"The new world. People who lived their whole lives in a certain place, travel to a new land of new feelings and new opportunities. Having no idea how to behave in this new society," Cory began. His lesson plan had called for a focus on the New World this week which, ironically enough, Riley found herself in.
Riley turned around in her seat while her father was in the middle of his lecture. "Lucas, what did you tell him?" Riley asked paranoid.
Cory often found a way of relating every lesson to what was going on in Riley's life or her friends' lives. She figured that her father must have known about the kiss because she was in a land of new feelings.
"Nothing, I am also uncomfortable," Lucas reassured her. Riley wasn't the only one who wasn't sure how to act since the kiss. Lucas was just as awkward about it as well.
"Wait, Mr. Matthews doesn't know Riley kissed Lucas?" Farkle interjected in a hushed tone. He assumed Cory already knew. This had happened months ago. Farkle was shocked that Cory hadn't found out already, but was confused why it was coming to ahead all these months later.
"No," Maya confirmed.
"So, everything he says is making them uncomfortable?" Farkle asked for clarification.
"Uh-uh," Maya nodded.
"Shall we take advantage of this?" Farkle implored, knowing very well that Maya would be game for some mischief.
"How could we not?" Maya grinned.
"I will begin," Farkle said to Maya before turning his attention to Cory. "So, Mr. Matthews, tell me, after you've had the courage to close your eyes and take the face of the new world in your trembling hand..."
"What are you trying to say, Farkle?" Cory asked, not sure how this directly referenced his lesson.
"Are you supposed to be a couple next? Or what?" Farkle replied, causing Riley and Lucas to move in their seats uncomfortably. Thankfully, Cory was too confused by Farkle's questions to notice.
"Huh?" Cory asked.
"Oh, you don't understand my question? Perhaps my dear friend miss Maya Penelope Hunter could help me out," Farkle suggested. Noticing the death glare Maya sent his way, Farkle realized that he made a mistake.
"Penelope," Lucas reiterated, pleased with the new information he had gained.
"Farkle..." Maya warned. She had explicitly told him and Riley to never mention her middle name to the masses. It was specifically reserved for only her parents to use.
It wasn't that Maya hated her middle name; she simply found it to be embarrassing. The name itself reminded her of a princess, something Maya definitely wasn't.
"It came out. It just came out. It came out. It just came out," Farkle malfunctioned, in hopes to spare himself from Maya's scrutiny.
"Penelope?" Lucas asked. It wasn't a bad middle name, but it obviously embarrassed Maya enough that she didn't want him to know about it. It finally gave Lucas something to through in her face whenever she would make fun of his Texas roots.
"Really, Huckleberry? You want to play with me right now?" Maya threatened. If he wanted to play that game, two could play at that game.
"No," Lucas insisted, knowing Maya would very much bring up the kiss he had with Riley.
"'Cause you've done quite enough, haven't you?" Maya said.
"Maya!" Lucas and Riley protested.
"Mr. Matthews, I think what Farkle is trying to say is once you've kissed, the shores of this new world are so new that I bet your friends from the old world would want to hear about how the new world is, and if you don't tell them, well that's just selfish," Maya said.
Truthfully, Maya was curious and wanted to know about Riley and Lucas' kiss. She herself had yet to kiss anyone and was waiting on the day that Josh would surprise her with one. The closest she had gotten to a real kiss was Farkle making out with her hand the night of the double date.
"What are you trying to say, Penelope?" Cory asked.
Maya scowled Cory's way. He knew just as much as Riley and Farkle never to address her by such. Cory jumped back a little as he felt threatened. "Are you supposed to be a couple next, or what?" Maya implored.
"Alright, what's going on here, guys?" Cory asked, looking straight at Riley and Lucas. If Farkle and Maya were acting weird, then that would leave Lucas and Riley to know why.
"Nothing! Could we just please, for once, read from the book?" Riley suggested, trying not to dwell much longer on the awkward situation.
