Girl Meets World | AU

S1 E9- Girl Meets 1961

Maya's POV

I'm about to fall asleep, please help.Today's lesson is very boring, more than usual.
"The '60s, man. Influential musicians like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez playing guitars and singing like prophets. The times, they were a-changin'"
"The class, they are a-sleepin'"
"It's not your fault, dad. It's just the stuff you're saying"
"I'm talking about the '60s, man"
"Nobody cares about when you were our age"
Riley, it was over 50 years ago. How old do you guys think I am?" I don't know, maybe 70?
"There's no right answer to this,sir" I totally agree with Lucas on this one
"You should teach us future class,now give us something we could use"
"Listen, Dad, you're doing a wonderful job up there and we're very happy that you're all jazzed up-" Mr. Matthews interrupts her
"I'm gonna snap this chalk now"Oh no.
"Snap. What did you guys do yesterday?"
"I think I had grapes" his daughter replies
"Do you know what yesterday was?"
"Grapes day"
"It's history. Every decision you make every day, every time you decide to turn left instead of right,you make history and you affect someone else's. And if you refuse to learn that, I guarantee you, you guys will not become the best person you can be. Because history is all about missed opportunities.'History has nothing to do with us' wasn't it, Ms. Hart?" I groan in frustration
"Can't remember, it was like five minutes ago"
"Fine. I am not gonna teach you guys about the '60s" Yes!
"You are"
"Yay!" Farkle shouts in excitement
"History is alive even if you weren't. But now you're gonna be. You will visit the 1960s and give a report"
"Time travel" I whisper
"How do we do that, dad? We weren't even there"
"You were"
"How?"
"You all have grandparents or great-grandparents. Choose one who was around during that time. Learn all you can about them and report back. Then we'll see if history has nothing to do with us. Living history. Now I'm all jazzed up" Is he serious? How am I gonna do that? As soon as I get home I try to do some research on my family but quickly give up and start reading an art book Ms. Kossal gave me earlier. Great, looking at all those paintings frustrates me. I suddenly hear a knock on my window
"Elliot!" I say with happiness as I open it and he comes in
"How are you?" we hug
"Ugh, your dad gave us an assignment about the '60s"
"He gave it to my class as well but since Riley and I are related I'll let her do all the work"he looks around the room
"You've been trying to learn something about your family" I nod
"I tried with my father's side but quickly noticed that I have little to none information. Then I tried with my mom's but I got tired"
"What about that book?" he points at it
"Just an art book that Ms. Kossal gave me to tell me that I suck at drawing" he frowns
"Or just a book she gave you inspire you to do better. You've got a lot of potential Maya and could go somewhere, become someone important. But you need to practice a lot and it won't be easy. Keep drawing, okay?" I sigh
"Okay" he looks at his phone
"Shoot, it's late. I better get going"
"Where are you going?"
"To work"
"You have a work?"
"Well, kinda. Remember the bakery my mom saved?"
"Yeah, I'm going to meet with Riley and the others in a while"
"Oh, great then" he says with a smile as he kisses my cheek
"I'll see you later" what? He works there? Awesome! Now I'll have one more reason to go.
"Bye" he gives me a quick peck on the lips before heading away, leaving me to wonder. What are we, for real? Are we just fake dating or just telling people we are when in reality we actually have feelings for each other? What if he's just playing with me? What if I'm just one of the many girls that he has a crush on?
Okay Maya, don't over think things,it's nothing serious. I pick up my stuff and head to the Bakery where I already find Riley, Lucas and Farkle sitting at our usual table. I also see Elliot behind the counter and give him a quick smile before sitting with my friends
"All right, status report. I got a guitar that belonged to my great-grandmother Rosie and her very weird journal"
"My dad is sending something about my great-grandfather. We don't talk about him much. His name was Merlin"I snicker, what a weird name. Lucas notices and slightly smiles
"Merlin? Was he a wizard? Hah!"
"Okay, Farkle Minkus. What was your great-grandfather's name?"
"Ginsburg" Never mind, this is way funnier. I look back at the same art book, why do I like damaging my ego?
"You make no sense to me whatsoever"
"Whatcha looking at?" Riley asks me
"Art book. Ms.Kossal gave it tome. It's got all the best artists and their best paintings. It's amazing...And depressing"
"She's trying to motivate you"Why is everyone telling me that?
"Ain't working, look at these. I could never do anything near this, these people all have something to say"
"Well, you only know that because they went ahead and said it" why does Huckleberry know what to say?
