It's the first day of high school. It's a big day and yet Gwen's parents didn't seem to care. After Gwen took a shower and got ready for the day she went downstairs to the kitchen, not surprised to see no parents, and a note on the table. The note was from her parents. The note said they both had to leave early for work and that they were sorry for not being able to be there and that they love her.

Gwen isn't for sure if she even believed anything that was on the note. Lately she was starting to think they were just saying things to her just to make her happy, but not really meaning them. And to make matters worse, her parents are rarely home. For her mom, she came home late, sometimes drunk and sometimes not. That was one of the reasons why she's much closer with her dad. Her dad is home much more than her mom is, is a lot nicer to Gwen, and actually cares about her.

She grabbed an apple and her set of keys to the apartment as she walked to the door. She started eating her apple while leaving the apartment and, of course, she made sure to lock it before she left. She went to the other end of the hallway where her uncle's apartment happened to be. She was glad her uncle lived in the same apartment building because then she really would be living on her own considering the fact her parents are barely home.

"Uncle Jon, I'm entering your apartment now!" She announced, not bothering on knocking as she opened the door. She knew it was unlocked because her uncle had told her the night before he would unlock it in the morning for her. 

Jonathan knew she would come over, Gwen always went over to his place every morning on a school day. The fact that he's her ride to school also was why she went over to her uncles each school day. When it wasn't a school day she would still come over in the afternoon. She just feels more comfortable and more at home at her uncle's place. Jonathan always assured her that she's always welcomed at his place. Gwen even has her own room there.

"Mornin', Gwenny!" Jonathan greeted, walking down the few steps that led to the second floor as he fixed his tie. Gwen closed the door behind her, continuing to eat her apple as she walked further into the apartment.

"First day of high school. You excited?" Jonathan asked, looking at her with raised eyebrows.

Gwen stops eating her apple to reply. "Yeah." She bites her lower lip, feeling nerves bubbling up inside her. "And a little nervous." She was going to a new school. It was intimidating but also exciting.

"You're gonna be fine." Jonathan assures her, sending her a smile. "And you can always come to me when something is bothering you at school."

Gwen sends him a smile. "Thanks, Uncle Jon. It's gonna be cool to have you as a teacher," She grimaces. "But please don't embarrass me."

Jonathan looks at her with offense. "I would never!" Gwen gives him a 'yes you would' look and he sighs. "Okay, I would, but I promise to do my best not to embarrass you."

"That's all I'm asking for." Gwen smiled.

****

Jonathan drops Gwen off at the Matthews, knowing that she always went with Cory and Shawn for their first day of school. It was kind of like a tradition for the three best friends. Gwen wished her uncle good luck and told him that he was going to do a great job at teaching before he left. Jonathon appreciated her words since he was honestly nervous about his first day of teaching, but he knew he would be just fine. 

Gwen walked to the backyard over to where the side door is that leads to the Matthews' kitchen. She saw Shawn run by her, confused at why he looked panicked and was running to the Matthews' house. Shawn had noticed her when he passed her and stopped before going inside. 

Shawn turns to face her and smiles. "Gwen, there you are!" 

Now that he got a better look at her up close, he could see how different she looked since last school year. Like for example, she now has bangs and her brunette-colored hair grew longer, beautifully framing her face. Gwen could feel her face heat up the more he stared at her with an awe-struck expression. She noticed that Shawn looked different. The side burns were what got her attention which made her confused because yesterday he didn't have those.  

Shawn blinks, shaking his head to get out of his daze when he realized he was staring at her longer than he should. "Come on, I gotta tell Cory the bad news."

Gwen raises her eyebrows at him, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "What's the bad news?"

"You're gonna find out." Shawn responded, turning back to the door and opened it as he ran inside.

Gwen chuckles and follows him inside, closing the door behind her. "Cory! I lost my copy of the plan!" Shawn exclaimed.

Gwen nods in realization, now knowing why he looked panicked. "I knew that stupid plan wouldn't work anyway. But did anyone listen to me?" She dramatically dragging out the next word she says as she rolls her eyes. "Nooo."

Shawn sighs, shaking his head as a frown forms on his lips. "I knew I shouldn't have left the old school. I was so cool in the old school. They had no right to pass me-I am an idiot!"

