"GRADUATION AND awards night is coming up. I am very proud of this class. Several of you will be recognized for your achievements throughout the year." Mr. Matthews said.

"Awards are a scam! A girl like me never had a chance, Matthews. Never had a chance." Maya said standing up.

"All right, I'll do it, but it's ridiculous. It's a scam, Matthews! She never had a chance!" Riley said.

"Maya will be receiving the Griff Hawkins Totally Cool Award."

Maya grabbed the award and sat down.

"Maya, you just found out you won the Totally Cool Award, yet you just sit there? Oh, you're being cool. Why won't you rub off on me?" Riley asked.

"Sophia, you've won the helpful hand slash problem solver award." Mr. Matthews said.

It warmed Sophia's heart that people thought that she was helpful.

It was something that she appreciated.

Mr. Matthews places the award on her desk.

"And our two finalists for the Scholar-Athlete Award are... Lucas Friar and Billy Ross."

"I hope you're ready for some competition, dude." Billy said.

"Oh, well, you know how I hate competition." Lucas said.

"Not again." Thomas muttered.

"Hey, Golden Boys, you wanna hop down from your cloud of awesomeness? You're making us normals feel bad." Sophia said.

"Yeah. Right after our handshake of awesomeness." Billy told her.

"Every day." Maya said turning back around.

The two of them do their hands shake and the girls paid no mind.

"Girls should have their own handshake of awesomeness." Riley said.

"What would it be?" Sophia asked.

The three of them crossed their legs and flipped their hair.

"Stop it."

"Farkle, you are being awarded the Joseph T.R. Epstein Confidence Award.
Congratulations. Farkle?" Mr. Matthews said.

Farkle was nowhere in sight.

He never missed class.

"Farkle can't come to his desk right now. If you have a question for Farkle, say, "One: a comment", say, "Two: billing questions", "Three." The machine didn't even finish.

"One. Where are you?"

"You have selected "Three.""

"No, I said, "One.""

"Sorry, we are experiencing unusually high call volume. Your call will be answered in approximately..." The machine stopped again.

"Thirty"

The voice of the machine only grew deeper and deeper.

"Minutes."

The machine cut itself off again.

"Representative! What is this? Farkle's never missed a class in his life." Mr. Matthews said.

The bell rang and everyone left the room, except, Riley, Maya, and Sophia.

"Yes?" Mr. Matthews asked.

"Everybody's getting an award but for me. What good is having you as my teacher if the fix ain't in?!" Riley asked her father.

"I'm sorry, Riley." Mr. Matthews said, "Riley, you don't need a trophy to make you feel good about yourself."

"Yes, I do. Sometimes I feel kind of invisible." She admitted.

The machine cut back on.

"Sometimes you want to be invisible, Riley, believe me."

But this time it was Farkle speaking.

Hallway

"Sophia and I looked in the library." Lucas said.

The whole gang tried looking for Farkle everywhere.

"He's not there." Sophia said.

"Hey, guys, I checked the ball field. No Farkle." Billy said.

"You looked on the baseball field for Farkle? Billy, are you even trying?" Sophia asked.

She was frustrated. She believed that Farkle made her sane, she needed him.

"Not really." He said truthfully.

Sophia opened the door to the janitor's closet and saw Farkle and Janitor Harley in there.

"Troubled lad, I now release you to the hands of your caring friends, 'cause they... have time for this." Janitor Harley said.

"You wanna tell us what's going on here, buddy?" Lucas said as they all piled into the small closet.

"Are you my buddy?" He asked.

"What?" Thomas asked with a shocked face.

"Spill it, Farkle." Maya said.

"Somebody made fun of my turtlenecks."

"Your turtlenecks?" Riley questioned.

"Yeah, somebody said they make me weird."

"You are weird." Maya told.

"She doesn't mean that." Sophia reassured.

"Sure, she does. He knows he is. He embraces it. But you already know that, Farkle. That's what makes you unique." Thomas said.

"What good is being unique if somebody knows you're really not?" Farkle said.

History: Mr. Matthews

"Gandhi. What'd he do?" Mr. Matthews asked.

"Freed Ireland." Maya said.

"Try again."

"Freed Ireland." She said again.

"Freed India." He said.

"Before or after he freed Ireland?" She asked.