"'The boy and the girl had no idea of the changes they would soon be facing. Everything was different including their own bodies...'" Maya trailed off reading from her book. Something didn't seem right. "What the..."
"You're reading your health book," Cory pointed out. He grabbed Maya's book and flipped it over to the cover. It was indeed her health book rather than her world civilizations one.
"Word of warning page 73," Maya advised to the class.
"Riley, what is going on here?" Cory questioned, hoping his daughter could explain what exactly was going on.
Riley silently pleaded to Maya for assistance. Despite all the teasing, Riley knew Maya would have her back. She would never purposely expose such a secret to Cory.
"Farkle kissed my hand," Maya huffed, taking the heat off Lucas and Riley momentarily.
Not expecting that answer, Cory cocked his head is surprise and confusion. If Shawn were here he would be acting the same way. Neither would have presumed that Maya would have allowed Farkle to go that far.
"You did?" Cory asked.
"It was glorious," Farkle added, remembering his kiss with Maya's hand. The kiss was a spur of the moment decision. He only did it once he saw Riley and Lucas kiss. It was intended to be for Maya's mouth, but her hand had stopped him in the process.
"It was. I went home and questioned everything," Maya commented. Between Josh calling her gorgeous and Farkle kissing her hand, it shaped up to be one interesting night.
"Okay, and where were you while all of this hand kissing was going on?" Cory asked his daughter. If Farkle was off with Maya, then where was Riley? He hoped it wasn't with Lucas doing something similar.
"Nowhere, with no one doin' nothing with nobody," Riley insisted.
"So, what's the next thing you guys are supposed to do?" Farkle asked Lucas.
Somehow, the group had been able to make it through the rest of Cory's class without another hiccup. However, once class was dismissed, the students rushed out into the hall and Riley and Maya were separated from Lucas and Farkle by a bunch of their female classmates. Thus leaving Farkle and Lucas to ponder what everything meant together.
"Supposed to do? What are there? Rules?" Lucas asked. He had never been in a relationship before. This was all new to him.
"I don't know. But I don't see how you can just kiss someone and not be with them after," Farkle said. He reached into his pocket and grabbed the ring he'd been holding onto for quite sometime. "I only kissed Maya's hand, and then I got her this engagement ring right after we got off the subway."
Lucas' eyes almost popped out of socket at the mere sight of the ring. It was not some twenty-five cent gumball machine ring, it was an actual engagement ring. A large one, too.
"Oh my gosh, Farkle, how much was that?" Lucas asked, examining the ring in Farkle's hands.
"78,000. But, I got it for free."
"How?"
"Because that's the ring my mom keeps throwing at my father. I had a replica made in the meantime, so I got to work fast." It had been a few months and Farkle's mother still hadn't noticed that the ring on her finger was not even her original ring. Although, she had made a slight comment here and there.
Meanwhile, Riley was getting hounded by the girls in her history class. They all wanted to know the details and get to the bottom of whether or not Lucas and Riley kissed. Riley refused to give away any information, but Maya, on the other hand, had helped the girls' imagination's run rampant. Maya promised Riley that she wouldn't say anything to Cory, but Riley never mentioned anything about classmates.
Two of their classmates, Sarah and Darby, kept pushing for more information, which Maya did provide. However, they were demanding to know where Riley stood in her relationship with Lucas. Riley couldn't provide an answer. She didn't even know herself.
Whisking Maya away from the crowd, Riley and Maya approached the boys. Determined to find out what her and Lucas were and with peer pressure coursing through her veins, Riley took matters into her own hands.
"What are we?" Riley questioned politely. She didn't want to sound too aggressive, she was simply curious. If she knew where they stood, she assumed life would be easier. "Are we boyfriend and girlfriend?"
"Are we?" Lucas asked. Was that what Riley thought? They were friends all of last year, but now they kissed. And friends don't kiss. So did that mean they were dating?
"I don't know, you wanna?" Riley suggested.
"I don't know. You think, maybe?" Lucas said
"Sure," Riley agreed. Since Maya was by her side the entire time, Riley pulled Maya aside from the boys momentarily. "What just happened? Do I have my first boyfriend?"
