-Riles? -Peaches?
-How you feeling today? -Well, I didn't cry all night.
That's good.
Because I stopped when I passed out from crying.
-Well, you seem better now. -That's where you're wrong.
-Okay. -But the seniors wanted us to stand here,
watch what goes on, and learn from it.
-They have their reason. -To make fools out of us?
Mission accomplished.
We're fools. We're fools without friends.
They made their choice.
They have started their high school careers without us
-and I wish them well. -Yeah.
Maybe we shouldn't think about them today.
Yeah.
(sobs)
I hope that Farkle remembers
that science can't explain people
and he keeps himself open to love.
-You gonna do one for each? -Yes.
Give me a couple bucks for a brownie.
Okay, Maya. I want juice.
I hope Smackle looks up from her books every once in a while
-so that she doesn't miss life. -Maya: Apple?
Grape.
I hope Zay stops using comedy
to cover up his inner turmoil.
-Maya: Uh, they're out of grape. -Surprise me.
They're not really out of grape!
(gasps) What a nice surprise.
Did you get to Lucas yet?
I hope Lucas...
(whispers) I hope Lucas has a very bad day.
Gosh, you're cute.
You know what?
I'd rather be a fool with you than to be anything without you.
So... what can we learn from down here?
Hm, here comes purple combat boots.
I like her. She walks with confidence.
And here comes jungle girl.
She's waiting for motorcycle boots.
Vroom, vroom.
(shouts) Vroom, vroom, baby!
-Riles? -Peaches?
They're way more advanced in high school.
We're middle school hand-holders.
What if those seniors sent us down here
because we think we're so ready for this place
-and we're so not? -Well, then I'd be right.
And I hope that I'm right.
Riley's wrong about this.
We have as much right as anybody else
-to walk in these halls. -Or anywhere we want.
We're new here. We got to show 'em we're strong.
Both: Yeah!
We wouldn't be here if we didn't belong here.
-Who's stronger than us? -Yeah!
Yeah!
-Did I hurt you? -A little bit,
but who's stronger than us?
Both: Yeah!
-All right, whose house is this? -All: Our house!
-Whose house is this? -All: Our house!
What happens to the poor unfortunate soul
who mistakenly wanders into our house?
(all scream)
Why can't we be on the football team
if we want to be on the football team?
I'll tell you right now what we got
that they don't got: enthusiasm, confidence,
-and we're strong. -Yeah!
Will you please stop hurting me?
(screaming continues)
-(blows whistle) -(screaming stops)
All right, congratulations, ballerinas.
You have achieved practice level,
but that's all that was,
practice against your fellow ballerinas.
Okay? That was not a game against opponents
who are trying to come into our house and make it their house!
How do we protect this house?
(all scream)
(blows whistle)
All right, so we're not the brightest team in the league.
This is our locker room!
I want you to do that to the opponents...
but I like what I'm seeing.
I'll tell you, the biggest regret I got in my whole life
is that we got no opponent walking through that door
right now into our house so we can destroy them!
(knock on door)
Come in.
Lucas and Zay in the house!
We go to this high school and we belong here,
and we want to be on the football team,
and what are you gonna do about it?
Do what you must.
-(grunting) -(screams)
-Lucas! -(all screaming)
I'm coming!
Hey, how's it going?
(screaming continues)
(theme music plays)
♪ I've been waiting ♪
♪ For a day ♪
♪ Like this to come ♪
♪ Struck like lightning ♪
♪ My heart's beating like a drum ♪
♪ On the edge ♪
♪ Of something wonderful ♪
♪ Face to face with changes ♪
♪ What's it all about? ♪
♪ Life is crazy ♪
♪ But I know ♪
♪ I can work it out ♪
♪ 'Cause I got you ♪
♪ To live it with me ♪
♪ I feel all right, I'm gonna take on the world ♪ STYLE ::cue(.speaker) ::cue(.speakerTop)
♪ Light up the stars, I've got some pages to turn ♪
♪ I'm singing "Go-o-o" ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Take on the world, take on the world ♪
♪ Take on the world ♪
♪ Take on the world, take on the world ♪
♪ Take on the world ♪
Ya need to stop thinking about 'em, kid.
