Val Meets Semi-Formal

I don't own Girl Meets World!

Val was chatting with Annie as they walked down the hallway on Val's first day back at school. Heads turned to stare at the girl they hadn't seen in weeks. Whispers erupted in their wake.

"Is that Val?"

"She looks so different!"

"Has anyone told Lucas she's back?"

"Val?!" Farkle's voice echoed above the others "Is that really you?"

"Farkle!" Val cried and flung herself into the genius's arms "Oh, my God, it's so good to see you!"

"You-you're really here? You're really here!" Farkle was stunned.

Lucas came up behind the genius and froze when Val spun the smaller boy around in circles. She stopped when she saw Lucas though.

"V-Val?" Lucas stuttered "What? You're back? You came back?"

"Of course I did." Val smiled "It's good to see your face."

She hugged Lucas and the cowboy lifted her up and spun in a circle holding the girl he cared for in his arms and blinking back the tears that filled his eyes. Neither of them noticed when Maya ran past, chased by Cory, covered in chalk dust.

After a long moment, Annie cleared her throat "As much as I ship you two, and I do ship you two, we've got to get to class."

"She's right." Val gently pulled away, disentangling herself from Lucas "But, let's eat lunch together. I'd love to catch up."

As she allowed Annie to pull her into her father's classroom, Val heard Zay come up behind Lucas and say "Dang, dude, you got it bad."

"Semi-formal coming up." Cory announced "Young men and young women interacting. Mixing in a social situation. So, to avoid any casualties, I thought we could discuss etiquette. Can anyone here tell me what etiquette is?" Maya raised her hand "No, you can't." Cory shook his head.

"Etiquette is treating people politely and with respect." Farkle moved to the front of the classroom and Val joined him "Val and I will demonstrate in a short play we put on before every dance. It's called, 'No.' Miss Matthews, would you do me the great honor of accompanying me to the semi-formal festivities?"

"Thank you for the invitation, but no." Val smiled gently.

They turned to face the class "Etiquette. Thank you." And they retook their seats.

"We'll see you at the holidays for 'A Christmas No.'" Farkle joked.

Cory pulled down the projector screen "Okay, so The school board sent me this film. It's called, 'He Asked Me, He Asked Me, He Really Asked Me.'"

"This is supposed to teach us how to act at the dance?" Lucas asked skeptically.

"They sent it. I'm showing it. You're animals."

"Oh, there's a dance, and you're planning to attend this dance that you never mentioned in my general vicinity, that dance?" Riley smiled sweetly at the boy, trying to gain his attention.

"Oh right, that reminds me, could I talk to you, V-?" Lucas turned to Riley's twin.

"Go on." Riley shut her eyes and held her hand out as if waiting for the Texan to kiss it.

"Psst. Talk after class." Cory said in a stage-whisper.

Riley opened her eyes "Have you no sense of anything?"

"Have you?" Val sighed.

"Nope. Let's watch." Cory pulled out an old film reel "Oh, what's this here? Well, enjoy the old-time picture show."

"Well, if it isn't our old friend, Billy." A peppy, male narrator said "Last time we saw you, Billy, you were teaching us that our bodies go through strange and horrifying changes. Uck. But today, we're here to talk about the biggest night in a young person's life. The semi-formal. Billy's been looking forward to it all year. Isn't that right, Billy?" The boy on the screen did a little dance "Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down, Billy. Because you know who hangs out at dances? Your old friends polio, typhoid, and the devil."

"He's mean." Billy said.

"Sweet Jesus." Val muttered "This is so bad, it's causing me physical pain."

The narrator continued "Now, let's meet your best gal, Sally, who, since you're a gentleman, you asked to the dance at least 10 months in advance."

"Billy gets it." Riley muttered.

Maya rolled her eyes "Billy's dead, and all of his friends are dead too. Except one. No, wait, now he's dead too."

"It does seem like relationships are a little more complex now than they were in the 1950s." Farkle mused.

