Val Meets Belief

I don't own Girl Meets World!

Val, Annie, and Maya walked down the hall towards their lockers, chatting idly. Riley skipped down the stairs, freezing when she saw the three girls before she decided to insert herself in their conversation.

"You know why it's a great day?" Riley asked, looping her arm around Maya's shoulders.

Maya shrugged her off "For you, because it's a day."

"For me," Annie jumped in "Because you're going to leave us alone today. Right?"

"Endless possibilities lie ahead."

Maya glanced down and spotted a five dollar bill on the floor "Ooh! Looky here, what should we buy?" She snatched it up and showed it off to Val and Annie.

"Cookies." Annie grinned.

"I was gonna say sodas, but cookies sound good." Val agreed.

"You're not buying anything." Riley scowled "That money isn't yours."

"It was on the ground, and it's only five bucks." Val sighed "Calm down."

Riley persisted "Maya, somebody dropped that."

"Yeah, and?" Annie rolled her eyes "You know the saying 'Finders keepers, losers weepers.' It's five dollars on the floor of our middle school. It's not going to make or break somebody's life."

"How could you live knowing that belonged to someone else?" Riley tried "Put it back."

"This is my only source of income." Maya joked.

The bell trilled as Riley crossed her arms "Read what it says, Maya. 'In God we trust.'"

Maya rolled her eyes "Seriously, you're gonna go all the way there?"

"Don't you believe someone is always watching to see if you do the right thing?"

"Nah, that's a little too Big Brother, aah! Police state! We're always watching you OoOoOo!" Annie pretended to shiver.

Val poked her friend in the ribs, making her jump "Go to class, you nerd. Let Dad know we're on our way."

"You're the nerd." Annie teased, but stepped into the classroom anyway.

"Maya?" Riley chose to ignore the other two girls in favor of the blonde, making her eyes big and pleading.

Maya reached out, placed her hands on Riley's shoulders and turned her so she was facing the other way "Not anymore."

Riley turned back to glare "You know what I'm talking about."

"And you know what I'm talking about?" Maya fanned herself with the bill "Double chocolate chip cookies."

"Ooh, yum!" Val grinned "That sounds delicious!"

"No, no cookies." Riley scolded the two ineffectively "It's not your money."

Maya sighed and headed into the classroom, leaving the twins behind.

"Val?" Riley asked hopefully "You know it's wrong to take other peoples money."

"Oh my-" Val cut herself off "You are such a hypocrite sometimes, you know that?"

"But-"

"No buts!" Val sighed "I would agree with you if it was a case of taking money out of another person's wallet, sound familiar? But it's not. It's five freakin' dollars on the ground. You're making this into a much bigger deal than it actually is. Can you just relax for once?"

Riley blushed, she had forgotten the times she'd "borrowed" money from Val, but that was different. They were sisters, and Riley had paid her back...eventually.

Val pinched the bridge of her nose "I'm going to class."

She headed through the door, leaving Riley alone in the hallway. Taking a quick look around, she saw no one was nearby, pulled out her wallet, and placed a new five dollar bill on the ground, exactly where the one Maya found had been.

"Riley?" Cory stuck his head out into the hall "Are you coming to class?"

"Yeah!" Riley shoved her wallet back in her bag and moved to enter the room.

Unfortunately for her, her father noticed the money on the ground.

"Hey! What a great day!" He bent down to pick it up "Ooh! A five-ski!" He nodded seriously at his daughter "That's even better than a one-ski."

Riley scowled as she took her seat.

Riley would not drop the subject, Maya was ready to scream, Val had buried her face in her book, and Annie was ready to drop a brick on Riley's head.

"Riley, it was just a coincidence; I happened to find it. Can you leave it alone?" Maya groaned.

"I feel like we missed a whole scene." Zay mumbled to Lucas and Farkle, both of whom looked just as confused.

"There are no coincidences, Maya." Riley declared "A coincidence is the universe's way of saying 'Hi!'"

"Hi." Cory waved from the blackboard to get the class's attention.

"Somebody here needs to learn a lesson." Riley smiled triumphantly, certain her father was on her side here.

