THUNDER CRASHED as Maya, Riley, and Sophia walked up on the platform in the train station.

"There she is again." Sophia said.

The same lady in the subway that came here the same day when Maya, Riley, and Sophia almost stopped being friends.

"Crazy Hat's always here." Maya said.

"What's her deal. Former movie star, Olympic figure skater?" Riley asked.

"Bum on a bench." Maya said jumping in on Riley's thoughts.

"But look at how she looks at everyone. What goes on in a head like hers?" Sophia asked.

"I guess we'll never know." Riley said.

"Hey, crazy hat! What goes on in your head?" Maya asked.

"And a new adventure begins." Sophia said walking behind Riley.

"You, you, and you, c'mere! I'll teach you about life." She said.

"Can't. Stranger. You want me to sit on the bench, I'm gonna need three forms of identification." Riley told the lady.

"Trust me. I know who she is. She's all right." The cop said.

"Okay, copper." Sophia said.

The three sat on the bench.

"Hey! That's officer copper to you." He said jokingly, "Mornin', Evelyn. Never gonna stop rainin', is it?" He asked her.

"That's okay, Eugene. These three little dollies are about to give me one of their designer ponchos." She said, "They're garbage bags, Eugene. But you have to put a hole for your head."

"Ah, so you can breathe." The officer said.

"So the garbageman doesn't throw you out." Sophia told him.

"Yep, that happened. I was yelling, but he didn't care." Riley said.

"We rescued her from the truck." Maya said.

"They chased me all the way to 33rd street." Riley said.

"Wow, now that is a friend. Me? I don't chase nobody for nothin'." The officer said.

"What if I stole a banana?" Maya asked.

"I'd be very disappointed in you."

"Okay." She said.

"I have observed you three are good friends."

"Don't miss a thing, do you, crazy hat?" Sophia asked.

"No, I don't. Now you're about to be late for school, and I'm about to be late for addressing the united nations. Have a good day, dollies. Be good people, learn all you can." She said.

With that, she was gone.

"How does that happen to someone, Maya and Sophia? Do you think that could ever happen to us?"

"Well, at least nothing worse than that could ever happen." Maya said.

A man picked Riley up and threw her in the trash.

"Maya! Sophia!"

"Maya? Sophia?"

"Okay." Maya said as they ran to get Riley.

History: Mr. Matthews

"Belgium, eighteen thirty-one-" Mr. Matthews started.

"No!" Sophia shouted.

"In eighteen thirty-one, Belgium-"

"No!"

"Sophia?"

"What's my thing?" She asked him.

"What's your thing?" He asked.

"What is she going to be, dad" Riley said helping her out.

"Am I gonna be okay?"

"Sophia, listen to me very carefully."

"Okay."

"In eighteen thirty-one, Belgium declared its independence from the Netherlands."

"What will people be thinking of me if I end up living in a subway?" Sophia asked.

It took Sophia a while to even grasp the concept that she could eventually live on the subway.

"What if nothing happens for her, sir? Sophia can't end up like that.
She's my meal ticket!" Maya said.

"What the? I just saw you, girls, at breakfast!"

Farkle began going back and forth between languages.

"My education should not be based on your Sophia's moods." Farkle said.

"Your Sophia?" She asked.

"I meant what I said."

"Neither should mine, but it is! Guys, a daughter's best friend asks her best friend's father, "what's my thing?" This question will resonate in the hearts of all parents from the moment it's asked until the day their child feels comfortable in the world.
Pretty soon you're all going to join the workforce. What's your thing? What do you aspire to? How will you affect people? That's the only history that matters." Mr. Matthews said.

"Thank you, Matthews." Sophia said.

"Thank you, Matthews" Farkle repeated.

"All right, guys, tell you what." He said, "Let's split the class into two separate businesses and see how you do for yourselves. We'll see if anyone's got anything to worry about, okay? Excellent."

"What will our companies be?" Riley asked.

"Doesn't matter." He said, "Uh, muffins, okay? You two are going to be "Riley, Thomas, and Farkle muffins."

"That'll be your thing for the week."

