𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 — 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏

❝ 𝙝𝙞𝙜𝙝 𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙡 ( 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 1 ) ❞

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

"Okay, Amanda. You got this. First day of high school," the girl looked in the mirror and gave herself a pep talk. It was the first day of high school and Amanda wasn't scared, more nervous if anything. During her free time in the summer, she prepared some ground rules for herself for school.

—phone off during class unless emergency
—don't speak unless spoken too in class
—keep comments to yourself!
—always ask for help if needed
—always be there for your friends

She felt that this was necessary to prevent anything bad happening while she was in school. She didn't want a repeat of seventh grade, that was for sure.

──

A thirteen year old Amanda Matthews walked down the school hallways with her head down. Even with her gaze to the floor, she could still feel the heated stares of students as she passed them. The picture she had posted spread like wildfire and now she was paying for it.

"Hey, Matthews! Catch," her reaction time was delayed as a piece of paper was thrown at the girl's head. She opened the crumbled paper to see a drawing of her with bad and hurtful names surrounding the figure. She didn't have time to react as she was pushed into a heed of lockers, "see ya at lunch, troll."

──

A knock on her bedroom door shook her out of her thoughts. Amanda looked to her cousin at her doorway, "Mandy, you ready to go?"

Amanda took one more look in the mirror, "let's do this."

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

"This is it! High school!"

"We're gonna own this place!"

Those were the first words that came out of Amanda's two best friends' mouths, walking into the seemingly huge high school. Amanda, with her hand interlocked with Lucas', looked around the head of the building in awe. Yup, she thought, this is it.

The group walked up the stairs to the main hallway with looks of admiration. Students were roaming the halls on their own time and laughing with their friends, getting the friends excited for the future.

"Girls," Maya Hart called out to her two best friends as she looked around the school, "what if we don't own this place?"

"Maya, life wouldn't do that," Riley answered as she took the blondes hand, "we're us."

Amanda glanced around to see her boyfriend and his two best friends getting confronted by the upper class-men. After the two left, Lucas commented, "oh, come on! They're just people in high school!"

Coming back into her latest conversation, Amanda chimed in, "you know, I heard that even the best of friendships can come apart in high school," she said nervously, "but that wouldn't happen to us, right? Both of you promise me that no matter what happens, we will always stick together."

The bell rang, making everyone split into different sections of the hallway. Being caught off guard, Amanda's grip on her two best friends were broken and she somehow ended up with her and Lucas huddled in the corner of a classroom doorway, "we're gonna own the place," the couple turned to see Farkle stuck on a light fixture, hanging from the ceiling.

"Look! A patriot," Riley announced after the halls were cleared of students. Riley walked to the center of the hallway, "we're Abigail Adams patriots! We're just as much a part of this as everyone else."

"Get in the whole."

"Of course get in the whole."

Three seniors walked up the group of freshmen, "what are you," one girl asked Riley.

"I'm Riley."

"What are you," the other girl asked Maya.

"She's my bestfriend and we could do without the attitude, madam."

"What'd you call us?"

Maya backed away, "I'm gonna probably need help now."

The brunette senior smirked, "spunky. You know what we're gonna call you? Spunky."

"And what are you, spunky?"

"Her name is Maya," Amanda stepped in, her hand interlocked with her boyfriend's, "and I'm Amanda. Not to be rude but it's kind of our first day and we would like to look around and not stay in a hole, if you wouldn't mind."

"Oh, we mind," the blonde senior stepped up.

Amanda stepped back, "good talk."

"Hey," the senior guy spoke up, "when my friends and I tell you to do something, you do what they say," he said to Amanda, causing Lucas to put his girlfriend behind him.

"This hallway here is for people who have earned it."

"Why are you doing this," Andrew asked, coming up from behind Riley and Maya.

The blonde senior smiled, "do you want to hear your freshmen song?"

Riley gasped, "we have a freshmen song? I want to hear our freshmen song."

"I think you don't," Maya told her best friend.

To some it up, the song was basically telling the group to go in the hole until they're ready to come out. Amanda personally thought her and her friends were going into timeout. This was not how she pictured her first day of high school.

"You know, it's not that bad down here," Zay told his friends from the hole.

"You're already down there?"

"Oh, I saw how this was going," he told Andrew.

One by one, the group of friends went into the hole. Amanda sat on the steps as her boyfriend still held his ground. After the seniors left, Lucas spoke, "I'm sorry we're in here, guys."

