BACK IN 1961, there stood May as she was stopping Rosie from reading what was inside her book, having her hand out to push her away.

"Kitty-Kat, you're making me feel bad by not helping," Rosie grumbled, side-eyeing her friend who was just watching her struggle.

"You know I don't mean to, honey. I'm just letting my friend read something," she grinned, enjoying her coffee.

May's lips curved into a smile. "Yup, she's just letting me read...The girl with the long-blonde hair, and the girl with apple hair." She glanced at Rosie, intrigued. "Who are those about, I wonder."

Rosie reclaimed her book eventually with a sigh. "It's my first time here, and I want to remember everything. Maybe I'll write about it later."

Katalina gestures to herself and May. "It's our first time here, too."

Rosie's brows pulsed up. "You both already know each other?"

"Nope, we just met. But...it feels like we've known each other for lifetimes," May mused. "I'm on my way to California. My bus broke down, bad luck. I don't understand why these things happen."

Katalina frowned but opted to lighten her spirits. "Because if your bus doesn't break down, then us three don't become friends."

Rosie added to that thought, "Yeah, and if I had chosen to sit at that table instead of this one, I wouldn't have met-"

The blonde sighs. "May Clutterbucket."

"Yow," Rosie and Kat say together.

"What's in California for you, May?" Rosie inquired, adding with assurance, "I'm going to say Clutterbucket now. But just so you know, when I say it I am not making fun of you."

"Well, there's a place where people are making art and playing music," May revealed.

"Sounds cool. Where is it?" Katalina asks, her curiosity boiling.

"It's a place called Topanga Canyon. I'm sure I'll love it."

Rosie's face brightens hearing such a name. "Topanga... What a beautiful name for something you want to love," she remarked, jotting it down in her notebook. "I'm gonna remember that."

Ginsberg talks into his mic from his station. "May. Take the stage, May. You're up."

She stands up and grabs her guitar. But before she could bring herself to the stage, May sought to know, "What's your name, other new friend?"

"Rosie McGee," she smiled.

"Wish me luck, Rosie McGee, and Katalina."

Rosie's forehead creased. "Wow, you're going to sing?"

"I'm going to try," May replied modestly.

Rosie starts to clap in encouragement. "Yay, go get 'em! And remember, you're beautiful, man," she affirmed.

Katalina chuckled as her eyes trailed to the brunette besides her. "You're one beautiful creature too, Rosie McGee."

Having those encouraging words in mind, May takes the stage, ready to share her talent with the people in the cafe.

She strummed a few notes into her guitar and sang, "Car drove off, airplane flew, I stayed here, missing you. I grow old, never see, that you were there, missing me, are we now? What were we then? Will we look back, and wonder when? What could have been, what isn't yet, will you remember, or forget?"

Watching her performance, Rosie and Katalina quickly grew astounded by her talent and soothingly soft voice. It was the kind of voice you could fall asleep to, and honestly, everyone in that crowd knew that she had potential, especially Rosie and Katalina.

As she ends her performance, the cafe start to applaud the blonde, with Rosie joining in, her enthusiasm soaring. "Wow! I'll remember because that was great. Let's hear it for May Clutterbucket!" she exclaimed with a smile.

Ginsberg's voice cut through the chatter then again. "Merlin. Merlin Scoggins. Take the stage, cowboy."

The mysterious man starts to make his way to the stage, which catches the eye of Katalina, judging by his nickname, and the mystery of his aura as he walks past their table.

"Who—the heck is that?" she asked out loud, her curiosity evident.

May nodded knowingly. "So that's him. I've heard about him."

As Merlin made his way to the stage, the room buzzed with anticipation. With his back to the crowd, he began to strum his guitar, creating an atmosphere of mystery. Then, as he turned around, his face was finally revealed.

"Hello. I'm Merlin Scoggins."

"Hello. I'm Lucas Friar," he announced, in the present day to his classmates. "My great-grandpa used to do that. He was a man named Merlin Scoggins. And this record was a big hit."

Cory easily becomes astonished at this. "That's amazing, Lucas. Why didn't you ever tell us any of that?" he questioned, standing on the sidelines of his classroom.

"Yeah, I'm gonna tell Kat and Maya that I have a country-singing great-grandpa and that I actually do come from cowboys. Yeah, because I need more nicknames to go with Yeehaw, Ranger Rick, and Huckleberry."