"I already got my thing. Riley and Sophia are gonna be a success and I'm gonna sponge off then until they get sick of me." Maya said.

"We will never get sick of you." Sophia told her.

"I am set for life!" Farkle said.

"All right, let's get out there and make some money cash, cabbage, cheddah-cheeeze!" Thomas said.

"Those are your values, Farkle and Thomas? What else should a company value but profits? If I had a company, I'd treat my employees well and make sure we did right by our customers." Riley said.

"You are everything that's wrong with this country." Farkle told her.

"Then you do have a company, Lucas." Mr. Matthews said.

"Hart, Hope, and Friar muffins." He said.

"So these two competing companies will hire the rest of you guys as employees. Everyone else in school will be your customers." Mr. Matthews said

"Let's see what happens." Sophia said.

"Here's what happens,- we crush you." Thomas said.

"We will be bajillionaires, and you will eat your words using plastic cutlery." Farkle told them.

"You're cute when you're menacing." Maya told him.

"I don't know what to do now."

"I know."

Hopeman Residents

Lucas and Sophia had just left the store with all these bland muffins. Maya didn't want to come because "muffins are gross they are wanna be cupcakes with no frosting." So it was just Lucas, her grandfather who is passed out in his room, and herself.

"Why do we have healthy muffins?" She asked.

"Because my mom said healthy muffins are better muffins."

"Your mom needs a new motto."

"Yeah, she does."

You know that awkward silence where you and someone you don't know are sitting in a car and you don't know what to do?

Yeah, that's what this is.

But way worse.

"So what about Thomas?" Lucas asked.

"What do you mean "what about Thomas"?"

"I mean, do you like, like Thomas?"

"No, his for Riley apparently, that's why Mr. Matthews let them work together. So he and Riley could get to know each other."

"Oh." That was all he said.

"Why would you care if I like, like Thomas anyway?"

"Because."

He didn't even finish his sentence.

He bolted.

"Just lovely, just lovely."

John Qunicy Adams Middle School

It was the day the groups would sell their muffins.

And for one group, not much was happening.

"Last muffin from this batch." Farkle said.

"Why are their muffins so white?" Maya asked.

"One dollar." Riley said.

"Hold on." Thomas said grabbing her hand.

"I don't think so." Farkle said.

"What are you doing, Farkle?" Riley asked.

"It's the law of supply and demand, Riley." He said.

"We supply, they demand." Thomas told her.

"Let's find out what our last muffin is worth to them." Farkle said waving the muffin in the air.

"Dollar and a quarter!"

"Dollar fifty."

"Hey! What's so great about their muffins?" Lucas asked.

"We've got plenty of muffins right here." Sophia told them.

They all looked at their muffins and started shouting and throwing their money again.

"Two dollars."

"Two fifty!"

"I'll give you my brother!" Darby said.

Both Maya and Sophia banged their heads on the desk.

History: Mr. Matthews

"All right, progress reports." Mr. Matthews said, "What's up in make-believe corporate America?"

"We started with a hundred muffins, made each with all-natural and organic ingredients." Sophia said.

"And you selected these ingredients because?" He asked.

"Because that's the right and responsible thing to do." Lucas told him.

"You really believe that?"

"I dunno! You spend a day with this guy." Maya said and Sophia nodded in agreement.

"So far we've sold fourteen muffins at a dollar each." Lucas said.

"Okay, how much do they cost you?" Mr. Matthews asked.

"They didn't cost us anything to make." Lucas said.

"How's that possible?"

"His mother gave us money and Lucas and I went to get them."

"She wanted us to sell healthy food." He said.

"How's that workin' out for us so far, Huckleberry?" Maya asked.

"As soon as we sell them all, I'll pay her back." Lucas told her, "I stand by our product, sir."

"So do I." Maya said.

"Ehh." Sophia told him.

"They're everywhere." Maya told him.

"How are your profits, Friar?" Farkle asked him.

"Let me teach my class, Farkle, okay? I decide what to say and when I'm gonna say it, and I decide who to call on and what I'm gonna ask them!"

"How were my profits, Friar?" Lucas asked.

Mr. Matthews slumped down and nodded.

