Emily's POV

Matthews is teaching us a lesson on legacy. "Legacy." He notices the goose on Farkle's desk. "Why is Farkle a goose?"

"That's the Einstein Academy goose." Riley says to him.

"Oh, of course. The Einstein Academy goose. Why is it on Farkle's desk?" He asks us.

"Einstein captured Farkle." I tell him.

"It was their end of the year prank." Lucas says.

"So, since they took our mascot,"

"We took theirs and now we're even." Riley says.

"Farkle's not a mascot." Mr. Matthews says and I nod agreeing.

"That's what I told them." I say to him.

"What would you call him?" Maya asks us.

"My boyfriend?" I say to her.

"Where's Zay? They got Zay, too?" Mr. Matthews asks Lucas.

"Zay's back in Texas. He's at Vanessa's spring formal." Lucas answers.

"Ooh!" Maya, Riley and I say in unison.

"All right, guys. Listen up. It's your last week of school. This is my last chance to teach you something." Cory says to us all.

"Do you have more to teach us?" Maya asks our teacher.

"I have so much more I wanna teach you." He answers Maya's question. "So much more. I mean, you guys are gonna be leaving this place. What will you be leaving behind? What is your legacy? I wanna talk about just what you've gotten from this place, but what you've given."

"He's right. We still haven't thought of our class prank! I was thinking we could let all of the air out of school. Everybody would just be like-" Maya says to Lucas, Riley and I, and fakes choking. "That'd be hilarious."

Farkle comes in the class room. "I'll tell you what's hilarious."  (notices the goose on his desk) Nobody saved me! Why did nobody save me?

"I tried. I called you a bunch of times. And then they stole the goose." I say to him. He smiles at me.

"Farkle, we looked for you for a whole five minutes, and then we took the goose." Riley says to him.

"He's the new you." Maya tells Farkle about the goose.

"Donnie Barnes, regular goose." Lucas says to him.

"I'd see that movie." Matthews says. I nod agreeing.

"Oh, please. Farkle cannot be replaced by a goose. Farkle is unique and one of a kind." Farkle says to us all. Then looks to the goose. "Hah!" The goose honks, almost sounding just like Farkle when he does it. "You don't know me." I smile at him.

--------

Farkle and I were sitting outside the diner later that night, talking.

"You guys really stole that goose instead of trying to find me?" He asks me.

I laugh lightly. "In my defense, I did call you a bunch of times. And I even texted Smackle and Austin."

He smiles. "Then you left with the goose."

"Whoops." I say, smiling at him. "You want some pie?"

"Sure." Farkle says.

I smile before getting up and walking inside. "Hey Topanga." I say to her as I walk up to the counter.

"Hi Emily. What can I get you?" She asks me.

"A lemonade and two pieces of chocolate pie." I say to her.

"Okay." She says smiling at me before getting the food and drink. "Here you go." She says to me, handing me the stuff once she was done cutting the pie.

"Thank you!" I say to her before walking back outside to Farkle.

"Here's your slice." I say to him, before putting the stuff down and sitting.

"Thanks Em." He says.

"You're welcome." I say before taking a bite of the slice of pie.

The two of us stayed there talking for a long time before Katy called me to go home.

---------

Cory is still teaching Legacy while Riley is outside of the classroom looking through the window, Maya is lying on top of her desk, and Lucas is sitting away from her.

"You came into this place a bunch of young kids who didn't know very much, and now look at ya. Young men and women ready for what's next." Matthews says to us then looks at Maya. "Snap out of it!" He then looks at Riley. "Get in here!" Riley makes the window squeak. "What are you doin'?" He asks Lucas.

"We value our friendship too much to look at each other." Lucas tells him.

"Turn your chair around. Get in your seat." He says to Lucas and Maya. Maya does so.

Lucas stands up, takes his chair with him, possibly turns it around, and possibly puts it back behind his desk.

"Now, the most important thing you can do in life is give people the reason to remember you." He says to all of us. Lucas looks at Riley. "The people who do that are the ones we study in here. So, your last assignment from me and for yourselves is to figure out what you will give back."

Maya notices Lucas looking at her. "What?" She asks him.

"I looked at Riley." He says.

"I know. I saw." Maya says.

"So, I'm looking at you to even it up." Lucas says to her. I sigh and share a look with Farkle.

"Well, a girl always wants to be looked at to be evened up." Maya says, sarcastically.

"We're just friends, and I love your outfit."

Riley smacks the window with both of her hands. "Hey!" She yells.

"Your hair smells nice!" Lucas yells under pressure.

Riley smiles and feels her hair.

