Girl Meets Plus One || BOOK 2

We Meet The Forgiveness Project

*trigger warning: this chapter does contain mentions of child kidnapping and abuse.

THE DAY WE WROTE THE LETTERS

As I walked into the class I saw one word written on the board: Forgiveness, "Oh boy..." I mumbled to myself as I crossed my legs sitting down in my desk, knowing this will not end well no matter what Mr. Matthews bigger point is, as he always seems to have one.

"All through history, countries go to war. That's what we normally study in here. But today, we're going to talk about peace and forgiveness and how we get there," our teacher simply shrugged, "Every once in a while, I come up with a good idea."

"What could it possibly be that I haven't already thought of?" Farkle leaned back in his chair, daring the teacher to question his student.

"Farkle," Matthews pointed at the questioner, "I forgive you."

"What did I do?" Zay shook his head slowly.

"I forgive you too," Farkle looked at the dark-skinned boy with confusion.

"What did I do?!"

"You know what you do." to which Lucas nodded furiously in agreement.

"I feel better now that I've forgiven you," Matthews ignored Farkle's question, "How do you feel?"

"I'm sorry for every time I've hurt you!" Farkle shouted nervously, "What did I do?!"

I looked at him, "I would tell you, but I think they'll explain it to you after this," I pointed at Matthews.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today we're going to begin the forgiveness project. Our history isn't just about what we've done. How we grow comes from the repair of what we've done and how we forgive what was done to us," he explained his lesson plan to us.

"Hmm. We're in. What do we do?" the brunette descendant asked.

"Everyone take out a piece of paper," as he continued to his desk I pulled out my notebook from underneath my desk, "So this isn't your laptop or your cell phone. You've got unlimited characters here. As many words as you want," he opened a drawer, pulling out a stack of red envelopes and handing it down the rows of students, "The impact will last longer than six seconds. And I guarantee you, it's never going to disappear. So pick up a pen. Express feelings. This is one of the most important things you're ever going to do. You're about to forgive someone."

"So what's the catch?" I asked clicking my pen, "What's the 'Riley and Maya' twist?"

"No twist this time," he shook his head.

"So then what's this got to do with history, Matthews?" Maya queried after I.

"It gives you a chance to change it,"

"Like when I forgave Auggie for biting the face off my Beary-the-Bear bear," Riley listed what she thought to be an example.

"That wasn't forgiveness, honey."

"Why not?" she huffed.

"Because you haven't gotten over it!" Riley pulled out what I could only assume to be the victim of Auggie's biting.

"This is the first thing I see every day!"

"Why not throw it away Honey?" I asked, causing her to glare at me as I hold up my hands, "Okay." I surrendered, looking back at Matthews.

"So is there anyone in your life that you want to forgive? Change your history. Go."

"Dear Auggie the murderer," Riley narrated the beginning of her letter. I paused, knowing in the back of my head who I want to forgive, but knowing I never will get the chance to. I looked over to Maya who's paused, stumped as well I assume.