"Jackie Robinson. What'd he do?" He asked.

"First guy to play in the major leagues after Gandhi freed 'em." Billy said.

They couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"I- I quit." He said.

"But you can't quit, sir!" Farkle said through the machine.

"And you need to be in my class, Farkle. How long are you gonna be out sick?" Mr. Matthews asked.

"Don't know. Pretty bad cold, sir." He coughed.

"Okay. Feel better. What about her?" He asked.

He showed a picture of Malala.

"That's Malala. The Taliban doesn't think that women should be educated. She stood up to them and became the first teenager ever to be nominated for a Nobel Peace prize." Sophia said.

"Sometimes the world presents you with opportunities to show who you really are. Will you have the courage to stand up to someone who tries to take your spirit away?" He asked.

Sophia looked back at the machine and raised her hand.

"May I be excused?" She asked.

"For what?" He asked.

"The world has presented me with an opportunity."

She walked out.

Janitor's Closet

Sophia barged into the closet, startling Farkle.

"Farkle. Nobody in this school loves to learn more than you. Get back into the classroom where you belong. Nobody gets to crush your spirit." Sophia said.

"My spirit's fine. I just don't want to be me anymore."

"Why? Because somebody said something about what you wear? Stupid reason. Stupid shirt. Stupid, stupid, stupid shirt. It isn't you."

"You can have these, Janitor Harley. I'm done with turtlenecks."

He handed the turtlenecks to him.

"Aw, jeez. Thanks, kid. They won't fit me. Oh, it's a good thing- they're horrible." Janitor Harley said.

Sophia grabbed this shirt and pulled him close.

"Farkle, this isn't you. This isn't the Farkle I know. And I want to know why and I want to know now."

"He said I was the biggest nothing in this school."

"What?"

She let go of her grip slightly.

"He said I had no right to walk around acting all confident and pretending as people like me. He said I had no right to have friends like you because I was the biggest nothing in this school." He said.

Sophia pulled him into a hug.

"Farkle, it's not okay that somebody called you that."

"Kids can be very cruel. I know this from personal experience." Janitor Harley said.

"You were picked on as a kid?" Sophia asked.

"No, I was the other one, the picker-on-er. I'm so ashamed. Just- just look away." He said.

He began to cry.

The rest of their friends walked into the closet.

"Somebody told Farkle that he doesn't deserve us as friends."

"Who?" Maya asked.

"It's not important." He told her.

"It's the most important thing in the world. I'll find him myself and I'd hate to be him when I do."

Maya walked towards the door but Lucas lifted her in the air and placed her back where she was before.

"Am I there yet?" She asked.

"Farkle, don't let what anybody says get to you. That's what gives them power." Thomas told him.

"Why are you two, my friend?" Farkle asked them.

"What is it with that?" Lucas asked.

"Farkle... would you just come back to class?" Riley asked.

"Pippi Longstockings and Longed-haired Soph are right. I, janitor Harley Keiner, was in my youth a school meanie. And someone you all know and love was often the target of my shenanigans. But his will was so strong, it changed the nature of our relationship forever. In fact, he even got me this job, and now I hold him in the highest esteem." He said.

Mr. Matthews walked into the closet.

"Hey, Johnny Baboon!" Janitor Harley said.

"Johnny Baboon?" They all asked.

"You promised me!" Mr. Matthews shouted.

"Oops."

"Farkle, you're here. Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine, sir."

"Good. Then I'll see you in my class tomorrow morning."

"Yes sir."

The gang left the two adults behind.

"Do you really think Farkle is gonna be okay?" Lucas asked Sophia.

"I have no idea."

Bay Window

Everyone except Farkle sat at the Bay Window.

They wanted to help him in some way.

"This is a very special place to us, Thomas." Riley said.

"This is where Riley, Sophia, and I figure out our most important stuff." Maya said.

"Do you ever talk about us here?" Lucas asked.

"What do we do now? We don't know what to do." Riley and Sophia whispered.

"Start over and move on." She said.

"This is a very special place to us, boys." Sophia said.

"Do you ever talk about us here?" Thomas asked.

"You gave us bad advice!" Riley said.

"Well, I appreciate you having us here. Whatever Farkle's dealing with, he shouldn't have to go through it alone." Lucas said.