Kat wheezes softly. "No, no, you know what, Lucas? I think I've finally come to a point in our game in which I'm done with all of that. Because honestly, I am just so impressed with your rich, Texas heritage that I am officially throwing out all of those nicknames forever."

Lucas, oblivious to her clear sarcasm, accepted this at first. "Wow, thanks, Kat."

But in her true nature, Kat couldn't resist one last jab. "No problem, Bucky McBoing Boing."

Lucas shook his head in mock exasperation. "You're insufferable."

Kat smiled playfully and swatted at him. "Oh, you already knew that by now."

Meanwhile, Riley took her turn to share. "From what I can piece together, my great-grandmother Rosie McGee was a weird, little, wide-eyed goofball who only saw the best in everybody. Who's like that?"

Maya chuckles, shaking her head. "Nobody, pumpkin."

Lucas spoke up again, "I'd like to play you my great-grandfather's song." He puts the record on the record player and watched it play out his song.

"Hello, I'm Merlin Scoggins. I ain't got change in my pocket, but I see it on the streets, there's been change on the faces of the people that I meet. Hey mister, brother, sister, could you spare a man some change. Hey, mister, brother, sister, can you spare a man some change?"

As Merlin finished his song, with the crowd applauding his performance around him, he approached the girls' table.

"This seat taken?" he sought to know. 

Twisting her head to him, Katalina narrows her gaze but grins at him. "No, cowboy. But I guess you're more than welcome to sit."

Taking the offered seat next to Kat, Merlin nods appreciatively. "Thank you," he says, casting a glance towards May. "I liked your song, ma'am."

"I liked yours," May responds.

Turning his attention to Rosie, Merlin inquires, "And what do you do?"

"Ah, who knows?" Rosie shrugs, a sense of mystery surrounding her.

"She's an observer of humanity," May interjects. "Kind of like Kitty-Kat over there."

Merlin's gaze shifts to the apple-haired one. "And what do you do?"

Sitting up in her seat, Katalina responds, "I'm a lawyer and an activist, cowboy. I like to think I'm a valued member of the women's rights movement and I spend as much time as I can advocating for it."

She watches as he only nods, and it seems like he's hardly acknowledging her unlike he did with everyone else on the table.

"You got a problem with that?"

He hurriedly shook his head, not wanting her to think he did. "No, no not at all. I just—don't think I've met someone as greatly dedicated to something as you are."

"Are you saying that I'm different?"

"I'm saying you're—very extraordinary, ma'am."

And with that response, Katalina hummed herself into a small, but sweet grin. "Thanks."

Ginsberg interrupts, capturing the moment with his camera. "The activist, the observer, the singer, and the mystery man," he observed before snapping a picture. "That's gotta be worth something to somebody someday."

As Ginsberg leaves, Merlin stands up on his way to part from them. "Well, thank you all for your kind words and I'll be on my way."

But Katalina, however, isn't ready to let him go just yet. "Going so fast, cowboy?" she questions. "What? You scared to stay?"

Merlin offers a simple explanation. "I try not to stay any place too long."

Curious, her forehead puckers. "Why is that?"

"For personal reasons," he responds cryptically with a shrug.

May chimes in between their small talk, "Stay here with these two too long and they might change us for the better."

Rosie and Katalina pout. "Awwww."

Merlin smiles faintly. "Yeah, anyway...You keep writing down those observations," he says to Rosie, acknowledging her thoughtful nature. Then, turning to May, he adds, "And you, you keep playing."

May's gaze falls to the table, her confidence waning. "What, my new song, 'why bother trying, I'll never be as good as you guys'?"

Rosie's frown reflects her disapproval. "That's a very discouraging title."

May redirects her attention to Merlin. "You have something to say."

"Well, now, you only know that because I went ahead and said it," Merlin responds.

Katalina sighs, her voice carrying a note of empathy. "Here's right, May. Don't be afraid to let people hear your voice. Because perhaps one day, it'll be one to brighten up someone's day." Shifting to Merlin once more, Katalina acknowledges his impending departure. "Well, I wish you the best travels, cowboy. Maybe someday we'll meet again."

"Maybe someday, red.  And if we do, I hope then you can show me the extraordinary life you lead," Merlin replies with a light smile.

And though she tried to control it, Katalina couldn't help but smile at the sweetness of his words. "Maybe, cowboy."

With a final nod, Merlin turned to leave, his departure leaving Katalina's smile a little wider as she watched him go, a silent wish lingering in the air for their paths to intertwine once more.

