Val Meets the Truth

I don't own Girl Meets World!

"Eyes, look your last. Arms, take your last embrace. And, lips, oh, you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss." Lucas/Romeo leaned over about to kiss Riley/Juliet.

Farkle burst onto the stage "Back off!"

Lucas was very confused "What meanest thou? Spear carrier... who havest no lines." He tried to keep the play going.

"You tried to kiss my woman. This I cannot allow. Prepare to die!" Farkle pointed his fake spear at Lucas/Romeo.

"Farkle, what are you doing? It's 'Romeo and Juliet.'" Lucas finally broke character, getting exasperated.

"Well, now it's 'Romeo and Juliet and Farkle.' I play Farkle." Farkle smiled proudly.

"Dude, I'm supposed to kiss the girl. Shakespeare said." Lucas said, slightly upset.

Farkle turned to the audience and shouted "Who thinks the spear carrier should finally get to kiss Juliet?"

From the cheering crowd Maya stood up and cried "Yeah, you kiss that girl, you crazy spear carrier."

"Hark!" Farkle beckoned the blonde to the stage "You cometh uppeth here and getteth kissed too."

Everyone, led by a laughing Val, cheered louder.

"Thank you, thank you. You're too kind, seriously." Maya went up on stage and lay down next to Riley "How you doing?"

"I just don't understand how we end up in situations like this." Riley sighed.

After the director had come out and stopped the show before Farkle could kiss either of the girls, the actors came out and walked down the hallways to rousing cheers. Everyone got loud cheers except for Farkle.

Still, Farkle shouted "Thank you. Thank you, Farkle Nation!" As he walked down the silent hallway.

"Farkle, come here." Maya ordered.

"Maya, don't. He thinks he was good." Riley pulled her back.

"Yeah, I'm gonna fix that." Maya told Riley.

"But you can't tell him the truth. You'll crush him."

"Oh, I can tell him the truth. It's you who can't tell him the truth because you're afraid." Maya smirked.

"I'm not afraid. I'm nice." Riley pouted.

"You're saying I'm not nice?" Maya prompted.

"No, I'm afraid to say that." Riley said nervously.

"Tell him the truth. You know Farkle." Maya pointed out "You know what will happen if you don't."

Farkle came up to the two girls and Riley squeaked as she turned around to see him right behind her.

"Farkle. You were so- What are the best words?" She tried.

Maya rolled her eyes "He killed the play. Those are the words. Those are the only words. You killed the play. Tell him."

"What? What does she mean?" They could see Farkle's heart breaking on his face.

"She means you killed it, Farkle. Killed It! Showbiz talk" Riley gently punched Farkle's arm.

"I actually I thought I ruined the play. If you would've told me I ruined the play, I would have believed you." Farkle said and Riley raised her finger to speak but Farkle kept talking "I would have been crushed, but I would've believed you."

Riley sighed and said "How could I crush one of the best actors working in middle school today?"

"I'm a good actor? What if I'm better than good? What if I'm great? What if I'm the greatest actor who ever lived, and I never knew it? That would be sad." Farkle pretended to cry "Wah. It's okay, it's okay. I was acting. Thanks, Riley, my public awaits. Hello, everybody!" He ran back to the crowd of students.

"You can't lie to him, Riley. You're gonna break our little Farkle." Maya told her friend.

"Oh, I will not. I didn't do anything. This will all go away." Riley waved it off.

Then Farkle reentered, tap dancing.

Val walked up to the two girls "What did you do?"

"And I think... You broke him." Maya sighed.

In history class the next day, Maya was playing with a locket around her neck, not paying attention to Cory's lesson. Riley noticed.

"Nice locket." She said.

"You likey?" Maya asked playfully.

"If history's about discovering the truth of what happened in the past, we should spend some time finding out what truth is." Cory ignored the conversation between the two.

"Where'd you get the nice locket?" Riley asked.

"Shh, I come here to learn." There was a pause before Riley and Maya burst into giggles.

This made Val look up from her notes and glare silently. Maya stopped laughing.

"All through history, people have suffered consequences for telling the truth." Cory continued.

"Is that real gold?" Riley continued to question her friend.

"Don't know. Doesn't matter."

