Chapter Twenty One: Girl Meets Farkle's Choice

"Hi, I'm Riley Matthews, and these are your John Quincy Adams middle school morning announcements." Riley said as she practiced her lines. We were in the AV room and I was seated between Maya and Riley. "Why are you even rehearsing?" Maya asked. "Yeah it's on a paper right in front of you." I added. "I'm going to get it perfect this time." Riley told us.

"And you're on." The camera guy informed us. "Hewo, I'm Miley Flatshoes and these are your flurning amousenits." Riley said. Maya and I were trying to hold in our laughter. "Today's lunch in the cafematorium will be hot males." Maya and I couldn't hold it in and we started laughing. It was funny listening to Riley give the morning announcements.

"Hello, news lady!" Farkle greeted as he walked into the room. "Carpool!" Riley greeted. "Far…" Maya and I started to say until we heard what Riley said. "Carpool?" We laughed. Farkle moved and sat in the chair next to Riley. "And here's your Farkle science moment." Farkle said. He reached down and grabbed something before he came back with an envelope. "The Junior Entomology Society has once again nominated me for a Buggie Award for my research paper on the orange dancing spider."

"Congratulations." I said. "Congrats, Dr. Farklestein. I hope this is your year." Maya told him. "Oh, I never win." Farkle replied. "Awesome. Wish I could go, but I don't wanna and I'm sure tickets are impossible." Maya said to him. "I have two." Farkle told her, holding up two tickets. "Then I just don't wanna." Maya told him. "Awesome. Which one of you will be Farkle's choice?" Farkle asked.

"I'm telling the world. Farkle must finally choose between his sweet angel whose smile lights a path to goodness or his perfect fairy who's the perfect mix between light and dark or my dark demon who unleashes in me something so terrifying I really wanna know what it is." Farkle explained as he moved to stand behind us. "Thanks, and I'm not gonna be there when you find out, Carpool." Maya told him.

"And there it is, John Quinciatti." Riley said. Once again Maya and I started laughing at Riley. "Farkle juices bequeen yama, racoline and symelf." Maya and I were laughing so hard the she leaned over in her chair and I had to lean on her. "Yama? Racoline?" We didn't answer her because we were too busy laughing.

"Who's the greatest ally of the United States? Farkle?" Cory asked as we were in class later on in the day. "I'd like to help you, sir, but I got a lot of things on my mind." Farkle told Cory. "Are you tense, Farkle? Is it Buggie Award season?" Cory asked. "Yes, and I know that once I've chosen between Riley, Caroline, and Maya for the dinner, I'll actually be letting the other two go." Farkle answered.

"I'll go. I'll go right now." Maya said. "I think it will be sad when Farkle doesn't love us all the same." Riley said. "I'm going to have to agree with Riley on this one." I added. "Yes, one of you will be crushed. You will, however, receive the Farkle home game as a consolation prize." Farkle told us. "Ooh, what's that?" I asked. "It's this game where the loser goes," Farkle mimicked a sob, "Farkle."

"So who is the greatest ally of the United States?" Cory asked again. "Ask Farkle." Someone in the class called out. Farkle sighed as he stood up. "Canada. You want me to say Canada. You want to explain why or do I have to do everything?" Farkle asked as he sat back down. "Everything. You love that." Cory said to him. "Look, I really want one of you at the Buggies with me to pick me up when I lose again to my archnemesis Smackle." Farkle explained to us.

Riley laughed. "Smackle? What kind of parents name their kid "Smackle," Farkle? Oh." Riley realized what she just said. "Way to go Riles." I commented. "It's just interesting that all of our thoughts turn to other allies first when Canada is right next to us. Perhaps it's because we know they'll always be there for us that we take them for granted." Cory continued with his lecture.

