▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

❛ ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ ᴇʏᴇꜱ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ sᴇᴄᴜʀɪᴛʏ ɢᴜʏ ꒱


❝ I'M ALWAYS GONNA
BELIEVE IN YOU ❞

▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

Juliet perched on the arm of a green chair in the Matthews' living room as Shawn sat in the main part of the seat. Cory and Topanga occupied the couch and had SAT prep material spread out on the table in front of them. Shawn leaned across the gap and handed the pair a piece of paper. Cory glanced at the words. "It's a list of colleges."

"Yes, this is where I want the three of you to go," Shawn told him.

"Shawn—" Juliet started, ready to have this conversation for the tenth time.

"Even if I'm not going to school, the four of us should still be together," he continued.

"Okay 'University of Italy,'" Cory read. "Good old U of It."

"Yep. You guys hit the books, you're studying hard. Meanwhile, I'm out in the sun taking tourists around in my big canoe."

"It's called a gondola," Topanga corrected him.

"And that's why you're going to college," the dark-haired boy replied as he stood, making his way to the door.

"Wait, Shawn. You've worked too long to throw it all away now, okay buddy?" Cory protested.

"Why don't you take the SATs?" the redhead suggested. "I bet you'll do really well."

"Fine, fine," he returned to his seat. "I'll take your little test. What's ten minutes of my life, right?"

Topanga picked up on their lie. "Ten minutes? Shawn, they take at least—"

Cory quickly interrupted her, "Shawn, listen. You know, I bet if you take Feeny's review course, I bet you could knock them out in five, slugger."

"No. Too much school, too much Feeny." He tried to leave again. "Bye-bye. I'm going canoe shopping."

"Shawn—" Juliet repeated, more emphatically.

"Bye, Julie. See you later," Shawn cut her off, successfully making his attempt to escape.

Once he'd gone, the redhead turned to the remaining couple with an exasperated look on her face. "I swear I've had this conversation with him at least once a week since we first met. He is going to college."

"We want him to go to college too," Cory agreed, "but how do we do it Shawn style?"

"We could lower the difficulty," Topanga offered, "make it really easy so it seems like it doesn't require as much effort."

"But what about when he finds out it's not that way?" Juliet asked with a frown.

"He'll be in the test by then and too late to back out," the curly-haired boy reassured her.

🌎🌎🌎

At school the next day, they put their plan into action. Juliet sat next to Topanga while Cory faced them on the bench holding the SAT book open. The redhead was avidly watching the stairs, waiting for the dark-haired boy to make an appearance.

"Alright, he's here," she announced as soon as he rounded the corner.

"Okay, Cory, give me another one of those tough SAT questions," Topanga said slightly louder than necessary.

"Make sure it's super hard, Cor," Juliet added, glancing at Shawn as he obviously listened in.

"Okay guys. Here's a doozie. Kept me up most of the night," he replied. "Which of these ingredients does not make mud: dirt, water, or turkey?"

Shawn, who was now standing in front of them, answered immediately, "turkey."

Juliet clapped her hands in excitement and beamed up at him. "You're a genius, Shawnie!"

"Wow, Shawn, I didn't even know that one," Topanga added.

He smiled happily, pleased with the praise. "That came from Feeny's prep course?"

Cory raised the book up. "Well, it was only one of the tougher ones."

Their teacher, having overheard their conversation, leaned over the boy's shoulder. "Let me see that book."

He quickly stood and pointed to a random spot on the page. "Uh, see, Mr. Feeny? Right-right after this question. Which is sweeter: sugar or salt?"

"Sugar," Shawn replied quickly.

"Wow, two in a row," Topanga remarked.

"Good job," the redhead put in.

"Where are my glasses?" Mr. Feeny asked, patting his coat.

Cory scrambled to explain: "uh, see, what we're doing, Mr. Feeny, is we're just trying to show Shawn that, uh, through your review course, a student builds a certain level of confidence through a series of not-quite questions."

"It's really this basic?" the dark-haired boy asked in disbelief.

"Shawn, I don't want anyone misleading you," the older man replied. "My prep course involves a lot of hard work."

"Oh, then I don't want to do it."