"It's not your fault, Bubba."

"Yeah, you can't protect us anymore," Zay shrugged.

"I used to."

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

"Good morning and welcome to World History. Who's ready to learn?"

"What's that on the board," a student asked.

WE WERE KINGS.
NOW WE ARE PATRIOTS.

"It's cryptic," the student continued, "you can't teach us cryptic. What are you trying to pull on us? Huh?"

Matthews looked taken aback from the girl's comment and went to his daughter for help, "what her name?"

"What your name," Riley asked.

"Marley."

"Marley," Riley informed her father.

Matthews nodded, "well, Marley sees right through me."

Riley smiled, "just keep teaching about our lives and I'm sure she'll come around."

Matthews nodded and continued his lesson, "Abigail Adams was the wife of John Adams, and the momma of Johnny Q. They were quite the historical triangle."

"Huh." Riley.

"Triangle." Maya.

"Huh." Andrew.

"And I'll tell you that one thing they understood about this brand-new nation was to stick together, because every direction they turned was brand-new, undiscovered country."

Riley smiled, "I am an Abigail Adams patriot."

"How? We don't even get to walk the halls," Lucas scoffed, failing to hear his girlfriends word of warning from next to him.

"Lucas, these seniors are older and more experienced than us, and I think they're trying to help," Riley told the boy.

"Riley, they're making fun of us and we're letting it happen," Andrew spoke up.

Matthews sighed, "but most of all, these patriots knew to remain loyal to each other, because their survival depended on it in a dangerous, new land."

Lucas spoke again, "Riley, we don't even know our way around school yet—"

"Yeah. Why would we just park ourselves in a hole," Andrew finished.

"Okay, so you two just want to throw us in whatever goes on in this place and see what happens?"

"Yes. You know what we call that? Normal," Andrew said as Riley's face fell.

Marley tapped on her desk, "let me see if I get how you teach," she said to Matthews, "my friends and I get into a fight."

"Awe."

"I was talking about you," Marley told Riley.

The girl shook her head, "what? Me? Why," Riley turned to the two boys, "are we fighting?"

"Oh, I don't know. Let's go to the weird undefined area between the two floors and talk about it," Andrew spoke sarcastically.

Riley scoffed, "we are fighting," she turned to her two bestfriend's, "you two have to fight with them equally as much."

Amanda laughed shortly, "uh, yeah, no. Not happening."

Riley turned her gaze to Maya, expectantly. After a pause, the blonde got out of her seat, "ay. Ay. Ay ay ay. Ay ay ay ay ay," she exclaimed into Andrews face.

After the blonde sat back in her seat, Matthews spoke, "who misses middle school?"

Everyone in the class instantly raised their hands.

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

"Okay, school's over. Can we go home now," Amanda asked her friends in the hole. Amanda was exhausted after her first day of high school and wanted to go home and relax. But, that didn't happen, seeing that all of them were still in school after hours.

"Who wants a hug?"

"Stop with that," Zay hissed to Isadora.

"This is not how I'm gonna live my high school life," Lucas said from his seat next to his girlfriend on the steps, her head on his shoulder as she tried to keep her eyes open.

Riley stepped forward, "what if there is a good reason the seniors put us down here? What if it's to teach us something?"

"Maybe you just have too much faith in people."

"Maybe I have the right amount of faith in people," Riley fired back at Farkle.

"Bird," Maya blurts, making Riley turn her head, looking for the bird, "how am I in a triangle with that?"

Lucas shrugged, "okay, you know what? That's it. I'm gonna go look around. Come on, Mandy."

Amanda got up from her seat and stopped as she saw the look on her cousin's face. Oh no, she thought. It wasn't until Lucas tugged her hand did she follow him upstairs, Andrew and Zay following.

"Undiscovered country in every direction," Zay announced as everyone else made their way upstairs.

Riley and Maya found a bay window in the hallway, "maybe this won't be so bad," Riley commented.

"You're in our spot," two older cheerleaders trailed off. As the two took their seats, their eyes went to Lucas and Andrew, "what're your names?"

"This is my boyfriend, Lucas," Amanda smirked, "who is, by the way, very, very, very taken."

"You know who isn't taken? Zay. Completely available," Zay told the girls.

When their eyes drifted to Andrew, he sighed, "the name is Andrew, and these are my—what would you like to be called," he asked Riley and Maya.

"Uh, girlfriend," Riley smiled.