"Farkle, I'm going to make the ultimate sacrifice and let you go with Caroline." Maya told Farkle. "No, I'm going to make the ultimate sacrifice and let you go with Riley." I told him. "Yeah, well, I'm going to make the ultimate sacrifice and let you go with Maya." Riley told him, too. "I decided! You hear me? This game is Farkle's choice. Prepare to go through the emotional gauntlet of love." Farkle told us. "Okay." Riley, Maya, and I replied in unison.

Riley, Maya, and I were each sitting at our own tables and Farkle was seated in a chair with wheels. Since I was in the middle I would be able to hear Riley's and Maya's conversations with Farkle. "Thank you for my smoothie." Riley thanked Farkle. "Extra thick so you can eat it with a spoon." Farkle stated. "You know me so well." Riley giggled. "That giggle is my favorite sound in the world. I know I've told you I've loved you since the first grade, but I don't think I've ever told you why." Farkle told her. "Farkle…" Riley started. "Hold that thought." Farkle told her.

Farkle rolled himself over to my table. "How do you like your muffin, Caroline?" Farkle asked me. "You remembered my favorite kind of muffin." I stated. "Of course I did. Lavender, pistachio, and chocolate muffin." He told me. I bit my lip and looked down at the table. "You know you shouldn't bite you lip like that, but I still like it." Farkle told me. "Care you know how long I've loved you, but I've never given you a reason why." "Farkle, I…." I tried to say, but he stopped me. "Give me a minute." He told me.

He then rolled himself over to Maya. "Have a little pretzel with you mustard, Maya. I know how you like it." Farkle told her. "I'm eating this, then leaving." Maya told him. "My eight birthday party." Farkle stated. "Don't remember it at all." Maya replied. "Bing." Farkle said while he held up Maya's penny board.

"You kept this?" Maya asked as she took it from him. "You tried to do a kick-flip off the park bench. You were not ready for those moves." Farkle explained to her. "Still got the scar." Maya stated. "It was the only time I've ever seen you cried." Farkle told her. "Why did you keep this?" Maya asked. "It was the only time I've seen you cry." Farkle repeated. "Farkle." Maya said.

Farkle moved from Maya's table to mine. "So?" I asked wondering what he had for me. "Bing." Farkle said as he helped up a pair of my ballet flats. "My dance shoes." I stated as I took them from him. "I remember it was the first dance recital you made me come to. You were so excited and you had your first contemporary dance solo." Farkle explained. "I thought I lost these shoes." I said softly. "Yeah I remember you crying because you couldn't find them so I went back to the studio and found them." He told me. "Thank you Farkle." I thanked him.

Farkle then moved back over to Riley's table. "Have you been seeing someone else?" Riley asked. "There's only you." Farkle told her and I shook my head at that. "Don't think it's going to be so easy to get me all emotional over some little object that shoots me down memory lane." Riley told Farkle. "Bing." Farkle said, holding up a doll. Riley took the doll from him. "Hazel the hippo. You're alive! You gave me this when you sat with me in the hospital when I had my tonsils out. I lost her and never had the heart to tell you. How did you know?" Riley asked. "I bought two of them, you know, just in case, you lost the one I gave you." Farkle explained to her.

"Thank you, Farkle." Riley thanked him. Farkle moved back over to my table. "Thank you, Farkle." I thanked him again. He then moved over to Maya's table. "Thank you, Farkle." Maya thanked. He moved in between the three of us. "Are you speed dating us?" Riley, Maya, and I all asked at the same time. "Welcome to what's going on! As you know, being nominated for a Buggie is the highlight of my life." Farkle told us.

"We realize that." I told him. "I wanna share my happiness with someone special if I win, and if I lose, I want someone who cares about me to be there." Farkle explained to us. "So I wanna make sure I make the right choice. Thank you for a lovely evening." He got up and walked away. "Wow. He's paying the bill." Riley stated. She moved to sit it to spinning chair and I moved my chair closer to Maya's table. "I should've eaten more." Maya said.

