In regards to my update schedule: I don't have one. Once upon a time I had a plan to update every Wednesday, but then I decided I wasn't going to put up a half-baked chapter just for the sake of putting something up. Quality vs Quantity: I'd rather have a 6 chapter story with 1,000 word chapters than a 20 chapter story with 50 word chapters. I also write my chapters in Word, then copy-paste into the Doc Manager and I try to stay at least 1 chapter ahead of what's posted so that I can revise if I start to write myself into a corner.

Thanks to carrycherry61 and kamyenh for reviewing, I'm glad you're enjoying, lol. Also, to the people who only review 'Update': you saying that kinda makes me want to be sadistic and not update just to torture you :)

Cory reluctantly sat in his eldest daughter's seat as she finished writing on the board. She set down the chalk and pointed at Farkle. "You, the one who yelled at me when I erased 'Belgium 1831,'" He growled at her, making her switch her finger over to Yogi. "Never mind then, Yogi, read what I just wrote."

"'Consent,'" The boy did as he was told, truthfully very scared of the girl.

"If anyone can define, 'consent' for me, raise your hand." Farkle, Lucas, Yogi, Darby, Sarah, Brenda and a few others raised their hands. "Not even half the class." She said disappointedly. "Brenda, don't fail me now!" She pleaded.

"Consent. Noun: permission for something to happen or agreement to do something. Verb: give permission for something to happen." The girl knew where this was headed, having had this discussion in private before.

"Excellent." She stood in front of Darby. "Darby, how did you and Yogi start going out?" The blonde blushed.

"W-well, he asked me out and I said yes."

"Exactly," She moved back to the board. "Yogi asked for Darby's consent to take her on a date. Everyone gives or doesn't give their consent everyday for numerous things, but sometimes it's not used when it really matters." She stood in front of Farkle. "Why didn't you voice your lack of consent about me erasing the board before I did it? You knew what I was going to do as soon as I picked up the eraser."

He shrugged. "It wouldn't have stopped you."

"That's exactly it. People don't use their consent when it really matters because they don't think it would do anything. Or they think it won't do what they want. Even if it doesn't do anything, you need to always voice whether or not you're giving consent, regardless of the consequences. If you don't, there are plenty of people who will take the silence as a 'yes.'" The bell rang and she was the first out of the classroom. Riley grabbed her sister's bag and ran after her with her friends following.

Riley sighed exasperatedly. She was already late to her next class and she still hadn't found Emma. Farkle, Lucas and Zay had gone back to class while Maya stuck with Riley. "She's probably in class right now," The blonde tried to persuade her, but Riley held up a hand to silence her.

"I ain't happy," Riley followed the voice as silently as she could to find it coming from the gym. "But, I'm feeling glad," She opened the gym doors and entered, continuing to follow the voice to the bleachers. "I got sunshine, in a bag," She looked under the bleachers to see the silhouette of her sister with white headphones over her ears. Riley crawled over to her and sat beside her with Maya deciding to stay at the opening. "I'm useless, but not for long, my future is coming on." She continued to bob her head to the music and Riley noticed her eyes were closed. Choosing not to interrupt her, she looked down at her feet and closed her eyes, enjoying the silence. "You're missing class." Riley looked up at Emma in surprise and saw her eyes were still closed.

"...yeah…" She heard the music stop, but Emma's headphones didn't come off and her eyes still didn't happen. "...You were really passionate about consent."

"Because it's important and he's not teaching it." She opened her eyes and finally looked at her younger sister. "I'd bet all my Hot Cash that you don't know most of the things a girl your age living in New York should." She sighed and stood up, offering her hand. "Let's get you to class." Riley took the hand and Emma led her out. Riley wasn't expecting, however, Emma to continue to hold her hand and lead her to her followed silently, not knowing what to say.

Riley felt hard objects on Emma's finger and lifted their hands. Three gold bands sat snugly on her ring finger. One in the style of a rope tied in a knot, one with an infinity symbol and one in the style of a tiara. "What are these?" Riley's voice was quiet.

"Promise rings." Emma pointed to the tiara one. "Saeyoung," She pointed to the knot one. "Saeran," She pointed to the infinity one. "And Karma. We promised to marry once we're all done with school." Riley made a noise of understanding before deciding to say what's been burning in her mind.

"You said you don't want to be part of our family, but you aren't mean to me." Emma sighed as they stopped outside the classroom door.

"I would like to honestly say that I don't care about you. I would like to be able to leave this part of my life behind and just think about my friends who were always there for me." Riley hung her head, but Emma put her hands on the younger girl's shoulders. "But I can't. Because, no matter what, I'm always going to care about you. I'll always be there for you." Emma let her hands fall back to her sides and walked away to head to her own class.

"Always."