"GIRL MEETS THE GREAT LADY OF NEW YORK"

(primrose's outfit for this part of the chapter)

"The Statue of Liberty, the Great Lady of New York, has been speaking loud and clear since 1885." Cory states. "Anybody knows what she's trying to say? Maya?"

When Maya just smiles in response, Farkle looks at her with furrowed eyebrows and looks at Cory with raised eyebrows. "Should I just talk?"

"No," Maya shakes her head. "I'm sick of people thinking Farkle is smarter than I am."

Riley smiles. "Here comes fun."

Maya points at Farkle. "Name one thing about the Statue of Liberty that you know that I don't."

"She was a gift of friendship from..."

"Cathy." Maya cut in.

"We got her right after..."

"Cathy didn't want her anymore." Maya shrugged.

"What does she stand for?" Farkle asked her.

"Because Cathy took her chair." Maya replied.

Farkle chuckles. "Boy, that Cathy, huh, what a hoot."

"She's not real, genius." Maya grins. "I made her up." She scoffs and shakes her head. "I'm so smarter than you."

"You are." Farkle looks at her with amusement and nods. "You really are."

"Welcome to culture week, people." Cory smiles at the class. "The school is throwing a cultural fair to celebrate who we are and where we are from. Anybody taking part?"

Some of the class members raised their hands. Then, a boy named Nigel explained that his grandma would have a booth at the fair and that she was originally from Cambodia, but she escaped and lived in the Philippines, and then she came to America.

Riley glances at Primrose and Maya. "Did you know that about him?"

Primrose shakes her head in response. Maya shrugs, gesturing to everyone around them that wasn't in their friend group. "It surprises me when any of these guys talk."

"And that's exactly what makes America so unique," Cory said. "We all come from exotic locales with fascination traditions."

"Well," Riley smiles at her dad. "Where are we from?"

"Philly." Cory responded.

"What's our fascinating tradition?"

"Cream cheese." Cory answered Riley's question.

Riley frowns. "So I'm the great lady of cream cheese? I want a better tradition, please."

"Funny you should say that." Cory told her. Riley furrows her eyebrows. "Funny, 'haha' or funny," She groans. "'yay' funny?"

"Here's your assignment," Cory spoke to the class. Although everyone but Farkle groaned, he was the only one who said 'yay'.

"Everybody look around," Cory tells the class, and everyone looks around at each other. "Do we know each other's stories? Do you know your own? Our stories are what makes us part of a community. I want you to come in tomorrow and share your heritage with us. Share your story."

Anxiety begins to build up inside Primrose. She didn't have a story. Well, maybe she does. Except she had no idea what it was. She didn't know anything about where she came from beside the fact that she was born in The United Kingdom, specifically in London, and her parents told her one time that they moved to the United States when she was just a baby. So there has to be something more than that to her heritage.

****

The bad thing was that her parents were working late that night which means Primrose couldn't ask her parents about their heritage. But that didn't stop her from finding out about her heritage. The next day of class, Riley and Maya stood in front of everyone to share their heritage with everyone.

"Once upon a time...Nothing." Riley shakes her head. "I'm completely American. My people never even left the house. I'm not even cream cheese. I'm American cheese. I'm individually wrapped." She picks up a stack of individually wrapped cheese. She starts throwing them at everyone. "Here I come."

Cory furrows his eyebrows as he shakes his head. "Oh, that's the worst report I ever heard."

"Oh," Riley faces him, holding up one of the individually wrapped cheese. "You don't want one?"

"No, I do want one."

"You made me this!" Riley told her dad, throwing the individually wrapped cheese at him.

"Great news, Maya." Cory begins unwrapping the cheese as he speaks to Maya. "Your report couldn't possibly be any worse."

Maya chuckles. "You don't know me. Turns out Clutterbucket is Irish!" She puts on a green top hat, one that looked like a leprechaun would wear. "I'm Irish."

Maya glances at Lucas. "Know why I'm a short stack of pancakes, Huckleberry? 'Cause I'm a leprechaun! Here have a potato!" She got a potato out of the bag that rested on Cory's desk and threw a potato at Yogi, who caught it.

"That's what you brought?!" Cory exclaims. "Potatoes?"

"No, that would be a stereotypical ignorant clique." Maya shakes her head, setting the bag of potatoes she had picked up back on the desk. She picks up a small green box that reads 'Irish Soap' and shows it to the class. "I also brought our national soap."

