His Texas Girl// Lucas Friar

Girl meets the Forgiveness Project Part 2

Lucas POV:
"How's the forgiveness project going?" Mr.Matthews asks the next day in class.
"You killed us, Matthews." Maya responds.
"I gotta say, Matthews, I don't know what you were thinking." Riley says.
"You think forgiveness leads to peace?" I ask.
"It doesn't" Ari starts.
"It leads to war in a movie theater." Zay finishes our point.
"Lights go down, the movie starts, I made Farkle sit in the other corner of the theater so he can't ruin anything." I start to say.
"Sounds like good strategy." Mr.Matthews compliments.
"It was pretty great in the beginning. We were actually enjoying it." Ari says.
"Yeah. Then a cowboy comes on the screen. Farkle yells" I say.
"Dead!" Farkle yells.
"An old prospector comes on the screen." Zay says
"Alien looking for a time portal." Farkle yells again.
"Next comes a cheerleader." Ari says
"How is there a cheerleader in this movie?"Mr.Matthews asks confused.
"No kidding." Farkle comments.
"Well, I'm sure some of you had a better experience." Mr.Matthews says as everyone else shakes their heads.
"Forgiveness doesn't work, Dad. I forgave Auggie and he didn't thank me." Riley says.
"Riley, did you really forgive Auggie?" Mr.Matthews asks.
"No!" Riley yells.
"Maya, did you forgive your father?" He asks
"No." She answers.
"And we didn't forgive Farkle. Ow" Farkle says as Zay throws a paper ball at him.
"Well, it sounds to me that forgiveness is harder than it looks." Mr.Matthews says.
"I tried. Made it real clear. Want to hear it?" Maya asks.
"If you're all right with it." He responds
"In school, I'm learning about forgiveness. What you did makes me have a lot of angry feelings inside of me. I don't want to be angry anymore. Why did you leave? Did I do something? Make me understand what I did. Your daughter, Maya." She reads and I reach over to squeeze her shoulder sympathetically.
"Did he help you to understand what happened?" Mr.Matthews asks her.
"No."
"Why not?"
"I mean, I guess I never gave him the chance to explain."
"Riley, why did Auggie bite your bear's face off?" Mr.Matthews turns to Riley.
"I don't know." Riley says.
"Why not?"
"I never asked him."
"Lucas? Zay? Ari?" He questions.
"Farkle isn't my assignment I just wanted to go to the movies" Ari says.
"Farkle, why do you tell us the end of the movies?" I ask.
"Well, because you're good at everything you do. You got that class-clown thing going. All I've got is my mind, so I try to impress you with it any way I can. "Oh, Farkle, you don't need to impress us. We love you just the way you are."" He tells us.
"Farkle, we are never going to the movies with you again." I tell him
"Ever." Zay and Ari say in unison.
"Guess you missed that one. Huh, Farkle?" I ask.
"No, I didn't." He responds.
"Oh, Farkle, you don't need to impress us." Maya says.
"We love you just the way you are." Riley comments.
"Movie?" He asks.
"Anytime." They respond.
"We gotta get better minds, man." Zay says.
"Yeah, we do." I sigh.
"All of you do. Better minds know that sometimes to really forgive someone, it helps to understand them first. It gives the other person the chance to be heard from too." Mr.Matthews says.
"Why can't you just admit that you're wrong about this?" Maya asks.
"Because forgiveness is one of our finest qualities as human beings, Maya. You have to understand each other before you can even begin to know what comes next. Go understand each other. See what happens. Your assignment hasn't even begun until you do." He says. "Ari?"
"Yes sir?" She asks.
"Who are you forgiving?" He asks.
"I f-forgave L-lucas" she stutters.
"Babygirl" I say
"Okay I'm forgiving my dad" she says seriously this time causing Maya to turn to her.
"Your dad left?" She asks.
"No" she says.
"Then why do you need to forgive him" she asks.
"It's private" she says and I can she her eyes start to water.
"Make sure you understand why" Mr.Matthews says.
"If only it were that easy" she says quietly.
"What?" Mr.Matthews questions as the bell rings.

Riley POV:
"I am begging you to let me go. If you don't let me go, I swear I will eat your face off." Auggie says from my lap and I quickly let him go. "Oh, sweet freedom"
"The forgiveness was wonderful, Dad. Once you start, you just don't want to stop. Here." I say and give him a letter.
"Me? What did I do? "Dear Dad, I forgive you for everything."" He reads.
"I do." I say.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. What did I do?" He asks.
"Oh, you know what you did" Maya says as we go to the bay window. We sit there for a little bit before we hear my mom yell "we're going to the park" and we leave to go.
"Oh Maya, Mom look at that" I say and see a lantern set up along with a picnic. "How romantic is that?"
"Ah it's alright" Maya says.
"That's really cute" my mom says and my dad and Auggie walk off. "Isn't that Lucas and his girlfriend?" She asks and I turn to sure enough see Ari and Lucas walking toward the lantern set up.
"Let's spy on them" Maya says and we walk up and hide behind a tree.
"Okay and here we are" Lucas says to Ari as they stop in front of the lantern and picnic.
"Bubs this is amazing, but why a lantern?" She asks.
"Well I know you can't give your dad your letter." He starts confusing us. "But I figure if we put it in this lantern and let it go. It will make its way up to him in heaven,"He continues making my mom aww at him.
"That so cute" she whispers.
"Okay let's do it then" Ari says and takes out a red envelope. She kisses it and puts it into the basket attached to the lantern. "I forgive you dad. I know you thought you'd make it, I just wish I knew why you felt like you had to ride. I'm okay I promise. You can rest now. I love you 3000" she says. Before they both let it fly into the air.
"Thank you" she says to Lucas. "I love you"
"I love you too baby" he responds "love of my life always" he says.
"And forever the love of mine" she says before kissing him, and we walk away to give them their moment of privacy. They really do love each other.