"You're not an idiot. You're just a boy who does stupid things at times." Gwen corrects him. She narrows her eyes at Cory when he chuckles. She points at him. "The same goes for you."

"See?" Mrs. Matthews cut in, gesturing to Gwen and Shawn. "Shawn and Gwen aren't reinventing themselves." She glances at Gwen, just then noticing the different hair and smiles. "Ooh, nice hair style."

Gwen smiles. "Thanks, Mrs. M."

"Shawn, are those side burns?" Mr. Matthews asked Shawn when he noticed the side burns.

Shawn glances at him with a smile. "You mean the ones on my face?"

"It's just that when we saw you yesterday," Mrs. Matthews gets up from the kitchen table and walks over to the three best friends who stood by the side door. "They weren't on your face, were they?"

"Mrs. Matthews," Shawn puts his hands on Cory's shoulder and Gwen's shoulder, standing behind the two as he looks at Mrs. Matthews. "You just can't accept the fact that Cory, Gwen, and I are growing up and we're old enough now to..." A defeated expression forms on his face and he takes his hands off Cory's and Gwen's shoulders when Mrs. Matthews sent him a look. "Buy our own hair." 

"You, uh, got a glue spot on your cheek." Mrs. Matthews observed and reached forward to get it off.

Shawn sheepishly smiles. "Yeah, thanks."

"Alright, look, we've got all the answers to high school right here," Cory holds up the notebook he has. "Having a big brother finally paid off."

"Cor, sign this." Eric said to his brother as he walked into the room. 

Cory takes the paper from him. "'With regards to my brother, Eric Matthews, hereafter referred to as Oh, Great One. I, Cory Matthews-hereafter referred to as insignificant speck-pledge never to contact The Great One verbally or non-verbally during any and all school hours, from this day forward, forever and ever. Amen.'"

"Hey, nice to see you're looking out for your little brother on his first day." Mr. Matthews noticed.

"Dad, word gets out I'm related to a seventh grader, I lose all my status." Eric explains. "I mean, I might as well strap on a tuba and join the band."

"So your social status means more to your brother?" Mrs. Matthews asked, looking at him with raised eyebrows. 

"Mom, look, I don't like walking all over Cory anymore than you do. It's just to keep up appearances. I mean, he's my brother. Of course I love him." Eric put an arm around Cory's shoulders, obviously not doing a good job at convincing everyone that what he said is true.

"Amy, Alan," Mr. Feeny greets as he walks inside. He glances at everyone else. "Etcetera."

"So, Mr. Feeny are you feeling any regret that you're losing us from your class?" Cory inquired.

"Only feeling that way about Ms. Calloway." Mr. Feeny replies and Gwen smiles brightly. She knew that he liked her whether he wanted to admit it or not. He points at Cory and Shawn. "You two on the other hand, no."

"What seems to be the problem, George?" Mrs. Matthews asked Mr. Feeny.

"There is a large, rusty object blocking not only my driveway, but most of the light into my kitchen." Mr. Feeny replied in an upset tone.

Eric smiles proudly. "That's my new car."

Mr. Feeny looks at him. "May I assume it moves?"

"Sure, like the wind. Especially downhill," Eric responds. He's quiet for a few seconds as he realized something. "Oh, you want me to move it?"

"Well, we certainly can't count on anyone stealing it." Mr. Feeny responded.

Shawn turns to his two best friends while Eric and Mr. Feeny left. "You know, it just hit me. High school means we're through with Feeny."

Cory grins. "This is the greatest day of our lives."

"Yes!" Both boys cheered and did their signature handshake they often did. Gwen was surprised when they paused in the middle of it which was something they never did. "You know what, Shawn?" Cory said. "We're in high school now."

"Yeah," Shawn nods. "We do have to be cooler."

In result they did the same handshake but slower this time and Gwen couldn't help roll her eyes at their antics. "You two are dorks."

They grin at her as they continued to finish their handshake slowly. "But we're your dorks."

Gwen chuckles lightly and a wide smile tugs on her lips. "Yeah, you are. I'm you're dork, too."

****

"This is it, high school!" Cory exclaims excitedly, opening the doors to the high school building. "What happens to us now will determine our futures."

Shawn glances at Gwen with a worried look. "Are my side burns on straight?"

