myself as the three of us rejoined the girls as we all got on the train.

"I can't wait to see where this group will take me. The world's a big place but I can already tell it's gonna be alright as long as I stick with them."