Emily's POV

Maya, Riley and I are standing near the lockers when Lucas goes to sit down nearby.

The bell rings. "Talk to him." I say to Riley.

"Why? We have a great text relationship." I roll my eyes at Riley's response.

"You know what's a better text relationship?" Maya asks her.

"What?" Riley asks her.

"Talk to him." Maya says to Riley.

"He's right over there." I say to her.

"Noooo! Too complicated over there. Lots can go wrong over there. The only thing that can go wrong over here is if I go over there." Riley explains. I raise my eyebrows.

Maya and I point Riley in Lucas' direction, and she walks over.

Riley attempts to say "Hi" several times, but only mouths it. I shake my head and sigh.

Maya mouths "Talk to him"

Riley sniffs Lucas' neck and goes back to Maya and I. "How'd I do?" She asks us.

"You smelled him." I say.

"Yup." Riley says.

"You smelled him is what you did." Maya says.

"I walk through life, the way I walk through life." She says.

"Can we please talk about this? Riley texts Maya and, then we receive the text.

"Nope." Maya and I say in unison.

In class, Mr. Matthews is holding a cell phone. "You guys don't connect with each other. It's like you can't exist without these. You use emoticons rather than emotions. You're an unfeeling generation of zombies." Riley, Maya and I start mimicking zombies. "Stop eating her. You're late, Miss Myzell." He says as Myzell walks in.

"My goldfish died." She says flatly.

"You see? This is what I'm talking about. Miss Myzell has clearly suffered a tragic loss. Yet, she does not seem in touch with her actual emotions!" Mr. Matthews

"Excuse me? I am crying my eyes out. I'm gonna have to leave class early." She says flatly then exits.

"Oh, she actually made it out the door this time. Mr. Matthews opens the door.

Myzell appears in the doorway. "I actually made it out the door this time!" She goes and sits in her seat.

"Dad, adjust and deal. Cell phones have been around for, like, ever." Riley says to her father. 

"It'll amaze you to know that there was a whole world before you and cell phones." He says.

"And it'll amaze you to know that I have 394 friends in here." She says then taps her cell phone screen.

"And I'm amazed that you believe that." He draws a line across the chalkboard. "This is a timeline of all human existence. Starting here," Points at the start of the timeline "is everyone who ever lived, laughed, loved, and understood the value of life. The cellphone era, which begins right around here," He draws a line almost at the end of the timeline. "pretty much destroys all of that. Way to go, you." He says.

Lucas raises his hand. "Sir, if I may take a different position?"

"Yeah, save me, Mr. Friar. Do I go too far?" Mr. Matthews says. 

"Always, sir. I understand your point, but I use my phone to video chat my old friends and to find out what's going on in Texas." Lucas says.

"Yeah. How else can he keep tabs on all the hoedowns? "I ask with a smirk on my face.

"Yeah, the hoedowns and all of the cattle pageants he's missing." Maya says. I smile.

"Maya! Emily!" Riley says.

"It's okay, Riley. I'm unaffected by Maya and Emily's views of country life. As my Uncle Buster always says, "Be like an eagle and soar above the mockingbird." Lucas says.

"You're the mockingbirds." Riley says to us. 

""We know." We says at the same time. (To Lucas) "It kills us that we can't get to you."  We say in unison again.

"Sorry," He tips imaginary hat. "ma'am's." Lucas says.

Maya and I shudder in annoyance and turn away.

Farkle raises his hand. "Farkle time, sir?" He asks.

"Oh, I love Farkle time." He switches place with Farkle.

"With all due respect to history, Mr. Matthews, what's important to our generation will be on this side of the timeline, when Farkle and technology rule." He starts talking to Riley. And I will easily be able to make another one of you." He pulls a strand of hair out of Riley's head.

"Ow." She says.

Farkle to Maya. "Another one of you." He pulls a strand of hair out of Maya's head.

"Ow." She says flatly.

He looks over at me. "And another one of you." He pulls a stand of hair from my head.

"Ow." I say touching the top of my head.

"Wait, so now there's six of us and one of you?" I ask him.

"That's awesome. The future, you can't escape it, I am Farkle!" Farkle and Matthews switch places.

"The assignment, you can't escape it, I am teacher! Okay, so here's what we're going to do, guys. We're going to split into teams and discover whether or not new technology has made us better people. You'll do presentations on your findings. And here's a twist. No computers." Matthews says.

"What?!" Farkle asks. 

"We're going old school. You're going to do your research at the New York Public Library." Mr. Matthews says.

"Where?!" Maya and I ask in unison.

"And here's another twist because I trust you not at all. Give me your cell phones." He says.

"No!" Riley says.

"Yeah. Come on, hand 'em up, hand 'em up." Students are complaining. "Thank you, thank you. Okay, so our teams for this assignment. Maya. Emily."