"Your side burns are stupid." Gwen bluntly replied, sending him a sweet smile. Shawn playfully rolled his eyes and mocked her.

"Look, it's just a school. There's the lockers, there's a class, and..." Cory pauses in the middle of his sentence when a boy around their age walks by in only his underwear. "A kid in his underwear."

"They took my clothes!" The boy exclaimed.

"Who?" Cory asked.

"The seniors." The boy replies. "Seniors took my clothes."

Cory is the one to ask questions again. "Why?" 

"Just 'cause I'm a new guy." The boy responded.

A worried look forms on Cory's face. "Well, I'm a new guy."

"Well, good luck to ya." The boy said to him before he walked away.

"That was weird." Gwen commented, fiddling with the end of her right sleeve which was something she did when she was nervous. Yes, she was much more nervous now that she was standing in a high school hallway. Everything seemed so much different already and it seemed like everyone was taller than her. Why did she have to be so short?

"Don't worry about it." Cory speaks in a reassuring tone, turning to face his best friends. "He must've had it coming. He must've done something-"

"Hey," A larger boy interrupted him, picking Cory up and pinned him against the nearby wall of lockers.

"What did I do?"

"You were almost in my way." The larger boy answered Cory's question.

Cory flips through the notebook he had. "You're Frankie Stechino, right?"

"Yeah." Frankie sets Cory down as another boy with long blonde hair stood beside him. "How'd you know?"

Gwen and Shawn move over to stand beside Cory. "'Strong territorial sense.'" Cory read off what his notebook said.

"We were just looking for our homeroom." Shawn chimed in.

The long-haired boy beside Frankie points at a nearby locker. "It's in there."

"In there?" Shawn pointed at the locker the long-haired boy pointed at.

The long-haired boy nods. "Right there."

"Thank you. Thank you very much." Shawn went over to the locker and opens it. "Hey, I'm the first one here." He glances at Gwen. "Get over here, Gwen."

"Not gonna happen." Gwen shook her head. She wasn't going to do something just because some older guys told her to do it. 

Frankie looks at her with an intimidating stare. "If you know what's good for ya, I think you'll go with side burns."

"I can do whatever I want whenever I want." Gwen stands her ground, glaring at Frankie and the boy beside him and she points at them. "I don't have to listen to you two jerks."

"Gwen," Cory gets her attention, speaking in a nervous tone and Gwen glances at him. "Probably not the best idea to say something like that to people like them." 

Gwen glances back at Frankie and the long-haired boy, just then realizing how they practically towered over her. She still didn't move and did her best not to look like she was scared because honestly these two older boys were kind of scary. "And my friends did nothing wrong so leave them alone!" Gwen said to the two boys, looking at them with a glare as she crossed her arms. "And besides, Cory wasn't even in your way."

"And I still wouldn't be in your way if I was in homeroom." Cory chimed in, pointing at the locker Shawn was in with a nervous smile on his face.

Frankie shakes his head. "I don't get it."

The long-haired boy beside him puts a hand on his shoulder. "I think he's saying that if he was in someplace else, he wouldn't be here."

Frankie turns to face him. "What? Are you saying I'm gay?"

The long-haired boy shakes his head, looking panicked. "No! No! I didn't say that. Come on, let's finish him off."

"No." Frankie shakes his head, walking away. "I need to be alone with my thoughts." The long-haired boy went after him. 

When they were gone Gwen turns to face the locker behind her that Shawn was in and opens it. "Shawn, you can get out of your hiding place now."

"No, thanks." Shawn shakes his head. "I think I feel a lot safer in here." He grabs the locker door to close it but stopped when he noticed an older girl walking by. "But the view is better out here." Gwen stepped to the side to stand beside Cory as Shawn got out of the locker, closing it behind him while he stared at the blonde-haired girl who walked by with a dreamy look on his face.

Gwen didn't know why hearing him say that and watching him watch the older girl walk by made her feel upset. "You guys, if Harley Keiner is the biggest and meanest, then who were those two who almost killed us?" Cory questioned.

Shawn looks at him and Gwen with wide eyes. "What if they were the nice guys or what if they were the welcoming committee?"

"If they were the welcoming committee they're not welcoming or friendly at all." Gwen remarked, shaking her head.

