Chapter Thirty-Three: Girl Meets Hurricane
Maya, Riley, Shawn, dad, and I were sitting in Topanga's bonding. Shawn and Maya were playing around with each other laughing. "They're so cute together!" Riley and I exclaimed. "We're cute together, Riley and Caroline." dad told us. He picked up a piece of cake with a fork and flew it towards Riley. When that doesn't work he does it to me. "What are you doing?" we asked him. "Why do they shove cake and we don't shove cake? Riley? Caroline? Is it over between us?" dad questioned. "It's not us, dad. It's you." we told him. "Okay! Evening over!" dad exclaimed. "Hey!" Maya and Shawn exclaimed in protest.
"Did you girls do your homework?" dad asked us. "I did excellent work." Riley and I said. "I also did excellent work." Maya lied. "One of us is completely lying." I said. "Can you guess who?" Maya asked. "Give them a hint." Riley told Maya. "You guys need a hint?" Maya asked. "No." dad and Shawn answered. "You know, a little discipline isn't bad, Maya." dad told her. "Oh, thanks, Mr. Matthews. I'll ponder on that." Maya replied and Riley moved her head around. "I'm sorry, what?" Shawn asked and RIley did it again. "Yeah. Just because you do the same weird gesture twice doesn't mean I get it."
"You know, this is usually the part of the evening when people give out fatherly advice." Riley said. "Oh!" Shawn laughed as he slowly stood up. "No! No, it's not my place." "Go ahead. What advice you got for me. I can take it." Maya told him. "Oh, come on! We were having such a good evening. Can't we just leave it at that?" he asked. "What's the matter?" Maya asked as she stood up. "Boom!" she said as she punched Shawn. "Oh!" he said. "You don't think I can take it? Go ahead." She punches him again. "Ping! Go ahead." She punches him again. "Pong!" And again. "Ka-blam!" She continues to punch Shawn. "Come on! Let's do this! Tell me to do my homework. Maybe I will just do it. You don't even know it. Come on! Let's do this."
Dad laughed at the scene in front of us and asked, "Why don't you ever do something all cute like that?" Riley and I shared a look. "Okay!" Riley exclaimed before she punched dad really hard. "Pow!" "Ow!" dad exclaimed as he fell to the floor. "Come on. You got something for me? Out with it. I dare you." Maya told Shawn. "No. No, no. I have this wonderful instinct for too far and we have arrived." mom butted in. "There is nothing he could say that would bother me." Maya said. "It's not going to happen." Shawn told her. Maya started to mimic a chicken clucking. "Oh, right, right. Because chicken noises work on a grown man." "Cluck! Cluck! I'm a chicken! Cluck!" Riley said, imitating a chicken. "Yeah, I'm not doing that." I stated.
"All right. You want one piece of fatherly advice?" Shawn asked. "And here comes the end of everything." mom said. "Sure, give it your best shot." Maya told Shawn. "Oh, how bad could it be?" Katy asked. "I think you should dress differently." Shawn told Maya. She looked stunned at what he said and I could join in on that because I was shocked Shawn said that too. "What did you just say to me?" Maya asked. "Oh. You see… You asked me for advice. I told you… but you pushed." Shawn tried to explain and Maya looked like she was about to cry. "Are you crying?" he asked and Maya nodded. "I made you cry? Maya, you asked me for advice and I just told you how I was feeling. Why are you crying?"
"Because no one's ever cared enough to say that to me." Maya answered before she hugged him. "Well, now I would take exception to that, but wow, I like where this is going." Katy said. By now Maya is sobbing while still hugging Shawn. "Make it stop/ Can we make it stop? How do I make it stop?" Shawn asked, but Maya was still crying. "How 'bout I buy you some new clothes?" he suggested and Maya stopped crying. "Okay." Riley stated as she leaned on dad and pretended to cry. "You're right. Maybe we should be more like them. Now you say I get new clothes." "You had your chance, Riley." dad told her. "Pow!" RIley exclaimed as she pushed dad harder. "I knew that wasn't going to work." I told her. "Worth the effort." she replied and I nodded in agreement.
