Girl Meets Pluto

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"Somebody read that." Cory ordered in class. "History will be kind to me for I intend to write it." Lucas read, "Winston Churchill." "And he did. Who's gonna write their own history here? What is history? I keep forgetting." Cory said. "History is time passing." I answered.

"Oh, yeah? How much time? Someone once said, '100 years from now, all new people'." Cory told us. "100 years." Maya guessed. "Wrong." Cory said. "You set me up." Maya said, glaring at the adult. "When should you guys begin to make your own history?" Cory asked. "Right now." Riley replied. "Good. So, today we're talking about Winston Churchill." Cory continued, "When the new people come, how do you want them talking about you?" "Nicely?" Riley guessed. I playfully rolled my eyes.

"How long do we have before history makes its decision about us?" Ben questioned. "What if they're writing it down now?" Farkle questioned. "Doesn't matter. Chapter One: Introduction. Please read." Cory told Riley. We all opened up our textbooks as Riley read it.

"There is a comfort in knowing that history is fixed. You can no sooner change history than you can change the nine planets in our solar system from Mercury to Pluto." Riley read from the textbook. "Oh!" We all exclaimed, except for Riley. "What?" She asked. "Nice job, Mr. Matthews." Lucas told him. "What'd he do?" Riley asked. "He just showed us history books can be wrong." Ben told her, "You can change history." "I don't get it." Riley said.

"How can she not know?" Ben questioned. Maya and I shared a look. "Look at the bird!" We shouted in unison. Riley jumped up and looked around for a bird. Which wasn't there. Maya and I turned around in our seats.

"She doesn't know because she has us." Maya said. "The Riley committee." Farkle added. "The committee exists to keep certain information away from Riley." I said. "Like what?" Ben asked. "Everything, really." Lucas answered. "Listen, this committee can't protect her for the rest of her life. She's getting too smart." Cory told us. "She's looking for a bird." Farkle stated. "Well, someone's gotta tell her." Cory said. "You do it." Maya and I told him. "Nah! You two do it!" Cory shouted.

"Hi, sweetie." Maya and I said, turning to Riley. "Peaches. Plums," Riley said back. "See, we've all been protecting you from something." Maya told her. "You know Pluto?" I asked. "Pluto? I love Pluto. Everybody knows that. Pluto's a little cutie-pie." Riley answered, "The smallest planet with the biggest heart. I love Pluto so much, I would kiss it on the face."

"Not doing it!" Maya shouted. "I can't!" I shouted. "You're doing it!" Cory shouted at my sister and I. "Honey?" Maya and I asked. "Peaches? Plums?" Riley questioned. "Pluto is not a planet anymore." Maya informed her, slowly. "What's that you say?" Riley asked in disbelief.

"They made a scientific discovery that Pluto's not a planet anymore." I explained her, "Will you be okay?" "I'm fine. I am too old now to flip out over something like that." Riley said, with like no emotion, "Dad, please continue." "You sure, sweetie?" Cory asked. "Please, continue." Riley said, looking at the ground.

"Okay. All right, guys. So, we're talking about who we are now, and who we hope to be someday." Cory continued, "How will we write our own history and decide what's important to us?" "They found a 100-year-old time capsule in Boston last week. Could we do one of those?" Farkle asked. "I love that idea, Farkle. In fact, we did one of those when I was in high school. We were gonna see what became of us in 15 years." Cory said, "Wait a minute... We were gonna see what became of us right now! We were gonna go back and see how much we've changed."

I looked over at Riley. She was staring off into space. "Yeah, well, I hope some of us never do." I said.

~~~~~

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