"You know, someday you're gonna make somebody a wonderful fortune cookie" he chuckles, making me do that as well
"Here's the smoothie you asked"Elliot walks by us while leaving the smoothie on the table, he lookskinda mad though, what happened?
"But we didn't-" he bends down and whispers in my ear
"He better stay away from you"I frown as he walks away, just like everyone else.
"Let me take a picture of everybody" Farkle says kinda awkwardly
"What for?" he takes it
"I don't know, it's us. We may be important to somebody someday"
"You guys are already important tome" Riley is so sweet!
"How?
"You teach me how to be friends"
"Aww..." I close the book and we all start walking away but Riley turns around
"Maya, aren't you bringing that?"
"What? This book of...'Why bother trying I'll never be as good as these guys'?"
"That's a very discouraging title"
"I love you, Riley but I'm leaving this here. It makes me feel bad and...it's really heavy" she tries to pick it up but I drag her away as quickly as I can. After that we all head to our respective homes and start doing the research. Hearing how awesome their grandparents were really makes me curious about mine, maybe he or she was super cool after all. I head to my mom's room and find family old albums and documents until I hear some footsteps around the house. It can't be mom, it's too early. I hide under her bed in fear
"Maya?" I hear a familiar voice ask while a teenage person enters the room
"Elliot! You scared me!"
"What are you doing the bed?"
"What are you doing here?!" I stand up
"Sorry, I wanted to check on you"
"I was doing fine until you gave me a heart attack! How did you get in?!"
"The window was open. I sent you a message"
"What?"
"Yeah" I sigh
"I haven't checked my phone in an hour"
"You started your research?"
"Yeah. I found something about May, my mom's grandma, she stopped in this city for a while, I wanna do my research about her"
"Want me to help you out?"
"I'd like it very much but what would your mom say?"
"I told her I'm having a sleepover, don't worry" I smile
"Thanks" we then spend the whole night doing research about her, finding a lot of stuff about her and me as well. Apparently I come from a long way of Clutterbucket, people who give up on themselves and others, just like me. Am I gonna be able to change this?
"Well, that was a long night"Elliot says while stretching
"Don't we wanna know what happened next?"
"May left and ran away with Merlin. There's nothing more written in her diary. Maybe she found a better man and had your grandma" I look down. My great grandma was in a brief relationship with Merlin. They ran away and toured the whole country as a duet but after he went to jail there are no more things written in her diary, amazing.
"I'm sorry"
"Don't worry about it. I already have enough knowledge. It's incredible. Our ancestors met"
"Yeah, that's super cool and weird at the same time. It's like we were all meant to me somehow"
"True" Right then my phone alarm rings
"Shoot, I'm gonna be late for school, let's go!" I take his hand and we run to school
"Bye!" we say in a rush before running into our classes.
"Ms. Hart, you're late" Mr.Matthews says as soon as I walk in, I must've interrupted Lucas presentation because he's in front of the whole class
"Sorry Mr. Matthews" I sit down
"Hello, I'm Lucas Friar. My great-grandpa used to do that. He was a man named Merlin Scoggins and this record was a big hit" What?! Our great grandparents-they!Oh my gosh!It can't be! His Merlin can't be the same of my great grandma!
"That's amazing, Lucas. Why didn't you ever tell us any of that?"
"Yeah, I'm gonna tell Maya I have a country-singing great-grandpa and that I actually do come from cowboys. Yeah because I need more nicknames to go with Hop-Along, Sundace and Ranger Rick" we both smirk at his nicknames
"No, I'm done with that. I am so impressed with your rich Texas heritage that I am officially throwing out all of those old nicknames forever"
"Wow, thank you, Maya" I grin
"No problem, Bucky McBoing Boing"
"From what I can piece together,my great-grandmother Rosie McGee was a weird, little, wide-eyed goofball who only saw the best in everybody. Who's like that?" I keep smiling
"Nobody" I reply with sarcasm
Lucas sits down and Riley starts to talk
"I'd like to plat you my great-grandfather's song" Lucas puts a CD on a stereo and the music starts playing. I can't believe it yet. My mind is exploding.
My great-grandmother never saw her friend again. The world has never heard of May Clutterbucket"
"My great-grandfather had one huge hit. People thought he was gonna change the world, but...he didn't. After an appearance in a a small cafe in New York City, he made some bad choices. He went to jail for a little while, he went left instead of right"
"And why do you think that was,Mr.Friar?"