A panicked look forms on Cory's face. "What is this place?"

Gwen notices a familiar blonde-haired girl walking over to them and she shared a smile with her when they locked eyes. Gwen and Topanga have known each other since pre-school, but they didn't become friends until middle school and have been best friends ever since. It was nice to have a girl best friend for once. Being best friends with boys was a lot to handle at times.

Cory and Shawn let out a small scream when someone tapped their shoulders. That someone being Topanga. "Hi." She greeted, looking at the two weirdly as they turned around to face her.

"Topanga!" Cory smiled widely, outstretching his arms along with Shawn.

Topanga pushes the two boys away, looking at them weirdly again. "What's with you guys?"

"We just missed you that's all." Cory responds, pushing Topanga in front. "Walk in front of us."

"Yeah, you should too." Shawn agreed, giving Gwen a gentle push to be in front of him and Cory next to Topanga.

"What are you staring at?" The blonde-haired girl asked, turning around to face the two boys along with Gwen, who stared at them with raised eyebrows and crossed arms.

"Um...Nothing." Shawn stammers out a reply. "New blouse?"

Topanga nods. "Yeah, I got it over the summer."

Shawn slowly nods. "Summer was very good to you."

Gwen feels a sickening feeling, rolling her eyes, thinking how boys are stupid and sometimes pigs. Out of nowhere Shawn had just started paying more attention to Topanga which confused her. "Yeah, well, at least what I grew is real." Topanga remarked, reaching forward to pull off the side burns off Shawn's face.

Gwen covers her mouth to stifle a laugh, feeling better at what Topanga did. "Ow!" Shawn winced, touching the sides of his face where the side burns were. 

Gwen glances at Topanga, nudging her to get her attention. "I missed you." Topanga smiles brightly and nudges her back. "I missed you too."

The bell rings a few seconds later, signaling for everyone to get to class. "That's homeroom." Topanga observes. She looks at the trio. "I checked the list, we're all together. Room 218. We have Mr. Turner."

Gwen's eyes widen upon hearing that. Her uncle is going to be her homeroom teacher. She sighed. This is going to be a long year. She didn't have a problem with him being just a normal teacher for her, but now that he's going to be her homeroom teacher she was worried.

"Turner, Turner..." Cory said as he flipped through the notebook he had, walking with his friends to homeroom. "He's not on here. " The four of them stop walking when they got near room 218. Cory turns to face each of them with a panicked expression. "What if he's was so bad Eric didn't want to tell me anything? What if he was just like Feeny...Only Feenier?"

"You guys," Gwen speaks up and they each look at her. "Our homeroom teacher is my uncle." 

Cory, Topanga, and Shawn look at her with wide eyes. "You're uncle?"

"Yeah." Gwen sighs heavily. "Sad but true."

"Hey, I met your uncle. I like him, he's a good guy." Shawn comments, sending Gwen a smile and Gwen smiled back at him, happy that he feels that way about her uncle. Since Gwen and Shawn knew each other their whole lives and she basically spent all of her time at her uncles Shawn had met her uncle and the two get along well. "I'm sure he won't be that bad of a teacher. But anyway, teachers are the one thing here I am not afraid of. I haven't met one yet that I couldn't take down."

"Not that I would do a thing like that to your uncle." Shawn quickly added, looking at Gwen with a sheepish smile.

Gwen rolls her eyes and chuckles. "Yeah, whatever." She heard footsteps nearby, noticing her uncle walking down the steps that were near them. What stood out from him from the other teachers were the fact that he wore sunglasses inside, wore a leather jacket, and held a bike helmet which was what he wore when he rode his motorcycle. 

Jonathan looks over at them as he walked by, sending the group a smile. "Hey."

"Hey." The four of them spoke in unison.

Cory points at Gwen's uncle who was now using the payphone. "That is Harley. I know it. That is Harley Keiner."

Shawn exchanges a glance with Gwen. "You want to tell him or should I?"

"You can, Shawnie." Gwen replied, patting his shoulder.

Shawn nods, looking at Cory. "Cor, that guy is Gwen's uncle."

"What?" Cory's eyes widen, looking at him with disbelief. He glances at Gwen for confirmation, and she nodded. He shakes his head. "No, you two are lying. He's too cool to be an uncle. That has to be Harley Keiner." He smiles. "And I think I made a very good first impression."

