Val Meets STEM
I don't own Girl Meets World!
Students flooded into the John Quincy Adams Science Lab as the bell rang, taking their assigned seats before class started.
"Nooo, I hate this class." Maya complained, clinging to the doorframe as Val and Annie tried to pull her inside.
Annie tugged harder "Do you even know which one it is?"
"I'm gonna need a clue."
Farkle pushed past, knocking Maya loose from the door and into the classroom as he danced excitedly "Doo dah, doo, dah, doo doo dah, da da da da da dah!" He sang, finishing his number pointing at their teacher.
"Science." Maya deadpanned, pushing herself up.
"Morning Farkle, what's new?" Mr. Norton greeted the genius.
"I'm reading this great book on anti-gravity. I can't put it down!"
"Hah!"
"Hah!"
Mr. Norton was an older teacher, but one of the better ones. Val found science very interesting and would normally have enjoyed the class. The only drawback was her partner this month, Brad Davis. The idiot football jock who spent the whole lesson either hitting on her or firing spitballs at their classmates. He was a stereotypical meathead who expected Val to do all the work, while still claiming he was smarter than her. Everyone else had partners that at least pulled their weight. Maya had been paired with Lucas and Riley with Farkle while Annie was teamed up with Zay.
Val sat down, ignoring the flirtatious wink Brad sent her way.
Maya thunked her head down on her desk "I hate this class." She repeated, letting Lucas pull her up by the shoulders.
"Get over it, Hart." Val rolled her eyes "Science is cool."
"Thank you, Miss Matthews." Mr. Norton grinned "Now, ladies and gentlemen, I invite you to join me on a journey of discovery. Your midterm experiment!"
"Ugh." The class groaned.
"Yay!" Val and Farkle high fived.
Maya turned to Lucas "Do I look sleepy to you?"
Mr. Norton continued with the instructions "In front of you, each team will find a beaker of a clear, liquid solution."
"Oh, boy he's like a sleep machine." Maya closed her eyes.
"And, next to that-" Mr. Norton leaned over his podium conspiratorially "and here's where it gets exciting- a mystery marble!"
"Goodnight."
Lucas caught her head before she could smack it on the desk. He shared a look with Val, who was crumpling up notebook paper.
"What are you doing?" He whispered.
"This." Val chucked a wad at Annie, hitting her in the back.
Annie slumped forward head in her arms, also soundly asleep. Zay poked her with a pencil and she swatted at him grumpily.
"At least she doesn't announce it." Zay gave up.
Mr. Norton didn't seem bothered by the snoozing girls "Right after school, precisely at 3:15, one member of each team will drop the marble into the beaker. The elements in the marble will break down overnight and turn into sludge. Then, the other team member will discover what that sludge is and what it takes to turn the beaker back to clear."
Val frowned "That doesn't seem very fair. One person does next to nothing and the other does all the hard work? And I'm guessing it's one grade for both of us, right?"
"Correct, Miss Matthews." Mr. Norton laughed "I don't foresee you having much trouble with this experiment."
Brad stretched his arm around Val's shoulders"Well, with me as a partner, how could she?"
Val hit him in the face with another ball of paper and shrugged him away"Don't touch me."
"So, who does what?" Riley asked, glancing around the room.
"Well, that's up to you." Mr. Norton pointed "You're a team. Divide the responsibilities as you see fit. I've been conducting this experiment for 35 years. I've kept thorough notes. Very few have cracked it."
Farkle grabbed a beaker "Well, you can add my name to your journal right now, sir."
Mr. Norton clapped him on the back "I hope so, Farkle. Let the games begin!"
Lucas gently shook Maya's shoulder "Okay, you get all that?"
"I have to do something?" The blonde mumbled drowsily.
Maybe Val had been wrong about everyone else having partners who would pull their weight.
"All you have to do is come in this afternoon and drop a marble."
Maya sat up "I have to drop a marble?" She complained.
"I will pick it up and hand it to you."
"I have to take it from you?"
"That's it." Lucas begged, holding out the marble.
"Well, how is my hand supposed to get to the beaker?" Maya whined.
"You know what, let's just move the beaker to the very edge of the desk, so you don't even have to lean forward."
"I have to put this in that?"
"That's it."
"It's too much."
Lucas put the marble in her hand "Just do it, please."
A few tables over, Zay was nudging Annie cautiously "Annie? Annie? Annie?"
"I got this." Val said, raising her voice "ANDREA!"
"That's not my name." Annie sat up with a glare.
"Doesn't anybody ever get it right?" (1) Val sang, smirking at her friend.
"You suck."
"Oh, hush you love that musical."
Zay threw up his hands "I don't wanna know. Will you drop the marble after school?"
"Why do I have to do it after school?" Annie scowled "Why can't I just drop it now? It's stupid to make us do more stuff outside school for a grade, we already do homework!"
"Please, just drop the marble."
"Why should I take more time out of my day when I could drop it now? It'll still dissolve and be sludge when we come in tomorrow."
"You were asleep for the instructions, how do you know that?"
"I am an omnipotent being, all seeing, all knowing. You mere mortals could not begin to comprehend-"
"They're on the worksheet in front of you." Val called.
"I could've been a god!" Annie complained.
