Static [Riley Mattews]

02 - The New Boy at School

"Did you have trouble with the homework?" Riley asked Noah and Maya.

"It was easy," Noah responded.

"Piece of cake," Maya said.

"You didn't do it, did you?" Riley asked.

"I don't even know where my books are," Maya said.

Riley opened her messenger bag, and handed Maya her books, "Here. And they're heavy." The bell rang, and Noah, Maya, and Riley entered the classroom. "You have to do the homework, Noah, Maya. This teacher's insane, a total nut job. I think there's something seriously wrong with him," Riley said.

"Hi, honey," Mr. Matthews said.

"Hi, Daddy," Riley said, turning to her father.

"You're late to your father's class," Mr. Matthews said.

"Oh, don't worry, Mr. Matthews, you wrote her a note," Maya said.

"I did?" Mr. Matthews asked.

"You did," Maya confirmed.

Maya snapped her fingers for Noah to hand her the note. Noah pulled the note out of his jean's front pocket and hand it to Maya. Maya handed the note to Riley

"You did," Riley said. She handed the note to Mr. Matthews.

Cory unfolded the note and read it, "Riley's late. Deal with it. Oh, you got my signature down pretty good this time."

"Oh, it was easy, you write like a girl," Maya said.

Noah stifled his laughter.

"What you think this is funny, Taylor?" Mr. Matthews demanded from Noah. "Okay, let me get back to jamming some learning into your heads, The Civil War," he said as Noah, Maya, and Riley took their seats.

"The Civil Bore," Maya said.

"Thank you, future Mini-Mart employee of the month," Mr. Matthews said, looking at Maya.

"Would I be making more money than you?" Maya asked.

Mr. Matthews paused for a moment before saying, "The Civil War! Anybody?"

"A war we fought against ourselves," Riley said.

"What, you studied it?" Mr. Matthews asked.

"No, I'm living in it," Riley said before smacking her head on her desk.

"People, people, are we here to learn or not?" Farkle Minkus asked.

"What do you mean, Farkle?" Mr. Matthews asked.

"I've been in love with Riley since the first grade. But I'm also equally in love with Maya. Some might say the great mystery of the universe is who's gonna be the first Mrs. Farkle," Farkle explained.

It's no secret that Farkle has a crush on both, Riley and Maya. But, it is a secret of how Noah feels for Riley. After spending his entire life living across the hall from the Matthews, Noah, and Riley grew up to be friends. They formed a close friendship. Sure, Riley is the only person Noah trusts, other than Maya, but he couldn't bring himself up to confess to Riley how he feels for her. It could ruin his friendship with Riley. He couldn't tell Maya either, knowing that Riley would figure out that Maya is hiding something from her, and would want to know what she was hiding.

"You don't want this," Maya said, turning to Farkle.

"Bring it on," Farkle challenged Maya.

"I always thought that he'd wind up with back-of-the-class Brenda," Riley said.