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❛ ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ ᴇʏᴇꜱ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ɴᴏᴛᴏʀɪᴏᴜs ꒱


❝ IT IS A VERY RARE QUALITY
TO PUT A FRIEND'S WELFARE
BEFORE YOUR OWN ❞

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Juliet, Shawn and Cory went looking for the eldest Matthews boy after school to get their ride home. Peering into the newspaper editor's office, they heard a girl's voice say, "ah, Eric, yes. That feels so good. Don't stop!"

The redhead's eyebrows rose slightly as Cory joked, "okay, we found my brother." The three of them entered the room.

Thankfully, Eric was just rubbing the girl's shoulders as she typed away at a computer. "This personality profile of our new principal is superlative."

"Well, the man lives next door, glad I could help."

"Yes, well, you give a wonderful neck massage."

"You know, Molly, I'm more than just a pair of strong, masculine hands."

"Hopefully he's not including his brain in that sentence," Juliet whispered to the two boys who smirked in response.

"Well, of course you are my little cabana boy," Molly stopped typing. "Well, fini!"

"No, no, it's Feeny," he corrected her. "His name is Feeny."

"Fini is French for finished," the girl responded.

"Haha, the French. Our neighbors to the North."

"Hello!" Cory announced, breaking into their bubble.

"Not now, I'm working," came Eric's immediate response.

"You said you'd drive us home," the boy reminded him as he put the rat cages on the table. The sight of them caused Molly to scream.

"Hey, babe, you're wiggin' out the rats," Shawn scolded her.

"Rats?" she echoed fearfully.

"Yeah, we're studying natural selection," Cory explained. "We're gonna see if rats know the difference between natural cheddar and 'I can't believe it's not cheese!'"

"Yep, our D-plus rests on furry little Juliet, Shawn and Cory."

"Not my D-plus," Juliet cut in. "We're getting a B at least."

"You named the rats after yourselves?" Eric asked.

"Yeah, Shawn's the one chewing the lock, Juliet's asleep and I'm the one with the skin disease," Cory explained.

"Fitting personalities, really," the redhead commented, looking at her rat. She was probably fed up with having boy best friends and crushing on the escapee rat.

"Keep your little vermin away from tomorrow's edition of the school paper," Molly told them.

"Yeah, come on. Let's go all six of you rats," Eric agreed.

"Hey! Make that four rats," Juliet protested.

"Four?" Eric repeated.

"Little Shawn broke out?" Cory questioned at the same time. "I got him, I got him." He picked up the rat and moved it towards Molly's face. "He wants to kiss you! Please! He loves you!" The girl screamed and ran out, slamming the door behind her. "Come on, you kiss my brother!"

"Hey, thank you. Thank you very much. I finally get a brainy girl interested in me and you guys screw it up," Eric huffed before he pushed the door to try and open it.

"It's pull, idiot," Juliet pointed out.

"Oh, pull."

"Well, I gotta get home. I promised my mom I'd crack her back before American Gladiators," Shawn informed them.

Cory's attention had been pulled to the computer on the desk.

"What are you doing?" Juliet wondered tentatively, almost afraid of the answer.

"Check it out!"

"Oh! A screen full of Feen!"

"He's gonna be on the front page of the school paper?" the redhead noted, surprised. She supposed everyone would want to know the new principal.

"Won't it scare children?" Shawn quipped. 

He winced as Juliet poked his side. "Be nice!"

"It won't scare 'em if he's—" Cory paused and deleted the F to changing it to: "Teeny!"

"Oh! This has definite possibilities," Shawn mused before he pushed the curly-haired boy out of the way, "let me in there."

"Guys," the redhead warned them as she nervously glanced towards the door. This was not going to end well.

"Okay, the new principal is. . ." He began to type: "Beeny, Deeny, Geeny, Leeny. . ."

He paused before he changed it to Weeny. A part of Juliet felt bad for laughing but most of her was just enjoying the joke.

"Ha!" the two boys laughed as well.

"'The New Principal is Weeny,'" Cory read. "Can you imagine two thousand students reading this?"

"Power, ultimate power," Shawn grinned.

"Yeah, but we would never—" Juliet started as Cory finished, "would we?"

"Power! We'd be notorious! We'd be legends!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what are we now?" Shawn reasoned.

"We are lowly seventh-grade sewer scum who name rats after ourselves to feel important," Cory answered.

"And how do you feel about that?"

"Better than the guys with no rats!" Juliet cut in. "Seriously, we shouldn't do this."

"Hey, guys, wouldn't you rather be something special or would you rather be us?"

You are special, Juliet thought, though her eyes never left the word Weeny.

"Shawn, power like that in the wrong hands— it's dangerous." He changed it back to the proper name. "Alright, come on. Let's go."

Juliet followed Cory out of the office and Shawn joined them a minute later. At their questioning looks, he held up his hands defensively. "I did nothing!"

The girl knew it was a lie from the gleam of excitement in his blue eyes and sighed. Normally, she would have made an excuse, gone back to the office and changed the letter herself, but she was tired of covering for him. Like her rat, taking a nap seemed like a wonderful idea.