Cory kept going "They all suffered dearly for having the courage to tell the truth."

This caught Riley's attention "So sometimes it's better not to?"

"But aren't there consequences for that too, sir?" Lucas asked.

"Yes, there are, Mr. Friar. But in my experience with the universe, no matter what you do, the truth always finds a way of coming out." Cory looked directly at a guilty-faced Riley.

The bell rang and everyone gathered their things, Val shoved her notebook in her bag and ran out the door.

"What's with her?" Farkle asked the class at large.

He got a collective shrug from everyone but Riley and Maya who were still having their own conversation as they walked out of the room.

"So... Where'd you get the locket?" Riley asked.

"France." Maya replied.

"You were in France?" Riley asked in awe.

"Si, senor."

"You didn't go to France because if you went to France, you would have brought me back a croissant." Riley said, please with herself.

Maya pulled out a croissant "Bing!"

"Ooh. Piping hot." Riley started to take a bite "Wait a minute. Where did you really get this?"

"I found it on the street." Maya smirked.

"Bleah!" Riley spit out the bite she'd taken "Come on, where'd you get the locket?" She pleaded.

Maya opened her locker "My father sent it to me."

"He did?"

"You don't believe me?"

"Did you just tell me?" Riley asked.

"I just told you." Maya confirmed.

"Then I believe you." Riley nodded.

"So this is over?"

"Like it never happened." Riley smiled "I do, however, have one question for the locket. Where'd you get the Maya?!"

"You don't believe my father sent this to me?" Maya was offended.

Riley sighed "Why don't you just tell me?"

"Why don't you just call me a liar?" Maya shot back.

"Why don't you just tell me the truth?"

"Oh, you think that's important?" Maya got an idea.

"I do."

"Did you think Farkle was good in the play?"

There was a melodramatic gasp from behind them, Farkle was pointing at two people at the end of the hallway. Val was standing with a boy, their arms wrapped around each other.

"Gasp!" Riley and Maya said together.

That night Val was at Annie's working on homework, or so her family thought.

"Shut up, Eric." Val teased her male best friend.

"You shut up, Valencia." Eric Adams smirked.

Val leapt on his back and started pulling gently on his ears "Don't call me that!"

"Get off!" Eric shouted playfully "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Val flopped off him and landed hard on the couch "Wimp." She teased.

"Shut up." Eric smiled "Come on, let's finish this project."

"No." Val whined "Let's not. Let's do something fun."

"Like what?"

"You wanna meet my family?"

"Um...and have your dad throw me out? No thanks."

"He won't throw you out." Val laughed "Okay, he might try and throw you out."

And looking at him, you wouldn't blame a father. Eric Adams was tall and strong. He was also handsome. He was two years older, a freshman in high school, too. But he was nice and smart, he was Annie's cousin and spent a lot of time there so he and Val had gotten to know each other over the years. When he showed up at the dance the week before, Val had been so happy to see him again. He'd been living in LA for the past year and Val had missed him a lot. But he'd moved in with Annie and her family.

"Fine," Eric groaned "I guess I have to eventually."

"You've gotten away with it for three years. It's time." Val pulled him up and dragged him across the hall.

Inside the Matthews residence everyone was eating dinner when Val pushed open the door.

"Hey guys." She greeted "I brought a friend, is it okay if he joins us for dinner?"

"HE?!" Cory freaked.

"Yes, he. This is Eric Adams, he's Annie's cousin." Val explained.

"Can we get back to me now?" Riley asked her father "I want to skip ahead in your truth lesson. Is it okay to tell a little white lie to spare somebody's feelings?"

"No." Cory paused "My feelings?"

"No."

"The always truth." Topanga set the chicken dinner in front of her husband "Well, what do we have here?"

"Chicken." Topanga replied proudly.

"This is why I help cook most of the time." Val whispered to Eric.

"I'll tell you right now, Topanga, this was never a chicken." Cory laughed.

"Why don't you just eat it, Honey. I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of it after." Topanga almost growled.

"Oh, great teller of the truth," Riley said dramatically "please demonstrate how you're going to get out of this one."

Topanga cracked her knuckled ominously.

Cory leaned over to Auggie "Psst, what'd you get?"

