GIRL MEETS HIGH SCHOOL SEASON ONE:
GIRL MEETS NEWS
It was one week following the craziness of the Student Government elections and with only five weeks of school left officially the Freshman Chemistry class groaned as Mr. Schneider assigned one final lab worth 25% of their final grade. But nobody could be more stressed than both Zay and Farkle.
"Out of all the people Schneider could have paired me up with they end up pairing me with monkey brain here." Farkle moaned as the both of them walked into Topanga's. Riley immediately set two tall strawberry milkshakes in front of them knowing that those were the only things that would make them shut up.
"I'm sure working with Zay won't be as bad as your making it out to be." Riley laughed.
"Need I remind you of the Grade Eight volcano incident?" Farkle moaned. "It took me a good three weeks to get the melted cheese out of my hair."
'It was more interesting than pouring vinegar and baking soda in it…" Zay fought back.
"Zay…" Riley moaned. "For once can we please follow the rules so nothing bad happens." Riley sighed.
"Trust me sugar I got this. What's the worse that's going to happen a chemical fire?"
"YES!" Both Riley and Farkle shot back.
"Jesus…You guys got to have a little bit more faith in your main man. I promise you nothing bad is going to happen with this lab."
As Zay walked towards Riley, the door to the bakery opened as Lucas walked in dripping in sweat probably coming straight from his workout at the gym. Riley had the biggest smile on her face as both of their eyes connected.
"Hey Princess." Lucas smirked as Riley buried her head into Lucas' firm chest.
"I thought we would be meeting later for dinner at Rosario's." Riley laughed.
"I never give up an opportunity to spend some extra time with you…" Lucas smirked placing innocent kisses on her cheek and lips.
"Lucas….I'm still working…" Riley giggled in between kisses.
"Not going to stop me…" Lucas smirked as he pulled Riley into his lap.
"I better hit the road before I see something I don't want to end up seeing…" Zay said getting his bag off the floor.
"Zay seriously…You and Lucas…"
"I don't want to hear it braniac…" Zay stated as he made his way out of the bakery.
"Who served him a bowl of cranky cereal this morning?" Lucas joked.
"Lucas…" Riley said in a condescending tone.
"Riles he ended our friendship over the smallest incident. He deserves the cold shoulder." Lucas pointed out.
"This is possibly the biggest fight the both of you got into. And you need to talk it out." Riley responded.
"The only way I'll be able to talk to flat butt again is if he admits he was wrong, and that he takes every single thing he said about the both of us back." Lucas pointed out.
"Well you were both kind of wrong in this situation…" Fakle pointed out.
"Not helping Farkle…" Riley pointed out.
"Right…My bad…" Farkle laughed. "But what I'm trying to get at is that your friendship with Zay survived every single thing that life decided to throw it's way. You could have easily unfriended him earlier on but you didn't. You both care about each other a lot more than you both are willing to say at the moment but I know a strong friendship when I see one." Farkle laughed. "I've been caught in the middle of one for most of my existence."
"Oh come on admit it Farkle you love both me and Maya." Riley teased.
"That is actually true. Or else I wouldn't have stuck around the both of you for this long." Farkle laughed.
"I get that the both of you want the best for me and Zay and for that I am so thankful to have such caring friends like you two who always have my back. But I just can't get past the fact that he would stoop so low to even think of talking trash not only about me. But about Riley too. I mean she is the greatest person in the world who could possibly hate her?" Lucas wondered.
"You are just too kind aren't you?" Riley laughed cuddling into her boyfriends side.
"I thought you were still working." Lucas teased.
"Well the bakery doesn't seem that busy so I think I have a couple of minutes to spare…" Riley giggled as Lucas wrapped his arm securely around her waist.
"That's all I'm going to need." Lucas said placing several kisses on her cheeks.
Farkle and Zay were both busy working in the library before school as they were trying their best to come up with ideas that would blow the competition away during the science fair. With Zay not being the smartest of the duo, the planning was all up to Farkle.
"Come on… Don't you have a little bit of input?" Farkle sighed.