The next day Shawn, Maya, Riley, dad, and I were at Demolition. RIley and I were helping Maya with deciding what she was going to wear. Once Maya was ready Riley and I opened the curtain. "Gentlemen, may we now present the new and definitely improved Miss Maya Hart." Riley announced. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on out. Let's see what you put together." Shawn said and Maya came out of the dressing room wearing a nice black dress. Shawn smiles at Maya before he sits down in the chair. Dad was about to say something, but Shawn cut him off. "I know."
"Do you like it?" Maya asked him. Shawn stammered for a while before he said, "Wow, look at you." Maya walked over to Shawn. "Yeah, this might be my favorite day ever." dad stated. "Shawn, you really don't have to do this." Maya told him. "I want to. I want to be responsible for this, if you'll let me." Shawn told her. "Thank you. No one's ever done anything like this for me before." Maya thanked him. "You're welcome. Now, pick something else out and go back into the dressing room and be happy and come out with that face on." Shawn told her. While they continued to talk I was looking around and I found this cute top and skirt. I went into one of the dressing rooms and tried it on.
Somehow I stepped out at the same time as Riley who was also wearing a different outfit. "No!" dad exclaimed. "But me face!" Riley replied. "No!" he repeated. "But I love you." Riley told him. "No!" dad repeated. "I'll teach you that next." Then dad looked at me. "That meant you too, Caroline." "But I have my own money." I told him. "Where did you get money from?" he asked me. "Where did you get your money from?" I retorted. "Good point." dad said. I walked back into the dressing room and tried on the other outfits I had put together.
We walked into Topanga's after our shopping trip. Riley was a little upset that I was able to get clothes, but she thought that dad was paying for them. That was until I pulled money out of my wallet. I was wearing the outfit I had on before we went shopping, because I was going to save the outfit with the blouse and skirt for something more important. Like if Lucas finally takes me on a second date. As Shawn walked in he said, "I went shopping for girls clothes and had a good time. What is happening to me?"
"What do you think?" Maya asked. "Wow! New look, Maya. You look great." mom complimented her. "You look beautiful baby girl." Katy told her. "Thanks, mom." Maya replied. "Can I have your t-shirt with the big tongue? I like that big tongue." Auggie said then he stuck his tongue out. "Blah!" "Took you long enough." I told RIley as we walked in with all of the bags and sat down placing them on the table.. "Cory!" mom said when she saw the amount of bags we were carrying. "No! It's not hers. I got her nothing." dad said pointing at Riley. "What about our other daughter?" mom asked him. "She bought that with her own money." dad said. Mom looked at me, "We will talk about that later." And I nodded.
"Shawn! That's all for Maya? It's too much." Katy said, drawing in everyone's attention. "Katy, why do you work so much?" Shawn asked her. "To keep the lights on, Shawn." Katy answered. "Katy, why do you work so hard?" Shawn repeated. "Because I have a daughter to take care of." Katy answered, honestly. "There you go and I just have me. I travel light. I just need a cup of coffee and a sandwich, 'cause of that I've been able to put a little money away. "How much money?" dad asked him. Shawn pointed to all of Maya's Demolition bag, "That much right there and now it's all gone. I like taking care of somebody besides me." Katy grabbed Shawn and pulled him away to talk privately. We waited for them to finish.
"Hey. You. Who's your mama?" Shawn asked Maya. Maya pointed to her mom, "That pretty blonde lady." "She does all the heavy lifting. I got to do something fun." Shawn said. He walked over to Katy and put an arm around her shoulder. "This stuff comes from me and her. Don't ever forget that." "I won't." Maya told him. "Thanks mom." she said before giving Katy a hug. "What's this for?" I heard dad ask mom. "Nothing. Everything." she answered. Riley picked up Maya's bags and I picked up mine and we walked to the door. "You know, Maya, you can borrow any of my clothes whenever you want." Riley told our best friend. "Thanks." She thanked my sister before saying, "You can never touch any of this stuff."
"What about me?" I asked. Maya looked into my bags before saying, "As long as I can borrow your clothes you can borrow mine." "What?!" Riley exclaimed in disbelief. "No offense, Riles, but I would rather wear Caroline's clothes than yours." Maya told her. "Yeah, me too." Riley agreed and we all laughed as we walked back to our apartment.
Riley and I were sitting in the bay window as Maya was trying on some of her new clothes. I decided that I was going to try on my new clothes later and that this should just be about Maya. "It isn't about the clothes, you know? It's that someone wanted to do this for me." Maya explained to us. "Of course it isn't about the clothes." I started. "It's about you." Riley finished. Maya walked out of Riley's closet, showing us one of her outfits. "Love!" Riley cheered. "Approved." I said. "Look at me." Maya stated. "Yay!" Riley cheered.
