Riley didn’t want to give up that easily, but Maya seemed resigned. “Sorry we interrupted your evening,” Riley said to the girls before turning back toward the door.
But this time, another girl, with straight black hair and a long purple sweater, stopped them. “Oh, I think our evening has just begun,” the girl said, putting an arm around Maya’s shoulders and leading her back into the room.
As Riley was about to join Maya on the bed with the other girls, Harriet and the Gamma girls rushed in through the door. “Initiation!” Harriet squealed, pulling a fuzzy pink blindfold over Riley’s eyes.
“Yayyy!” Riley screamed along with her new sisters as they hurried her out the door.
“All right, bring her back,” Josh called after them.
That was when Harriet noticed the other guy in the room. “Andrew?” she gasped, and scrunched up her nose. “You told me you died.”
“I did, I am,” Andrew replied, rising from the bed. He added in a haunting whisper, “Don’t forget me.” With that, he walked out into the hall.
“They all die.” Harriet frowned, perplexed, as she left the room.
“Hey,” the girl with the rosy cheeks and red sweater said to Maya.
“Hey,” Maya replied with a nervous little wave as she settled between the two girls on the bed.
“So, Maya, what do you see in this guy?” rosy cheeks asked.
“How long have you had a crush on him?” added the girl in the purple sweater.
Maya shook her head. “It’s not a crush. It isn’t. Maybe I’m not as old as you guys, but I know what I feel.”
“Hey, I’ve never done anything like what you’re doing.” Purple sweater seemed impressed.
“Yeah, it makes you pretty grown-up to me,” rosy cheeks agreed.
Maya searched for the right words to explain why she’d snuck out. “I just thought if I did something like this, he might take me seriously and maybe we could come to some kind of understanding.”
Josh, who was walking back into the room with Andrew and Riley in tow, looked straight at Maya. “We have an understanding,” he told her. “I stay here. You go home.”
“Sit down,” the girls on either side of Maya commanded Josh.
“Okay,” Josh quickly agreed with a self-conscious laugh, racing over to sit on the other bed with Andrew while Riley remained in the doorway.
“I’m just stupid, right?” Maya said to nobody in particular.
Andrew shook his head sweetly at Maya. “Hey, I would love it if somebody did something stupid for me.”
“Yeah,” rosy cheeks agreed. “It’s not the big gestures that we do for other people that help us grow up—”
“But the small choices you make for yourself,” added purple sweater.
As Maya looked from one girl to the other gratefully, Riley got the distinct impression that she’d missed something big while she was off with her Gamma sisters. “Ohhh,” she said as it dawned on her. “Maya told you guys about her crush.”
“It’s not a crush!” Maya jumped up from the bed and walked over to Riley.
“Maya.” Riley stared into her best friend’s bright blue eyes, which suddenly seemed so innocent. “Can you name one thing you know about him that you love?”
“He’s part of your family, Riley.” Maya looked intently at her friend. “And I love your family.”
“And we love you.” Riley saw that she was going to have to press a little harder on this one. “But what about Josh in particular?”
“Yeah,” Josh agreed from the bed. “Maya, you don’t even really know me.”
Maya turned around and looked straight at Josh. “Yeah. You’re right. I don’t pay attention to anything you do,” she acknowledged with a smirk. “I don’t know that you would drive from Philadelphia to New York not even looking if you got into NYU just so you could open your acceptance letter in front of your older brother because you love him and you want him to be proud of you.”
Okay. Score one for Maya.
Maya took a few steps toward Josh, who leaned in a little closer, his dark eyes widening with genuine surprise as Maya continued. “And I see the way you are with Auggie, a little kid who looks up to you, who you always have time for.”
Point two goes to Maya!
“And I know that even though you’d rather stay here with these girls, you’re going to walk Riley and me home, because that’s just the kind of guy you are.”
Game, set, and match to Maya! Apparently, it really wasn’t a crush after all. Riley knew it, Maya knew it, and—Riley could tell from looking around the room—Josh and his new friends knew it, too.
