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


❝ KEEP IN TOUCH.
OKAY, MINKUS? ❞

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"Hey, Debbie, you wanna sign my. . ." Cory trailed off as the blonde ignored his offered yearbook, though he quickly turned to the next student. "Hey, Mike, let me sign your. . ." He didn't have much luck with the boy, either, and he turned back to his friends who were leaning on the lockers behind him. "Isn't this great? I mean, I love this week."

"Yeah, me too. Is it over yet?" Shawn asked as he raised his arm to deflect the swat Juliet aimed his way.

"I think it is," the redhead agreed. "It's our last week of high school ever."

"Exactly," Cory said. "I mean, look at Frankie and Joey. They're gonna be graduating this year and it only took them eight years."

The pair walked over to them. "Cory, Shawn," Frankie started. He glanced at the girl. "Cory and Shawn's friend. Because we have shared times both good and bad, we would be honored if you wanna sign these yearbooks we have pilfered."

"Wait, you took somebody else's yearbooks?" Shawn asked.

"But you get your own," Cory pointed out.

"Where's the joy in that?" Joey wondered as he shoved his yearbook at Shawn.

The curly-haired boy signed his name as he spoke: "you know what Shawn? Even Frankie and Joey have the spirit this week, right? I mean, what would you like me to say?"

"Just put down your address," Frankie answered.

"Yeah, and what time you're not gonna be home, you know. You don't have a big dog or nothing, do you?" Joey questioned Shawn.

Juliet rolled her eyes at their lack of subtlety as Frankie said, "you guys take care of yourselves and remember, always stay friends."

"That's nice, Frankie," Cory told him.

"Yeah, well, we like to think of ourselves as the Cory and Shawn of the underworld."

"I wanna be Cory!" Joey exclaimed. "Can I be Cory?"

"That makes me Shawn," his friend replied. "Come on, Joey."

As they left, Cory glanced at Shawn. "You see that guys, huh? Do you see how important this week is? Saying goodbye to people who've been around but we've sort of lost touch with."

"Like who?" Shawn asked.

"Well, I don't know. I guess there's nobody really like that." Cory's attention was drawn to a boy leaning against the opposite wall. "Hi, Minkus."

"Oh, now it's 'hi Minkus,'" he replied as he walked up to them. "For the last for years, it's like I haven't even been in the same school as you guys." His tone immediately softened as he laid eyes on the redhead. "Hey, Juliet."

The redhead startled, surprised by the boy's change in behavior. She hadn't thought that he'd still have a crush on her. As she opened her mouth to reply, she felt Shawn's arm loop around her waist to pull her closer. "Back off, Minki. That's my girlfriend you're talking to."

Minkus looked unimpressed. "You finally asked her out, then? It's about time." He turned to Juliet. "Now if you were my girl, we would've gotten together in elementary school without all the dancing around you and Hunter did."

Juliet smiled faintly. "Hello to you too, Minkus. We would've said 'hi' but we just never saw you around."

"Speak for yourself," Shawn grumbled under his breath.

"I was," Minkus replied. "I was just in the other part of the school."

"What other part of the school?" Cory asked.

"You know, over there," he replied. He gestured to a distant hallway.

The trio looked in the direction as the curly-haired boy shook his head. "Well, we don't go over there."

"Yeah, you go over there, you may never come back," Shawn agreed.

"Ah, that's crazy," Minkus said before he raised a hand. "Hey, Mr. Turner, wait up!"

🌎🌎🌎

"Well Shawn and Jules, I think the time has come to sign each other's yearbooks," Cory said as the three of them sat on the couch. "Shall we talk about it first?"

"No, no," the dark-haired boy replied. "Let's just do it."

"The 'ole switcharoo," Juliet observed as they exchanged books.

"Never say that again," Shawn told her as he opened Cory's.

"Boy oh boy. Where to begin, huh? What am I gonna say to you two? Man, this is gonna take me at least a week."

"I'm done," Shawn announced and he passed the book back.

"You're done?" Cory demanded and then he read the word. "'Hey?' You write 'hey?'"

"And I mean it."

"You can be a little more sensitive than that, Shawnie," Juliet scolded him. She handed her boyfriend his book.

He opened it up. "How is this any deeper?"

