Girl Meets World of Terror 3 is the third Halloween episode of the Disney Channel sitcom Girl Meets World.
Plot[]
It's Halloween again, and Riley, Maya, and most of the others in Cory's class have decided that they have outgrown trick-or-treating. Cory points out that there are no small decisions in life, that every decision you make affects who you are and also affects the people around you. Riley thinks Cory is just reiterating the axiom that "people change people", but Cory brings up a thought: what if people never got the chance? Moreover, what if people didn't change people? Farkle and Smackle recognize Cory's hypothesis as the "Chaos Theory".
As the discussion continues, thunder and lightning suddenly rage outside and the lights in the school go out. It is then that Auggie, dressed as a ghost, walks into the classroom (unseen by the others) and again breaking the fourth wall as in the first two Halloween specials, begins the Scary Time Theater story: What if the things that made us who we are never happened? What if things were different but you didn't even know?
The story begins with a brief flashback to Riley and Maya's childhood (a parallel to when they first met). Riley is sitting in the Bay Window playing with Beary the Bear Bear and singing to herself when Maya comes up to the window, but the window is closed and locked preventing her from climbing in, so Maya tries yelling to get Riley's attention, but when Riley doesn't hear her, Maya gives up and walks away.
Flash forward to present-day high school: Riley is much more animated in her cheerfulness, she considers Beary (with its face still intact) her best friend and keeps the stuffed bear in her locker. Maya's personality is darker; she is sullen, self-loathing and more contemptuous toward others, and while Riley and Maya know one another it becomes clear that they are not friends. Smackle and Farkle, while they're not initially a couple in this story, are far more nerdy with Smackle wearing larger glasses and an external wire mouth retainer while Farkle retains much of his younger personality and sartorial preferences including his signature orange turtleneck sweater. Lucas retains his "Texas Lucas" attitude, dark, quiet and dispassionate; he wears a Stetson, which he refuses to take off even in class except to flick away a spitball that Riley indirectly hit him with. Maya asks Lucas if he is really as tough as everyone thinks he is; Lucas replies, "Are you?"
In class, Riley asks Cory (who now wears glasses and a bowtie) if their being in class together would present a wonderful opportunity for him to teach her and her friends about life, which Maya sarcastically scoffs at on the way out; but Cory doesn't yet see what Riley sees, believing that names and dates are the secret to life. Later at Topanga's, Maya hits Riley up for her homework, demanding that she never do better than C-plus work for her. Maya believes that nobody cares about a C-plus, and that if she gets a better grade that teachers will start paying more attention to her, which she doesn't want. Before leaving she warns Riley that she's in big trouble if Maya gets called on in class. Lucas, who was listening nearby, advises Riley that she needs to learn to stand up for herself.
At home, Auggie, still an unseen ghost, again asks what if things were different and you didn't even know; Topanga is working at the kitchen table when Ava comes in complaining of "what that boy did to me today"; Auggie thinks she's talking about himself until the "boy" turns out to be Doy. Auggie has a hard time understanding what's going on until Topanga muses about what might have happened if Riley had a little sibling; Auggie begins to despair when he realizes that, in this story, he was never born. Later, while walking through the halls of AAHS, he decides that he needs to make things the way they're supposed to be. Seeing Farkle and Smackle about to pass one another in the hall, Auggie gets an idea and causes them to bump into each other, but it doesn't go well. Auggie then decides that he needs to go back to where it all began in an attempt to make things right.
At the Bay Window (still in the parallel present day), Riley is once again singing to herself when the window mysteriously opens (by way of Ghost Auggie using his powers) and Maya climbs through asking why Riley invited her over, showing her a note that got slipped into her pocket. Riley claims she never wrote the note, and then attempts to stand up to Maya, but now feels she doesn't need to as Maya begins to show signs that she is not who she claims to be. When she suggests that something happened in Maya's past that made her the way she is, Maya gets defensive and says her past is nobody else's business, and leaves. When this attempt to make things right also fails, Ghost Auggie begins to fade away.
The next day in Cory's class, Cory expounds on Riley's suggestion that events in history can have an effect on individual lives, and that the world is more than just names and dates. He then asks Maya if this is worth considering; when Maya asks Cory why he called on her, he shows her her homework (that Riley worked on) with a B-minus grade. Maya then whispers to Riley that she's going to call her out in the hallway after school at three o'clock. Auggie again addresses the audience saying that the story now seems all too real, and that he really wants to be here, but he continues to fade away.
As three o'clock approaches, Riley, alone with Cory in the classroom, asks him if he thinks there may be a parallel world in which history isn't about just names and dates. He now admits he does, but only because she got him thinking about it. He asks if Isaac Newton is important, to which Riley says yes because he discovered gravity, but she begins to realize that everyone is important for differing reasons, and she believes that Cory can make her see why they're all important. Cory says he believes there's an unseen force that knows how to hold onto people, to keep them from drifting away. Noting that he cares enough to show her that history is more than names and dates, Riley says she'll never forget it and thanks him before skipping out of the class. After she leaves, Cory admits to himself that he also feels changed and writes "Secret of Life" on the chalkboard, remarking that "people seem to change people".
At home, Ghost Auggie walks around saying goodbye to Topanga, but also to the couch and to the fireplace (which he didn't know they had), when Ava comes in and confesses to Topanga that she's breaking up with Doy and asks for cheese. Auggie sits down across from Ava as she's eating and says goodbye to her and that he loves her; Ava asks if Topanga said something, which she didn't, and Auggie is now even closer to fading away as gaping holes form all over him.
Back at the high school, Riley meets with Maya, who is surprised that Riley showed up at all. Maya asks how she could look at someone like her and see a B-minus, and Riley says she sees something better than that. She orders Maya to sit down and talk to her; when asked why, Riley replies she's a good listener, and that perhaps there's something they could say that would change each other, but Maya doesn't want to change. When Riley says she heard that Maya's father has deserted her, Maya angrily grabs Riley's large hair bow off of her head and throws it across the hall; she then calls Lucas out of the shadows and admits that perhaps she's not as tough as she wants people to think she is. Riley was unaware that Lucas was there the whole time, and Lucas says he felt as though he was meant to be there to prevent something from happening. When Maya asks Lucas if he thinks Riley needs protecting from her, Lucas replies "Maybe not any more". During their conversation, as they walk by together, Smackle asks Farkle if he thinks they could someday be more than just "arch-nemesis-es"; Farkle thinks it's possible and they walk away arm-in-arm.
Again, there's a loud rumble of thunder, which is noticed by Riley, and a flash of lightning noticed by Maya; the two look at one another and join hands; as Ghost Auggie walks up the hall toward them, the holes that have opened all over him close up and he returns to corporeal form. The lights come back on in the school and Riley asks Auggie what he's doing there. He is overjoyed that she can see him; Maya asks who he is, and Riley "introduces" him as her kid brother. Elated that he was actually born, Maya now says he's going to be "dead" and playfully chases him down the hall, leaving Riley and Lucas alone awkwardly smiling at one another.
The episode ends with another flashback to Riley and Maya's childhood: as before, Riley is alone singing in the Bay Window when Cory and Topanga come in. Reminding her that it's the first day of spring, Cory opens up the window to let Riley smell the flowers. After they leave, Riley resumes her singing, and an enticed Maya climbs through the window for the first time...