As Cory rushed over to Gwen's uncle, Gwen sighs, shaking her head. "He's gonna figure it out the hard way."

Shawn crosses his arms. "That's what he gets for not believing us."

"Excuse me, sir," Cory gets Jonathan's attention when he was done with the payphone. "My name is Cory Matthews, and I want to be your friend." 

Jonathan picks up his briefcase he sat down and nods, beginning to walk to his classroom. "Cool."

"Yeah." Cory smiles. "I'll hold your coat for you, I'll stand in lunch line for you, I'll even do detention for you."

Jonathan stops and turns to face him. "Yeah, nice offer. Why don't you just do the homework?"

"I'm not sure you want me to be doing your homework." Cory replied.

"I want all of my students doing the homework." Jonathan said, taking off his sunglasses.

Cory's eyes widen. "You're so mean they gave you students?"

Jonathan nods. "They give all the teachers students." He smiles. "I'm Jonathan Turner. You can call me Mr." He glances at Gwen. "That goes for you too, Gwenny."

Gwen pouts. "I can't just call you Uncle Turner instead?"

"Nope." Jonathan responds and walks to his classroom. The bell rings again, signaling for class to start. He points at the ceiling, sending her a teasing smile. "You're late for your uncle's class, by the way." He points at Gwen's friends. "All of you are late." 

Gwen's shoulders slump as she sighs, following her uncle into the classroom with her friends. "Yeah, yeah, we know."

****

"Okay, I'm here for homeroom, I'm here for English, and I'm here for anytime you just want to talk." Jonathan said as class began. He sat on the edge of his desk, his feet leaning on top of one of the student's desks in the front row. The four friends sat like how they usually did in class. Topanga in the front row, Cory in the middle seat behind her, Shawn in the back row behind him and Gwen in the back row sitting beside the left side of Shawn.

Cory grins. "Cool."

Jonathan raises his eyebrows at him. "Did I say that you could talk?"

Cory furrows his eyebrows. "I thought so."

Jonathan stands up. "You trouble, Matthews? You're the guy who's going to bring down the new teacher?" He walks over to glances at Gwen, who sat in the back row beside Shawn. "Why didn't you warn me about him?"

"'Cause I warned you about Shawn." Gwen replied, pointing at the dark-haired boy, who was avoiding eye contact with Jonathan when he looked at Shawn.

"Ah, yes, that makes more sense." Jonathan nods, walking around the aisle to stand beside the right side of Shawn. "Since Shawn is supposed to be real trouble, Shawn is really going to try to avoid making eye contact." He stands beside Shawn, seeing that Shawn was looking anywhere else but him. He smiles at the dark-haired boy. "Hi, Shawn."

Shawn glances at him. "How ya doin'?"

Jonathan nods, sitting on the edge of the student's desk behind him. "I'm good. So, Shawn, buddy," He shows Shawn the book he's holding. "You know anything about The Odyssey?"

"Sir," Shawn sheepishly smiles. "I'm sure you've known me long enough to know that the only thing I know about it is the fact that it's a book."

"I was just checking." Jonathan said and got up to go back to the front of the check. "Who knows what odyssey means?"

A few students raised their hands, Gwen included, but Jonathan points at Topanga and they all lowered their hands. Jonathan leans his hands on Topanga's desks, whispering to her, "What's your name?"

"Topanga." Topanga replied.

Jonathan nods and stands up straighter. "Topanga."

Smiling, Topanga nods as she answers Jonathan's question. "It means a difficult journey."

"Yes, it does." Jonathan nods. He looks at the class. "An epic journey about a guy just trying to get home alive." He takes a seat on the edge of his desk. "In fantasy worlds with characters who have these ancient notions about loyalty and heroism."

"Yeah, who wants to read that?" Cory asked.

"Apparently you do." Jonathan sits the book he held on his desk and stands up, walking over to Cory and points at a comic book that he was somewhat hiding underneath his binder. "What is that, X-Men?"

"No, it's-" Cory went to stop him from taking the comic book but Jonathan was too fast.

"What, I don't know X-Men when I see it?" Jonathan questions, glancing at the comic book he held as he made his way back to the front. "It's a great issue, isn't it?"