"I need to tell you guys something." Maya told us. "Anything." Riley and I said. "And I don't want you to react." Maya continued. "I won't." Riley and I said. Maya once again walked out of the closet with a different outfit on. "Because if you react too big, you're going to jinx it. Please don't jinx it." Maya told us. "Love it!" Riley cheered. "It looks good on you." I told her. "I know!" Maya exclaimed. "Yay!" Riley cheered again. "I think there's a chance I might've been living life all wrong. And I think, maybe you've been right." Maya told us. "When am I not?" I asked. "I like when I'm right. What am I right about?" Riley asked.
"Don't get all excited, okay?" Maya asked, directing it more towards Riley than to me. "I promise not to be excited!" Riley excitedly promised. Maya walked out of Riley's closet with another outfit on. "I used to think that how was for suckers." she told us. "Love it!" Riley and I exclaimed. "This is me now!" Maya stated. "Yay!" Riley cheered.
"But maybe if you don't hope for too much, but let yourself hope for one thing, it might actually happen. Today was a real good day. I'm going to hope for one more and we'll see what comes. Please don't get excited and jinx it." Maya told us. Riley was having a hard time containing her emotions while I was just shaking my head at her. "Okay, let it out." Maya told her. "Love it!" Riley shouted. "Me, too!" Maya shouted."Yay!" Riley cheered and she tried to grab Maya's jacket. "No." Maya told her. "Okay." Riley said.
The next day we were sitting in class while dad was teaching us about Hurricane Katrina. "It came out of nowhere. The winds were blowing at 175 miles an hour. A "Category 5" hurricane. There is no category six. Who knows what a levee is?" dad asked.I raised my hand and dad called on me, "Caroline." "It's like a hill or dam that's supposed to keep water out." I said. ""Supposed to." So we build these protections to keep out the elements, but sometimes the storm is stronger than we are. Who knows anything about New Orleans geography?" Dad asked. Farkle raised his hand. "Farkle."
"It's below sea level." Farkle answered. "So where does the floodwater go?" dad asked. "Down. Right into the city." Farkle answered. "And what's the result?" dad asked and Lucas raised his hand. "Lucas." "Parish after Parish was destroyed. People lost their homes. People lost everything." Lucas explained. "Lucas went there from Texas." I commented. "I told you that?" Lucas asked me. "Nope." I replied.
"You know, when it ended, there were jazz bands playing on the street. Other people came out of what was left of their houses to dance. You know what they do in New Orleans? They have Hurricane barbecues. Hurricane picnica. Their city drowned but they still celebrated each other." Lucas explained. "Thank you, Lucas. So, their homes are gone. They have no power. And they live in a city where even geography tells them it's a sucker's bet to stay. What do they do? Maya, raise you hand." dad tells her.
"I don't know the answer." she said. "Stop hiding out in my class, Maya. You know the answer. What did they do?" dad asked again. "They stayed and they believed things would get better. And they did. They got better." Maya said. "How come?" dad questioned. "Because they had hope." Maya answered. "New Orleans is one of my favorite cities in the world. Even in devastation, they didn't miss a Mardi Gras. The clothes look nice, Maya. But it's the hope that looks great on you." dad told her.
Maya, Riley, and I were watching Shawn and Katy from outside the bakery window. Katy had just told Shawn about her ex-husband. "Kermit?" Riley and I questioned. "Topanga?" Maya questioned. "We're even." I told her. "Seems like it's going pretty good in there." Riley pointed out. "I'm hoping." Maya said. I noticed dad running into the bakery.
"Knock! Knock!" dad shouted. "Who's there?" Shawn asked. "The only person who could change your life from things are going pretty good right now to… AHHH!" dad shouted. "The only person who could change my life from things are going pretty good right now to…" Shawn trailed off. "AHHH!" dad shouted. "Who?" Shawn asked. I saw a pretty lady walk into the bakery.