May decided to pass her guitar to Rosie then. "Here."

It sparks confusion in the brunette's eyes. "Why are you giving me this? You were great."

"No, he's going to change the world. I'm not gonna change a thing," May reassured.

Katalina interjected, "You won't know until it happens."

May shrugged, uncertain about her chances. "Maybe it will, maybe it won't. Who knows? Who knows anything?"

She rose from her seat, prompting Rosie to inquire, "Where are you going?"

"Don't you worry, weirdo. I'll be right back," May assured.

Yet, in reality, she never returned.

Observing the scene, Katalina takes a glance at her watch. "I should go too," she informed Rosie. "I have a seven-month-old daughter who probably misses me at home right now."

Rosie's eyes twinkled. "What's her name?"

A fond smile graces Katalina's lips. "Gemma," she exhales, her heart already soaring at the thought of her daughter. "She's this six-pound ray of sunshine that lights up my world every day, and I don't think I realized how much I'd ever miss her until now."

Rosie's smile mirrored Katalina's warmth. "You must really love your daughter, hmh?"

"With my life..." Peering to Rosie, Katalina urged her, "Please, love your own the same."

At a simple thing, Rosie nods. "I will."

"Good...Goodbye, Rosie."

"My great-grandmother never saw her friends again. The world has never heard of May Clutterbucket or Katalina," Riley sullenly reveals in the present time.

Kat and Maya raised a brow at the names but didn't question anything.

Lucas continued, recounting his family history. "My great-grandfather had one huge hit. People thought he was gonna change the world, but... he didn't. After an appearance in a small cafe in New York City, he made some bad choices. He went to jail for a little while. He went left instead of right."

Cory probed further, "And why do you think that was, Mr. Friar?"

"Don't know. Maybe he needed some better friends."

Lucas sat down as Riley continued her presentation, "Rosie liked observing things. I'm going to read two little things from her journal. It's called the girl with the long, blonde hair, and the pretty girl with apple hair." She starts, "One said she would be gone for a moment, I am still waiting. The other left, with a baby in her life, and ambition beyond the years. We could have been friends, maybe in some other life. The girl with the long, blonde hair and the pretty girl with apple hair."

"It sounds like Rosie was a pretty good writer," Cory remarked.

"There's a little bit more," Riley assured, as she first went over to Maya. "If you quiet your voice, if you stop, because you think other people are better, then you are not who I know you are." She turns and goes by Kat. "And if you surround yourself with people who love you for you, then you'll grow beautifully into the girl you're meant to be; the girl with the long, blonde hair, and the girl with apple hair."

Kat pursed her lips as a grin found itself on her cheeks. "You wrote that, didn't you?"

"I continued it. I am a continuation," Riley responded. She turned to her father, seeking validation. "That's what history's about, right, Dad?"

Cory coughs out a sarcastic gasp. "Oh, now I get it."

In a touching gesture then, Riley retrieved a guitar and shared the familial significance it held. "Rosie had a daughter, and her daughter had my mom. Rosie gave me my mom and she gave my Dad his wife. This has been in our family for over 50 years. But I feel like it belongs with you," she expressed, passing it to Maya. "So I hope that whenever you see it, it will remind you that even though Rosie's friend gave up, you never should."

Maya suddenly smirks before peering at Kat beside her. "Duet in the style of Bucky McBoing Boing?" she sought to her.

"Heck—yes," the apple-haired girl matched her smirk, her face brightening at the idea.

Lucas couldn't help but groan, knowing what this meant. "Oh, no."

With Maya strumming the guitar, they launched into a playful rendition of a family folklore. "Hello. I'm Bucky McBoing Boing. I got a great-grandson, who's a Yeehaw, a Ranger Rick, and a Huckleberry..."

"Everybody sing it!" Kat urged her classmates lively.

Riley starts to dance around the front as everyone sings, "I got a great-grandson, who's a Yeehaw, a Ranger Rick, and a Huckleberry..."

⤵︎

     AT THE MOMENT, Kat found herself settled on her living room couch, surrounded by family memories encapsulated in a box of old photographs and journals retrieved by her dad from the basement of their former home.

Her fingers delicately looked through snapshots of generations past, each image a window into the lives of those who came before her.

As Maverick came home from work, Kat's head whipped to him. "Hey, dad," she greeted before looking back to the photos in her hand.

He shuts the door and puts his coat on the hanger. "Hey, kid," he greets back before sitting down with her. "Whatcha doing?"

