Hey guys! I know it's been a while since I've updated, and I apologize! I've been really busy lately. I'll try to be better about this from now on. To reward you for staying with me, I wrote kind of a long chapter this time. There's also a blast from the past! :) I hope you like it!

The girls and Auggie walked into the room for the second time that night, and Riley closed the door. Maya went to the bay window and sat with her head hanging low.

"What's going on, Maya?" Riley asked demandingly as soon as the door was shut.

Maya looked up with her mouth crinkled as though she didn't want to speak.

"What?" Riley continued to ask.

Maya sighed loudly with irritation.

"I feel bad, alright?" Maya said reluctantly.

"Oh," Riley said quietly, understanding what Maya was saying. "Angela?"

"Yeah," Maya said, looking down again. "I didn't really feel that bad before, but after learning that her dad died…I know it's stupid because I just told you all that stuff about not letting the opponent get to you, but I just wasn't expecting this."

"Me neither," Riley said, sitting next to Maya. "What do you want to do?"

"We still need to focus on the plan," Maya replied. "We just need to be careful. No hurting Angela, under any circumstances."

"How are we going to do that?" Riley asked.

"I don't know," Maya said, shaking her head.

Auggie raised his hand high and excitedly said, "I know! I know!"

"What is it, Auggie?" Riley asked.

"All we need to do is make Maya's mom love Shawn. Then make Shawn love Maya's mom."

"Yeah, we know, Auggie. We just don't know how to do that," Riley said, turning back to Maya.

Maya lifted her head up and said, "Wait. The kid's got a point."

"What do you mean?" Riley asked.

"He didn't say anything about Angela. That's it! We need to not involve her. Besides, why would Angela have anything to do with how Shawn and my mom feel?" Maya said with a twinkle in her eye, standing.

"You're right!" Riley exclaimed. "Thank you, Auggie!"

Riley ran over to Auggie and swooped him up, whirling him around the room.

"I know," Auggie said, smiling, after Riley put him down.

"So what's the new plan?" Riley asked, bouncing to sit on her bed.

"We need to make Shawn and my mom like each other. So let's think about things they like to do," Maya replied.

"Let's see," Riley began.

"Uncle Shawn likes to write stuff and take pictures!" Auggie said.

"He does," Riley said. "Maybe we can have him write something about your mom! Or maybe he has already!"

"Good idea," Maya said. "Let's find out."

Maya and Riley walked to the door and Auggie sighed and followed like the caboose on a train.

"Why do we keep moving around?" Auggie asked, acting exasperated.

Riley and Maya walked back out to the grown-ups to find them all still talking in the living room. Auggie went to his mother and she pulled him onto her lap.

"Well, I knew I wanted to write for a long time," Shawn was saying. Maya and Riley stopped in their tracks and took a few steps back to listen.

"Yeah, he was writing probably long before any of us knew about it," Cory said. "He never actually told us until we found out ourselves, actually."

"Really?" Katy asked. "You're so good. It's a wonder that you haven't written a book or something. Do you like to do stories mostly?"

"I used to write poetry, but now I've moved on to writing stories for a living. I still write poetry every now and then if I feel strongly about something," Shawn replied.

"Oh," Katy answered, obviously thinking about something.

"What are your aspirations?" Shawn asked.

"Oh, um…" Katy began. "I, uh…well, I wanted to be an actress."

"Cool," Shawn replied. "How's that been going?"

"Well," Katy said. "I'm still a waitress. So clearly not well."

"Don't give up hope," Angela encouraged her.

On the other side of the room, Riley looked at Maya to see if she wanted to interrupt the conversation, but Maya was listening intently.

"It's easy to say," Katy said. "But not as easy to follow through."

Everyone sat in a moment of silence before Riley decided it was time to interrupt.

"Hey, guys," she said.

"You're back," Cory said, looking at the girls.

"Yeah," Riley said. "We decided on the TV show."
"Ah," Cory said. "Good choice."

"Uh huh," Riley said awkwardly.

"So when can we see your work, Hunter?" Maya asked.

"My work? Don't you read it off of Hit the Road?" he responded.

"Well, yeah, but that's not your work. That's an assignment. I want to see your own."

"Oh, uh…" he began.

"Shawn doesn't share his work with people. Trust me, I would know," Cory said, reminiscing back to when he read Shawn's poem at a poetry reading. Shawn was not happy.

"Well, maybe you can show us anyway. After all, you're a professional writer now. Lots of people have seen what you write," Maya tried to convince him.