"Like the ones you learned about but weren't paying attention to?" Val quoted "Well, they don't pay attention to you either." (2)
"I understand about half the words coming out of your mouths." Zay sighed, leaning on a microscope "Please, drop the marble, I will buy you food."
"Deal."
"Okay, Riley. You drop the marble, I'll figure out the sludge, and earn us yet another A." Farkle grinned triumphantly.
"Okay." Riley frowned "That's all I have to do?"
"Well," Farkle shrugged "I am the scientist around here."
Riley started to argue "Farkle, I don't understand why I can't-"
"You do want an A, don't you?"
Riley looked down at the marble in her hand, conflicted.
Brad leaned over "So, I'll do the science-y stuff and take you out for ice cream after? I'll even let you wear my jacket."
"Not on your life." Val rolled her eyes "You couldn't figure this out if you tried."
"I could so!"
"Oh, yeah?" Val raised a disbelieving eyebrow "Spell experiment for me."
"Uh."
"I'll make it easier, spell science."
"Um, S-C-E-?"
"Sludge. Marble. Midterm grade riding on not failing this experiment."
Brad pouted "That's too many words."
"Your name?"
"I know how to spell that." Brad scoffed.
"Prove it."
"...No."
Val rolled the marble toward him "You will be in this classroom at 3:15 this afternoon, you will drop this marble, you will not be the reason I fail my science midterm, and you will stop asking me out. Are we clear?" She finished with a threatening smile.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Brad slouched in his seat "Like I care."
"Care, or don't. Drop the marble. 3:15."
"Then I'll take you out for tacos?" Brad tried to woo the already irritated girl "I know a great place, owner gives me a discount."
"Marble. 3:15. No date." Val flicked him between the eyes "Simple enough?"
Brad rubbed his forehead as the bell rang, watching her tote her many books to her next class.
Val sat down next to Annie in math "He's not gonna drop the marble, is he?"
"Are you surprised?" Annie passed her a calculator "He's done literally no work all semester. His grade is lower than zero. I didn't think that was even possible."
"How do you get negative points on assignments? How?" Val ran her hand through her hair "I'm not failing my midterm just because my partner can't string the letters of his name together. I'll just go drop the marble myself."
"You could always talk to Mr. Norton." Annie pointed out "Or, you could go to your dad. Brad's been asking you out every day this month, he won't take no for an answer. That's got to be considered harassment at this point."
"Will you shush?" Val sighed "I can handle an idiot boy myself, thank you. If I go to my Dad it'll turn into a whole thing. Lucas will get dragged into it, I just don't want to deal with that."
"Why? Lucas knows you'd never cheat on him with that moron."
"Of course not. But Lucas is the literal definition of a 'knight in shining armor.' I'm not some princess in a tower for him to rescue. I can handle myself."
"So you're a damsel, you're in distress, you can handle it, have a nice day?"(3) Annie shook her head "That's it?"
"Yeah, pretty much." Val laughed "Brad is a stupid teenage boy who can't take a hint. Worst come to worst, I have access to Mr. Norton's chemical cabinet and Janitor Harley knows not to ask questions when I borrow his cleaning supplies."
Annie stared at her "Sometimes I forget how scary you are."
Val shrugged, starting on heer worksheet.
"Wait, that implies that you've borrowed Janitor Harley's stuff before...You know what? I don't want to know."
"It's good for you to have plausible deniability."
"WHAT?"
"What'd you get for number three?"
Riley spotted Val and Lucas by the lockers after school, she ducked into a nearby classroom to watch them. She wanted to talk to her sister for a moment, maybe Riley could prove to her that this time she really meant it when she said she was sorry.
"I've got to go drop the marble, but do you want to meet at the cafe later?" Val was saying "We can do our homework and Mom says they have some new snacks we can try."
"That sounds great." Lucas smiled dopily "But I thought Brad would be dropping the marble?"
"He's supposed to." Val nodded "But we both know he's not going to show up. Honestly, could I have gotten a worse partner for this project?"
"You could have Maya, I'll trade you." Lucas offered, a glint in his eye "I could handle Brad."
Val pecked his cheek "I know you could. But seriously, it's fine. It'll take me two minutes to drop the marble and then I'll meet you outside, okay?"
"I could come with you." Lucas tried feebly "To make sure Maya shows up to drop our marble?"
"Nice try." Val chuckled " I know you bribed Annie to make sure she does it."
"YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"
"YOU WILL DROP THIS MARBLE, HART OR SO HELP ME!"
"NEVER! OUCH!"
"DROP THE MARBLE!"
They both winced at the shouts echoing down the hall.
"I better go make sure they don't kill each other." Val shut her locker "Wish me luck."
"You're gonna need it." Lucas nodded.
"SCHOOL'S OUT, I DON'T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING!"
"YOU HAVE TO DROP THE MARBLE!"
"NOT UNTIL I GET MY CHIMICHANGA!"
Lucas passed his girlfriend a chimichanga "Please? For me?"
"You're gonna owe me for this." Val teased, but she took the snack "See you later."
"Bye."
Val headed down towards the science room, and Riley quickly stepped out to walk with her.
"I don't like this assignment." She tried to start a conversation "Why do I have to drop the marble while Farkle does the science?"
