"GIRL MEETS BEAR"

(primrose's outfit for this chapter)

It was one of those days where Riley, Maya, and Primrose were so excited for the next day they got completely dressed for the day the night before. They were in Riley's room, Primrose sat on the palate of blankets she made on the floor by the bay window, Riley sat on the edge of her bed, and Maya was pacing in front of the two girls.

"Tomorrow morning, the sun rises at 6:17 am, at which time we will leave the house so we are first in line for the most important day of our lives." Maya stated.

Primrose tilts her head to the side. "I think you're being a bit dramatic."

Maya sent her a glare and she raised her hands up in defense. "Yeah, Maya," Riley agrees with Primrose. "They're just tacos."

Maya looks at her with disbelief, dragging out the word as she speaks. "What?"

"Maya, don't get me wrong, I love me some tacos, but is it really necessary to that we're first in line?" Primrose questioned.

"I would regard not being first in line as my greatest personal failure since not understanding fractions." Maya answered.

Riley raises her eyebrows. "They're just parts of a number."

"Well, parts?" Maya shakes her head. "When would I ever need number parts?"

"How many tacos are you having?" Riley asked her.

"Eight isn't enough, but nine is too many." Maya responds with an upset expression on her face. "There's no solution."

Primrose looks at her with an amused expression. "Yeah, okay."

"Okay, we took our showers, and put our clothes on for tomorrow, so we're all ready to go when the sun comes up." Maya smiled.

Riley picks up her stuffed bear that had the face of it off and holds it close to her, making it squeak. "Berry-the-bear-bear's excited too. I love you, Barry."

"Okay, we all set to go, so nothing can go wrong." Maya nods as Riley stands up. "Will there be any stops in Rileytown?"

Riley salutes. "Sir, no, sir!"

"Where will the only stop be?"

"Paco's Tacos!" Primrose answered Maya's question along with Riley.

"For their..."

"25th Anniversary 25-cent Tacopaloza!" Primrose and Riley finished Maya's sentence.

 Riley smiles at Maya and Primrose. "Who else would get this crazy?"

Primrose nods. "I know someone."

The door opens just after she said that. It was Cory in his pjs and she chuckles at seeing his pj shirt read 'I love tacos'. Maya turns to face Corey with a grin. "Tacos!"

"Tacos!" Cory exclaimed excitedly.

"Tacos!" They both yelled.

"How many ya want?" Maya asked him.

"Eight-and-a-half." Cory replied before he left the room, closing the door behind him. Primrose looked at Maya, chuckling at her confused expression.

"Okay," Maya turns to her and Riley. "Tell me the rules. One."

"I won't fall and break anything and have to go to the hospital." Riley said.

"Two."

"If it's possible," Primrose speaks. "Riley will spend very little time in the hospital."

"Three."

"We will not check our phones and I will not read a story about a three-legged puppy," Riley starts crying, sitting on the edge of her bed. "And become inconsolable. What, do they just fall over or what?"

When a festival Mexican horn is sounded, Maya rushes over to Riley's desk where her phone laid. She picks it up as an alert from Paco's Taco's is being sounded from the phone.

"Taco Alert from Paco's Taco's 25-cent Tacopalooza all day tomorrow while supplies last! First 10 customers get a Paco Taco bobblehead."

Maya drops her phone, speaking in a raspy voice with wide eyes. "I want that bobblehead."

Primrose looks at her with wide eyes. "Okay, Maya."

"I want it. It's-It's a bobble-"

"Okay." Riley stands up, shushing Maya. "You're gonna get it."

Maya smiles, beginning to speak in her normal voice but it sounded a little high-pitched. "I'm gonna get it?"

Primrose chuckles a bit and nods. "Yes, Maya. You'll get a bobblehead."

"I'm gonna get it." Maya giggled excitedly, going over to the bay window along with Riley. 

Maya laid on the bay window across from each other, being careful not to accidentally hit Primrose since the girl was in front of the bay window. The British girl wrapped the blanket on her lap around her, resting her head against the pillow behind her head. Maya curled up with a blanket as Riley turned off the light and laid on the bay window across from Maya with a blanket, making sure she didn't accidentally hit Primrose.

Primrose was awoken to Maya yelling 'Go, go, go, go, go!' and to the blanket she was curled up with being yanked off of her.

Primrose yawns as she sits up straighter, rubbing her eyes. "Can you at least let me wake up for a second?"

"No time for that!" Maya shouted, yanking the blanket off of Riley and went to climb out the open window. 

Riley sits up with furrowed eyebrows. "Wait." 

"No!" Maya exclaimed.

Riley stands up, her eyes wide. "Something's-"

"No." Maya cried out, laying over the side of the window.

"Wrong." Riley finished her sentence.

