"Girl Meets Jexica"

TJ walks down the hallway, noticing Riley and Maya sitting on the steps with their laptops, and from what he overheard, it sounded like they were working on their profile for the Abigail Adams high school social network. TJ had made his profile the night before and made his profile simple and sweet. He didn't care what people thought about him.

In TJ's opinion, it sounded like Riley was being dramatic about deciding what to put on her profile and thinking about what others would think of her. As he walked over to the girls, he heard Riley ask Maya what she had put for her favorite movie.

"'Don't Look Behind You'." Maya answered her.

Riley tilts her head to the side, furrowing her eyebrows. "Did I see that with you?"

Maya shakes her head. "No."

"Why not?" Riley asked, her voice laced with confusion.

Maya smirks. "Look behind you."

Riley let out a scream which made Maya and TJ chuckle. Riley then actually looked behind her, noticing TJ, and screamed again since she didn't think someone was actually behind them.

"Wow, am I really that scary?" TJ questioned, faking a pout as he sat down beside Riley.

Maya narrows her eyes at him, trying to avoid looking at his muscles since she saw he's wearing a cut-off shirt, and then shrugs her shoulders. "Eh, sometimes."

TJ rolls his eyes and chuckles a bit. "I'm guessing you guys are filling out your profile for the school website?" He asked them after noticing what they were working on.

Maya nods. "Yeah," She sighs, gesturing to Riley. "And Riley can't decide what to put on hers 'cause she's worried about what others will think."

TJ sighs, looking over at Riley. "Riley, you shouldn't care what others think of you."

Riley looks at him. "Well, I do, okay? You're not worried at all if people will not like what you put on your profile?"

"I don't really care." TJ responded.

Maya points at him in agreement and smiles "Dude, same."

"Why is this so hard for you?" Maya asked Riley, looking at the brunette-haired girl. TJ leaned against the wall behind him, getting out his journal to work on his song that was halfway done.

"When someone makes a decision, one must consider the consequences of one's choice." Riley replied.

TJ raises his eyebrows at Riley while Maya looks at her with a blank expression. "Real talk."

Riley sighs sadly. "What if nobody likes me?"

"It's high school." TJ tells her. He shrugs. "They're a lot of jerks in high school and you're just gonna have to accept the fact that some people might not like you."

Maya looks over at him, watching as he stares at his journal, and to her, it almost sounds like he was upset. It made her wonder if someone had bullied him before and that broke her heart. She had no clue as to why anyone would want to bully him.

Maya looks back at Riley, gesturing to her profile. "You're just freaking out because your name is on it. Let's pretend that you had an alter ego you pretended to be when you were all alone that nobody knows about and put her name on it."

Riley smiles. "Yes. Let's pretend that."

"What's her name?" Maya asked her.

Riley's smile widens. "Jexica."

TJ chuckles, looking up from his journal at Riley with raised eyebrows. "Why Jexica?"

"Why not." Riley shrugs her shoulders, the smile never leaving her face. "It's like Jessica, but 'x-ier'."

TJ locks eyes with Maya and they share a 'are you kidding me' expression before they both look back at Riley. "Nobody's gonna find that adorable." Maya voiced.

Riley then goes on to explain who Jexica was. Riley said she had blue hair, and Jexica protected her. TJ was about to go back to paying attention to his journal when he noticed Maya getting out a notebook and started drawing.

"What happened to her?"

"You showed up." Riley answered Maya's question. They both awed and smiled at each other. A small smile tugged on TJ's lips as he watched this interaction.

Riley then continued to fill out her profile as if she's Jexica. Riley explained how she looks like, and TJ's eyes widened at the drawing Maya showed them. He has never seen any of her drawings before, but he knows she's a talented artist. "Maya, that looks great."

Maya looks at him with surprise, not expecting him to compliment her. A smile tugs on her lips and she ignores the butterflies that swarm in her stomach when he smiled at her. "Thanks."

