"Riles?"
"Peaches?"
"How you feeling today?"
"Well, I didn't cry all night"
"That's good" Yea, we're still in the hole, alone, well, not really. Elliot decided to keep us company when he can.
"Because I stopped when I passed out from crying"
"Well, you seem better now"
"That's where you're wrong"
"Okay"
"But the seniors wanted us to stand here, watch what goes on, and learn from it. They have their reason" Truthfully, I have my doubts, I don't trust them.
"To make fools out of us? Mission accomplished. We're fools. We're fools without friends"
"Maya, they know what they're doing?"
"What are we supposed to learn here, Elliot?!" I take a deep breath to calm down, I shouldn't be taking it with him to express my frustration
"Just wait and see"
"They made their choice, Maya. They have started their high school careers without us and I wish them well"
"Yeah. Maybe we shouldn't think about them today. Yeah. I hope that Farkle remembers that science can't explain people and he keeps himself open to love" I sigh
"You gonna do one for each?"
"Yes" I'm hungry
"Give me a couple bucks for a brownie" she hands me some money and I go to the vending machine
"Okay, Maya. I want juice"
"Me too"
"I hope Smackle looks up from her books every once in a while so that she doesn't miss life" "Apple?"
"Grape"
"I want apple!"
"Okay"
"I hope Zay stops using comedy to cover up his inner turmoil" I hate seeing her this sad, I should give her a nice surprise. I should give it to Elliot too to say sorry.
"Uh, they're out of grape and apple"
"Surprise me" they say in unison. I smirk and give them what they wanted
"They're not really out of grape and apple!" they gasp
"What a nice surprise"
"Did you get to Lucas yet?"
"I hope Lucas... I hope Lucas... I hope Lucas has a very bad day"
"You know what? I'd rather be a fool with you than to be anything without you. So... what can we learn from down here?"
"Hm, here comes purple combat boots. I like her. She walks with confidence. And here comes jungle girl. She's waiting for motorcycle boots"
"Vroom, vroom" they start kissing and Elliot covers my and Riley's eyes.
"Vroom, vroom, baby!"
"Riles?"
"Peaches?"
"They're way more advanced in high school"
"We're middle school hand-holders"
"What if those seniors sent us down here because we think we're so ready for this place and we're so not?"
"Well, then I'd be right. And I hope that I'm right"
"You are, Riley, you are" he looks at the hour on his phone
"Gotta go now. Football practice"
"Be careful" he smiles
"Maya, he's been on the football team for over a year now. Don't you think you're a little too overprotective?" I shake my head
"I'm not. Every time he ends up with bruises, a black eye or something else. It's not very enjoyable. Especially when your mom gets mad" he chuckles
"Okay, I'll be careful"
"Promise"
"I'll do my best" he kisses my head and hugs Riley before leaving.

*At the lockers room, Eliot's POV*

I've already changed and my uniform is too little. Did I grow up? Nah, I don't think so. The whole team gathers around the coach
"All right, whose house is this?"
"Our house!"
"Whose house is this?!"
"Our house!"
"What happens to the poor unfortunate soul who mistakenly wanders into our house?" Every one screams except for me. I just find this very stupid, almost humiliating. Coach blows his whistle, making the screams stop
"All right, congratulations, ballerinas. You have achieved practice level, but that's all that was, practice against your fellow ballerinas. Okay? That was not a game against opponents who are trying to come into our house and make it their house! How do we protect this house?" Holy crap. Chaos, chaos everywhere. Someone even tears down a locker
"All right, so we're not the brightest team in the league. This is our locker room! I want you to do that to the opponents... but I like what I'm seeing. I'll tell you, the biggest regret I got in my whole life is that we got no opponent walking through that door right now into our house so we can destroy them!" we hear a knock on the the door
"Come in" Oh God, it's Lucas and Zay, what are they doing here?
"Lucas and Zay in the house!"
"We go to this high school and we belong here, and we want to be on the football team, and what are you gonna do about it?" I shake my head
"Do what you must" the team picks up Zay and drags him away. I don't eve wanna know what they're gonna do to him
"Lucas!"
"I'm coming!" the cowboy bumps into me and falls to the ground
"Hey, how's it going?"
"I'm good. It was nice knowing you"
"What?" they drag him away too. I sigh
"Okay bring them back!" Great, they just have some of their clothes ripped out, nothing bad.
"Thank you"
"You're welcome"
"How could you ever think you'd get on the football team?" Thor asks them
"Cause we're strong man!" I chuckle
"Yeah, sure. Have you looked around you?!" Lucas looks down.
"Listen, we thought that-"
"No. Just listen to me. You just started high school. You are freshmen. You're too young and inexperienced for this"
"What about you?"
"This guy right here..." Thor wraps an arm around me
"Got here when he was a sophomore and frankly, it was a miracle. He's the youngest person to have entered the team"
"How did you do make it?"
"I took some time to look around and realized that there were stronger kids than me"
"Yeah, no kidding. You were almost as weak as Farkle" I step in front of them to prove my superiority.
"So I started training, hard. I got the results I wanted and tried. I gave my best and I got in"
"He's a true prodigy. Now he's even faster and stronger than last year. That's why he's our captain"
"You're the captain?!" I slightly laugh
"It's me. Listen, try next year or when you're sophomore. This is just not the right time. Lucas, out there you might be as strong as a horse but here, you're just...how do we call them, Thor?"
"A ballerina"
"Just leave now" they walk away.