"Did you try telling him you wanted to do the science?" Val asked, resigned knowing they were going to the same place and she couldn't escape.
"I tried! But Farkle wants us to get an A."
"And this is my problem, how?"
Riley stepped in front of her sister, stopping her "Val, something is wrong. I feel like there's a real problem here but I just can't see what it is yet."
Val pushed past her, opening the door to the lab before stopping in her tracks. Her eyes darted around the room, at every table was a girl. Not a single one of the boys were dropping the marble. Sarah, Darby, Yindra, Hayley, Brenda, Maya, and Annie were watching the clock, waiting to drop the marble. Although Annie was physically holding Maya's hand over the beaker.
"I was promised food if I made sure you dropped this marble. You are dropping this marble."
"Chi, mi, chan, ga!" Maya enunciated.
"Now I see it." Riley narrowed her eyes behind her sister "Social injustice. We have to stop it."
Val sighed "Every time there's a problem we have to work together to fix it. The arts, Uncle Shawn's dating life, now this. Will it ever end?"
Riley grabbed Sarah's shoulders, spinning her around to face her "If you drop these marbles, yo are buying into a system where the women, buy shoes? While the men learn the science?"
Yindra squealed "Ooh shoes! Let's go!" She dropped her marble.
Hayley shrugged "The system works." She dropped her marble and grabbed her bag.
"No!" Riley shouted, trying and failing to stop Darby and Sarah from dropping their marbles, she pouted as they dodged her and raced out the door "I am very disappointed in our sisters."
"Hi, it's your actual sister here." Val waved "Your disappointment doesn't do much. But you're not wrong, there's something more to this experiment than we thought. It's like they don't think we can do what the boys can do."
Plink!
"Annie!"
"I was promised food. I have no regrets." Annie crossed her arms.
Riley's gaze fell on Maya, who was still holding her marble "You're not going to drop your marble?" She asked hopefully.
"Oh, I'm going to drop my marble." Maya shook her head "But, to make you feel better, I'm gonna do it like a dude."
"I will give you a chimichanga if you don't do that." Val offered.
Maya started to play with the marble, dancing around the twins "Maya takes the bounce pass! She dribbles down the court, three seconds left on the clock, her opponents are tall, useless geese! Maya fakes left- turns right!" She spun around.
"Just stop! Tell me which way you're going!" Riley teetered dizzily.
"She shoots! She scores!" Maya tossed the ball in the beaker from the doorway "Nothing but beaker!"
"Never do that again." Val sighed.
"I dropped the marble," Maya pointed at Annie "You said food if I dropped the marble."
"That was so much effort for something you didn't want to do in the first place." Annie grumbled "Val, chimichanga me."
Val rolled her eyes, but handed it over "You're lucky I love you."
"Aw, love you too, shmoopsie-poo." (4) Annie laughed "Drop your marble and let's get out of here."
"Val?" Riley asked, drawing the attention back to her "Don't drop the marble, you know this isn't right."
Val bit her lip "I'm gonna end up doing all the work on this project anyway, even if Brad had shown up. What am I supposed to do here, Riley?"
"Just, wait a minute." Riley suggested "Think about it."
"You geese have fun with that." Maya flashed a peace sign "I'm outta here."
Morning dawned bright and early the next day and both Matthews girls were still stood in the lab, staring at the little brown marbles. Their father had found them last night, taken one look at them, deep in thought, and decided he was absolutely not qualified for this. He left them there to think, knowing Val at least would stay out of trouble.
Ha!
Farkle danced in with the bell, singing his science song and dancing "Doo dah, doo dah doo dah da da dah da da dah da da dah da da dah dah -"
He spotted the clear beaker on his desk and his face dropped.
"Ah-" Riley tried to say something, but his eyes rolled back in his head and he toppled over.
Val picked him up "Farkle? You okay in there?"
"What happened?" He asked groggily "I don't get it. Science is my favorite time of day. What happened? I'm gonna retrace my steps."
Farkle went back to the doorway, slowly repeating his dance around the classroom "Doo dah, doo dah, doo dah doo dah doo dah, doo dah doo, dah..." His eyes landed on the clear beaker again
"Ah-"
"Oh. That's the reason right there."
Val caught him as he fell over again.
Riley started to rant "It all started with Eve. Women have been treated as second-class citizens ever since. Thank goodness for strong women like Queen Elizabeth and then Susan B. Anthony helped get women the vote, and then Betty Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique,and thenRiley Matthews refused to drop the marble and then here we are."
"We were suffering until suffrage whoa!" (5) Val hummed "C'mon Farkle, up you get."
"You had one job to do!"
Riley rolled her eyes "You mean take care of the babies, Farkle?"
"What?" Farkle's knees gave out again "How long have I been out?" He asked, clinging to Val.
Riley put her hands on her hips "I'm taking a stand."
"How could you let her do this?" Farkle wailed, pleading with Val.
"Uh, I have my own problems thank you." Sure enough Brad came sauntering in "Oh look. Here's one now."
Brad was too busy tossing his football in the air to even look at their desk "I knew you'd take care of the marble for me babe." He grinned.
Val looked at the marble in her hand "I have big plans for this marble. Many plans, all with tiny little baby plans. You wanna know what each of those plans have in common?"
