"Girl Meets Permanent Record"

"What? You're not sitting with us anymore?" Maya asked her best friend.

The gang was at Topanga's doing their homework like usual. From his spot beside Maya, TJ glanced over his shoulder at where Riley was sitting by the other window. She had her test she got a bad grade on in Spanish pinned to the dress she's wearing.

"I don't deserve to sit with you guys. I am a disgraced." Riley responds. She points at the test pinned on her. "'D' for disgraced."

"Riley, it's only one grade." Lucas reminded her.

"Yeah," Maya nods. She looks TJ. "You know how many 'D's' I got in middle school?"

"I don't really care," TJ sighs, looking up from his homework to look at her. "But you're gonna tell me anyway, aren't you?"

Maya smiles at him and nods. "Once I got five 'D's' in one day."

TJ looks at her with surprise, not expecting that. "Wow."

"You were Cinco D Maya." Zay joked. 

Everyone laughs but then Riley frowns. "I don't get it." She commented.

"Actually, those 'D's' don't matter anymore, Maya." Farkle said to Maya. Maya looked at him with wide eyes. 

"None of our old grades do." Lucas added.

"We all start as equals, because our high school grades count on our permanent record." Smackle spoke.

"What? What's that?" Riley got up and walked over to the group.

"It's our high school transcript." Zay replied.

"Colleges use them to decide if they want to accept you or not." TJ told Riley.

"And so far for you, not." Smackle said to Riley and Riley sent her a small glare.

"Hm...Smackle, remember how you asked us to let you know when your refreshing honesty crosses over into-"

"Get to it, Bubbles!" Smackle interrupted Riley.

"Now!" Riley pointed at her.

Maya looks at TJ with furrowed eyebrows. "Wait, so they don't care about middle school?"

"Nope. Only care about high school grades." TJ responded.

His eyes grow wide with surprise when she suddenly grabs a fist full of his shirt, pulling him closer to her. TJ's heart beat increased as he noticed they were only a few inches away now.

"Then why'd you make me go all this time?" Maya questioned dramatically, obviously upset about having to go to middle school.

"I-It's not my fault. Blame it on the school." TJ stuttered, feeling flustered while Maya let go of his shirt. He avoids eye contact with her and goes back to his homework, not seeing the light blush that formed on Maya's face when she realized how close they were a few seconds ago.

"Wait. So, they don't care about all of the good grades when I was a kid?" Riley inquired.

Zay nods. "They only care that you didn't eat paste."

When TJ got home that day, he wasn't surprised to hear his parents fighting, but he was surprised they were home early from work. He didn't bother in asking why they were home early as he quietly closed the front door. He then made his way up to his room, doing his best to be quiet when he went by the kitchen where his parents were fighting at, not wanting to possibly be dragged into the fight.

Once he got to his room, TJ finished any homework he had left to do and brought out his journal he writes his songs in. A grin tugs on his lips, grabbing a pencil he opened his journal to the page he started writing the song and started writing some lyrics. He had trouble continuing on working the song 'Bright', but now he has an idea on how to finish it.

****

"Chewbacca, chewbacca..."

Maya looks at Riley with furrowed eyebrows. "What is wrong with you?"

"I don't know much about Spanish, but I'm pretty sure that's not Spanish." TJ told Riley, who frowned.

The brunette-haired girl looks at him and Maya. "Guys, please remember me when you get to college."

"I'm you!"

The three looks over to the open window where Lucas climbs through the window. He moves over and stands beside Riley. Riley looks at him with confusion. "You're me?"

"Yeah! All of a sudden I'm a loser!" Lucas exclaimed.

"I'm you!"

They look back at the bay window that Zay just climbed through. Maya looks at him with furrowed eyebrows. "You're me?"

"Yeah! All of a sudden I'm a phenom!" Zay said as Maya got up and went over to him.

TJ watches with amusement as the two do some sort of handshake. "Okay, what did I just watch?"

"It's just something that the people on this side of the room know about." Zay smirked, gesturing to himself and Maya.

"Okay, well, we actually know about it, too." Riley turned to Lucas and they tried doing the handshake Zay and Maya did but failed.

Lucas then explained how he and Zay had their first baseball tryout today. He moves over to Riley's bed as he says, "All my life baseball has always been easy to me."

Zay grins. "Not today."

"It's gone." Lucas nods with an upset expression on his face. "I mean, I-I get up to bat and I can't even see the ball."

"Meanwhile, back on this side of the room." Zay gestured to him and Maya.

Lucas points at him. "He can't miss. He's hitting everything. He's-he's great on the field. He's an all-star." Sitting down on Riley's bed, he sighed.

"Wait, Lucas, tell 'em what the coach said about me." Zay said excitedly.

"He said 'good day, kid'." Lucas saluted, speaking in a happy tone.

Zay grins. "Now tell 'em what he said to you."

"He said 'good day, kid'." Lucas saluted again, this time speaking in an annoyed tone.

