𝐓𝐎𝐎 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 » ғᴀʀᴋʟᴇ ᴍɪɴᴋᴜs

seven

in high school, everything you do had an impact on what college you'd get in to. high schoolers were told that everything they did mattered.

misha believed that every single decision she'd make would have a butterfly effect. it would give her a totally different outcome in life. she made sure to make her decisions carefully.

she stepped into spanish class with a frown. misha, even with her hispanic heritage, was failing spanish. she tried to learn with her father, but nothing would click for her.

"buenos días clase!" mrs. feinstein-chang exclamed to the class. "buenos días profe," most of the class chimed.

misha stayed silent. "josefina," the teacher scolded misha with her spanish name. "sí?"

misha knew she couldn't speak a single word of english unless instructed to. "hablar," she commanded.

the brunette nodded, slumping down in her seat. she didn't speak for the whole class period.

the day sped by quickly. soon misha found herself back at topanga's with her friends. she stared into the spanish textbook, trying to piece everything together.

farkle sat next to her with a blank expression. "what? you're not sitting with us anymore?" lucas turned all of the focus on riley.

"i don't deserve to sit with you guys. i am disgraced." riley gestured to the d paper taped to her chest. "'d' for disgraced."

"riley, it's only one grade," misha tried to comfort riley. it was hard though, getting a d wasn't easy after getting a's.

"yeah, you know how many 'd's' i got in middle school? once, i got five 'd's' in one day." maya jumped into the conversation. "you were cinco d maya," farkle laughed. "i don't get it," riley tried to pull off a smile.

"actually, those 'd's' don't matter anymore, maya. none of our old grades do. we all start as equals here, because only our high school grades count on our permanent record." lucas said.

"what? what's that?" riley looked genuinely concerned as she spoke.
"it's our high school transcript. it's what colleges use when they decide whether to accept you or not. and so far for you, not. hm... smackle, remember how you asked us to let you know when your refreshing honesty crosses over into..." farkle rambled, eventually trailing off.

"wait, so they don't care about middle school?" maya grinned. "they only look at your high school grades."

"then why'd you make me go all this time?" she groaned. "wait. so nobody cares about all the good grades i got when i was a kid?" riley asked. misha was tired of looking back and forth between riley and maya throughout this conversation.

"they only care that you didn't eat paste." she joked. no one laughed. "oh. how long does that stay in ya?" riley asked.

"boy, all those years i went to middle school, i could've been scratchin' lottery tickets and chuggin' sody pop." she used her old new yorker voice as she spoke. "well, maya, you finally hit the jackpot. i mean, right now, you can go to any college you want," zay chipped in.

"what about me?" riley beamed. "you're her cute friend."

as riley got more upset with her grade, misha got more upset with herself. for some reason, she couldn't get spanish to stick in her head. misha zoned out of the conversation completely.