Chapter four Remember the hearth

When anyone thinks about Mondays it's always with a hint of dread. After a weekend full of fun and rest going back to the regular routine sounds like a terrible deal. Waking up on a Monday morning feels different somehow every time. Sometimes the air is colder in a way that makes a person want to snuggle deeper into their bed covers. Then there are days where the sun looks too bright and uninviting and hiding under the pillow sounds like a better option. Those who relate to these feelings are often content with that type of comfort.

Isadora Smackle has never been one of those people. To her Monday mornings are just any other morning to get up, have breakfast and go do something worth her time. That to her is a comfort. Being productive. As per usual she had an interesting project to work on that Monday morning.

Before Ms Bills approached her before class last Thursday to invite her to audition for a part in the school play Smackle had never thought about adding this extra curricular to her college resume. The science club presidency and ranking in at #1 from their class was more than enough to guarantee her a spot in any boring old college but the goal was Princeton. There was no way she was going to copy her eldest sister's choice of John Hopkin's, a respectable choice but not quite up her speed. Plus she would rather drop out of college than to run into her other sister at Stanford. Harvard is much too crowded for her liking and overrated anyway. If all else fails maybe MIT will take her research papers seriously by then.

On this particular morning Smackle had recruited the help of her two closest female companions to help her be less Smackle and more zany like Corie. Why anyone would like a ratty old apartment when their husband was a lawyer was beyond her. That is why she needed someone to coach her through her acting.

Seated on the senior bench for seniors (a ridiculous rule that no one obeys nor enforces.)

At her school she awaited for the arrival of her friends. Her iPad was bright and glowing with the monologue she had prepared for her audition and she was still trying to make sense of it. For the most part Smackle felt confident she had memorized the entire thing but she still wasn't sure if she chose the right one.

"Hey Smackle," Riley said.

"Good morning my friends," Smackle said beaming up at them.

"I was one second away from cursing Monday mornings but you sound really excited for this thing," Maya grumbled. Her eyes were heavy with tiredness. Smackle noticed the smudged mascara on her nose and one eye had a thicker line than the other. Maya yawned a big loud obnoxious one then clapped her hands. "Alright are we doing this thing or what?"

"That is the plan for this morning. I would appreciate your help with this audition," Smackle handed them her iPad opened with the monologue in view. She explained her research about what to do for an audition. There were multiple sources that discouraged using a monologue from the same play but not to deviate too much from the character the aspiring actor wished to portray.

Riley listened intently nodding at the information but Maya was nodding from exhaustion. However they both perked up when Smackle began reading. She began reciting the words in a dreamy tone, unlike what they were used to hearing from their friend. Her whole face lit up with wonder and admiration for life and the world around them. Then as Smackle whispered the last lines Maya's eyes were wide awake and Riley was standing up to applaud.

"Bravo, bravo!" Riley exclaimed without a hint of irony. She flashed Smackle a huge smile and Smackle felt a sudden rush of heat all over.

"Smackle, are you blushing?" Maya teased.

"It would seem that such praise has released adrenaline and it has made it's way to my capillaries," Smackle explained pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Maya wiggled her eyebrows and Riley giggled.

"It's okay, we're just teasing," Riley said. She gave Maya a pointed look.

They both looked at Smackle shifting uncomfortably in her spot and Riley gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. The fidgety girl looked up with a slight scowl on her face hidden behind her glasses. She found it hard to maintain eye contact when she still felt so warm and redirected her gaze to her fingers playing on an imaginary piano on the palm of her hand.

"But seriously that was really good," Maya added.

Smackle took a peek at Maya then at Riley who smiled back.

"So why do you need us?" Riley asked, "it seems to me like you're ready."

"I want to be honest with the two of you," Smackle articulated seriously, "I was very uncertain as to whether I would participate in this activity because of concerns that I might not be able to imitate particular emotions that I've observed from other individuals"

"Why?"

"Because I'm not like other girls," she responded wistfully, "I really want to emulate the behavior of one with normal behaviors and habits in hopes of opening up more opportunities for myself."

"Like what?" Maya asked, obvious displeasure present in her voice.

"Did someone tell you you can't do something because you're not like them?"

Smackle began playing with her fingers again. She cleared her throat then plastered a smile on her face.

"No but I do want to try my hand at acting and in order to be successful I have to not be so much like myself but someone else," she turned off her iPad and put it away.

The girls' concerned looks were waived off by Smackle when they saw how she looked genuinely happy.

"Thank you for your input. I must get going and leave you to your devices," Smackle was about to stand when Maya yanked her back down.

"Uh no you don't," Maya said.