Riley smiles at the drawing. "Hey, that's her." She looks at Maya and then at TJ with a small smile and a hopeful glint in her eyes. "You think anybody will like her?"

"I know I do." Maya responded.

"Me too." TJ chimes in. "The whole outfit looks sick, but I think the blue hair tops it off."

Riley furrowed her eyebrows with confusion. Maya sighs. "By sick, he meant cool, Riles."

"Oh, right." Riley looks at TJ with a smile. "Thank you."

TJ presses his lips to a tight line, nods his head, and returns to his song. "Yeah, okay."

"You've been working on that song for weeks now." Maya gets his attention.

He glances at her and looks back at his journal as he continues writing lyrics. "Yeah, so?"

"Are we ever going to get to hear it?" Riley questioned.

TJ nods. "You will when it's finished."

"Good." Maya smiled at him, causing butterflies to form in his stomach, and he couldn't help but smile back at her. What was this girl doing to him?

****

"Hey, guys, how do you feel about making some friends outside of our group?" Lucas asked later that day when the group met up in the hallway.

"Of course." Maya reassures him and tilts her head to the side. "Why?"

"Uh, there's this girl..." Lucas started.

Riley's eyes widen as she demands, "What?"

"Named Jexica." Lucas continued.

"What?" Riley asked, still having a wide-eyed look on her face, but she sounded more excited.

"Delete her." Maya whispers to Riley. TJ happened to hear it since he stood beside her. Riley shakes her head. "Too late."

"I don't know. I just feel like I really get Jexica." Lucas smiled.

"Yeah, she's a mystery woman." Farkle chimes in. "A mystery makes a woman very intriguing."

"I went to summer camp with her." Zay commented, causing TJ to laugh since he knew that Zay didn't.

"It looks as though we all like her." Lucas chuckled.

"Better than Maya?" Riley pointed at the blonde beside her.

Maya looks at her with a glare. "Hey!"

Riley looks at her with an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry." She turns back to the others with a smile. "Better than Maya?"

****

"I hear the freshmen just joined the high school social network." Cory said to the class.

Riley smiles. "Not me."

"I hear someone already has caused quite a stir." Cory voiced.

"Not me." Riley repeated.

"So, who is ready to learn something?" Cory asked.

Maya shakes her head. "Not me." TJ chuckled and rested his elbow on his desk, his chin on his hand as he smiled a little at Maya. He liked that she's not afraid to be herself and that she doesn't care what others think of her. TJ thinks that's very brave. Maya caught him staring and winked at him, making his heart skip a beat. She then smiled as she noticed his face had turned red a bit and she turned around to the front. What was Maya Hart doing to him?

"A social network is something that has its roots firmly planted in our history," Cory explains. "Cave paintings, stone tablets, scrolls, and papyrus leaves, they all help decide what went on in a society. Now, what are historians in the future gonna use to help determine who we are?"

"The internet and my frozen brain." Farkle answered with a smile.

"If they look at the internet, they're gonna think we're pretty ridiculous." Lucas chimed in.

Cory tilts his head to the side. "You think? Why is that?"

"Because the internet makes us look like a society of people that only care about dancing cats." Zay replied.

"But we're more than that." Farkle added.

Cory nods. "We are, but no one knows that if the dancing cat videos have a billion views and the discovery planet of a new planet only gets 27,000 likes."

Farkle smiles widely. "All me."

"What's the difference?" Lucas furrows his eyebrows. "Dancing cat and a new planet are just gonna get replaced by something new tomorrow."

Cory points at him. "Exactly right, Mr. Friar. So what does that say about us?"

"Oh, oh I know!" Maya speaks up excitedly, causing a smile to tug on TJ's lips at how excited she was. "It's not that we're a society of dancing cats. It's that we're a society of- Yes, Matthews?" She pointed at Cory to finish.

"It says that we're a society that lets things rise and fall that have no real value because the internet makes them so readily available to us so they get a lot of clicks, and likes, and comments, and then they fade out of our mind when the next things comes along." Cory explained.