"Maya, Ireland has a rich, deep, cultural history." Cory points at Maya. "You show us something authentic right now!"

Maya set the small box on the table and went over to Yogi's desk. "What are you doing?" Cory asked her when she got on Yogi's desk.

Maya sets her green top hat on Yogi's head. "I'm gonna Riverdance all up on Yogi's head."

"Do it!" Yogi challenged.

"Sit down!" Cory yelled, stopping Maya from continuing her dance. Maya got off of Yogi's desk, going to sit down at her desk while Riley sat down at her desk as well.

Cory walks over to stand in the front of the classroom. "Both of you have just squandered an opportunity to show us who you are." He points at Lucas and Zay. "Lucas, Zay, show us who you are."

Primrose glances back at the two Texan boys, raising her eyebrows at the outfits they wore. They wore cowboy outfits, had ropes, wore big hats, and even had foam fingers.

"You sure about this?" Lucas asked Zay.

Zay smirks. "We look good."

They both stand up, exclaiming, "Texas!"

Cory shakes his head with a disappointed expression on his face. "Sit down!"

Lucas glares at Zay. "You lied to me!"

Zay points at Cory with his hand waring the foam finger that read 'don't mess with Texas'. "Don't mess with Texas."

Cory points back at him. "You're not from Texas."

Primrose furrowed her eyebrows. Hearing that made her wonder if she wasn't even from London. That was where she was born and lived part of her life. Did that mean she wasn't from London?

Lucas points at Zay. "He lived right down the street from me."

Cory points at him. "You're not from Texas either."

"He lived right down the street from me." Zay pointed at Lucas.

Cory shakes his head. "Sit down." The two boys sat down.

"Okay, back to us!" Riley gestured to Maya, who now held bagpipes.

Maya sits on the edge of her desk, playing the bagpipes off-key. "No!" Cory shouts, stopping Maya from playing. "Bagpipes are Scottish, not Irish!"

"Potato potato." Maya threw a potato at Cory.

Cory catches the potato, shaking his head. "What a bunch of jerks."

Riley raises her hand as Cory goes to stand behind his desk. "Daddy?"

"Leave me alone!" Cory exclaimed, setting the potato down on his desk while Maya sat back down at her desk.

Riley didn't listen. "Daddy?"

Cory faces the chalkboard. "No!"

"Daddy?"

Cory finally caves. "What?!"

"You gave me a stupid story, daddy." Riley responded.

Cory turns to face the class. "You all have great stories. That's what makes this world such a beautiful place."

"No, it's not." Lucas cut in. "There's conflict everywhere."

Cory raises his eyebrows. "You mean cultures clash with each other?"

"Yeah." Lucas nods. "All through history."

Cory smiles. "Good boy, Lucas."

"Good boy, Lucas." Maya spoke in a teasing tone, throwing a potato on his desk.

Lucas furrows his eyebrows and sighs. "Maya..."

Maya throws a box of Irish soap on his desk next. "Maya!" Lucas exclaimed with annoyance laced in his voice. Lastly, the blonde-haired girl threw the bagpipes on his desk, making the Texan boy roll his eyes.

"There's conflicts 'cause we live in a world full of different kinds of people." Zay explained.

"Right." Cory nods. "Unfortunately, people have always feared the other."

"The other what?" Riley questioned.

"The unknown." Cory answers. "Anybody who isn't like you." He walks around his desk to stand in front of it, looking at the class. "From a different country, a different religion, a different look. And our first reaction to the unknown has always been fear."

"Primrose," Cory points at the British girl sitting in front of Farkle. "Please tell me your report is better than these people."

Primrose apologetically smiles. "Sorry, Mr. Matthews. I'm not finished with mine yet. I still have a lot to find out about my story."

Cory smiles at her and looks at Farkle. "What about you, Farkle? Did you do the assignment?"

Farkle nods. "I did, sir."

"Did you find the story of your ancestors?" Cory asked him.

"I found something out, sir." Farkle replied.

"Well," Riley turns to look at Primrose and Farkle. "At least you two have a heritage. I'm Riley McCheese. What could be more worse than that?"

Farkle smile slightly. "There could be more worse things than that, Riley."

"You ready to share something with us, Farkle?"

"Not yet, sir," Farkle answers Cory's question. "I don't have it all yet. I need to dig deeper."