*hours later, at Topanga's*

I love watching these kids. It's so funny watching them so frustrated over something so meaningless
"I used to be the smartest kid in school"
"How can we run this world if there are people in this world who are smarter than us? I feel ordinary. What do we do?"
"We need to take refuge in people who are intellectual inferiors" Lucas and Zay come in
"Hey, guys"
"Yay"
"You need some intellectual inferiors?"
"Yep. You need some physical inferiors?"
"Yay" I approach them with their usual order
"What's up?" they all groan
"What?"
"Get out of here" I frown
"You're the team captain. You're making us feel bad"
"We also know that you're the captain of the Abigail Adams Society of Intellectual Advancement"
"No biggie"
"One of the members cloned himself. I can't even imagine your intellect!" I chuckle
"So, you all got your butts kicked?"
"I don't even feel like I'm me anymore"
"Yeah, these first few days of high school couldn't have gone worse for us"
"You feel bad about finding out there are people here bigger than you?"
"No, I expected that. That's not it"
"You feel bad 'cause you know it's not gonna be anywhere near as easy as we thought here?"
"No, I'm fine with a challenge. That's not it either"
"It's about us, isn't it?"
"Is there an 'us' anymore?"
"That's it"
"So look, man, let's go back to Riley and Maya and tell them we feel bad"
"No, I can't do that"
"Why not?"
"Because I feel bad"
"What are you talking about?"
"Let's just go back and say we're sorry we left them and start all over"
"No, I understand what Lucas is talking about. We left them"
"Well, we just wanted to see what high school was like"
"They'll be okay"
"No, you have to understand Riley. Riley has such faith in people. I mean, yeah, she had faith in the seniors. But she has even more faith in us. You know what? I not only can't protect them here, but I abandoned them" finally, about time he realized
"It's not that we can't go back to them"
"It's that we don't deserve to. We left them. I left them alone. They believe in something, and I left them alone. How do you come back from that?"
"How do we ever face them again?"
"Are they mad at us, Elliot?" I take a deep breath
"More like furious, for sure. But I'm sure they'll forgive you, all of you. At least, I think Riley will"
"What about Maya?"
"You knew her story of her being abandoned by her dad. You knew how much she struggled to get attached to someone and you also knew that she cared a lot about you. Still, you left her"
"How's she doing?"
"Devastated. She doesn't want to show it but she's the most affected. Knowing her, she's gonna struggle a lot to forgive you. Especially you, Lucas"
"Why? She said she loved me"
"You said that to her, didn't you?" he looks away
"You also promised her you wouldn't leave her and yet, look at where you are" I leave them.

