Follow the journey of Riley Matthews, Maya Hart and Violet Morgan as they make the world their own. Will love blossom? Will friendship prove to be stronger than any obstacle they face or will it crumble under the pressure?
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"Riley Matthews from Greenwich Village, New York City, the United States of America, the continent of North America, Western hemisphere, the Earth, the solar system, the universe. The mind of God. And in the middle of all of it, is John Quincy Adams Middle School, me and my friends, because we are the center of the universe. At least, that's what I thought. We think we're the center of the universe. We think everything revolves around us. We depend on the sun for light, for warmth every morning, every day. And when it's gone...We sleep...Trusting that in the morning, it will always come back again. Here's what's funny. If you're standing on the moon, you'd think the earth was revolving around you, instead of the other way around. It's really all about perspective. It's hard not to believe that you're the center of everything...Until something shows you you're not. " I hear Riley say from my seat next to Maya as she grips my hand lightly in hers. I close my eyes, just remembering the past few days.
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I laugh lightly at Maya as she explains one of her theories as to how we will find Riley on our first day of 8th grade. "I'm still betting she is curled up in bed, thinking that Mr. Matthews will be our teacher again." I argue as I follow Maya through the bay window before hearing Maya greet the Matthews, "What up, losers?"
As I finally get into the room I take a quick look around and see both of Riley's parent in her doorway. "Morning Mr. Matthews, Mrs. Matthews." I greet them before kicking off my shoes and hopping into the bed on the other side of Riley, as all three of us pull the blankest over our heads. "No, no, no! No, doing that, girls. School!" Mr. Matthews tells us as I sense him walking towards us on the bed.
"Who's gonna be my teacher?" Maya asks as we once again lower the blanket and playfully glare at Mr. Matthews. "Your teacher? Whoever loses." Mr. Matthews tells us with a smiling face. "We don't believe you, Mr. Matthews." I tell him, making both Maya and Riley nod along with my words. "I'm telling you, girls, I'm gonna be teaching your lives to a whole new group of students!" Mr. Matthews excitingly tells us as he jumps off of Riley's bed.
"Do you two believe him?" Riley asks us as she turns her skeptical look to both of us. "Maybe," I say as I eye Mr. Matthews again. "I can't even believe we're starting off the new year without first talking about how when we were on the subway and you took Lucas by the face..." Maya starts to say making me chuckle as Riley suddenly fake laughs while forcing Maya out of the bed as she stands up. Shaking my head I get out of bed to avoid the dramatic display no doubt about to happen.
"You okay, Maya?" I ask as Riley gets her balance on her bed. "We... are not talking about that! We're kings." Riley exclaims as she then runs off her bed making me move over to Maya and help her up from the ground. "We're kings, Matthews." Maya echoes once I have her standing back on her feet, making me laugh. "You don't get to tell us what to do anymore." Maya continues as he hops over to him, while Riley puts her bag on her shoulder and I place my bag on mine.
"Get out." Mr. Matthews tells Maya with a straight face. "Okay, but that was the last one." Maya tells Mr. Matthews as Mrs. Matthews looks over us with an amused smile. I watch Maya crawl out the window first before waiting for Riley to follow to make sure they both actually get to school. 'I feel like we're forgetting something.' I think to myself as I hear Riley tell her parents, "Dad, you have to let us learn how to walk through life on our own two feet."
I giggle as I send Mr. Matthews a mock salute before following behind the girls. "Girls I feel like we're forgetting something." I tell Maya and Riley as we walk down the cold stairs. "What are you ... OW." Maya starts to say before stepping on the more rusted steps. "Ow, ow, ow." Riley starts to echo as she continues after Maya. "We forgot our shoes, didn't we?" I ask them both sarcastically as they both continue to say "Ow. Ow. Ow." making me sigh but still follow them down the stairs. 'It's the start of another interesting year. Please let it be less complicated than last year.' I mentally pray as I link both my arms through Maya and Riley's at the bottom of the stairs, walking to school with a smile.