"Not really, this is a really simplified version. You want to know what real love is like, watch Hamilton." Val joked.

"I just want to be asked to the dance." Riley sighed.

"You wanna go to the dance?" Farkle asked.

"No."

"Oh, you've seen my play. I don't know why I asked you actually, I'm still mad at you."

"Meet Sally. She's a good girl. Sally's dreaming of her handsome prince sweeping her off her feet. Did he ask you, Sally?" The narrator asked.

"He asked me, he asked me! He really asked me!" Sally bounced on the balls of her feet excitedly.

"You and me, Sally. Front of the notebook, baby." Riley pointed at the screen.

"Because everybody knows the semi-formal is the dance that determines the rest of your life." The narrator continued.

"Oh, there's nothing like a beautiful gown that makes you feel like you're in a beautiful gown." Sally gushed.

"What. The. Hell?" Val whispered to Annie.

"How you enjoying the picture show, Sally?" Maya asked Riley who was gazing transfixed at the screen.

"Life is so much simpler in black and white." Riley sighed.

"Look how Billy holds the door open for Sally so she won't develop unsightly arm muscles. Now that's etiquette."

"Oh, my God." Val groaned as she rubbed her temples "This is the worst."

Cory got up and turned off the projector "Yikes. Okay. So, can anyone here tell me if they possibly learned anything from that?"

"Yes." Riley turned in her seat to face Lucas "Time to make some choices, Billy. Simple enough for you, Billy?"

Val had to take a deep calming breath.

There was a knock at the door of the Matthews residence. Cory hurried over to answer it.

"Stand aside, underpants." Uncle Eric strolled through the door.

"Underpants?" Cory asked, offended.

"You're the brother of a Senator now. Security issues." Uncle Eric explained.

Val came down the stairs "Dad, who was at the-? Uncle Eric!"

"Valentine!"

"Valentine?" Val asked as she hugged her Uncle "I thought I was Valentina?"

"It's your codename." Eric giggled and pointed to Cory "He's underpants."

"Underpants!" Cory shouted excitedly.

"Yeah. As a new Senator, I need protection. I'm not sure if you're aware of this, there's a lot of people out there that would like to do me harm." Eric explained.

"And in here." Cory joked.

"Plus," Eric leaned in conspiratorially "Ever since I was elected, some guy's been stalking me."

Cory and Val shared a concerned look. Eric gestured to the door and they all snuck over to peak around the edge.

"He's here!" Eric whispered and a tall man in a dark suit came into the doorway "Oh, he's walking through the oorway-day."

"Agent LaChance, Sir and Ma'am. Secret Service." The man introduced himself "I'm assigned to Senator Matthews' security detail."

"Whew, you had me worried there for a second." Val huffed "Would you like a glass of water or something, Agent LaChance?"

"That would be lovely, thank you."

"You're welcome. You can repay me by never calling me 'ma'am' again." Val laughed.

"Wait, you are?" Eric caught up to the conversation "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I've told you several times, Senator." Agent LaChance sounded very tired of this conversation "I keep saying 'Secret Service,' and you keep saying 'I'll have the hummus.'"

Val snorted as she got the glass of water.

"And I never got my hummus." Eric rolled his eyes.

"I'm not room service, I'm Secret Service."

"I haven't eaten in THREE DAYS!" Uncle Eric shouted.

"Jeez, chill, I think we have some hummus here, would you like that?" Val offered.

"Thank you, Valentine, at least somebody cares about my empty stomach." Eric glared at Agent LaChance.

"I'm sorry you got stuck with him." Cory shrugged helplessly.

"Actually, he's the smartest Senator I've ever worked with."

"Really?" Cory was stunned.

"The bar's not that high, Dad. Remember how dumb Senator Graham was?" Val passed Agent LaChance his water.

"Good point."

"Ask him why he's here..." Agent LaChance said and took a long drink from the glass "Underpants and Valentine."

"I'll play along." Cory nodded "Why are you here?"

