𑁍𑁍𑁍

"Look! A patriot. We're Abigail Adams Patriots." Riley says happily pointing to the floor. "We're just as much a part of this place as anybody else."

"Get in the hole." A blonde girl says sternly

"Of course get in the hole." Riley says

"What are you?" a girl with brunette, wavy hair asks.

"I'm Riley."

"What are you?" the blonde haired girl asks.

"She's my best friend, and we can do without the attitude, madam." Maya says sassily.

"And what are you?" The tall brunette boy asks me.

"I'm the other best friend, the normal one." I say. He walks away.

"What'd you call us blondie?" the brunette asks.

"I'm gonna probably need help now." Maya backs away.

"You're spunky. You know what I'm gonna call you? Spunky." The brunette says.

"And what are you, Spunky?" the blonde asks.

"Her name is Maya." Lucas says coming closer. He walks up to a boy, different then the one I talked to. "And you can call me Lucas. You wanna know what I am? I'm as strong as a horse. I don't know how. I just am."

The brunette boy walks up behind the boy Lucas is talking to and starts talking. "Yeah, he's not even with us. When my friends tell you to do something, you do what they say. This hallway here is for people who have earned it."

"You wanna hear your freshman song?" the blonde asks perkily.

"Oh, we have a freshman song."

"I want to hear our freshman song." Riley says excitedly.

"I think you don't." Maya said to her.

"What about you Songbird? Do you wanna bear our song?" the blonde asks me.

"I think I'll give it a listen." I says.

"Oh, we have come to Abigail With innocence of soul And what we are is freshmen So, we go into the Hole." The seniors sing their song and it was pretty good. they even harmonized on the word 'hole'.

"It's beautiful." Riley says.

"Riley!" Maya yells.

"You know, it's not so bad down here." Zay yells from down in the hole.

"You're already down there?" Lucas asks him.

"Oh, I saw how this was going." Zay says.

"Oh, we have come to Abigail," Riley continues singing while she and the others walk down into the hole.

"We were kings." Maya says sulking into the hole.

"Yeah, that's over." Blondie shrugs.

I, however, am not going into the hole. Not yet. I walk over to the seniors and plant myself directly in front of them.

"What are your names?" I ask.

"Why do you want to know?" the blonde counters.

"Well, I'm different. I'm more mature and I want to be around mature people like you three." i explain.

"I'm Francesca." the blonde says, shaking my hand and smiling.

"I'm Nikki." The brunette smiles.

"I'm Thor." The boy nods his head in acknowledgment.

"Welcome to Abigail Adams High, think of us as your leaders and guides throughout your freshman year of high school." Francesca says.

"Now get in the hole." Thor tells me.

"It's nothing personal, but it just wouldn't be fair to your friends." Nikki says and I walk over and walk into the hole.

"Do it." The boy says and Farkle lets go of the light and falls into the hole.

Lucas looks over the railing and starts to talk to the seniors. "You know we're not gonna stay down here, right? You guys know as soon you leave, we're just gonna go to class."

"Oh, we want you to go to class." Francesca smiles.

"But spend your free time down here because of what Spunky said." Nikki continues Francesca's thought.

"What, 'We were kings'?" Maya asks.

I walk the the middle of the hole and put a hand on Maya's shoulder.

"Yeah. In middle school, you were." Thor says, his hand on the wall behind the two senior girls.

"We all were."

"Right now, you're not. We are. We walk anywhere we want and you don't." The blonde says to all of us freshmen.

"Why? Because you say so?" Lucas asks.
Anyone in their right mind could tell the seniors were getting on Lucas' last nerve.

"Yeah. Now get down there, little buddy." Thor says, walking over in front of Lucas, the latter still not completely in the hole.

"You'll know when to come out!" Francesca informs.

"This is a service we perform. You don't have to thank us." Nikki says and her and Francesca curtsy.

"Yeah, trust me, we won't." Lucas says, completely annoyed.

"Trust me, you will." Thor says, still in front of Lucas.