“I like you,” Maya finally concluded.
“Dude.” Andrew turned to look at Josh. “What is wrong with you?”
“She’s three years younger than me!” Josh argued, standing up.
“Sit down,” commanded rosy cheeks and purple sweater.
“Yeah,” Josh agreed at first, moving to sit down—but then he stopped himself and waved a finger at the girls. “No. Because I sat down the first time and I feel like if I sit down this time, it won’t reflect well on me.”
“Yeah?” asked rosy cheeks. “How does this reflect on you? If you don’t sit down, I will tell every girl on campus that you belong to the bravest girl I have ever met and we will make sure that no one goes out with you the whole time you’re here.”
“Okay, I’ll sit down,” Josh finally conceded. “But only because I want to.”
“Maya, he’s seventeen and you’re fourteen?” rosy cheeks asked, turning to look into Maya’s eyes.
“Yeah.” Maya nodded.
“That might seem like a really big age difference now, but here in college, we learn really difficult math,” rosy cheeks said with a reassuring smile.
“Yeah, and when you get here, you’ll be eighteen and he’ll be twenty-one,” added purple sweater. “And the good news is that he’ll be smarter, because he’ll be in college.”
“And he just may be smart enough to look at you differently,” rosy cheeks concluded.
“Okay!” Josh clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Thank you, guys, for figuring out my entire life for me—but this has been the worst party of my life.” Then he looked kindly at Maya. “C’mon, let’s go.”
“Oh, you’re leaving?” asked rosy cheeks with a knowing grin.
Josh nodded and smiled in spite of himself. “I’m going to walk them home,” he confirmed, placing his hand on Maya’s back and guiding her and Riley toward the door.
In the hallway, Riley smiled victoriously to herself. But as she walked past the bulletin board, the giant tot burst through a Gamma Gamma Nu poster. “Not so fast, toots!” it called to her.
Spinning around, Riley stared straight into its beady little eyes and insisted, “Don’t you start with me! I feel great and there is nothing you can say that will take that away from me!”
“Because you had the best night of your life?” the potato tot jeered.
“Yeah!” Riley nodded.
“And you can’t wait to tell your parents?”
“Yeah!”
“If only you hadn’t lied to them and snuck out the window,” the tot bleated.
“You know about that?”
“I know everything. I also know you can’t ever tell them.”
“Oh, yeah.” Riley’s heart sank as she turned away from the pesky potato and raced to catch up with Maya and Josh.
“Enjoy the rest of your evening!” the tot called after her. “I’ll be with you all night.”
Riley tried to get away before it could say anything else—but there was no escaping it. The boom boom of its awful, menacing little voice continued to echo in her ears, and in her heart, all the way back home. So much for passing the test. So much for good-bye, conscience—hello, college. Apparently, she was still the same old Riley after all.
In history class the next morning, Riley was in a state of panic. She hadn’t slept the previous night, thanks
to the giant potato tot haunting and taunting her. How did Maya do it? How did she do all those things she wasn’t supposed to do without ever getting caught, and without giving any of it a second thought?
“This is how you live?” Riley finally demanded of her best friend. “You just do bad stuff, and you get away with it?”
“Is something bothering you, darling?” Maya smiled.
As Riley’s panic turned to rage, the tot appeared on her left shoulder. “Helloooo!” it bleated.
“Okay, go ahead,” Riley fired back at it.
“Your father trusts you,” the tot cackled, ducking behind Riley’s head and popping back up behind her right shoulder. “Your mother trusts you.” It ducked back down and popped back up on her left. “Your brother lied for you,” it said, ducking and popping back up again. “Everything bad in the world is your fault.”
“What?” Riley challenged the annoying tot.
“Never mind, that’s for later,” the tot replied, quickly disappearing as Mr. Matthews walked into the classroom.
Before he could even make it to his desk, Riley’s hand shot up.