"Well, is there anything wrong with a little distraction?" TJ inquired, tilting his head to the side. He often needed distraction from the arguments his parents often had and when he didn't feel like doing his homework. Music was the main distraction for him. Music helped him escape the arguments and it helped him relax. Music always calms him down, even after all these years.

Cory shakes his head. "No, there isn't if that's all it is." Cory looks at the class. "How many people here have seen the dancing cats video?"

Everyone raised their hands at whatever kind of video Cory asked if they saw them. Then he asked if anyone has seen the video of the sneezing panda and once again everyone raised their hands. "It seems to me that this isn't a distraction at all. It's a lifestyle." Cory noticed.

"Mr. Matthews, we also use the internet to study." TJ pointed out.

Cory smiles. "And that's great. Okay, so who here knows the capital of Minnesota?"

When TJ notices no one will answer the question, he decides to speak up since he knew the answer. "Saint Paul."

Cory looks at him with surprise, but then a smile forms on his lips. "That's right, TJ." He looks back at the class. "What about penguins? Are they in the North Pole? Polar bears at the South or is it the other way around?"

Once again, the room was quiet, so TJ speaks, surprised that they didn't know the answer to these simple questions. He couldn't believe that Farkle didn't even know them since apparently, he's a genius. "They live in the South."

"Okay, polar bears?" Cory asked him after realizing no one else was going to answer and was still a bit surprised TJ knew all of this.

TJ smiles, happy and surprised himself that he knew the answers to all of these questions. He's glad he did because he probably would've embarrassed himself if he didn't know the answer to them. "They're in the North."

"You are now my favorite student." Cory pointed at him with a grin.

TJ groans, leaning back against his seat. "That's not what I was trying to do, Matthews. I was just answering questions." He complained, feeling embarrassed that everyone's looking at him. He hated being the center of attention, especially in a classroom setting. It makes him nervous and his palms sweaty.

"Exactly." Cory nods and smiles. "You were the only one who apparently used your technology efficiently."

He turns back to face the class. "Okay, I guarantee you guys that what historians will say about us is that we're a society that spent a lot of time with a click or a like or a comment. And it's especially easy if nobody knows who you are, because a lot of people spend their time posting under anonymous names. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

Riley is quick to answer that. "Good."

Cory points at her. "Good. Why good?"

Riley smiles. "Just good."

"Just why?" Cory questioned.

"Because maybe life is easier that way." Riley replied to her father.

"Maybe." Cory nods. "Or maybe hiding behind a fake screen name gives the people the courage to go negative. Or someone who's too scared to express themselves an undeserved moment of attention."

TJ raises his eyebrows when he hears a voice over the school's pa system. "Attention Abigail Adams High. Will Jexica please report to the school office? Jexica. We just really want to meet you." TJ looked over at Riley, seeing that she was smiling back at Maya.

****

"Hey, girls." TJ greeted, climbing through the window and onto the bay window of Riley's bedroom the next morning.

"Canada, what are you doing here?" Maya questioned him, tilting her head to the side as she looked at him with surprise. She didn't expect to see him climb in the window and come visit them. Not that she's complaining about his presence. She loved having him around, especially when he would make her smile or laugh. Or even just make her feel safe. TJ could be very sweet and adorable. Wait, what? Maya shook her head, not wanting to dwell on the thought.

TJ shrugs his shoulder as he sits on the bay window. "Everyone else in the friend group has been at this bay window. I just wanted to see why it was so great." He rolls his eyes, shaking his head. "And, Maya, I have a name. It's not Canada."

Maya nods and shrugs, looking at the bay window with a small smile. "It is pretty great. There are a lot of memories with that bay window." A grin replaces the smile on her lips. "Yeah, I know you have a name. But now that you don't like me calling you Canada I'm just gonna call you that more."

TJ groans, throwing his head back, which made the girls giggle. TJ lifts his head and looks at Riley with a smile. "Also, I heard about Jexica and the whole Jexica situation and I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

"I'm perfectly fine." Riley reassures him.