"Just... looking through great-grandma Katalina's stuff," Kat explained, her curiosity still set on the history captured in the photos in her hands. "Which, now that I'm thinking about it, I don't really know much about."

Maverick's lips formed a grin as he looks through the photos along with Kat. "Well, your great-grandma was really cool when she was alive," he revealed.

"Seriously?" she asks, without tearing her gaze away from the photos.

"Yeah, she was totally cool," Maverick affirmed. "Back then, she always tried to go to all the women's rights rallies in New York. She even helped fund most of them."

A great sense of admiration illuminated Kat's features upon hearing that. "That's so cool," she replied, beyond impressed. Hectically, she twists to her father. "Tell me more, please."

Seeing his daughter's urgency to know more about her, Maverick shared, "Well, apparently she was actually close to making her own campaign for the movement, but stopped before she could go through with it."

"What? Why would she do that?" Kat dough to know, her curiosity deepened.

"Because she knew it'd be time-consuming," Maverick explained briefly at first. "Your great-grandma already had your grandma by that time, and ironically, your grandma told me that it took her less than a day to realize that no matter what, she always wanted to make time for her daughter."

Kat furrowed her brows. "What exactly happened?"

Maverick shrugged at the question. "Don't know. Even your grandma doesn't know, but that's all great-grandma Katalina said."

Then a realization struck Kat at that moment. "Wait...was I named after her?" she inquired.

"Yeah, you were actually. I wanted to name you Mirabel, but your mother skimmed through this stuff and found her name and decided to name you after her." He adds with a small grin. "I remember the day we finally agreed to your name. She—told me she hoped that naming you after her would make you—grow up to be like her, one day"

Thinking more about it, Kat pondered, "Well, do you think in that sense I'm—like her now?" Her lips pursed into thought. "Do you think I'm making a difference in this world like she did?"

Maverick's grin widens slightly as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Kat, it doesn't matter to me if you're like her or not. You're you. And to me, that's all that matters at the end of the day."

Kat smiled gratefully at her father's words. "Thanks, Dad."

Returning her smile, Maverick rose from the couch then. "Well, I'll leave you to it," he said before he went to his room for the night.

As Kat continued to dive into her great-grandmother's life, she couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity and connection with the woman she shared a similar name with.

Lost in thought, she contemplated the echoes of her own identity intertwined with the legacy of her family's past.

Perhaps she was alike her great-grandma, perhaps she wasn't. Only she would know at the end.

⤵︎

     AS KAT MADE her way to class the next day, her mind was still consumed by the photos she had uncovered from her grandmother's past. She had stayed up late into the night, captivated by the glimpses into a life lived long before her own.

But Kat was brought back to reality however when suddenly Farkle nearly barrels into her from behind, causing her to drop the photos she was holding in her hands.

A harsh groan escapes her lips. "Oh my god!" she scoffs at him before rushing to the ground to grab the photos.

But already, Farkle catches sight of something that makes his brain click.

As she rose from grabbing the photos, Kat spat out to him, "Farkle! What the hel-"

"Darling! Wait! Okay! Wait!" Farkle interrupted, his hand raised in a gesture of urgency. "What I'm about to show you is going to blow your mind in the best way possible."

"And I will blow your mind in the worst way possible if you don't hurry up."

He nods before rummaging through his pockets, grabbing a folded-up photo. With a flourish, he presented it to Kat, allowing her to take it into her hands.

Her eyes widened abruptly as she gazed at the unfamiliar image before her; a snapshot of her grandmother that she had never laid eyes on before.

"Woah," Kat's lips murmured. Her gaze darts to his. "W-where did you get this photo from, Farkle?"

"I'll explain it later, just come to class with me," Farkle urged.

Nodding, Kat hastily followed Farkle into the back door of the classroom.

With lightning speed, Farkle and Kat swoop to the front of the class, with the genius flipping Cory's nameplate to his own.

"Yeah, okay," Cory conceded with a shrug, before sitting on Farkle's seat.

Farkle begins his rant then with Kat beside him, "We are all part of a puzzle called history. We are each a tiny piece of that puzzle that comes together and makes a picture. Well, you're not gonna believe what me and Kat just found...My great-grandfather Ginsburg worked at a Greenwich Village cafe."

Farkle bolts to Riley's desk. "Riley, Lucas, what year did your great-grandparents visit New York?"

"1961," they reply in unison, their eyes widening in surprise. "Whoa."