“Good morning,” said Mr. Matthews.
“What happened to the guy?” Riley blurted out.
“What guy?” Mr. Matthews asked.
“The Tell-Tale Heart guy. What happened when his conscience got the better of him?”
But Mr. Matthews didn’t get a chance to respond. Zay beat him to it. “Ohhh, the boom boom guy? Yeah, he went crazy.”
“Crazy?” Riley laughed nervously. “What do you mean ‘went crazy’?”
“He freaked out from a guilty conscience,” Farkle chimed in.
Popping up behind Riley’s shoulder, the tot bleated, “Classic.”
“How do you get your conscience to stop making you feel guilty?” Riley asked her father.
“Well, the best way is not to do the things you shouldn’t do,” Mr. Matthews said, leaning against the front of his desk. “But if you do do something wrong—”
“Ha! He said ‘doo-doo,’” the tot giggled behind Riley’s shoulder.
“—you have to understand that’s just your conscience trying to get you to take responsibility for it,” Mr. Matthews continued.
“Why?” Riley asked.
“Because when you take responsibility for the things you do, that’s when you finally begin to grow,” Mr. Matthews revealed, stepping away from his desk.
“So listening to your conscience helps you grow?” Maya asked.
“Yeah.” Mr. Matthews smiled down at her. “You might want to try it sometime.”
As Maya considered the teacher’s words, the giant tot suddenly popped up on her shoulder. “Well, hello, Maya. It’s been a long time.…”
Maya turned to look at the tot. “What the…?”
As it turned out, Maya had a conscience after all. Now she just needed to figure out what to do with it.
Later that evening, sitting in the bay window of her bedroom with Maya, Riley couldn’t take it anymore. She knew what she had to do. But she needed Maya to agree to it first.
“I want to tell my parents what I did,” she said.
“Too late,” Maya replied.
“I want to tell them how much I’m looking forward to going to college someday,” Riley continued.
But Riley’s parents had been listening at the door. “Because you loved those college girls you met there?” Mrs. Matthews asked, walking into the room with Mr. Matthews.
“They were so great!” Riley agreed with a faraway look in her eyes. Wait. How did her mom know about the college girls? “What?”
“Because one day you hope to be those kinds of girls yourselves?” Mr. Matthews asked.
Riley’s apprehension turned to elation when she realized what was going on. “You knew? They knew! Parents know everything!”
“No, someone told us,” Mrs. Matthews revealed as Josh walked into the room behind her.
“I just wanted to say good-bye,” Josh announced, tossing his duffel bag on the floor. “Very interesting visit.”
“Josh.” Riley rolled her eyes at her uncle as he sat down between her and Maya. “You told them.”
“Told them what, Riley?” Josh looked at her sideways. “That nothing happened? Why would I tell them nothing happened if nothing happened? Why would I tell them that, huh?”
“It’s okay, Josh.” Mr. Matthews smiled. “Maya told us.”
“What?” Riley turned to look at her best friend.
“Maya told us everything,” Mrs. Matthews confirmed.
“Why?” Riley couldn’t believe it was true.
“I wouldn’t rat you out, Riley,” Josh interjected, turning to smile at Mr. Matthews. “Sorry, Cory. Guess I’m still your little brother, huh?”
Mr. Matthews shook his head sympathetically. “No, Josh. I mean, you were so looking forward to making new friends at that party, but you left just to make sure Riley and Maya got home safely. You’re not so little anymore, Josh. I guess I have to stop looking at you that way.”
“Thanks.” Josh beamed with pride. “That means a lot to me.”
Riley was floored—and confused. “Maya. Why did you tell them?”
“It’s a choice I made for myself,” Maya confessed softly. “I thought it was the grown-up thing to do.”
Josh looked at her in awe. “It was. You’re not so little anymore, Maya. I guess I have to stop looking at you that way.”
“Thanks.” Maya smiled coyly. “That means a lot to me.”