"Is it when to butt out?" Annie asked "'Cause I'm happy to teach that lesson."

Cory tapped the board "In 1425, Joan of Arc, a 13 year old girl, believed she heard the voice of God-"

"This is your lesson." Riley prodded Maya who pushed her hand away.

"-Telling her to drive the English out of France."

Maya sat up, interested "Wow."

Riley perked up "Amazing."

"Yeah, back then you could drive at 13?" Maya asked.

"Nobody hears voices in their head. That's just crazy!" Farkle laughed for a second before he growled as seemingly nobody "It is so!"

Cory gave Farkle a concerned look before he decided it was just another Farkle thing and continued on "Now, Joan knew that this belief could cost her her life."

"What if she wasn't crazy, Farkle?" Lucas spoke up, looking at the resident genius "What if she just deeply believed in something?"

Farkle, ever the scientist, shrugged "Why believe in anything you can't prove?"

Cory pointed at the boys "Ah, now there's a question."

"Guess where this is leading us." Lucas grinned.

Maya crossed her arms "To an assignment."

"Yay!" Farkle and Val high fived each other.

Cory moved around his desk "You've all walked through life long enough with your blissfully empty heads."

"My head hasn't been blissfully empty since I was two. I don't know about you guys but this world sucks a little too much for that." Annie complained.

Val pointed at her best friend "She speaks the truth."

Cory ignored them "But what do you guys really believe in? Some of our greatest thinkers believed in something so strongly that they gave their lives to change the world."

"Show-offs." Maya grumbled.

"Does anyone here believe in anything?" Cory asked, a note of desperation in his voice "Anything at all?"

"I believe everyone should be treated equally, regardless of skin color, religion, sexual orientation, or gender." Val raised her hand.

"I believe we all deserve lifesaving healthcare, and we shouldn't owe millions of dollars for it." The Rebel declared.

"I believe we should put more effort into mental health assistance rather than punishing people who need help." Charlie Gardener suggested.

Riley crossed her arms "I believe Maya did wrong by taking someone else's five dollar bill."

Val dropped her head on her desk with a loud thunk.

"Ah, so this is the plot for the week." Zay nodded "Okay, I believe we need to make higher education more available for people with lower incomes."

"I believe in five dollars worth of cookies." Maya shot back at Riley.

"And I believe you two are the perfect team to write a report on Thomas Jefferson." Cory pointed at the former best friends.

Val's head shot up "You haven't met him yet, you haven't had the chance, 'cause he's been kicking-"

Cory cut her off quickly "Farkle, you're a man of science."

"I needs me my proof." Farkle agreed.

"And Lucas."

"I have beliefs that work for me, sir."

"You guys are going to report on Joan of Arc." Cory decided.

"She's a saint." Lucas nodded.

Cory nodded, waving him off "Yeah, a saint. Whoo-whoo! Now I want you girls to really learn something from Jefferson."

"Boo!" Maya called.

"Why are you booing Jefferson?" Cory sighed.

"He's making us do this."

"He died over 200 years ago."

"So it's you that's making us do this?"

"Yeah." Cory nodded, resigned.

"Boo!" Maya threw a balled up piece of paper at him.

"No, no, keep booing Jefferson." Annie insisted "He wasn't a great guy."

When Val got home that evening Topanga was working on a case in the kitchen.

"Hey, Mom."

"Hey, honey." Topanga looked up "Do you hear that? Upstairs?"

Distantly Val could hear Auggie talking "I'm doing my best, but some days are hard. Like today was a hard day. I'm doing my best."

Mother and daughter exchanged a look before Val set her bag down and Topanga shut her computer and they both headed upstairs to see what was going on with the youngest Matthews kid.

"Do you fly around up there? Is it crowded? Do you bump into anybody, or is there room to go fast?" They could hear Auggie continuing his one-sided conversation.

"Auggie, honey?" Topanga pushed his door open and the little boy quickly pretended to be sleeping "Oh. Are you sleeping?"

Val smiled "We understand, you're a growing boy. Good night."

She shut the door, leaving them still inside the room, though Auggie thought they left.

He immediately lifted his head and asked "Can you see me from up there? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Two." Val grinned.

