the new girl-gmw

Girl Meets Money pt. 3

------------The Next Day---------

The next day at school, we are sitting in history class listening to Mr. Matthews talk. On the board is a pie chart with some of it colored in.

"This is the world. You see this piece of pie?" He asks. He points to the part that's colored, "These are the people in the world who have pie," then points to the uncolored part, "and this is everyone else in the world who lives On less than $2 a day."

"Oh, my gosh." Riley says.

"These are the people in the world who have access to immediate medical care and do not live in abject poverty." Cory colors a little bit more of the already colored section, "This is us. These are the people who get to wake up in their warm beds and they get to eat waffles in the morning. This is us. This is them. Look at me. Pay attention to this. Now, I've tried to teach you guys that the secret of life is people change people. Well, today, we're gonna get more specific. This is us. This is them. What's the secret of life? Anybody?" He asks.

"What us does for them." Maya says.

"Kindness and charity." I say.

"That's right Rachel. That's what changes people. That's the secret of life. And thank you." Mr. Matthews says.

"I'm an "us"?" Maya asks.

"You're an "us." You're blessed. We're all blessed." Mr. Matthews says.

"I'm sorry I've ever complained. I'll never complain about my leaky roof again." Maya says.

"Riley?" Mr. Matthews asks.

"What us does for them." She answers.

"The secret of life. Your assignment today is to think about what good you guys would do if you had money. Who would you help?" Mr. Matthews asks.

"I am... humiliated." Farkle says, then walks out of the room.

--------At the Matthews household------------

Riley, Maya, Lucas, Farkle, and I walk into The Matthews household and Farkle says, "Mr. Matthews, I had a talk with my father today because of what you taught us."

"Yeah, we didn't know how lucky we are." I say.

"We've been talking about it all day." Riley says. We take of our coats and sit at the table with Topanga, Cory, and Auggie.

"Thanks for my dollar, but... It's yours and I'm giving it back." Maya says.

"Thanks. Aug... here's the rest of your allowance. What are you gonna do with it?" Mr. Matthews says and gives the dollar Maya just gave him to Auggie.

We all put our coats on and head to Topangas. THe kids take the Subway and The parents take the car. We get there a little bit after the adults and see Cory, Topanga, and Mr. Minkus sipping coffee outside.

"Dad." Farkle says walking down the stairs with the rest of us behind him.

"I called you this time. I thought about what you said. I'm no success at all if I haven't succeeded with you." Mr. Minkus says.

"You have." Farkle says.

"You're right, Farkle. I should do more." Mr. Minkus says.

"We should probably leave you two alone." Riley says.

"No. Actually, this involves all of you." Topanga says.

"This morning, I did something I should have done long ago. I started the Minkus Family Foundation. We're gonna give some money away, a lot of money, to those who need it." The man says.