𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 — 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒚-𝒕𝒘𝒐

❝ 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 ❞

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

Life is full of surprises. Surprises can take your life on wild adventures. No one could predict the surprise that was coming full force toward Amanda Matthews. A surprise no one saw coming.

"Has your mom made a decision on the London job offer yet?"

The number one dilemma looming over Amanda's head was the possibility of her cousin and family moving to London. The news was a great shock to the girl. Not only would she miss them dearly, but also wondered what would happen with her.

Riley sighed next to her cousin as they talked to Maya in the hall in front of their History class, "don't you think you'll hear as soon as I've heard?"

Maya raised her brow, "have you heard?"

"How can I pretend that this isn't happening if you keep bringing it up?"

Mandy jumped in, "Riles, we can't just pretend this isn't happening."

"London is 3,459 miles away from New York," Maya told them.

"What," Riley exclaimed, "you're too far away now!"

"We need to face this, girls," the blonde girl nodded, "this is the end of Riley and Maya. And it was just starting to become
Riley and Maya and Mandy."

"How could you say that," Riley squinted, "how could you even think that? Riley and Maya are forever no matter where we are."

Amanda down casted her eyes, "and that's my cue. I'll see you two in class."

Although she appreciated Maya including her, her cousin still didn't understand how her words hurt. With a weight on her chest, Amanda walked into History with the eyes of the two girls on her retreating figure.

Mandy stepped into the classroom only to be met with solemn and sad expressions. She made eye contact with her boyfriend, who looked the most effected in the room. She sighed before walking to her seat beside him. She set her stuff down, grabbed his face before pressing a kiss on his head. She sat down just in time for Riley to appear at the door.

"Wow, so much emotion," she blanched, "why is everybody so emotional when nothing's happening?"

She sat in her seat as Farkle turned to her, "because it is happening, Riley."

"Why are you so sure?"

"Look at the board."

BELGIUM 1831

Mr. Matthews pointed to the board, "Belgium 1831. The Netherlands was a group of friendly states who thought they'd stay together forever..."

Farkle nodded, "Belgium 1831 is us."

"... Until Belgium made the decision it was time to go. It was decided that Belgium would no longer be part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, but its own independent country. Belgium was free."

"Did people visit it?"

Matthews smiled down at his daughter, "people like who?"

"Belgium's friends. Did they visit it or did they forget her like Kerri Abelson?"

"Oh, yeah," Farkle nodded, "what ever happened to Kerri?"

"She moved across—"

"I don't care. She's gone."

"At that point, Belgium was no longer a part of a group," Matthews continued, "but its own sovereign nation... ready to meet the world on its own terms."

Riley spoke again, leaning forward in her chair, "what if it wasn't ready yet?"

"What if none of us are ready for this," Andrew added, looking just as sad as the rest of the group. He finally got the girl and she might be leaving him. He looked at his girlfriend, "I'm not ready for this, Riley."

Farkle spoke up again as Andrew continued to look at Riley, even when she avoided his gaze, "so, Belgium 1831 was gonna be about our own freedom when we left this place?"

"That was my plan," Matthews nodded with a solemn expression of his own, "but sometimes, things happen in life earlier than they're supposed to."

"So, what do we do?"

"We do our best," Matthews pointed to Zay, "like we've always done. We leave our good mark and we hope that people remember us fondly."

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

The rest of the school day was slow for Mandy. Each class went by, seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours. Amanda decided to spend her time after school with Lucas at his house. Studying was the main activity, but they made time for each other, to talk. They didn't discuss the elephant in the room, they felt that would take away from what really mattered, each other.

When Amanda made her way to the door of her home, she heard more voices than expected. Slowly, with a bit of apprehension, she turned the lock and walked inside.

The conversations around the room stopped as eyes laid on the door that opened to reveal another teenaged girl.

Amanda Matthews.

It was as if the room didn't know how to react to her coming home. All of the adults in the room stated back at the girl they didn't get to meet, or simply hadn't seen since she was a baby. But it was clear, she was a Matthews.

Her light brown hair trickled down her back with a wave to it, just like her mother's growing up. Her outfit consisted of blue vintage mom jeans, thrifted of course, with a simple white crop top and a loose fitted cardigan over it, paired with her white Nike sneakers. The adults thought she was the picture perfect replica of her mother.

"Uh," Mandy trailed awkwardly, "sorry to crash the party..."

Topanga, the first person to realize who was in the room, walked toward her niece, "oh, honey, you weren't crashing anything. We have good news," she looked behind to her family, "we're staying in New York. We're not going anywhere."

Mandy smiled brightly and launched herself into her aunt's arms, "oh, Aunt T, that's so great!"

Cory Matthews smiled and also stepped forward, "so, that only leaves one more line of business to attend to. Are you staying with us?"