"You smelled her hair?" Maya asks him.

"Lucas!"

"I'm dying here!" Lucas replies.

Cory looks to his class as Riley comes in and sits at her desk. "What are you grateful for? Who do you want to remember you? Do something about it right now. Now get outta here." He says. Everyone leaves the classroom.

-------

"I want to thank you for helping me with my writing." I say to Harper, our English teacher.

"You're a wonderful writing, never give that up." She says to me. I smile at her.

"Even if everything goes wrong?" I ask.

"Even if that happens. You have a great gift Emily, never let it go. Let it grow with you. It can take you to many different places. You're writing is beautiful. Never lose sight of that." She tells me, smiling at me.

"You're one of the first teachers I ever liked here." I tell her.

"Well thank you Emily." She says to me. "Now, I need to go clean up the classroom, but never forget what I said, Emily. Never forget it."

I smile one last time at her before she walks away.

--------

"What?" Cory asks as Lucas, Farkle, Maya and I walked into the classroom, sitting in our normal seats.

"You got one last lesson for the road?" Maya asks him.

"Yeah. I do." Cory says to us.

"Well, I've never said this before, but you have my attention." Maya tells him.

"Good." He tells her then looks at all five of us. "This one's important. I've gotten to watch you guys become friends and I've gotten to watch you grow. You guys grew up so fast and I've been trying to teach you to keep your feelings inside."

"And you were right. Look at us." Riley says.

"I was wrong." He says. "Your teacher was wrong. I can't keep you in this place. You've outgrown it. You guys are graduating to whatever comes next. Do you know why?" He asks.

"No." Maya and I both say.

"You've earned it." Cory says to us.

"How do we know when we're ready?" Maya asks.

"The same way we know anything." He says. "Let's take one last test and see."

Maya, Riley, Lucas and I groan.

"Yay." Farkle says.

--------

We were in Matthews classroom the next day, sitting in our seats. It was again only the five of us.

"Are you even allowed to do this? It's the last day of school." Riley asks her father. I laugh lightly.

"I'm still your teacher. I can do whatever I want. Besides, this test isn't for a grade. This is the test to find out what you've actually learned here." He says to all of us. "Question one. What's the secret of life?" He asks and looks at Maya. "Maya?"

"People change people." She says.

"And for extra credit?" He asks her.

"What 'us' does for them?" Maya says.

"What does that mean?" He asks.

"How we help those who are less fortunate than us." She tells him.

"And are you an us or them?" Matthews asks.

"I'm an us. I'm very blessed. We all are." Maya says. I smile.

"Question two. Sneak attack." He says and looks at Riles. "Riley?"

"Pearl Harbor." She says.

"And for extra credit?" He asks her.

"Missy Bradford tried to tear our friendships apart. Lucas was new here and she tried to throw a sneak attack. I think that was the moment we all realized what we really meant to each other. The moment we all came together." Riley says. I smile at her.

"Good." He tells her. "Farkle? Canada."

"Our greatest allies are the people right next to us." Farkle says, looking at the four of us.

"Emily."

"I learned that no matter what's going on, or what you're going through. You're best friends will always be there for you and to never give up on something you believe passionately about." He nods and smiles at me before looking at Lucas.

"Lucas?"

"I think I was the most changed by these people. I know that whatever I'm feeling, I can just tell my friends and everything would be okay." Lucas answers.

"Will it?" Riley asks.

"I guess we'll see." Lucas says.

"I thought we stopped." Maya says.

"I thought we were just friends." Riley says to Lucas.

"We're not. We're no good at it." He says. "We can't even look at each other anymore. I don't need any note cards to know that we have different feelings now." Lucas says to them.

"And that's why your teacher was wrong." Cory tells us. "I can't hold you back from what you feel. Congratulations. You've all passed this test with flying colors." He tells us.

"What happens now?" Farkle asks.

"Now you graduate, Farkle. You walk out of here with everything you've learned and you live life. You live it. You face whatever comes." Mr. Matthews answers. "This is gonna be the greatest test of your friendship yet." He says.

"Wow. I made it to high school. We're gonna need some good teachers, Matthews." Maya says.

"Yeah. So, one last thing. How will the school remember you?" He asks us.

"I have an idea." Lucas says.

"What's our prank?" Maya asks.

"I have an idea." Riley says.

------

Riley, Maya, Farkle Lucas and I have given the Elementary kids a tour of John Quincy Adams Middle School.

"And that concludes our tour of the big, bad John Quincy Adams Middle School." Riley says to the younger kids.

"Not so scary, right?" I ask them.

"You guys are gonna do great here." Lucas says.