"I don't know, what just happened?" Maya asked. She had watched the exchange and was just as confused as Riley. Though she had not dated, Maya knew that wasn't the way to approach a relationship. At least, that's what her father thought her.
Shawn had thought Maya about the ins and outs of dating. How to act and what to look out for. Shawn's main worry was that Maya would get tangled up with someone like his younger self. He knew he was kind of a player and went from girl to girl, so he made sure to drill into Maya's head not to fall for such a boy.
"What do we do now?" Riley asked.
"You go on a date after school. You sit there and look at each other all stupid," Maya said. She pushed Riley closer to Lucas as they awkwardly stared into each other's eyes.
This was going to be harder than it looked, Maya figured. She would need reinforcements.
"What are we even doing here?" Shawn asked his wife whilst taking a sip of his coffee.
"I work here," Katy pointed out, wiping down the counter. "You, my dear husband, are here because Maya had asked you to keep a watchful eye on Riley and Lucas."
"Isn't that what Josh is here for?" Shawn asked, nudging the teen boy beside him.
Maya had roped Josh and Shawn into supervising Riley and Lucas' date without either party knowing they were being supervised. There was no way she was going to let those two go alone. They could barely formulate a sentence to one another earlier in the day. Plus, it wasn't like Maya could go herself; that would be too obvious.
Shawn was always at Topanga's because Katy had started working there, so his daily visits to the Nighthawk Diner switched with Katy's new place of employment. Josh, on the other hand, occasionally bused tables for his mom if she was strapped on workers, so Josh was used to hanging around the shop.
It just took was a little sweet talking and convincing on Maya's part and Josh and Shawn fell right into place. All they need to do was make sure neither Riley nor Lucas made a fool out of themselves while also making sure word did not get back to Cory or Topanga. The last thing those two needed was the meddling Matthews parents. Josh and Shawn were there in case either parent would randomly show up.
"I don't know why it's so hard for us to talk all of a sudden," Riley commented. In the past, her and Lucas never had a problem talking. She looked back fondly at that night in the library where that's all her and Lucas did. They just sat and talked for hours.
Riley gazed around at her mother's new place. The bones of Svorski's were still in place but its updated, hipster decor attracted many high school and NYU students. The students seemed so comfortable and chatty, something Riley was not at the present moment.
"It's not like we've changed," Lucas said. They were still the same people, yet it seemed like everything was different.
"We're boyfriend and girlfriend now." Riley felt like those two words had changed everything. They held more meaning than boy-friend and girl-friend.
"Yeah but those are just words, Riley."
"Words don't change people."
"Everyone, I would like to introduce you to the new Mrs. Farkle Minkus," Farkle announced, walking into Topanga's with Maya attached at his arm while she showed off her engagement ring. The commotion caused everyone in Topanga's to turn around, much to the confused faces of Katy, Shawn, and Josh.
"You said yes?" Lucas asked. Maya seemed pretty uninterested in Farkle romantically, it was shocking that she accepted the proposal.
"Goodbye Maya Penelope Hunter, hello, Mrs. Farkle Minkus," Maya said, flaunting her ring to Riley. She really didn't want to interrupt Riley and Lucas on their date, but Farkle had to give her this huge ring that she could not refuse.
Katy, the ever-so-concerned mother, ran over from behind the counter to investigate and inspected the ring for herself. It was definitely real. And gave her slight ring envy. No wonder Maya was so enamored by it.
"All this time, I've been trying to love and appreciate her, but all it took was this big, hunking rock," Farkle explained, maybe he was going about girls all wrong. He made a mental note that materialism went far with women. Who would have thought?
"They put one of these in front of our face, and we get hypnotized by the sparkles," Maya commented, captivated by the ring.
"Wait, you only said yes because of the ring? It had nothing to do with me?" Farkle realized.