Brad glanced up, finally noticing the beaker before him "What? Hey!"
"Every one of those plans end with this marble up your-"
Lucas pulled her away, struggling to control his own temper "Riley, you don't think Farkle had you drop the marble because you're a girl, do you?"
"We were all girls, Lucas. Every single set of lab partners sent the girl."
"Yes, that's interesting, isn't it." Mr. Norton came out of his office.
Val pulled out of Lucas's grasp "Interesting is one word for it. Why is that? Why were all the girls supposed to drop the marble?"
Farkle stormed up to their teacher "I'll tell you what it is. It's a redo. She failed. I didn't fail. I want a redo. I want a redo, man!" He fell to his knees and clutched Mr. Norton's leg.
"Yeah!" Brad fell in line "Val didn't even drop the marble. We should get automatic A's since they messed it up for us."
"We wouldn't be having this conversation if you'd dropped the marble like I told you to." Val shot back.
"No redo." Mr. Norton struggled across the room "No automatic A. Equal responsibility, one shared grade."
"That's right!" Riley cheered "We should be equal. Why do you guys think we should be the ones to drop the marble while you figure out the science?"
Charlie piped up from his table "Hey, it's not like you guys begged us to do it." He turned to Sarah "Did you want to do the science?"
"I was okay with you doing it." She shrugged indifferently.
"Not helpful to the cause, Sarah." Val called.
"How are we gonna become scientists if we don't learn this stuff?" Riley asked.
"So?" Haley asked like it was obvious "I just won't be a scientist."
"Why not?" Riley demanded "Nobody wants to be the first girl on Mars?"
"I want to go to Venus." Annie offered.
"Exactly! Wait, why?" Riley wondered.
"Girls go to Venus to get more genius, boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider."
"I think you need to stay awake in English today." Val told her.
"I want to go to Mars!" Brenda shouted excitedly.
"Represent, Brenda!" Riley whooped "But one's not enough. Bay window. Bay window, all of you!"
"Do I have to go to this bay window thing today?" Annie asked once she and Val were seated in math.
"What do you think?"
"It's a marble in middle school science. Is it really that big of a deal?" She groaned "Like, I get it, feminism! But you know since you didn't drop the marble, that means you failed the midterm? You were so determined not to fail yesterday. What changed?"
"It's more than a marble." Val sighed, passing her friend a pencil "It's more than some points on an assignment. My science grade will survive this. Every team sent the girl to drop the marble, even the girls who are better at science than the boys. Like Brenda and you!"
"Hey, I got a reputation to keep up here."
"Annie, you're smart. Why did you drop the marble?"
Annie fidgeted "I mean, I guess, Zay never asked me if I wanted to do the science. He just assumed I'd rather drop the marble."
"Doesn't that bother you?" Val nudged her "Zay hates science, and he didn't even want to do the easy part of the assignment. You love science, but you didn't fight to do it, why?"
Annie dropped her head on the desk "I hate it when you make good points."
And so all the girls in eighth grade science found themselves squished into Riley's room. Even Annie, Maya, and Val were there, albeit sitting on the floor, bed, and desk rather than the window seat.
Riley pushed their mother through the door "Tell 'em, mommy! Get 'em! Tell 'em they're a disgrace to our entire whatever!"
Topanga took in the sight of the girls and shrugged "Welcome to our home."
"No nice." Riley pouted "Go for the kill."
"Unfortunately, girls, this is a serious problem. The girls your age start to drift away from STEM subjects- science, technology, engineering, math." Topanga counted off "Research shows that we tend to play the roles we think we're supposed to."
"The whole idea of a housewife only came around when all the male soldiers came back after the war and needed jobs." Val pointed out "Women were running everything just fine while they were off fighting. Women were fired to make sure the boys could have jobs, even if they had no idea what they were doing. They created the 'housewife' so we wouldn't fight back, like it had been like that before the war and we needed to 'get back to normal.'"
"How do you know that?" Topanga asked.
"Ruth the librarian is a passionate feminist." Val grinned "She was able to get me some books that really dive into the ideas of gender norms and sexism in everyday life."
Topanga stared "Have I told you how proud I am of you, my Amazon warrior?"
"Not today."
"I am."
"Thank you."
"Everyone else dropped their marble." Riley sat down "Everyone but us."
"Look, I'm not trying to hurt the girl thing." Maya threw up her hands "I'm just lazy."
"You can't be lazy." Topanga waded through the sea of girls to join the bay window "And you cannot think that it is more important to be liked than it is to be leaders."
"The question then is whether 'tis nobler in the mind to be well liked but ineffectual or moral but maligned." (6) Val sang under her breath.
"Don't talk yourself out of pursuing something because you're afraid of how it's going to make you look." Topanga seemed to be getting through to the young women "What you need to know is don't let anybody get in the way of pursuing your growth and your curiosity, no matter what you want to do!"
"I want to be the best I can," Sarah sat up straighter "and I want everybody to like me, and I dropped the marble, and I want your shoes."
Topanga raised her eyebrows.
"I want to work at the company that makes your shoes." Sarah tried.
"One more try." Val encouraged.
"I wanna run the company that makes your shoes!"