"Hi." she said. "Angela. Boy. Look at you. You're here." Shawn said. "I need to talk to you." Angela told Shawn. She and Shawn hug while dad just stood there. "Awkward. I now pronounce you awkward." dad told them then turned to Angela. "Hey! Remember in high school and," dad pointed to Shawn, "he found your purse? Remember he got handcuffed in the boathouse? That was a good one. Remember you and him for a while then you went away? Let me show you what that looked like." Dad raced out of the door and he joined us.
"Well, he's calmed down." Angela commented. "Hi, Angela. I'm Katy. Shawn speaks highly of you." Katy said as she shook hands with Angela. "Well, I think highly of him." Angela told her. "You know what? So do I. Well, I'm going to leave you two alone." Katy said, she walked out of the door and joined us outside. "I really missed you." Angela admitted to Shawn. "Yeah? You've got a funny way of letting someone know." Shawn told her.
"She seems nice. She's very pretty." Maya said as we turned back around and sat down on the bench. "I'm sorry, Maya." Riley apologized and I looked at her in confusion. "For what?" Maya asked her. "Yeah, RIley, what do you have to be sorry about?" I asked her. "It's my fault. You hope for things and you get smashed. You're right. I'm wrong. I'm sorry." Riley explained.
"Everything will turn out the way it should." Maya told her. "How can you say that? That's Angela. She's going to take him away." Riley said. "I'm not giving up hope yet." Maya told her. "Why not?" Riley and I both asked. "I just got it." Maya answered. RIley got up and went into the bakery for some reason, I wasn't really paying attention because my phone rang.
I walked away from the bakery and answered my phone, "Hello?" "Caroline is this you?" the voice asked and I instantly recognized that voice. It was Mrs. Marcobs, Jenna's mom. "Yeah it's me." I answered. "Oh, I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to reach you." she said.
"May I ask why you are calling?" I asked. "It's about Jenna." she stated. I felt pain in my heart. "What about her?" I asked. "Well, you know how we haven't gone into her room?" she questioned. "I didn't know that." I told her.
"We haven't and we've decided that we better do it sooner than later." she explained to me. "Okay." I said, not really understanding what this had to do to me. "So I was wondering if you would come over and help us with her room?" She asked. "I'm pretty sure there is some stuff that Jenna would want you to have." "I don't know if that's a good idea." I told her. "Caroline, I understand that it was hard on you, but this might be just what you need." she said. "I know that, but I don't want to think about her because I know that if I go into her room I might break down." I explained.
"Okay, but just so you know we will wait until you are ready to do it." she said. "Also Caroline, I know what Chase said to you, but I want you to know that I don't think that you are the cause of what happened to Jenna. You were her best friend and she always talked about you. Whenever she would call home she would never forget to talk about you. I remember the first time she called home most of the call all she did was talk about you." By now I could feel tears streaming down my face.
"I miss her so much." I cried. "I know you do. This is why I think going into her room might help you." Mrs. Marcobs said. "Just think about it and call me when you are ready." "Okay." I replied. "Bye." she said. "Bye." I said before I hanged up the phone. I tried to compose myself before walking back over to everyone.
We were all at Demolition. Dad was going to buy mom something. "How's it going in there, super spy?" dad asked Auggie. "It's bad, man. I think she's up to about a million dollars." Auggie said. A worried expression found its way on dad's face. Mom walked out of the dressing with the clothes she was trying on folded around her arm. "I don't really like any of it." she said. "Who's better than you?" dad laughed.
"Hey, can I buy you an outfit?" Shawn asked Katy. "He's really good at it." Maya told her mom. "No, no, you can't buy me anything. We hardly know each other." Katy told Shawn. "Are you asking me out on a date?" Shawn asked with a chuckle. "Yeah." Katy answered. "Wait. What? Seriously? Right here in front of everybody?" Shawn questioned. "Sure. It would be real bad for me if you said no." Katy answered.
"Uncle Shawn?" Riley and I called out. "Yeah?" he answered. "This is, like, a real important moment in your life." we told him. "Yeah, I think it is." he agreed. "How are you gonna handle this, Ace?" Maya asked him. We wanted because Shawn was saying anything. "You gonna leave me hangin' or what?" Katy asked. Once again we had to wait for Shawn to say something. "Maya? Would it be okay with you if I-" Shawn started. I looked at Maya and saw that she was struggling to contain her emotions. "Okay. Let it out." Riley and I told her. "Yay!" Maya cheered loudly. "Katy, I- I would love to go on a date with you, Thanks for asking." Shawn told Katy.