"Farkle you know science especially chemistry isn't my thing." Zay sighed. "I only liked the section where we set things on fire."
"You mean the whole unit on alkali metals?" Farkle questioned.
"What now?" Zay said more confused.
"I got it. Remember what Schneider said about how the alkali metals react when it comes in contact with water?"
"They get more vigorous the further we go down the table…" Zay responded.
"Which is why we never bothered to touch them during the experiments." Farkle explained. "If we introduced one of them to the class for an experiment it could be one of the coolest things we've done in chemistry if it all works out."
"There is no way that science could possibly be cool. But I like where your going with this." Zay said with a wide smile now forming on his face.
"So what we need to do now is to come up with a strong alkali metal that would make this experiment interesting."
"This experiment is definitely going to blow the roof off of this chemistry class!" Zay yelled a little too excited. "OK not literally blow the roof off…" Zay laughed uncomfortably.
"Zay you really shouldn't be joking around like that." Farkle warned him.
"Farkle come on…I got you on my team. What's the worst that could possibly happen?" Zay said patting the smarter one on the back.
"Let's just make sure we don't curse anything before we even have a chance to be able to do it." Farkle laughed.
Both Riley and Lucas walked in hand in hand and as both Zay and Farkle looked up, the tension in the room increased. There were still no words exchanged between Zay and Lucas as the both of them engaged in a vicious stare down.
"You two are here early…" Riley laughed hopefully trying to do her best to lighten up the situation.
"Well I got stuck with Zay as a partner here the both of us need all the help we can get." Farkle laughed.
"Now that's just low."Zay laughed. "What are you up to sunshine?"
"Me and Lucas actually came here to get a head start on my dad's history paper." Riley replied.
"Huh I guess being with sunshine here actually has a lot of benefits Lucas." Zay smirked. "Not only is she a positive influence on your grades, plus she gets intimate with you to be able to motivate you to do better."
"OK that's it…" Lucas said as he approached Zay ready to punch the living daylights out of him. "You can say all you want about me and my habits but I will absolutely not tolerate you saying anything bad about Riley." Lucas said with his voice filling with anger every single minute that he was in the room with Zay. "She does not deserve to be spoken to that way. She has done nothing wrong to you and to she never will. You want to know why? It's because she has the kindest heart and most nurturing spirit that any person could have. This problem is between you and me, and if you continue dragging Riley into this then I suggest you do what I told you before, and stay the hell away from the both of us."
"Oh trust me…That's not going to be a problem…" Zay said. "Come on Farkle let's bring ourselves to a place where we can actually deal with the people around us." Zay said and walked off.
"I really am sorry for his attitude. Riles you know he didn't mean what he said right?" Farkle questioned.
"Is that what he thinks of me now?" Riley questioned. "Some sort of girlfriend who's got a time limit?"
"Riles…" Lucas said grabbing a hold of her cheeks. "Don't listen to anything he said. I am with you because I can't help but like you more and more each day. And every single day when you walk alongside me on the way to the subway, I can't help but question why someone like you would even begin to enter a relationship with someone like me."
"Because you are an amazing individual and you give yourself a lot more credit than what I could ever give you." Riley said wrapping her arms around Lucas' waist. "You will always be special to me Lucas and I promise…I don't ever want you to feel like I'm going to leave you because I won't."
"That's all I need to know." Lucas smiled.
"I'm glad." Farkle smiled. "At least some of us have our heads on straight when it comes to relationships."
"You and Maya will figure it out…" Lucas said patting Farkle on the back.
"When? I don't even know when she's back in the city."
"The last time I FaceTimed her it did seem promising. Maybe she'll be able to have a weekend away?" Riley suggested. "That reminds me I have to go and talk to her before class." Riley turned towards Lucas. "Meet me at our regular table for lunch?"
"It's a date." Lucas smirked as he brought Riley in for a hug. "I'll see you soon." Riley leaned up and kissed him one last time.
"Now that she's gone me and you have to talk about the elephant in the room." Farkle stated as both men started to make their way to gym class. "You two have been the closest of friends since you were three. Are you really going to throw away twelve years of friendship?"