Maya groans, moving back into the room while sitting on the bay window. Primrose sighs, glancing over at Riley. "What's the matter, Riles?"

Riley gasps when she doesn't see her stuffed bear in the place where she put it the night before. "Barry-the-Bear Bear! He's gone!"

"Come on, that stupid bear has been hanging on by a thread for years!" Maya exclaims while Riley sat back down on the bay window. "How is this a problem?"

"It's so early for problems." Primrose mumbled, closing her eyes as she rested her head back against the pillow. 

"I've had him all of my life, Maya." Riley responds. "Where is he? We have to find him."

Riley turns her head to the left with an upset expression on her face. "Barry."

Maya turns her head to the right, having an upset expression on her face as well. "Bobblehead."

"Sleep." Primrose muttered sadly.

Primrose followed Riley and Maya out to the living room, half asleep and half awake. She jumped, startled when Riley suddenly blows an air horn she had grabbed before she left her room. "Matthews family emergency!"

Primrose curls up on the chair in the living room, watching Riley's parents and little brother rush out from the hallway. Topanga was in the front, carrying a red backpack and a timer for some reason as she shouted 'Move, move, move, move!'. Auggie and Cory were behind her screaming. Auggie carried a huge bottle of water, and for some reason Cory held a rope and a flashlight.

The three of them get out to the hallway and Topanga looks at her timer with a grin. "Everybody out of the house in under ten seconds. Yes!"

Cory looks at the three girls. "Girls, why are you still inside?"

"Everybody under the house in ten seconds expect for them. Yes!" Topanga corrected herself.

"Is this an actual emergency?" Cory questioned.

"Yes!" Riley and Maya shouted.

"Even if it's not, momma loves a practice drill." Topanga smiled, walking back into the house along with Auggie and Cory.

"Did you get my tacos?" Cory asked, walking further into the living room, setting the stuff he had on the floor by the couch as Auggie did the same. Topanga had walked back into the living room after putting the stuff she had away.

"No." Maya replied.

"Why not?"

"Barry-the-Bear Bear is missing!" Riley answered her dad's question.

Cory waved a dismissive hand. "Ah, that bear has been hanging on a thread for years."

Maya nods. "Everybody knows this."

"Riley, why can't you just look for Barry-the-Bear when you get back?" Topanga asked her daughter.

"Oh, sure." Riley shrugs. "He's just missing." She looks at Maya after glancing at Primrose who had fallen asleep on the chair. She grabs Maya's wrist and drags her over to the open door. "It's your day. Let's wake up Primrose and go, go, go, go, go."

"You sure you're okay?" Maya asked her.

"I'm sure I'm not okay." Riley shakes her head, letting go of Maya's wrist. "The last thing I said to him was 'I wish you were a slinky'." She covered her mouth with a look of regret on her face.

Maya walks out into the hallway as Cory speaks. "Riley, he'll show up. It's not really a big deal."

"Attaboy." Topanga shakes her head, looking at him with a look that read 'you shouldn't have said that'. "Let's see what happens now."

Riley looks over at her dad with a death stare, beginning to walk over to him. "'Not a big deal'?"

Maya rushes back inside, going over to Cory as she pretended that she was going to strangle him. Corey raises his hands up in defense, backing up and falls back on the couch. "I messed up! I messed up!"

He stands back up while Riley closes the door. Riley turns to face everyone with a frown on her face. "A teddy bear is a source of joy and comfort and security and love. Barry was my childhood. Everything I went through, he went through. My childhood is missing."

When there was a knock on the door Riley went over to open it. Lucas, Farkle, and Zay were standing there, looking at her with smiles.

Riley furrows her eyebrows. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We were told there would be tacos." Lucas answered, stepping into the apartment along with Farkle and Zay and Riley closed the door behind them. 

Farkle smiles. "Three tacos please."

"Uh, may I have pancakes?" Zay asked and Lucas and Farkle looked at him weirdly.

"Also, where's Primrose?" Zay asks, furrowing his eyebrows with confusion. The other two boys look around the place with confusion when they realized that they didn't see Primrose there. "I thought she would be here." Zay said.

"She's asleep." Riley points at the British girl curled up on the chair, fast asleep. She chuckles. "Yeah, she's not a morning person."

Farkle couldn't help the smile that formed on his face as he looked at his girlfriend, thinking she looked cute while sleeping.

Riley looks over at Maya. "You called them here?"

"I invited them here." Maya responds. "I wanted them to know what it's like to want a taco and not get a taco."

"What could be worse than that, you-" Cory cut his own sentence off when a festive Mexican horn is sounded. 

The loud sound woke Primrose up and she quickly sat up, saying, "I'm up! I'm up!" She furrows her eyebrows when she saw that the boys were now there. "What'd I miss?"

