Third Person's P.O.V

Cleo never understood why this generation could never put their phones down.

For her, she only would use it to find out about the future protest and economic problems of the world. What others would find a waste of time, she enjoyed. She liked going to the library and ACTUALLY socializing with friends face to face.

Sometimes she believed God threw her in the wrong time period.

Though she did have her opinions on God too.

Today though was a prime example of the crisis of her generation. Everyone in the hallway was on their phones. Cleo and Maya seemed to be the only ones without theirs in their hand. They both started to enjoy each other's company, learning that their differences had more similarities than they thought.

Meanwhile, Riley and Lucas were being the reason adults thought the Earth was doomed.

Cleo looked helplessly at the two, looking to Maya to handle the situation. Maya raised her hand up with a 'say no more' look on her face. She pointed to Lucas and looked at Cleo with a 'help me' look. Cleo nodded and skipped over to Lucas.

She sat next to him on the bench and sat for a good 2 minutes without him noticing. She was shocked when Riley even came over to 'talk' to him but only ended up smelling him and he had no clue.

Cleo grew quickly irritated with the boy and snatched the phone out his hands. Lucas instantly reached to get his phone back, getting close to whoever had it.

That's when he realized it was Cleo.

She held his phone over the edge of the bench, to the point that if she dropped it, his phone would smack the floor. Cleo noticed how close he had gotten but kept her cool. Lucas, on the other hand, did the complete opposite.

"Are you gonna move, farm boy?"

Lucas abruptly moved back and scratched the back of his neck. "I-I didn't mean to get that close. Not that I wouldn't want to be close to you! I just know everyone enjoys personal space... I'm gonna stop talking now." Cleo laughed at the boy and tossed back his phone.

She stood up and spared one last look and comment to the boy. "You and I both know you wanted to kiss me. As your ex I don't blame you, I'd kiss me too." Lucas smiled as she walked away, glad she broke the ice.

Riley and Maya looked curiously at Cleo as she walked back. Riley was the first to ask her a question. "I have two questions. One, can you teach me to do that with Lucas? Two, why have I just noticed you dress like you're older."

"One, you've gotta do it naturally, Sunshine. Two, sometimes you aren't very observant, but I'm not judging. Three, can we please talk about the texting thing?"

Riley pulled out her phone and typed away, smiling at Cleo before walking into the classroom. Maya's phone vibrated in her pocket, so she took it out and looked at a message.

"She said no."

Cleo rolled her eyes and was about to go in class until Maya pulled her back. "Does Lucas like you or the other way around?"

Cleo's eyes grew wide before she literally started laughing where she was standing. She stopped when Maya had a stern look on her face. "Oh, you're serious. Of course not! We're just friends, no need to be jealous, Blondie, there's enough of me to go around."

Maya playfully rolled her eyes at Cleo's small joke and grabbed her hand to lead her in the class.

"You love holding my hand. I'm not complaining though."

•••

Cleo believed that Cory had some ability to find a lesson about his classes problems.

She watched Cory stand in the front of the class with a phone in his hand and a panicked look on his face. "You guys don't connect with each other. It's like you can't exist without these. You use emoticons rather than emotions. You're an unfeeling generation of zombies."

"Preach it!"

Cleo got up and stood next to Cory, who gave a nod of approval. Meanwhile, her two friends were pretending to be zombies and eat each other's brains. "Guys, you're embarrassing me. Stop eating each other." Both girls brightly smiled at Cleo and stopped.

"Good job."

"You're late, Miss. Myzell." Cory said. Cleo turned to see Myzell with a flat look on her face, which changed for a spilt-second when she smiled at Cleo when she waved.

"My goldfish died." Myzell spoke in a bland voice. Cory shook his head and turned back to the class. "You see? This is what I'm talking about. Miss. Myzell has clearly suffered a tragic loss. Yet, she does not seem in touch with her actual emotions!"

Cleo sighed and sat at Cory's desk. She put her feet up on the desk and leaned back in the seat. She got Myzell to lean over while Cory was speaking and told her to make it out of class, she had $10 riding on it. Myzell nodded and got ready for her act.