"Farkle, sweetie, Maya cannot accept this," Katy said, trying to pry the ring off of Maya's hand which proved to be a daunting task. Maya was like Gollum. "Shawn!"
"You're right," Farkle acknowledged, he knew he was forgetting something. He had put in so much effort to convince the Matthews to take Riley on a date, which had ended up being with Maya, that he hadn't thought of doing the same with the Hunters. "Mr. and Mrs. Hunter, I would like permission to marry your daughter."
Shawn and Katy looked incredulously at the Farkle. Him not asking for their permission was not the problem. The kids were thirteen going on fourteen. And by the look and size of that ring, it didn't even belong to Farkle.
"That isn't the issue," Shawn said. Although, in the future he expected that any man who was interested in his daughter get his permission first. "Our problem is that you two are only thirteen. And I hate to say this, but Maya does not-"
Maya stomped on her father's foot causing him to yelp in pain. There was now way she would allow Shawn's comment to jeopardize her owning the ring.
Katy rushed to his aid and sat him down at a nearby chair. "Josh, could you please get some ice from the back?" Katy asked. Josh nodded and rushed into the back room in search of ice.
"All right, Farkle, you're a scientist, let's do an experiment," Maya began, she slipped the ring off her finger and handed it back to Farkle. "Ask me without the ring."
"Would you marry me?" Farkle asked, hiding the ring from sight.
"Die. Now ask me with the ring."
"Would you marry me?" This time Farkle pulled out the ring and Maya's eyes lit up with excitement.She snatched the ring and slipped it back onto her finger.
"I love you so much." Although that love was purely directed towards the ring rather than Farkle. Farkle didn't care, those words were all it took for him to believe her.
"I believe you."
"Riley," Maya turned to her friend, avoiding direct contact with the ring. The ring had mystical powers that influenced her every decision. "I'm hypnotized, you need to protect me."
"Protect you from what, Maya?" Riley asked.
"Relationships are supposed to be about two people who make the choice to come together by themselves. Of their own free will at the right point in time," Maya explained. She knew what she was doing was wrong, but the ring was so big and enchanting. She needed someone to snap her out of it.
"Aunt Katy, where do you want the ice?" Josh asked, carrying some ice out.
"Bring it here, Josh," Katy instructed, motioning Josh over to her.
Josh handed Katy the ice to apply on Shawn's foot and he glanced over at the four kids. He couldn't help but look over to see how a ring could cause such a commotion. "Wow, Maya," Josh commented. "That's some ring you got."
At that moment, a lightbulb went off in Riley's head. If Maya was hypnotized by the ring like she suggested, then maybe something or someone could snap her out of it. And as Maya's best friend, Riley had to protect her. "Josh, compliment her," Riley insisted.
"What?" Josh questioned.
"Just do it," Riley insisted.
"Uh...Maya your hair is very nice," Josh stumbled. Maya seemed unaffected by his words and was still laser-focused on the ring.
"Call her gorgeous, she likes that," Riley said.
"Riley, what is the point of this?" Lucas asked, not exactly following what his girlfriend of five minutes was doing.
"Maya asked me to protect her and that's what I'm doing," Riley replied. Josh rolled his eyes. He really didn't want to do this, but Riley flashed her doe eyes at him. A trick her mother had taught her years ago. "Josh, please. For Maya."
"Riley!" Farkle scolded, knowing that the power of the ring would diminish.
"Josh, just do it so I can get home," Shawn complained. He didn't want to be around these teenagers any longer. Shawn simply wanted to have a nice cup of coffee with his wife, instead he got roped into a scheme and engagement announcement.
At the insistence of his uncle and sister, Josh gave in. "Gorgeous," Josh began softly, knowing very well that would get a reaction from Maya. He hated the way he had sounded; it was so cheesy. Maya's eyes fluttered to Josh at the comment. "Why don't you come over here and give me the ring?"
Maya ripped the ring off her finger immediately and threw it behind the counter. Farkle raced after the ring. If it was no use to Maya anymore, then he should probably return it to his mother. She was starting to get suspicious of the replica he had made.