"S'ghetti and meatballs." Auggie said with his mouth full.

"Ooh, yum. Yum that! Why this me?! Why yum him?!" Cory asked and his wife moved the chicken closer to him "All right, fine, I'll eat it. Here we go." Cory paused "Have we prayed? Have we prayed as a family? We haven't done that in a while."

"Go ahead, pray." Topanga told him.

"You're gonna need it, Dad." Val sighed and took a bite of the chicken "Hmm, it's getting better, Mom."

Oh, I'll pray. The world is a beautiful place... Full of many beautiful things." Cory looked up "Look what she did to your chicken!"

"Eat your dinner, Honey."

"Okay." Cory looked up again "I'll see you soon." And he took a bite.

"Well, what do you think?" Topanga asked.

"Um, you know, from eating this chicken, I'll tell you right now how this chicken died. It ate this chicken."

"It's much better than my mother's cooking, Mrs. Matthews." Eric said.

"Aw, I like him." Topanga smiled.

"You know, Daddy, sometimes when I don't want to eat something, Mommy feeds it to me like it was an airplane." Auggie told his father then zoomed some spaghetti into his mouth "And I like that."

"That's very sweet, Auggie, but Daddy's a little too old for Mommy to feed him." Cory chuckled.

Val sighed as her mother picked up the whole chicken and made motor noises as she pushed it in her husband's face.

Eric leaned over to her "You're family's interesting."

"Welcome to the my world."

Later that night after Val and Eric had gone back to his place and finished their project, Val came home. Her parents were sitting on the couch waiting for her.

"Where have you been?" Cory asked.

"Across the hall with Eric and Annie. We had a project to work on. You said it was okay after dinner." Val pointed out.

"Well..." Cory spluttered "Don't you have an answer for everything?"

"Dad, relax." Val said and set down her backpack "Nothing is going on between Eric and I. We're just friends. I've known him for years."

"Then why haven't we met him before?" Her mother asked.

"Frankly, he's been a little scared to meet you guys. Don't get me wrong, I love you and I always will. But you can be a little intimidating, Mom." Val shrugged "He's heard tales of the great Amazonian Warrior." She teased.

Mrs. Matthews turned pink "Well, he seems like a nice boy. He was very polite at dinner."

"I don't like him." Cory shook his head rapidly.

"You don't like any boys." Val paused "Except maybe Farkle."

"Ya got me there." Cory sighed "Look, Val, you're young. Stay in Neverland. Don't be tempted by this older man." He said in disgust.

Val burst out laughing "Older man?" She chortled "He's only two years older than I am and he's just a friend. You have nothing to worry about yet, Daddy."

Still giggling, Val went upstairs.

Cory turned to his wife "Yet?!"

The next morning Riley was sitting in her bay window when Maya came in.

"There's a serious pigeon following me." Maya declared.

"How you doing? Hey, here's a new thing. Where'd you get the locket?" Riley pressed.

Maya dodged the question "He's a very sneaky pigeon, but I'm onto him."

"Because it's gold, it's expensive, and my curiosity gets the better of me."

"So I ducked behind the tree to fake out the pigeon. And you know who came over? A squirrel. I didn't say hello though, because I was already in my thing with the pigeon." Maya sat down next to Riley.

"I need to know if you're stealing things." Riley said slowly.

"You don't think my dad sends me stuff?"

"Maya, you've cried to me because your dad doesn't send you stuff." Riley reminded her.

Maya paused "Sometimes I walk around the village and I pass stores and I look in windows at things I know I'll never have. So one day, I saw this sitting in a lost-and-found basket. Do you think it's right that somebody loses something so beautiful and never comes back for it?"

"Who knows?" Riley shrugged "I don't have a criminal mind. I don't think like you people."

"I walked by the window for months. Nobody claimed the locket, okay? It sat there like a kid that has no- like an orphan. So I claimed it. It's mine now." Maya started to fiddle with the locket.

"It's not. You took something that doesn't belong to you." Riley protested.

"How come you don't tell Farkle the truth, but you have no trouble telling me?" Maya asked.

Then a pigeon fluttered onto the windowsill and stared at Maya.

"And you stop judging me." Maya ordered and the bird flew away.