"She got it!"
"Well, if we want it all, then we can't make other people do the work for us." Riley bounced.
Maya tried to get up "Then I'm out."
"You're in." Riley caught her hand.
"I'm. Out."
"You're in." Val told the blonde.
"Fine, I'm in." Maya plopped back down "It's not gonna take long, is it?"
"The rest of our lives." Riley corrected cheerfully.
"Why's it always gotta be the rest of our lives?" Maya complained.
Cory Matthews walked into work happily oblivious. He had his coffee, he had his donut, and he was ready for a great day. He walked into his classroom to find all the desks had been rearranged, and hope died. All the girls were sat on one side of the room, looking much more dangerous than they normally did.
"Oh, boy. Where are the boys?" He asked, not sure he really wanted the answer.
Fortunately the boys walked in, freezing at the girls' icy stares.
"Boys!" Cory laughed uncomfortably "I'm very glad to see you because I thought there was a distinct possibility you could be...what's the word I'm looking for? Dead."
"We didn't do anything," Lucas tried to explain "And we don't deserve to be dead."
Most of the boys were wise enough to sit at the desks opposite the girls, but Zay, ignored the hostile atmosphere and headed towards Val's desk.
"Not understanding the current climate of the room, Zay chooses to sit here." He sat down "Men, am I right?"
Riley growled "Get out."
"Eeek!" Zay jumped back a little, before he made eye contact with Val.
If he wasn't at least a little scared of her before, he sure was now.
"Now I get it. Message received." He dashed to hide behind Lucas.
"All right, does someone want to explain to me how we got here?" Cory begged.
"We were in science class-" Farkle started
"We will talk." Maya thundered.
Farkle held his hands up in surrender "I will listen."
"Okay, guys, calm down." Cory put his briefcase down "Now, today's lesson is about the battle of Panipat. There were three battles of Panipat. The first was called, the First Battle of Panipat."
Riley slammed her hands on her desk "You don't respect us."
"How can you possibly think that?" Lucas asked, exasperated.
"I call Farkle Minkus to the stand." Riley pointed at the resident genius.
"You can't put him on trial." Lucas stepped between them, pulling Zay with him.
Val stood up "Why not? Didn't he make a judgement about her? Didn't all of you make judgements of us?
Zay grabbed his best friend's sleeve "We are really unprepared."
"Yeah, see ya buddy." Lucas sat back down.
"This isn't just about Farkle. This is about all of you." Riley waved her arms at the boys.
"Yeah, Lucas." Maya leaned forward "Didn't you tell me to drop the marble?"
"Yeah, I wanted us to do well on the midterm."
"Because you have no faith in my scientific abilities!"
"Because you fall asleep in my hand!"
Val turned her gaze on Brad "You were supposed to drop the marble, but you assumed I'd do it for you."
"And? You were gonna." The not-to-be mourned boy shrugged.
"Yeah, I was. And then I didn't. You know why?"
"Because you were making me a-"
"Nope!" Cory leapt in "I live with her, do NOT finish that sentence."
Darby jumped in "Yogi made me drop the marble too!"
"I can't reach the beaker." The smallest boy in class pointed out.
"I could have lifted you."
"I don't like that as much as you think."
"I'll tell you who didn't like something." Cory tried desperately to regain control of his classroom "Vikramajit, the ruler of Gwalior in the First Battle of Panipat. He died. Didn't like it."
"By relegating me to a second-class marble dropper, you are stopping me from realizing my full potential." Riley poked Farkle in the chest.
Farkle didn't seem to get it "Riley, I'm just better than you at this."
"I'm better at science than Zay." Annie pointed out "You didn't even ask me if I wanted to do the science."
"You drooled on the worksheet!"
"But which of us actually read the thing? Me! I am better than you at science but you still made me drop the marble."
"If you were really our friends then you would want us to get better." Riley defended "I like science. Why don't you want me to get better, Farkle?"
"I do." Farkle insisted "There is no situation where I wouldn't want that for you. I'm sorry."
Riley looked close to tears "Okay." She turned to go back to her seat.
"Nope!" Val stood up "Not okay, if I've learned one thing this year it's that apologies don't make everything magically better, you can't always just accept it and keep going like nothing's different."
Zay peeked over Lucas's shoulder "I thought some of you just didn't want anything to do with science. Annie, I had to promise you food so you would even agree drop the marble."
"It's because I don't stand up for myself!" Annie grabbed the collar of his shirt "And you never gave me my food."
"Well, I'm gonna hate to see it when you do." Zay whimpered.
Darby leaned around her friend and stared at Yogi "I wanna carry you around like a doll whenever I want."
"Do it." Yogi dared.
"Too far." Val said "We're in public, people."
"A real friend doesn't let another friend fail. Our failure isn't your fault, Riley." Farkle put his hand on the brunette's shoulder "Our failure is on me. I should have had more faith in you."
Cory pushed his head between them "Speaking of failure, there will be a quiz tomorrow on the First Battle of Panipat. It's not gonna be a good day."
The bell rang, and the students started to gather their things, Lucas marched up to Val.
"Why are you mad at me about this?"
Val sighed "It's not just you, Lucas. It's the fact that if we were partners, I don't know if you would have made me drop the marble."
