(Author's Note: Hello gmw fam! I've been missing the show for a while now and even though I personally came to terms that it was over the minute after the (now series) season finale there was a part of me that hoped it would continue. Sadly it was not meant to be but the story had so many threads to finish and my brain came up with ways to continue so I couldn't move on with my life until I actually sat myself down and did a brain dump on how I would've wanted to see the show continue…and it just so happens that I wrote 10 chapters in one day. I hope you enjoy this story, I'm no MJ + co but his story really inspired me in a ton of ways and hopefully it can help others have closure too.
Oh and before I forget, back when I was in high school we had block scheduling where on one day you have 1-4 period and then the next you have 5-8. I imagined that by some school board vote they changed the scheduling system at Abigail Adams High and started block scheduling so….that's how the conversation went in my head.
Pairings: too many *evil laughter*
Oh yeah and just to make it clear, I own none of these characters and I don't want to make any profit off of writing this so here goes it.
The unbearable heat of a summer in New York City made everyone's clothing stick to their bodies by stepping out of a building. Lucas was not only wet and sticky but panting and ready to have a heat stroke.
Being the gentleman that he always is he had offered to help an obviously lost old couple find their way to Time's Square. After writing down his instructions on how to find it from his side of town they asked him why he had a faint southern accent when he was such a good New York City guide. That prompted him into a lengthy discussion about how he could probably give a decent tour of Austin, Texas as well. It wasn't until Riley started sending him text after text asking him why he was late that he realized that, well, he was late.
Riley: R u coming?
Riley: R u on ur way?
Riley: Lucas! where r u? weve been waiting for 20 mins!
Riley: Hey did you get my text?
Riley: Are you out of the subway yet? sometimes I get spotty service there too….
Riley: We r gonna start if u don't get here in 10 :(
Riley: Just kidding….but seriously where r u?
Zay: Dude I know u got riley messages but she insisted i send one 2 so..
Riley: Did you get Zay's text?
Lucas sent affirmation to both of them in case there was any doubt and made ran towards daylight. Since he had been only two blocks away the poor boy had thought it would just be faster if he ran to Topanga's but even the Austin heat hadn't prepared him for the hottest summer in New York City's last five years. Luckily when he reached their usual hang out his friends had a smoothie already prepared for him.
"I told you he was gonna run here," Zay was the first to acknowledge his entrance and handed him the beverage.
"Okay," Riley clapped to get the rest of their friend's attention, "now that everyone is finally here, shall we begin?" Everyone whipped out their phones from their pockets and began to type.
It was their yearly class comparison discussion, which only began a year ago when they had entered high school. Lucas remembers how last year they just talked about the classes they were going to be sharing together over a smoothie and some bulochki but as usual, his girlfriend wanted to go the extra mile and turn something simple into a tradition. It was kinda cute how she got all passionate about stuff like that.
"I swear if I get Matthews one more time I'm gonna pop", Maya threatened her phone. But Lucas knew better, everyone did. She said the same thing the year before and the one before that and yet had a relieved look on her face when she confirmed with her friends that they were all going to have Riley's dad as their history teacher one more time.
"The chances of you being in Mr. Matthews' grade 10 class this year are very low Maya. Unless you signed up for History and the school's secretaries let an error slip past the computers you are likely in Mrs. Talib's Geography class," Smackle answered.
Riley looked up from her own phone and frowned. It hadn't occurred to her that she had indeed been signed off to take Geography for 10th grade. In fact, her screen was telling her she was taking AP Human Geography.
"Oh please," Maya scoffed. She looked up from her phone at her friends and continued, "there's always something that stops me from getting a new history teacher and I have a feeling this year won't be any different"
"In order to graduate we must get a passing grade in 4 social studies courses but two of those must be from a social science class," Farkle interjected.
"I have to take a whole other science class?" Maya slouched onto the orange couch she was sitting on.
