Chapter Twenty Seven: Girl Meets Pluto
"Somebody read that." Dad said. ""History will be kind to me for I intend to write it." Winston Churchill." Lucas said. "And he did. Who's gonna write their own history here? What is history? I keep forgetting." Dad stated. "History is time passing." I told him. "Oh, yeah? How much time? Someone once said, "100 years from now, all new people"." Dad told us. "100 years." May guessed raising her hand. "Wrong." Dad told her. "You set me up." Maya accused while pointing at him.
"When should you guys begin to make your own history?" dad asked. "Right now." Riley answered. "Good. So today were talking about Winston Churchill. When the new people come, how do you want them talking about you?" dad asked. "Nicely?" Riley guessed. "How long do we have before history makes its decision about us?" Maya asked. "What if they're writing it down now?" Farkle asked. "Doesn't matter. Chapter one, introduction." Dad pointed at Riley. "Please read."
""There is a comfort in knowing that history is fixed. You can no sooner change history than you can changed the nine planets in our solar system from Mercury to Pluto."" Riley read from her book. "Oh." We all said in realization well except for Riley. "What?" Riley questioned. "Nice job, Mr. Matthews." Lucas commented. "What'd he do?" Riley asked. "He just showed us history books can be wrong. You can change history." Austin told her. "I don't get it." Riley stated. "How can she not know?" Austin asked. "Look at the bird!" Maya and I exclaimed pointing at nothing. Riley turned her head and started looking for the 'bird'.
"She doesn't know because she has us." Maya whispered explaining it to Lucas and Austin. "The Riley Committee." Farkle stated. "The committee exists to keep certain information away from Riley." I added. "Like what?" Lucas asked. "Everything really." Farkle answered. "Listen, this committee can't protect her for the rest of her life. She's getting too smart." Dad whispered, entering himself into our conversation. "She's looking for a bird." Farkle retorted. We all looked at Riley who was still looking for the 'bird'.
"Well, someone's gotta tell her." Dad told us. "You do it." Maya and I told him. "Nah… You do it!" he declared pointing at me and Maya. "Hi, sweetie." We said to Riley. "Peaches." She said to Maya. "Sunshine." she said directed towards me. "See, we've all been protecting you from something." I told her. "You know Pluto?" Maya asked her. "Pluto? I love Pluto. Everybody knows that. Pluto's a little cutie-pie. The smallest planet with the biggest heart. I love Pluto so much, I would kiss it on the face." Riley explained to us.
"Not doing it!" Maya and I exclaimed looking at my dad. "You're doing it!" he retorted. "Honey?" Maya and I said to Riley looking at her. "Peaches? Sunshine?" She replied. "Pluto is not a planet anymore." Maya told her, slowly. "What's that you say?" Riley asked. Maya looked at me, so I decided to explain it. "They made a scientific discovery that Pluto's not a planet anymore." I explained to her. "Will you be okay?" Maya and I asked her. "I'm fine." She told us. "I am too old now to flip over something like that. Dad, please continue." "You sure, sweetie?" Dad questioned. "Please, continue." Riley repeated.
"Okay. All right, guys, so, we're talking about who we are now, and who we hope to be someday. How will we write our own history and decide what's important to us?" dad asked. "They found a 100-year-old time capsule in Boston last week. Could we do one of those?" Farkle asked. "I love that idea, Farkle." Dad told him. "In fact, we did one of those when I was in high school. We were gonna see what became of us in 15 years." He stopped walking. "Wait a minute… we were gonna to see what became of us right now. 15 years is right now. We were gonna go back and see how much we've changed." "Yeah, well, I hope some of us never change." Maya commented. "Some of us need to stay the same." I added looking at my sister.
