Skipper Jackson is your regular small town girl: Aggressive, good with a gun, and stunningly beautiful. She loves Austin, Texas and everything about it. She loves the night sky, the music, the dusty back roads, the people...but little does she know...
It took a few hours of long, hard, awkward conversation, and a bit of crying for Farkle and I to fix things. It sucked, but we were better now because of it. I stood at my locker, getting my books when Farkle appeared at my side, giving me a box.
"A box? Just what I've always wanted. How did you know?" I asked.
"Open it." I cracked open the box, revealing the most beautiful necklace I'd ever seen.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Oh...Farkle. THis must've been crazy expensive, I can't take this."
"You can and you will. Do you get what it means?" I shook my head.
"Somehow, with everyone, you see past the surface to see what's underneath. This is what I see in you." I smiled.
"That is...the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. Put it on me." I lifted up my hair and turned around, while he clasped it. I touched it with my fingers, facing him before kissing him briefly.
"It's also kind of an apology for our little...rough patch."
"There's nothing to apologize for. But, I love it." The bell rang and we went into Mr. Matthews' room, finding dollar bills on all of the desks.
"Hey, a dollar! They're finally paying us to come here." Maya said. "Dopes. I'd come here for nothing. You know why? I have to. Stupid law."
"Wait, everybody has one." Riley realized.
"So, what do you got there?" Mr. Matthews asked, entering the room.
"it's a trap, everybody just give your dollars to me, and I'll hold them is what I'll do. Yeah." I rolled my eyes at Maya.
"The United States government says that these pieces of paper are worth something. What makes them valuable?"
"The value that we give them." I whispered to myself.
"Farkle, do it."
"Paper money used to be certificates that you could exchange for their equal value in gold or silver. Before that, people would buy things with livestock, colored stones, or shiny objects."
"I like shiny objects." Riley said. Mr. Matthews held up to brown shirts that said 'bleh!' on them.
"Which of these shirts is better? Same size, same color, same shirt. One of these comes from Cheapo's and costs $12.99, the other one comes from Demolition and costs thirty-six bucks. So which one's the better shirt? Riley?"
"Watch my little fashionista go." Maya said. She spun around at the front of the class.
"The Bleh shirt on the left, though appearing to the untrained eye to look the same..."
"It's the same shirt." Mr. Matthews said.
"...is not from Demolition, making it inferior."
"Same shirt."
"I will take the Demolition Bleh."
"You already did. This is your shirt. You spent thirty-six Washingtons on it."
"it costs more, so it's better."
"Same exact shirt from the same exact manufacturer that sent it to a million different stores all over the world." RIley rubbed the shirt on her face.
"Mine's better. It feels good on my face."
"The other one is your shirt, Mr. Matthews switched the tags." She threw the shirt on the desk.
"This one hurts my face. Give me that one. I'd know my shirt anywhere." She rubbed it on her face before stopping and pointing at the shirt on the desk. "That's my Demolition shirt, isn't it?"
"Why would I change the labels when I can just talk?" We said together.
"Stop that!" Mr. Matthews told me. I smiled, shrugging at him. "Obviously you people will believe anything."
"Skipper, do it."
"Mr. Matthews is teaching us that money is paper we put our faith in. It only has value because we give it value, so the value is a lot less important that how it's used. Somewhere in there?" I asked.
"Spot on. Wars are fought over it. Most crime happens because money's involved."
"I'm safe." Maya said.
"Like skipper said, The value is a lot less important then how it's used. That's what matters. That's what shapes who you are. Don't be mislead by trendy brands and shiny objects."
"So what should we do with our money" Farkle questioned. Lucas suggested:
"Buy food."
"Have shelter."
"Do charity." Riley handed the other shirt to Maya.
"Riles, you gave me the Demolition one."
"Mhm. Charity with a full heart. Also I made a mistake." Riley replied.
"What about doing business? My father is the Minkus of Minkus International."
"Yeah, he's been in the news a lot recently."
"What?" I asked.
"I hear he's risking a lot of his company on a new technology."
"it's something he really believes in, " Farkle explained, "but he doesn't know if it's gonna work yet."
"When will he find out?" Riley asked.
"Not sure. When he does this kind of stuff, he's...not around the house very much."
"Farkle, how come you never have us over to your house?"
"Yeah. Even I haven't seen it." I said.
"I've already told you."
"No, you say you're embarrassed by it, but how big could it possibly be?" Maya inquired.
"I don't know, I haven't seen it all."
"Farkle, we couldn't love you less just because you have more than us."
"Not anymore." We all looked up to see Mr. Minkus standing in the doorway.
"Minkus."
"Hi, Cory. Is it ok if I speak to Farkle about a minor issue?" He asked before letting out a crying sound.
"Uh, Minkus, is this one of those where we go out in the hall and talk?"
"Yeah." Farkle stood up, and I grabbed his hand as he passed, squeezing it reassuringly.
"Hold on...can she come too?" Farkle asked. Both Mr. Matthews and his father nodded, and I got up, following him out into the hallway. His father laid down on the bench, and I stood beside Farkle. Mr. Matthews joined us too.
"You know, it's-it's interesting. I was just teaching the class about the value of money and how we place too much value on shiny things."
"That's good. 'Cause son..."I've lost all of our shiny things." He made a crying noise again, and I grabbed Farkle's hand, intertwining our fingers.