"Hey, my father tells my mother the truth, even when he knows she's gonna shove a chicken in his face." Riley said "And Val brings boys to dinner even though she knows Dad will freak out."

"I'm sorry I missed it."

"Yep, I was thinking about you." Val walked in.

"Same boy we saw you with yesterday?" Maya asked.

"You saw us yesterday?"

"Yep."

"Yeah, that's Eric. He's Annie's cousin, we've been friends for years."

"And now you're dating?" Riley asked.

"No, Riley, we're not dating." Val sighed.

"You know I love you both, right?"

"Thanks." Maya said "I love you too."

"Then why do you want to end up in the slammer?" Riley asked, upset.

"What did I miss?" Val asked, very confused.

"Riley thinks I stole this necklace, but I didn't. It sat in the lost and found for months and no one took it so I did." Maya told Val.

"Here we go." Val sighed.

Riley stood up "You won't do well in the slammer."

"I will so." Maya argued.

"You won't pack right. And you'll forget to bring shower shoes and you'll take somebody else's from the lost-and-found. And I think... You're gonna get toe fungus! And I think you deserve to get toe fungus because they're not your shower shoes." Riley cried "They're not!"

"Riley!" Val said sternly "Calm down."

"That's adorable." Maya giggled.

Riley turned back to her friend and sister "I think you're a thief. And you're a liar." She said to them.

"That's not." Maya said.

"You think I'm afraid to tell people the truth? I'm not, and I now await your praise." Riley held out her arms waiting for a hug but Maya crawled out the window "Maya?"

"You messed up, Riles." Val said.

"But I told her the truth!" Riley said sadly "Dad said to always tell the truth."

"But calling her a thief?" Val cocked an eyebrow "Not the smartest move. And calling me a liar? Definitely a bad decision."

"Why?"

"Because, Riley, to Maya that locket represents something. I don't know what but it's important to her." Val sat down next to her sister "To Maya that locket is something she's never had. Something of value and worth. But that's not all. Usually lockets themselves aren't what's valuable. It's like with people. They can be pretty or handsome or beautiful, but that doesn't really matter. It's what's on the inside that counts."

"What does that mean?" Riley asked.

"Forget it. You'll figure it out."

At school that day Riley walked up to Maya who was standing at her locker.

"I got something to say to you."

"I can't hear you. Baddada dadaa dadaa.." Maya put her fingers in her ears and started to sing.

"I'm talking to you." Riley said loudly.

"Da da dadaa. Whata whata whata, waa waa waa."Maya danced into the bathroom then came back out "And... Go."

"Whether or not you're a thief, or not a thief, or you stole the locket or you didn't, it doesn't belong to you. It belongs to somebody else. And you have to tell the truth about it because you are upsetting the universe. And the universe is going to have the truth come out anyway." Riley told her.

Standing to the side was Val. Lucas walked up to her.

"Do you think she's right?"

"Huh?" Val asked.

"Do you think the universe will have the truth come out no matter what?" Lucas asked.

"That depends." Val shrugged "If you're thinking of the Farkle situation then definitely."

"No, I'm not thinking of Farkle this time." Lucas sighed "Is there someplace quiet we can talk? I need to get something off my chest and everyone says you're a really good listener."

"Sure." Val grabbed his arm "Come on, I know the perfect place."

She led him to a janitor's closet and pushed open the door "Hey, Janitor Harley, can we chat in here for a minute?"

The janitor nodded "Keep it quick though munchkin." And he left.

"How'd you do that?" Lucas asked.

"He's an old family friend." Val shrugged and grabbed two buckets "Take a seat." She sat down on one.

"Okay." Lucas rubbed the back of his neck nervously "So, you know I'm from Texas, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the reason I left, it's not really because my dad's job transferred him here." Lucas sighed.

"Do you wanna tell me about it?" Val asked kindly.

"I have to tell somebody," Lucas said sadly "But can you promise not to tell anyone?"

"Of course. Unless you're planning on doing something dangerous that'll hurt somebody."

"Don't worry about that. I'm never gonna do anything like that again." Lucas smiled.

"Okay, now I think you'd better tell me." Val said "What happened?"