"Listen guys if you feel the need to discuss my ticks and how it's 'normal' for who I am," Smackle said with an emphasis on the word 'normal', "there's no need. I've learned to love myself and enjoy the quirks that I have developed over the years."

"Well I'm glad you feel good about yourself, right Riles?"

"Yes that's great," Riley piped in.

"So let's move onto another topic then."

Smackle frowned. She looked back and forth to both girls and waited for them to continue because she had no idea what they wanted. There was a silence that fell over them despite the sounds of slamming lockers coming from students arriving then she found that her fingers were touching that imaginary piano again.

"So…are you guys going to homecoming?" Riley quipped.

"Oh no," Maya groaned.

"What?"

Maya rolled her eyes. She stood up and sat next to Riley putting her in the middle of their trio.

"How long have you been waiting for him to ask you?" Maya asked, one eyebrow raised.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Riley crossed her arms.

"Did the pretty boy forget to ask you to homecoming?" Smackle asked finally aware of where the conversation was going.

Riley's silence was very telling. She was biting her lip and squinting at the water fountain in front of them. It was interesting how upsetting the lack of a dance invite could be for Riley. Smackle listened intently as Maya tried to convince Riley that her boyfriend not asking her to a dance was nothing to stress about.

"All I'm saying is that we've been together for almost a year and he said he was going to start asking me to the big dances," Riley complained flailing her hands around her.

"Yeah and the Dancing King only Seventeen basically said you'd be going to dances together no matter what came up," Maya looked to Smackle for help.

"I am unaware of such promises neither one or the other,"

"What about you Smackle? Did Farkle ask you to the dance?" Riley asked.

"As a matter of fact yes he did," Smackle responded satisfactorily. She exhaled when they both looked pleased with the news. But that pleasure was quickly replaced by exasperation from Riley.

"See? Lucas should have asked me by now," she scoffed at Maya's billionth eye roll. She turned to Smackle and asked "how did he ask you?"

"What do you mean?" Smackle questioned.

"Did he do something special like putting a series of sticky notes like a scavenger hunt in your text books or plant a bunch of balloons in your locker or putting something at the bottom of a beaker that shows up after doing some experiment," Riley speculated,

"And the purpose of that would be…?"

"To show how special you are to him,"

That left Smackle completely baffled. She looked around them then caught sight of a couple walking down the hallway holding hands. They stole glances of each other and would grin shyly whenever one or the other was caught. When they strolled past a poster promoting the homecoming dance she was already deep in thought about the methodical way she was asked.

"Riles no one cares how they get asked to a stupid dance," Maya stood up in front of them with crossed arms looking impatient. "All that happens is that you clear your schedule for dress shopping and save the date to make sure your parents don't plan some other thing"

"I have to agree with Maya," Smackle said. They both looked at her with opposite reactions. Riley had a frown whereas Maya looked pleased with that statement. Smackle continued with her input "one afternoon prepping for the pre-ACTs Farkle brought to my attention the upcoming dance and inquired for my availability. I was pleased to note that nothing would impede my accompanying him to the dance therefore I gave him affirmation of my desire to attend,"

"But don't you want that element of surprise where you walk into a room and a big smile takes over your face because he's right there with a poster asking you to do something together?" Riley asked. Smackle shrugged much to Riley's chagrin.

"You really don't care?"

"It's not that I don't care but why should I? Farkle and I are very content with where we are at in our relationship. We have a mutual understanding of the other's wants and needs and do our best to accommodate them in any way we can," Smackle's posture straightened,

"Upon further observation I do believe I now understand Riley's distress. Due to a lack of effort from Lucas concerning the accommodation of your needs," she said with emphasis towards Riley, "you are left unsatisfied because he has not met your standards when it comes to spontaneous dance proposals. Is that correct?"

Riley slumped further in her seat. She exhaled loudly then muttered "basically, yeah."

"One more observation," Smackle stated, "perhaps I have not demanded such a big gesture from my partner because I have never experimented with the feelings of such spontaneity, I must test my new hypothesis,"

"Smackle just because Farkle hasn't drawn on a poster asking you to a dance doesn't mean he doesn't like you any less," Maya pointed out.

"I know but I do want to measure the new variables I have formulated for this experiment," Smackle took out her iPad to type out some notes. She picked up her things then straightening her dress got up to head towards class. "I appreciate the help with my new endeavors, I feel confident knowing that I will do a good job tomorrow for my audition"

"That's tomorrow? So I could've slept in today?" Maya said. Riley nudged her. "Sorry, I was up way too late finishing my math homework, I'm glad we could help"

Smackle smiled, excused herself then went on her way to class. For the rest of the day she thought about what Riley was saying about surprises. It would make sense that a girl like her that believed so much in hope would be delighted by pleasant surprises. But for a girl like Smackle answers came from science. She couldn't help but wonder if raising expectations would lead to an elevated joy.