We were sitting in Topanga's with the things for our time capsule. "How can they just do that? She works her whole life to become a planet, and then it's just taken away from her. Do our hopes and dreams even matter?" Riley asked. "Well, in 15 years, we're gonna find out." Lucas said, holding a buffalo nickel. "A buffalo nickel. That's what you're putting in the time capsule?" Farkle asked him. "Yeah, my grandfather gave it to me for…" Lucas paused for a moment when he looked at Maya. "Anyway, my grandfather gave it to me." "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, for what? Pappy Joe gave it to you for what?" Maya asked with a smile. "Don't call his grandfather pappy Joe." I told Maya. "It was actually pappy Joe." Lucas stated. "You knew that?" Riley questioned. "Eh, it would've been anything I said." Maya replied.
"Why'd he give you the nickel? Why?" Maya asked. "Nothing. He gave it to me for being a good little boy." Lucas told her. "No, no, no, no, no, no, tell us." Maya ordered. "I was a little kid, I went to a kiddie rodeo, and I was the only one who made it the whole eight seconds." Lucas told us. "You rode a bull?" I questioned. "It was sort of like a bull." Lucas said. "Here comes funny." Maya stated. "I rode a sheep." Lucas stated and we all started laughing, including Austin. "It's a real thing! It's called mutton busting. Caroline, you're laughing at me?" "No." I told my boyfriend.
"I wanted to be a rodeo star. But, I got older and gave up on it." Lucas told us. "Aww, don't ever give up on your sheep riding dreams." Maya's mom told Lucas as she walked over to us. "You go out there, and you become the best sheep rider the world has ever seen." "Mom, what are you doing?" Maya asked her mom. "As long as I'm here, I've decided to give out valuable life-living advice. Like Cory and Topanga." Her mom explained to us. "So, you all come to me when you're feeling lost in this world, and I'm gonna fix you right up." "No, we're good." Farkle told her.
"Do not let your sheep riding disappointment prevent you from dreaming dreams. As I look back at my life, the only regrets I have are the dreams I gave up on too soon." Maya's mom told us. "Wow. Thank you. That's good advice." Lucas told her. "Yes, it is!" she exclaimed, then she noticed Farkle's trophy. "Hey, nice trophy, the Farkle." "Thanks, the Maya's mom. It's my science fair lifetime achievement award." He told her. "Forget science, you dream dreams!" she told him. "But…" Farkle started, but he was cut off. "Okay." Maya's mom said before she walked off.
"What are you putting in, Maya?" Riley asked our best friend. "Nothing. No hopes, no disappointments." Maya replied. "What about you?" "I don't know why it's so important for me to care about something that's so far away. But, I do. I'm putting in Pluto." Riley answered, holding up her representation of Pluto. "Well, it's small enough, ha!" Farkle said. We all looked at him. "Too soon?" "What about you, Caroline?" Riley asked me. "I'm putting in a pair of dance shoes." I told them and I looked at Austin. "My favorite baseball cap." Austin said answering my silent question.
"Road trip!" dad announced as he walked in with mom and uncle Shawn. "Who wants to go instead of me?" mom asked. "I'll go. I'll do anything with anybody." Farkle stated. "No deal. There's not enough room in the car for you and all your words." Dad told Farkle. "What's this here?" He asked when he saw our time capsule. "This is what we're putting in our time capsule." Austin answered. "Oh…" dad looked at it. "Nope. Not good enough." "These things are important to us." Riley stated. "Why aren't there only five of them?" Mom asked. "I'm not playing." Maya stated. "Oh, you playing." Dad told her.
"Nice shovel shirt." Maya commented. "They got plenty left." Dad said. "I don't see how." Maya retorted. "Mr. Shawn." Maya's mom said. "Miss Katy." Shawn replied. "How are you?" she asked him. "How's the writing?" Shawn walked over to the counter. "Well, I was doing a story in Philadelphia till my friend her brought me to New York so we could go back to Philadelphia." Shawn explained. "How's the acting?" "I was playing a waitress at the nighthawk diner, and now I'm playing a waitress here." Maya's mom told him. "It's your real life." Maya told her mom. "It can't be." She retorted. "Well, I'm kinda liking this movie." Shawn told her.