Mandy scoffed, the smile still present, "of course I'm staying with you, Uncle Cory. Why would I," the girl trailed off again as she finally looked around the room at the rest of the adults. She could see Riley, Maya and Auggie sitting at the kitchen table. Shawn Hunter and Katie together, whom she hadn't seen since their wedding. Her Uncle Eric was there, along with her Uncle Josh. She saw Mr. Turner, who she hadn't seen since middle school. Farkle's dad was also present, she met him at a study session as Farkle's house. She smiled at Feeny, whom she met at Shawn and Katie's wedding. And finally, her mother, Morgan Matthews. The woman didn't look any different, but she did look happier.

"Mom?"

Morgan sighed, almost looking guilty, "hi, sweet cheeks."

Amanda huffed with a confused smile, "what are you doing here?"

Her mother walked forward between her brother and sister-in-law, "honey, there's someone I want you to meet..."

Amanda's eyes snapped to movement coming from the back of the kitchen as she watched a man come into a more visual view. He was tall, had a beard and a good head of hair. He had his hands in his trouser pockets, looking quite small for a man his size. As soon as they met eyes, the girl knew, "hi, Amanda."

"... Dad?"

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

Amanda Matthews didn't attempt to leave her room. She didn't have anything to do this weekend and she didn't want to talk to anyone if she didn't have to, but she knew she had to. Her aunt came in, in the evening to drop off her dinner plate only to see her niece covered under a sea of blankets. The woman knew exactly what to do and who it was that could help.

Even with her head racing with thoughts, the girl managed to sleep. With the blankets on top of her, making her surroundings dark, she didn't know what time it was when she woke up, but she did hear footsteps coming into her room.

Riley Matthews looked at the others, pursing her lips. She felt awful for her cousin. The look on her face when she saw her dad for the time broke her heart. When her mother came into her room to talk about what they could do, they came up with a plan. And so, there the group of friends were, staring at the lump of blankets that held their best friend underneath. Riley slowly made her way to the bed and sat on the edge, "Mands..."

No response.

Riley sighed, looking at Lucas for help, "Mandy, can we talk, please?"

The Friar boy moved closer to the bed when he and the group heard a sniffle coming from inside the blankets, "baby, can you please come out of there?"

"No," Mandy's voice was muffled, but heard, "go away."

Lucas chuckled at his girlfriend's stubbornness, "you know we can't do that, darlin'. Come out, it's just us."

Amanda thought about it under her fortress of protection and ultimately decided to come out. She knew she would have to talk to someone sometime. Slowly, she sat up from her, very comfortable, spot on her bed and took the covers off.

Everyone could see the puffiness in her eyes and how red they were, but no one commented about it. Mandy looked around at her friends, tears in her eyes unwillingly as her boyfriend flattened her hair from the static of the sheets. She leaned into his hand for comfort as a tear fell on his thumb. Lucas instantly came and took the girl in his arms, not caring if the rest of the group saw. The couple didn't usually like to do heavy PDA with the group, keeping it casual, but Mandy needed him. And he would be there for her no matter what.

"What am I gonna do," the Matthews girl muttered, her head on his shoulder, "why is he even here? Why does she look so happy? I don't understand, she hasn't responded to my texts in months and she comes back with him?"

Riley spoke to her cousin, almost hesitantly, "they want to talk to you. They're staying in a hotel nearby."

"Good for them," she scoffed, wiping her tears, "I don't want to see them. I have a guess as to why they're here, and the answer is no."

At that point, the rest of the group was closer to the bed, Maya and Farkle sitting while Andrew, Smackle and Zay stood around the bed. Farkle spoke next, gently, "why do you think they're here?"

Mandy turned to Riley, "they want to take me back, don't they? That's why they're here?"

She got a slow nod as her answer.

"The answers no," she grabbed Riley's hand, "you guys took me in when she gave up on me. You are my family. All of you. So no, I'm not leaving. I don't care what they have to say."

"Yeah, but, Mands," Maya voiced, "you've always talked about what it would be like if you knew your dad, and now you have a chance. Don't you at least want to meet him properly?"

Mandy pondered what the blonde said. She did always wonder what it would be like if she had her dad in her life. She sighed, "Maya, what did we talk about when your dad came into town?"

The blonde smiled, "you told me that forgiveness takes time and to never give up hope."

Mandy nodded, looking at her and Lucas' conjoined hands, "maybe I should listen to my own advise..."

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

Sitting in the living room of the Matthews residence with her father in front of her and her mother next to her was something Amanda never thought would happen. Yet, here she was. She gulped down her anxiousness and finally looked at her father. He had bags under his eyes, indicating he didn't sleep very well the night before. His face was soft, seemingly as if he didn't want to scare the girl, not like he could.

Sick of the silence, Mandy spoke first, "why'd you leave?"

Greg chuckled at his daughter's bluntness, "if I'm being honest, kid, I wasn't ready to have kids. Your mother and I had only been dating for a couple of months and I wasn't ready."