*The next day, Maya's POV*

"Why 'massacre'? Why you got 'massacre' up there? Why can't you just teach us names and dates?" Can Marly shut up?
"Marly Evans and what she learns today! That's the name and date I care about. All of you and right now, are you listening to me?" Riley and I nod
"Good. It was patriots who founded our new land and it was patriots who fought for it. Why do we remember the Alamo? Farkle, Smackle, a duet. Go" they stand up
"The Alamo was a small, isolated fortress with a handful of patriots inside who felt it was important to stick together and fight for what they believed"
"They were surrounded by a much larger number of people, coming at them from all directions, who believed this place belonged to them" they sit back down
"The patriots desperately wanted reinforcements, but reinforcements never came. What happened to 'em?"
"They stayed in their fortress and gave everybody a friendly smile, and eventually, they walked upstairs"
"They were massacred. Then they walked upstairs? No, but that battle gave birth to a slogan. What was the slogan?"
"Remember the Alamo"
"Remember the Alamo! And why do we remember the Alamo? Lucas, Zay, a duet"
"Because the patriots gave their lives for a greater good"
"That battle had only just begun, and some years later that land became ours, and the name of that land was..."
"Texas!" Lucas says with enthusiasm, I'd slap him in the face right now
"Stop it!"
Right, Texas, your home. So, guys, that's why we remember the Alamo and why we remember all the battles that we fight in an effort to make a new place our home. Now, you can stay massacred or you can realize the battle has just begun" I decide to talk
"We were kings, Mathews"
"Kingdoms fall. Everyone who believes they're gonna rule the world falls. Everyone who believes they're strong eventually comes up against someone that's stronger. And every patriot fighting for a cause, they're only as strong as the cause they're fighting for"
"Even I know next thing he says, real important"
"What's the cause you're fighting for?" I just want everything to go back to normal

*later that day, at the bay window*

"They're still not even talking to us" I sigh
"They won't even look at us"
"I don't blame them. It's my fault" I frown
"What did we do?"
"We didn't go after them, Maya. They left"
"We stayed behind"
"We got to keep more eyes on me. Sometimes I go too full-on-Riley" I slightly nod and Elliot opens the door
"Some of my friends are here. You wanna say hi?"
"Sure"
"Right in here, guys" I can't believe it! I point at the three seniors
"You!"
"Nice room"
"Thanks. Why are you guys here?" they sit next to us. Who gave them the right?
"You guys sit in this window?"
"All the time"
"How come?"
"It's our safe place"
"Why do you need a safe place?" To protect us from you
"Cause there's a whole world out there that we don't understand"
"Why did you guys throw us into a hole?"
"Why us?"
"When we were in middle school, we were six great friends just like you"
"Three of us thought we'd kick high school's butt, figure out the whole thing real fast"
"Three of us were smarter, took some time to figure out the new surroundings"
"And that was you guys?"
"You guys took some time to figure things out before you jumped in?"
"No, we were the ones who broke off from our friends"
"Why?"
"You never mean to lose friends, but high school has a lot of things calling for your attention"
"You get caught up, friendships can come apart"
"Yeah, I've heard that"
"You guys don't see your friends anymore?"
"Oh, we still see 'em. It's just not like what it was"
"That can happen?"
"Yeah"
"But you three are still together"
"See Maya, they are..."
"Complicated"
"Oh, they like each other"
"They're a triangle"
"You like each other"
"You're a triangle!"
"Don't lose your friends"
"But they're angry at us"
"No, they're not angry at you at all"
"Then what are they?"
"They're humiliated. Like we were"
"Why?"
"Cause it's high school, and everybody gets massacred"
"That's why you guys put us into a safe place" Elliot frowns
"That's not the safe place, girls. That's a hole"
"We just wanted you guys to be together. Your safe place is each other. Go get your friends
"How did you guys resolve the triangle?" I gotta know, I want to solve this as fast as possible
"Oh, let me see. Do you still like him?"
"Yeah. Do you still like him?"
"Yeah"
"We need to decide" they stand up and leave
"Thank you for bringing them here Elliot, now we know exactly what to do"
"Great, 'cause I know what to do too"
"What do you mean?" He smiles
"Both of you, follow me. We're going to Topanga's. The others are already there" Riley stands up and hugs him
"You're the best brother ever" she leaves the room
"You're the best" I say while punching friendly his arm but he cringes.
"Did I hurt you?" I frown, it wasn't even that strong
"No, it's fine. Just got a little bit hurt at football practice" I lift up his sleeve and gasp
"Elliot!" I can't believe it. I told him to be more careful!
"Maya. It's fine. It's just a little bruise"
"Oh, trust me, I've seen a lot of bruises in my life but I've never seen one as big as yours" he laughs
"Why are you laughing? Have you seen you arm?!"
"You're the only one worried about it. Stop worrying about me"
"Why should I? You're Elliot Matthews. You're important to me"
"And you're important to me too. But I'm fine. This is nothing compared to the time I did tryouts, remember that day?" I nod
"You were so beaten up, I thought you were gonna die" he chuckles and wraps an arm around me
"I remember Riley and I were working on our plan to crash Josh' college party when your father came in with you"
"I will never forget the way you looked at me"
"How did I look at you?"
"The same way you're doing right now"
"Then how am I looking at you?" I look in his eyes
"You're looking at me almost as if I were your world and you needed to protect me from everything and everyone. Like if everything would crash if something happened to me" Our faces are now just a few inches apart
"Remember what happened that day?" I nod
"Yeah"
"Tell me" I can feel his breath on my lips, what is happening?
"W-we got caught up in the moment...?"
"Oh yeah?" I slightly nod while he interweaves our fingers
"Are we getting caught up in the moment right now, or is something else there?" as I'm about to reply I hear Riley's voice calling us
"Guys! Come on!" we part away immediately and head to Topanga's. I can't believe I was about to kiss Elliot.

