Just a Dream {Girl Meets World}

34: Dare You to Move(Final Chapter)

Chapter Thirty-Four
Riley Matthews

*Start playing "Dare You to Move" by Switchfoot.*

The whole school turned around and looked at me.

"Riley, Riley, Riley!" Maya began to chant into the microphone.

Soon everybody was chanting my name. I just gave them confused looks. What did Maya and I have to announce? I'm not prepared for this! Maya never told me that she was planning on having me come up during her presentation to say something...

That's when it hit me.

Maya wanted for us to come out. And to the whole entire school...

My cheeks became flushed as butterflies danced around in my stomach. I felt my palms getting sweaty. I was not ready for this. To receive hate on the last day of school, hours before my graduation. To receive hate for being in a relationship with another girl. For just being me...

I turned around and looked at my dad, who was sitting on the bleacher above me, for reassurance. Did he know about this? There's no way Maya would do this without the consent of my parents... She could have at least asked for my consent too, but she thinks that doing this, coming out to the whole entire school, is a good idea, and knew that I would say, "no."

Dad just smiled and nodded at me, encouraging me to go up on the stage. "Go get 'em," he told me, "Go up on the stage with your girl."

Farkle, Zay, and Lucas just gave me the same reassuring look. Maya must have told them too. That's when I finally stood up. I smiled at the crowd.

Welcome to the planet

I carefully walked down the bleachers, making sure I would not trip. My knees were weak. The butterflies continued to dance around in my stomach. I was still nervous. The school continued to chant my name until I had gotten on the stage. I gulped as I looked around at the crowd once more. So many students... So many teachers... So many family members... Just so many people...

Everyone's here
Everyone's here

Maya smiled at me, then said, "next slide please," into the microphone. I felt like all eyes were on Maya and I as the principal hit the space bar on his laptop, changing the slide.

Everybody's watching you now

I quickly turned my head to see four pictures of Maya and I against a dark purple background. In one, we were holding hands. In another, we were hugging. In the third one, I was kissing Maya's cheek, while in the fourth one, she was kissing my cheek. All of the sudden, in bright pink capital letters, "WE'RE DATING!!!" flew onto the screen.

"That's right folks!" Maya exclaimed into the microphone as she wrapped one arm around me, "In addition to being a good student, loving the color purple, liking to put ketchup on her macaroni, and all of the other stuff that I just mentioned, your fellow classmate, Riley Matthews, is my girlfriend! And after doing this project, Riley and I have learned that we were meant for each other because we are soulmates."

I felt all of the heat in my body travel up to my face. I could feel sweat dripping down it. How was everybody going to react to Maya and I being together?