Cory smiles. "More to discover?"

Farkle nods. "A lot more."

Cory points at him and Primrose. "What you two said was the most authentic thing that's been said today."

Cory looks at the class. "We all need to dig deeper than potatoes and soap and stupid hats."

Lucas glances at Zay. "How are these stupid hats?"

Zay shrugs. "They just don't understand us."

"This is a week about discovering who you are," Cory informs the class. "This is a week to understand that culture isn't found at a souvenir shop."

He looks at his daughter. "Riley, what's your culture?"

"Our stories." Riley answered.

Cory points at her. "Find yours." He points at Primrose. "Find yours." He points at Farkle. "Find yours."

He looks at the class. "Learn from each other. Otherwise, we don't stand a chance."

****

After school that day, the friend group went to Topanga's to do their homework like they always did. Primrose sat at the table Farkle sat at, but she sat on the bay window beside the table. She had her laptop in front of her and was searching about her family's heritage. Farkle had his laptop in front of him, searching about his family's heritage. Even though the two were quiet the whole time, they still enjoyed being with each other.

Primrose glances up from her laptop when Maya walks over. "Hey, you two," Maya smiles at the couple, and they both smiled back at her. "Find out your big family mystery?"

"So it turns out I have a relative from Denmark." Farkle replied.

Maya grins. "Hey, you're a Little Danish!" She offers the little Danish that was on her plate to Farkle. "Little Danish?"

Primrose chuckles lightly along with Farkle. Farkle takes the plate from Maya, setting it on the table. "I've found a lot of Minkuses-"

"Minki." Maya interrupted him, and Primrose chuckled.

"Living in Copenhagen, in Denmark." Farkle continues. "The mystery is that I can't find my great-grandfather's birth records."

Primrose tilts her head to the side, looking at her boyfriend with furrowed eyebrows. "So why does that matter?"

"He was the first one who left Denmark," Farkle glances at her as he speaks. "Came to America and started the American 'Minki' Team." He smiles a bit. "I want to find out more about him. I want to find out what made him come here." Primrose smiled at him. She liked how determined he was about this.

"Well, good luck, little detective coffee cake." Maya smiled, and Farkle chuckled at the name Maya called him. Maya went over to take a seat beside Primrose as Farkle got back to work. "What about you, Rosie? You find anything yet?"

"Yeah, I have." Primrose nods with a slight smile on her lips. "My dad is Canadian while my mom is British," She points dramatically at herself, earning a chuckle from Maya. She then emphasized the word 'which' when she said it. "Which makes me half Canadian and half British. It's obvious I'm British 'cause of my accent. The whole side of my mom's family lived in London their whole life, while my dad's side of the family lived in Canada their whole life. My dad went to London for college, and that's where he met my mom."

"I looked up the culture of Canada and London, and wow, they are both so different from each other." Primrose smiles. "But I'm going to keep searching about their different cultures. They're both fascinating."

Maya smiles. "That's great, Rosie!"

"Okay," Maya chuckles, getting off the stool she had sat on. She speaks in a British accent, saluting to Primrose. "Good luck, gov'na."

Farkle glanced at Primrose when she laughed, and he smiled, thinking her laughter was the sweetest sound he ever heard. Maya walked back over to the sitting area they all usually sat at. Primrose furrowed her eyebrows when she felt someone staring at her. She looked over at Farkle, feeling her face heat up at seeing he was already staring at her with a smile on his face.

"What?" Primrose asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Nothing," Farkle replies, blushing because of the fact he got caught staring. "You're cute."

Primrose smiles widely at him. "You're cute too."

The two turned their attentions back to their laptops a few seconds later, a comfortable silence filling the air between them. Primrose looks up from her laptop when she notices Corey walk in with Auggie, Ava, and a young boy she doesn't recognize. They all wore ball caps. While Cory's had the Phillies baseball team logo on it, the three kid's baseball caps had the logo of the Metts baseball team.

"Who won?" Topanga asked them. Primrose then realized they must've gone to a baseball game.

"We lost." Cory sighed.

"We won!" Auggie, Ava, and the young boy with them exclaimed excitedly.

"Ava," Topanga points at the baseball the blonde-haired girl held. "You caught a foul ball?"

Ava nods. "It was coming at us like a rocket. I saved his life."

"Auggie?" Topanga questioned, looking at her with wide eyes.