They're gone. Done-zo. Kaput.
Everything's changing.
I lost my friends and you're a mobster.
Did you stop thinking about 'em?
Yes.
I wonder how everybody else is doing except for them.
Yo, yo, yo, where are the geniuses up in this joint?
I need me some stimuli. Stimuli!
Are you them?
We are members
of the Abagail Adams Society of Intellectual Advancement.
How may we be of service?
Well, you could include us in your little brain trust.
You can more than include us.
You can bow down to our superior intellect.
You can skip whatever formal hooey
it takes to join 'cause we're gonna run this club.
This is known as the Smackle theory of inevitability.
By what criteria do you feel you deserve acceptance?
By this criteria:
in middle school, I used to be kind of a thing.
My teacher allowed me to step forward
and take over the class.
We called it "Farkle time." I'm Farkle.
And what have you done?
I cloned myself.
The same!
(thud)
I apologize for him.
He is weak. I am not.
And I built her.
(beeping)
I'm comin', honey!
I'm sorry your mom and dad aren't together anymore, Ava.
I wish there was something I could do for you.
You're my best friend, Auggie. That's all I need right now.
But I want you to be happy again.
It's okay if that takes some time though, Ava.
You know, maybe going to school today will help take your mind
off of everything for a bit.
I don't think there should be any school today.
And I should just be able to stay home and eat cheese.
(chuckles)
Then that's what we're gonna do.
No!
Why "no"? Why is it always no with you?
(laughs) Because life is real, Auggie.
Sometimes you have to take a real-life approach.
And when something bad happens,
life wants you to just keep going.
Well, I think
life is supposed to make sure that when something bad happens,
something good should happen too.
Your mom's right, Auggie. This is real.
Oh, yeah? You know what else is real?
You know we're not allowed
to have dogs in this building, right?
Auggie!
Are you gonna tell her?
Ava, he's never told anyone.
This would make you, like,
the most special person in the entire world.
Tell me what?
Scruffles!
♪ Da-da-da-da-da-da-da ♪
What?
This is my imaginary dog Scruffles.
Scruffie, this is Ava,
my best friend for real.
Oh, that's great, Auggie, but--
He's wagging his tail! He's excited to see you!
He is?
No, come on, Auggie. He's not real.
Then why is he trying to give you his paw?
(giggles) He is?
Hello, Scruffles!
-He licked me! -I saw that!
Do we have to go to school right this minute?
Why don't we bring Scruffles with us?
Both: Yay!
Ava, do you want to take his leash?
Thanks, Auggie.
Whoa!
Huh. (chuckles)
I used to be the smartest kid in school.
How can we run this world if there are people
in this world who are smarter than us?
I feel ordinary. What do we do?
We need to take refuge in people who are intellectual inferiors.
-Hey, guys. -Both: Yay.
You need some intellectual inferiors?
Yep. You need some physical inferiors?
Both: Yay.
So, we all get our butts kicked?
I don't even feel like I'm me anymore.
Yeah, these first few days of high school
couldn't have gone worse for us.
You feel bad about finding out there are people here
-bigger than you? -No, I expected that.
-That's not it. -You feel bad 'cause you know
it's not gonna be anywhere near as easy as we thought here?
No, I'm fine with a challenge. That's not it either.
It's about us, isn't it?
Is there an "us" anymore?
-That's it. -So look, man,
let's go back to Riley and Maya and tell them we feel bad.
-No, I can't do that. -Why not?
Because I feel bad.
-What are you talking about? -Let's just go back
and say we're sorry we left them and start all over.
No, I understand what Lucas is talking about.
We left them.
Well, we just wanted to see what high school was like.
-They'll be okay. -No, you have to understand Riley. STYLE ::cue(.speaker) ::cue(.speakerTop)
Riley has such faith in people.
I mean, yeah, she had faith in the seniors.