"I had this friend back in Texas, his name was Isiah, Zay. He got in trouble a lot. I had to get him out of trouble. I got in a fight one day. The other kid, well, he wound up in the hospital. I got expelled and was out of school for a year." Lucas explained "My family moved here to get away from it all. But now, I really like Riley but I want to leave my past in the past. Do you think that's possible?"

"With Riley? I don't know. Keep it a secret forever and maybe you could work. But with something like this, I think it's best to tell her. Before anything goes to far." Val said softly.

"So you think I could get away with leaving it behind me?"

"No. You can't get away with something like that. You have to choose to leave it behind. After you do that there is nothing else you can do. If the universe wants the truth to come out, it'll come out. The best thing you can do if that happens is stay strong and remember that it is in the past and you're different now."

"How do you know I'm different?" Lucas asked.

"Let's just say, I'm good at reading people."

That night, Val was sitting on the couch with her father who was reading a cookbook.

"I'm looking at this book. It's a cookbook about chickens." Cory said to his wife, who was in the kitchen.

"Dad." Val warned.

"You wanna do this?" Topanga asked.

"I do. Kiss kiss?" Cory made a kissy face.

Topanga scrunched up her nose and smiled "Nope nope. Wanna see where this goes."

"Me too. So... Topanga, look at all these recipes about chicken with pictures. Fried chicken, Barbecued chicken..." Cory showed her the book.

"Uh-huh, right, got it."

"Orange chicken, Chicken a la king." Cory's mouth started to water.

"Sure, right."

"Chicken Marsala, Teriyaki chicken."

"Great, sure."

"General Tso's chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala!"

"You're point?"

"Well... Topanga, I think you must admit I have been very careful to span the gamut of many international chicken selections." Cory smiled.

"If you stop right now, nothing bad will happen to you."

"Seriously, Dad, stop." Val complained "You're making me hungry."

"Braised chicken..." Cory ignored his wife and daughters warnings.

"Uh-huh. Right, sure."

"Chicken Cordon Bleu, Chicken pot pie."

Topanga turned to her son who was coloring in the kitchen "Auggie, you've been watching us, right?" Auggie nodded "Your thoughts on the subject?"

Auggie got up and patted his father on the shoulder "Good luck."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Val picked up her little brother and took him back to the table "Show me what you drew."

"Look, Honey, it's Auggie's big book of dinosaurs." Cory picked up the little book "Look at that. Wow. Look, and right here on page... Nine is your chicken. It's a pterodactyl. Now it says here it died out over 65 million years ago. That might explain why your chicken was a little dry." Topanga stood up and took her husbands hands "Oh. This is nice. Oh, are we taking a walkie?"

"Yeah, we're taking a walkie. You see, Honey, my truth is that from the moment I met you... I adored you. And there is nothing you could do or say that could ever change that." Topanga smiled.

Cory realized she'd led him out the door "You're locking me out of the house now, aren't you?"

Topanga nodded excitedly "That's right! That's exactly what I'm gonna do!" And she shut the door in his face.

Val was sitting in her room playing with Auggie on the floor when she heard a tap on her window.

"Who do you think that could be?" She asked Auggie playfully.

Val got up and opened the window. Her father crawled in.

"Hi, honey."

"Hi, Daddy." Val smirked "Couldn't get your key to work?"

"Nope."

"That's cause Mom is smarter than all of us combined. In fact..." Val opened the door to reveal Topanga standing there with her arms crossed "Hi, Mom."

"Hi, sweetie."

Cory waved nervously and bolted out the window.

"Thanks for the help, Val." Topanga smiled.

"No problem, you know he's gonna try Riley's room next, right?" Val smirked.

"Yeah, but I'll let him think he's safe for a while. Your sister has a lesson to learn anyways."

"You're so smart, Mommy." Auggie hugged his mother "We're the favorites, right?" He whispered.

"You're certainly the most normal ones." Topanga said as she walked out.

The two sibling played for another few minutes before Auggie stood up.

"I wanna make Daddy some s'ghetti and meatballs."

"You want some help?" Val offered.

"You can make sure I don't burn the building down." Auggie offered.

"Sounds like a plan."

The two walked into Riley's room with the plate of cold spaghetti and meatballs. Val had offered to heat it up, but Auggie wanted to do it all himself.

