"Girl Meets Forgiveness"

(primrose's outfit for this chapter)

For today's lesson in Cory's class he gave everyone a paper and wanted them to write down who they would forgive no matter for whatever thing they've done. Riley made it obvious how she's going to forgive Auggie for what he done to his bear, but Primrose wasn't so sure if she really did forgive Auggie. Riley still seemed upset about the whole thing.

Primrose walks beside Farkle down the hallway later that day and she looks over at Farkle when he speaks. "You know, you try to do your best by people. And what do you get?"

Lucas and Zay walks up to them, each of them handing Farkle an envelope. Farkle sighed. "What did I do?"

"Read 'em." Lucas crossed his arms.

Primrose raises her eyebrows, looking at Farkle, curious as to what was in the envelopes. Farkle opens one and reads it out loud. "'Dear Farkle, I forgive you for ruining every single movie we've seen together.'"

Farkle looks at Lucas with furrowed eyebrows. "How do I ruin every single movie?"

"Ah, read mine." Zay tells him. "Read mine."

Farkle opens his up and reads it out loud. "'I forgive you for figuring out the end of every movie and shouting it out before it happens.'"

Farkle looks over at Primrose and tilts his head to the side. "Is that why you don't watch movies with me anymore?"

Nodding her head, Primrose sheepishly smiles. "Yeah."

"Because, see, we don't want to know." Zay said to Farkle.

"I just want to share my abilities with my friends." Farkle smiled.

"That's nice, Farkle. But we just wanna watch a movie." Primrose patted his shoulder.

"Yeah, we don't want your abilities." Lucas told Farkle.

"Your abilities make us want to hurt you." Zay added, pretending to strangle someone.

"Riley, Maya, movie with me?" Farkle questioned when Riley and Maya walked out of a classroom and over to them.

"Are you crazy?"

"Never again."

Farkle looks back at Lucas and Zay. "Well, thank you for forgiving me. Do you think we could still go to the movies if I stop telling you what happens next?"

"Do you think you can?" Lucas raises his eyebrows at him as he uncrosses his arms.

"Of course I can." Farkle nods and then says what he thinks Primrose was going to say next, mimicking her voice. "'Oh, let's give him one more chance'."

Primrose looks at him with furrowed eyebrows. "I don't sound like that."

"'I don't sound like that'." Farkle repeated in the same voice he used a few seconds ago, looking at her with an amused expression when she narrowed her eyes at him.

Farkle looks at Lucas and Zay. "Then you chase me and I scream. Prim also follows you guys to make sure you don't hurt me."

"Maybe we should just give him one more chance." Primrose suggested, surprised at how spot on he was about what was going to happen next.

"Hey!" Lucas said, sending a glare at Farkle.

Farkle smiles widely.  "It's just too much fun!" He took off running down the hallway while Lucas and Zay follow him.

"Guys, be careful!" Primrose yelled as she ran after the boys.

****

Later that day, Primrose face-timed her sister. "Prims! How's my favorite sister?" Her sister, Opal, greeted her.

"O, I'm your only sister." Primrose pointed out. As she looked at her sister, she noticed Opal was sitting at her desk in her dorm room. 

Opal chuckles and shrugs her shoulders. "Yeah, but still my favorite."

Primrose smiles. "Same to you." Opal smiles back at her. "So, how's college going?" Primrose asked her.

"Good, I guess." Opal sighs. "Nothing exciting."

"Well, I might be making your day a little bit more exciting. This is for you." Primrose held a red envelope that had Opal's name on it in black ink.

Opal smiles. "Awe, thank you. Why haven't you sent it to me yet?"

"'Cause it's an assignment for my class and it could've gotten to you late so I didn't bother with sending it and thought doing this and opening it for you would be easier." Primrose explained, gesturing to them facetiming.

"Okay," Opal nodded, curious as to what it was. "read it for me then."

Primrose opens the envelope and reads it out loud. "'Dear O, I forgive you for going to college, leaving me behind, and for forgetting about me while living your best life.'"

Opal furrows her eyebrows and frowns. "You're really that upset about me being at college?"

Primrose nods. "Yes. We were so close and hung out together all the time." She frowns. "Now when I text you I'm lucky if I get one response from you."

Opal sighs. "Prims, I'm so sorry." She shakes her head as a guilty expression forms on her face. "I didn't mean to make you feel like I left you in the dust. It's just so different here at college." She smiles when she thought of an idea. "How about we make a schedule to at least text or call each other once a week?" She suggested, looking at Primrose with a small smile.