Cory looks at him with surprise. "You read X-Men?"

Jonathan scoffs, taking a seat on the edge of his desk and kicks his feet up on a student's desk again. "Do I read X-Men? Fantasy worlds, epic heroism. Yeah, I read X-Men." He looks up from the comic book to look at the class. "In fact, let's all read X-Men." He stands up, picking up the book on his desk. "Your assignment is to read The Odyssey," He shows the book and the comic book he held to the class. "And this issue of X-Men."

Cory grins, outstretching his arms. "Finally! A cool teacher." Still grinning, he glances at Gwen. "He's so cool." Gwen chuckled quietly and nodded in agreement.

"My friend, Mr. Matthews will lead the discussion on the similarities and the differences." Jonathan spoke.

Cory's grin falls and he glances at Gwen and Shawn. "Feeny with an earring."

****

"Guys, he's on to us." Cory said to his best friends as they walk out of the classroom. "He singled us out."

"No, Cory." Shawn stops in the middle of the hallway, turning to face him. "He singled you out on the first day. He singled Gwen out and she singled me out."

Gwen shrugs when he looked at her with an annoyed expression. "Hey, if I was going down you were going down with me."

Shawn sighs. "Yeah, okay, why not."

"So, where's the next stop on this misery bus?" Cory asked, getting out his schedule the same time Gwen and Shawn do.

"'Earth Science'." Shawn read off his next class. "Let's go."

The bell rings, but Gwen didn't care about that. She cared about the fact that she doesn't share the next class with Shawn. "This can't be right." She groans. "I have math." She frowns, glancing at Shawn, who looked at her with a sad expression since he didn't have the same class. "And I hate math. Now I'm gonna hate math even more without you in the same class."

"I don't have earth science or math. I've got history." Cory looked at his two best friends with a frown.

"Wait a second..." Gwen started, trying to stay close to the boys when some students started bumping into the three of them when they walked by.

Shawn speaks next. "You mean..."

"We're going to be separated?" Cory finished the question.

"No!" The three yelled, looking at each other with panic. Despite reaching out to each other, they were still pushed away from each other as more students walked between them. 

"No, Gwen, Shawn!" Cory shouted.

"Cory, Gwen!" Shawn exclaimed.

"Cory, Shawn!" Gwen called out, fear rushing through her when she realized she couldn't see her two best friends over the crowd of students anymore.

****

The best friends reunited at lunch. Cory filled Gwen and Shawn in about his run-in with Harley while they walked into the cafeteria.

"Well, you got off to a rocky start, but at least you made it to lunch." Shawn tries to encourage Cory. He then notices what Cory was eating for lunch. "Chicken, how appropriate."

The three find a place to sit at an empty table as Cory speaks. "You know, I wish it was macaroni and cheese. Because when Harley punches me and I puke on him, it will make a bigger mess."

"This is a time where you go for a family member for help." Gwen tells him, gesturing with a nod of her head to where Eric sat with two girls. "Like your brother."

"I can't." Cory shakes his head. "I signed that contract."

"Shawn and I didn't." Gwen spoke, standing up along with Shawn and they went over to the table Eric sat at.

"Pst!" Shawn whispers to the blonde-haired boy. "O, Great One."

"Gwen, Shawn, what are you doing here?" Eric hisses at them. He then smiles at the two girls sitting with him. "Uh, I'm just calling them that. I don't know their names are Gwen and Shawn or anything."

"Too bad." The brunette-haired girl commented, eyeing Shawn. Shawn giggled, his face turning pink, and Gwen looked at him with amusement.

"Eric," Gwen turns to face Cory's older brother. "We need to talk about someone who may or may not be your brother." She said, remembering how he made a deal with Cory that in school hours he has no brother. "It's important."

"Okay, fine, you two follow me." Eric sighed, standing up and Gwen and Shawn followed him off to the side.

"What's wrong?" Eric asked.

"Cory met Harley. Cory tried befriending him. Harley doesn't like him and now wants to kill him at three o'clock." Gwen explained.

Eric's eyes widen. "Tell him to stand by the water fountain." 

****

Gwen and Shawn got to the main hallway when it was three o'clock. "Neve and I got here as quick as we could." Shawn said to Cory.