Maya gets her phone out of her pocket, looking up the new announcement of Paco Taco's. "The bobbleheads are gone!" 

Primrose looked over at Maya and Cory, watching what they did with an amused expression. Maya set her phone down with an upset expression, rolling around on the couch. Cory did the same thing at the other end of the couch, both equally upset the bobbleheads being gone. They both stood up at the same time.

"Yeah," Riley looks at Primrose, shaking her head. "You didn't miss anything, Rosie."

"So...We're all here to look for your childhood teddy bear that Auggie chewed the face off of?" Lucas asked. 

Topanga sighs. "Oh boy."

Auggie tilts his head to the side. "Will we never let that go?"

Primrose furrows her eyebrows when Riley started screaming. "Sorry." Riley apologizes. "I was remembering too hard."

Auggie gets up, walking to the other side of the living room. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was just a little kid. I ate everything that got in my way."

"Auggie, it wasn't very nice to eat Riley's bear." Zay said to him. "And in fact, you would think in doing that," He walks over to stand by Riley. "That would teach Riley not to eat someone's cookie."

Riley rolls her eyes. "Get off of that."

Zay shakes his head. "I do not wish to."

"That bear's been nothing but trouble for my whole life. I just wanted you to play with me." Auggie tells Riley. "I didn't do this."

"Oh, yeah?" Maya challenges, walking over to Auggie, and grabs a fistful of his shirt. "Then where were you on the evening of the 15th?"

"I was out of town on business." Auggie answered.

Maya let go of him, looking at everyone. "He didn't do it, guys."

"You know what? If this means this much to my daughter, let's respect her feelings. Let's find that stupid, faceless bear." Cory said.

Primrose chuckles. "That's the spirit, Matthews."

"Y-You know, I-I would, but I-I got that big game, with, uh, s-sports. Yeah." Farkle stuttered. 

"Yeah, yeah." Lucas nods. "And I would too, but I got the, you know, the big-the big science fair, with, uh...I don't know."

Primrose narrowed her eyes at the two boys, not believing them at all. It was obvious the two boys just wanted to leave. Primrose just figured they would make up better excuses than whatever that was. 

Zay furrows his eyebrows, pointing at the two boys. "Why'd you two switch characters?"

"We panicked!" Lucas exclaimed.

"We're gonna be trapped in here looking for a stuffed animal!" Farkle chimes in. "We'll do anything to get out of it."

"I know." Lucas smiles. "Who's up for a taco?"

Maya grins, rushes over to Lucas, and jumps on his back. "You lost! Now get off of me." Maya jumps off of Lucas while Zay says, "Well, I'll stick around here as long as it takes because I am a supportive friend."

"Hey, Riley," Maya walks over to Riley. "How about just this once I can be the unsupportive friend?"

"Absolutely." Maya grinned and opened the door. "Live your lives." Riley said, walking over to stand on the platform that's where the kitchen is at. "Oh, but before you go, one quick story."

Maya closes the door, walking back into the living room with a fake smile on her lips. "Hey, a story."

Farkle went to take a seat beside his girlfriend and Lucas took a seat on the arm of the chair. Maya sat on the couch where Cory sat along with Topanga who sat on the arm of the couch. and Auggie and Zay were sitting at the table in the kitchen. "Once upon a time," Riley starts telling a story. "There was a little, tiny, Riley, and she was given a bear."

Riley told the story of how her parents gave her Berry-the-Bear one day when she was sick. They both had to be at work that day, but Mrs. Svorski was watching over Riley, and they decided to give Riley a stuffed bear. They told her that when she looked at that bear it would be like them looking back at her. And when she hugged that bear it would be like them hugging her.

"And that little girl loved the little bear for the rest of her life." Riley finished.

"Woah! Great story!" Maya exclaims, standing up. She gestures to leave. "That was so good. Guys, let's go." 

She looked at everyone with furrowed eyebrows when she saw they were all crying. Primrose and Farkle had their arms wrapped around each other as they cried along with everyone else. Maya looked over at the kitchen, seeing Auggie and Zay had their arms wrapped around each other while they cried.

Maya frowns. "Oh no."

"We have to find that bear, you guys." Zay spoke, letting go of Auggie.

Maya's shoulders drop in defeat. "Oh no." The festive Mexican horn was sounded again and Maya picked up her phone that was on the table.

"Everybody has gone Taco loco! I don't think there's anybody in New York City that doesn't have one of Paco's Taco's!"

Maya frowns. "You're wrong, Paco!"

"We have to find that bear, you guys." Zay repeated. 

That was when everyone got up and started searching for the bear. "How is it possible that I can end up in a situation like this?" Maya questioned to no one in particular as she sat down on the couch.

****

The Matthews' apartment ends up getting torn apart, searching for Riley's childhood bear. Primrose was in the hallway, searching through the shelf that was there with Topanga and Farkle.