"It has your name in front," she explained as if it were obvious. "'Hey Shawnie' is much more personal than just 'hey.'"

"Which is why I stick to 'hey,'" he explained.

"Guys, you have to put in more effort than that!" Cory exclaimed. "These are like-these are like mementos about how we feel about each other. No, no, they're more like diaries where we share our personal thoughts and feelings—"

"Ew, feelings," Juliet interrupted him. She made a face. "I spent most of high school avoiding mine. Do you really think I'm gonna write them down and make them permanent?"

"Cory, it's our yearbook," her boyfriend agreed. "You know how I feel about you. Why do I have to write it down?"

"Because it's the spirit of the week, Shawn, Jules," Cory replied as he stood. "It's about this place. Now, why don't you care about this?"

"Look what we got," Topanga said as she walked over to the trio.

"Oh! Our senior rings!" Cory said happily.

"Yeah, they just got here," she leaned around the curly-haired boy. "You can pick yours up in the cafeteria Shawn, Peaches."

"No, I can't, because I didn't order one. They're stupid. They mean nothing. . . to. . . me. . ." he trailed off as he watched Cory slide the ring onto his girlfriend's finger. The dark-haired boy glanced over at his girlfriend with a hint of longing on his face.

Juliet remained oblivious of his change of mood and stood with him as she nodded in agreement. "They're just a waste of money that I'd rather spend on books."

🌎🌎🌎

"Welcome to your final week of Feeny, everyone," their teacher said as he walked into class. "Here's your assignment." He paused as everyone groaned. "Oh, be quiet. I'm tired too. Now this assignment is completely optional and is for no credit."

"Oh, well, I'll get started on it right away," Shawn said. "Oh look, I'm done!"

"That's right Mr. Hunter," Mr. Feeny told him as he approached the boy's desk. "You don't have to do it. I want you to write about what's in your heart during these last few weeks of school."

"Why are you looking at me?" Shawn asked. "I don't have to do it, right?"

"Do it, Shawn. It's no pressure. It'll be fun," Angela encouraged him.

"It would not be fun."

"I'm doing it and I'm getting an A," Topanga announced.

"It's for no credit, Miss Lawrence."

The blonde stood up slowly. "I have six hundred ninety-nine As." She approached their teacher and grabbed the lapels of his jacket. "I need one more! Give me the A, Feeny!"

"Okay, fine. You've got an A. You don't even have to do it. I'll give you an A because I'm scared of you," Mr. Feeny told her. "Now that makes an even seven hundred."

"Seven hundred. That's more than anybody, right?" Topanga demanded. She raised a finger to point it at the redhead. "Even more than her?"

"More than anybody," their teacher confirmed as she returned to her seat with a smug look on her face. As he walked past Cory, he leaned over to say quietly, "good luck in hell, Mr. Matthews."

🌎🌎🌎

"I finished my valedictorian speech," Topanga said to Juliet as they walked down the hall. "I hope it's good enough."

"Of course it is," the redhead told her immediately. "If you're good enough for Yale, any speech you write is child's play." They both ignored Cory's excited yells about chickens in the school.

"Oh?" Minkus approached the girls. "And what makes you so sure you're the class valedictorian, little missy?"

"Because she's Topanga," Juliet replied confidently.

"Well, I'm Minkus and I have six hundred ninety-nine As—" He broke off at the girl's loud "ha!" before he continued: "—which, according to my records is the same as Topanga's here."

"You counted As?" Cory asked incredulously. "What kind of sick psychopath counts As?"

"I'll tell you what to do, Stuart. You can go get Feeny's grade book and count them again," the blonde said.

"You did something." He turned to Juliet. "She did something, didn't she?"

"Sorry Minkus," she answered with a sweet smile. "You never stood a chance."

"Oh, she's evil, Juliet. She's an evil little girl."

"Yeah, but she's still one of my best friends."

🌎🌎🌎

"Well, the bell is about to ring. In a few minutes, you'll be flying out of here like your pants are on fire. But since this is our last class together. . ." their teacher trailed off as the bell rang, prompting all of the students except Shawn, Cory, Topanga and Juliet to bolt out of their seats. "Usually I time it better than that."