🌎🌎🌎

The next day, almost everyone was laughing at the newspaper. Juliet's conscience began to return and she felt that she really should've changed the letter. Mr. Feeny was new to the school just like them. He shouldn't have been disrespected like this.

"Do you see this?" Shawn inquired excitedly. "Do you see what we've done?"

"What you've done, Shawn," Juliet corrected him quietly. "I had no part in this."

He gave the redhead an almost betrayed look. "You should've stopped me, then."

She wanted to throw her hands up in exasperation but instead she sighed and ignored him to close her eyes and ask whatever higher power there was for patience. She opened them again when she heard Harley Keiner's voice. "Hey, look at this. His name's Feeny, they wrote Weeny. I'm laughin'. You laughin'?"

"Oh, yeah. I was just thinkin' of laughin'," Joey spoke up quickly. "I would've been laughin' but I was too busy listening to you Harley, but I think I'm ready now." Joey and Frankie laughed.

"They guy who could cook up somethin' like that— now that's a guy I'd like to have hangin' with me," Keiner continued.

"He would be a great addition to our organization," Frankie added.

"I'm thinkin' he could stand right where you're standin'," Keiner pointed to Joey.

"Well, then where would Joey stand?" Frankie pondered before he realized the implication. "Oh."

"Am I goin' for a ride?"

Juliet tried to grab Shawn's arm but he shook her off and approached the group. "Excuse me, Harley, sir— about that guy you wanted to meet—"

"Did I say you could eavesdrop on a Senior conversation? Did your little seventh-grade ears hear something they shouldn't have heard?" Harley demanded. "For your sake, I truly hope not."

"Yeah, 'cause Harley's got a whole locker full of ears from guys who've done the same thing. Their glasses hang crooked now 'cause they got no ears!" Joey added enthusiastically.

"How much to keep the ears?" Shawn asked, panicked.

"A buck."

"Thank you!" the dark-haired boy handed him the money before he quickly walked away.

"Shawn, are you father gone than I ever would've imagined?" Cory wanted to know. He showed the pair the newspaper. "What happened to your Juliet-consciousness?"

"No, no, I'm not gone! We've arrived! We are known! We rule the school, our fame will live here forever. Juliet agrees with me."

"No, I don't," the redhead replied flatly.

"Except nobody knows you did this," Cory added.

"What, you think that bothers me? I know we did it and that's good enough for me."

"I wonder who did this?" a girl marveled as she and her friend walked past the trio.

"If it was my boyfriend I would do anything for him," the other one sighed dreamily.

Juliet's eyes narrowed at the two girls as Shawn groaned. "Oh, it's killing me."

🌎🌎🌎

In English class, they were reading The Scarlett Letter and Mr. Turner had drawn a large A on the board. "Okay, in The Scarlett Letter, Hester Prynne has a red letter A on her dress. Now, everybody knows what the A stands for, right?"

"Boring?" Cory sassed, earning a few laughs.

"Hey, everybody, don't laugh at Matthews, okay? He's never seen an A before."

Juliet grinned at the rebuke before raising her hand. "Yes, Capelwood?"

"The A stands for adultery."

"Correct, Capelwood," he replied. "Okay, the buzz is all over the Massachusetts Colony that Hester has taken the 'pure' out of Puritan. It's a scandal, it's gossip." He picked up the newspaper with Weeny on it. "It could've come right out of today's headlines." Mr. Feeny walked in as the class laughed again. Their teacher greeted him. "Mr. Feeny, good morning."

"Actually Mr. Turner, I've had better," he admitted. "You see, I have been forced on this particular morning to go from room to room asking anyone with information about this little journalist prank to come forward." He held up the newspaper he'd grabbed from Mr. Turner. "I will go easier on the perpetrator if he or she or they voluntarily confess." He paused. "No? Very well. I will now return you to your lecture on-on the letter A." He nodded to Mr. Turner. "Keep up the good work."

🌎🌎🌎

Juliet knew it was a vain hope that all of this might blow over by the next day. Shawn was even more enthusiastic as he grabbed both of them and pulled them towards Feeny's office. "Okay, a rumor was going around school that the 'Weeny' headline was just a typo, that nobody did it," he explained. "Like I don't exist. Well, I happened to change that. Check it out: now I exist!" Cory gasped as the redhead's eyes widened. "What a beauty, huh? Looks like the real thing, doesn't it?"

"Except for this drip," Cory observed. He reached forward to wipe it away.

Juliet grabbed his wrist. "Wait," she told him, and pulled out a napkin to fix it before she tossed it in the trash. She tried to ignore the prickle of happiness she felt at Shawn's grateful look.

"You're out of control, Shawn," the curly-haired boy protested.

"Tell your friends," Shawn boasted.

🌎🌎🌎

"Miss Capelwood, a word please," Mr. Feeny called to the redheaded girl as she packed up her school bag.

"Sure, Mr. Feeny."