But she has even more faith in us.
You know what? I not only can't protect them here,
but I abandoned them.
It's not that we can't go back to them.
It's that we don't deserve to.
We left them. I left them alone.
They believe in something, and I left them alone.
How do you come back from that?
How do we ever face them again?
Why "massacre"? Why you got "massacre" up there?
Why can't you just teach us names and dates?
Marly Evans and what she learns today!
That's the name and date I care about.
All of you and right now, are you listening to me?
Mm-hmm.
Good. It was patriots who founded our new land
and it was patriots who fought for it.
Why do we remember the Alamo?
Farkle, Smackle, a duet. Go.
The Alamo was a small, isolated fortress
with a handful of patriots inside
who felt it was important to stick together and fight for what they believed.
They were surrounded by a much larger number of people,
coming at them from all directions,
who believed this place belonged to them.
The patriots desperately wanted reinforcements,
but reinforcements never came.
What happened to 'em?
They stayed in their fortress
and gave everybody a friendly smile,
and eventually, they walked upstairs.
They were massacred.
Then they walked upstairs?
No, but that battle gave birth to a slogan.
What was the slogan?
-Remember the Alamo. -Remember the Alamo!
And why do we remember the Alamo?
Lucas, Zay, a duet.
Because the patriots gave their lives for a greater good.
That battle had only just begun,
and some years later that land became ours,
-and the name of that land was... -Texas!
Stop it!
Right, Texas, your home.
So, guys, that's why we remember the Alamo
and why we remember all the battles that we fight
in an effort to make a new place our home.
Now, you can stay massacred
or you can realize the battle has just begun.
We were kings, Mathews.
Kingdoms fall.
Everyone who believes
they're gonna rule the world falls.
Everyone who believes they're strong
eventually comes up against someone that's stronger.
And every patriot fighting for a cause,
they're only as strong as the cause they're fighting for.
Even I know next thing he says,
real important.
What's the cause you're fighting for?
They're still not even talking to us.
-They won't even look at us. -I don't blame them.
-It's my fault. -What did we do?
We didn't go after them, Maya. They left.
We stayed behind.
We got to keep more eyes on me.
Sometimes I go too full-on-Riley.
(knocking)
-Some of your friends are here. -Really?
Right in here, guys.
You!
Nice room.
Thanks.
Why are you guys here?
-You guys sit in this window? -All the time.
-How come? -It's our safe place.
Why do you need a safe place?
'Cause there's a whole world out there
that we don't understand.
Why did you guys throw us into a hole?
-Why us? -When we were in middle school,
we were six great friends just like you.
Three of us thought we'd kick high school's butt,
figure out the whole thing real fast.
Three of us were smarter, took some time to figure out the new surroundings.
-And that was you guys? -You guys took some time
to figure things out before you jumped in?
No, we were the ones who broke off from our friends.
-Why? -You never mean to lose friends,
but high school has a lot of things calling for your attention.
You get caught up, friendships can come apart.
Yeah, I've heard that.
You guys don't see your friends anymore?
Oh, we still see 'em. It's just not like what it was.
-That can happen? -Yeah.
But you three are still together.
-The three of us are... -Complicated.
-Oh, they like each other. -They're a triangle.
-You like each other. -You're a triangle!
Don't lose your friends.
-But they're angry at us. -No, they're not angry at you at all.
-Then what are they? -They're humiliated.
-Like we were. -Why?
'Cause it's high school, and everybody gets massacred.
That's why you guys put us into a safe place.
That's not the safe place. That's a hole.
We just wanted you guys to be together.
Your safe place is each other.
Go get your friends. STYLE ::cue(.speaker) ::cue(.speakerTop)
How did you guys resolve the triangle?
Oh, let me see. Do you still like him?
-Yeah. Do you still like him? -Yeah.
We need to decide.
Scruffles, sit. Scruffles, roll over.
Scruffles, fly around the room!
Isn't he amazing?
He told her about Scruffles?
He did. She's the only person he's ever told.
He was trying to make her feel better.