"Uh no it's more like a study of human behavior, the choices they made and where it took them," Farkle reached over and patted Maya's leg. She hissed at his touch and he backed off slowly. "On the bright side, it's easier than having to memorize facts and dates since human behavior is almost always paralleled in various parts of the world"
"But My Sweet you forget our friends are in Geography not AP Human Geography"
"Actually I'm in that AP this year," Lucas spoke aloud for the first time since arriving.
Smackle looked pleasantly surprised and raised her right hand all the way up. They all looked at her expectantly. She had a sort of realization reflected on her face and then went and stood in front of Lucas raising her hand up in what was now clearly a high five gesture. With a grin, he answered her call.
"Atta boy Pretty Face I knew there was a brilliant mind behind the looks," she sat back down next to Farkle and brought her hands back together. "Anyone else in that class?"
"I am," Riley said not looking up from the device in her hand. "Looks like the four of us will be learning about how people behave, together". She reached out to her right and took Maya's hand. Maya was still slouching but kept glancing at her phone waiting for the Wi-fi to speed up and show her her class schedule.
"I guess I'll finally become an observer of humanity," Riley glanced over at Farkle who shared a knowing smile with her. Maya jolted up with a mix of joy and confusion.
"Wait, tell me you guys have Mrs. Talib for second?" Zay asked with caution glancing up from his phone.
"You too?" Maya replied. She looked at Riley with hope in her eyes.
Everyone smiled at the realization that they found the class they were all going to be in together. Sadly it was the only one for that semester and quite possibly the rest of the year. They were going into their sophomore year of high school, it was practically a given that they would finally have completely different schedules that year. They were already pretty lucky the geography teacher was let go which allowed Maya and Zay to join the AP class as regular students, maybe not so lucky for the teacher but lucky enough for them.
Even though Lucas had only one class with Riley to his surprise he wasn't upset about it.
"Gross I have 'B' lunch both days," Maya mumbled and took a sip out of her smoothie. "I hate it when I have to wait for lunch."
"Uh oh," Riley gulped. They all turned to look at her.
"Riley has 'A' lunch on her 'A' days," Smackle stated. No one questioned how she knew that piece of information.
"Who cares? I'll go eat lunch with you instead of going to third period", Maya smirked.
"Are you sure about that?" Riley replied and gestured for Maya to look back down at her schedule.
"Yeah, who needs Art 2…? Sorry honey you're on your own"
"It's okay! Maybe I can find a new friend to sit with." She plastered a smile on her face that made it clear it wasn't what she wanted.
No one looked too sure of that plan. In fact, they all started to think about whether one of them should change their schedules so Riley wouldn't be left alone.
"Maybe that's not such a bad idea," Lucas said, "I remember when I first got here how glad I was to sit with you at lunch," he gave her a sweet smile. She still didn't look too pleased.
"Yeah yeah or I can convince Mr. Jackson to let her be in art with me," as soon as the suggestion came out of Maya's mouth Zay and Farkle started laughing. She sneered at them but they ignored her look.
"I uh got banned from the art studio for a year when I turned in the final," Riley explained "I turned in a big paper mache sculpture and Mr. Jackson refused to accept it"
"Then how did you still get an A in the class?" Maya asked. She looked at Farkle then Zay "and how did you guys know about this?"
"She made a big purple lump but there were two parts of it," Zay answered.
"Zay carried it and I helped Riley assemble it," Farkle added.
Maya turned back to Riley and raised an eyebrow.
"And then I told Mr. Jackson if he didn't accept my final then I'd have to take art next year to make up for the failed credit so…He gave me an A and made me promise to not come back unless I've learned to draw a cat without a purple crayon," Riley finished. She smiled at the memory. After spending a good two minutes thinking about what she wanted to make the only thought in her mind was a paper mask of a purple cat. Unfortunately, she didn't model the mask around her face and made it too big so Riley turned it into a sculpture. Topanga made her scrub the floor until all the paper finally came out but it was worth it.