Eric looked out into space and recited in a robotic voice "Senate Resolution 328-17 awards a multi-billion dollar natural gas pipeline to either the good company or the evil one. I'm in town to meet with the guy from the evil company. He's going to try to buy my vote." He sneezed and grinned at Cory and Val.

"Can you be bought?" Cory joked.

"I don't know." Uncle Eric shrugged goofily and pulled out his earpiece.

"Eric, is that even connected to anything?" Cory asked.

"This? No, this is candy." Eric put it in his mouth and felt the electric jolt "It's not the candy one! It's not the candy one!"

Val smiled "Just take it out of your mouth." She turned to her father "Now we know where Riley gets that trait."

Riley and Maya walked down the stairs at school towards their lockers.

"You know what I think?" Riley asked "I think he's waiting until the very last minute, and then he's gonna do the big ask."

"Sure he is." Maya scoffed "First there'll be balloons in your locker."

Riley opened her locker for a pile of balloons to fall out "Ooh!"

"Then people will hand you roses until you have a big bouquet." Maya said.

Students started to walk past and hand Riley roses "Ooh!" She squeaked.

"What the?" Maya asked.

"Keep making things happen, Maya!" Riley pleaded.

She slammed her locker door and Cory screamed from inside the classroom where the chalk dust had flown all over him.

"Okay, um, disco ball?" Maya tried.

A disco ball descended and lit the area in soft pink light.

"Music?"

Romantic music started to play.

"Yogi on skates!" Maya shouted.

Yogi skated down the hall.

"Drop a banner! And then Lucas is right there next to you."

Charlie Gardner walked around the corner as the banner dropped "Riley-?"

"Yes, yes!" Riley cried before she looked to see who was asking her "I would love to go to the semi-formal with you!" She looked and her face melted to one of horror.

"Good. I was hoping you would." Charlie said, relieved.

Riley silently walked over to the bench and laid down on it, holding the flowers on her chest.

Maya started to mimic the narrator from the film they watched in class "Meet Riley, a swell gal who finds herself in quite the pickle! What will she do? What will she do? When we last left our hero, she said she'd go to the dance with Charlie Gardner."

"That's me." Charlie smiled.

"Oh, Charlie."

Riley sat up and Charlie moved to sit next to her "I can't believe that you actually said yes. I waited because I was sure Lucas was gonna ask you, but when he didn't, I figured there was a problem. So, I asked you because I think a girl like you deserves to be swept off her feet."

"Uh-oh." Maya muttered.

Riley stood up and walked over to Maya "What do I do?" She asked, not bothering to lower her voice.

"Are you asking me?" Charlie asked "Because if you're asking me, I say you give me a chance."

"Uh-oh." Maya repeated.

"Charlie, I want to thank you for the flowers and the banner and Yogi on skates." Riley said awkwardly.

"Yeah, I had to teach him."

"Ahh!" Yogi shouted and crashed into Val who was walking by with Annie.

"Yogi!" Val gasped as she sat up "Are you alright? What's going on? I thought you didn't know how to skate?"

Yogi sat up too "I don't." He sighed "Charlie Gardner taught me so he could ask Riley to the dance. Why, I couldn't tell you. We're all still mad at her and Maya for what they did to you."

"That's very sweet, Yogi." Val said, getting up "But you don't have to be mad at Riley for me. Though I appreciate the sentiment. And in the case of Charlie Gardner, I think he may be blinded by his crush on Riley."

Yogi laughed and Charlie came over to pick him up.

"Hey, Charlie," Val greeted "Did she say yes?"

"No, she said her parents need her to baby-sit your guys' little brother that night." Charlie said sadly.

"Really?" Val was skeptical, she knew Auggie hadn't wanted anything to do with Riley when Val had returned and, though their father was a chaperone at the dance, Topanga had nothing on that night "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, me too. Thanks for the advice in planning the ask though." Charlie picked up Yogi and carried him off like a princess.