From his spot at the bay window, TJ furrowed his eyebrows. "What's the difference?"

Lucas sighs. "He obviously likes Zay more than me." He looks at Riley. "Riley, we're losers. Do you know what's on our permanent record?"

Riley smiles widely and sits by him, hugging on his arm. "Glitter and smiley faces if we try and try again?"

Lucas shakes his head. "Losers!" He exclaimed and the smile fell off Riley's face as she let go of his arm.

TJ looks at the bay window when Farkle climbs through and stands beside where he sat with a frown on his face. TJ tilts his head to the side. "Farkle, what's wrong?"

"There's another genius in my Honors Chem class!" Farkle exclaims. "The other genius is making me feel bad."

Lucas gets up and pulls him over to where Riley sat on her bed. "Then you're on this side of the room, loser."

"You know what the worst thing of life is?" Farkle questions, sitting down beside Lucas. "The worst thing of life is when someone you know better is than you in every way-"

"Rubs it in your face?" Zay interrupted him.

"No." Farkle replied.

Lucas tilts his head to the side. "Can't hit a baseball to save his life?"

"Me time!" Farkle exclaimed, looking at him with an upset expression.

Lucas looks at Farkle and nods. "I was talking about you."

Farkle sighs and continuing what he said. "The worst thing of life is when someone you know is better than you in every way loves you anyway."

"Honeybuckets!"

The gang looks over to the window that Smackle climbs through. "Smackle's the genius in your chemistry class?" Maya asked Farkle.

Farkle nods. "Smackle's the genius everywhere."

"Well, you're with us now." Zay wrapped his arm around Smackle, bringing her over to the other side of the room where Maya was at.

"Don't hit on me in front of Lucas." Smackle told him.

Lucas looks at her with furrowed eyebrows. "Smackle!" 

Smackle sends him a small glare. "Don't hit on me in front of Farkle."

Farkle looks at her with offense. "Smackle!"

Smackle smiles. "You, me, Lucas, and Zay. We're better than a triangle, we're a quadrilateral!"

TJ laughs quietly, smiling at Smackle with amusement. "What's that?" Maya asked, looking at Smackle with confusion.

"It means square." Farkle frowns. "Over here we say square."

Smackle smiles smypathetically at him. "Oh, beloved...You know how smart you are, don't feel threatened."

"I don't feel threatened, my former arch nemeiss and current arch lovesis," Farkle shakes his head. "I-I just feel confused. I've never been on this side of the room before."

"Yeah," Lucas sighs. "I'm not thrilled about it either." He glances at Riley. "How do you feel?"

Riley looks at the other three teens across the room with a smile. "Well, I am happy for you guys."

The three teens across the room smile at her. "Of course you are." Maya said. "You're Riley. You've always been Riley."

****

"You guys are early for class." Cory noticed as the gang walked into his classroom.

"I want an 'A' from you too, Matthews. I'm collecting a whole set." Maya explained while sitting down.

Cory smiles at her. "Good for you, Maya."

Maya waves a dismissive hand. "Ah, quit your blubberin'. This'll go away."

Lucas and Zay then went on to explain how the baseball coach put them both on the J.V. team. Cory looks at the gang with a smile. "You know what I've known all along, even though I learned it just now? Good teachers look down to someone's possibilities. What you know is never good enough for a good teacher. Because there's so much out there to learn. And sometimes you won't get it at all. And sometimes it may seem like we're speaking to you in a foreign language. But you know what? There are good teachers here. I'm looking forward to being one of them."

Riley smiles. "You always have been."

"Where's my favorite student?" Cory questioned when he looked at where TJ sat and didn't see him.

"Matthews, you know he would be upset with you for calling him that." Maya chuckled.

"Sorry if I'm late."

They all look towards the door TJ just rushed through. "You're actually one of the early ones." Cory told him. TJ avoided eye contact with him as he nodded.

Maya's lips curves downward when she noticed he had a black eye. "TJ-"

TJ smiles even though it didn't meet his eyes. He then resists the urge to sigh. He knew he wouldn't be able to hide his secret that long. "I'm fine, Maya."

Cory began to grow worried after he notices the back eye and his strange behavior. "TJ, are you sure-"

"Yes." TJ was quick to interrupt him, moving to sit in his seat as he avoided eye contact with everyone.

He let out a tired sigh, crossing his arms on his desk and laid his head on his arms. He was tired because he didn't get much sleep the night before. He also got into an argument with his dad that morning about working on his song instead of working on homework even though he had his homework finished. His dad was usually the one strict with him about school, always wanting him to focus on school instead of anything else.

He had a couple arguments with his dad about school, but not ones that got so bad where his dad got so angry and punched him. He should've known not to make any noise when his parents were already angry. He regretted touching that stupid guitar last night.

"Perfectly fine."

His friends and teacher share a worried look, wondering what happened with him.

A/N this chapter was interesting to write. 👀 maybe tj's friends are finally gonna find out about his home life