"Cory." Ava shakes her head, looking at the man beside her. "Do what you did when the ball came at you."

Cory shrieks, raising his hands while Ava raises her hand with the baseball glove on it in front of Cory's face.

"Ava has quality I like." The little boy beside Auggie smiled.

Topanga looks at him with disbelief. "You're kidding?"

The little boy nods. "She's just like my friend Marisol."

"No." Topanga shakes her head. "There is not another one like Ava out there. God would not do that to us."

"You like the game, Raffi?" Lucas asked the little boy beside Auggie. Primrose smiled to herself, happy she got the name of the young boy she didn't know.

Raffi nods and walks over to stand where Lucas, Riley, Maya, and Zay sit. "Yeah, I met my cousin there."

"Oh, where is he from?" Zay questioned.

"Also Cuba." Raffi answered.

Zay tilts his head to the side. "Where is he now?"

"Leftfield." Raffi responded.

Zay looks at him with shock. "Huh?"

"Your cousin is Yoenis Cespedes?" Lucas asked Raffi, looking at the young boy with wide eyes.

That name was familiar to Primrose. "Wait," Primrose speaks up, looking at Raffi with wide eyes. "Your cousin plays for the Mets?"

Smiling, Raffi nods. "God bless America!"

"He signed my ball." Ava smiles at the baseball she held. "He also gave me his number...52."

"So, the Statue of Liberty is from France, we have a Ukrainian bakery, and the New York Mets are from all over the world." Riley stated.

Raffi smiles. "Nice country you got here."

****

(primrose's outfit for this part of the chapter)

It was the day of the cultural fair the school was having. Primrose was honestly excited to learn more about other countries. "Alright, guys, we got the whole joint scoped out." Maya said.

"Every country in the world, all over the school. Where do we go?" Zay asked.

Maya smiles. "To the one with the most free stuff! Let's go, go, go, g-" From her spot between Maya and Farkle, Primrose grabs Maya's arm, stopping her from leaving. "Maya," She chuckles. "We're sticking together."

"Okay." Maya sighed, and Primrose let go of her arm.

Zay looks at the booth beside him. "Oh, Cambodia." He looks at his friends with a smile. "Anybody interested in learning about a new culture?"

"Yeah," Farkle looks at the booth with furrowed eyebrows. "That's been on my mind lately."

The friend group walks over to the Cambodia booth. Riley and Maya sat on the blanket-covered bench that was in front of the booth. Primrose and the boys stood behind them. "Hi." Riley greets, waving at the woman behind the table, and Primrose realizes the woman was Nigel's grandma.

The woman smiles and slightly bows in greeting. "My name is Riley," Riley introduces herself, gesturing to her friends beside her and behind her. "And these are my friends. What was Cambodia like for you?"

"Cambodia is a beautiful country." Nigel's grandma smiles. "I lived there in a very bad time."

"Oh, um...Well, have a nice day." Riley went to leave but stopped when Maya asked Nigel's grandma, "What's your story?"

Riley looks at Maya with wide eyes. "Maya, you can't just ask."

"Well, we are supposed to hear stories, Riles," Primrose speaks up, looking at Riley with a small smile when the brunette-haired girl looks at her. "And the only way to do that is if we ask."

"Yes, it's okay." Nigel's grandma reassures the group, and everyone looks back at her. "I have a story. I haven't spoken of this for a long time."

"We don't mean to intrude." Riley told her.

Nigel's grandma shakes her head. "Not intruding if you really want to hear."

"We do." Riley said.

"Please." Lucas nodded.

Nigel's grandma told the group of six teens about how hard it is to decide to leave your own country. She told them how her country was run by an evil man who was very cruel and had millions tortured and imprisoned when she was little. The woman explained how she wasn't supposed to leave, but she did anyway. First, she and her family went to the Philippines Islands and then to America.

Primrose couldn't even imagine something like that happening. She frowned when Nigel's grandma added that not all of the ones who left made it out. "I'm sorry." Farkle apologized, looking at the woman with sadness.

"You live in a good country, you know that?" Nigel's grandma asked the six teens, and each of them nodded.

"Yeah, we do. I'm glad you made it here safe." Primrose responded, looking at the woman with a smile. She smiles back at Primrose. "Me too."

Nigel then walks over to them, standing beside his grandma. "Hey, guys."

Maya sent him a smile. "Hi, Nigel."