“Riley,” Mrs. Matthews said, turning to look at her daughter, “are you ever going to pull something like this again?”
“No,” Riley insisted. “Even though it may have been a great night, it isn’t worth how terrible I feel for not telling you.”
Just then, the tot reappeared on Riley’s shoulder. “Thanks,” it bleated. “That means a lot to me.”
A little while later, after Josh had departed, Riley was still talking through the previous night’s adventures with Maya and her family.
“Riley, we’re happy that you liked your college experience—” Mrs. Matthews began.
“And we’re sad to have to give you a grounding experience,” Mr. Matthews continued, holding up a pair of fingers. “Two weeks.”
“It should be three,” taunted the potato tot, which had set up shop on the table next to the window seat.
“Deal,” Riley said to her parents, ignoring the annoying nugget.
“It should be three!” the tot repeated.
“Get a life!” Riley snapped at the tot. Just then, her little brother walked into the room in his green striped jammies.
“Good night,” Auggie said sweetly. “I brushed my teeth.”
“You did not,” replied the tot.
Auggie shot a confused look at the end table. “What the…?”
“Auggie,” Mrs. Matthews said, picking up her son and setting him on the window seat cushions between her and Riley. “You are grounded for one week for not telling us your sister snuck out of the house.”
“How is that a bad thing?” Auggie protested. “I was protecting her.”
Satisfied that its work there was done—for the moment, anyway—the tot turned to look at Maya. “Let’s go, blondie. You and I are gonna do a little growin’ up together.”
Maya frowned. “We’re gonna tell my mother, aren’t we?”
“We’re gonna tell her about a lot of stuff,” the tot replied.
“Yeah, okay, let’s go,” Maya agreed with a sigh, picking up the tot and setting it on her shoulder before turning to wave good-bye to the Matthewses. “See you guys in a year!”
As Riley waved to her best friend—and the potato tot—a sense of victory washed over her again. But it felt different this time. She hadn’t won because she’d gotten away with something. She’d won because she was taking responsibility for it. She’d listened to her conscience and grown. But even better than that? Her best friend had done the same thing. They were going to
be so ready for college when the time finally came!
As they sat in the bay window of her room before school, Riley could tell that Maya was in a bit of a mood—and Riley was pretty sure she knew why. Ever since Riley’s first official date with Lucas, Maya had been trying to get Riley to talk about what had happened—but Riley didn’t want to talk about it. Well, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to talk about it. It was more like she didn’t know how to talk about it.
“How long are we avoiding this?” Maya demanded.
“Not avoiding nothin’,” Riley insisted. “Just life moving on beyond that thing that happened between me and Lucas.”
Maya pursed her full lips and teased Riley with a kissy face and smooching sound.
“I know what it was, you do not have to fish-face at me!” Riley sighed.
But Maya wouldn’t give it up. She brought her hands up to her cheeks and squashed them to make an even more exaggerated kissy face with even louder smooching noises.
Riley rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Maya, other things are happening. Life got over it. Why can’t you?”
“Life isn’t over it,” Maya lamented. “Haven’t you noticed everything has stopped? Nothing’s happening.”
“Everything’s happening!” Riley flung out her arms, making a grand gesture toward her room, her face lighting up enthusiastically. Alas…crickets. So she and Maya sat there and stared at the ground for what felt like hours, until the silence was broken with more of Maya’s pestering.
“Riley, until we talk about”—again with the kissy face and smooching noises—“nothing’s ever happening again.”
Riley shook her head. “Ohhh, that’s the talk of a kook!”
Honestly. It wasn’t like there weren’t other important things to talk about. Every day was practically bursting at the seams with places to go, people to see, things to do. Riley leaned forward, anticipating a moment of extreme excitement to hit them any…minute…now!
More crickets.
Maya sighed loudly as they both sat there, glancing around the room, hands crossed in their laps. Finally, a face appeared in the open window.
“Ladies!” Farkle crooned.
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