To test out the theory of correlation she began her research by observing other couples throughout the day. Although that method was very flawed there were too few options otherwise.

There was a giddiness each couple displayed around each other she hadn't noticed before. When two people would greet each other after being separated for whatever period of time the air around them would brighten.

Even when they didn't greet each other with a hug or immediately start holding hands their eyes seemed wider. Smackle concluded that their pupils were simply dilated to the point where she could distinguish it from afar.

Hopefully all the research would help her to portray a relationship considered normal to general public…and maybe test it out with Farkle.


Mrs Talib loved connecting life lessons into her teaching. Despite what her students think there is always something to be learned from the movements that other people have made before. A choice made thousands of years ago can be useful to the everyday modern millennial teenager. Her mission every year is to help shape her students for what comes next.

The goal for her co-ed class this year was to get everyone involved, even those who had the choice of an easy ride taken away from them. She firmly believed everyone was capable of participating in her class discussions.

"Di-ffu-sion," Mrs Talib read out loud while spelling it out on her whiteboard. "I want to talk about this key aspect of globalization," she took out her notebook detailing her lesson plans and interesting questions for discussion. "Did anyone read page 21 about diffusion and its correlation with globalization?"

Smackle and Farkle both had their hands up but she waited hoping someone else would offer an answer. Soon her grin widened when someone else raised a hand.

"Miss Matthews"

"Globalization has to do with basically the entire world and the chapter talked about diffusion having to do with culture, like, the ideas behind every group of people being spread through globalization so that sometimes some cultures share similarities," Riley's voice wavered a bit towards the end but the entire explanation was loud enough for Mrs Talib to hear from all the way in the back row.

"Well done Miss Matthews," she beamed at the girl. She turned her back to face the whiteboard then drew an arrow pointing to the word CULTURE. Below the first word written she made three bullet points. "What do you call that point of origin for an idea or innovation?"

"Miss Smackle"

"A hearth"

"Good, and how exactly does it spread?" she glanced at Farkle Minkus but opted to have another student answer the question. In the three bullet points she wrote down CONTAGIOUS, HIERARCHICAL, and STIMULUS.

"Does anyone want to take a crack at giving an example of each type of diffusion?" she had hoped Farkle would answer this one but he was busy writing something down in his notes. Luckily someone else raised their hand.

"Well Mr Babineaux I'd love to hear your ideas."

"I think contagious diffusion is like how everyone finds out about a meme in such a short amount of time. By the end of the day I always end up finding out one way or another that a new picture is taken out of context and turned into an internet joke," a few kids snorted at that. "The hierarchical one is like how hip hop and rap started from low-income African Americans in urban areas and became popular with everyone else to the point where Taylor Swift can someday do hip hop and be considered cool," a chorus of ooohs over took the class but Mrs Talib didn't mind. In fact she chuckled. "And last but not least the stimulus one is like how Starbucks exists in all parts of the world but the menus are different"

"I'm impressed," Mrs Talib gushed. "You've thought about this long and hard haven't you?" Zay shrugged but fist pumped his friend behind him in victory. "Those were excellent examples, we'll come back to them in a bit but now lets delve into relocation diffusion," she turned around once again and wrote a fourth bullet point a little different from the rest making the point look more like a little triangle.

"Relocation diffusion is the spread of an idea through the physical movements of people," the marker squeaked against the white board as little stick figures started to form around the last word. Five little people with a variety of clothing styles were lined up and smiling at the class. The only common factor among them was the black color used to draw them.

"Take for example these stylish teens," she smirked at the class. "They have their group of friends, the ones that share common traits with them, the ones that they've grown alongside with,"

Once she had the attention of the majority of her students Mrs Talib opened a side drawer in her desk and took out two different colored markers. A quick glance at the class let her know that there were only two students still not quite up to speed.

"Miss Hart I've been told you're quite the artist,"

Maya yanked her head up off her palm. She squinted at the giggling bodies surrounding her.

"Care to indulge us for a minute?" Mrs Talib said holding out the two markers. She watched as Farkle whispered something to a clueless Maya that got her to stand up straight and eventually take the markers from her hand. It turns out the second person she had assumed wasn't paying attention was the most attentive of them all.

"Would you mind drawing us a new person? Different from the original group of friends."