"Well, I have those right here, sir." Lucas said.

Sophia took the paper from him and saw a big fat zero on the paper.

"None." She whispered.

"I'm sorry, what?" Thomas asked.

"None." She said a little louder.

"And it's not right, sir." Lucas said, "Our muffins are good for you."

"We can't even give them away." Maya said.

She threw one and it came back and hit her in the head.

"All right, let's talk about a real make-believe company." Farkle said getting up with Thomas and Riley.

"Farkle's muffins!"

"Riley, Thomas, and Farkle muffins." Thomas corrected.

"Yeah, keep tellin' yourself that." Farkle said, "Unlike our competitors, our profits are through the roof, and so are our employees."

"Why are they like that?" Mr. Matthews asked.

"They ate the product, sir." Thomas said.

"Riley?" Mr. Matthews said.

"Everybody seems to like our muffins, dad." She said.

"Oh, my sweet innocent child." He said.

"Can't you see why?" Thomas asked her.

"Because they're filled with love." She said.

"I don't think that's what they're filled with, Riley." Sophia said.

All around almost all the students were shaking.

"Yeah." Thomas said.

"Why do they come out so white, Farkle?" Riley asked him.

"Because they're one hundred percent carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen." Farkle said.

"Uh, explain that to the non-scientists, Farkle." Thomas told him.

"Sugar! They're all sugar! Just one big sugar cube!" He said with the craziness in his voice.

"What? Ours are oatmeal, honey, and locally harvested berries." Lucas said.

"Farkle, you said all-natural!" Riley shouted.

"Sugar!"

"You said organic." Thomas said.

"Sugar!"

"You said delicious." They said at the same time.

"Sugar!" Everyone else said.

"Farkle, we're a business." Thomas said.

"Businesses do not just mislead their customers to make a little bit of money!"

"We're done for, Farkle." Thomas told him.

"These muffins are pure evil." Riley said holding it in her hand.

"Are you gonna eat that because if you're not gonna eat that I would eat that right now is what I would do is I would eat that right now is what I would do." Darby said over and over again.

"You know how you succeed, Riley? You give the people what they want." He said.

"That's why we're a success and they're not." Farkle said.

"This isn't fair, Mr.Matthews! I had to listen to Lucas and his mother talk about "Good eatin'" and "wholesome livin'" and "the natural cornucopia of the earth's bounty"" Sophia said.

"Have you ever even heard me talk?" Lucas asked.

Maya turned him around and "Huh-hur-rrrred" right in his face.

"Wow." Lucas said.

"That's new." Sophia said, "While these just poured sugar into a muffin cup."

"It isn't fair!" Maya said.

"What isn't fair?" Lucas asked.

"That I'm not on their team!" Maya said.

"Maya, what we did isn't okay." Riley told her, "But I didn't know and I'm not going down for this." She continued

"I'll talk." Thomas said.

"To who? To everyone who loves our muffins? Enjoy the taste of success, Riley." Farkle said.

"It's sweet." She said.

"Not to me." Riley said.

"I have a very bitter taste in my mouth." Someone said.

"You must've eaten one of ours." Sophia said.

"Maya, Sophia, you played fair." Riley said, "We didn't."

"We have no integrity." Thomas said.

"You do." He said pointing towards the others.

"And what does that get them? We can buy and sell their business. I like the sound of that. Yeah! I propose a merger between Riley, Thomas, and Farkle's muffins and Hart, Hopeman, and Friar muffins." Farkle said.

"Why the merger, Farkle?" Mr. Matthews said to him.

"We both have what we each need, Mr. Matthews. We have profits. They have integrity. I'm buyin' it!" He told him.

"My integrity is not for sale." Lucas and Sophia said.

"Mine is." Maya said.

"Maya!" Lucas said.

"We owe your mother a hundred bucks."

"Put 'er there, partner!" Lucas said shaking Farkle's hand.

"Our new company will be called "Farkle." Your names are no longer part of the company." He said.

"Why not?" Sophia asked.

"What's the first thing that happens after a merger, daddy?" Riley asked.

"What's the first thing that happens after a merger, daddy?" Farkle repeated.