"We wanna hear what you have to say," Cory said.

"We've got time," Topanga agreed.

"Oh, well, I was just going to say good luck. The truth is, I'm not very good at saying goodbye," Mr. Feeny explained. "We're not going to get all sappy, are we?"

"We wanted to know if your decision had anything to do with us," Topanga said.

"Mr. Feeny, we know we haven't made life that easy for you these past couple of years," her boyfriend added.

"I mean, when you think about all the stupid stuff we pulled. . ." Shawn put in.

"It must have been exhausting," Juliet finished. "You have to be leaving because of us."

"Well, I am, but not because of what you've done to me but because of what you've done for me," Mr. Feeny told them.

"We haven't done anything for you," Shawn said with confusion.

"You four have given me more gratification in the past four years than I ever dreamed possible. You must know that."

"But you always complained about how difficult we were," Cory protested.

"Well, you are. But sometimes the things you complain most about are the things that you care the most about. Unfortunately, we don't always know until it's too late," Mr. Feeny replied. He picked up his briefcase and headed for the door, only to stop in front of Shawn's desk. "By the way, how's that paper coming?"

🌎🌎🌎

The quartet (plus Angela) sat next to each other on the front row seat that was placed on the stage. The faculty, staff and students were wearing black robes as the commencement ceremony began. Mr. Feeny stood at the podium and addressed the audience (which, in part, included all of Juliet's family, even Greg) as he began to speak: "I would like to welcome you all to the graduation ceremonies of the class of '98. Congratulations, we did it!" He paused as the students cheered. "And now it's time to introduce our valedictorian: a student who exemplifies academic excellence as well as extracurricular achievement and social conscience."

Minkus stood and shouted, "she got one more lousy A than I did!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Topanga Lawrence," their teacher continued as if there had been no interruption.

Applause followed Topanga to the podium as she took the older man's place. "Thank you, Mr. Feeny. Ladies and gentlemen, my fellow class members of the class of '98, I am very honored to be your valedictorian and I worked very hard on this speech. However, I'm not going to give it because I know somebody who could give a much better speech than I ever could. Ladies and gentlemen, my good friend, Shawn Hunter."

As the dark-haired boy stood, Juliet stared at him with wide eyes. "Shawnie?"

He gave her a quick, reassuring smile before he went to stand in front of the microphone. "Thank you, Topanga. You know, I read her speech. It kicked butt." He paused as the audience laughed. "I attended John Adams High School sporadically during the last four years. I barely have a C average and that's why I'm here. Mr. Feeny asked us to write about what we were feeling this weeks and of course I was feeling like I always do: I couldn't wait to get out of here.

"But now high school is over and just when I'm finally free, I find myself sneaking back into this place and sitting in the hall, thinking about my friends and all the time we spent here. And you, Mr. Feeny, I started thinking about how you've always told us what to do with ever telling us what to do. You taught us about life. I was thinking about how many times I screwed up while I was here, how I could've done better. I could've done better. That's, um, that's what I wrote. That's how I feel. I'm sorry. I could've done better. Congratulations to those of you who did."

🌎🌎🌎

After the ceremony, Juliet wove through the crowd of students as she looked for her family and her boyfriend, all of whom had gotten lost in the shuffle to exit the auditorium. Her diploma was clutched in her hand and the black robes billowed around her feet as she walked, yet a part of her couldn't believe that she'd actually graduated. Of course, she'd never doubted that she would, but it hadn't really dawned on her that she was no longer in high school. She could almost convince herself that she needed to return tomorrow and attend class like she had for the past four years.

Finally, she found Shawn towards the back of the crowd of well-wishers and hurried over to him. She smiled brightly up at him as she neared. "Shawnie!"

He turned and a similar expression appeared on his face, his eyes softening as he caught sight of her. "Hey, Julie."

Juliet slid her hand into his and grasped the boy's fingers tightly. "We did it, huh?"

"Who would've thought?" the dark-haired boy chuckled.

"I did," the redhead reminded him firmly. "I never doubted you would."

Shawn squeezed her hand gently. "And you're the whole reason why I'm here today." As she opened her mouth to protest, he cut across her: "no, really. I mean it. Without your constant nagging I never would've crossed that stage."