There was no hesitation in Maya when she popped the cap off of the marker. Within ten seconds her stick figurine had a more defined style than the original five with a few added details like shoes and nerdy glasses framing the girl's braided hair. The red color stood out among the black markings.

"Very nice, now if you don't mind, draw one on the other side of the friends in the other color,"

A new person was starting to form in the color green. Maya had him in the stance of the sassy girl emoji which got a few snickers. She gave him a fedora and he winked back at the class.

"Thanks Miss Hart you may now take a seat," their instructor held out a hand for the retrieval of the markers. She patted Maya's back then once again took her position in front of the whiteboard.

Maya bowed to the class which garnered an applause then she princess waived on her way back to her desk.

Mrs. Talib picked up a blue marker then drew a line between two black stick figures so that the red girl Maya drew would be paired up with one of her girls.

"Let's say one of the friends decides to expand to another group," she popped a marker open and drew little red shoes on the black stick figure. "Has this girl changed?" she nodded at a student in the front row.

"No? I mean unless you're talking about the new shoes but that doesn't really count"

"Or has she?" Mrs Talib countered.

"Um I guess she learned to wear shoes?" the kid responded doubtfully.

"In a sense she did. She got an idea from her immersion into the other girl's culture," she looked to the class to see if anyone had anything else to contribute. To her dismay there weren't any more hands. The black marker was then uncapped and she drew over the red girl's glasses in black. "Has this girl now changed?"

"Mr Minkus," she called out even though he wasn't raising his hand.

"No but now they both have engaged in an exchange of ideas," he responded in a monotone. She had hoped to liven him up a bit but failed. He returned to his notebook where she could he wasn't writing notes for this class.

Mrs Talib turned around then erased the blue line separating them all and used the red marker to draw shoes on the rest of her stick figures. "Care to explain what has now occurred to the rest of the friends?" she asked Farkle.

"The friends migrated to the red girl's culture and assimilated with her. They wear the same shoes as her and she sees some things the way they do,"

"Thank you Mr Minkus I really appreciate it when you contribute to class discussions. There's always a hidden gem in there somewhere," Mrs Talib said with a sincerity directed to him. He blushed then reluctantly put his notebook away.

"Notice how the first to change was the one that decided to get close to the red girl. Why do you think it wasn't the other way around?" she pointed to another student in the middle section of the classroom.

"Because the red girl was already in her element. It's like, she didn't ask to make a new friend, so the black girl made it easier for the both of them by trying to find common ground with her,"

"Yes and how does that connect to how why an immigrant is the one that has to adapt instead of the other way around?"

"Well in a selfish way we're the ones who like, don't want to change so for them to be treated well they need to act like us so they'll be able to fit in"

"Good observation," Mrs Talib said. "What would happen if this green guy were to join the group of friends?" she was pleased to find Maya raising her hand. "Miss Hart"

"He'd change into a fabulous black suit and go barefoot so he could fit in with his new friends," there was a hint of joking in her voice but Mrs Talib was glad to hear Maya got the jist of the question.

"Yes he probably would," she made that change in detail carefully tracing over the green suit with her black marker. "In a perfect society what would need to happen for this type of migration to be beneficial to everyone?" A new hand was raised. "Yes Mr Friar,"

"All of the new friends would have to take something from one another so that they could all benefit from the different cultures," Lucas stared at the board for a few seconds before continuing "like maybe Mr Green would pick up some red shoes and all of them would grab a green fedora,"

Mrs Talib drew the new changes between all the seven stick figures and noticed Farkle was raising his hand patiently.

"Yes Mr Minkus"

"Then at this point wouldn't they all be engaging in stimulus diffusion? They've all taken ideas from each other to the point where it spread among all of them"

"Excellent observation Mr Minkus," Mrs Talib smiled, "let's talk about that. What started this spread of ideas?" Smackle's hand shot up and the teacher couldn't help but eagerly await the answer her student had prepared "Miss Smackle,"

"It all began with the relocation of the black stick figure. She joined the red stick figure and soon her friends reunited with her until they were joined by the green stick figure," Smackle answered, "the spread of ideas is a combination of both: relocation stimulus with the movement of the first black stick figure girl then she acted as the hearth where her friends took her idea of change and then shared it with the green stick figure."

Mrs Talib had a wide toothy smile taking over her face. The blue marker was uncapped and with it she wrote on the white board WHAT IS YOUR HEARTH?

"For homework I want you all to write two paragraphs about where your passions came from," she wrote a few assignment details below the question. "Whether it was from another person or group of people that rubbed off that passion onto you, something that was passed down from a family member or a close friend, or perhaps it was a stranger that gave you an idea that lead you to what you love," she took the time to look at them all despite some busily writing in their notebooks or planners.