"In this case yes…" Lucas sighed. "Some friendships just aren't worth saving."
Topanga landed at Chicago O'hare International Airport. It was the first official trial for Morgan's case meaning she would have to come face to face with the monster that had hurt her for so many years. As Topanga got into a waiting cab, she could only imagine what Morgan could possibly be going through. Several years of physical abuse, and pain was finally going to be put to an end starting today. As Topanga walked towards the courthouse, she was met with a sense of pride and bravery. People like Morgan were suffering all over the world from domestic abuse. And it was people like Topanga who fight to have these stories told and to bring these monsters to jail and out of these women's lives once and for all.
"Topanga…" Morgan whispered as she noticed her walk into the courthouse.
"Today's the day Morgan… Today you will be a free woman…" Topanga smiled. "You will never have to live in fear for much longer."
"I've been waiting for this day for so long Topanga. It almost feels like a dream. I can't believe that this will all come to an end."
"Give it time Morgan and you will leave the painful memories all in the past. But right now I need you to be strong. Today is a very important day for the both of us. We get to tell your story. But in order to do that I need you to promise me that you are going to be strong. There are people in there that want to hear your story but there are also going to be others who want to side with Patrick. You need to be prepared for that." Topanga took a hold of Morgan's hands and gripped it firmly. "But I can assure you. You will always have me in your corner."
"That means a lot…" Morgan replied. "Now let's go kick some butt…"
"Of course." Topanga smiled.
As both women walked into the courtroom, Morgan could feel the tension in the air as she came face to face with the judge at his podium. This man could determine her future and the nerves finally set into her. What if he decided that there was not a strong enough case to file a complaint?
"Judge DeMeira, members of the jury today I bring to you a case that not every woman in this country gets fortunate enough to tell. My client Morgan Matthews is here to file a domestic violence case against her husband Patrick McNamara."
"Ms. Matthews please step forward." Judge DeMeira stated. As Morgan walked towards the podium nervously Judge DeMeira could tell that she was nervous about the next steps. "You don't need to be afraid Ms. Matthews you have a very strong lawyer representing you, and a courtroom ready to listen. I won't pressure you into going into details if you don't want to, but I hope you understand that taking this step into filing a complaint was very brave of you and must have taken a lot of courage to be able to do this. Whenever you are ready Ms. Matthews why don't we start from the beginning? How did you and Mr. McNamara meet?"
"It was the first day of my internship here with an architectural firm. He was an intern as well. We both worked on the same floor but on different projects. I worked on developing the Freedom Condo units near Millennial Park and he worked on developing a potential neighborhood project for midtown."
"Ah. Fabulous work on that condo unit Ms. Matthews my niece owns one of the units there." Judge DeMeira smiled. "Now how long before the both of you decided to take a shot at a relationship?"
"Six months. We started off as best friends and I was the one who actually asked him out to dinner because I just wasn't used to be waiting around for that long." Morgan laughed.
"And how long until you were married?"
"We got married two years after. " Morgan nodded.
"And you would say this was a happy marriage at the beginning is that correct?" Judge DeMeira questioned.
"Yes it was extremely happy. We had planned a future together and we couldn't wait to be starting that." Morgan responded. She gripped the podium tightly as she reminisced about her past relationship.
"Now when would you say the abusive mannerisms started?" Judge DeMeira inquired.
"About a year into our marriage. I had gotten hired at the firm after my internship and Patrick was struggling to find work." Morgan responded. "He would stay at home with the blinds closed and just stared blankly at the television or lie in our bed motionless sometimes as well. He was just never satisfied with me…" Morgan cried. "He was so disappointed in the fact that he wasn't able to get a job, me not able to have his children…"
"So you're saying Ms. Matthews that he took all of his frustrations out on you?" Judge DeMeira questioned.
Morgan wasn't able to speak for much longer. All of the hurt and the pain that she had bottled up inside of her was finally all coming out. She felt like she was finally able to be free from an asylum. That this nightmare would be over. But she knew that this was just the beginning. It was going to be an uphill battle from where she was. And she wasn't sure if she was ready for that.