"You're still here?" Auggie asked, confused.

"Yeah-huh." Topanga nodded.

"Very clever with the shutting-the-door thing."

Val sat down at the end of Auggie's bed "Thanks, I thought so."

"Are you talking to someone?" Topanga asked, kneeling down next to Auggie.

"No, I was talking in my sleep." Auggie shook his head quickly "I'm sleeping right now."

"Oh? 'Cause you're saying some very interesting things." Topanga gave her son a look.

Auggie sighed "Can we talk about it tomorrow when I wake up?"

"Yeah." Topanga nodded "And you know, some things are just personal and private, and that's okay too."

Val kissed her little brother's forehead "So you don't have to tell us who you were talking to if you don't want to."

"Thank you." Auggie leaned back against his pillows as his mother kissed him goodnight too.

Mother and daughter got up and left Auggie to get some sleep, but as they closed the door they heard him continuing his one-sided conversation.

"Okay. Just you and me. Do you have anything you want to talk about? I'm a good listener."

Val and Topanga both headed back to the kitchen, Val to work on her homework and Topanga to study the case she was assigned. They worked side by side, in comfortable silence for a while, before Topanga looked up.

She studied her oldest child's face, her brow was creased in concentration as she wrote out a math equation. Topanga was so very proud of Val, she was smart, kind, helpful, and loved her family. But at the same time, she worried about her. When Val had been in the hospital had been some of the most terrifying times of her life, seeing her little girl hooked up to IVs and buried under piles of blankets, looking much smaller than her five years.

Topanga and Cory had been so worried and focused on getting Val the best possible care so she would live, they had failed to give Riley enough reminders that they loved her too. Once Val was better, they tried to parent them both, giving each the same amount of attention. But it wasn't ever enough for Riley.

After months of Riley throwing massive tantrums anytime she didn't get both her parent's full attention, Val had pulled her mother and father aside and told them to focus on Riley. Looking back, they should never have listened to their six year old's parenting advice. All it had done was drive a wedge between their girls.

"Mom?" Val waved her hand in front of her mother's eyes "Mom, you in there?"

"Yes, yes, sorry, sweetie." Topanga shook herself out of her memories "Just thinking."

"Must be tough case if it's got you this distracted." Val hummed.

Topanga put her hand on top of Val's math homework, making her look up "Do you have anything you want to talk about?"

Val squinted "Huh?"

"I'm just thinking," Topanga hesitated "You've had to grow up so fast. I feel like I missed so much of you becoming who you are. I know that's my own fault and I'm sorry. I-we should have done better when you were younger."

"Mom." Val covered the hand holding her paper with her own "You did your best. And I turned out okay. You don't need to be sorry."

"You turned out better than okay." Topanga insisted "You're a wonderful person and I'm very proud of you. You know that, right? That your Dad and I are proud of you?"

"I know, Mom." Val smiled "I learned it all from you guys."

Maya and Val sat on a couch at Topanga's the next day. It had become something of a tradition for them to get a lemonade and then Val helped Maya with her math and science homework. Unfortunately, their study session was interrupted when Riley sat down between them, nearly pushing Val off the couch to make room for herself.

"You don't just pick things up and think that they're yours." Riley insisted.

Val scooted to an armchair to avoid being knocked to the floor "Are we still on this?"

Maya grabbed Riley's purse from where she'd set it on the table "Oh, my gosh! Look what I found!"

"I wondered where that purse went." Val sighed "I should've known."

Riley stared at Maya incredulously, ignoring Val "You need to believe in things."

Maya scoffed "I might if my life were as hunky-dory as yours."

"Oh, so your saying its easier to believe when things are going well?"

"Things are going well." Maya pulled the money from her pocket "I just got ten bucks and this new purse I just lent you."

"You can keep that." Val rolled her eyes "Doesn't match my wardrobe anyway."

"So if things are going well," Riley insisted "Why won't you believe in anything?"

Val decided she'd had enough and headed over to where Farkle and Lucas were working on their Joan of Arc report at the bar. She slipped onto a stool next to her boyfriend and took a peek at what they had so far, which wasn't much.

"How can you go through life so blind, so trusting?" Farkle asked, putting his pencil down.