"Really guys it's okay I want to make some new friends, in fact, I think we should all do it"
After hanging out for another hour with the entire gang Maya had to go home and spend some time with Gammy Hart. Next, Farkle and Smackle left to go and catch a movie. Finally when it was just Riley, Lucas and Zay the latter decided to head home and leave them alone so they could catch up.
Between a part-time job and a month away in Texas Lucas hadn't spent too much of the summer being with Riley. Her schedule hadn't allowed for much time either since she also had a long vacation in London (her mother's law firm tried to persuade her to lead the new branch in London anyways by giving the family an all-expense paid three weeks trip…which failed to convince them of course) and she spent most of the time with Maya exploring parts of her neighborhood she had never been to before. As a group, they spent plenty of weekends together but the two of them only had about a handful of dates the entire vacation.
They both decided to take the long way back to Riley's home so they could talk some more. Lucas took a hold of Riley's hand and handed her a cup of ice that would melt along the way so she could stay hydrated. She talked about a thrift store she found she could walk to within twelve minutes of her house and how Maya blew all her money on band tees from really bad 70s bands. He told her about how his Pappy Joe got a new Friesian horse from an old friend that was selling his ranch and how the horse was his if he wanted it. Riley was already imagining riding off into the sunset with Lucas on a white horse but when he showed her the picture of the animal she changed the image in her mind. A striking Lucas in cowboy gear taking her in a long yellow summer dress for a ride along the countryside.
When they finally got to the base of the apartments they sat on the steps and continued talking. He would lean over and crack a joke to make her laugh and she would reach out and touch his hands. They were comfortable in their own little bubble.
Finally, Lucas' mom texted him to go walk with his brother home and had to leave.
"Can I see you tomorrow?" Lucas asked.
"No sorry I'm going up to Uncle Shawn's cabin with Maya, mom and Aunt Katy for the last weekend before school starts," Riley lamented, "how about Monday after school?"
"I can't football tryouts and I'm helping recruit the freshmen," Lucas took her hand one last time and sighed. "I hope once things settle down we can spend some more time together."
"Yeah, me too," Riley leaned in and gave him a quick hug before going up the steps. Before going inside she turned back to Lucas. "You're walking us to school right?"
"By 'us' you mean you and Maya?" he grinned, "Of course, can't bring the thunder without the lightning"
She watched him walk off and then ran up to her apartment to be greeted by Auggie, Ava and her mom.
"Hey honey how'd the schedule comparing go?" Topanga asked.
"Horrible!" Riley stormed to the couch and nudged herself between her mom and Auggie. "I have only one class with all my friends and on A days I'll only be with someone I know in two classes and the worst part is that I have to eat my lunch all alone on that retched A day at A lunch," she spat.
"Thank goodness I'm an only child," Ava commented next to Auggie.
"Why can't I have B days every day? B days are wonderful days," Riley sighed happily. She put her head down on Auggie's shoulder.
"Yup that's mah cue to go," Ava declared, "Bye Topanga, bye Auggie," she skipped out the door and Riley sighed even louder.
"And then I don't have more than one class with Lucas this semester"
"What day do you have that class with Lucas?" Auggie inquired.
"A day," Riley hissed.
Auggie shrugged her off his shoulder and squinted at her when she made eye contact. She then leaned into her mom and sighed again. He rolled his eyes and got up from the couch.
"Good luck with this one mom," he said as he walked away towards his room.
Topanga gently took Riley's sweaty head off her shoulder and made her lean back on the couch and look up at the ceiling.
"Okay, what's up?" Topanga asked.
"I don't have dad for history anymore," Riley confessed. She looked at Topanga and frowned. "I didn't think I'd be upset but I think I'm gonna miss seeing him in class all the time"
Topanga chuckled and stroked the hair on the crown of her daughter's hair.
"But you always knew this day would have to come"
"Yeah but I figured I'd stay in the nice cool shadow behind my dad for a while longer and let him take the heat," Riley said without a trace sarcasm in her voice, "it's crazy hot all the time ya know? And who's going to help me figure things out now?"
"I think you know the answer to that question"