"I wouldn't-"
"You can't say you wouldn't because you don't know if that's true. What if you were partners with Brenda, or Annie? Would you have told them to drop the marble?"
"You can't just-"
"What makes me any different from any other girl partner you might've had?" Val demanded "Because we're dating? That shouldn't be the deciding factor in whether you respect me or not."
"I respect you!" Lucas argued "I do!"
"Why?" Tempers were running dangerously high "Because I proved my intelligence to you, my loyalty, what? I don't need to prove anything to anyone. I deserve respect because I'm a person, not a prize. Sometimes you treat me like I'm made of glass, like I can't handle myself!"
"I know you can, but you don't have to!"
"Do you know that, Lucas?" Val shouldered here bag "Because sometimes you don't act like it. You say you respect me, but you don't always trust me. And you can't pretend like you do. I see you watching me in science or on the subway or when someone makes a stupid comment."
"Because I'm afraid!"
"Afraid of what?"
"Of losing you!"
"..."
"Well." Cory clapped his hands "I am not paid enough to deal with this. Everybody out."
The spell broke and soon Lucas and Val were the only ones left in the classroom.
"Why do you think you're going to lose me?" Val asked softly.
Lucas looked down at his shoes "You run sometimes. Or you push people away. I don't know if that's going to happen again, so I try and make sure it doesn't."
Val stepped towards him "Lucas, I pushed you towards Riley because I felt guilty, but I don't feel guilty anymore. I ran to Philadelphia because I was sad and scared, but I'm not sad or scared anymore. I know trying to push you into Riley's arms was wrong, I'm sorry for that. But I'm not sorry I took the time in Philadelphia to figure out my feelings. I wasn't running from you, I was running from myself."
"I know." Lucas said quietly "I'm not mad about that, really. I'm sorry I blew up, I do trust you, I do respect you."
"So...what happens next?" Val wondered.
"We just had our first fight."
"We did."
"I don't want it to break us."
"I don't either."
Lucas huffed a laugh "Well, at least we're on the same page there."
Val giggled "I'm sorry I yelled at you."
Lucas rubbed the back of his neck "You might've had a point. I want to believe I would've at least asked you if you wanted to do the science, but I don't know. I didn't even think about it in the moment when I told Maya to drop the marble."
"I don't blame you for that." Val shook her head "She did fall asleep in your hand."
"That's what I'm saying!"
They laughed together, tempers cooling.
"Look, clearly we need to talk more about this." Val finally said "Let's start simple, I promise that I'm not going to push you away. I can't promise to never run again, because I'm going to get scared, I might need a few days to talk myself off that ledge, but I'm not running from you. Ever."
Lucas nodded "And I promise to let you handle the things you need to and only step in if you really need me."
"Deal."
"Oh thank goodness." Cory sighed dramatically.
"Dad? Why are you still here?"
"You're in my classroom, honey."
Val sat at the kitchen table after school, working on her homework. The door opened and Topanga and Auggie came back from his soccer game.
"Are you proud of me, mommy?" Auggie asked.
Topanga's smile was strained "So proud."
"Vallie!" Auggie hopped up on the bench next to his sister "They gave me a trophy."
"They did?" Val kissed his curls.
"Yeah, they did." Topanga grabbed a cup.
Auggie held it up proudly "Participant." He read the plaque.
"Uh-oh." Val sighed.
"Yeah, you were there." Topanga ground out, pouring herself some juice "You were definitely there.
"Did you see when the ball went right by me and I watched it go into our goal but I still had a good attitude?"
"Oh, boy."
"Yeah. Did you see when the mom from the other team came over and thanked me for having you?"
"She was nice." Auggie leaned his head on Val's shoulder.
"Mm-hmm." Topanga drank the juice "Yes, that's because her team scored 29 goals."
"My assistant coach says the score is just a number that makes one of the teams feel bad." Auggie recited.
"Why would you tell him that?" Topanga demanded of her daughter.
"I did my time on the field, I'm coaching him so he doesn't have have 'Coach-Topanga.'" Val shivered "I still have nightmares."
"The other team were beasts." Auggie defended "Did you see number ten? Number ten wasn't even human."
Val frowned "Who were you playing?"
Ava skipped in, number ten proudly displayed on her jersey "Sorry we destroyed you, Auggie."
"And I have my answer."
"Hey!" Ava noticed the trophy in Auggie's hand "They gave him exactly the same trophy as me."
Topanga nodded "They did."
"Topy, I'm freaking here!"
"I feel ya, sister."
Ava froze "You mean, you're on my side about this?"
"Let it fly, kid." Topanga sighed.
"Let your freak flag wave, let your freak flag fly! Never take it down, never take it down! Raise it way up high!" (7) Val trilled.
"Let me get in my speech position." Ava climbed up on top of the table, pushing Val's books out of her way "WHAT KIND OF COUNTRY IS THIS? UGH! UGH! I SCORED 29 GOALS, AND YOUR KID STOOD THERE LIKE A FIRE-HYDRANT. AND WE BOTH GET THE SAME TROPHY?"
"It's supposed to teach us good manners and sportsmanship." Auggie explained.
"I'm so glad you listen when I talk." Val sighed.