"Hey, Auggie, is that for me, Buddy?" Cory asked when they entered.

"I made it for you." Auggie smiled.

"He did it all by himself." Val said proudly.

"Oh, Auggie, thank you so much. Thank you. (sits down and looks at the plate) Look at this, ooh. This looks good." Cory took the plate and took a bite "It's- It's cold s'ghetti."

"I know it's better warmer, but I don't know how to do that." Auggie shrugged.

"I offered to help but he wouldn't let me." Val pulled her little brother into a hug.

Cory pulled Auggie away from Val and hugged him too "Auggie, I appreciate that you did anything for me at all."

"You said that very nice. Why didn't you say it that way to Mom?" Auggie asked.

"What? But all I did was tell Mom the truth."

"Then why did you get cold s'ghetti?"

"Whoa." Riley and Maya said together.

"Whoa. Auggie, are you saying the truth doesn't matter as much as how you treat people?" Cory realized.

"Whoa. Auggie, are you saying the truth doesn't matter as much as how you treat people?" Riley asked.

"Auggie, are you saying that the universe pays attention to me?" Maya questioned.

"Do you people realize that I'm only" Auggie held up five fingers "this many?"

Maya gave him a high-five and he ran out of the room. Val stayed put.

"So, Riley, something you wanna say?" Val prompted.

"I'm sorry I called you a thief, Maya." Riley apologized.

Val rolled her eyes "Close enough. Not what I meant, but close enough."

The three girls walked around school for hours looking for Farkle, finally they found him laying facedown on the set of "Romeo and Juliet."

"Farkle, I need to talk to you. I've been looking all over for you." Riley said, running up to him.

Maya jabbed him with the fake spear "Farkle."

"Farkle's gone. He gave up the chess club. He gave up the chemistry club." Farkle moaned.

"What happened?"Riley asked.

"You happened." Farkle sat up "You told me I was good. Well, I just auditioned for the next play."

"Are you gonna be in the next play?" Riley asked hopefully.

"I'm not even allowed to watch the next play."

"I'm sorry you stink." Maya said and Val nudged her sharply in the ribs "Ow!"

"I'm sorry I could never hurt you." Riley said.

"I'm sorry you stink." Maya repeated.

"I heard you!" Farkle sighed.

"Well, it was very important."

"You made me think I was this great actor. You filled me up with confidence that I was really special. You made me think I could go after something totally unrealistic." Farkle stood up and moved towards the girls.

"Farkle..." Riley began.

"Thank you." Farkle leaned in and kissed Riley right on the chin "Mmmm... Mwuah!"

Then he walked away.

"Well... that happened." Val smirked.

"Is it over?" Riley's eyes were squeezed shut.

"Can we talk about this?" Maya asked.

"No." Riley pleaded.

"Because that was your first kiss and it was with Farkle." Val giggled.

"He missed." Riley pointed out.

"Still counts!" Val laughed.

Maya continued for the laughing Val "Now for the rest of your life when people ask you, "Hey, Riley, who was your first kiss?" you're gonna have to say..."

"Eyes, look your last." Lucas walked on stage.

"Oh, yeah!" Riley lay down on the "bed" and folded her arms over her chest.

"Arms, take your last embrace. And, lips, oh, you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss." Lucas smiled.

""Hi." Riley grinned shyly.

"Hi." Lucas grinned back.

"How long you been here?" Riley asked.

Lucas sighed "Yeah, I saw the whole thing. I just can't believe that little guy stole my moment... Again."

Hopefully Riley asked "You thought that was your moment?"

"No."

"Oh." Riley sounded disappointed.

"My moment will be my moment." And Lucas walked away, leaving Riley a smiley, giggly mess.

"How you doing?" Maya lay down next to her best friend.

"I like that we end up in situations like this."

Val walked to the subway with Annie after school that day.

"How's Eric settling in?" She asked.

"He's great. He joined the swim team and the school paper." Annie told her "Is anything going on between the two of you?"

"Annie, no." Val said "I know I had a crush on him when I was little but I'm over it. I also know you love to play matchmaker and I'm telling you to leave it alone."

"But you would be so cute together!"

"Annie..."

"Okay, okay."

Word count: 4763 words
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Love,
The Author