"Is my grandma talking your ears off?" Nigel asked.

"Oh, this is your grandma." Zay realized.

Nigel speaks in Cambodian to his grandma, gesturing at the six teens, and his grandma smiles. Maya looks at Nigel with surprise. "I didn't even know you could talk, and you talk two languages."

Nigel smiles. "I speak English, Cambodian, and Filipino."

Maya furrows her eyebrows, shaking her head. "Why would you want to do that?"

Nigel chuckles. "So I can understand what everybody has to say."

His grandma puts a hand on his shoulder and sends him a smile. "You have very nice friends." She looks at Primrose and the others with a smile. "Thank you for taking the time to listen to an old woman."

"I'm glad you made it here." Farkle commented.

Nigel's grandma nods in agreement. "So am I."

Riley smiles at her. "Thank you for sharing your story." 

****

The gang has spent the rest of the day looking at other booths and learning about other countries. Primrose was beyond excited to find out there was an England booth and dragged her friends over to it to see what they had. She loved the fact that she got to learn more about England.

"I'm proud to be from London," Primrose admits. She shrugs. "Sure, Londoners may get a bad rep for being rude, moaney, and unsociable at times, but the city and its people aren't all that bad. It sounds like the people are nice and the place is a bustling, lively city where you never get bored by the way she describes London and its people. That kind of reminds me of New York."

Unbeknownst to her, Farkle was looking at her with a smile. He loved how passionate she was about talking about the country she's from. He wished he could be that way.

A grin tugs on Primrose's lips. "And the lady at the booth said the tea is so much better in London. She also said that there's fantastic food there." She groans when she just feels hungry at the thought of the fantastic food London could have. "I need to stop talking about food."

"Yes, you do." Zay nods in agreement. He points at her. "So stop it. You're making me hungry." She pretended to zip her lips and throw away the key, which made him chuckle.

"Well, I don' know about you guys, but I am in love with Ireland." Maya grinned, speaking in an Irish accent.

Lucas chuckles. "Not about potatoes and soap anymore, huh?"

"Nope." Maya shakes her head. "It's like what Rosie said. How she's proud to be from London." Primrose glances at her, and the two share a smile. "And I'm proud to be from Ireland. From the music to the poets. I just never wanted to leave that booth."

Primrose smiles as Riley takes ahold of her hand and then Maya's. "Well, the three of us girls will go to Ireland next St. Paddy's Day." She grins. "We'll hang out with the Clutterbuckets."

Primrose giggles a bit at how excited she is. "Sounds like a great idea."

"Yeah." Maya smiles. "The booth was real easy to find, but where exactly is Ireland?"

Riley gestures with a nod of her head to above them. "I think it's up," She gestures to the left with a nod of her head. "And over there."

"Yeah, I don't think you're right," Primrose chuckles. She let go of Riley's hand and pats her shoulder as Riley sent her a small smile. "Nice try, though, Riles."

"Okay, why are you being so quiet, Farkle?" Zay suddenly asks. "It's making me really upset."

Primrose turns her attention to her boyfriend, seeing he is staring at a nearby booth. Zay stood beside him with his hands on his hips. She walked over to the two boys, glancing at Farkle with concern. She has noticed how quiet Farkle has been today. It worried her since she didn't know what was going on with him. She had tried to ask him what was wrong, but he always avoided answering her and changed the topic. She gave up on questioning him, figuring he would tell her when he was ready.

Farkle tilts his head to the side. "Really?"

"No." Zay shakes his head. He grins. "Like it. It's peaceful."

Primrose punches his arm when she notices Farkle glance at the floor with a sad expression. Zay let out an 'ow', sending her a glare while rubbing the spot she hit on his arm. Primrose ignored his glare, turning to face Farkle. "Well, it's making me really upset. Just tell us what's going on, please. This isn't like you at all." He glanced up at her with a bit of surprise when she said that, and she frowned upon seeing tears in his eyes.

"I'm not really for sure what's like me."

"What's the matter with you?" Maya asked Farkle, tilting her head to the side.

"No, I get it." Riley cut in, and Primrose moves to stand between Farkle and Zay when Riley walks over to stand in front of Farkle. "It's just hard when you look at all of these booths to not picture yourself living a different type of life, right?" She looks at him with a small smile. "That's what you're talking about."