"No, I don't think so," Shawn answered, shaking his head.

Maya pulled Riley close to her and whispered, "Then maybe we'll just have to investigate ourselves."

Riley gave Maya a glare and shook her head no. Maya replied by giving Riley a puppy face. Riley sighed and gave in, allowing Maya to pull her down the hallway. When they got to Shawn's room, Maya took a deep breath and opened the door. They both crept in and closed the door quietly.

"Maya, what are we doing here?!" Riley whispered loudly.

"Writers always have a way to write, no matter where they are," Maya said, looking at Riley.

"So?"

"So, Shawn probably has some journal or something just in case he gets an idea. I want to see what he's been working on!"

"Maya, this is wrong. We can't go through people's things!"

"Riley, we're working toward our goal! We aren't hurting anybody! It's perfect! Now come one, help me look!"

Riley sighed angrily and knelt to the ground to open Shawn's suitcase. She unzipped it and flung it open.

"Careful!" Maya cautioned. "You have to make it look like no one was in here!"

"Sorry!" Riley said as she went through his clothes. "Nothing here."

"There's nothing here, either," Maya said from his backpack lying on the ground. She stood up and went to the dressers. She opened the first drawer and it was empty.

Riley walked over to Maya and opened the second drawer.

"Woah," Riley said.

The drawer was full of things. There was an old jean jacket folded nicely, a small ring box, a pale pink baby onesie, a red baseball cap, two prom crowns, and a folded piece of paper.

"Where do we start?" Maya asked.

"There's no journal here," Riley said.

"Yeah, but this looks interesting. I want to know what all this is!" Maya said, reaching for the ring box. She opened it to find two identical rings in it.

Riley picked a ring up and read the inscription on one. "I promise."

"Promise rings?" Maya asked.

"I guess," Riley said, putting the ring back.

Maya put the box back in the drawer, then reaching for the baseball cap. She put it on her head and said, "How do I look?"

"Wait, this is a 'P,'" Riley said.

"Yeah, so?"

"'P' for Phillies?" Riley asked.

"I don't know," Maya said, putting the baseball cap back. Then she took the onesie out and put it up against Riley.

"Aww, did you wear this?" Maya asked.

"I don't know," Riley said.

"What is all this stuff?"

"It looks like it's my parents,'" Riley said, pulling the jacket out. She unfolded it and put it on.

"It fits me," Riley said. "This must be from a long time ago."

"Wait, so your parents were prom king and queen?! No way!" Maya exclaimed.

"I guess so," Riley said. "I wonder why they never told me that!"

"There's one thing we haven't looked at yet," Maya said mysteriously.

"The note," Riley said, equally mysterious. "Open it!"

Maya took the note and opened it up. Her face scrunched up. "What is this?"

"It says 'By Topanga Lawrence' at the bottom!" Riley exclaimed, pointing to the bottom of the paper.

"Sun. The only. The one. Doughnut in the sky. Space. Big ga-"

"What's going on in here?" Cory said, opening the door.

"Dad! We can explain!" Riley exclaimed.

"Riley! This is Shawn's room! And you shouldn't get into things that aren't yours."

Riley looked down to see that she was still wearing the jean jacket and quickly took it off.

"Be careful with that!" Cory said, rushing over to grab the jacket. He folded it intricately and carefully placed it back in the drawer.

"Dad, what is all this stuff?" Riley asked after watching her dad fold the jacket.

"Things from the past. Very important things that need to be handled carefully," he said as he took the note from Maya and put it next to the jacket. He looked in the drawer for a few seconds and then closed it.

"Why do you have all of this stuff, Mr. Matthews?" Maya asked.

"Because they remind me of important events," Cory said.

"Can you tell me about them?" Riley asked.

Cory sighed. Topanga, who had been watching from the door, walked into the room and grabbed Cory's arm.

"I think that's fair," Topanga said. "I mean, it's not like we were hiding these things. But there's one other thing that needs to be addressed. Riley and Maya, going into Shawn's room and snooping around was not right. I think the sleepover is cancelled for tonight. And you need to tell Shawn what you did and apologize."

"Fine," Riley said, reluctantly.

"Now let's go somewhere else to talk about this. We don't need to be in Shawn's room anymore," Topanga said.

"Okay," Riley said. "We can go to my room."

The group walked out of the room and to Riley's room.

Thanks for reading! I hope you leave a review! Also, the poll is now closed, so I have the results. However, I will NOT be releasing the results. You'll just have to keep reading to find out who wins! Thanks again!