"Maybe even face time on the weekends?" Primrose added, looking at her with a hopeful smile.

Opal giggles a bit and nods. "And maybe even face time on the weekends."

"Okay, good. I miss you, Opal." Primrose admitted. 

Opal nods in agreement and smiles at her. "I miss you too."

****

Primrose sits on one of the chair's where she and her friends usually sit at by the window seat Maya and Riley are sitting at in Topanga's. Maya's mother, Katy, was there talking with Topanga.

"Really, Topanga, please don't worry about this." Katy said to Topanga.

Topanga shakes her head, putting her apron on. "No, I told you that I would come and help out when I can, and I can today."

Katy nervously chuckles. "Yeah, no."

"This is gonna be good." Riley grinned.

Maya nods in agreement. "I can't take my eyes off of it."

Topanga puts her hands on her hips. "You don't think I can do this, do you?"

"I think that you are Topanga Matthews, attorney at law, and that might perhaps color the way that you deal with customers, who I don't think will believe that you're a waitress." Katy replied.

Topanga just smiles. "I could be a fine waitress." To prove her point, she walked behind the counter while Katy watched with a nervous look on her face.

"And what will you have, sir?" Topanga asked the customer sitting at the counter.

"Yeah, give me the cheesecake."

The smile fell at hearing that reply. Topanga looks at him with narrowed eyes. "You want to try that a different way, chief?"

The customer looks at her and shakes his head. "No!"

Katy quickly intervenes. "Okay! Hey, Howie." She greets the customer, pushing Topanga out of the way. She then gives Howie a plate with a slice of cheesecake on it. "You know what comes with our biggest piece of cheesecake? Our biggest smile."

Howie laughs. "Don't ever leave me again."

Katy smiles. "Aw, thanks, Howie."

Howie points at the cheesecake. "I was talking to the cheesecake."

Topanga then tries to convince Katy to let her try being a waitress again, but Katy wouldn't let her. Topanga suggests she'll try being a waitress and help out the guy that just walked in. Primrose's eyes grew wide when she recognized who the man is. She looks at Maya with a concerned expression, noticing how Maya's behavior immediately changed when he walked into Topanga.

"No, I got him." Katy said to Topanga, walking over to the man who took a seat at the table on the other side of the room. 

"Okay, I'll learn from you." Topanga nodded and followed her.

"You're going to want watch what happens next very carefully." Maya said to Riley and Primrose.

Riley furrows her eyebrows. "Why? Your mother's great at this, Maya. What could happen?"

"A lot of things." Primrose responded.

Katy then talks to the man, not letting him get a word in. Once she was done the man asks her what she recommends and Katy told him the first thing she can get her hands on. She turns to Topanga, demanding her to get her something and Topanga quickly goes to grab the cheesecake from Howie. She goes back over to Katy, handing her the plate with the slice of cheesecake on it.

"That's what I recommend." Katy said, grabbing some of the cheesecake and rubs it all over the man's face. Topanga gasps while Riley, Maya, and Primrose watch with wide eyes.

"You could do that? I didn't know you could do that." Topanga sighs and shakes her head. "I would love to do that."

Riley then asks if the man is Maya's dad and asked her if she did the forgiveness assignment. "I wrote something and I mailed it." Maya said in a shaky voice. She looks at Riley and Primrose with worry. "Tell me it was a good move."

Primrose bites her lower lip and shakes her head. "I don't know, Maya."

Riley puts a hand on Maya's shoulder. "It was a bad move."

Maya looks at her with wide eyes. "Why?"

"Tried it. It doesn't work." Riley responds. "They don't apologize. Forgiveness is for jerks."

"Riles, it worked for me. It brought me and my sister closer." Primrose informs them. She looks at Maya with a small smile on her face. "Maybe it will work for you and your dad."

The three of them looks back over to the other side of the room where Katy is now throwing bread at the man. "I don't understand. Is this guy our millionth customer?" Topanga questioned, taking a step back to not get hit.

"No!"

"Sir, why are you okay with this?" Topanga looked at the man who wiped some of the cheesecake off of his face

"I kind of expected this." The guy answered, wincing when another bread hit his face. 

Topanga nods and looks over at Katy with confusion. "Katy, who is this guy?"