*At Topanga's*

"Look at us" I move Huckleberry's face to look at mine and he smiles
"We're sorry"
"You're sorry? What are you sorry for? We're the ones who left"
"We should have realized something happened to you"
"But nothing happened to us"
"Why do you think something happened to us?"
"We found out we we're stupid and they got beat up like pipsqueaks" Lucas sighs
"Don't look at me" I tug at his shirt and glare at him right in the eyes
"I'll look at you whenever I want to look at you, Huckleberry"
"Everybody's stronger than me" I let him go
None of this matters"
"Guys, the only way we're gonna get through our one year of high school is together like we always have"
"Maya, there's four years of high school" I'm sorry, what? Nope.
"I'm out" I start walking away but Elliot stops me
"Could somebody please explain to me what's going on here? Because I guess I really don't know anything anymore"
"I think they're forgiving us for behaving badly"
"Smackle, you didn't behave badly. When you left, we should have gone with you"
"No, when you stayed, we should have stayed with you. I don't know what's the matter with me"
"Lucas, you left because you don't think that you can protect us here. We all need to protect each other here. Okay? No matter what happens at high school, we're the cause worth fighting for. Us. Nobody leaves"
"Even if we get massacred?" Trust me, I'll make sure none of you will get massacred, not if I'm with you.
"We're gonna get massacred no matter what we do"
"I'd like to say that we've never gotten hurt when we're together. And it was my fault that we weren't. I'm truly sorry about that and I hope it never happens again. You guys showed us what it means to be strong... and smart"
"You still like him?" Riley smiles
"I still like him. Still love him?" I take a deep breath
"No. I just like him now" everyone looks at me in shock except for Lucas, he's disappointed, not in me, but himself.

*The following day, at the hole*

"Ready?" I ask my best friend
"Ready" we go upstairs where we find the seniors and Elliot
"I'm glad you guys picked me and my friends"
"We wish someone would've done it for us"
"You really put us through it. I know"
"You messed with our heads"
"I did"
"We'll be better friends because of it"
"You will"
"Lucas?"
"Yes, Elliot?"
"Shouldn't you say something to them?" Lucas smiles
"Thank you"
"You're welcome"
"We'll be here for you guys anytime"
"You trying out for the football team?" Him and Zay share a look
"Uh... Nah"
"Let me try, Thor..." Elliot clears his throat
"Are you trying out for the football team?!" Is he crazy?! I won't let them! They're gonna get hurt!
"Yeah!"
"Good. Now that we're seniors and we've learned so much in this place... We wanted to leave somebody a..."
"Legacy?"
"Yeah, a legacy. Pass it on someday"
"We will. When we're kings" as the bell rings the seniors walk away while we hug. Lucas at my right and Elliot at my left. I don't know who is holding me tighter but I don't want this to end.