Lucas agreed "I do trust in certain things."

"Why?" Farkle wanted to know "What is that? I don't understand that."

"I don't know." Lucas shrugged "I just feel like I have a better life because of it."

"You have a better life because of look-at-ya! Val," Farkle turned to her "You're a woman of science. You're on my side here, right?"

Val sighed "Yeah, I believe in science. But I also believe that science isn't everything. I believe in the possibility of a higher power, I believe there are things in this world that, maybe, science hasn't explained yet, and maybe never will. I think some things just aren't meant for us to understand."

"But don't you need proof? To really believe something?" Farkle wondered "I do."

Val shook her head "I don't know, Farkle. Sometimes, yes, I need to see something myself to really believe it. But, other times I just believe in the things that are important to me. Like access to healthcare, women's rights, protecting the people who need protection, a safe world, and that somewhere, someone is watching over us, wanting us to succeed and be happy."

"Who is watching though?"

"Call 'em whatever you like. God, Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Larry-"

"Larry?" Lucas smirked.

"I-" Val paused "Sure, what the heck, Larry is watching, hoping we make good choices, be good people, and leave a positive impact on this world. Even if it's as small as making one person smile when they're having a bad day."

"So, if you think 'Larry' is watching" Farkle quoted "why don't you care about Maya taking that five dollar bill off the floor?"

Val sighed "Because at the end of the day, it's five dollars. We don't know where it came from or whose it was, and honestly, in this instance, it doesn't matter. If it was a bigger bill, then yeah, I might have a problem with it. But in the grand scheme of things, I don't think that five dollars is going to hurt anyone too badly."

From across the cafe, Riley and Maya's conversation carried over and Val turned to watch, effectively ending her part in the discussion.

"How has my deep, deep, teenage belief system not rubbed off on you?" Riley asked.

Maya desperately pointed to the papers "Thomas Jefferson, please."

"Boo!" Val called.

Riley and Maya both ignored her.

"Fine." Riley set her book down "What do we know about him?"

"He's on both my five dollar bills." Maya declared confidently.

"He's on the two."

"I just said that."

"He wrote the Declaration of Independence."

"Only because they didn't trust Franklin to do it." Val sipped her lemonade.

"Lincoln." Maya nodded.

"Jefferson." Riley corrected.

"Boo!"

"Do you even know the difference between them?" Riley asked.

Maya smirked "Three bucks."

Topanga and Auggie walked inside "Hi girls." Topanga greeted.

Riley ignored her mother "You aren't going to be any help on this, are you?"

Maya checked here nails "I have faith that somehow it'll all get done."

Riley scoffed "Yeah, by me, Maya. Like always."

"Not worth it, Mom." Val called, waving them over to join her and the boys.

Lucas and Farkle had resumed there conversation on Joan of Arc while Val had been distracted and tempers were rising.

"They burned Joan of Arc at the stake because they were afraid." Lucas tried to explain "Just like you're afraid there are certain things that can't be explained by science."

"They were afraid because they believed in witches and superstitions," Farkle argued "because they lacked the knowledge to diagnose her condition."

"Why do you have to call it a condition?" Lucas sighed "She had a vision."

"Well, you say 'vision,' but you know vision, properly diagnosed by a medical professional is 'Whooo!'" Farkle twirled his finger at his temple in the 'crazy' sign.

Lucas froze and put his hands up, framing Farkle "Farkle, you did it. What I believe? All wrong. I really respect how you and your-your scientific mind have changed me. Oh, either that or pffft!" He blew a raspberry.

Farkle threw up his hands "Okay! I can't work with St. Huckleberry the Perfect."

"Tell me about it." Maya shouted over at them.

"Val? Change partners?" Lucas begged.

"You want Annie?"

Lucas hesitated "I hate that I'm going to do this."

"Do what you gotta do, sweetie."

"Riley, change partners?"

"Absolutely." Riley agreed dreamily.

Lucas looked back at Val "I already regret this."

Val patted his shoulder "I think you'll be back with Farkle before long."

Val walked in the front door to find Riley and Lucas working on the couch and Maya and Farkle at the table. She dropped her backpack and headed to the kitchen, pausing to peck Lucas's cheek.