"If there's nothing else, we wish you good day." Riley says, trying to be a little mean.

"Good luck in high school." Nikki says. Riley waved goodbye and the three older kids walked away.

"I'm sorry we're in here, guys." Lucas says on the steps.

"It's not your fault, Lucas." I say to him. I walk over to him and put my head on his shoulder comfortingly.

"You can't protect us." Zay says, looking up at Lucas.

"I used to." Lucas says sadly.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

The bell rang and all of us walked into our history class.

"What were you talking about with the seniors?" Lucas asks me.

"Nothing, I just learned their names." I say and sit down in my seat right next to Riley.

"Good morning and welcome to World History. Who's ready to learn?" Mr. Matthews asks excitedly.

"What's that on the board?" The girl sitting next to Riley asks our teacher.

"'We were Kings. Now we're Patriots.'"

"Why does it say that? It's cryptic. You can't teach us cryptic. What are you trying to get away with?" The girl questions.

"I'll be right back. What's her name?" Matthews asked me.

"What's your name?" I ask the girl nicely.

"Marly." She answers.

"Marly." I say to him and smile.

"Marly sees right through me." He says annoyed.

"Just keep on teaching about our lives, and she'll come around." I say and put my head on the desk. First day as a high schooler and I'm already bored.

"Abigail Adams was the wife of John Adams and the mama of Johnny Q. They were quite the historical triangle." He chuckles.

"Ha." I sigh.

"Triangle." Lucas laughs nervously.

"Ha." Riley says nervously.

"And I'll tell you that the one thing they understood about this brand-new nation was to stick together because every direction they turned was brand-new, undiscovered country." Mr Matthews teaches.

"I am an Abigail Adams Patriot." Riley says happily.

"How? We don't even get to walk in the hallways." Lucas asks, annoyed.

I turn around in my seats and start talking to Lucas. "Lucas, these seniors are older and more experienced than us, and I think that they're trying to help."

I really do believe that these seniors are doing this for our own good. We should listen to them and get to know them so that we can find out how to get through high school successfully.

"Rachel, they're making fun of us and we're letting it happen." Lucas said.

"But most of all, these patriots knew to remain loyal to each other because their survival depended on it in a dangerous, new land." Mr Matthews said.

"Rachel, we don't even know our way around the school yet. Why would we just park ourselves in a hole?" Lucas asked me.

"Okay, so you just want to throw us into whatever goes on in this place and just see what happens?" I ask again.

"Yes, because you know what I call that? Normal." Lucas said.

"Let me see if I get how you teach. My boyfriend and I get into a fight..." Marly started.

"Aww." Riley says sadly.

"I was talking about your friend." Marly said.

"Uh, me? Why? We aren't daiting anymore. Are we fighting?" I ramble.

"Oh, I don't know. Let's go to the weird, undefined area between the two floors and talk about it." Lucas said sarcastically, causing me to scoff and turn back around.

"We are fighting!" I exclaim. "You have to fight with him exactly as much!" I say to Riley.

"But I don't know what he..."

"Do it!" I yell.

"Okay!" Riley went up to Lucas and slapped his hands repeatedly because Riley is way to nice to anything actually mean and to fight with someone.

"Who misses middle school?" Mr Matthews asks and everyone raised their hands.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

I'm done with all of my classes and I just wanted to go home. The first day was ok, I met some new kids and I'm so glad I did. Maybe high school isn't such a bad thing after all.

"Okay, school's over." I say walking down into the hole.

"Where were you?" Maya asks me, crossing her arms.

I think carefully before I talk because I don't want to upset them. "I got caught up talking to some new people i met in my last class."

Apparently my answer was good enough for Maya and she dropped the subject.

"Can we go home now?" Farkle asks, leaning against the wall.

"Who wants a hug?" Isadora asks, trying to hug Zay.

"Stop with that!" Zay swats at her.

"This is not how I'm gonna live my high school life." Lucas complains, sitting on the stairs.