"Come on! It's a chance to go back and see what time has taught us." Dad said walking towards Shawn with mom. "Come on, it's our history! You and me, Feeny, Shawn and Angela." "Give me a shovel. No reason. Give me a shovel and you head." Mom said. She grabbed dad by the face and pulled him away from Shawn and Maya's mom. "Who's Angela?" Maya's mom asked. "Oh, you know. Someone who used to be in my life." Shawn told her. "Ah, yes. Well, we all have one of those, don't we?"
"Do you miss her?" Farkle asked. "I know I'd muss Riley, Maya, and Caroline if I didn't see them for a long time. Do you think your old feelings will get all stirred up for her? And you'll miss her? And you'll go back and live wherever she is?" Maya got mad as Farkle asked these questions so she grabbed Pluto from Riley and threw it at Farkle. "Do you never miss?" he asked her. "Yeah, Mr. Hunter, you gonna get some feeling all stirred up?" Katy asked Shawn walking past him.
"Maya, Caroline, all of a sudden, I think we should be going with them." Riley told me and Maya. "Yeah I think so too. Do you think we should go?" I asked my best friend. "We're going with you." Maya declared, standing up. Riley and I stood up too. "All right. Katy, do you mind if we take this one of your hands for the weekend?" mom asked Katy. "Have fun, baby girl." She told Maya. "All right, girls, grab a shovel." Mom told us. "We're digging up the past! Yay." Shawn exclaimed sarcastically. I gave Lucas a kiss on the cheek before I walked out with everyone.
We were in Philadelphia looking for my mom, my dad, and Uncle Shawn's time capsule. Apparently my dad didn't know where it was buried so it is taking some time. Riley and I got tired of digging and we were making flower crowns. I put one on Riley's head and she put one on mine, we also made one for Maya because we didn't want to leave her out of our fun. "How is this fun? You said this was fun. How can anybody make this fun?" Maya asked. Riley and I twirled over to Maya with the flower crown. "We made one for Maya's head." Riley and I sang as Riley placed it on Maya's head and I adjusted it.
"You're supposed to be digging." She told us. "Oh, but we were digging for an hour." I told her. Riley bent down to pick up the box we found. "And all we found was this old metal box." Riley added. Everyone dropped their shovels and Shawn turned towards my dad. I looked and saw that there was a man standing near them. "Cory." Shawn spoke up. "What?" my dad asked. "I'm concerned." Shawn answered. "What's there to be concerned about, Shawny." My dad asked and a flashlight was turned on and my dad turned around to look at the person who had the flashlight. "That." Shawn answered. They both gasped and pointed at the man.
He turned the flashlight off. "Mr. Matthews, Mr. Hunter, we meet again." He said walking slowly towards them. "Detention?" my dad guessed. Oh, this must be the Mr. Feeny that my dad was talking about. "Big boy detention." Mr. Feeny corrected him. "I won't do well in big boy detention." My dad admitted. Riley, Maya, and I looked at each other and shared a smile. "Feeny!" Riley and I exclaimed slowly walking towards everyone. "Fee-hee-hee-hee-heenay!" Maya shouted. "What, what, what, what, what…" Riley and I said. "Hey, hey, hey, hey…" Maya said. "What, what, what, what…" We said together. We each took turns hissing at Mr. Feeny like cats and after a while we finally stopped. "Okay, let's go." I told my sister and best friend. We moved and sat down on the bench.
"Mrs. Matthews." Mr. Feeny said to my mom. "How ya doing?" my mom asked. "Put back my flowers." Mr. Feeny told her. "Except for those." He said pointing at me, Riley, and Maya. "I'll attend to those myself." My mom walked away to go put his flowers back and Mr. Feeny walked over to us "Excuse me." He said and sat between Maya and Riley. "Is he a good father, you poor, poor, little girls?" he asked me and Riley. "We're very lucky." We answered. "Hmmm." He hummed before turning to Maya. "Is he a good teacher?" "I think he's the best there is." Maya answered. "Oh." Mr. Feeny said. "But, he says you are." Maya told him. "Oh. And that's what you were digging for?" he asked.