Primrose nervously watched as Maya gets up and goes over to her dad. He looks at her with surprise and then smiles at her. "Hi, Maya."

A nervous smile forms on Maya's lips. "Hi, dad."

Riley gets up, grabbing Primrose's arm and pulling her up. Primrose then follows Riley over to where Maya stood. "Hi, I'm Riley." Riley greeted Maya's dad, letting go of Primrose's arm.

Primrose waves at Maya's dad with an awkward smile on her face. "And I'm Primrose."

"We heard a lot about you." Riley told him, gesturing to herself and Primrose.

"Hi, Riley. Primrose." Maya's dad smiles. "Are you two good friends of Maya's?"

Primrose furrows her eyebrows, confused at why he doesn't know who they are. "I'm sorry, but please don't take this the wrong way, but what?" Riley's eyes widened, looking over at Maya with surprise. She and Primrose thought Maya would have told her own dad about them.

"They are my best friends." Maya tells her dad. Primrose walks over to stand on the other side of Maya, linking her arms with hers, smiling back at Maya when the blonde smiled at her. Riley links her arm with Maya's other arm as well. "But you wouldn't know much about them. Or me."

Maya's dad looks at Riley and Primrose with a small smile. "Thank you for being her best friends."

"It's not a problem." Primrose reassured him.

"Yeah, and it's easy because Maya's great." Riley adds and Primrose nods her head in agreement. "She's the best person I know." Riley gestured to Maya.

"Then I'm happy she found you two." Maya's dad told them.

Riley leans over to Maya and whispers, "I was picturing a monster."

Primrose nods, whispering to Maya. "Yeah, me too. He doesn't look like a monster at all."

"He seems like Frosty the snow guy." Riley pointed out. 

Primrose raises her eyebrows at her. "You mean Frosty the snowman?" 

Riley nods, pointing at her. "Yes, him!"

"What are you doing here, Kermit?" Katy asked Maya's dad.

Kermit gets a red envelope out of his pocket. "I was invited."

Katy furrows her eyebrows. "What?"

"This is all my dad's fault." Riley put the blame on her dad as she walks over to her mom. Primrose stayed beside Maya's side to give her some comfort if needed. 

Topanga looks at her daughter with surprise. "Your father had an idea?"

Riley nods. "Uh-huh."

Topanga looks at Kermit with an apologetic expression. "I apologize immediately. Your food is on the house."

Kermit looks at her and smiles a bit. "That's very nice of you because I wouldn't have been able to afford all of this. May I please borrow a towel and your sink?" He stands up, pointing to the cheesecake over his face. " And I'll take this to go."

A few minutes later, Primrose is now sitting beside Riley and Maya on one of the chairs at their usual place they sit at with the rest of their friends. Kermit walked out from the back of the restaurant, setting the towel on the counter that he used to clean his face. He goes to walk out the door, but stops when Katy speaks up.

"You said you were going out for a walk and you'd be back in an hour. You're nine years late."

Kermit turns to face Katy. "Thank you, Katy."

Katy puts a hand on her hip. "For what?"

"I know that in those nine years you protected me with Maya." Kermit tells her. "You never once sold me out."

Katy nods. "Yeah, well, a girl should think well of her father."

Kermit turns to Maya. "I was real happy to get your letter, Maya. And that you have two great friends like Riley and Primrose."

Maya points at Riley and Primrose. "They're more like a father to me than you."

"Yeah, we raised Maya since she was a pup." Riley said as she wrapped her arms around Maya while Primrose leans over and pats Maya on the head. "We raised her well." Maya chuckled at her friend's antics even though there was a small smile tugging on her lips.

Kermit chuckles. "Looks like you guys did a bang-up job."

After Riley lets go of her Maya awkwardly pointed out, "So...You left. Why was Mom and I not good enough?"

Katy points at her. "No, no, no. Maya. That was a long time ago. We're over it." She fakes a laugh and than slaps Kermit's arm. "Why were we not good enough?"

Kermit stops her from slapping him. "I think you know that wasn't it."

Katy sighs and moves towards the counter. Primrose looks at Riley when she stands up and awkwardly says, "You know I should really go anywhere but here."

"Nope. If I'm staying here then so are you." Primrose grabbed Riley's hand, pulling her back down, feeling like they should be there to support Maya.

"Yeah, you two are my family." Maya said and then looks at her dad. "Oh, how's your other family?"

Kermit nods. "Everyone is fine."