"I want my Farkle back. We're not as good without him. If you tell him I said that I will jack you up, son." Maya said grabbing him by the shirt.

"Ah, the brain trust. You guys have one day to figure this out and fix Farkle or else you come to an adult. You understand me?" Mr. Matthews asked.

"Yes, sir." The two boys said.

"Yes, Dad."

"Yes, Mr. Matthews." The girls said.

"If we could just find out who this guy was, then I'd know you'd take care of him." Sophia said.

"What? Beat him up? Sophia, all those people on the blackboard never became like the people who were attacking them by resorting to their methods. It's just not the first response of an intelligent person."

Mr. Matthews walked back into the room and looked at Thomas and Lucas.

"Get out!"

He chased them out the window.

The two boys struggled to get out at the same time, especially since Mr. Matthews took their shoes.

"That- that felt really good."

Gym

"Where's Farkle?" Sophia asked.

"I thought he said he wasn't going to miss any more classes." Lucas said.

"Then why haven't we seen him?" Maya asked.

Billy walked over towards the five.

"Oh. Hey, man. Baseball after school?" Billy asked Lucas and Thomas.

"Oh, I don't think I'm gonna make it. My buddy's still being hassled and I wanna be there for him." Lucas told him.

"Your buddy? You mean Farkle?" Billy asked.

Sophia started to put the small pieces together.

"Yeah, nobody's seen him." Thomas said.

"You're better off." Billy said.

"Excuse me?" They both asked.

"Come on, Lucas, Thomas, I don't really see Farkle as your buddy." He said.

"Why not?" Lucas asked.

"You don't think he's different than us?"

"What do you mean? Smarter? Yeah, he's the smartest kid in school, but he doesn't make a big deal about it." Thomas told him.

"I mean, he does wanna take over the world and everything, but frankly, I'd like to see what he does with it." Lucas said.

"Lucas, Thomas, Farkle is a nothing."

Sophia cocked her eyebrow.

She was mad.

You could see her whole expression.

Lucas grabbed Billy by his shirt and pushed him to the wall.

It shocked the four others, including Billy.

"You're the one who did this to Farkle? Why would you do that to a guy like him?" Lucas said yelling in Billy's face.

"I don't know. 'Cause, he's a guy like him. You wanna let me go now?"

"You're the nothing, Billy!"

Sophia walked over and jumped on his back, "Lucas, don't."

"I thought this was what you wanted, Sophia." Lucas said.

"What? She wanted you to pop me, Mr. Perfect? Well, I don't think that's what he's gonna do." Billy said.

"Yeah." He chuckled, then he paused, "No, that's what I'm gonna do."

"No! That's what he wants. He wants you to be like him."

He groaned in frustration.

He felt her slipping off and pulled her back up.

"You see, Lucas is like me. We live in a cloud of awesomeness, remember? Handshake?" Billy asked.

He ended up doing it by himself.

"I don't like you like this. This isn't the Billy I know. And I wanna know why and I wanna know now." He said.

He looked back at Sophia.

"Would you get off my back please?"

She hopped off.

"Come on, man, the Billy you know is your teammate, and that comes way before whatever these guys are to you." He said.

""These guys?"" Riley asked.

"Boy, are you wrong." Maya said.

"These guys are my friends... all the time, not just on the field." Thomas said.

"How are you even friends with that little guy?"

"Because I can depend on him, because he's the most loyal person I've ever met, because he's my best friend."

"You really mean that?" Farkle said.

They followed the voice up.

He was holding onto the ropes.

"You're my best friend, too!" He said.

"Farkle, how'd you get up there? I thought you couldn't climb the ropes." Thomas asked.

"I can't! But in desperate situations, apparently I can fly!" He said.

Riley, Maya, and Sophia ran over and grabbed the mats so Farkle could fall on them easily.

"You can have him. You'll figure out sooner or later that they're not us." Billy said.

"Who's "us?"" Thomas asked.

Sophia had an idea.

She didn't know if it was going to work, but she always had to try.

History: Mr. Matthews

Mr. Matthew walked into the classroom and saw his students with different things written on their foreheads.

"What's going on?"

"Sophia made us write on our heads!" Darby said.

Her flaw was fitting, tattletale.