"There's one more thing before you guys go." Farkle tells them.

"We wanted to give you something from our class to yours." Maya tells them.

The five of us revealed the Friendship Bench. Riley, Maya, Lucas, Zay, Farkle's and I's names are on it.

"We think one of the greatest legacies in life is friendship." Riley says.

"And no matter what happens in your new school, friends always have a place where they can sit, and talk, and work things out."

"Because sometimes, life swirls you all up and knots people together for a reason." Our art teacher says. "Is that what you're feeling?" She asks Maya. Maya nods. Our art teacher points at the painting of the purple cat. "What's that?"

"I think everybody should leave their mark." Riley says to her.

She looks at me. "And that's your writing?" She asks.

"Yeah." I answer. She smiles and nods.

Maya puts her arm around Riley and I and says. "We work very well together."

-------

We were all on the rooftop of The Matthews' Apartment. Riley, Maya, Farkle, Lucas, Zay and I have all graduated from middle school.

"Congratulations, girls. You two are now the most educated person in our family." Katy says to Maya and I hugging us.

"Mom, you didn't graduate middle school?" Maya asks her. 

"Here you go." I say, handing her my middle school diploma.

"Okay, it was a joke. I am a high school graduate with three days of college under my belt. And if I hadn't taken neurobiology, perhaps I'd still be there. So, take easy classes. You understand, girls?" She asks us then goes to sit on the bench.

Maya and I go to sit with her.

-------

I walk over to Farkle, grabbing his hand, smiling at him. He smiles at me.

"I don't think Farkle would've reached his full potential without you, Cory." Stuart says.

"Thanks, Minkus. He had a lot to live up to." Cory says.

"Thanks. That's why we want to see what he does." Stuart says to him.

"Of course he will." Cory says.

"I don't really think you understand, Dad." Riley says.

"What?" Cory asks, confused.

"Their class prank. Oh, you haven't heard about that?" Topanga asks him.

"No. What'd they do?" Cory asks.

"Well, we started talking about legacy-" Riley says.

"About what we left behind-" Maya adds.

"And what we don't want to leave behind." I finish.

"What we wanted to take with us." Lucas says.

Cory nods.

"This is good." Zay says.

"We stole something from school." Maya tells him.

"You what?" Cory asks the six of us.

"This is good." Zay says.

"Well, put it back!" Cory exclaims.

"Nope. It's ours now. We captured the real John Quincy Adams mascot, and we're taking it with us." Farkle tells him.

"What did you guys do?" He asks us. I smile.

"We stole you." Maya tells him.

Zay nods, saying, "I told you this was good."

"What are you talkin' about?" Cory asks.

"I called up Uncle Jonathan and I told him that you had a lot more to teach us." Riley says to him.

"She got you promoted, Daddy!" Auggie says to Cory.

"Of course, the superintendent of schools didn't want to move teachers around for only one student, so there would have to be a lot of other people who thought you knew what you were doing." Topanga says.

"So, the parents put together a little petition, got some signatures and we presented it to him. I was very convincing." Stuart says.

"How many parents?" Cory asks.

"All of 'em. We want our children to have the best." Katy says to him.

"You're going to high school, Cory. Again." Topanga chuckles.

He nods. "We get to stay together." Cory says.

"You said you had a lot more to teach us. And now, you can." Riley says.

Topanga puts her hand on Riley's shoulder.

----

The next day we were in Riley's bedroom. Maya and Riley are sitting on the window ledge. While I was laying on my stomach on Riley's bed.

"Still like him?" Riley asks Maya.

"Yeah. You?" Maya asks.

"Yeah." Riley answers.

"Okay. I'll check again tomorrow." Maya tells her.

Lucas comes in through the window, Maya and Riley make room for him to sit in between them, and he sits in between them and talks to them. "Any change?" He asks.

"No. I've felt the same way about you ever since I fell into your lap on the subway." Riley says to him.

"You?" He asks Maya.

"There was this campfire, y'see. You and me. I was in a far away place. There was a million stars in the sky. What do you think?" Maya says to him.

"I think I don't want anybody to be hurt." Lucas says.

"I think we don't know how to stop that." Riley says.

"Still like him?" Maya asks.

"Yeah. You?" Riley asks.

"Yeah." Maya answers. "Still like us?" She asks Lucas.

"Yeah." He answers.

"Okay." Riley says.

I look between the three and sigh.

---------

So there wasn't much Emarkle but there will be next book. I'm so excited for it! I'll post a authors note in this book when I publish the next book. Please comment guys. Thanks for reading. Bye.

-Kelly.