"Downsizing." He said, "When two companies come together, employees become vulnerable."

"Don't tell him!" Riley said.

"Uh, Riley, I think he already knows." Sophia told her.

"Lucas, fire half of the company." Farkle told him, "Start with Sophia, Riley, and Maya."

"Why do I have to do that?" Lucas asked.

"Because you're all full of that Texas "gee willikers" hooey. You charm people. So you'll be the face of the company and I'll be the behind-the-scenes hermit genius along with Thomas."

"Mr. Matthews?" Lucas pleaded.

"How do you argue with that?" He said.

"Always liked you, Matthews. You got moxie." Farkle said.

"Thanks, chief!" Mr.Matthews said.

Lucas sighed, he walked over towards the three girls.

"Sophia?" Lucas said.

"Yeah?"

"You're fired."

"Fine."

With that Sophia walked out of the classroom.

"Hey, if she goes, we go." Maya said walking out with Riley.

Subway Station

"What happened?" Crazy Hat asked.

"Class project." Sophia told her.

"Fake business." Riley said.

"Got fired. Not so terrible." She said, "I've been fired myself once or twice."

"Yeah, but not from fake businesses." Sophia said.

"I think you could call 'em that. Now I come down here and watch people coming and going, giving their lives to fake businesses. Welp, gotta go! Big meeting! With squirrels."

Crazy Hat stood up and walked away.

"Yeah." Maya said.

"Thanks." Sophia said.

"It's just us." Maya said.

"It's just us on the bench." Riley said.

"No jobs, no future, no dollar, because I gave it to her.
What am I gonna do about my mid-afternoon snack?" Sophia asked.

Maya stood up and walked towards the trash can.

"I got pizza crust and a shoe."

"What size?" Riley asked.

"10!"

"What a terrible day." Sophia said sitting back on the bench.

The three sat on that bench for a couple of hours, they were there so long that Crazy Hat came back from her meeting.

"Well, look who's still here. My dollies. Been looking at the people, huh?" She asked.

"Hey, hat, you're a sight for sore eyes." Maya told her.

"How'd your meeting go?" Sophia asked.

"Oh, the usual. Yelled at everybody. Y'know, rahr rahr rah! Rahr rahr rah! Had 'em all running around scared of me." She said.

"Sounds like fun." Riley said.

"It's more fun when I come down here from my big, tall building." She said.

"Oh, your building?" Maya asked.

"It was named after me." She said.

"The crazy hat building?" Riley asked her.

"I sit here lookin' at all the people because it turns out, other people are the key to your own happiness. I watch 'em enough and I start thinkin' about what I can do for them." She said.

"What you can do for them?" Sophia asked.

"Mm-hmm. Now you've been lookin' at all these people, now what do you see?" She asked Sophia.

She looked around the station.

"I see a bunch of wet people who could probably use some real umbrellas."

"Yeah, not the no-good kind some Farkle sells on the street just to make some "cash, cabbage, cheddah-cheese." Maya said.

"Huh." Crazy Hat said, "You saw all that just by lookin' a little. What's a Farkle?"

"Did you know that people won't protect themselves from the storm, but they'll make sure their morning doughnut stays dry?" Riley asked.

"Interesting observation."

"Now what are you gonna tell your class about it?" She asked.

"Nothing." Maya told her.

"Not going back." Sophia said.

"Tired of being humiliated."

"Tough." Sophia said, "You know what? We're gonna go back. Crazy hat goes into buildings and screams at people and you're not humiliated, right?"

"Rahr! Rrow!" She said.

"Okay, rahr."

Sophia grabbed Maya and Riley's arms and dragged them back to school.

"That was terrible! It's been raining for six days." Crazy Hat said.

History: Mr. Matthews

"People are wet and cold out there." Riley said.

"They need something to keep them safe from the storm, and we know how to give it to them." Maya said.

"What if every single subway stop in New York City was stocked with donated umbrellas?" Sophia asked.

"The Matthews, Hart, and Hopeman umbrella foundation." They said together.

"It's non-profit." Riley added.

"What?!" Farkle shouted.