Juliet huffed and pouted slightly. "Well, I'm sorry if I cared more about your future than you did." Her sarcastic tone disappeared. "But seriously, Shawnie. I really am proud of you."

He leaned down to kiss her but the brims of their graduation caps got in the way; hers bumped underneath his nose, causing them to laugh before they tilted their hats backward. The redhead closed her eyes as her boyfriend's lips met hers, content to enjoy the moment.

"Woah, you know kissing leads to grandchildren, right?" Sam teased them as Juliet's family approached the couple.

The teens jumped away from each other as Juliet turned red-faced and flustered while Shawn gave the sandy-haired man a lazy grin. "That's what I'm hoping for. In the future, anyway."

The redhead buried her face in her hands, completely embarrassed as Daly came to her daughter's rescue— or so she thought. "Gentlemen, gentlemen, that's quite enough." She paused as Sam pouted before a smile appeared on her face. "We're only getting grandchildren when I'm eighty."

Eventually they let up, allowing the girl to recover as congratulations we exchanged. She received hugs from her uncle, her father and her mother. Greg stood off to the side as he watched the goings-on with disinterest, but when Juliet approached him, he extended his arm and patted her awkwardly on the head. "I suppose congratulations are in order," he said stiffly, "though you'd be more deserving of them if you'd been made valedictorian."

For once, his snide comments didn't bother her. "Thanks, Greg. As for valedictorian, Topanga's one of my best friends and she worked really hard for that spot. I didn't want to take that away from her."

Barron put a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder. "She certainly is her father's daughter. We'd both do anything to get out of a speech we don't want to write."

The pair exchanged a smile as Greg gave her a disapproving look. "You shouldn't be afraid of hard work, Juliet. Think about the opportunity you missed."

"Speaking of missed opportunities. . ." The redhead had noticed Minkus standing alone off to the side. "I'll be right back." Juliet excused herself and made her way over to the boy. "Hey, Minkus!"

He turned and his expression brightened. "When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st, so long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, so long lives this and this gives life to thee."

She grinned at him. "That's not from Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare's Sonnet eighteen, right?"

Minkus nodded. "Yes. I thought I'd try something new."

"New is good," the redhead agreed and the pair fell into a slightly awkward silence until she spoke again: "uh, congratulations, I suppose. Not that you need it."

"It's always nice to hear," the blond replied, "especially when it's from the prettiest girl I've ever known."

Juliet turned pink at the compliment. "Thank you. But, uh—"

"You have a boyfriend, I know," he agreed. "I'll lay off."

"It's just that I'd rather you not get beaten up," she joked. "You know how he can be." She rummaged around in the robe's pocket and pulled out the bulletin they'd received. "Hey, do you have a pen?"

"I think so," Minkus said and he searched his own pockets. "Aha!" He handed it to her. "I always come prepared."

"I expected nothing less," she told him as she tore off the front page. Using her hand as a table, she wrote down her name and a series of numbers before she handed the pen and paper to him. "Keep in touch. Okay, Minkus?"

As the girl turned to head back to her own family, the boy called after her: "hey, Juliet?" When she'd faced him again, he continued: "I always thought of you as my equal, you know." 

🌎🌎🌎

"I can't believe we've finally graduated high school," Juliet remarked as she and Shawn walked hand-in-hand down the now mostly empty hallways of their old school.

"I can't believe you're actually my girlfriend," the dark-haired boy replied with a goofy smile as he looked down at the redhead. "It looks like we're Romeo and Juliet after all."

The girl huffed before she repeated her words from long ago, "I don't need a Romeo, I'm an independent woman!"

"Yes, yes you are," he agreed, "but you can't escape the fact that our initials are R and J."

"No they're not?" Juliet said, her voice raising in question. "Your name starts with S, Shawnie."

"There's an R in Patrick and in Hunter," he pointed out.

"That's not— that—" She sighed. "Never mind. You're completely right."

Shawn chuckled and he pulled his hand from hers to wrap his arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry, Julie. I was only pulling your leg. S and J for Sonny and Cher is much better."

The redhead scowled up at him and gave him a firm push that had little effect as he laughed at her annoyance. "Shut up, Shawn."










The second hit.

[written may 2021]
[edited jun. 2022]