"It's our time capsule, remember." My dad told him, entering himself in the conversation. "I remember everything." He replied. "We wanted to see how time treated us. If we turned out like we hoped we would." My dad told him. "Got any advice for us while we're all here together, Mr. Feeny?" "Well, yes. It's been a long time, and you're still together. What else do you need to know?" Mr. Feeny questioned.
"All right, I'll go first." My dad decided. We were back at the apartment and they were about to open the time capsule. Maya, Riley, and I were sitting on the back of the couch watching them. "Now, no one knows what anyone else buried, right?" Shawn asked. "Yeah, that was the deal." My mom answered. "Don't open it." Maya stated. "What's the actual point in opening it?" I asked. "Yeah, wouldn't you rather believe your lives are perfect?" Riley asked. "You make a good point, girls, you do. But, uh, here's another point. Have you even met me?" My dad asked before he opened the box.
"There it is." My dad stated before picking up a jean jacket. "It's the jean jacket." My mom stated taking it from my dad. "It's the first time we said, 'I love you'." Then she put on the jean jacket. "And it still fits." "Time has been good to you, Topanga." My dad told her. "Time has been good to us all." My mom replied. "And that's how you do the time capsule." My dad told us. "Okay you turn." He said to my mom. "Okay, don't overreact." She told him and bent down to pick up an envelope. "Why would I overreact?" my dad asked. "Because I know you're going to misinterpret this." She told him.
My dad took the letter from her and they both sat on the couch. My dad opened the letter. "Let's see. "Dear Cory, if you would let it happen, I think you and I could have a future." Topanga what's wrong with this? This is great." He told my mom. "It's not from her." Shawn stated. My eyes widen when he said that. My dad looked shocked and he yelped while letting go of the letter. "It's from Lauren." My mom told him while picking up the letter. "Who's Lauren?" I questioned. "Well, before we got marries, your father met a girl at a ski lodge, and she really liked him." my mom explained. "Matthews, you dog." Maya commented. "Is this why we never go skiing?" Riley asked.
"Why would you do this, Topanga? I… I buried a symbol of our love." My dad said to my mom. "Cory, I was threatened by this because I was young. The jean jacket was the first time we said "I love you." But, I almost let this little piece of paper hurt us because I was young. You always knew, but I didn't understand that our love will last forever. And that nothing could hurt it. I buried this because I hoped that when we opened it, I would be sitting next to you, and that I could go like this." My mom explained and she ripped the letter and threw it back in the box.
"Here goes." Maya commented. "Alright, here goes." Shawn said. He went over to the box and picked up a few things. "Ah… Shakespeare's sonnets. Vivaldi's four seasons. A Van Damme movie ticket. And lip gloss." He identify each object as he looked at it and he sat down on the arm of the couch. Riley took the lip gloss from him. "Kiwi mango." She stated. Riley handed it back to Shawn. "Ah, me and Angela. We were gonna be Cory and Topanga. I guess there can only be one Cory and Topanga. But, still… Me and Angela. I wonder what she's up to nowadays?" he questioned. "Bye, Shawn." Maya whispered.
"See, life works out better if you don't get your hopes up. Shawn will get back together with his ex-girlfriend, Pluto is not a planet anymore, and my mom and me are just my mom and me." Maya said. "Pluto is a planet." Riley stated. "Sorry, Riley, but you're the only one who says it is." Maya replied. "You heard them tell the story, Maya. There was a time when my father was the only one who knew he and my mother would always be together. Even when everyone else said that they wouldn't. He knew. And so do I." Riley told Maya. "She's Right." I told Maya. "I know too. And so does your mother. Because she's right." "Dream dreams, Maya. You're going to get everything you want in life." We told her.