ONE WEEK LATER…
Zay and Farkle walked out of the gym to the darkness of the school hallways. It was past six PM and it was dead empty. Farkle had asked Zay to help him out in staying fit. So the both of them had been secretly training in the gym over the past month and a bit.
"You are killing me in the gym man." Farkle panted as the both of them ran upstairs to there lockers.
"Hey you asked for this." Zay laughed.
"So you and Lucas?" Farkle asked.
"Not now man…I really don't want to think about that backstabber of a human being." Zay said as he slammed his door shut.
"Look you need to forgive him sometime…" Farkle said as the both of them ran back downstairs towards the exit.
As the both of them walked out of the stairways they noticed that Ava and Auggie were with Cory carrying out some boxes.
"Surprised to see the both of you here. Getting a head start?" Farkle teased.
"Not a chance. We just came and helped my dad drop off some supplies." Auggie laughed.
"New teaching material?" Zay motioned towards the now closed classroom.
"I like to save my lesson plans for the day of." Cory smirked.
The four of them were suddenly thrown out of conversation when the smell of gas was coming through the ventilation system.
"Why does the school suddenly smell like a gas station?" Ava questioned.
"Oh god….We need to get out of here now!" Farkle yelled.
"What's going on?" Zay questioned.
"If Farkle's thinking the way that I'm thinking it's a gas leak!" Cory yelled as the four panicked individuals began running towards the exit.
However before they could get there a loud explosion erupted through the doors and blasted the four of them to the floor. The next thing that any of them were able to remember was the sense of heat and a burning smell.
Riley was busy working on the assigned essays that were due later on in the week when she noticed that smoke was emerging from the sky. Riley had got up to get a much closer look as to what was happening and was sure that the smoke was coming from a place that was familiar to her but she wasn't able to exactly figure out where.
"Riley has your dad come home yet? Him and Auggie were supposed to bring supplies to the high school." Topanga questioned.
"Oh my god…" Riley said in a big jumble. "The High School…Mom there's smoke coming from the high school!"
"What?" Topanga said in a worried voice.
"I noticed there was smoke coming from a building not too far away from us and I couldn't exactly figure out where it was coming from! The High School is on fire!"
Just on cue the sound of firetrucks roared through the streets. Topanga and Riley both immediately ran towards the front.
"Riley call Lucas! I'll call the Hart's" Topanga said as she immediately started up the car.
"He's not answering!" Riley panicked.
"Keep on trying!" Topanga yelled as she tried her best to get the both of them to the high school as safe as possible.
"Please be OK…" Riley whispered as she kept an eye on the cross that hung on the mirrors. She was taken aback when she noticed that Maya was calling her.
"Riley is it true?! Is Abigail Adams on fire?" Maya said in a panic.
"How did you find out?" Riley gulped.
"I was here when your mom called! I heard everything when she was on the phone with Shawn!" Maya explained.
"Wait a minute your back home?!" Riley asked quite confused.
"That's not the point Riles! Zay and Farkle they were in there!" Maya said in a panic. "Please tell me Farkle and Zay left earlier!"
"I didn't even know the both of them were in there!" Riley shrieked. Tears started falling down her face quicker. "Oh please let them be OK."
The minute Topanga pulled up to the front of the school there was already a large crowd behind the barriers looking on worried. The Hart's pulled up behind them not to long after and both families had made a bee line towards the building.
"What happened?" Shawn questioned one of the officers.
"It looks like there was a gas leak in the cafeteria. One of the pipes burst and it also seemed like the heat from the oven had caused the casualty."
"Farkle and Zay… they both aren't answering their phones either…" Riley said in a big panic.
"Sweetie are you sure that they were at school? It's nearly seven…" Topanga said trying to stay calm. "I sure hope your father was able to leave…." Topanga said even more worried.
"RILEY!" Lucas ran up to her immediately as the Friar family came out of the family Jeep. "Are you OK babe?" Lucas immediately pulled her in for a hug.