"Girlfriend. Equally as much."

"Girlfriend-eses?"

"It's complicated," Maya said.

"You know who's not complicated? Zay. Completely available."

One cheerleader scoffed, "well, I'm sure you're all adorable together."

"Yeah. Thanks for being a distraction while the football team finished practice."

Zay raised his hand, "I'm trying out for football."

"Oh, yeah? Good luck to ya."

Suddenly, big and buff football players came barreling into the hallway. Feeling squished, Amanda squirmed as Lucas' hold on her waist got tighter as he spoke, "you're the football team in high school," earning nods, "hey, that's great."

Riley turned back to the cheerleaders, "you're the cheerleaders in high school," she asked earning nods, "hey, that's great."

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

"They want you to stay down here," Matthews asked in disbelief as his favorite students showed them the hole.

Farkle nodded, "until we think we're ready to leave."

"Well, why would they pick just you guys out?"

"Because we're freshmen and they think we're easy targets," Lucas answered.

Matthews scoffed, "well, there's a whole class of freshmen. Why do you think they picked out just you guys?"

"They said that we'd thank them for this," Riley added.

Andrew rolled his eyes, "we're never thanking them."

"Dad, would you tell him there is a purpose here?"

"Mr. Matthews, would you please tell your daughter that they were messing with us?"

"This is on me."

"What," Amanda asked her Uncle.

"You were kids," Matthews started, "I taught you to always look for the lessons that life is trying to teach you. Now you're not kids. It's day one in a bigger world. You've asked me if I prepared you for it. We'll see," and with that, Matthews walked away from the group of friends, leaving them alone.

"It's not just a hole," Riley stated.

"Then what is it then?"

"You don't have to get angry," she tells Lucas.

"I am angry, Riley. This isn't how I wanna start high school. I want to walk anywhere I want. Andrew and I want to go out for the football team."

Riley shook her head, "you both would get killed on the football team."

"Riley," Amanda shook her head in warning.

"Really? Is that what you think," Andrew stood up from his place against the wall and walked up to Riley, "so you'll put your faith in some random seniors, but you won't have faith in me?"

"I don't think they're random," Riley's voice got quieter, "I don't think that anything that ever happens to us is random."

"Sometimes, you are just too much for me, Riley."

Amanda stepped forward, "Andrew, enough."

Maya also stepped forward, "guys. Can we just stop. This isn't who we are."

"Oh, yeah? Then who are we," with that sentence hung in the air, Andrew went up the stairs, Zay in tow.

Maya looked toward Farkle and Smackle, "you guys are the geniuses. You got this all figured out?"

"Your dad is right. You do always look for the good in people, Riley," Smackle started.

"You were a great leader in middle school, Riley. You always made us believe the world loved us."

"This just isn't the same world."

Farkle sighed, "no matter how optimistic you are, Riley. I think this time you just led us down a hole," the couple left up the stairs and out of the hole, leaving only four left.

Riley turned to her cousin, "Amanda?"

The girl looked up from her hands and turned towards her boyfriend with a shaky breath, "Lucas?"

"I'm sorry, Mandy. But, I'm with the others on this one."

With that answer, Amanda looked between her cousin and boyfriend, "I can't pick between you two. I can't."

"Now you're gonna have to," Riley spoke for the first time in a while, her tone exhausted, "me or him."

Amanda sighed, she could feel the rest of her friends gazes as they watched from out of the hole, "the fact that you're making me choose—," she scoffed as she felt tears well up in her eyes, "what is going on? This was supposed to be a start of a new beginning. Now, we're all split apart and against each other. This is not how I wanted to start high school. So, you know what? I pick neither of you," she shook her head.

"What?"

"I pick neither of you," she repeated to her cousin, "I'm picking myself. Uncle Cory is right, you do look for the best in people, Riley. And I love that about you! It's like a breath fresh air from all the negative answers in the world! But, all this drama for no reason isn't what's best for me," a tear fell from both of their eyes as they held hands, "so, I'm gonna go—I'm gonna go home, and let you guys solve whatever it is you need to solve because I feel like this goes deeper then a stupid hole," Amanda dropped her hands from her cousin's and turned toward her boyfriend and gave him a peck on the lips, "I'm not mad at you. I just need to be alone for awhile," with that, she left her friends in the hole. Her words still up in the air, as her friends watched her leave with concern, feeling devastated at how their first day of high school ended.

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

edited: 28 feb 2021