-Did it work? -I think it might be wearing off.
Auggie, sit.
You don't want to play with Scruffles?
Scruffles ain't doing it for me anymore.
Have I let you down?
You did so good, Auggie.
Thanks for trying so hard.
What's happening?
Well, I think Ava might be ready for the real-life approach now.
She knows that Scruffles is made up
but that your friendship is real.
And then when you don't understand what life is doing,
the most important thing friends can be
is there for each other.
-Auggie. -Yeah?
Stay.
I will.
Good Auggie.
Look at us.
-Look at us. -Look at us.
-We're sorry. -You're sorry?
-What are you sorry for? -We're the ones who left.
We should have realized something happened to you.
But nothing happened to us.
Why do you think something happened to us?
We found out we we're stupid and they got beat up like pipsqueaks.
Don't look at me.
I'll look at you whenever I want to look at you, Huckleberry.
Everybody's stronger than me.
None of this matters.
Guys, the only way we're gonna get through
our one year of high school is together like we always have.
Maya, there's four years of high school.
I'm out.
Could somebody please explain to me what's going on here?
Because I guess I really don't know anything anymore.
I think they're forgiving us for behaving badly.
Smackle, you didn't behave badly.
When you left, we should have gone with you.
No, when you stayed, we should have stayed with you.
I don't know what's the matter with me.
Lucas, you left
because you don't think that you can protect us here.
We all need to protect each other here.
Okay? No matter what happens at high school,
we're the cause worth fighting for.
Us. Nobody leaves.
Even if we get massacred?
We're gonna get massacred no matter what we do.
I'd like to say that we've never gotten hurt when we're together.
And it was my fault that we weren't.
I'm truly sorry about that
and I hope it never happens again.
You guys showed us what it means to be strong...
and smart.
You still like him?
I still like him.
I like us all.
Our classroom is empty.
Oh, come on! Who does this?
-Me. -(scoffs)
Okay, so what I want to ask now is why?
Everybody take a seat.
Go on, go on, have a seat.
What have you learned in high school so far?
-We're not kings anymore. -We're Abagail Adams Patriots.
Abagail Adams once said,
"To be good and to do good
is the whole duty of man."
"Do good"? Don't you mean do well?
Do you know what the funny thing is about history, Miss Evans?
It repeats.
I mean "do good."
That, right up there...
That's always gonna be my lesson plan.
Now, when the patriots looked out
at this new undiscovered land, it was what?
Rough and undeveloped, like us.
Very good, Mr. Babineaux.
But they stuck together and they made it their new home.
So will we.
Let's fill this room.
Let's fill this room with knowledge.
What do you know?
I have faith that in a new place
you can learn from the people who have already been there.
Very good. Go get your desk.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, Where are you going?
In any new place, or old place, or any place at all,
I stay with her.
I'm always with her.
But I knew that a long time ago.
Lucas, what do you know? STYLE ::cue(.speaker) ::cue(.speakerTop)
There are stronger people than us here.
What are you gonna do about it?
Get stronger.
Farkle?
There are smarter people than us here.
What are you gonna do about it?
I think you know.
All right, everybody, go get your desks.
In this room, we find out how history relates to your present
and how you can't get by on the successes of your past.
This is your new school, guys.
Stick together. Do good.
That's how you're gonna have your best future.
In this room, I'm your teacher...
but we are going to discover this new land together.
This is how he teaches?
Every day.
You going to get your desk, Miss Evans?
No, I'm going to get yours.
Ready?
Ready.
I'm glad you guys picked me and my friends.
We wish someone would've done it for us.
You really put us through it.
I know.
You messed with our heads.
I did.
We'll be better friends because of it.
You will.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
We'll be here for you guys anytime.
You trying out for the football team?
-Uh... -Nah.
Are you trying out for the football team?
Both: Yeah!
Good.
Now that we're seniors and we've learned so much in this place...
We wanted to leave somebody a--
Legacy?
Yeah, a legacy.
Pass it on someday.
We will.
When we're kings.