"Hey, yo, you still hungry?" someone asked. Riley, Maya, and I turned to see three boys standing there. "'Cause we're gonna get some pizza, so we're thinking…" "Stop thinking. It's not you." Maya told the one who was just talking. "What's she mean by that?" the short one asked. "What my brother Sheldon doesn't understand is that because of our demeanor, you think that we're a couple of oafs." The one with the long curly hair said.

"Is this true?" Sheldon asked. "I'm afraid so, Sheldon." Maya told him. "Oaf?!" Sheldon questioned in disbelief. "We are sorry to hear that." The other two said. "What's the other ones think, Cisco and Randy?" Sheldon asked. "You should find out by asking." Randy told Sheldon. "What do you think….." Sheldon got too close to me and Riley for my liking. "Other ones?" "I think you're way too close." Riley and I told him. "And what are you gonna do about that?" Cisco and Randy, both asked.

Someone got in between us and Sheldon. "I may not look so tough, and I don't say "yo", but I'm insane when it comes to these three, so what you're gonna do is run down the platform screaming until you reach Broadway." Farkle told them. "I just don't see us screaming until Broadway." Cisco said. "Who do you think you are anyway?" Sheldon asked. "Oh, me?" Farkle asked. He pulled out his spider and that caused the three boys to run away screaming.

"I'm Canada. A little take for granted, but I'm always there for you." Farkle said. He knocked on the table before walking away. "You know what? I've decided to go with Farkle." Riley told me and Maya. "You don't have to. I'm going." Maya replied. "That's sweet of both of you, but I'm going." I told them. "I said I'm going." Riley said. "I will mess you up." Maya told her. "Then I will clean me up. Ha!" Riley retorted. "And while you're doing that I will be going with Farkle." I told them both.

"Riley, Caroline, what are we doing? Are we really fighting over Farkle?" Maya asked. "Yeah, and I'm going to win." Riley answered. "Not if I win first." I added. "It's on, Matthews." Maya said to the both of us.

Riley, Maya, and I were sitting on the wall by the stairs watching Farkle go into his locker. "So did you text him last night?" Riley asked. "No. We agreed not to. Farkle's choice, remember? Did you call him?" I asked Maya. "No we promised no communication with him that could alter his choice." Maya said. "Did you video chat him?" Maya asked Riley. "Absolutely not. We agreed to do nothing to influence him." Riley answered. "That's the deal." Maya and I said.

"Ladies." Farkle greeted as he walked over to us. "Farkle." We all greeted dreamily. "Thanks for the text, Maya." Farkle said. I hit Maya's arm. "I appreciated the call, Caroline." Farkle told me. I felt Riley hit me on the arm. "I enjoyed the video chat, Riley." Farkle told Riley. I moved out of the way as Maya hit Riley in the chest and made her fall back. "But I'm gonna need some time to myself to make this difficult choice." "And Maya, Caroline, and I agreed we would do nothing to influence your decision." Riley told Farkle. Maya was by her locker as she took something out of it. Riley and I walked and stood by the two.

"Yeah. Lookie what I found." Maya said holding up a spider. Riley gasped, but she didn't scream. "You forgot to scream." "Thank you." Riley thanked before she ran away screaming. "An Arizona blond tarantula." Farkle stated. "Well, of course." Maya replied. "You can't do this, Maya!" Riley shouted. "What I love about this species, it's the perfect mate for…." "For my orange dancing spider." Farkle said once he got his spider out of his locker. "Yeah." Maya said. "This is completely unfair." Riley stated and I had to agree with her.

"Look at these two. So vastly different and yet so wonderful together." Farkle pointed out. "Well, of course." Maya said agreeing with Farkle. "They seem to really…" Farkle's sentence was cut off by a crunching sound. I looked at the spiders and realized that Maya's tarantula bit of Farkle's spider's head. "She bit his head off! Om heaven!" Farkle screamed. Everyone besides us ran out of the hallway. "She bit his head off!" "Just like our lives are gonna be together." Maya told him. "No. Maya is not the only one who likes spiders, okay?" Riley told us as she walked over to us.

