THERE SHE was. SophiaAnn Marie Hopeman in the flesh. But between you and me, she rather just go by Sophia.

She sat at the bay window with her best friends Maya Hart and Riley Matthews.

They were discussing how they were going to sneak out. With Riley Matthews, you never knew what you were gonna get. She would either crawl out that bay window with no hesitations or figure out a way to lie about how she had to take care of her little brother, Auggie.

"Why do we have to sneak out of the house if we're not doing anything wrong until we sneak onto the subway?" Riley asked.

"You think you're ready to just walk by your parents?" Maya questioned.

"I think I'm ready." Riley smiled.

The thing that Sophia liked about Riley was how cherry she was. She was upbeat and didn't see many flaws with the world she lived in.

"Let us see your face as you walk by your parents." Sophia said.

Riley made some sort of confused and disgusted face at the same time. Smiling as she did so. It was confusing, but it did really confuse Maya or Sophia. This was the Riley Matthews they knew.

"Why are you making that face at us, Riley?" Maya asked.

"Because I'm sneaking out to the subway." She said.

"Let's go." Maya said.

One by one each of the girls went out the window. And as quickly as they escaped, they had, one by one returned to the bedroom.

"Daddy!" Riley called, "What are you doing out here?"

"Being smarter than us, how come you're always smarter than us?" Maya questioned.

"Here's what I'm thinking." Cory Matthews started, "It's not your world yet. It's still my world. Because if it was your world, Maya and Sophia would have you on the subway already, thinking you put something over on me. But you didn't. Know how I know? Look at you. You're right here."

"How long do I have to live in my father's world?" Riley asked.

"Until you make it yours. Riley, do you know what I want more than anything? Go ahead. Make it yours." Cory said.

"I will. And when I do, will you still be there for me?"

"Right here. We'll be right here." Topanga  Matthews smiled.

The three girls looked at each other, a smile on their face as they looped their arms with each other and exited the bedroom.

THE THREE girl made their way to the subway. This was typical transportation for two of the girl. Riley Matthews not very familiar with the subway and trailed further behind the other girls.

"Dweezil!" Two of the girls called.

"Maya, Sophia!" He smiled, "Who's the new chick?"

"Chick!" Riley smiled, "Down here I'm a chick! No wonder my parents don't want me on the Subway."

"Yeah, that's why." Sophia said, patting Riley's shoulder.

Riley Matthews and Maya Hart were two very different people. One good, one bad. Blonde and brunette. As for Sophia? She was sort of the middle man. She was a little like Riley and a little like Maya. A little naïve and knew how to stand her ground.

"You're slouching, SophiaAnn, so are you Maya." Gretchen said.

It was kinda obvious that she did not like Maya or Sophia but that's her loss she could have two really good friends. Plus a Riley.

"Thanks, Gretchen!" Maya said fixing her posture.

"Yeah, okay, don't care." Sophia sighed. If she slouched, she slouched.

They all entered the subway and grabbed onto the same pole.

The two girls started a conversation when they saw Riley pull a tube of lipgloss out.

"Woah, Riley, you don't do lipgloss." Maya said.

"Oh! What I forgot to mention is that I'm completely reinventing myself." Riley said, "I ride the Subway now, I have kiwi lips now, and I'm just as cool as you two now!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, let's see how cool you can be when you look at him." Sophia said.

The trio looked over at the blond boy sitting on the bench in the subway train. He wasn't paying any attention to the trio, but all eyes were on him.

Sophia always found herself one step into the future. She saw the boy and thought to herself, "maybe". That was it. Just... maybe.

"Yeah, you're gonna need some lessons." Maya said, "Go show her, Soph. She knows everything you need to know about boys and girls." Maya said.

"Says who?" Sophia asked.

Maya smiled, "Says me."

She didn't know anything about boys and girls, or boys and boys, or girls and girls. Sophia liked boys and girls, but she didn't know a thing about them. She barely knew herself.

Riley and Maya waited for Sophia to move. She sighed and made her way over to the boy.

He looked up from his magazine and sent the girl a small smile.

"Hi."

Sophia raised her eyebrows. His accent was thick. He wasn't from here, it was apparent from how he dressed. Though they lived in New York. They specifically lived in Greenwich, which you could almost called a normal part of New York.

Regardless, his accent threw her off. She slowly sat down next to him with an awkward smile painted on her face.

"Hey." She stretched out, "Do you see those girls right there?"

The boy watched her pointed finger stretch towards Riley and Maya who tried their best to look incognito.

He nodded and waited for Sophia to continue, "They think I'm this cool chick who knows how to flirt, which is not true because the only healthy relationship I've seen are two people who've known each other as kids." She explained, "All that to say, I need to flirt with you."