Topanga looks at Riley, sitting down on the ottoman chair in front of the three girls. "Riley, do you care to explain to me your father's idea?"

"Our assignment was to forgive somebody."

"What does that have to do-"

"It changes our history." Riley interrupted her mom. 

Topanga's eyes grows wide. "Oh. That's pretty good."

"Maya wrote to him, he showed up." Primrose explained.

Katy looks at her daughter with raised eyebrows. "To forgive him?"

Maya nods. "Yeah, that was the assignment. But I haven't decided if I'm going to pass or fail."

Kermit looks at her. "Maya, whatever you decide, thank you for reaching out ot me."

Riley leans over to Maya. "You know this would be much easier for me if he was a monster."

Maya stands up and walks over to her dad, asking if he remembered the night thunder shook the apartment. She explains how she was five and how scared she was. She said how he came into the room and peek under the covers she was hiding under, making it a game to cheer her up. She then goes on explaining the game and how he made her forget about the storm until it passed.

She asks if he remembers that and when he said he didn't, Maya forms her lips into a tight line. She nods. "That's because it didn't happen. The storm happened, but you didn't."

"So, how do you know about Aurora Borealis, Maya?" Riley questioned, trying to break the tension in the room.

"Mom." Maya answers, moving over to stand beside her mom. "She made it Alaksa, and I wasn't scared at all."

Katy hums in response. "I was petrified. Greatest performance in my life."

"Where were you?" Riley asked Kermit as he turned to face her. 

"I wasn't home." Kermit replied.

Primrose narrows her eyes at him. "I bet you were out on a walk and weren't planning to come back."

"How could you not have been home?" Riley frowned.

Maya turns to her best friends and sighs. "Because kids bite teddy bears' faces off, friends ruin movies, sister's go off to college, and father's leave." Primrose tilts her head to the side, wondering how Maya knew who she wrote to. She told Riley about it so Riley must've told Maya. She didn't mind though, she was gonna tell Maya anyway. "You know, sometimes you can let it go, sometimes you can't."

Maya looks at Riley. "Your dad was wrong about this one, Riley." Maya went outside without another word and Primrose didn't hesitate to follow her with Riley close behind.

****

"How's the forgiveness project going?" Cory Matthews asked his history class.

"You killed us, Matthews." Maya told Cory.

"I gotta say, Matthews, I don't know what you were thinking." Riley shook her head and her dad looked at her with furrowed eyebrows.

"You think forgiveness leads to peace?" Lucas rhetorically questioned.

"It leads to war in a movie theater." Zay pointed out.

"It worked out pretty great for me." Primrose chimed in, shrugging her shoulders.

Lucas sends her a small glare. "Good for you."

Primrose narrows her eyes at him, her lips forming into a pout. "I don't think you mean that."

Lucas sighs and then explains what happens. "Lights go down, I make Farkle sit in the other corner of the theater so he can't ruin anything."

Cory nods. "Sounds like a good strategy."

Lucas and Zay then explain how Farkle would yell out what would happen to whoever appeared on the screen next. Mr. Matthews looks at the class. "Well, I'm sure some of you had a better experience."

"I did." Primrose speaks up and he looks at her. "I forgave my sister for going to college, leaving me behind and it brought us a lot closer." 

Cory smiles. "That's great, Primrose."

"I forgave Auggie and he didn't thank me." Riley sighed.

"Did you really forgive him?" Cory asked her.

"No." Riley shook her head.

Cory looks at Maya and tilts his head to the side. "Maya, did you forgive your father?"

Maya shakes her head. "No."

"And we didn't forgive Farkle. Ow." Farkle predicted. He flinched a bit when Zay threw a wad of paper at him. Primrose wasn't even surprised anymore because of how right Farkle is when he predicts things.

"Well," Cory looks back at the class with a small smile.  "It sounds to me like forgiveness is harder than it looks."

Maya shrugs her shoulders. "I tried. Made it real clear. Want to hear it?"

"If you're okay with it."

Nodding, Maya reads what she wrote. "'In school, we're learning about forgiveness. What you did makes me have a lot of angry feelings inside of me. I don't want to be angry anymore. Why did you leave? Did I do something? Make me understand what I did. Your daughter, Maya.'"

Everyone was silent as she read and Lucas even puts a hand on her shoulder for comfort.

"Did he help you understand what happened?" Cory asked her.

"No." She replied.

"Why not?"