"I happen to like them too." Riley told us. "Really?" I questioned. "Then you would have no problem if I put this spider on your head and you wore it like a hat?" "A hat, you say?" Riley asked. I took the spider from Maya and gently put it on Riley's head. "I know this is out of your comfort zone, Riley. I'm really impressed you would do this for me. Yeah, I still can't decide who I'm bringing to the Buggies. You three are still even." Farkle sighed.

I noticed Cory walking down the stairs. "Hi, dad, this spider is laying her eggs in my brain." Riley told him. "Yeah, okay." Cory said walking to his classroom.

I barged into Riley's room to see Riley and Farkle sitting at the bay window and Maya coming through the window. "How did you do that?" Riley asked. "You tried to lock me out of you room." Maya stated in disbelief. "But she forgot her door." I added as I walked over to her and Riley. "Not cool." Maya stated. "You two are interrupting my alone time with Farkle, not cool." Riley retorted. "You tried to make it like you were alone so I wouldn't come in here, not cool." I said to Riley.

"You're actually fighting over me?! Cool!" Farkle said. "Except you're fighting and it's my fault. Can any of you tell me why you'd even want to go with me to the Buggie Awards?" Farkle asked, but we didn't answer him. "Yeah. Well, I can tell you why I've always loved you three. I can't think of one of you without thinking of all three of you. I withdraw my offer." Farkle climbed out of the window and we moved to sit on the bay window. Farkle turned around and looked at us. "I'd rather go alone than hurt my three best friends. That's my choice." He told us before he left. "Not cool." Riley commented.

"What is the feeling?" Maya asked. We were still sitting at the bay window after Farkle left us. "Awfulness." Riley answered. "We're ruining the greatest night of Farkle's life." I added. "We actually let him come between us." Maya pointed out. "We did." Riley and I agreed. "How could we ever fight about that?" Maya asked. "Because he's great." Riley told her. "So great." Maya agreed. "He's the greatest." I said. "For the rest of our lives let's never settle for anyone less than Farkle." Riley told us. "Agreed." I said. I grabbed Maya's hand as Riley grabbed mine.

Riley, Maya, and I walked into the hotel where the Buggie Awards were being held and made our way towards the hall where it was taking place. We were outside of the room and we heard someone speak. "And of course, Farkle from John Quincy Adams." "Well, it looks like I am all alone now." Farkle said. "No, you're not." Riley, Maya, and I said as we walked into the room.

Farkle got up and walked over to us putting his arms around us. "Whoa! Three of 'em, huh? Playa!" Jane Lynch said. "Okay, the National Junior Entomology Society is pleased to award the Golden Buggie to…." There was a drum roll. "Smackle." Jane announced showing the envelope. People were clapping and whistling as Smackle walked to the stage. Farkle, Riley, Maya, and I turned to walk out of the room. "This should me the happiest moment of my life, except these girls of middling intellect are interrupting it." Smackle said.

"Oh, us? We're Canada." Maya explained. "We're his greatest allies." Riley added. "He sits right next to us." Maya said. "And we'll never take him for granted again." I finished. We started to sing,

"O Canada.

We stand on guard,

For thee!"

We turned and walked out of the room, this wasn't a bad night.

Riley, Maya and I were in the AV room giving the morning announcements. Maya and I were laughing as Riley was talking. "Good Morton, John Quintaneros. It is me, Siley Cashews. What a leak it has been, right, yama and racoline?" Riley asked. We didn't answer because we were too busy laughing. "Somebody has some sage trite. Any day, flanken may have lost his boogies, but he certainly won far farts." Riley said. Maya and I were still laughing and we leaned on Riley. Since Riley was in the middle this time once we leaned on her she moved her arms. So now of heads were on the table and her elbows were on our heads.