"How is it possible that you two can still have hope for me?" she asked us. "Because when I have problems I want someone to have hope for me and I'm going to do the same for you." I told her. "Hey, I have hope for something four billion miles away. You have always been right there." Riley told her and we pulled her closer to us.
Riley and I left Maya in Riley's room and we walked towards the kitchen. We heard our parents and Uncle Shawn's conversation and we heard how he said he was never going to have someone to love. We decided that it was time for us to step in. We walked into the kitchen and stood between our parents before we leaned over the table and looked at Shawn. "Don't be such a jerk." We told him before we went back to Riley's room.
Riley and Maya were sitting back to back and I was kind of leaning on Riley, since her bay window bench didn't allow us to sit next to each other in the position we were in. We didn't say anything and then there was a knock at the door. "Come in, Uncle Shawn." Riley said. He opened the door. "How'd you know it was me?" he asked. We turned to look at him. "Our family doesn't knock. They're pigs." I told him. Uncle Shawn walked over to us and scooched himself between Maya and Riley making us life and smile, but we also had to sit up.
"Okay. What?" he questioned us. "You know how they say Pluto isn't a planet anymore?" I asked him. "Yeah. Yeah, I heard about that." He replied. "Doesn't that kill you?" Riley asked him. "No." he answered. "Pluto is still out there for me." Riley told him. "I don't care." Shawn replied and I saw that my mom and dad came into the room. "You weren't afraid to love somebody once." I stated. "Yeah, well, I… I'm done with that. I don't have that, I'm not going to have that." He replied. "You are. There's someone out there for you." I told him. "So, you're saying Pluto is Angela." He asked us and Maya moved to sit on Riley's bed.
"No, we're saying that Pluto is believing in something out there no matter what anybody says. Especially you. Because there is." Riley explained to Shawn. "How are you not getting this yet, buddy?" my dad asked. Shawn got up and walked over to Maya while my parents moved over to me and my sister. "You believe in me?" Shawn asked Maya. "I do." Maya answered. "I don't what I'm supposed to be for you." He told her. "Can you just be out there for me?" Maya asked. "Yes. I can do that. I want to do that. What do you call that?" Shawn asked. "It doesn't matter what you call it. I just wanna know that you're out there." Maya told him. "Okay." He replied and sat down beside Maya. "I'm there."
"Okay, I'll go first." Lucas told us, grabbing the box and opening it. "You're putting your sheep nickel in, Billy Bob?" Maya asked. "No, I changed my mind about that. I'm not putting in a reminder of when I gave up on a dream." Lucas explained. I saw him hold up something and noticed it was a baseball with a piece of paper tied to it. Wait, it can't be what I think it is. "What's that?" Riley asked. "This is the baseball that was thrown at me that brought someone amazing into my life." Lucas answered. "Who was that?" she asked, obviously curious. Instead of answering he reached over and grabbed my hand. "Oh." Riley said in realization. "I'd rather be reminded of when something good started." Lucas said, put the baseball in the box.
"I'll go next." Austin said. "What are you putting in, ranger Roy?" Maya asked. "Are you still putting in your favorite baseball cap?" Riley questioned. "Nah, I decided I should put in something more meaningful." Austin told her, holding up his transfer slip. "Your transfer slip." Riley stated. "Yeah, I'd like to be reminded of when something good started." Austin explained, putting his transfer slip into the box.
"Me next." Farkle announced. "Your science fair trophy?" I guessed. "Wasn't important enough for this." He replied. He reached down and picked up something orange. "Your favorite orange turtleneck." Riley stated. "It was the one I took off when I felt like nothing. But, you guys wouldn't like me be nothing. And since it's us that's gonna be together when we open this, I can't wait to see the something that I am." Farkle explained.