I look and him and kick his foot. "What if there's a good reason the seniors wanted us here? What if it's to teach us something?" I ask him. I really believe in this.

"What if it's to show us something?" Riley speaks up.

"What if you just have too much faith in people?" Farkle asks Riley and I.

"What if I have exactly the right amount of faith in people?" Riley asks.

"Okay, you know what? That's it. I'm going to look around. Come on, Zay." Lucas says and gets up, Zay follows him.

"They left?" Riley asks confused.

"Maybe they have the right idea." Isadora says looking at Riley and Maya, while I'm still standing on the stairs.

"Yeah, I don't know what we're supposed to be learning down here." Farkle says and him and Smackle run up the stairs.

"Okay, everybody! Follow me!" Riley yells and Maya and I follow her up the stairs.

"Undiscovered country in every direction." Zay says, leaning on the railing with Lucas.

"Riles! Rach!" Maya exclaims as she points out a bay window.

Riley and Maya sit down while I just stand since there's only room for two people. "And I think this may just turn out fine." Riley says.

I look to my left and I see two cheerleaders walk up to us.

"You're in our spot." The brunette one says.

"This is where we sit." The blonde one says like we're small children. Riley and Maya get up and stand by me.

"In the window? And you guys talk about life?" Riley happily asks.

"No. We sit in the window..." the brunette starts.

"And go like this." They do the same hair flip the Riley, Maya, and I do, which leaves all three of us with open mouths.

"Hi. What's your name?" The brunette asks Lucas.

Lucas pokes his head through mine and Riley's heads. "Lucas. And these are my... How would you like to be called?" He asks Riley.

To be honest, I didn't want to be called his girlfriend just yet because I didn't want to share that title with Riley. If we were ever exclusive again, I'd want it to be just us, no triangle.

"Uh, girlfriend." Riley answers.

"And how would you like to be called?" Lucas asks me.

"Um, more than a friend, but not a girlfriend, yet." I say honestly. I turn my head to look at him and it seems as though his eyes have lost that spark that was once there a second ago.

"Hi, my name is Zay. I'm completely available." Zay says, trying to flirt with the two girls.

"Girlfriend and not a girlfriend?" The blonde asks, completely confused.

"It's complicated." I say.

"You know what's not complicated? Zay. Available." Zay says, still trying to put himself out there.

"Well, I'm sure you're all adorable together." The brunette says to us.

"And thanks for being a distraction until the football team finished practice." The blonde says.

"I'm trying out for football." Zay says trying to impress the girls.

"Yeah? Good luck to you." The brunette says sarcastically.

The football players walk down the hall and stop behind us. Maya and I walk around a few of them to see the rest of our group. I realize that Thor is a football player and I say hi.

"Hey Thor." I say to him.

"Hey little Rae." He says to me and gives me a high five. I open my eyes a little, surprised that I have a nickname.

"You're the football players in high school?" Lucas asks nervously. "Hey, that's great."

"You're the cheerleaders in high school?" Riley asks and they nod. "Hey, that's great."

"The scientists here are gigantic." Farkle says and Smackle weirdly raises her arms.

"So you guys decided to come upstairs, huh? You think you're ready for the big time?" Thor asks us.

"Maybe not just yet." Lucas says.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

"This is all your fault!" Riley yells as we all walk into Mr. Matthews classroom again.

"Uh...What is?" Cory asks.

"Things are going bad, man. We need somebody to blame." Zay says madly.

"I am also feeling these emotions!" Isadora says, trying to emit feelings.

"We've fallen on hard times, Matthews." Maya says.

"I'm fine, Matthews." I say truthfully.

"Fix it, sir." Lucas says forcefully.

"Bravo." Matthews chuckles, "Wonderful performance. Shall we begin again?"

"Lovely. What shall we do differently?" Riley asks.

"Well, um, this time, I think I'd like to go first." Matthews says to us.

"Oh, by all means!" I exclaim.

"In five, four, three..." Maya counts down.