"But it's fun," Cory told him.

"Tell him, Mr. Feeny. Tell Shawn about the carnival-like atmosphere of your prep course so that Shawn will join us," Topanga insisted.

"No."

Glancing at Shawn, Juliet stepped towards their teacher and said quietly, "please, Mr. Feeny. If Shawn doesn't at least put an effort in getting into college, he'll—"

"—start washing windows, playing the lotto," Cory interrupted her, "then, he loses his teeth and becomes a ward of the state."

"And that's not going to happen if I have anything to say about it," Juliet finished determinedly. "You know Shawn's smart, Mr. Feeny. He can do it."

"Well," he started, "if I tell him about the, uh, cake— well, then everyone will want to take the class."

"Cake?" Shawn asked.

"Yes, cake. Delicious cake, actually from the, uh, Westchester bakery," Mr. Feeny explained. "It's where we get the cakes. It's— uh— where we get them."

"Really? What else?"

"What, cake's not enough?" he sighed. "And then we have, a— uh, talent show some nights."

"This is amazing," Shawn said. "Julie, why didn't you tell me any of this?"

"We've tried the Cake Method before, remember? It doesn't really work," she answered.

"It'll work this time. I've never had Westchester cake."

"Uh, Mr. Hunter," Mr. Feeny began, "in between the hoopla, there will be learning going on."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cake, right?"

"Yes," he agreed reluctantly.

"Shawnie, don't forget that we have to study, too—"

"Great, we can start now," the boy replied. "Take me to the library, Julie."

🌎🌎🌎

The pair sat at a table in the library with study materials spread around them in preparation for use.

"Okay, what do we do first?" Shawn asked.

"Well, normally I start with my hardest subject and work to the easier ones as a reward," Juliet explained, "but that doesn't work for everyone. What's your favorite subject?"

"Lunch," he answered. "What SAT section is that?"

She gave him an amused, fond look and flipped to a section in the book. "Let's call that verbal. I know we've already tried this section but maybe grammar won't be too hard. It is the easiest one for me so it might be for you. What I do is I read the sentence in my head and if the answer isn't super obvious, I read it really quietly so I don't disturb anyone else taking the test. It usually makes it easy to spot the mistake."

She turned the book to him and used her pencil to circle the first question she wanted him to answer. Shawn took it from her but before he started, he looked up at the girl. "Julie?"

"Yeah?"

"D'you really think I'm a genius?"

The redhead looked up and was surprised to see that he didn't seem to fully believe her words. "I think you can be if you want to be. I do think you have great potential. I've told you before that you sell yourself short, Shawnie."

"Why do you believe in me so much?" he asked softly.

She shrugged. "You're a good person and my best friend. I happen to have a high opinion of the people I hang out with. I'm always gonna believe in you."

Even though she'd said the words easily and seemingly without much thought, they meant more to him than she would ever know.

🌎🌎🌎

After taking the SATs, the group of four stood outside Mr. Feeny's house and knocked on his door. He opened it and looked at them in confusion. "What in heaven's name—"

"Mr. Feeny, we got a few issues to discuss with you," Cory told him.

"Yeah!" Shawn said enthusiastically.

"We just came from taking our SATs," Topanga continued.

"Yeah!"

"How did you do?" he asked.

"Yeah!"

Juliet patted him on the arm. "That's enough, Shawnie. I think he gets the point." She turned her attention to their teacher. "That's why we're here, sir."

"I mean, for more years than I care to remember, you have driven us nuts by filling our heads with dates and ideas and numbers and concepts," Cory continued.

"Yeah, and with the last three weeks with that course of yours, drilling us, pushing us to the edge," Topanga added.

"Yeah, and making me eat cake." Shawn patted his stomach. "Five pounds right here, baby."

"And now that it's all over and we've taken the test, we had to come here and tell you to your face," Cory said.

"Thank you, Mr. Feeny," Juliet finished.

"Yeah, thanks a lot man."

"We owe everything to you."

"We finally understand why you pushed us so hard," Cory told him.

"You even believed in us when no one, not even ourselves did," Topanga put in.

"We're really glad you did." 

[written apr. 2021]
[edited may 2022]