Primrose could tell that Farkle was having trouble not breaking down in front of them, and seeing him like that broke her heart. "Okay." Farkle spoke in an unconvincing tone.

"Well," Riley turns to face everyone. "While all of you were at your booths with your countries, I went looking for the America booth. Guess what? They don't have one."

Primrose interlocks her arm with Farkle's, knowing that Farkle needed some kind of comfort at the moment. He glanced at her, his lips tugging the slightest bit upwards when she sent him a smile. They both looked over to the PA system after the bell rang and heard a man's voice.

"That's the end of today's Cultural Day celebration. We hoped you learned something about somewhere else." Primrose looked back at Farkle, seeing he looked slightly panicked as he looked at the floor. She pulled her arm away from his to intertwine their fingers together, and she smiled a bit when he squeezed her hand. "Arrivederci, sayonara, and for all you native New Yorkers-get outta here!"

Lucas turns to face Farkle with a smile. "Last chance, Farkle. Do you want to go check out the Denmark booth?"

"Yeah," Zay sent a smile to Farkle. "Let's give Farkle a chance to hear some stories about his people."

"No, that's okay." Farkle shakes his head. "I-I think I know too many stories already."

He looked at Primrose, and he didn't have to say anything to let her know he wanted to leave. She nodded, sending him a small smile. She figured he needed some time to himself, so when she was about to let go of his hand, she was surprised he held onto her hand tighter. He gestured with a nod of his head to the exit, and she smiled a bit, happy that he wanted him to be with her now. She nodded, and together the couple walked away from their friends, hand in hand.

****

(primrose's outfit for this part of the chapter)

That night the couple decided on having a movie night. Tonight's movie choice was the first movie in the Star Wars series. Primrose let Farkle pick the movie, hoping that this movie night would cheer him up and take his mind off whatever was upsetting him. Primrose had watched the Star Wars series before, but it's been a few months since she saw them, and she honestly did enjoy the series.

The couple was in Primrose's room, cuddled up to each other on her bed. They were watching the movie that was on her tv attached to the wall in front of them. Farkle had his back laid against the headboard of the bed, his left arm wrapped around Primrose's shoulders, and she had her head laid on his shoulder with her arms wrapped around his waist.

"I'm honestly surprised that you're still watching movies with me since I tend to give out the endings of them." Farkle remarked, glancing at Primrose with a small smile.

Primrose chuckles. "Yeah, me too. I'm just glad you picked a movie I already know the ending to."

A comfortable silence fell between the two, and now only the movie playing could be heard as they focused their attention back on the movie. Primrose didn't want to ruin this time with Farkle by talking about something that could make him upset, but she wanted to know what was bothering him and if she could do something to help.

"So, um, why have you been so quiet today?" He tenses slightly at the question, continuing to look at the tv as he bit his lower lip. "You haven't been acting like yourself ever since you started researching about your heritage." Primrose lifts her head to look at him when she realizes something. "That's why you've been quiet today." She sits up straighter, pulling her arms away from him, but he still had his arm wrapped around her shoulders. "Something bad happened with your heritage?"

Farkle sighs. He knows he'll eventually have to tell her at some point, but he's not ready yet. "I'll tell you tomorrow."

Primrose nods, a bit upset that she'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out, but she was willing to wait however long Farkle needed until he was ready to tell her. She didn't want him to be uncomfortable with telling her or to be forced into telling her about his heritage. "Promise." Farkle added, raising his right pinkie in the air, sending her a small smile. Pinky promises were something they did when they were younger, and it just stuck.

Primrose smiles, linking her pinkie around his. "You better." She looks at him with the best stern look she could give. But, in Farkle's opinion, that just made her look even cuter. "'Cause if you break this pinky promise, I'm gonna have to have a little chat with you."

Farkle chuckles a bit and smiles. "Yeah, okay. Prim, I'm not going to break this promise." They unwrap their pinkies from each other, and Primrose could feel the blush rise to her cheeks when he intertwined their hands together. "I'll tell you about my heritage tomorrow. I just want to spend time with you, not talking about my heritage right now."

Primrose was glad that the lights were off in her room, the only lights were from the tv, and the colorful LED lights hung up around her room because she knew her face was bright red by now. She smiled at him and laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm okay with that."