"Why did my father assign us Jefferson?" Riley asked.

"Boo!" Val repeated.

"Are you going to do that every time?" Maya asked, glancing up.

"Yep." Val nodded, opening the fridge "Thomas Jefferson was a jerk and a hypocrite."

"Okay then."

"I get that he wrote the Declaration of Independence. He said 'We hold these truths to be self-evident.'"

"That all men are created equal, and when I meet Thomas Jefferson, Imma compel him to include women in the sequel. Work!" Val sung softly then she scoffed "All men are created equal and he still owned slaves. Hypocrite."

"Is that what he wants us to know?" Riley wondered, not listening to her sister "That believing in something is just the obvious thing to do?"

"Not to me." Farkle shook his head "A scientist needs to hold things under a microscope, Riley. That's the only way to really understand what's in front of you."

"Did you ever think that when you look through a microscope, you miss the bigger picture?" Riley asked.

Farkle thought for a moment before he shook his head "No."

Val leaned back against the counter, watching as she snacked on an orange.

"So Joan of Arc." Lucas prompted "I think she was kind of amazing."

Maya interrupted, glancing back at Val "Lucas, what is it that makes people like you and Val have faith in a higher power?"

Lucas frowned, confused.

"Riley of Arc is trying to push me there, but I'm just not the type of person that likes to be pushed, you know?" Maya elaborated.

"It's okay if you don't believe in a higher power, Maya." Val sat down next to her and offered one of her orange slices "The First Amendment gives us freedom of religion. That means you don't have to believe the same thing as the next person, or believe in anything religious at all. And no one has the right to push their beliefs on you."

"I don't think you can be pushed into something this important anyway," Lucas nodded "Even by Riley."

"Exactly." Val nodded "Look at the Spanish Inquisition, a bunch of people said they converted when they likely held their own religious beliefs in their hearts the whole time and were just trying to survive."

"Yeah, Joan of Arc thought she had a voice in her head." Maya laughed

"Yeah." Lucas huffed a little laugh too "Look, don't expect it to be big, loud and obvious. For me, most of what I believe comes to me when it's quiet."

"Yeah? I don't get a lot of quiet." Maya looked down, staring sadly at her paper "What do you do?"

"I don't know." Lucas shrugged "You just listen."

Val walked past Auggie's room, on her way to bed after a long day. She and Annie had been working on their report, not focusing on a particular person but rather, several different people. A mix of religious figures, scientists, and forward thinkers.

"They were talking about him, Tony Stark." She heard Auggie insist "They can't do that to him. He's made of iron."

"That man is playing Galaga, he thought we wouldn't notice, but we did!" Val poked her head in, pointing at her little brother, making him giggle slightly "What're we talking about?"

"Vallie, do they really burn people at the stake?" Auggie asked.

"Tony Stark..." Topanga mumbled "Oh. No, honey. Calm down. They were talking about Joan of Arc. It was a long time ago."

"Ahh." Val caught up "You don't have to worry about that anymore, Augs."

"She was talking to people and no one else could see who she was talking to. It scared people." Topanga explained.

Auggie pulled his blankets up to his chin "So, if you're talking, but no one is really there, they come after you?"

Topanga brushed his curls from his face "Auggie, this is not something for you to be worried about, okay?"

"Okay, then I won't."

'Ah, to be a kid again, and simply be able to decide not to be worried about something.' Val smiled at the thought.

Auggie flipped himself around so his head was buried in his bedsheets and his feet were on his pillow.

'Never mind.'

"Is this why I didn't hear you talking tonight?" Topanga questioned.

"You wouldn't let anybody get me, right?" Auggie's muffled voice came from the bottom of the bed.

"Anyone who wanted to get you would have to go through both of us first." Val smiled "And I don't know if you've noticed, but we're pretty scary when we want to be."

Topanga pulled the blankets off Auggie's head and lifted him into her lap "Nobody is going to get you, except me."

Auggie giggled a bit and snuggled deeper in his mother's arms "Mommy? You think Daddy will be okay without you for a few more minutes?"

"Yes, he's a big boy. He'll be just fine."