"When you come into the subway station you leave an umbrella in the stand and when you leave the next station, there'll be one waiting for you." Sophia said.

"The Matthews, Hart, and Hopeman umbrella foundation." Riley said.

"We got you covered." Maya said.

"There's no money in umbrellas." Riley said.

"No, only people." Sophia added.

"My company makes a profit." Farkle said.

"Yeah, but at what cost? Look at your customers." Sophia said.

All around they were shaking.

"How could something that tastes so good make me feel so bad?" Darby said.

"What goes up must come down, Farkle." Mr. Matthews said.

"At least I was up. What do you have besides an idea?" Farkle asked.

"They've got an investor!" Mr. Matthews said.

"Oh no." Maya said.

Crazy Hat walked into the room.

"She followed us." Riley said.

"Evelyn Rand." Mr. Matthews said.

"You know Crazy Hat?" Sophia asked.

"She's the chairman of the board of Rand Industries." He said, "You guys walk by her building on the way to school."

"She really has a building?" Riley questioned.

"With her name on it." Maya said.

"You'll usually find me on the top floor of my building going, "rahr rahr rah!" You three dollies want to know how I got my name on the building? I do! By knowing a good idea when I hear one.
So I've made out a check to "the three dollies." She said.

"You can do that?" Sophia asked.

"I can do whatever I want." She said, "Now what I want you to do is go get some umbrellas, go get 'em in some subway stations."

"You start."

"The people will do the rest." Sophia said.

"I believe in them. I've watched them. Now, which one is the Farkle?" She asked.

Farkle raised his hand and slid down in his seat.

"Mm-hmm." She said walking towards his desk.

"Stop it!" Farkle shouted.

"Now this is a dollar, Farkle. Somebody came by it by doing hard work. Not by pumping people up with something you knew would let them down. Don't keep the dollar. It won't fix you if you keep it. Pass it on. That's what changes you, Farkle. Take it from me." She told him, "And, you three, don't worry so much about your future."

"Really?" Sophia asked.

"Really, yes." She said, "You three dollies, you're going to be just fine. Mm-hmm, now here, here's your first umbrella."

She took her hat off and placed it on Sophia's head.

"Nice, nice work, dad." Riley said.

"You really think that you can make a difference in these kids' lives?" Evelyn asked Mr. Matthews.

"Yeah, I do." He said, "I'm their teacher."

"Good for you." Crazy Hat said.

Lucas stood up and approached Sophia.

"Sophia, if it's at all possible, I'd like to help out with your company."

"Aww. You're as sweet as sugar." Crazy Hat told him.

Sophia smiled at him.

She whispered in Maya and Riley's ear and walked out with Crazy Hat's, hat on.

"Ms. Hopeman says you're fired." Riley said as Maya Huh-hur-rrrred right in his face.

"Yeah, I had that coming." Lucas said.

Hopeman Residents

Sophia jogged to the door as someone repeatedly knocked on it.

"Hello." Lucas said.

"Hey. so why did you want to come over to me stink place I call a home?"

"Because I wanted to talk."

"Just talk?"

"Yeah, talk."

She was still wearing Evelyn's hat, it growing on her.

"Are your grandparents home?" He asked.

"Probably not they are probably at the doctor's right now."

"Why?"

"Curious?"

"Very."

"My grandfather is really sick so if it gets worse he might just pass away."

"I'm sorry. You just gotta have hope for him though."

"There's that word again."

"Sorry?"

"No, hope. People tell me to have hope it might be in my name but I lost it a long time ago."

"I have to go."

And there he goes again out the door

"This is one reason why I don't have hope, people always leave."

Word Count: 3499

Update on: October 28th, 2018

Hey sorry I have posted but when you don't have wifi you have to find some way to find the episode

Also some parts of this episode I couldn't find so I'm very sorry

On Sunday February 21st at 11:53 my book is number 16 when you search Lucas Friar I thank everyone who has read my book and commented on it and the people who favorited it. So far this book has 2.67k that's 2,670 reads!! I didn't think I would get this many reads on anything so thanks!!

Love _justanotherfangirlx (this isn't my user anymore 😁👍) aka Lucy