"Excuse me? I am crying my eyes out. I'm gonna have to leave class early." Myzell spoke to Cory in a dull voice and quickly walked out of the class.

"She actually made it out the door this time." Cory said with an impressed look. He pulled his wallet out and pulled out a $10. He sadly gave it to Cleo while the rest of the class was either confused or surprised.

"I actually made it out the door this time!" By this time, Myzell came back excited and high-fived Cleo. "That's right girl! I'll spilt my 10 with you after I get change."

Cleo got up and went back to her seat. She waved her hand in a 'carry on' motion just as Riley was about to speak. "Dad, adjust and deal. Cell phones have been around for, like, ever."

Cleo snorted as she busted out laughing. "Our world is doomed." She said. She looked directly at Cory, who was just shaking his head at her. Cory looked back at Riley, who looked confused on why Cleo was laughing.

"It'll amaze you to know that there was a whole world before you and cell phones."

"And it'll amaze you to know that I have 394 friends in here."

Cleo continued laughing, choking out the word, "Friends!" As she began to hit her fist on her desk. "Riley, the fact you believe that is amazing! I love you, Sunshine."

Cleo eventually stopped laughing, wiping fake tears from her eyes. She watched Cory draw a line on the board with the chalk and begin explaining. "This is a timeline of all human existence. Starting here," Cory pointed near the beginning of the timeline, "is everyone who ever lived, laughed, loved, and understood the value of life. The cellphone era, which begins right around here," Cory pointed near the end of the timeline, "pretty much destroys all that. Way to go, you!"

Lucas slowly raised his hand which Cleo shook her head at. She mouth 'don't do it' to him, but he didn't take her advice. "Sir, if I may take a different approach?"

"Yeah, save me, Mr. Friar. Do I go too far?"

"Always, sir. I understand your point, but I use my phone to video chat my old friends and to find out what's going on in Texas."

Maya snuck a look at Cleo, who was already nodding her head for her to do whatever she was gonna do.

"Yeah. How else can he keep tabs on all the hoedowns and cattle pageants?" Maya innocently smiled while Cleo patted her on the back. Riley, on the other hand, had different feelings about the situation.

"Maya!" Riley exclaimed. "It's okay, Riley. I'm unaffected by Maya's views of country life. As my Uncle Buster always says, 'Be like an eagle and soar above the mockingbird.'"

Riley laughed at what Lucas said, kinda teasing Maya about it a bit. Maya looked over a Cleo, who was already turned to Lucas with a smirk on her face. "You think being the eagle is fun, but you gotta remember that hunting season doesn't exclude you."

A sinister smile snuck its way onto Cleo's face, making everyone except Maya scoot an inch away from her. Maya scooted closer and had a playful dreamy look on her face.

"I love you."

Cleo laughed and patted Maya's head before looking back at Cory.

"Farkle time, sir?"

"Oh, I love Farkle time."

"What the h-." Cleo was quickly cut off from the stern look from Cory and Maya's hand covering her mouth. She rolled her eyes at both of them and continued to watch Farkle take over the class.

She would have to try that sometime.

"With all due respect to history, Mr. Matthews, what's important to our generation will be on this side of the timeline, when Farkle and technology rule," Farkle stopped and turned towards Riley, "and I will easily be able to make another one of you."

Riley exclaimed a painful, 'ow,' in response to Farkle. Farkle turned and did the same to Maya, who in return also said 'ow,' but very flatly.

He eventually turned to Cleo, who was already shaking her head at him. "There's only room for one me. Enjoy the one you already have." She said. Maya suddenly spoke up as she came to a realization. "Wait, So now there's four of us and one of you? And still only one Cleo?"

"That's awesome. The future, you can't escape it! I am Farkle!"

Cleo playfully clapped as if Farkle was done performing something. Farkle thanked her with a smile before sitting down and letting Cory take his spot back as the teacher.

"The assignment, you can't escape it, I am teacher!"