"TOPANGA, I'M LONELY!"

"You sure about that, Mom?" Val teased.

Topanga grinned and pulled the blankets over her and Auggie's heads.

Val chuckled "There's mashed potatoes in the fridge, Dad!"

"I'll BE OKAY!"

Riley, Maya, Farkle, and Lucas were in the living room bay window trying to complete their history assignment the next morning, Val and Annie were sitting at the kitchen table working on their math homework as they had breakfast. Maya was fidgeting with her pencil, twirling it between her fingers as she tried to focus on the textbook in front of her. Finally giving up, she set it down and closed her book.

Maya hesitated "Can I ask you a very personal question?"

"Are there any other kind?" Riley smiled, Maya was confiding in her again!

"Do you pray?"

Confidence growing, Riley nodded "All the time."

Maya frowned "Isn't that sort of..."

"Amazing." Riley nodded.

"Greedy?" Maya corrected uncertainly, very aware this comment could set off Riley's dynamite temper.

Riley scowled as she looked over at Maya "Greedy? How?"

Farkle piped up "Shouldn't you leave something for someone else?"

"Huh." Riley hummed.

"Well, I think everyone gets heard." Lucas set his book to the side to join the debate.

Farkle sighed "See, I just don't get how those things are possible. I mean, do you really believe He hears everything you have to say?"

Lucas pondered for a moment before inspiration struck "Do you like computers?"

"I do." Farkle nodded.

"Can I find out everywhere you've been with just one click?"

"Yeah."

"God can't do that?"

"Does God have Wifi?" Annie joked under her breath to Val.

"I don't see why not." Val shrugged "If Hedy Lamarr made it possible for people, why wouldn't whoever's up there have access to it too?"

Cory came down the stairs and kissed the top of Val's head "How's it working out?" He whispered.

"Exactly as planned." Val smirked "There's bacon and eggs on the stove."

"Oh, yum!" Cory made himself a plate before leaning on the wall, watching the group struggle with their different projects "Did you get everything sorted out?"

"No." Riley pouted dramatically "Why won't everybody just believe everything I believe?"

"Uh, because we're our own people with independent thoughts, ideas, and beliefs?" Annie rolled her eyes.

Cory gasped dramatically "They won't?"

"No!" Farkle shook his head.

"How dare they?"

"The horror of everyone being an individual with the greater brain power to decide what they believe or don't believe." Val bemoaned flatly, not looking up from buttering her toast "What has the world come to?"

Struggling to keep a straight face, Cory moved to sit down and hid his laughter "Farkle, I thought men of science were open to new discoveries?"

Farkle shrugged "Look, people, it's simple- seeing is believing."

Annie grinned slyly "I mean, there's a lot of things you can't see that are real."

"Oh, yeah?" Val challenged, catching the reference "Name one."

"You can't see gravity, that's real."

"Yeah, I can drop an apple."

The two dissolved into giggles while the others stared at them in confusion.

"Does anyone ever understand what they're saying?" Farkle grumbled "It's all pop culture references and lyrics."

Cory, having long since given up understanding the various jokes and comments his children made, patted the boy genius's shoulder sympathetically "Farkle, you don't believe Joan of Arc heard the voice of-?"

"God?" Farkle scoffed "First you'll have to prove God to me."

"Okay." Cory agreed.

"Okay, I'm right, or okay, you're actually going-?"

"Take a deep breath, Farkle." The teacher commanded.

"In through your nose, out through your mouth." Val intoned.

"Feel the peace and serenity flow through you." Annie echoed spookily.

Farkle shot them both a look before he complied. Breathing deeply, letting his lungs fill with the probably toxic New York air.

"Now that air that you just breathed in, that air that's between you and me," Mr. Matthews gestured between the two "What color is it?"

Farkle furrowed his eyebrows "It's clear, Mr. Matthews. That's why I can see you. I believe in you because I can see you."

"That's your position?"

"Yes."

"Roy G. Biv."

"Uh-oh." Farkle mumbled, the realization of where this was going crashing down around him.

"Oh, boy." Val snorted, grabbing her phone to snap a picture of the slack jawed genius.