"I knew it," Farkle exclaims triumphantly. "What month?"

"December."

"Say it again."

"Whoa."

"And what was the name of the club?

"Cafe..."

"Hey."

Kat's eyes widen in realization. "That's one of the places I remember my great-grandmother wrote that she visited when she was young. She wrote them down in one of her old journals."

Farkle adds in thought, "And that's where my great-grandfather worked." He bolts to Maya. "Maya, what did you learn about your great-grandmother?"

"Nothing, my mom said to leave it alone. I don't know anything," she insisted.

But Farkle had a hunch. "I know you, Maya. You're not a puzzle to me at all. You went behind her back and snooped around, didn't you?"

"No."

"What did you find?"

"No."

"Tell me her name...Say it or I will."

And with some hesitation, she whispered, "May Clutterbucket."

Farkle's reaction is immediate. "What?"

"I come from a long line of Clutterbuckets."

Of course, after hearing this, Lucas expresses his elation out loud. "Oh, this is the greatest day of my life!"

Farkle's revelation ties everyone's histories together in a way they never imagined. "All of our relatives met each other on the same night," he explains, casting a meaningful glance at Kat. "Even yours, Katalina Landry."

A slight grin appears on Kat's cheeks as she nods. "Yeah...yeah, she did."

Riley looks at her girls once more. "Both of your great-grandmothers were my great-grandmother's friends."

"No. They never became friends. Mines walked out. She left," Maya replied, truthfully.

"And you didn't tell me?"

"Tell you what? That I come from people who give up? That I am a Clutterbucket?"

Cory chimed in, "Change history."

Maya's brows furrowed. "Excuse me?"

Their teacher stands up, "Your relatives didn't realize they would have been better off being friends," he remarks, his words carrying a weight of reflection. "That was a missed opportunity. Don't let your history be one of missed opportunities. Learn from the past."

Maya grabs a book from her inside her table, revealing she grabbed the book from days ago. "I don't want to be a Clutterbucket."

Kat offers words of encouragement, assuring Maya, "You're not. You're all Hart."

"On December 14th, 1961, five pieces of a puzzle came together," Farkle says, as he brought out the small T.V. they had.

Cory chuckles. "How great is history class now, everybody?"

Everybody goes, "Shh!" to him.

"Great-grandfather Ginsburg was hard to research because he was never in any of the pictures because he took them." He puts a flash drive into the T.V. "Ladies and gentlemen, I have achieved time travel. Thank you. I am Farkle!" He bows before going back to his seat.

The video plays as it shows the photo of their grandparents, and a reflected picture of them now, somehow all in the same places as their grandparents were. It made them all share a smile to each other.

As the video ended, Kat couldn't help but keep her smile as she started her presentation. "I never got much time with my great-grandmother. She died when I was just three years old. But from what I've been told, she was a lawyer, activist, and dedicated mother."

Kat presents the first photo, a cherished glimpse into her family's past. It was a picture of her great-grandmother carrying baby Gemma in her arms, love and care gleaming in her eyes.

"That's her with my grandma, Gemma," Kat shares with admiration. "And trust me, I know, she looks so young, but it was because she had my grandma when she was only 20."

Moving to the next photo, it's of her carrying a sign that says, "WOMENS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS!" looking like she was passionately yelling to the crowd before her.

"This was from one of the first women's rights rallies she attended." She smiles in awe, even if she's looked at the photo all morning. "Doesn't she look so beautiful fighting for what is right?"

Maya smiles fondly, at both her and the girl holding the photo. "She does."

"Reminds me of someone we know," Riley remarks, having a smile of her own as well.

Kat's face lightens up as she prepares to reveal the final photo. "And I saved the best one for last."

She shows them the last one, and it's of her and another baby in her arms, seeming like it was taken in the hospital. "See that other baby in her arms...That's me," Kat announces proudly, pointing to her. "I am her legacy. That is who I am today. And whether or not I become someone like her, or someone the opposite, it's up to me. Who knows? I'm not Katalina Landry."

"You're not. You're Katherine Decker," Cory assured.

"And we love you," Riley spoke truthfully.

"Always," Maya smiled.

lani's talking!

lowkey guys, I miss old kat and lucas and their dynamic.

if y'all were reading this book back when it was called "invisible string" you would know what I'm talking about.

but I still like that I did this change dw I just miss them :,)

anyways, thank you all for reading and continuing your support for this book. I will see you all later!

byeeee <3