"Now, Mr. Matthews and two others were spotted at the computer office the day before the newspaper came out. Janitor Bud didn't see everything but I know that where Mr. Matthews goes, you and Mr. Hunter usually follow. I'm not saying you know or are the perpetrator of these pranks, but would you have any information that you can share about what happened that day?"

Juliet swallowed, not liking that she was lying to a teacher, especially one she respected. Maybe if she didn't say anything at all she wouldn't have to.

"I see," her teacher remarked. "Well, I will have to see you in my office after school tomorrow with Mr. Matthews. Three thirty, please."

She nodded, still unable to speak. As Mr. Feeny walked away, she closed her eyes. I hope you understand what you're making us do, Shawn.

🌎🌎🌎

"So, you gonna be shootin' some hoops today after school?" Shawn offered the next day.

"We can't," Juliet replied.

"We've got a little meeting with Mr. Feeny where he's gonna ask us some questions about something we didn't do and if I don't tell him who did, we get suspended."

"And I totally appreciate you doing this for me. I mean, after I blew up that mailbox last year, dad said one more screw up like that and he'd ship me off to military school," Shawn told them.

"You're not going anywhere," the redhead reassured him firmly.

"You know, we can only cover you for so long," Cory stated. He glanced at the girl next to him with a knowing look on his face.

"How long?"

"'Weeny, Weeny, Weeny, Weeny, Weeny, Weeny and Weeny.'" He looked up from the paper. "Don't be late, you two."

🌎🌎🌎

"Listen, about the headline and all, well—we're sorry for what happened," Cory apologized as he and Juliet sat on the chairs in Mr. Feeny's office after school that day. "Must've hurt being called. . . y'know."

"Wasn't as if I never heard it before. It was practically my nickname growing up." Mr. Feeny froze. "Uh, that's not to leave this room."

"I guess it's more of a big deal than we thought," Cory responded.

"As the principal of this high school, I'm expected to keep order. Unchecked, these pranks undermine my authority and breed disrespect."

Juliet looked down at her hands. "So I guess we'll get punished for something we didn't do," she murmured.

"Name the person who did and you walk out of here scot-free."

Juliet and Cory looked at each other. As the girl shook her head, Cory told him, "I'm sorry. We can't do that."

"You thought about this and that's your final answer?"

"Yeah."

"You've decided that protecting a friendship is more important the grisly punishment I shall now have to dispense?"

"Yes," Juliet replied firmly. "Even though he didn't mean to hurt anyone. He just wanted to do something that would make others see him as somebody special."

Mr. Feeny gave her a searching look. "To make others see him a somebody special?" he repeated. "Not himself?"

"He's already special," she refuted quietly as she avoided their teacher's sharp gaze.

"To be somebody special is a quality from within, Miss Capelwood. I know you know that. To give an example, I think it's a very rare quality for one to put a friend's welfare before their own."

"But just a second ago you wanted us to rat on him," Cory commented, confused.

"As your new principal, yes. But as your teacher, as someone who lived and watched you grow up, I never expected it for a moment."

Juliet looked up to see Mr. Feeny smiling slightly at them.

🌎🌎🌎

"So, how long are we suspended for?" Cory queried as they left Mr. Feeny's office.

"You aren't. Instead, you'll be given detention for five days— one for each letter in 'Weeny.'"

As Mr. Feeny opened the door to the hallway, the three of them saw Shawn, who was leaning against the wall eating a snack bar. "Which in this instance, should be properly spelled 'W-E-E-N-I-E' shouldn't it, Mr. Hunter?"

"You told him?" Shawn demanded of the two.

Juliet crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him as Cory huffed, "what d'you think?"

"I think you wouldn't," he squeezed his eyes shut. "I'm an idiot."

"They refused to rat you out, Mr. Hunter," Mr. Feeny informed him. "Now they face a week of detention in your honor. But the punishment for not getting caught, Mr. Hunter, is far far worse."

"I did it, Mr. Feeny. I confess!"

"I will be watching you every moment of your high school career which, in your case, could be decades," Mr. Feeny said calmly, looking at Shawn's panicked expression.

"But I just confessed!"

"Too late, Mr. Hunter. You are my new special friend."

"Why didn't you turn me in?" he pleaded desperately as he looked between Cory and Juliet.

🌎🌎🌎

"Juliet!"

The redhead paused on her way out the doors. Shawn joined her the next moment, slightly breathless. "It feels like it's been awhile."

"Someone's been busy with their reputation," the girl retorted lightly as she ignored the twist in her stomach.

"Right," he agreed. At least he had the decency to sound slightly abashed. "Well, I just wanted to ask— uh, would you really have been suspended for me?"

"Of course," she answered simply. "You asked me not to tell, so I wouldn't."

The twist in her stomach turned into flipflops at the way his expression softened. "Thank you, Julie. I know how important school is to you and for you to do that for me—"

"It's okay, Shawnie. That's what— what I'm here for," she finished, unable to say the word friends.

After a moment's hesitation, the boy threw an arm around the girl's shoulders. "Wanna walk home together like we used to?"

"I think you know the answer to that." Juliet grinned as they left the building together. 

[edited may 2022]