****

(primrose's outfit for this part of the chapter)

The next day of school was the last day for the students to speak about their heritage to the class. Primrose went after Maya, talking about how proud she is to be from a wonderful place like London. At the end of her speech, she added that she was planning to visit London someday, and, of course, Riley and Maya chimed in saying they were going with her. She had smiled and told them she wouldn't want it any other way which made them smile at her.

Riley was the last one who spoke about her heritage, and she took everyone on a little field trip out to the hall. She explained that you don't need an America booth because this country is one big cultural fair. She went on to say how living in New York meant that you got to experience all different kinds of cultures. 

Primrose was honestly very proud of her for figuring her story out. "Thank you, Riley." Cory said. Primrose glanced at him and by the look on his face, she guessed that he was just as proud as she was, maybe even more proud, of Riley. "I'm sure the Great Lady of New York is smiling even bigger today."

Cory smiles at the class. "I know she holds a torch for all of us." He gestures for them to leave. "Go on. Get out of here."

He went back into his classroom and everyone but the gang went their separate ways. "You know, Farkle," Zay speaks up, glancing at the boy who stood beside him. "You're the only one who hasn't told us anything today."

"Yeah." Maya chimes in. "We know everyone's story but yours."

"And that doesn't work in this group." Lucas added.

Riley looks at Farkle with a small smile, putting her hands on her hips. "Farkle?"

Farkle glances at her with a nervous expression and glances at Primrose, who stood between him and Zay. She sent him an encouraging smile upon seeing his nervous expression. Farkle nods, taking a deep breath before speaking. "My great-grandfather left Denmark and came to America right after World War ll."

Maya tilts her head to the side. "Just him?"

"I think he was the only one left." Farkle responded sadly, taking a seat on the bench.

Primrose frowns upon hearing that. She glances at Riley when she asked, "Well, what about the others before him?"

"I don't think they were named Minkus." Farkle shook his head.

Primrose furrows her eyebrows, growing more curious about his heritage. "Then who were they?"

He looks at her, shaking his head. "I don't know. I don't know if I'll ever know. There aren't birth records. All I know is that during World War ll, he was adopted by a Christian family named Minkus in Denmark, who wanted to help him."

Lucas looks at him with confusion. "Help him what?"

Farkle looks at him with a slightly panicked look, as if he was scared to answer that. Primrose frowns and takes a seat beside Farkle. She puts her hand on his that rested on his knee causing him to look down at their hands. He seemed to relax a bit at her touch, but not all the way. 

"Help him live." Zay answers for Farkle. He takes a seat beside the left side of Farkle since Primrose sat by the right side of Farkle. "His great-grandfather was Jewish." Farkle looked at him with wide eyes, surprised that he figured that out.

He nods. "Sometimes it's really hard to find out your story." He glances at each of them, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. "My whole family-" He stopped himself from continuing, not knowing if he could say it without crying. Primrose could feel tears of her own begin to build, hating that something like this happened with Farkle's family and that it could have happened to other people.

Zay looks at him and nods in understanding. "Yeah." Farkle looks at him as he continues. "I'm here for you if you ever want to talk."

Farkle nods at him. "Me too." He looks at each of them. "I found out about these wonderful people called 'Christian Rescuers'. They saved babies by taking them in when-" He stopped himself in the middle of his sentence when Primrose suddenly wrapped her arms around him in a hug which caught him by surprise.

He feels his face heat up at the sudden action, but he smiles a bit as he reaches a hand up to hold onto her arm around his chest. Primrose lifted her head off his shoulder, looking at him with a smile when he looked at her with a smile.

"I thought you could use a hug right now."

Farkle's smile widens. She pulls her arms away from him, sitting up straighter, but she intertwined their hands together which made the blush on his face to turn darker.

"Thanks. I'm glad you told your story, Prim." Primrose smiled at him when he said that.

Farkle glances at each of his friends with a smile. "I'm happy that all of you did. My story will be about how lucky we are to live in a place that allows you to come here so you can be whoever you are."

He shrugs. "But that's all I can ready tell you about my heritage right now. Because I'm still finding out who I am."

"And that's more than okay." Primrose assured him.

He smiled softly at her and she returned the smile before she leaned her head on his shoulder. The bell rang and people filled the halls, but the couple not their friends didn't move. Farkle felt butterflies swarm in his stomach, not entirely used to using this kind of affection around others that aren't their friends. But he still smiled and even rested his head on hers which made her smile.

A/N i literally love primarkle so so much ! they are cuties