"Anytime." Val joked.

Lucas walked over "Hey." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Hey, Lucas." Val grinned "You said you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah, um, I'll just come right out and say it. Val would you like to go to the semi-formal with me?"

Annie squealed making them both look at her "Oh, sorry." She giggled "You guys are just so cute."

"Thank you, Lucas." Val grinned widely "I would love to go to the dance with you."

"Really?" Lucas smiled "Thanks, Val!"

"Pick me up at seven?"

"Of course. I'll see you then." Lucas walked away with an extra skip in his step and a face-splitting grin plastered on.

Val turned to Annie and they squealed loudly, jumping up and down for a moment before they composed themselves and kept walking to class. Riley and Maya were watching this whole exchange.

"Riles, I'm so sorry." Maya sighed.

Riley's eyes were wet with tears of rage and sadness.

Val was getting ready for the semi-formal in her room. her dress was pink and the pop was bejeweled in intricate patterns.

There was a knock at her bedroom door and Cory opened it a crack "Lucas is here." He called.

"Thanks, Dad." Val got up and opened the door "How do I look?"

"You look amazing, sweetie. You're gonna knock his socks off." Cory kissed the top of her head "I might not be able to let you out of the house."

Val laughed "Don't worry, you'll be at the dance so what could go wrong? We should probably get downstairs before Mom scares him off."

Cory snorted "I think your Mom sent me up here so I wouldn't scare him off. I wouldn't worry too much about her."

Cory led the way downstairs and into the living room. Auggie was sitting on the couch talking to Lucas.

"And if you ever hurt my sister I will hunt you down." He threatened "Got it?"

"Got it." Lucas nodded, pretending to be scared.

"Good." Auggie sat back and crossed his arms.

"Hey, Lucas." Val smiled as she stepped into the room.

Lucas was speechless for a long moment, Val was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen "Um...Hi. You-you look incredible."

"Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself, cowboy." Val teased.

"I, um, I got you a corsage." Lucas held out the small wrist corsage his mother had helped him find.

"Aw, it's beautiful. Thank you, Lucas." Val hugged the Texan and smiled "We should get out of here before Mom gets back with her camera or Dad starts to cry."

"I'm not crying!" Cory sniffled.

"Bye, Dad." Val pulled Auggie into a quick hug "Bye, Augs."

"Bye, Val." Auggie whispered to her then turned to Lucas "Don't forget our little talk."

"You are too cute." Val smiled.

"Don't underestimate me."

"Never."

"How are you getting there?" Cory asked.

"Annie's Dad rented us a limo and we're both going with our dates." Val explained.

"What time will you be back?"

"Well, the dance is over at 10, so 11 at the latest."

"Make sure you stay safe, sweetheart." Cory blinked back tears.

"I will, Dad. Love you! Bye!" Val pulled Lucas out the door and they walked across the hall to Annie's apartment.

The door was flung open and Annie stood there with Zay.

"Zay?" Lucas asked "You asked Annie?"

"Actually, I asked him." Annie corrected "We're just going as friends though."

"Too bad, you guys would be cute together." Val teased.

"And look at you! You guys are so adorable!" Annie laughed, ignoring Val's comment "The limo is already downstairs, let's go."

They rode to the dance, laughing and talking the whole way. Lucas thought about how much easier it was to open up to Val than it was with Riley. Riley always seemed to judge him, like she had when Zay first came and told everyone what had happened. But Val, she just listened, she gave good advice, and she made him feel the butterflies in his stomach that his Mom said she got when she looked at his Dad.

They arrived at the dance and entered the gym. Val pulled them over to the snack table to get cupcakes and sodas. Hanging around nearby was the rejected Charlie Gardner.

"Hey, Charlie." Val smiled "You enjoying the dance?"

"I'd enjoy it more if your sister was here." Charlie laughed "By the way, thanks again for helping me figure out how to ask her."

"You helped Charlie ask Riley out?" Lucas asked, surprised.

