"Someone has wronged you. Forgive them."
Riley instantly thought of Auggie and her teddy bear. She realized it probably sounded silly to still be so upset about a stuffed animal after all these years but she couldn't help it.
Her parents didn't understand. Her friends didn't either. To Riley it wasn't just any stuffed animal. She couldn't actually remember the day she had gotten him but according to her family he was one of her very first Christmas presents. And Auggie had defaced it. Sure her parents could buy her a new teddy bear but it wouldn't be the teddy bear from her first Christmas anymore. It would just be the teddy bear bought to replace the gift she had carried around her entire childhood.
She might have been able to let it go if Auggie had any remorse for what he had done, but he didn't. He had dutifully apologized when their mom and dad made him, but he wasn't actually sorry. This time would be different. She would forgive him and finally get the apology she deserved. Then she could let it go.
Lucas sat there twiddling his pencil. He thought about Mr. Mathews words. The sad truth was that he wronged a lot more people than had ever wronged him. He shuddered to think how many of these letters would be addressed to him if he had been assigned this project in Texas. That wasn't the person he wanted to be.
Thankfully New York had been different. Here he had become a better version of himself; Lucas the good, the moral compass. He'd be lying if he said that sometimes he thought maybe he'd gone too far in his new self, like a driver over correcting themselves at a crossroads, but at least he wasn't dragging his family's name through the mud hole anymore. They were actually proud of the person he was becoming.
Who could he forgive? And for what? Then he thought of the conversation they had just had in class and the movie Farkle had completely ruined over the weekend. That seemed like as good a grievance as any.
Farkle looked around. He and Maya were the only two people not writing. He knew why Maya was so against this project. She had been abandoned. Maybe his life wasn't perfect but complaining about his issues was like comparing his paper cut to her slice down to the bone.
How could anyone not want Maya? She was beautiful, talented, and despite what she wanted to let people believe, very tender hearted. Whoever her dad was, he was either blind or stupid not to realize how amazing his daughter actually was and while he hoped for Maya's sake she could forgive him, he knew he never would.
He supposed he could forgive Billy for making him feel so worthless. There was just one problem with that plan. He had already forgiven Billy. Farkle looked over at Maya again who was now glancing at the piece of paper and her pencil.
She seemed torn at first but then suddenly a look of resignation came over her and she slowly put pencil to paper. If she was willing to open up the most vulnerable part of herself for the sake of this project, then he could to.
Farkle quickly scribbled something down just in time for the bell to ring. He folded the paper up and jabbed it into a pocket of his bag, wondering if he'd actually have the courage to share it with its subject.
As he exited the room he found himself bombarded with notes. Was everyone forgiving him and what had he done? As he opened the first one, from Zay, he found the answer to his question. I forgive you for ruining the end of every movie. Lucas's basically said the same thing.
Farkle couldn't say that he was entirely surprised by this. He knew that he had a tendency to figure out the clues to the end and then blurt them out, but he couldn't help it if he had great powers of observation and a keen intellect.
He was a genius! That was his thing. They all had one. Zay had his comedic timing. Lucas had his athletic ability and unnatural good looks. Maya had her affectionate teasing and tough girl act and Riley had her uncanny ability to see the good in everything and everyone. That's just who they were.
He watched the girls coming out of the classroom. He watched Lucas watch Riley. He was always watching Riley, that wasn't anything new, but it seemed different now. He wasn't observing and adoring Riley. He was studying her, searching for something. Farkle wasn't sure exactly what but he had a feeling it all went back to Texas somehow. Everything did these days.
Farkle thought surely the girls would understand and back him up, but they didn't.
"Noooooo," Maya had said.
"Never again," Riley had chimed.
None of his friends were willing to watch another movie with him, he sadly realized.
His thoughts turned to the piece of paper in his bag. It was as if it was burning a hole in his pocket, begging to be read, but Farkle shook the thought away. Maya was confronting her father and he apparently had amends to make with his friends. His own forgiveness project would simply have to wait.