"What about you, Care?" Austin asked me. "Well, my dance shoes are very important to me. But, I realized that if I'm going to put a pair of dance shoes in I'm going to put an important pair in." I explained. "I also decided there were other things I needed to put in." I picked up the pair of dance shoes, the first letter Lucas gave me, the first picture me and Lucas took together, the ball that Maya threw at me when we became friends, and the picture that Riley drew me when our parents first introduced us. "What's all this?" Maya asked me. I held up the pair of dance shoes. "This is the first pair of dance shoes I ever got. My parents got them for me when I begged them to let me do dance." I then held up the letter. "This is the first letter that Lucas wrote to me. I didn't have the heart to put the whole book in, but I knew that I had to put at least one letter."
I looked at the picture in my hand while I explained the importance. "This is the first photo Lucas and I took together. It was a week after we met. I was so angry at him and the next time I saw him, I tackled him. I wasn't expecting it to be muddy, but it was and one of my friends took this." I looked up at Lucas and smiled at him. "I remember when that happened. The look on your face when you saw me. I was actually scared." He told me. "What about the paper and the ball? What's so special about them?" Farkle asked. I held up the ball and looked at Maya. "Do you remember this?" I asked her then I showed her the side with her initials and her face showed shock. "I thought I lost that." She stated.
"What is it?" Austin asked. "This is the ball Maya threw at my head when we were little kids. Surprisingly it helped with our friendship. I'm putting it in here so I don't forget that." Then I held up the drawing. "When Riley and I were introduced for the first time, she was convinced that I was her sister. So she drew this picture and told me that we had to have a picture since we're sisters. When my other parents and I had to leave, Riley cried…" I trailed off and let Riley finish the sentence. "Because they were taking my sister away." She finished for me. I put everything in the box.
"Riley, Pluto?" Farkle asked. "Yeah. Still Pluto." Riley answered, holding up Pluto. "Whenever we open this, I hope I haven't stopped believing in things." Then she put Pluto into the box and we all looked at Maya. "Okay, I'll play." She told us. "But, you guys have to leave. Your parents and Shawn didn't tell each other what they were putting in and that's the way I wanna do it. I'm hoping we'll all be surprised." We got up and walked towards the door. I stopped Lucas and told him to wait for me. I looked at Maya. "Hey, whatever it is, I hope it works out the way you want it." Riley told her. "Me too." Maya replied. "It should because you deserve it." I told her. "Thanks." She thanked me. Riley and I walked out and Lucas wrapped an arm around my waist as we walked.
Riley, Maya, and I were in Topanga's and we were sitting in the window seat. Maya's mom came over and handed us mugs of hot chocolate and then she went back to cleaning up. The door opened and I saw Shawn walk in. "Hi, Shawn. Um, we're closing up, but I could get you something for the road?" Maya's mom suggested. "Uh, yeah, that'd be great." He answered. She started to walk away, but Shawn stopped her. "Actually, no. Feel like sitting down for a second?" "Yeah. No, I do. Yeah." She said. They both sat down. "Whew. Did you want to talk about something?" Maya's mom asked him.
"We don't have to talk. We can just… sit here. Will that be okay?" Shawn asked. It was silent before they both started laughing. "That was great." Katy commented. "Now talk?" "Yeah, would that be better?" Shawn asked. "It's certainly harder, but I found it can be, yeah." Katy answered as she pulled out lip gloss and applied it. "Lip gloss." Shawn stated. "Yeah, I put this own when I don't know what's happening." Katy admitted. "What flavor is that?" he asked her. Cinnamon spice." She answered. "Is that better than kiwi mango?" he asked. "It's different." She answered, putting away her lip gloss. "Is different better?" he asked. "Well, I guess it depends on the life you're having." She answered. "For me, yeah, I'd take different. I'm ready for different. How about you?"
"You hear they're talking about making Pluto a planet again?" Maya asked us. "Yeah." Riley and I answered. "How about that?" We smiled at each other and looked back at Maya's mom and Shawn.