The Matthews girl nodded, "did you ever think about me?"

"All the time," her father stressed, his eyes gentle but pleading, "there were many times I wanted to reach out. And then when I came to San Fransisco, you were gone."

Mandy narrowed her eyes, "you know there's something called a phone, right? It sounds like you're blaming me for leaving  before you got a chance to meet me when I didn't have a choice."

"I—"

"See, that's the difference between you and me," the girl got up from her seat and started to pace, trying to keep her temper in check, "you left willingly and purposefully before I was even born! And 15 years later, you decide you wanna show your face only to not being able to meet me because my mom sent me away without letting me have a say! You sent me away, mom," she turned to her mother, who sat on the couch with a sunken expression, "when the going got tough, you gave up on me and sent me away for me to be someone else's problem! I mean, come on, mom! You haven't answered my texts in months and now all of a sudden you come to my new home with him?"

Morgan Matthews sighed, "Amanda, when your father came back, we reconnected, we realized we wanted to be back in each others lives. We—"

"You realized the reason you guys broke up was out of the picture in New York."

"Amanda Matthews," her mother scolded, now stood up as well, "don't you dare say that. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me—"

"—I find that hard to believe."

"—I couldn't do anything for you back at home," the woman continued, "my job was cracking down more than ever, the school was calling nonstop. I just wanted it to end. I was selfish, I know. I was selfish and I looked after myself and not my daughter who was hurting immensely. And I'm sorry, baby, I'm so sorry. When Greg came back, he filled that void I felt with you gone. But it wasn't a void because of you, it was a void without you. I missed you so much."

"Then why didn't you answer my texts for so long," Mandy pleased for an answer.

"I hated lying to you and keeping Greg a secret in the times he's been with me since you left. I found it hard to talk to you without wanting to tell you."

Mandy scoffed, "so instead you just stopped talking to me?"

"Amanda, you're fine without me! My brother and his family, our family, are exactly who you belong with!"

"You're my mom!"

Both mother and daughter had tears in their eyes as Amanda continued, "you're my mom. I will always need you and I will never be truly fine without you. You've missed so much. Both of you," she looked between the two adults in front of her, "I have a boyfriend now. And he's the best person you could ever meet. I have an amazing group of friends who support and love me. I'm in the Choir Program at school and have performed on stage and loved it. I've been to Texas, twice. I've learned so much from Uncle Cory in middle school and high school so far. I've changed. I've grown. And you weren't there to see any of it."

The two adults were speechless as they finally understood what their actions caused.

Amanda drew a breath, "so, if you're going to ask if I wanted to move back, then I decline your offer."

Tears fell from her mother's cheeks, "I had a feeling you would say no. But I still had to see you. We both did."

Amanda nodded, then turned her attention to her father, who was quiet from next to her mother, "I will forgive but I will never forget."

Greg Johnson nodded to his daughter, his hands behind his back, "I understand. Thank you for hearing me out."

Mandy watched her father kiss her mother's cheek, smile in her direction and walk out the door. The girl stepped forward and hugged her mom tightly. They stayed like that for a minute or two before they pulled apart.

Mandy sniffled, "don't be a stranger, please."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Morgan caressed her daughters cheek, "you're beautiful, baby. And I love you, so much."

Her daughter nodded into her hand, "I love you, too, momma."

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

Amanda Matthews felt the weight on the chest lift watching her mom leave the apartment. She knew that things were on there way to being better again. She wondered if she would ever get the chance to talk to Riley about her feelings, and she got her answer fairly quickly.

A knock on her door made Mandy lift her head to see her cousin, clad in pajamas. It was later that same night she talked to her parents and she was ready to sleep the day away and start new tomorrow. But seeing Riley at her door, she knew there was one more conversation she had to have.

"Can I talk to you?"

Mandy nodded and padded the seat next to her, "of course you can, Riles."

Once settled, Riley started, "when my mom came to me when you were in your room, she told me something that I wanted to talk to you about."

Already having a feeling what this was about, Mandy sighed, "she told you about my feelings toward you and Maya, huh?"

"She did," Riley nodded, grabbing her cousin's hand, "and I'm so sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was to leave you out. I guess, I'm just so used to having Maya by my side through everything since forever ago and I think that blinded me from seeing someone that loves and supports me right in front of me."

"Riley—"

"I don't tell you how important you are to me enough. You are the closest thing to a sister I've ever had. You've looked out for me since the day you came here. You always defend me and always find a way to teach me something new, all while dealing with your own life. And I can't thank you enough. You're going to be apart of my life for a long long time, Mands. Don't ever think otherwise."

Amanda smiled at her cousin's words, "thanks, Riles. I love you," she wrapped her arms around her cousin, who squeezed her just as tight.

"I love you, too."

They pulled apart after a few moments before Amanda spoke one more time, "let's take on the world, Riles."

"Let's take on the world."

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

edited: 2 march 2021