"What?" Maya asked.

"We learned about Roy G. Biv. in first grade." Lucas smiled.

"Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet." Riley recited helpfully "It's a rainbow."

"Ah, yes." Annie reclined back on the bench seat, kicking her legs up "The alphabet mafia. The 'enemy' of all things conservative and boring."

"You got a prism on you, Farkle?" Cory asked, already knowing the answer.

"No!" Farkle lied, badly, shoulders inching up to his ears "Who would carry a- Why would you think- Yes." He dug one out of his pocket and handed it over.

"Don't feel bad, Farkle." Val pulled a prism of her own out of her book bag "I carry one too."

Maya looked at her, confused "I get why Farkle carries one, but why do you?"

"How else am I supposed to show my ally ship and future potential membership to the LGBTQIA+ community?"

"I don't know what all those words mean, but okay."

Cory grabbed both the prisms from the kids and sat down, squishing himself between Maya and Farkle "So, remind me what this does, please."

"It slows down the speed of light and refracts it into the elemental spectrum of colors." Farkle recited directly from their science textbook.

Cory held the blocks up to the light streaming in from the window and a collection of colors materialized on the wall.

"Ooh, a rainbow!" Riley giggled.

Lowering the prisms, Cory looked back at Farkle "That's right. So this air that's between you and me isn't really clear at all, is it? Even though we can't see that."

"Okay," Farkle conceded "But I don't see how-"

"What's outside that window, Farkle?"

Farkle looked over his shoulder and began listing off "Flowers, the fire escape, the street, the people on the street, apartment buildings."

"And what's in the apartment buildings?" Cory wondered.

"I can't see that." Farkle shook his head, his eyes widening.

"People, families." Lucas suggested.

"Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, non-binary folks, pets." Val continued.

Cory nodded "And beyond that?"

"The sky, the stars, the whole universe." Riley smiled.

"Stars, in your multitudes, scarce to be counted, filling the darkness with order and light." Val began to sing under her breath.

Alternatively, Annie started "I'm alone in the universe, so alone in the universe. I've found magic, but they don't see it."

They both stopped, staring at the other before shrugging.

"They all call me a lunatic. Okay, call me a lunatic, if I stand on my own, so be it." Val switched songs.

"You are the sentinels, silent and sure, keeping watch in the night, keeping watch in the night." Annie sung instead.

Once again they stopped and stared.

"Okay, we gotta get on the same wavelength here." Val joked.

"You guys are weird." Maya said, but her smile betrayed that she was actually quite enjoying the show.

"All of it." Cory guided the conversation back on task "Every person, every child, everything out there, everything we see and don't see- all these shiny elements of a force that bond us together."

"For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is." Val quoted, doing a rather impressive Yoda impression that made Annie slip off the bench she laughed so hard.

Cory ignored their little comedy show and continued "I like to think of that as a part of God refracted, aspects of God that I can see. What's the secret of life, Riley?"

"People change people." Riley repeated the lesson.

"We're here to discover what it is we want to believe in. And different people believe in different things." Cory reminded Riley pointedly "But it doesn't hurt to listen to the people we love before we decide for ourselves."

Finally recovering from her laughing fit, Annie sat up "And who's to say all those different beliefs don't exist together. Maybe there is a heaven and a hell, and maybe Greek and Roman councils of gods, and the Norse Valhalla, and Buddhist enlightenment is achievable, and all the other world religions that are out there all exist."

"You can't prove that." Farkle tried to argue.

"Yeah, but you can't disprove it either." Val pointed out.

Cory decided to leave the kids to their musings but turned around before he reached the stairs "Oh. And, Lucas?"

"I'm in your house?" Lucas asked, resigned to how this would end.

"You're in my house." Cory leapt after the Texan who made a desperate dash for the door.

Once more, Auggie sat in bed, staring up at the little, glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to his ceiling.

"Just wanted to say good night, bud." Cory pushed the door open a little wider, letting himself and Topanga into the room.

"Daddy, you always protect me, right?" Auggie asked, his fears not yet assuaged by his sister and mother's promises of protection.

"Don't you have faith in us, bubba?"

"I do. So, I'm safe?"