"Okay." He smiled, turning his body towards her, "Are you going to start?"

Sophia only shook her head and began to stand, "We can pretend that it happened and go on with our lives. So, I hope that you'll forget that this ever happened and have a good day."

She gave the guy "finger guns" and walked away before she could embarrass herself any further.

"He's available." Sophia said, "We just broke up."

"Are you okay? Do we need to talk about it?" Riley asked.

"I'll live." She said.

"You still wanna be like us?" Maya asked Riley.

"I want to be exactly like you guys. I think too much, and, Maya you don't think at all, Sophia's kinda in the middle." Riley said.

"See? You get us, so let's not think." Maya said and let Riley fall back into the boys' lap.

Sophia saw how the boy smiled at Riley. Even though Sophia's mind was saying that she couldn't see anything with him it was kinda hitting her that her friend was mostly gonna get a cute guy to date.

Maya looked over at Sophia and saw a somewhat displeased expression on her face.

"Are you okay?" Maya asked.

Sophia only nodded and continued looking at Riley.

"Hi. We were just talking about you. You used to go out with my friend, Sophia."

"I'm Lucas." He said.

"I love it." She giggled.

An older lady walked over towards them.

"Perhaps someone would like to give their seat to someone older." Evelyn asked.

Lucas began to stand up but Evelyn stopped him.

"Not you, sweet potato pie." Evelyn said to him.

"Gross." Sophia whispered, causing Maya to laugh.

"Please don't make me move. I just wanna see where this goes." Riley whispered sounding a bit desperate.

"I've just worked a 12-hour shift and I just wanna see where this, goes. Okay?"

"Okay." Riley said and walked back to her friends.

"That was great!"

"You're welcome." Maya said feeling proud.

"What if that was the best moment of my life? What if nothing ever happens to me again?"

"I highly doubt that was the best moment of your life." Sophia said.

The light flicked in the subway and once again Maya let Riley's hand leave the pole but this time she fell in the older lady's lap.

Sophia and Maya soured their faces but continued to look forward.

"It's for you." Evelyn said, sounding displeased but she passed Riley towards Lucas.

THE GIRLS finally made their way towards the school. They made their way into the classroom as Riley turned towards the others.

"Did you have trouble with the homework?" Riley asked.

"As always." Sophia said.

Sophia was more street smart rather than book smart. But she tried, she tried her best and her teacher saw that.

"Piece of cake." Maya lied.

But Riley's focus wasn't on Sophia.

"You didn't do it, did you?" Riley asked looking back at Maya.

"I don't even know where my books are." Maya giggled.

"Here." Sophia said, pulling the books out of her bag, "And they're heavy."

"You have to do the homework, Maya. This teacher's insane, a total nut job. I think there's something seriously wrong with him." Riley said.

Riley went on with her rant as the three headed to class.

"Hi, honey." Cory said.

"Hi, Daddy."

"You're late to your father's class."

"Oh, don't worry, Mr. Matthews, you wrote her a note." Maya said.

"I did?" He questioned.

"You did." Sophia said, giving the prewritten note to Riley.

"You did." Riley said.

"Riley's late. Deal with it." He read, "Oh, you got my signature down pretty good this time."

"Oh it was easy, you write like a girl." Maya said..

He became flustered. "Okay, let me get back to jamming some learning in your heads, The Civil War" Cory said as he began teaching.

"The Civil Bore." Maya mocked.

"Thank you, future Mini-Mart employee of the month." Cory said.

"Would she be making more money than you?" Sophia asked. Not only because she was curious, but also because she was going to defend her friend.

He was once again flustered. "The Civil War! Anybody?" He continued.

"A war we fought against ourselves." Riley said.

"What, you actually studied it?" Cory asked.

"She's actually living in it." Sophia said as Riley hit her head against the desk.

"People, people, are we here to learn or not?" Farkle shouted.

Farkle Minkus. He feels like he knows the trio of besties he's whole life.

"What do you mean, Farkle?" Cory questioned.

"I've been in love with Riley since the first grade. But I'm also equally in love with Maya and Sophia. Some might say the great mystery of the universe is who's gonna be the first Mrs. Farkle."

"You don't want this." Maya told him.

"Bring it on." He said, making some sort of purring noise.

"I always thought that he'd wind up with back-of-the-class Brenda." Riley said.

They looked back at the girl and she waved.

"Yuck!" He shouted.

"Actually, the great mystery of the universe is how you can love three women the same who couldn't possibly be more different." Cory said.

"We're not so different." Riley said.

"May I overstep my bounds, sir?" Farkle asked.