"Farkle did it better, Cory. I'll give ya 3 stars though."

"Okay, so here's what we're going to do, guys. We're going to split into teams and discover whether or not new technology has made us better people. You'll do presentations on your findings. And here's a twist. No computers."

"WHAT!"

Cleo smiled widely at Farkle's reaction and cheered. "I change my mind! You get five stars, Cory!"

Cory smiled as the girl gave him a thumbs up and continued to give the assignment. "We're going old school. You're going to do your research at the New York Public Library."

"WHERE!"

"I know the librarian there! She's really a good listener when you need to talk."

Maya just looked at Cleo and blinked several times before turning back around with her jaw dropped still.

But Cory wasn't done.

"And here's another twist because I trust you not at all. Give me your cell phones."

"NO!"

"I love this class!" Cleo took out her phone, shooting a quick text to Zoë even though she doubted she'll read it, and tossed her phone to Cory.

Cory quickly caught it and put it in a bag. He went around the class to collect the rest of them and stood back in front of the class. "Thank you, thank you. Okay, so our teams for this assignment. Maya."

Before he could finish, Farkle hopped on Maya's lap. "What up!" Maya quickly pushed him off while Cleo playfully pouted. "Farkle, I'm upset that you took Blondie away from me. Take care of her for me."

"And Riley, you'll be with... No! No!"

The bell rung as he continued saying no. Cleo noticed Lucas walked over to her and was smirking down at her. "I just want to make sure there isn't any jealousy since I'm not partnered with you."

"Aren't you my ex? You made it very clear we had to move on, so go move on."

Lucas smiled at the girl before turning to Cory. "Why did you have to come here?" Cory asked. Lucas just shrugged his shoulder before replying and leaving. "Sorry I make you uneasy, sir."

"Oh, Dad, we don't even have our phones. I mean, what could possibly happen?"

Cleo and Cory were the last ones in there. Cleo shook her head as Riley left. "She doesn't realize so much could happen."

Cory sat in Maya's seat and looked at Cleo with an eyebrow raised. "You think the mindless zombies are actually gonna function without their phones?"

Cleo got up and stood in front of Cory. "Don't doubt you kids, Cory. You should know that once they spark a simple conversation with each other that something between them will spark too."

Cleo grabbed her things and headed towards the door, but got stopped without by Cory. "Cleo, you obviously seem to know a lot about the world. I know this is going to be an easy A for you. So please, go with them. Watch them."

"I always watch them." Cleo said before walking out to meet up with the other."

•••

Cleo walked over to Riley, Maya, and Lucas. She noticed Riley just staring at Lucas while Maya was actually speaking.

"Sunshine, are you ok?"

Riley quickly nodded at Cleo before turning back to Lucas. Cleo looked at Maya with a look of confusion on her face. Maya shrugged her shoulders before continuing her commentary for the two.

Cleo watched Riley 'speak' to Lucas by giving him a thumbs up and a smiley face. "Maya facepalmed before pulling Riley aside and pulling Cleo in the spot where Riley stood. "Riley, I wanna show you how easy it is to use your words."

Maya looked between Lucas and Cleo and moved her hand in a 'go on' motion. Before Cleo could question her, Lucas looked at Cleo and started talking.

"Are you coming to the library with us?"

Cleo looked straight at Lucas with an eyebrow raised at him but went along with the plan to talk with him. "Of course. Someone has to make sure you guys know what you're doing."

Lucas playfully scoffed at the girl. "Wow, great to know you have complete faith in us. I think you're just coming with us so you can be near me."

"Oh, Lucas," Cleo stepped closer and put a hand Lucas' shoulder, "you saying all this but you're the one always trying to find a reason to talk to me. You're terrible at being an ex, but I'll see you guys tonight."

Cleo patted Lucas' shoulder before walking away from them, all of them looking at her surprised with Maya being the first to speak.

"Now that's how you talk to someone."

•••

A/N: So do y'all want longer chapters or is it cool I just split them up?

OOTC: