▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

❛ ʟᴇᴀᴛʜᴇʀ & ʟᴀᴄᴇ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ɴᴏ ʜᴏᴍᴇᴡᴏʀᴋ, ᴍᴏʀᴇ
ғʀᴇᴇᴅᴏᴍ 𝟸.𝟶 ꒱


❝ BAY WINDOW TIME? ❞

▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

September 2014

There were times when being a teacher was extremely rewarding. When a student grasped a concept that they had been previously struggling with, when someone became more confident during a presentation because they realized that they understood the material, and when another found a subject that they truly enjoyed were only a few examples of the moments that made Cory Matthews feel as if his teaching was really making a difference. There were other times, of course, when he questioned why he became a teacher in the first place. And, coincidentally, this usually happened whenever Maya Hart was involved.

Now, don't get him wrong— when he was in 'father mode' (that is, not being his daughter's teacher), he loved Maya as if she were his own child. But as a sixth grade middle school teacher, she was the bane of his existence— and what was worse was that Riley was making every effort to be just like her. He needed to find some way for his daughter to understand that being herself was the most important influence Maya could have on her; that one person could make someone feel so comfortable they dropped all fronts to be exactly who they were.

He thought about this as he walked to school, which was only a handful of city blocks away. As the morning noise of New York City buzzed in his ears— the honking of cars, overlapping voices and occasional music that either came from too-loud headphones or open store doorways— he let his mind wander to the effects he'd seen firsthand of how Maya's strong personality and rebellious nature had a way of drawing Riley in. While he appreciated the girl's authenticity and the close bond she shared with his daughter, he also recognized the potential pitfalls of Riley trying to emulate her friend's behavior too closely.

Deep down, Cory knew that Maya wasn't a bad influence on Riley in the sense of leading her astray. Her encouragement was more about helping the brunette embrace her own identity and step out of her comfort zone. It was the over-idealization of Maya's rebelliousness that he wanted Riley to avoid. He wanted his daughter to recognize that it was okay to be herself, even if that meant being different from Maya— and perhaps, with a bit of luck, Riley's own authenticity would help pull the blonde back from the brink when her ideas were just a little too close to the edge.

Cory had seen his fair share of middle school dynamics over the years, and he knew that this was a crucial time for kids to start discovering who they were and what they stood for. He wanted Riley to have the confidence to be her own person and make her own choices, rather than simply following Maya's lead. His long-held hope was that his lessons helped his students recognize the problems they were struggling with and that they weren't alone; that even the greatest (or not-so-great) leaders of history could reflect on their own lives and assist them in understanding what they were going through. It was for this very reason that he decided a lesson on the Civil War was in order— a war on oneself.

🌎🌎🌎

When the bell rang for the day, he was unsurprised to see the two seats at the front of his class were still empty. After all, it was his daughter's first parent-less adventure on the subway. The door opened not long after to reveal the missing girls themselves and he smiled with faint amusement as he overheard Riley's exasperation.

"You have to do the homework; this teacher's insane— a total nutjob. I think there's something seriously wrong with him."

They stopped just in front of the man in question. "Hi, honey."

"Hi daddy!"

"You're late to your father's class," he informed her with mock sternness.

Maya reached into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled-up piece of paper. "Don't worry, Matthews! You wrote her a note."

"I did?"

"You did," the blonde confirmed as she handed the note to Riley.

His daughter then handed the paper off to him, echoing, "you did."

He uncrumpled the page to read: "'Riley's late. Deal with it.' You got my signature down pretty good this time."

Maya shrugged. "Oh, it was easy. You write like a girl. Plus, I've been copying your signature since kindergarten. I had practice."

Once the two girls had taken their seats, Cory began to pace in front of his students as he began the lesson. "Okay, let me get back to jamming some learning into your heads: the Civil War."

"The Civil Bore," Maya called out.

"Thank you, future Mini Mart employee of the month."

Undeterred, the blonde retorted, "would I still be making more money than you?"

He huffed in response, not deigning to give her a reply (since it was true.) "The Civil War? Anybody?"

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

"What, you actually studied it?"

"No, I'm actually living in it," she corrected him before resting her head on her desk in apparent exhaustion of her situation.

"People, people, people! Are we here to learn or not?" Farkle asked, clapping to get their attention.

"What do you mean, Farkle?"

The brunet wasted no time in explaining, "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."

Maya turned around to sneer at him lightly. "You don't want this."

"Bring it on."

The blonde faced the front again with wide (disgusted) eyes. Riley leaned over to stage-whisper, "I always thought that he'd wind up with back-of-the-class Brenda."

Everyone turned around to look at the girl, who grinned widely at them and waved. Farkle grimaced. "Yuck!"

"I always thought that something would happen between him and Miya," Maya replied with a faint smirk.

"Oh, that's worse!" the boy exclaimed. "I mean, I do love her, but not like that."

"Actually," Cory cut in, bemused. He'd heard a lot about Miya over the years and knew that she was Farkle's friend from England, but he had yet to know anything more about her. "The great mystery of the universe is how you can love two women the same who couldn't possibly be more different."

"We're not so different," Riley argued, predictably.

Farkle raised his hand. "May I overstep my bounds, sir?"

"You always do," Cory agreed. He moved between the rows of desks to take the boy's now-empty seat as the brunet stood at the front of the classroom.

After flipping over the nameplate so that it read 'Farkle,' he placed his hands on Riley's desk as he addressed her. "Riley is the sun: warm and bright and lights up my whole day." He moved to Maya's desk to grasp either side of it as well. "Maya is the night: dark and mysterious. The night has always been a mystery to me because I go to bed at 7:30."

He stood, pausing to consider the third girl in his life and he added, "and before anyone asks me about Miya, she is the stars that light up the night: distant yet captivating, untouchable except for the trail of shimmering memories in the night sky. How can I love these two different women? How can I not? Thank you, I am Farkle!" He bowed and returned to his seat.

Cory returned to his place at the front of the classroom. "So indeed we were trying to find out who we were as a people. Who am I? What should I be? History shows that bad things happen when you don't know who you are." The door opened to reveal an unfamiliar but very good-looking boy. "Who are you? I don't know who you are."

"Subway boy!" Riley whispered excitedly to Maya.

The new boy approached Cory and handed him a slip of paper. "I'm Lucas Friar from Austin, Texas."

"New student, Mr. Friar?"

"Yes, sir."

"Great. You're just in time for today's assignment. Have a seat. Okay, so we—" He paused to turn his daughter's head to face the chalkboard again as her attention had drifted to the new boy. "So I'd like you guys to open your books to page forty-eight. Now I'd like you to turn to page one. Now I'd like you to read from page one to forty eight. Too bad on you. Okay, so for tonight's assignment, I'd like you to write me a three page essay on anything; anything at all that you guys believe in so strongly, you'd fight for it."

Maya sat up straighter and pointed at him. "That. I'd fight for no homework. I come here every day, why can't you teach me everything I need to know while I'm here?"

"Woo!" Riley exclaimed to support her best friend. At her father's stern look, she quickly changed it to, "not woo."

The blonde stood up defiantly. "He gets our days. Let's take back our nights. No homework, more freedom. Who's with me?" Although she got no response initially, the blonde began to chant, "no homework, more freedom! No homework, more freedom! No homework, more freedom!"

As the class continued the cheer, she leaned towards the brunette to murmur, "this is it, kid. You wanna be like me? Stand up." She raised her voice again: "no homework, more freedom! No homework, more freedom!"

For a moment, Cory stared at the impending rebellion with fascinated horror— but that wasn't the only reason for his immobility. Maya's words were a nostalgic echo from a time that was both far away and long ago.

"What are we?" Cory yelled.

"Kings!"

"And queens!" Juliet added.

"And what do kings and queens say?"

Their enthusiastic yells trailed off into murmurs at their uncertainty of what to cheer. Cory's face scrunched up as he tried to think of something. "They say 'no more macaroni!'"

"How about 'no more homework?'" Juliet suggested. "No homework, more freedom!"

"Yeah!" answering calls from their classmates supported her. "No homework, more freedom!"

Juliet joined Cory on the table. "No homework, more freedom!"

The class began chanting the line as the curly-haired boy gave her a surprised look. "I thought you liked homework."

"I like school, not homework," she corrected him easily before she continued the call: "no homework, more freedom!"

He hadn't thought about that particular moment for several years— in fact, ever since Juliet moved to England, it was like she'd vanished off the face of the Earth. It had been more than a decade since he'd given much consideration about the redheaded girl— woman— who'd once been one of his best friends. The sudden influx of the memory was jarring, to say the least, as the past overlapped with the present. It was followed by a swamping feeling of guilt as questions began to circle in his mind. Where had Juliet gone? Was she still in England? Why had it taken so long for him to think about reaching out to her?

He was pulled from this realization as Riley stood to join her best friend. "What are you doing?"

"I'm making a choice about who I wanna be; about whose world I want it to be," she said.

"Riley, I know exactly who you are."

She shook her head in response. "Then who am I, dad?"

"You're just like me."

The brunette raised a challenging eyebrow in response. "Oh, yeah? Would you do this?" She pumped her fist in the air as she chanted, "no homework, more freedom! No homework, more freedom! No homework, more freedom! Farkle, are you with us or not? No homework, more freedom! No homework, more freedom!"

His expression softened as he watched his daughter leave the classroom. You're more like me than you know, he thought fondly. In his mind's eye, he recalled his younger self chanting the same thing as he stood on a table next to a girl with bright red hair and a leather jacket-wearing boy.

Dimly, he registered Farkle beginning to panic about the events that were unfolding. "My education or my women? My education or my women? My education or my women? It's happening again, sir!"

The curly-haired man moved just in time to catch the boy before he collapsed towards the floor.

🌎🌎🌎

When class started the next day, Cory now had a lot more on his mind than just the assignment. First and foremost was his problem with the new guy Landon Fraser— or whatever his name was. He certainly didn't like how easily the boy got on with his daughter, or the way Riley looked at him. He frowned as he watched the brunette turn around in her seat to say quietly, "hi. I'm glad you're back."

"Hi. Me too."

Cory easily inserted himself between them. "Hi. Apparently you have a better sense of direction than I anticipated." He paused, since he'd never been so close Luther (again, whatever his name was), but it only made his frown deepen. "You are a really good-looking guy." He straightened to address the class once more. "Okay, so today we're gonna find out if anybody believe in something so strongly, they'd fight for it. Maya."

"Yes, sir?"

"Present your homework."

"Can't do that, sir," she replied bluntly.

"Why not?"

"Didn't do my homework, sir."

"Why not?"

Stubbornly, she insisted, "that's what I'm fighting against, sir."

Behind the blonde, Farkle sighed. "Oh, this could go on for a while." He slid a blue sleep mask over his eyes and kicked his feet up on his desk to get into a more comfortable position. Seeming to fall instantly asleep, he snored out his name as the conversation continued.

"I didn't do my homework either," Riley added.

Cory gave her a look of disbelief. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah. Maya and I are the same now. I don't believe in homework."

"Guess what, Riley? That doesn't make you the same as Maya at all."

The girl in question raised her hand. "I have something to say."

"Wow, I don't know what to do. I've never seen this before. The floor's yours, Miss Hart." The curly-haired man gestured to the open space before him.

As the blonde stood, she snapped the front of Farkle's sleep mask. "Get up, Farkle. You're gonna wanna be awake for this."

"Is it our honeymoon?" the brunet asked hopefully, half-standing from his chair.

"No, you missed that. Now it's time to hand in our essays."

He raised his hand excitedly as he exclaimed, "Farkle goes first! Farkle always goes first!"

He rushed out of the classroom as Maya turned to the rest of the students. "Alright. Everybody who did their homework, put it on your desk."

The curly-haired man leaned against his desk as he watched the girl warily. "Careful there, Miss Hart."

"Are you sure about this?" Riley asked.

"I got this."

"Okay."

Farkle returned with his diorama, which was complete with fizzing sparklers. In a rapid voice, he explained, "the branding of Atlanta led to the end of the Civil War and to peace. I believe that peace is worth fighting for." Maya ignored his presentation and went straight for the sparklers, causing him to protest, "hey, that's a pivotal part of my diorama!" He sighed as she took a second one. "There goes Virginia."

Maya lifted the sparklers high, raising her voice to address the class. "The burning of the homework led to the end of the Homework Rebellion because there was no more homework!"

The blonde stood on a nearby desk to gain some height and slowly lowered the sparklers to the collected assignments. Cory rushed forward to take the papers out of her hands. "Alright, alright. That's far enough, Maya. I get it."

Maya lifted her sparklers into the air to resume her chant: "no homework, more freedom! No homework, more freedom!" Unfortunately, the flame was too close to the ceiling and set off the water sprinklers. "Okay, so those work."

Amidst the siren and squealing students, Farkle called out, "is this all part of your presentation or is this actually going on?"

As everyone made to leave the classroom, Lucas moved to hold his jacket over Riley's head as he asked her, "why didn't you stop your friend?"

"That's not what I do anymore!"

"You're better than that!"

The brunette shook her head. "I'm just letting her be her."

🌎🌎🌎

Once the chaos had died down, Cory sought out the two girls. They hadn't gone far and were waiting by the lockers outside the classroom. Addressing the boy that still clung to him, he ordered, "down, Farkle."

As the weight lifted from his shoulders— literally— he pinned the girls with a firm stare. The intensity of it made Maya chuckle nervously. "You're looking at us pretty hard there, Mr. Matthews."

"I just wanna stand by my girl," Riley said, wrapping an arm around the blonde's.

The curly-haired man shook his head. "You missed the moment to stand by your girl. You were so busy trying to be her, Riley, that you forgot the best thing you can do for her is be you. Riley, take Farkle for a walk."

His daughter let out a soft, "okay," before she guided the brunet down the hall. Cory turned to the remaining girl. "For as long as I can remember, it's been Riley and Maya. I always believed a friend helps another friend out of trouble, not into it."

The normally fierce blonde lowered her eyes guiltily as she apologized, "I'm sorry."

"I am too, because you go too far. Do you understand me?"

"I have nobody at home who helps me with my homework," she explained in a broken voice.

🌎🌎🌎

"Where is he?" Riley demanded as she and Maya stormed into the apartment. She was leading the blonde by the hand as they approached the dining table where her family was sitting.

"There!" Auggie and Topanga said immediately, pointing to Cory.

"There is no way I'll let you break up my friendship with Maya," the brunette told him firmly.

Cory turned to look at them incredulously. "Is that what you think I want, girls?"

Riley shook her head. "No. What you said you really want is for me to make the world my own and you want me to do my homework. Well, I'm doing it right now. Here's what I think is worth fighting for: this is my best friend. She's gonna get me into trouble and I'm gonna get us out of it. I did because here we are. Look at us, Dad. We're right here. My Civil War is over, dad. I won. What happens now?"

His expression softened, proud of his daughter for figuring things out and deciding to stick to her morals. "Well, your mom and I talked, and we feel that you're ready to meet the world now. Before we head off to the subway, would you girls mind one more lesson before you go?"

The teens looked at each other for a moment before Riley asked, "bay window time?"

Maya nodded. "Bay window time."

They each reached out a free hand (the one that wasn't holding on to each other's) towards the curly-haired man, who took each of their hands in his as he stood.

🌎🌎🌎

It didn't take them long to get comfortable at the bay window in Riley's room. Cory sat in between the two girls as he looked around the setting in awe. "It's so rare that I get to sit in this seat I forget how different it looks over here!"

The brunette smiled in amusement at her dad's reaction and prompted him gently, "dad, wasn't there something that you wanted to tell us?"

"Oh, yes," he said, becoming serious once more. "Riley, how I told you stories about what your Uncle Shawn and I did as kids, right?" When his daughter nodded, he continued, "well, I didn't quite tell you everything. I had another best friend; her name was Juliet Capelwood."

Riley started visibly at the mention of the name. The two girls leaned around the curly-haired man to exchange a wide-eyed look as the brunette echoed, ". . . Capelwood?"

Oblivious, Cory carried on, "yes. The three of us grew up together; she and Shawn were basically neighbors after he moved to the trailer park. I haven't thought about her in a long time, but Maya's homework rebellion reminded me of something that happened in high school with her.

"For some background, Juliet was always very studious and was basically the main reason why Shawn and I passed middle school. It was definitely a surprise when she became the leader of our rebellion— granted, we didn't set any sprinklers off," he added lightly. "She was the one to come up with our motto, 'no homework, more freedom.'"

"Woah," Maya breathed out, a bit spooked.

"Freaky," Riley agreed.

"I was a little put-off myself, especially since I hadn't really thought of that memory for a long time. I thought it was important to share with you girls— especially you, Maya— because you actually have a lot of similarities to Juliet. Her mom wasn't around much while she was growing up and her dad wasn't in the picture, either, until she was older, but she never let that stop her from doing the best she could, both academically and in life in general. A part of that is because she was very self-driven, but do you know what I think the other reason was?"

"What?" the brunette asked.

"She had the support of her friends behind her. Although neither parent was there for her early on, she did the best she could to help Shawn and I pass. That's why it's so important for friends to rely on each other, to build the other up instead of doing, well, the opposite. I know you girls understand the importance of that now, but Maya, just because you're alone at home doesn't mean that you're alone. All of us here are happy to help with whatever you need— though if we're talking about homework, I'd go to Topanga for that," he said lightly.

The blonde nodded as a rare, soft smile curled on her lips. "Thanks, Matthews."

Out of curiosity, Riley couldn't help but add, "Juliet Capelwood. . . did she move to England?"

Cory gave her a surprised look. "Yes, how did you know?"

"Just a guess," Maya finished for her best friend casually. And of course, Cory being Cory, did not stop to consider the implication of the question.

🌎🌎🌎

Later that night after Riley and Auggie were in bed, Cory stayed up to sit by himself in the bay window in the living room. He'd finished grading papers for that evening so for his break, he made himself a cup of hot chocolate, which now stayed cooling between his hands. His eyes had a far-off look in them as he thought more about Juliet than he had in the last decade. It had been a whirlwind period of time since they'd left Philly with Shawn; Topanga had been focused on studying at law school and holding down two part-time jobs, then she'd become pregnant with Riley, then she'd been promoted, then Riley was there and Shawn was gone. After that, they'd been so busy raising two kids that they hadn't had much time for anything else.

He jumped a little as the pillows shifted next to him, causing his thoughts to come back to the present. Topanga had finished getting ready for bed and was dressed in comfortable pajamas; she'd come out to see what was going on since he hadn't joined her in their usual routine. He leaned against the window ledge behind him and lifted his arm so his wife could curl up against his side. 

"What are you doing out here so late?" she asked curiously, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"Thinking," he replied absently. He moved his hand holding the mug to rest the bottom of it against his leg. Some of the remaining heat seeped through his jeans and the difference in temperature kept his mind from drifting off again.

Topanga glanced up at him with a small smile on her face. "I didn't know you could do that."

He huffed a laugh. "I didn't think I could, either."

Since he didn't elaborate further, she prompted him, "what are you thinking about?"

"Shawn," Cory replied, and she wasn't surprised in the slightest. But the name he added made her flinch at the unexpectedness of it. "And Juliet."

"What about them?"

The curly-haired man shrugged. "We haven't seen them in so long— Juliet especially. We don't even know where she is. I can't believe how much the years got away from us."

Topanga's expression softened as she nodded in agreement. "I think about them a lot, too, you know. Juliet was— is— my best friend. I wish she would've reached out to us after she broke up with Shawn. We would've understood."

"I just don't understand how that happened," he said. "They were so good together and then, all of a sudden— bam! — no more Shuliet, and Juliet disappears. Don't you remember how devastated Shawn was? He was moody for weeks, like when they first broke up."

The brunette straightened suddenly as an idea lit up in her eyes. She grasped her husband's arm excitedly as the thought occurred to her: "I know! Let's invite Shawn over for Christmas!"

"That's a great idea!" Cory agreed happily, although his face fell slightly as he added, "but what about Juliet? I know it's been a long time, but a reunion wouldn't feel right without her."

Little did the adults know, but Riley hadn't been in bed like they'd thought. She'd stayed up late thinking about the one-in-a-million coincidence that Miya Capelwood had a mother named Juliet, who'd moved to England around the same time Cory and Topanga had graduated from college. She'd quietly gone to the entrance just before the kitchen, staying out of sight as she eavesdropped on her parents. (Okay, so she knew that wasn't the nicest thing to do, but she couldn't bring herself to feel bad about it since there was an altruistic reason for it.)

After hearing her mom's suggestion and her dad's response, she stepped into the light of the living room, drawing her parents' attention. Cory looked a little concerned at her appearance. "Is everything alright, kiddo? What are you doing up?"

The brunette hesitated for a moment as she glanced between the troubled expressions on her parents' faces before she decided that yes, this was the decision she wanted to make. Her dad had sounded so forlorn as he'd talked about his long-lost/long-time-not-seen best friends and all she wanted to do was help. So, in a quiet but firm voice, she announced: "I know where Juliet Capelwood is."

The adults exchanged an apprehensive look at this statement. Cautiously, Topanga asked, "what makes you say that, honey?"

"You know Farkle's friend, Miya?" At her parents' nods, she continued, "well, her last name is Capelwood. Farkle's mentioned that her mom's name is Juliet. I don't think there would be that many Juliet Capelwoods in the world, especially those who moved to England. Miya's told us— me and Maya— that her mom's originally from Philly, too."

Now the older Matthews' shared glance was a wide-eyed look of wonder. "Do you really think it could be. . . ?" Cory asked.

Topanga still appeared to be uncertain. "But Juliet didn't have a daughter the last we knew. . . unless. . . that's why she and Shawn broke up?"

Immediately, the curly-haired man shook his head. "No, I don't think that's it. Shawn wouldn't do that to someone."

"But Juliet broke up with him, remember?" the brunette said. "Maybe she knew and didn't want him to find out."

Riley looked between her parents with a startled expression on her face. "Juliet was Uncle Shawn's girlfriend?"

The brunette shot her husband an annoyed sort of glance. "I thought you said that you told her everything!"

"I did!"

"I think that leaving out Shuliet— as you call them— is a pretty big chunk missing from 'everything!'"

Cory lifted his hands in exasperation. "I told her the important bits! That part wasn't relevant to the homework rebellion."

As she watched her mom roll her eyes at her dad's carelessness, the younger girl was convinced, now more than ever, that it was important to have Juliet over for Christmas. There were so many unanswered questions that could only be solved by the absent pair, since clearly her parents only had parts of the whole story. To get the conversation back on track, she interrupted with, "I have Miya's phone number. I could get her to give me Juliet's if you want to call her."

The curly-haired man practically lunged up from the couch, displacing his wife from his side in the process as he exclaimed excitedly, "yes!"

🌎🌎🌎

The next day, in place of the usual countdown to Christmas calendar (that was traditionally put up in December), a new countdown was started. The word Christmas was crossed out with a red marker in place of the 'more exciting' event that was taking place on the same day. Written obviously by Cory's hand, this year's countdown read:

91 days until Shawn (and Juliet?) visit!

A/n: look at that! It didn't take me a month+ to post the next chapter. It's a record :) 

I know this one is a bit "cheaty" since it mostly just includes the GMW canon episode, but I wanted there to be a reason for Cory to reach out to his best friends that he hasn't seen in years. Also, to clear up some possible confusion, on the day Shawn and Juliet broke up (the last chapter in Ocean Eyes), Shawn didn't explain what happened between him and Juliet when he left for New York, just that they were no longer together. That's why Cory and Topanga have the misconception that Juliet was the one who broke up with Shawn. (This surely won't cause any more problems during the Christmas episode 😉😉.)

Speaking of, I wanted to let you guys know that I'm breaking up the Christmas episode into three chapters because there's so much stuff that I want to cover. So, the part(s) you're looking forward to may not happen right away, but there's lots to be excited about as we get near the end of this act! I'm really looking forward to starting act 2 because there will be lots of romance going on, especially for Farkle and Miya (I know I've hinted at this before, but the Texas episodes are what you should be counting down to next after we get past the reunion :))