"You always do."

Farkle made his way towards the front of the class and Cory sat down.

"Riley is the sun. Warm and bright and lights up my whole day." He then made his way towards Maya, "Maya is the night. Dark and mysterious. And the night had always been a mystery to me. Because I got to be at 7:30." And finally Sophia, "Then Sophia is the sunrise, she's sometimes is a joy to watch but is sometimes sad and doesn't want to come out but does anyways. How can I love these three different women? How can I not? Thank you, I am Farkle!"

He made his way back to his desk and Mr. Matthews (Cory) continued on with his lesson.

"So, we were indeed trying to find out who we were, as a people. Who am I?" Cory asked, "What should I be? History shows that bad things happen when you don't know who you are."

The door creaked open revealing the blond boy from the subway.

"Who are you? I don't know who you are." Cory questioned.

Sophia looked up from her doodle and saw Lucas right at the door.

"I'm Lucas Friar, from Austin, Texas"

His accent possibly thicker than what it was when they were all on the subway.

"Oh. New student, Mr. Friar?" Cory questioned.

"Yes, sir." Lucas said.

Polite. Most people from Texas were if they came from the right place.

"Great. You're just in time for today's assignment. Have a seat." Cory told the boy as he walked to the seat behind Riley.

Riley became giddier.

"Okay, so-" Cory started but quickly ended when he saw Riley staring at the new boy. So he turned her head around. "So, I'd like you guys to open your books to page forty-eight."

Every student opened their books to page forty-eight.

"Now, I'd like you to turn to page one." Cory said, "Now, I'd like you to read from page one to forty-eight."

The whole class began to groan.

"Oh, too bad on you. Okay, so for tonight's assignment, I'd like you to write me a three-page essay on anything." Cory said.

"That." Maya started, "I'd fight for no homework. I come here every day, why can't you teach me everything I need to know while I'm here."

Sophia instantly would have agreed. She was beyond struggling. She usually understood what was happening but once she got home she had no idea what to do.

Not only did it confuse her but also Mr. Matthews. He knew Sophia was smart, he didn't understand why she was failing.

But she chose to stay silent.

"Woo!" Riley said, but quickly took it back "Not woo."

"He gets our days, let's take back our nights. No homework, more freedom! Who's with me? " Maya said and stood on her desk.

"No homework, more freedom! No homework, more freedom! No homework, more freedom!" The class shouted.

It took Sophia a minute to even joined the chant. If she couldn't do it at home, why bother with it.

She looked over at Lucas. Confusion written on his face. He'd just met her, but her personality on the subway didn't match the one he was seeing.

"This is it, kid. You wanna be like Maya and I?" Sophia asked Riley, "Stand up."

"What are you doing?" Cory asked Riley, eyeing Sophia as well.

"I'm making a choice about who I want to be, about whose world I want it to be." She said.

"Riley, I know you. You know exactly who you are."

"Then who am I, Dad?"

"You're just like me."

"Oh, yeah? Would you do this?" Riley asked and marched out with the other kids.

No homework. More freedom.

THE GIRLS sat in the cafeteria. Munching on their lunch as Maya took notice of Lucas.

"Aww, look at him looking for a place to fit in." Maya said.

"You think he'll sit with us?" Riley asked.

"Ladies."

The trio looked over and saw Farkle standing before them, "Farkle."

"Interesting lunch line dilemma." He continued and sat down, "Sloppy joe, chicken pot pie or pizza dippers, sloppy joe, chicken pot pie, or pizza dippers?"

"Is that all you got?" Maya asked.

"That's it! Same time tomorrow!" He happily said and left the trio alone once more.

Maya turned towards Riley, "There he is! Invite him to sit down!"

"With words?" Riley questioned.

"That would be the best way to do it." Sophia answered.

"You're ready for this." Maya said.

"What do I say?"

"Hey, Lucas. Looking for somebody special?" Maya suggested.

"I can't say that!"

"Hey, Lucas. Looking for somebody?" Sophia suggested.

"Too forward."

"Hey, Lucas." Maya said.

"Like we're on a first-name basis?"

"Hey." Sophia said.

"Hey."

"Hey back." Lucas said.

Riley looked up at him and he sat down, "Hi. You're sitting here." Riley said.

"Is that okay?"

"Can you excuse me for just one sec?" She asked. She looked over at Maya and Sophia. The two gave the girl a thumbs up and continued eating as Riley turned, but instead of Lucas it was her father.

"How ya doing?" Cory asked.

"Dad, you have a choice here." Riley said, "You can either understand that this is just a boy talking to me in the cafeteria—"

"I'm gonna do whatever you say next." Cory smiled.

"But this is so innocent!"

"Honey, fathers don't see anything as innocent. We see it as.. what's the opposite of innocent?"

Maya raised her hand, "Right here!"

"Please don't embarrass me." Riley pleaded.

"I'm just gonna talk to Mr. Friar about geography. You know, I've been to a lot of places. Never been to Texas, though." Cory said, "What part of Texas is the closest to Mexico?"

"That'd be El Paso, sir." Lucas said.

"Great! Let's go right" Cory said.

He stood up fully and pulled Lucas's chair away. Lucas sent them a wave as he continued on with Mr. Matthews.

The three girls stood up and walked towards the trash.

"So, did you do the homework?" Riley asked.

"No, I didn't do the homework." Maya said

"The question on everybody's kiwi lips is, did you do the homework?" Maya asked.

"No, I'm one of the founding members of the Homework Rebellion. You think I did my homework?" Riley asked.

"I think you both mine and Sophia's." Maya said.

"I did. I did, and I really liked it." Riley said pulling it out.

"Riley, don't save me." Maya said.

"What?"

"Let her be her" Sophia said, "She doesn't want to do the homework. Let her choose."

Farkle then appeared in front of them.

"Oh. You got three desserts. Riley said, "Angel's food cake."

"Devil's food cake." Maya said.

"And just plain ol' Strawberry Cheesecake. Let me guess who's who." Sophia said.

"Hey, Farkle's just hungry. Not everything is about you." He said.

The trio soon returned to class and Lucas was in his seat from the first time around.

Sophia approached her desk, right beside Lucas, "Hi. I'm glad you're back."

"Hi. Me too." He smiled.

"Hi." Mr. Matthews said, appearing in front of the two, "Apparently you have a better sense of direction than I anticipated. You are a really good-looking guy." He turned towards the board,  "Okay. So, today we're gonna find out if anybody here believes in something so strongly, they'd fight for it. Maya."

"Yes, sir."

"Present your homework."

"Can't do that, sir."

"Why not?"

"Didn't do my homework, sir."

"Why not?"

"That's what I'm fighting against, sir."

"Oh, this could go on for a while." Farkle said and put his head on his desk.

"I didn't do my homework, either." Riley smiled.

"Oh, really?" Cory questioned.

"Yeah. We're the same, now. I don't believe in homework."

"Guess what, Riley? That doesn't make you the same as Maya or Sophia at all."

Maya raised her hand, "I have something to say."

"Wow, I don't know what to do, I've never seen this before. The floor's yours, Ms. Hart." Cory said.

"Get up, Farkle." Sophia called, "You're gonna wanna be awake for this."

"Is it our honeymoon?" He said excitedly.

Sophia smiled and went along with it, "Not yet, that's after class. Now it's time to hand in our essays."

"Oh! Farkle goes first, Farkle always goes first!"

"Maya's going first."

"Alright, everybody who did their homework, put it on your desk." Maya said waking around.

Sophia was confused but nonetheless, she pulled out her homework. This was an easy assignment.

Cory saw her pull the paper out and smiled. "Careful there, Ms. Hart." Cory said.

"Are you sure about this?" Riley questioned.

"I got this." Maya said.

"Okay."

"The branding of Atlanta led to the end of the Civil War, and of peace. I believe that peace is worth fighting for. Hey, that's a pivotal part of my diorama! And there goes, Virginia." Farkle shouted.

Maya walked over towards him and took a sparkler. She then stood on top of her desk.

"The burning of the homework led to the end of the Homework Rebellion because there was no more homework." Maya says as she was getting ready to burn our homework.

"Alright, alright, that's far enough, Maya, I get it." Cory shouted.

"No homework, more freedom!" Everybody else shouted.

Except for Sophia. She was confused.

Then the smoke from the sparkler got too close to the sprinkler and it went off.

"Okay, so those work." Maya said.

"Is this all part of your presentation, or is this actually going?" Farkle asked.

Farkle went over towards Mr. Matthews and jumped on his back.

Lucas stood us and cover both Riley and Sophia with his jacket.

"Why didn't you stop your friend?" Lucas shouted.

"That's not what I do anymore!" Riley answered.

Sophia stood there, letting what happened sink in. She finally achieved something and in second was ruined because her friend wanted to prove a point.

"You're better than that!" He shouted.

"We're just letting her be her."

"Ms. Hart, you have detention. The principal will determine if it goes further than that. Ms. Matthews, Ms. Hopeman please leave."

"I deserve detention, too!" Riley said.

"No, you don't. You didn't do anything and because you didn't do anything, your best friend is in very big trouble."

"Alright Farkle, you can get down now." Cory shouted.

"Well, you're actually quite comfortable, sir." Farkle said.

"Thank you... Get off!"

"Farkle isn't going anywhere!"

After a few minutes, Maya joined Riley and Sophia in the hallways.

"Down, Farkle." Cory said.

Farkle finally jumped off of Mr. Matthews shoulders and joined their trio's side.

"You're looking at us pretty hard there, Mr. Matthews." Sophia said.

"We just wanna stand by our girl." Riley said.

"You missed the moment to stand by your girl. You were so busy trying to be her, Riley and Sophia, that you forgot the best thing you can do for her is be you. Riley, Sophia take Farkle for a walk."

They looked at each other and began heading off, but Cory called Sophia back. She glanced at Riley and Farkle and approached her teacher.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"It was a stupid paper. More to come."

When Mr. Matthews didn't continue the conversation, Sophia went on her way with Riley and Farkle in tow.

A WHILE later, Maya, Riley, and Sophia stood on the subway.

"Riley, Sophia?" Maya called.

"Yeah?"

"If we can't hang out with each other as much anymore, don't worry about it."

"Wait, why would..." Riley asked.

"He's going to make you end our friendship." She continued.

"He said that?" Sophia asked Maya.

"He's really upset with me." Maya said.

"He loves you." Riley told her.

"I don't think so anymore." Maya frowned, "I just want you to know that I get it wouldn't be your fault."

"Bee-you-ti-ful! You three little bumblebees got a sweet thing going, but where's your hunk? You ain't got no hunk, you ain't got no story!" Evelyn said.

Lucas was the "hunk" in question. There want much thought about it. But the trio continued on with their conversation.

"I haven't been your good friend." Maya said.

"You're our best friend." Sophia reassured.

"That's your best friend. Best friends are important. I have a best friend. I'm not talking to her right now." Evelyn said.

"I go too far. And I don't think that's gonna stop. I'm bad for you." Maya said.

"He said that?" Riley questioned.

"He will. This is your stop." Maya said, pushing the duo off of the train, "Don't be me. You don't go as far as me."

"No. No!" Riley shouted.

"No! Do not push them off this train. You do not push your best friends off the train." Evelyn shouted.

"We're not you." Sophia said.

"Ooh, there back! That little girl pushed those doors open with the power of love!" Evelyn said.

"You're not allowed to abandon our friendship. I would never do that." Riley said.

"Riley, Sophia, I'm pushing you away because I'm not good for you anymore."

"Only we decide that. You know why?" Sophia asked.

"Why?"

"Because if this is my world now, the first couple of people I want in it are you guys." Riley said.

"You're gonna save me, aren't you?" Maya said.

"We are." Sophia said, grabbing both of their hands and making their way towards the Matthew's apartment.

"WHERE IS he?" Riley asked, "There is no way I'll let you break up my friendship with Maya."

"Is that what you think I want, Riley, Sophia?" He questioned.

"No. What you said you really want is for me to make the world my own. And you want me to do my homework. Well, I'm doing it right now. Here's what I think is worth fighting for. This is my best friend. She's gonna get me into trouble, and I'm gonna get us out of it. And I did, because here we are. Look at us, Dad. We're right here. My Civil War is over, Dad. I won. What happens now?" Riley asked.

AUGGIE, CORY, Farkle, Lucas, Maya, Riley, and Topanga, and Sophia all gathered at the train station.

"Friends, family, and all you other subterranean mole people. We're here today to celebrate Riley being Riley. Now, some may call this a New York City Subway pass. But you, Riley, can consider this a ticket to the world." Cory told everyone.

"You think I'm ready?" Riley asked.

"You showed us you are." Topanga said.

"Riley, I've already met the world. It's your turn." Cory told Riley.

"Hey, this isn't so different from Texas. Look, there's a pony." Lucas said.

"That's a rat." Sophia told him.

The two looked back as they heard Gretchen and two others say his name.

"So, where do you wanna go?" Sophia asked.

"Don't know. Big world."

"Ours now?" Maya questioned.

"Yeah, but my dad did say I have to be home by five." Riley told the two.

"Don't worry. He wrote you a note." Sophia told her while showing her the note.

"Next stop, Astor Place, 14th Street, and the world."

"You guys came back and waited for us?" Riley asked.

"Hey, we told you we were always gonna be here for you." Topanga said.

"Yeah, Riley. It's not so easy handing over the world without making sure everything's gonna be okay." Cory said.

— lucy has something to say !!

to think i have to sit here and make 65+ lucas frair fuck ass memes 😭 and this was 4000+ words like what the hell 😭

bye :))))