TJ raises his eyebrows as he realized she was dressed as Jexica. "Okay, what did I miss?"

"Riley is apparently going to be Jexica now because everyone likes her." Maya replied, looking at Riley with wide eyes.

"Okay, here's my plan." Riley started.

"And she has a plan." TJ sighs, having a bad feeling this was going to end badly. "Of course she has a plan."

Riley ignores him and continues with her plan. "A; I go to school like this. B; I claim my new popularity. C; I solve our whole love triangle when Lucas falls for Jexica-"

"Not a thing." Maya interrupted her.

"D; Something goes horribly wrong. E; I learn a big lesson." Riley continued.

TJ sarcastically smiles and dramatically gestures to Riley. "Oh, I'm glad you actually understand something could go wrong with this plan." He stands up and walks over to the girls. "'Cause Riley, this is a bad plan. Just be yourself."

"Listen to TJ, he's making a good point." Maya pointed at him, hoping that Riley won't actually go through with this. TJ smiled a little, happy that she agreed with him. She usually did, but it's nice to hear her say it.

"Nope. Gonna do it this way." Riley smiles and moves to her bay window, getting ready to climb out the window. "Let's go, go, go, go." She continued to repeat go a few more times as she climbed out the window.

"Alright," TJ sighs heavily. "I guess we're doing it the hard way."

****

TJ follows the girls up the steps into the main hallway. His eyes grew wide when he noticed how everyone were dressed the same. "This is weird." He whispered to Maya who nodded in agreement, looking just as shocked as he was.

"Attention. Attention everyone in the school." Riley speaks up. "I have an announcement to make. I am Jexica!" She looks at Maya and TJ with a smile. "That oughta do it."

"Yeah, I don't think so." TJ shook his head, pointing to all of the other Jexica's in the hallway.

"Why not, pray tell?" Riley questioned.

"What we've done is skipped right to D." Maya said to Riley.

Riley counts on her fingers as she said her plan. "D! This is the letter where something goes horribly wrong."

Maya nods. "That's the one."

The three teens turn to their left when one girl dressed up like Jexica takes out her sword and says, "I am Jexica!"

Another girl dressed up also announced she was Jexica. Then Yogi dressed up like Jexica stepped up on the bench and said that he's Jexica. TJ shakes his head and rolls his eyes. "Dude, you're not Jexica." He stated.

"But I am Jexica." Yogi replied and TJ sighed, not bothering with saying anything else. He knew Yogi wasn't going to listen.

He raised his eyebrows when everyone who were dressed up like Jexica shouted that they are Jexica. "Wow, this is like Radio Rebel, but in a creepy way." TJ commented, earning a nod in agreement from Maya.

Riley looks at Maya and TJ worriedly. "What do we do now?"

TJ shrugs his shoulders again while Maya looks at Riley and says, "Too early to tell."

****

The next day Jexica quickly became yesterday's news. "Guys, I don't get it." Riley said as she, Maya, and TJ walked into History class. "Jexica has lost, like, half of her followers. How could this happen? What do I do? What kind of world is this?"

"It's a world where people get bored easily." TJ responded as the three of them sit in their seats.

Maya nods her head in agreement. "Yeah, and Riles, you didn't do anything wrong. It's just a matter of time before people get over something that doesn't actually exist."

Crossing her arms, Riley pouts. "Poor Jexica."

"She's not real." TJ reminded her.

"All she ever wanted was love." Riley said, ignoring his comment.

"She doesn't exist." Maya reminded her.

"I bet she wishes she never even put up her own profile." Riley continued.

Maya points at her. "She's you."

"Well, then how do I feel about this?" Riley questioned.

TJ sighs and leans back against his heat. "Why are you asking us how you feel?"

"Yeah, just leave us alone!" Maya exclaimed, looking annoyed. With a pouting face, Riley turned to face the front. TJ chuckled a little and Maya rolled her eyes at him, but couldn't help smile.