Gwen couldn't help the smile that formed on her face upon hearing Shawn call her the nickname only he used. "We're here for you, no matter what happens." Gwen assured Cory.

Cory smiles at her and Shawn. "Thanks, you guys, but I'm pretty sure this is something I got to face alone."

"We're not leaving whether you like it or not." Gwen spoke in a firm voice. She wasn't just going to let Cory do this by himself and it seemed like Shawn wasn't going to either since he nodded his head in agreement with her.

"Yeah, if we left you here alone it wouldn't feel right." Shawn said.

The blonde-haired girl from earlier that day who walked by them had walked around the corner. She smiles at Shawn. "There you are, Shawn."

Shawn smiles at her and the blonde-haired girl walks down the steps over to him. "Now it feels right." Gwen rolled her eyes, watching him leave with the blonde-haired girl with a look of annoyance.

"You okay, G?" Cory questioned, noticing her expression when Shawn left with that girl. Recently he noticed how different she had been acting around Shawn and it made him wonder if she started to have feelings for him.

"Yeah," Gwen sends him a smile. "I'm fine." An idea appears in her head, and she begins to slowly back away. "I'm actually gonna go talk to my uncle, but I'll be right back."

She jogs down the hallway and out the school to see her uncle was sitting on his motorcycle. "Gwenny, you ready to leave?" Jonathan inquired.

"Not really." Gwen shakes her head. She must've looked worried because Jonathan then looked at her with concern and asked her what was wrong. "Cory is in trouble. He needs help."

Jonathan didn't need to hear anything else, what Gwen said was enough to get him off his bike and follow her into the school.

The uncle-niece duo got back inside the school to the main hallway just in time. Gwen was surprised to see Eric standing beside Cory, but she was happy because Eric being there meant he really does care a lot about Cory. Harley was just about to punch Cory and Eric was pushing him away when Jonathan decides to speak.

"It's three o'clock, guys." Harley backs away from the Matthews siblings as Gwen and her uncle walks over to them. "It's time to go home." Jonathan continues. "We got to hose the place down."

Harley points at him. "Who the heck are you?"

Jonathan sets his stuff down on the railing of the stair ledge. "Oh, I'm your worst nightmare. I'm a teacher."

"Pretty scary, ain't he?" Gwen asked in a sarcastic tone, looking at Harley with a smirk as she crossed her arms.

Harley ignores her comment and looks at her uncle. "Oh, you're a teacher. No wonder I don't recognize you. What do you teach?"

"Oh, English Lit and kick boxing." Jonathan replies. "What seems to be the problem?"

"Nothing." Harley shakes his head. "We were working it out."

"Actually, it looks like you're about to pound this kid to the ground." Jonathan said, walking over to stand between Cory and Harley. He puts his hands on Harley's shoulder, guiding him away from Cory and Eric. "That's a problem for me. You see, if one of my students gets killed the first day, pff, I look bad."

"People start to talk, I get a reputation. I'm careless with students." Jonathan continues. "So do me a favor. Don't kill my student." He took his hand off Harley's shoulder, putting his hands on his hips.

Harley looks at him. "Could I take you?"

"Nope." Gwen answers, popping the 'p' as she spoke. Her uncle answers the same time with, "Nah."

Harley points at Cory. "Well, I could've taken the kid, though."

Jonathan smiles, patting Harley's shoulder. "Good for you."

Harley walks away and Gwen and Jonathan turn to face the Matthews siblings. "So, Odysseus, looks like you may get home safely." Jonathan said to Cory with a smile on his face.

Cory smiles at him. "Thanks, Mr. Turner. I'll see you tomorrow." He looks at Gwen with a small smile. "Gwen, I know that you brought your uncle over here. Thank you for basically saving me."

"You're welcome. You're one of my best friends, Cor." Gwen smiles back at him. "I'll always got your back."

Cory's smile widens. "And the same goes to you."

Jonathan pats his niece on the shoulder, his way of telling her he was leaving. He gets his leather jacket and helmet, beginning to walk to the exit with Gwen following him. "Read the book." He called out to Cory.

Cory outstretches his arms. "I lived it."

A/N yay, got the first chapter up ! i already love gwen, shawn & cory so much. i would love to have a teacher like jonathan. he's so cool