Primrose glanced over at Farkle, noticing he held a scrapbook. "Can I ask you a question?" He asked Topanga. 

Topanga looks at him with a small smile. "Sure." Farkle showed her the picture he was looking at. Primrose leaned over, chuckling when she saw the picture of a young Topanga with her arms outstretched while looking up. 

"Oh, yeah." Topanga chuckled as she looked at the picture.

"Is it true you used to be a weirdo back in the day?" Primrose asked her.

Topanga smiles a bit, nodding. "I've had my moments."

"I heard you were a hippie-dippie child of the universe." Farkle said. 

Topanga crosses her arms, smiling more. "I like to think I was my own person."

Farkle looks at her, tilting his head to the side. "How come you're not like that anymore?"

"Well, she's definitely still apart of me." Topanga replies. "But I think that as we grow whoever it is we used to be just become a part of our...Scrapbook."

The three of them sat down on the floor in front of the entrance of the hallway. "How can you be sure you're growing in the right way?" Farkle questioned.

"Well, I don't know," Topanga shrugs, sending him a smile. "Mr. Turtleneck, Mop-Top, Farkle Time, Donnie Barnes." 

Farkle smiled shyly and Primrose smiled at him. "Farkle, do you miss any of those people?"

Farkle glances at her, shrugging his shoulders. "They all got to me where I am now. I...I guess they're part of my scrapbook too."

"Like Berry-the-Bear Bear." Primrose realizes and Farkle nods. "Maybe that's why we're looking for it so hard."

Primrose looks at Topanga. "Do you think that's why?"

"I don't know, Primrose." Topanga shakes her head. "Why are we all looking so hard for the last ripped up, raggedy piece of Riley's childhood? Maybe I'm not quite ready for it to be gone."

"We are growing up fast." Primrose nodded.

Topanga chuckles lightly. "Yes, you are. Too fast. I remember when you two never once thought of dating each other and were just the best of friends, but here you are now." She smiles at the couple. "You're in a loving relationship that's growing as you do."

Primrose and Farkle smile at each other, both blushing. "Thank you." Primrose said to Topanga, looking back at her with a smile. 

"We both have no experience with dating before us getting together," Farkle speaks, intertwining his hand with Primrose's causing butterflies to form in Primrose's stomach. "But we're learning along the way."

Topanga smiled at the two and they each got up to continue searching for the stuffed bear. 

****

They still haven't found the bear when it got to the end of the day. Primrose wasn't for sure how they were going to tell Riley that they lost her childhood teddy bear. Josh, Riley's uncle and Cory's brother, stopped by to do his laundry. He had told them how awful college was and told Riley to keep hanging on to that bear. He even joined in on helping them trying to find the bear but it was still no luck.

Everyone was looking around in the main area of the Matthews' apartment that had the kitchen and living room plus the big bay window. The festive Mexican horn is sounded through Maya's phone. 

"Attention! Tacopalooza is officially over! Somebody just cleaned us out for good! We'll do it again in 25 years!"

"Okay, how are we gonna tell Riley that her childhood bear is gone forever?" Primrose inquired.

"Hey, where is Riley?" Cory questioned.

Riley and Lucas were nowhere to be found for a while as everyone else still searched for the stuffed bear. "She and Lucas were looking together." Topanga answered.

"Riley!" Cory panicked.

Riley walks out of the hallway with Lucas following her. "Yes?"

"Where have you guys been?" Zay asks. "We haven't seen you in a half an hour."

Maya narrows her eyes at him. "An hour."

Zay looks at her. "A half an hour."

"I don't get it!" Maya exclaimed.

"Riley found what we needed to find." Lucas said.

"Yeah." Riley smiles. "Lucas and I found out that we were looking in the wrong place, so then we looked in the right place."

"You found the bear?" Farkle asked her.

"No." Riley shakes her head. "You find the bear?"

"No. Sorry." Farkle apologized.

"Remember when Auggie wanted to give up Mr. Googly and grow up?" Maya inquired, sitting on the couch beside where Auggie sat on the arm of the couch. 

Auggie smiles. "But then I didn't. I wasn't ready."

"Yeah." Maya smiles at him. "Good for you. But at some point I think we are ready."

"How do we know when that is, Maya?"

"I think something inside us tells us." Maya answers Auggie. "I think it actually comes to tell us." She gets up and goes over to stand in front of Riley. "Riles...I don't want to let you down, but I...Think your bear is gone."

"Yeah." Riley takes ahold of her hand, her lips forming into a smile. "I don't want to let you down either." She turned to Lucas who went back into the hallway and then came back with two bags of Paco Loco's tacos. "So, we got you this!"

Cory and Maya grins. "Tacos!"