"Okay," Cory claps, getting the class's attention. "Historians will decide whatever they decide about us." He points at the class. "How do you feel about who you are?"

"I got 109 followers." Zay speaks up. "So, I feel pretty good no matter what happens."

"Really? What's valuable?" Cory questions. He points at TJ. "My favorite student?"

TJ groans at the nickname but answers his question. "Polar bears are in the North Pole, Penguins in the South. Capital of Minnesota is St. Paul."

Cory smiles. "That's right. That's great, right? Isn't that great?" He was met with silence and he sighs. "'Charlie bit my finger.'" Everyone immediately smiled and began to say the same thing, acting as if someone bit their finger like what happened in the famous video.

"If something that's important to us today is so easily replaced by something else tomorrow, we have to wonder if it ever really had any value at all. What can we learn from that?" Cory inquired.

"I-I don't know." Riley stuttered, looking unsure.

Cory raises his eyebrows. "How do you not know?"

"I don't know because I live in a world that judges me based on whatever movie or song I like, and I'm expected to answer questions about myself, but I'm still figuring out who I am, and everything could change tomorrow." Riley answered.

"Because who you are isn't measured by today or tomorrow, but by a whole bunch of days of what you do." Cory explains. "Not necessarily what you like or what you say at a particular time. The great thing about evolving is that we continue to grow and feel. Don't be influenced by somebody else's likes or clicks or favorites. Who should determine what you think?"

"Wikipedia?" Maya guessed. TJ couldn't help the amused smile on his lips when he heard the blonde's answer.

Cory stares at her, shaking his head in disappointment. "You disgust me. Go figure this out in the bay window. Class is over!"

****

"Hey, Huckleberry." Maya said, looking at Lucas, who sat on the floor.

Lucas looks at her with raised eyebrows. "Yes?"

"What do you know?" Maya asked him.

"I know a lot of things." Lucas replies, looking at each of them with a smile. "I know that we need to stick together. I know that the only way we can do that is if we're honest with each other."

"Get to it." Maya told him.

Lucas looks at Riley with a small smile. "I know that you are Jexica." He dramatically spoke, raising his fist.

Farkle speaks dramatically and also raises his fist. "I know that you are Jexica."

"Lucas told me that you are Jexica." Zay added in a dramatic tone, raising his fist.

"I knew you were Jexica the whole time." TJ spoke dramatically as he raised his fist. He sheepishly smiled at Lucas, Farkle, and Zay when they looked at him with a glare, obviously upset he knew about this and didn't tell them.

"How did you guys know that?" Riley asked Lucas, Farkle, and Zay.

"We know who you are, Riley. You don't have to write down some fake profile for us to know who you are. I'd recognize you anywhere." Lucas responded.

"What? No, you said something to her so now you have to look at me and say something to me." Maya told him.

"I'd recognize you anywhere, too." Lucas told her.

Maya narrows her eyes at him. "You're not even trying."

Lucas sighs, shaking his head. "I'm tired all the time."

"Guys." Farkle said, getting everyone's attention.

Zay raises his eyebrows. "Yes?"

"I want us to last forever." Farkle informed.

"Well, how do we do that?" Riley tilts her head to the side, looking over at Maya when she speaks. "By finding out that friends who know who you are is the most real thing there is."

TJ smiles and then looks at Riley, raising his eyebrows at her. "What are you gonna put on your profile, Riley?"

"Yeah." Maya looks at Riley with a smile. "Who are you?"

****

TJ eventually found out that Riley had finally finished her profile, this time being honest and putting everything she liked on it. He was proud of her. He's glad that she finally learned a lesson. It's not that she had to lie about who she was, she just had to be herself. And TJ believes that that's what everyone should do. Everyone is unique in their own way. He doesn't like when people try to fit in a mold that society thinks is normal. Be yourself, not what other people want you to be. He's definitely glad Riley learned that lesson, it was a lesson everyone should learn. 

A/N I love tj & maya so much