"You are." Topanga confirmed "You live in a place where no one is going to hurt you for saying your prayers out loud."

"What?" Auggie asked, confused before realizing his mother had misunderstood his conversations the last few nights "Oh, I wasn't praying. I mean, I do pray. I pray in the bathtub. I pray I won't get sucked down the drain."

"Well, it's working for ya." Cory nodded his approval.

"Wait, so Auggie, who have you been talking to?" Topanga wondered.

Auggie's little face crumpled as he held back the tears that welled in his eyes "Mrs. Svorski. I'm worried she has no one to talk to anymore."

Cory sat down on the edge of the bed "Auggie, you know what? She's got people up there that love her. And she's got you down here. Don't worry, she's covered."

"So I could still talk to her?" Auggie asked hopefully "It helps me not miss her so much."

"Anytime you want." Cory smiled.

"Please say hi for us?" Topanga suggested.

"I will." Auggie promised "Good night."

"Good night, bubba."

"Good night, you sweet boy.

His parents kissed the top of his head, before leaving his bedroom, flicking the light off so the little sticky stars glowed a little brighter, and shutting the door behind them. Auggie wiggled himself a little further under his blanket and started to tell Mrs. Svorski about his day.

"So, today I got you a cookie. But I wasn't sure where to send it, so I ate it. Tomorrow I'm getting you a toy!"

Lucas, Farkle, Riley, and Maya all stood at the front of the classroom, folders in hand ready to give their presentations.

"We're all up here together because we don't know who's with who anymore." Lucas explained.

"Thomas Jefferson." Riley declared.

"BOO!" Val and Annie called out in unison.

"Joan of Arc." Farkle raised his voice to be heard over them.

Maya began "Before he wrote the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson warmed up with a little something called..."

"The Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom." Riley finished.

"Found it, did ya?" Cory grinned like the cat who caught the canary.

"You knew we would."

"He strongly believed that in a truly free society," Maya continued the presentation "religion should be a personal choice."

"Yeah," Annie huffed under her breath "truly free for white men. Certainly not for women or African Americans."

"Thanks to him and what he believed, we live in a place where we can listen to what others have to say and then make decisions for ourselves." Riley turned to Maya "So how can I not do the same for you?"

"What's this?" Zay gasped dramatically "Could it possibly be character growth?"

Maya gave a slight smile, albeit begrudgingly "Thanks, Riley."

"Very enlightening, ladies." Cory applauded "Guys?"

"Joan of Arc was the fiercest teenage girl there ever was," Farkle grinned at Val and Annie "and we know some pretty fierce teenage girls."

The two best friends struck a pose from their seats drawing laughter from their classmates.

"She believed so much in what she thought was right, her beliefs inspired a whole nation." Lucas relayed "Did God speak to her? Who can say for sure?"

"But there's no question that she believed. And that's what gave her a strong voice of her own." Farkle finished.

"Nice report, guys." Cory congratulated the groups.

"Nice assignment, Mr. Matthews." Farkle replied, handing the folders over to the teacher.

"Thanks, Farkle. I try."

"Wanna know what I learned to believe?" Farkle asked.

"Absolutely."

"We are somehow surrounded by the people we need in our lives. They're right in front of me." Farkle looked around at his friends, even Riley, despite her recent behavior, she'd still had a tremendous impact on his life "And I can see them. I don't know how it happened that all of us are here together in this place at this time right now, that part's a mystery to me. But I'm grateful that it happened."

"A plus, guys. Good work."

"That was it? That's all it took to get an A?" Annie grumbled, pouting "That presentation was, like three sentences apiece for all of them! We wrote three pages! And made a Powerpoint!"

Word count: 6257 words

Jeez, how long has it been since I've updated? Sorry for the wait y'all. There's been a LOT going on. But I think I'm starting to get my groove back! Just in case though, I have a request for you all.

If you wouldn't mind providing a little extra boost by commenting your favorite part of any of the stories I've written (and letting me know what you'd like to see more of) so I have something to look back on to remind me that people actually like my works.

I appreciate all of you, you're the reason I keep writing. Please don't forget to comment, vote, and add to your reading lists!
Love,
The Author