"Don't know, maybe he needed some better friends" he smiles at me and I find myself doing the same thing before he sits down
"Rosie liked observing things, I'm going to read something from her journal. It's called 'The girl with the long, blonde hair: "She said she would be gone for a moment,I am still waiting. We could have been friends, maybe in some other life. The girl with the long, blonde hair'"
"It sounds like Rosie was a pretty good writer"
"There's a little bit more"She approaches me
"If you quiet your voice, if you stop, because you think other people are better, then you are not who I know you are, the girl with the long, blonde hair."
"You wrote that"
"I continued it, I am a continuation. That's what history's about, right dad?"
"Oh, now I get it"
"Rosie had a daughter, and her daughter had my mom. Rosie gave me my mom and she gave my dad his wife" she picks up an old guitar and I already know that it belonged to my great grandma.
"This has been in our family for over 50 years. But I feel like it belongs with you" she gives it to me
"So I hope that whenever you see it, it will remind you that even though Rosie's friend gave up, you never should" I smile at Riley then grin and turn around to Lucas, he already know what's about to happen
"Oh, no" I start playing the guitar and sing
"Hello, I'm Bucky McBoing Boing.        
I got a great grandson
who's a Ranger Rick,
and a Hopalong,
and a Sundance, too..Everybody!"We all sing together. Until Farkle rushes to go in front of the class
"We're all part of a puzzle called history, we are each a tiny piece of that puzzle that comes together and makes a picture. Well, you're not gonna believe the picture I just found. My great-grandfather Ginsburg worked at a Greenwich village cafe. Riley, Lucas, what year did your great-grandparents visit New York?"
"1961...Whoa."
"I knew it, what month?"
"December"
"Say it again"
"Whoa"
"And what was the name of the club?"
"Cafe..."
"Hey"
"That's where my great-grandfather worked. Maya, what did you learn about your great-grandmother?"Nope, I ain't telling anybody
"Nothing, my mom said to leave it alone. I don't know anything"
"I know you, Maya. You're not a puzzle to me at all. You went behind her back and snooped around,didn't you?"
"No"
"What did you find?"
"No"
"Tell me her name, say it or I will" I sigh
"May Clutterbucket" I say in a whisper
"What?"
"I come from a long line of Clutterbuckets" Huckleberry sigh in relief
"Oh, this is the greatest day of my life!"
"All of our relatives met each other on the same night"
"Your great-grandmother was my great-grandmother's friend"
"No. They never became friends.She walked out, she left"
"And you didn't tell me?"
"Tell you what? That I come from people who give up? That I am a Clutterbucket?"
"Change history" Mr. Matthews says to me
"Excuse me?"
"Your relatives didn't realized they would have been better off being friends. That was a missed opportunity. Don't let your history be one of missed opportunities.Learn from the past"
"I don't want to be a Clutterbucket"
"You're not. You're all Hart"
"On December 14th, 1961, four pieces of a puzzle came together and our lives touch.Great-grandfather Ginsburg was hard to research because he was never in any of the pictures, because he took them" he shows the class the pic his grandfather took of our ancestors, it's amazing, we all look like them
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have achieved time travel. Thank you, I am Farkle!"
"Where are we going next, dad?"
"I thought you guys didn't care about any of that stuff?"
"No, that was yesterday. Yesterday is history"
"What do you have for us today,Mr. Matthews?"
"The year was 1963:'I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today' Martin Luther King, Jr. A lot of things happened in 1963. The '60s, man"
I love this class. After school I head to the bakery to get the back the book I left
"Hi, I was in here the other day and I lost something that turns out to be important to me" I say to Elliot.
"So you understood" I nod
"Yeah" he gives me back the book
"Thanks. Just one more question"
"Sure"
"What did you mean the other day with 'he better stay away from you'?" he chuckles
"I don't know, it was a wild day.I'm sorry" I smile at him
"Don't worry" I start walking away
"Wait"
"What is it?"
"Give me a kiss, some of my friends are here" I notice a group of people staring at us, it must be them
"Okay" I kiss him for a while until we hear his mom's voice
"What is going on here?!" we quickly part away and I open the book in front of my face, covering it.
"M-Mom! Hey!"
"Who's-"
"The ice cream machine is not working, look..." he guides her away and I immediately walk out.Phew, that was close. When I get home I see that there are some noteson the pages
"'Maya's art goes here. Change the world! Love, Elliot and Riley'' Weirdos.