"Riley?"

"Insecure. It's always mattered more to me what my friends think about me than what I think."

"Maya?"

"Broken, When I own it, it doesn't make me feel so bad."

"Sophia?"

"Ashamed, I feel bad every time I go home it reminds me of my mother who was never there for me, I am not ashamed of her I'm more ashamed of myself."

He paused before continuing, "Good. So, before someone can use our own flaws against us, maybe it would help us to admit we all have 'em."

Billy gathered his things and stood up.

He tried leaving the class, he was the only one without a flaw on him.

"You going somewhere, Mr. Ross? Trying to be invisible?" Mr. Matthews asked.

"Believe me, it doesn't help." Farkle said.

He moves his bangs out of the way to reveal his flaw, or what Billy told him what he was, nothing.

"You know, Billy, you seem to be the only one here not wearing a flaw. Do you not have any?" Mr. Matthews asked.

He scoffed, "Well, none I know of."

"What made you treat Farkle the way you did?" Maya asked.

"Yeah. We never thought of you this way, Billy." Riley said.

"I always thought of you as the good guy." Thomas said.

"Look, I like people who are... like me. Is that a flaw? Because I don't think so." Billy asked.

"Yes." The class said.

"You don't think I know I'll never be a genius freak like you? I shouldn't make fun of that?" He asked Farkle.

"No." The class said.

"Stop making me feel bad. I already feel bad enough you got such great friends. And that makes me feel... I don't know. Is there a word for that?" Billy asked.

"You're jealous." Sophia told him.

"But you're Billy Ross." Riley said jumping in.

"Yeah. I'm Billy Ross. Jealous of you? Of him? Because this little guy doesn't need to hit a baseball to... have friends? Does that sound like jealousy to you?" He asked.

He looked down on Sophia's desk and saw the marker.

"Let me see that." He said.

Sophia handed him the marker.

He walked over to Farkle and handed him the marker.

Farkle wrote his flaw, jealous.

"Welcome to the team." Sophia told him.

"Thanks. Glad to be here." He said.

"We're all human beings. We're all on the same team. And if we sense our own flaws because we see them in others... It's true friends who help us wipe them away." Mr. Matthews said.

Riley and Maya wiped each other's forehead clean.

Lucas walked over to Sophia and began to clean her forehead.

"I don't think you should be ashamed."

"Why shouldn't I Mr. Perfect?"

"Because you're brave, and kind and nothing like your mother."

She smiled, "Thank you, Lucas."

"I'm sorry, Farkle. Any friend of Lucas should be a friend of mine." Billy said.

"Thanks. Want me to get rid of yours?" Farkle asked.

"No, I just got mine. I think I'd better try to understand it a little bit more." He said.

"Can we do the handshake?" Farkle asked.

You could tell he was excited.

"Dude. You think you're ready for the handshake?" Billy asked.

"I'm so ready for the handshake."

The two of them did the handshake flawlessly.

"Well, I don't understand anything." Billy said.

Sophia was proud of what she did.

For the first time in a long time.

Auditorium

"Well, we've given out our award for confidence...cool..." Mr. Matthews said.

Farkle lifted his award in the air.

"'Sup?" Maya said.

"...And we've acknowledged our scholar-athlete."

Lucas had won the award.

"Jealous?"

"Yeah... but I'm working on it." Billy said.

"We've also given one of our highest awards to Ms. SophiaAnn Hopeman." Mr. Matthews said.

She smiled, "You okay, Riles? I know getting an award was a big deal for you."

"I'm okay. Really." She said.

"And now for our final award of the evening. The John Quincy Adams Spirit Award goes to the student with the courage to stand up for what they believe in and changes for the better. Now the award is voted on by the student body, so we have no idea in advance who will win. Huh. Proud. Riley Matthews." Mr. Matthews said.

"Maya, how do I act cool about this?" Riley asked.

"You? Just be who you are." Maya said.

"Yay!" She said getting up and running around in circles.

Word Count: 3055

Updated on: October 29th, 2018

Hello it's been a while or what feels like a while.

This book hit 4K recently so thanks for reading this book

I regret making Maya and Thomas cousins, should they stay cousin or should I change it?

Also you should read my new book called 'Starstruck' you don't have to but much appreciated

Thanks