"I'm scared Luke…My dad might be in there…And…Zay and Farkle…" Rley said in between gasps of air.
"Farkle and Zay? The both of them were still in the school?" Lucas asked confused.
"They had their science project to work on…" Riley explained.
"Couldn't that have waited until tomorrow?!" Maya yelled frustrated.
"Wait….Maya…Your back?" Lucas said shocked.
"We'll save hello's for later… bigger problem right now…" Riley said pointing towards the burning school.
"Officers there are three individuals that are stuck in there…Please…do all you can to save them. They are important to us." Shawn said in a big jumble.
"We have a crew in there that is going to do their very best to get them to safety." A firefighter responded. "Do you happen to know where in the school they were?"
"They might have been near the entrance ready to head off for the day, or on the third floor where the science department is." Riley stated. "My dad was supposed to be there ride home."
"And your sure that the science department is on the third floor?" He questioned.
"Positive…" Riley nodded.
"Men sweep the third floor for any remaining individuals. We need to get them out stat!"
Soon enough another team of firefighters and medics entered the rebel. Everyone watched on with horrified looks as the flames seemed to get higher and higher. The chances of anyone getting out of there were starting to decrease very quickly. Lucas couldn't help but worry not just for Farkle and Mr. Matthews but for Zay as well. Sure the both of them had their differences most of the time, but there has not been one fight in the boy's friendship that was not able to be fixed. Perhaps it may have been too late for it to be fixed.
"I sure hope they are all OK…" Katy said holding onto Topanga's hands.
"Those firefighters will do all they can to bring them out." Riley said as her gaze was fixed on the entrance of the school.
"Wait I think I see people coming out of the building!" Maya said pointing towards the school.
Sure enough two firefighters emerged and behind them were both Cory and Zay. Both men had oxygen masks covering there faces as they tried there very best to navigate through the rubble.
"Oh my god Cory…" Topanga said running towards her husband. "Thank god you are safe…"
"We need to take him over to the hospital m'am will you be coming with us?" One of the medics asked.
"Yes I will be…Riley will you be coming?" Topanga asked.
"I want to make sure Farkle makes it out too…" Riley said as she continued to look at the building. Hoping and praying that he was OK.
"Riley come on he's our Farkle…He's going to be just fine." Maya reassured her.
"I sure hope you are right.." Riley said.
"I don't know what I would do if we didn't have Farkle in our lives." Lucas said sadly. "He was the one friend who always believed in you no matter what the circumstance was."
"That's why we need to stick together… We need to help each other get through this." Riley said.
Riley, Lucas, and Maya all joined hands and watched as the fate of Abigail Adams continued to be unknown. One thing was for sure, everybody's lives had all been changed by tragedy. Zay watched the scene from the back of one of the ambulances. He knew that he was never going to find another friendship like the one's he made. Zay stood up and wrapped a blanket around him.
"Lucas.." Zay gasped.
"Zay…" Lucas said turning around to face him.
"I just wanted to say…" Zay was cut off by a giant explosion and the next thing he knew panic and terror arose once again.
Abigail Adams stood no more as the flames engulfed it's windows and grew in size. The remaining group of friends all watched in terror. Tears building in all of their eyes. Uncertainty washed over all of them as the chances of anyone else coming out of there was starting to become near impossible. Riley looked up to the skies and pleaded to God to please send a sign that Farkle would be OK. A few seconds later a group of four individuals emerged. Four firefighters all scared and burned one by one ran out the door as fast as they could. The last one extended his arm and seconds after Farkle was pulled out.
"Oh my god…" The friends all said at the same time.
Farkle looked through the crowd trying to find his friends. He didn't have much time to react, as one of the beams from the entrance of the school had fallen and he was in it's path.
"FARKLE MOVE!" Maya pleaded.
It all happened too quickly. The wooden beam fell and hit Farkle at the back of his head. The gang all screamed in horror. They each tried to run to him , they needed to see him to make sure he was OK. His lifeless body laid at the entrance of the demolished school, engulfed in smoke and flames. It looked like this nightmare was far from over.
TO BE CONINUED…..