"You did this!" Matthews stands up.

"Yikes!" Riley yells.

"I was fine in middle school! I could've gone on there forever, talking about whatever I wanted, and you suckers believed everything I said! But you had to bring me here. I gotta teach stuff now! That is not why I got into this!" Matthews rants to us.

"Did you prepare us?" Riley asks her father.

"What?" He asks.

"Did you prepare us for this?" She asks again.

"We're not important, Matthews." I say rubbing my arm.

"You always made us feel important." Lucas tells him.

"You never prepared us to be unimportant, and now we don't know what to do." Smackle says and points a finger at him.

"You didn't even go to our school!" Matthews enunciates.

"But I'm here now and I catch on fast." She says. She turns to face our side of the room. "I wanna be in the triangle!" I laugh.

"Smackle!" Farkle yells.

"What'd I say?"

"We're not kings anymore." Maya switches the subject.

"The seniors are the kings." I say.

"Are they good kings?" Matthews asks.

"No." Lucas says loudly.

"We don't know that yet. We don't know their reasoning." Rachel says turning to her right to look at Lucas.

"They don't have a reason, Rachel. They're just putting us in a hole." Lucas says looking at me.

"Rachel's looking for the best in people, right?" Matthews asks me.

"Yes."

"Would you tell her to stop?" Lucas asks Matthews.

"What's the matter, Lucas? It's not so easy to protect 'em anymore, right?" Matthews asks.

"Don't look at me." Lucas says and turns around.

"All right. Let's see what we got." Matthews says as we all walk out of the classroom and us students into the hole.

"They want you to stay down here?" Mr. Matthews asks us leaning against the railing.

"Until we think we're ready to leave." Farkle says.

"Well, why would they pick just you guys out?" Our teacher asks us.

"Because we're freshmen and they think that we're easy targets." Lucas answers him, looking at all of us.

"Yeah, but there's a whole class of freshmen. Why do you think they picked out just you?" Mr. Matthews asks again.

"They said that we'd thank them for this." I say smiling up at him.

"We're never thanking them." Lucas says.

"Dad, would you tell him that there's a purpose here?" Riley says.

"Mr. Matthews, will you please tell her that they were messing with us?" Lucas says

"This is on me." Mr. Matthews says.

"What?" Riley asks.

"You were kids. I taught you to always look for the lessons that life is trying to teach you. Now you're not kids. It's day one in a bigger world. You've asked me if I've prepared you for it. We'll see." Matthews teaches us.

"It's not just a hole." I say to Lucas.

"What is it then?" He says to me angrily.

"You don't have to get angry." Riley says to him.

"I am angry, Riley. This isn't how I want to start high school. I want to walk anywhere I want. I want to go out for the football team." Lucas says to her.

"Lucas, you'll get killed on the football team." Riley says to him.

I scoff.

"Whoa."

"Really? That's what you think? So, you'll put your faith in some random seniors you just met, but you don't have faith in me?" Lucas says getting all up in her face.

"I don't think that they're random. I don't think that anything that ever happens to us is random." Riley says. I don't want to say it out loud, but I do agree that they aren't random.

"Sometimes you are just too much for me, Riley."

"Guys, can we just calm down? This isn't who we are." Maya says timidly.

"Yeah? Who are we?" Lucas says to Maya. Lucas storms out of the hole.

"I better... You... you know, this is when he does something." Zay leaves, hot on Lucas' tail.

"You guys are the geniuses. You got this all figured out?" Maya asks Farkle and Smackle.

"Your dad's right. You do always look for the good in people, Riley." Isadora says.

"You were a great leader in middle school, Riley. You always made us believe the world loved us." Farkle says.

"This just isn't the same world." Smackle says and her and Farkle leave the hole.

"I'm tired, it's been a long day. But I agree with Smackle, what if this one just doesn't love us as much?" I say and I run up the stairs and go home.

𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍𑁍
𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕. 3075 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔. 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒗𝒐𝒕𝒆.