Farkle sits on Maya's lap. "What up!" I laugh when Maya pushes him off.

"And Riley, you will be with... No! No!" Mr. Matthews says as the bell rings. "No!" He start talking to Lucas. "Why did you have to come here?"

"Sorry I make you uneasy, sir." Lucas says then leaves. 

"Oh, Dad, we don't even have our phones. I mean, what could possibly happen?" Riley asks then she leaves. I follow after. 

Lucas, Maya Riley and I are all in the hall.

"Hey, soaring eagle, you walkin' with us to the library tonight?" I ask Lucas.

"Sure, if that's good with you guys." He says.

"Well, seeing as how you're Riley's partner on this assignment, I guess we should find out if it's okay with her. Riley?" Maya Asks Riley. Riley stands still. "Riley, any thoughts on this that might come out of your mouth in word form? No, because you don't have your phone anymore, so what are you going to do to communicate, I wonder?" Riley puts two thumbs up. "Oh, look at that. Two thumbs up from Riley." Riley smiles. "And a smiley face." Maya says.

Maya and I enter Riley's house. "Yeah, like I've learned that I'm actually really okay with all of this." Maya says.

"You don't miss your phone, Maya?" Topanga asks her.

"I was the only one in class without a smartphone anyway, and now I kind of feel like everybody's even." Maya says to Topanga.

"What about you Emily?" She asks me.

"Just a phone. It's not my entire life.

The Intercom buzzes. "Farkle." Farkle says.

"Be ready in a minute." Riley says to him.

The Intercom buzzes. "And Lucas." Lucas says.

"Ready now!" Riley says then me, her and Maya leave.

We are now at the library.

"What is this place?" Riley asks. 

"This is where the ancients stored all of their wisdom." Farkle says.

"Look at all of those..." I say then trail off.

""Books." Farkle says for me.

Maya, Riley and I start saying in unison, and slowly. "Books."

"Look." Lucas says and pulls out a book from the shelf, and blows the dust off of the cover. "Tales Of Human Interaction" 

"We'll take it." Maya says. She grabs the book. "Thanks, quickdraw." She drops the book on the table. "Farkle, do whatever you do with that." She continues.

"You mean read?" Farkle opens the book. "Chapter One..." 

"Oh, I'm bored out of my mind, let's go to a movie." I say about to get up but the Librarian scares us.

"Shh!" She says.

Riley, Maya, Lucas, Farkle and I scream in unison. "Ah!"

"There's one of those ancients now." Farkle says and walks over to the librarian. "Oh, wondrous gatekeeper of the knowledge, we are travelers from another time and place."

"Seventh grade middle school." Riley says.

"We wish to partake of this information from your great hall of wisdom." Farkle says.

"Do you rent phones?" Riley asks but the librarian shushes us.

"There's no one here but us." Lucas says. 

"Why do we have to shush?" I ask her. 

"Let me handle this, Emi. She obviously likes it quiet. Hello, book lady." I roll my name at Farkle's nick name for me and watch as he talks to the librarian.

"Well, hello. And who might you be?" She asks him.

"I might be Farkle." Farkle says.

"Would you do me a favor, Farkle?" She asks Farkle.

"Oh, you know I will." Farkle says.

"Why don't you go over there" She points to another part of the library. "and... Shh!"

"Well, that's disappointing." He says. We to the table to sit down with Maya, leaving Riley and Lucas alone. 

"This chapter's called "Disconnect To Connect." Farkle says about the book.

"Not until we put down our phones, switch off our computers and look in each other's eyes will we be able to touch each other's hearts." Yeah, like that's going to work on anybody" I read fro the book, adding the last sentence.

We are sitting on the window seal but I wasn't really paying attention to what was going on.

I'm writing my notebook.

If you shoot for the moon and miss, you'll still land among the stars. Everynight the sun dissapears to give the moon a chance to shine. It's kind of like friendship. Friends let their other friends shine when the have their chance. The moon is given it's chance to shine during the night. As the sun is given it's chance during the day. When you look at the moon there is always someone looking at it too. The Sun the moon and the truth are three things that cannot be long hidden. No matter how hard you try it'll always come out. And even if it's cloudy the moon will still shine. You may not see it all but you know it was there, leaving it's mark. It's leaving it's mark on this world. A mark that will never fade. A mark that will never disappear.

"People used to need places like this. Now we can hold everything that's here in a little device we can put in our pockets. I don't even need to look out this window to know what phase the moon is in or where the stars are." Farkle says. 

"Yeah, well, I don't have a phone like that, I just have the actual sky." Maya says.

"Neither do I." I say to them. My parents are to, strict, to let me have one.