"Some of you may not have a hearth and that's okay too, but you still have to explain why you don't have one. I'm certain most of you do. Oh and AP students, don't forget to answer the first two review questions with at least two credible sources. That one's due next time too."


When Maya's art class was over she was ready to bolt on out before Mr Jackson gave her another stupid assignment she had to complete. Unfortunately for her he had other plans.

"Maya Monet"

"Oh common," she complained one bag on her shoulder and another hanging from the side of her arm. Resigned she set her bag down on the closest chair then fished out her lunch of leftovers.

"But you even came prepared this time," Mr Jackson joked.

"Yeah no, my dad took me and my mom to some fancy restaurant he got paid to review," Maya said with her mouth already stuffed with a fancy turkey sandwich. The special dip or filling or whatever they made it with was dripping onto the vinyl floor which she didn't care about…at all. "I'm just making sure nothing goes to waste"

Mr Jackson chuckled. There was a box in one hand and a paper in the other. He started handing her that thick piece of paper before Maya decided she had enough.

"Wait," she swallowed the food in her mouth and set down the rest of the sandwich. "Okay look, I appreciate the faith you have in me, that I'll be able to crank out these cool art projects but your prompts are getting worse," she rolled her eyes at her teacher's fake offended face. "I didn't even finish the last one why do you want to give me more?"

"Maya I want to show you something," he said. Mr Jackson went to the shelves already filling up with work-in-progress art projects from other classes. He went to her shelf and pulled out the art works she had been working on since the first days of school. One by one he placed them against open and propped up easels. The pieces were lined in a different order from what she had received the assignments in which confused her.

There didn't seem to be a reason he would place them in the way that he did.

"What can you tell me about your works so far?" he asked folding his arms across his chest.

"They suck," she muttered in response.

"No no no Maya remember to use 'art' terms," he said emphasizing the word art.

"Okay well they look very underdeveloped, super cliche," he cleared his throat prompting her to huff, "sorry I mean kitschy, and worst of all," she said walking up to one of the first works she completely B. . "Unfinished"

"Can't argue with that," Mr Jackson said still in his original spot with his folded arms. "But tell me about the pieces that are finished, those ones are the best ones,"

"Even those ones are off but I didn't know how much longer I had to complete them," she said defensively. Maya glanced at her favorite piece so far. Her only regret was not getting to add another color to the background. She reached out waiving her hand over the canvas mentally painting the parts she felt were unfinished. "If I had like a day more with this I would totally finish by shading with some yellow or draw over it all with a marker to give it a cartoony finish"

Mr Jackson sat on the chair by the piece she was examining. He leaned back and let her critique her own art.

"And this one," Maya pointed to a chalk pastel drawing, "it's like I want to paint over it but I'm not sure if I should,"

"Why?"

Maya bit her lip scrutinizing her art. The image of the project in question was of a bouquet. It wasn't too big and it was far from fancy but it was perfect nonetheless. Something was missing to make it complete in her eyes. The chalk very was pigmented, blending was a breeze, yet when Maya looked at it she didn't feel like smiling.

"Because it looks done," she finally said.

"But is it?" Her teacher stood up and grabbed a tin cup filled with different paint brushes. He fished around for some thick synthetic paintbrushes then grabbed a cardboard like sheet of paper. "There are rules to mixed media and rule number one is that…there are no rules," Mr Jackson placed the paintbrushes along with the paper on the chair he was previously seated at. He went over to his desk and grabbed a white container.

"The only pesky thing you gotta worry about is the thickness of your canvas. Feel free to use paper but the problem is that if you're not careful the wetness of your medium can make the entire thing fall apart," he unscrewed the white container and dipped in a big brush. "One way you can combat this problem is with this special stuff"

He set the paper on a nearby desk and started smothering it with what he called gesso. The paint-like white liquid made a new thin layer on the cardboard. It reminded Maya of those kindergarten art projects except she was about to potentially ruin a good piece. He began explaining how to transplant her semi-finished piece onto this thicker canvas allowing some time to decide whether or not she wanted to go through with it.

"Just so we're clear…I can actually glue this thing onto that and paint on the parts I want?"

"Maya, I'm going to sound like a Hallmark card saying this but it's art," he said handing her a brush. "You can do anything you want"


Author's Notes: I'm aware of the sassy emoji girl actually being an information desk lady or whatever but no one else uses it for that.

This is where change starts. It's not meant to be subtle, that's where me and MJ differ I don't roll that way ;)

Thanks for following the story! The few that do I appreciate you all equally.