"Yeah, Riley might not be the person for you, but there's someone out there for her and Charlie is a good guy who actually does like her. So I thought I'd help him out." Val shrugged "If she didn't want to go with him, she could've just said so."

Riley was at the dance. It was her punishment for lying Charlie Gardner. But, like always, she had Maya by her side.

"Riles, look, big turnout." Maya danced her way over to the punch bowl.

"Good. Maybe there's a chance I won't run into Charlie or Val and Lucas." Maya spun Riley around to see Val, Charlie, and Lucas all right behind her "Oh, this is my punishment. My parents are smart. Hi."

Farkle slid in front of Val "Val, dance?"

"I'd love to."

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no." Maya stepped between them "Val's busy. I'll dance with you."

"That okay with you, Val?" Farkle asked.

"Go ahead, dance with her." Val nodded.

The two danced off.

"I owe you all an apology." Riley said nervously.

"If we didn't know who you really were, Riley, then maybe you would." Val sighed.

"You don't owe me anything." Charlie smiled.

"So, you guys are both just gonna let me off the hook?" Riley asked hopefully.

"Ha! As if." Val snorted.

"Well, then what are you gonna do?" Riley blinked, her eyes wide.

"Well, see, we talked to Charlie," Val said "Because he wanted advice on how to ask you to the dance and I gave him some. The balloons, roses, music, and the disco ball. He added Yogi on skates himself."

"You know what? I gotta give you points for that." Lucas added "That was a good one."

"Thanks, man." Charlie smirked "After I saw you put her on a white horse, I knew I had to bring it."

"This little bromance is adorable but I think Riley has a question." Val pointed to her twin who was waving her hand wildly in the air "Yes, Riley?"

"What is going on here?"

"I really like this guy, Riley." Lucas clapped Charlie on the back "He's alright."

"I wouldn't have helped him if I didn't think he'd treat you right." Val said gently.

"Yeah, new friendships, thanks to you." Charlie grinned.

The trio started to walk off but Riley called "Wait a minute! What do I do here?"

"Oh, well, that's up to you, Riley." Lucas joked.

Charlie gave his trademark quirk of the eyebrow "Yeah, why make it easy for you?"

Val stifled a giggle at her sister's horrified face and led Lucas towards the dance floor but was quickly roped away by none other than Uncle Eric.

"Uncle Eric!" She cried, laughing "Let me go!"

"Never, Valentina!" He squeezed her tightly one more time before he let her go "Who's this pretty man?" He pointed to Lucas.

"That's my date, Lucas. Don't you remember him? He helped with your campaign."

"Sorry, who's this?" A new voice asked.

Val turned to face the man "Evil company?"

"Oh, my God! It's a mini Topanga!"

Val grinned "Thank you. Wait is that your way of saying I'm short?"

"No, just young."

"Valentina, this is my old friend Jack." Eric introduced "I brought him back in time."

"Oh, okay." Val shrugged, deciding to just go with the craziness "I'm Val, nice to meet you Jack."

"You too, Val." Jack smiled and shook her hand.

"Well I think it's long past time we danced, but it was good to see you, Uncle Eric." Val laughed.

"Have fun, Niche."

"Oh, trust me, I will." Val took Lucas's hand and led him to the dance floor.

"Your family's kinda nuts, you know that, right?" Lucas laughed.

"Oh, I do. I heard Auggie threatening you when I came downstairs."

Lucas blushed "Your brother may be small but he can be pretty fierce when it comes to you."

"He's a very important person to me." Val said seriously "But I know you care about him. He told me about how when I went away, you came and told him not to be mad at me. I don't think I've thanked you for that yet."

"You don't have to thank me."

"But I think I do. You made sure that I didn't lose a person who matters to me. And that, I think, is when I realized how much I like you."

They swayed gently to the music.

"And, Lucas?"

"Yeah?"

"I really like you."

"I really like you too."

Word count: 3717 words
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Love,
The Author