Ava grabbed Auggie's trophy and bit the head off it "Good game, Auggie." She shook his hand.
Auggie took his beheaded trophy back "I believe your insincere."
"Sorry, not sorry about what I said." Val hummed "I'm just trying to have some fun." (8)
"You have to try." Ava shouted "Or how will you get better?"
"Why should I?" Auggie threw his hands in the air "They gave me a trophy anyway."
Ava groaned "Auggie Doggie Matthews, you listen to me! Deep down inside that fire-hydrant lives the spirit of a shark and a lion who had a baby and named him number six."
"Does that make dad the lion?" Val wondered.
"What makes you think I'm not the lion?" Topanga asked.
"Now, when you chose a law career, the moment you embark, there is that joke you're bound to hear, a lawyer is a shark." (9) Val sang.
"Sorry, Ava." Auggie shrugged "Your way sounds hard. It would be easier just to not play soccer anymore and find something else." He walked away up the stairs.
Val and Topanga made eye contact, shrugged, and nodded. Ava growled ferociously and chased him up the steps, Auggie squealing loudly as he ran.
"You got this one?" Val asked.
"I got this one." Topanga confirmed, kissing her daughters forehead "I wasn't that bad of a coach, was I?"
"Three of the girls on my team went into witness protection to get away from you."
"Okay."
Science class came and the students were still very much divided. The girls were concocting something red and foggy on their side of the classroom while the boys were all crowded around a microscope on theirs. Only Riley and Farkle were sat at their assigned desk, watching the chaos unfold.
"Mud-like consistency, copper color, no clear separation of elements at boiling point." Lucas listed off.
"No living organisms." Zay added "Huh. Well, my official conclusion after through research and analysis, and try to stay with me now, 'cause this is very technical-"
"Yeah, how long you gonna keep talking?" Lucas asked.
"Until the bell rings," Zay sighed "'cause I don't know what this stuff is."
Lucas peered over at the girls table, Annie was pouring her beaker into Val's and they were cackling maniacally as mist pooled around the table, Maya was wearing a crown of test tubes.
"Yeah, uh, you know what that is?" Lucas asked "How'd they get their sludge to do that?"
"Their sludge is mad at us." Zay nodded sagely "Their sludge is a girl."
"Something's wrong here." Farkle put his head in his hands.
"What's wrong here is you're a sexist pig." Riley snapped.
"There's no problem that's too big when you're married, that's the gig! So don't be a sexist pig!" (10) Val belted.
"I am afraid." Zay mumbled.
"Why would you say that, mamacita?" Farkle tried to joke.
"You really think I couldn't do science because I'm a girl?" Riley challenged.
"Riley, Marie Curie was one of the finest scientific minds who ever lived. Science needs the best minds it can get." Farkle tried "What do I care what body it's in?"
"Well, what do you think is wrong then?"
Farkle grabbed their beaker "Well, I took our sludge ball home last night, and you know what I found? It's a dirt ball, Riley. The sludge is sludge. It's mud. That's all it is. I don't understand why this experiment's such a big deal."
Riley looked over at where the girls were clustered, studying the dirt that got them in this mess, crowning Val and Annie with test tube tiara's to match Maya's. She looked over at the boys who were poking their sludge with a thermometer.
"I have a hypothesis." She grinned "Val!"
"What?" Val stopped mid knighting ceremony with the microscope.
"I don't think the experiment is about the sludge at all."
"No kidding." Val scoffed "It's us. It's always about us."
"There's lots of layers to experiments, right?"
"There's what's going on on the surface, and what's going on that you don't see." Farkle nodded.
"Bring me the first sacrifice!" Maya shouted.
"I guess we don't see Yogi about to be gifted like a lamb to slaughter?" Val watched the girls kidnap Yogi and lift him on their shoulders "Seems like something we should be concerned about but, whatever I guess. Can we sacrifice Brad next?"
"Hey!"
"You cannot be surprised that I want to burn you as an offering to the gods."
"Adooba hoo hoo! Adooba hoo hoo!" The girls chanted "Adooba hoo hoo! Adooba hoo hoo! Hoo!"
"Farkle, this isn't the experiment. Riley realized.
"It isn't?"
"No, that is!" Riley waved her hand in the air "Mr. Norton."
"Riley, Farkle." The teacher smiled, ignoring the human sacrifice happening in his classroom.
"We have a new hypothesis." Riley said.
"There's more to this experiment than you've been telling us." Farkle grinned.
"Interesting, Riley, care to elaborate?"
"Yes, but first I have to go save a life."
Val looked up from where she had hog-tied Brad and stuck an apple in his mouth "Huh? Oh right. Murder is frowned upon." She leaned down "Don't worry, they'll never find your body."
"I am so in love with her." Lucas stared, starstruck.
"Girls! You don't have to sacrifice Yogi or Brad!" Riley stopped them "We found a solution."
Maya held up her hand "Tell us after we sacrifice Yogi."
"And Brad." Annie agreed.
"Goodbye Yogi! Goodbye Yogi! Goodbye Yogi!" The girls tossed Yogi up and down.
"Maya, why do we have to sacrifice Yogi?" Riley begged.
"I'd be okay if we just sacrificed Brad." Annie pointed out.