"I mean, I guess I never gave him the chance." Maya confessed.

Cory turns to his daughter. "Riley, why did Auggie bite your bear's face off?"

Riley shakes her head. "I don't know."

"Why not?" 

"I never asked him." Riley answered her dad's question.

Cory then looks at Lucas and Zay. "Lucas? Zay?"

Lucas looks over at Farkle, asking him, "Farkle, why do you tell us the end of the movies?"

Farkle sighs. "Well, because you're good at everything you do." He looks at Zay. "You got that class-clown thing going. All I got is my mind, so I try to impress you in any way I can. 'Oh, Farkle, you don't need to impress us. We love you just the way you are. You don't need to do anything special, just be you.'"

Lucas points at him. "Farkle, we are never going to the movies with you again."

"Ever."

"Guessed you missed that one." Lucas smirked.

Zay grins, pointing at Farkle. "Ha."

Farkle shakes his head. "No, I didn't."

"Oh, Farkle, you don't need to impress us." Maya said to him.

Riley looks back at him with a smile. "We love you just the way you are."

Primrose sighs, knowing that Farkle had just proven what they were going to say. "Do I really need to say what I was going to say even though Farkle already pointed it out?"

Primrose feels butterflies swarm in her stomach at the smile Farkle sends her. "No." He chuckles. "But thank you for what you were going to say."

Primrose nods. "You're welcome."

"Movie?" Farkle asked her, looking at her with a smile.

Primrose's smile widens. "Yeah, of course."

Zay looks at Lucas. "We gotta get better minds, man."

Sighing, Lucas nods. "Yeah, we do."

"All of you do." Cory says to the class. "Better minds know that sometimes to really forgive someone, it helps to understand them first. It gives the other person a chance to be heard too."

Maya started growing annoyed. "Why can't you admit that you're wrong about this?"

"Because forgiveness is one of our finest qualities as human beings, Maya." Cory responds. Cory then looks back at the class. "You have to understand each other before you can even begin to know what comes next. Go understand each other. See what happens. Your assignment hasn't begun until you do."

****

Primrose was hanging out at Topanga's again with Riley and Maya when Kermit walked in. He raised his hands up in defense. "I am not hungry, so please don't throw anything at me."

Maya stands up. "I thought you left."

Walking over to her, Kermit nods. "I did. I was in the car on my way back. And then I looked at this thing again and it says you don't want to be angry anymore." He looks at the Matthews family, Katy, and Primrose. "I know what you all are to Maya. Thank you. I just need to borrow her for one second, if it's okay."

Maya is hesitant but she nods and follows Kermit outside. Primrose shares a worried and nervous look with Riley. A few minutes later, Maya comes back inside with red and puffy eyes. Katy wraps an arm around her, bringing her over to where the Matthews family and Primrose are at near the counter. Primrose stood beside Riley and Auggie with a concerned expression on her face. Once Katy let go of her, Maya stands in front of Cory, looking at him through teary eyes and apologizes. 

"I'm sorry. I failed. I know you wanted me to forgive him, but I didn't. I couldn't do it. You were wrong about this one, Mr. Matthews."

"I never expected that, Maya." Cory said to Maya. "That kind of forgiveness, it doesn't come easy. But life is a long time. And I hope you get there someday. But that's never what I was looking for right now."

Maya sniffles. "What do you want from me?"

"Maya, did you forgive yourself?" Cory inquired. Maya doesn't reply. Instead, she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug as she continued crying and he didn't hesitate to hug her back.

****

"I am begging you to let me go." Auggie begged. He was sitting on Riley's lap and she had her arms wrapped around his waist. She was holding onto him ever since they forgave each other.

"If you don't let me go I swear I will eat your face off." Auggie threatened when Riley didn't say anything. Riley immediately let go of him and he went over to sit beside his parents.

Primrose chuckles as she gets up along with the girls and walk over to Riley's parents. "The forgiveness was wonderful, dad." Riley said to her dad with a smile on her face. "Once you start, you just don't want to stop. Here."

"Me? What did I do?" Cory took the red envelope Riley handed to him.

"Just read it, Matthews." Primrose encouraged.

Cory opens it and reads it out-loud. "'Dear Dad, I forgive you for everything.'"

Riley nods. "I do."

Cory furrows his eyebrows. "Wait, wait. What did I do?"

"Oh, you know what you do." Maya replied. Primrose nodded in agreement and followed her best friends to Riley's room.