"Oh, I'm so sorry for you. You guys are at a real disadvantage. That can be the basis of our presentation, okay? Wanna read back the notes?" Farkle asks us.

"What notes?" Maya and I ask.

"You guys weren't taking notes?" He asks. 

"No." We say. 

"You know, why bother? Without a computer, all we have is a pencil and a pad. What could we possibly do with that?" He says then grabs my notebook and reads the paragraph. "Wow, Emily. I had no idea." He says.

"Yeah me either."

He grabs the pad from Maya, that has a drawing of the night sky on it. My eyes widen. "Maya. I had no idea."

"Yeah. Neither did I." She says. 

I continue reading the book. "Because it's not until you really looked at each other and made a human connection that you can even begin to know each other."

"Look in my eyes." Farkle says to me.

"No." I say. 

"Look in my eyes." He says to Maya.

"No." She says.

"Look in my eyes." He says to both of us.

"No!" We both say.

Maya continues the book. "There is no connection you can make with any screen that compares to the moment you understand only human beings have souls." She reads. 

"I have a soul." Farkle says. 

"No." Maya says. 

"I do!" He says.

"No." I say. 

"I do!" He insists. Maya and I look at him then say.

"No." We say in unison.

The next day in class, Mr. Matthews' handing back cell phones.

"Here you go, take your phone. Take it now. Very good. Here's your phone. Good, great, nobody talks to nobody. No more feelings. Thank you. Okay, guys, the great technology debate. Let's boot it up!"  Riley, Maya, Lucas, Farkle, and I walk up to the front of the classroom.

Farkle holds out his phone. "I have always believed technology would help us fulfill our potential as a species. But when Farkle does rule the world, no matter what devices we come up with, we should also never forget what we can do with a pencil, a piece of paper and our own imaginations." Takes out Maya's drawing. "I've been keeping this in my pocket where my phone used to be. I keep looking at it. I'm fine." He takes out my writing from last night. "This is written out of imagination and daydreaming." He starts reading my writing.

"If you shoot for the moon and miss, you'll still land among the stars. Everynight the sun dissapears to give the moon a chance to shine. It's kind of like friendship. Friends let their other friends shine when the have their chance. The moon is given it's chance to shine during the night. As the sun is given it's chance during the day. When you look at the moon there is always someone looking at it too. The Sun the moon and the truth are three things that cannot be long hidden. No matter how hard you try it'll always come out. And even if it's cloudy the moon will still shine. You may not see it all but you know it was there, leaving it's mark. It's leaving it's mark on this world. A mark that will never fade. A mark that will never disappear." He says. Then he looks at me. "This was written by Emily Daniels."

"Thanks, Farkle." Me and Maya say.

"Look in my eyes." He says.

"No." We say in unison. We sit down so Riley and Lucas can go.

"I thought my whole life was in my phone, but it turns out that I don't really have any friends in here." She says and points to her phone. "And you don't need your phone to connect with your real friends."

"Allow us to demonstrate." Lucas says then looks at Riley. 

"Hi." Riley says smiling.

"Hi." Lucas says.

Later that day, Mr. Matthews wanted Maya and I to meet him at the library.

He opens up a gap in the bookshelf on the top row. "We're not that tall." Maya says. He opens up a gap in the bookshelf on the second row.

"Really?" I ask him. He opens up a gap in the bookshelf on the fourth row.

"How you doin'?" We ask him in unison.

"You guys aren't even twins or related." He says to us but we bot shrug. He shakes his head then looks at us seriously. "You guys will keep an eye on Riley at all times. You will send me message alerts. You will send me pictures." He says to us.

"You're really scared, aren't you?" I ask him, smirking.

"I'm a father." He says.

"Yeah. They're just friends." Maya says.

"Believe me, I know the story." He says.

"But you're forgetting, neither of us have the technology." I say to him.

"Now you do." He says and puts two boxes on the shelf. We both grab one. We walk around to the other side of the bookshelf, and open the boxes.

"You got us phones?" I ask him in disbelief.

"My motives are completely selfish." He says.

"I'm not sure they are, Mr. Matthews." I say to him.

"Well, I also got you these." He hands her a plastic package.

"Colored pencils?" She asks.

He hands me a red leather bound book and some cute pack of fancy pens. I look in it, then back at him with a confused face. "A journal and pens?" I ask him.

"Yeah. You both let me know everything that's going on with Riley. And if something beautiful ever happens, paint me a picture." He says to her. "And if anything poetic happens write me a story." He says I give him one last smile before he exits. 

Here is another chapter. I hope y'all like it. The writing that Emily wrote is actually what I wrote, I know it probably sucks but I tried the best I could. How do you like it so far? Comment what you think. Anyways thanks for reading. Bye.

-Kelly.