"Mmph! Mmph!" Brad wiggled on the floor.
"Do you got a chimichanga?" Maya asked.
"No?"
"Then cover the boys in cheese!"
"Cheesy Yogi! Cheesy Yogi! Cheesy Yogi!"
"Ladies, I hate to interrupt," Farkle butted in "but your volcano looks angry."
"Uh-oh." Maya watched as the beaker bubbled over.
"Goggles on!" Val shouted and she and Farkle dove under the table.
Brown mush exploded over the students who stayed standing and Mr. Norton, coating them all in goo.
"And dive under your desks." Farkle stood back up "Did we not mention that?"
Riley and Maya may not have been on the best of terms at the moment, but they both had the same idea. Together the two girls each grabbed a muddy beaker and dumped its contents on Farkle's head.
"Yeah, should've mentions that." Farkle mumbled.
"It's basic lab safety people, come on!" Val shouted.
Val and Annie arrived at math, drenched in muck.
"I like blowing stuff up." Annie grinned.
"I know you do." Val laughed, passing her a towel "But you know it's not about that."
"Why can't it just be about blowing stuff up for once?"
"Because it's important. It's about us and the boys, who we are, and who we want to be."
"Mr. Norton should have let us sacrifice Yogi and Brad. Everything would've been fine if I could've sacrificed Yogi and Brad." Annie sighed "I want to live in a world where I can sacrifice Yogi and Brad and not get detention for it."
"I only object to sacrificing Yogi." Val shrugged, making them both laugh.
"Are you and Lucas okay?" Annie asked, turning the conversation to more serious matters "That was a pretty big blow-up yesterday."
Val grabbed her pencil "I think so. We need to talk more, but for now, I think we're okay."
"So, just to be clear," Annie pointed at her "Sacrificing Lucas is off the table?"
"Please don't sacrifice Lucas."
Annie held her hands up in surrender "Just checking. 'Cause you know if he hurts you I'll mess him up, right?"
Val pulled her bestie into a side hug "I do."
"Good. Now get off, you're sticky."
Farkle strutted up to Lucas and Zay who were still pouring over their sludge in science the next day.
"Still working on that?" He asked.
"We're never gonna figure out what this stuff is." Zay put his head down on the desk.
"It might as well just be dirt." Lucas agreed.
"Yeah." Farkle chuckled "You know what? It doesn't matter what it is."
"Hey, you might've failed this experiment, but we don't want to."
"I'm not gonna fail. My partner's got this." Farkle pointed at Riley as she and Val came into class.
"Hi guys." Riley chirped.
"Oh, you're talking to us?" Lucas asked.
Val kissed his cheek and sat down at her desk.
"You tell them yet, Farkle?"
"Nope, this is your marble to drop." Farkle took his seat to watch the show.
Lucas sighed and headed to his own desk "Yeah, I was waiting for you, partner." He patted the chair next to him.
Maya raised her eyebrows, eerily similar to Val's signature look of disbelief "Did you just pat for me to sit down?"
"No." Lucas answered quickly "No, no, no. I was just...patting for a better place for me to sit." He switched seats.
Zay turned around and found the rest of the girls directly behind him.
"Aah! They're all here." He yelped "They came to cook us up in these little beakers, and eat us, and talk about us, and I don't like being talked about!"
"We don't either," Sarah shook her head "But we're gonna be the best thing we can be no matter what anybody says."
"That's right, Sarah." Riley cheered "This is an experiment none of us should fail."
"And it's one of the most important ones we'll ever do." Farkle agreed.
Mr. Norton came in as the girls took their seats "Well, we seem to have settled back into our original positions. Riley, Farkle, I believe just before things exploded, you were about to present some findings?"
"In middle school, girls tend to drift away from science." Riley started "Isn't that right, Mr. Norton?"
"It's been happening so many years I started to keep a record." Mr. Norton pulled out his notebook "Not many figure out my experiment, but those that do have always benefited from the lesson."
"We let what happened in here come between us." Riley shook her head "It's sludge, and it muddies up what we all think of each other. All of us have unlimited potential. We need to see how the world could be, in spite of the way that it is." (11)
Val looked up "That was a musical quote!"
"It was." Riley nodded "I'm trying to be better at listening when you talk. That's what a good sister does, right?"
"Right." Val said faintly "You know that story is a tragedy, right?"
"Yeah. You love that musical. I listened to it last night."
"Why?"
Riley shrugged "You talk about them so much, quote so many different shows. I guess I'm just trying to understand the things you like. So I can see you more clearly."
Mr. Norton interrupted the moment "Miss Matthews, where is your partner?"
Brad's chair was noticably empty.
"Whomst?" Val asked, the picture of innocence.
Word count: 7973 words
References
1: Carrie
2: The Lightning Thief
3: Hercules
4: Monsters Inc.
5: Schoolhouse Rock: Suffering Until Suffrage
6: Twisted
7: Shrek the Musical
8: Six
9: Legally Blonde
10: Something Rotten
11: Hadestown
I need to say this for legal reasons. Murder is bad, don't do it. I hope you like the chapter! Please don't forget to comment, vote, and add to your reading lists! #BlackLivesMatter #FreePalestine
Love,
The Author