Maya jumped on Josh's back and he almost stumbled to the ground at the surprise attack. "I should have known you would be jealous," Maya smiled. "So where we going, Boing?"
"You are going home," Shawn insisted, trying to stand to his feet. It appeared that him and Maya would have to rehash their conversation about guys later tonight. He did not account for the materialism of it all. "Josh, would you help me?"
"Yeah, yeah," Josh agreed. He followed Shawn out of Topanga's with Maya on his back. There was no way she would easily relinquish her grip off him. Josh turned to Riley before his departure out the front door. "You so owe me."
Riley smiled at her brother and watched as he left with Shawn before returning to her conversation with Lucas. "I had a wonderful time," Riley said.
"You're welcome, Riley," Lucas smiled. "I also had a wonderful time as well."
They stood awkwardly, not sure how to progress the conversation further. Katy, who had been witness to the awkwardness since they entered Topanga's, decided to step in. She couldn't bear to watch this go on any longer.
"Uh, what are you kids doing? You guys look really awkward and stiff. Everybody pressuring you to be something you're not ready for?" Katy asked. The teens nodded in agreement. Katy was aware that this date was neither Lucas' nor Riley's idea. Peer pressure at this age was ever present. She was even subjected to it once or twice. "You two are a part of the best group of friends I have ever seen. And if you're going to let some stupid, outside pressure hurt that, then you're not to get anywhere. Remember, relationships are supposed to be about two people who make the choice to come together by themselves. Of their own free will at the right point in time."
"Thanks, Aunt Katy," Riley smiled. She rarely spent much one-on-one time with Maya's mother despite Katy being a second mother to her. She was always working at the diner, but now with her at Topanga's and closer to the action, it gave Katy the opportunity to be more involved like her parents.
"Anytime, Riley," Katy assured, rubbing Riley on the shoulder. She glanced out the window and noticed the struggle that was unfolding outside Topanga's. Shawn was unsuccessfully trying to rip Maya off of Josh's back as Maya clung on for dear life while Josh was trying to swing her off. "I better go check on that troublesome daughter of mine." Katy excused herself from the teens and went to help Josh and Shawn.
"Lucas?" Riley asked, getting Lucas' attention.
"I really like you, Riley," Lucas admitted. He really did like her, but maybe this relationship thing was too much for them. "We always have such a great time together."
"We should break up," Riley suggested.
"We should break up right now," Lucas agreed.
"This has been my longest relationship." It was in fact her only relationship, but even though it only lasted a matter of minutes, she would never forget her time spent with Lucas as his girlfriend. Riley was sentimental like that.
"Alright, so the pressure's off. We're friends now. And now we can just talk."
"What do you want to talk about?" There was nothing holding either of them back from being themselves anymore. Therefore, they should be able to get back into the swing of things, right? "What do you talk about when you're with your friends?"
"Well, when I'm with my friends, we usually talk about sports," Lucas admitted. "You know anything about sports?" Riley shook her head. "No? Any sports? Like...What about basketball? You know anything about basketball?"
"Yeah..." Riley trailed, being slightly timid.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Maybe." Riley paused. She didn't know much about basketball, but she knew about the Knicks. "Well, we're in New York, so obviously, my favorite team are the Knicks. And you know, this may not be our best year but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter because we have Melo, and we have Phil Jackson, and that's all that counts. We shouldn't have traded J.R. Smith! And at the end of the day, you know what, it's not our best season. We have a terrible record, we're the worst in the NBA! I am at Madison Square Garden, I see all these fake fans just jumping onto bandwagons like the heat or something like that. And you know what? That is not what a true fan is! If you're gonna be in the garden, you better represent the Knicks!" Riley became impassioned by the end of her speech. Neither Josh nor Auggie were huge basketball fans. It was something her dad and her did together like the Cyclone. Though she couldn't play, she cared an awful much about the team, but otherwise she was clueless when it came to other teams. "I don't know that much obviously."
Lucas grinned, "I really like you, Riley."