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❛ ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ ᴇʏᴇꜱ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐒𝐈𝐗 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴡʜᴏ's ᴀғʀᴀɪᴅ ᴏғ
ᴄᴏʀʏ ᴡᴏʟғ? ꒱


❝ A GIRL FINALLY LIKES YOU
& YOU GOTTA OFF HER ❞

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Juliet was dressed in her usual costume of Shakespeare's Juliet but this time her dress was torn and bloody. She wore pale face make-up with dark eyes and had teased-up red hair to pretend she was Juliet-from-the-dead. As always, Shawn came to her house first and knocked on the door. Her mother hadn't been able to take off work for this holiday so it was just the redhead waiting for her best friend (crush.) She had promised her mother that she'd still take pictures of their outfits.

When she opened the door, she burst out laughing. "Wow, you have amazing imagination. I should've gone as Topanga!"

Shawn grinned at her. "I'm glad it's obvious, I wasn't sure about the wig." He pulled off the curly-headed cap and twisted it in his hands. "You look pretty."

Juliet was glad for the heavy white make-up on her face as her cheeks warmed. "I'm supposed to be dead-iet," she joked.

"Well then, you look pretty dead."

"Nice save."

"Thanks."

The two fell into silence for a moment, both frozen in the door's entrance as they stared at each other. Shawn coughed slightly. "Uh, ready to go?"

"Y— oh, wait— I promised my mom pictures and I've got the camera all set up."

They made to take the first picture but something wasn't right. "Your wig!" the redhead remembered as she pointed to the part of his costume he'd taken off.

"Oh, right." The boy placed it haphazardly on his head, causing her to roll her eyes. 

"Let me fix it, dummy," she scolded him lightly, and motioned for him to bend closer to her. As the girl fixed it into its proper position, her fingers brushed against the silky strands of his real hair, causing her face to redden even more. Quickly— as if she'd been burned— she pulled her fingers away and announced "there, it's all fixed," in a breathless sort of way.

After taking the necessary pictures, the two of them made their way over to Cory's with Juliet filling up the silence by guessing what the Halloween party would be like.

🌎🌎🌎

"Hey, Cor, you ready for the Halloween Party?" Shawn wanted to know as he and Juliet entered the boy's room.

"Please, I have no time for such things," the curly-haired boy replied.

"Come on, guess who I'm going as. Okay, I'll give you a hint." He began to act as Cory: "wow Shawn, I wish I was as cool as you!"

"I think you know who I am," Juliet added. She held her arms out and, in a spooky voice, added, "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo."

"I'm going as you," Shawn informed him when Cory didn't guess.

"And I'm dead-iet," the redhead stated. "I should've gone as Topanga."

"Pretty lifelike, huh?" Shawn asked.

"I'm not going," Cory told them as he walked over to the window.

"But you have to go."

"No, I have to stay here, alone, locked in my room where no one can see me," Cory stated with his usual dramatics.

"C'mon, Cor. You're not Rapunzel. Besides, Topanga's meeting us here, remember?" Juliet reminded him.

"No, I told her it wasn't safe. I can't be responsible for my actions. Only evil will come from tonight."

"Gonna make your move, huh?" Shawn teased him.

"If I do, it'll be on all fours. Listen, I gotta tell somebody. Shawn, Juliet, I am one of the undead creatures of the night."

"Cory, you can't fool your best friends. Something's bothering you, isn't it?"

"I'm the only undead creature of the night here, anyway," Juliet countered, gesturing to her costume.

"Listen, what I'm about to tell you is so bizarre that no one in their right mind would believe it," Cory warned them as he pushed the pair to sit on his bed.

"Then I'm your guy."

"Trust me, after hanging out with you two almost anything is believable."

"Hey!" Shawn exclaimed.

"What? It's true." Juliet shrugged. "I mean it in the best way possible."

"Well, I suppose that's fine then."

"Guys, we have a bigger issue here," Cory interrupted them. "It all started last night. . ." He then went on to explain how he thought he was becoming a werewolf.

"Come on, there's no way you were bitten by a wolf," Shawn said when he was finished.

"Shawn, what else could it have been? Look at the bite." Cory held it out for them to inspect.

"I don't see anything," Juliet observed.

"Of course you don't. Everybody knows werewolf bites heal overnight."

"Wow, then you're covered with them. So, you're really turning into a werewolf?" Shawn inquired.

"Of course he isn't," Juliet dismissed before Cory could respond. "There's a reasonable explanation for this."

"That's what I thought until I woke up this morning," Cory conceded before he continued his story.

"Cory, it's just a little hair," the redhead told him with an eyeroll. "I'd be far more concerned if you could actually see it without a microscope."

"It's more than just hair, Jules. I've got strange new urges— like last night, I'm watching the movie Untouchables. You know the scene where Capone is about to smash heads with his baseball bat?"

"Awesome scene," Shawn commented.

"Except I'm not into it. The whole time I'm thinking I wonder how cold the water is on Baywatch."

"Jeez. Whatever you got, you've got it bad," Shawn admitted.

"Yeah, I didn't know how bad it was until lunchtime when I had this strange craving for a snack," Cory agreed before he further explained the odd things that had been happening to him. "Everything Madame Ouspankaya predicted has come true and now only one part of the prophecy remains unfulfilled: I gotta kill Topanga."

"What a drag. Girl finally likes you and you've gotta off her. You know, this could really hurt you socially," Shawn remarked.

"There's no such thing as prophecies, Cor. Have you talked to your parents about this?" Juliet wondered.

"Of course it's a prophecy, Jules. Don't be such a buzzkill," the curly-haired boy argued.

"Hey!" Shawn interrupted as he shot the boy a glare. "Don't talk to—" He was about to finish with his traditional 'my wife like that' but changed it abruptly: "her like that. Julie's been right more than we have."

"What can I do?" Cory sighed. "My paws are tied; my parents would never believe me."

"Does anyone else know?" Shawn questioned him.

"No, you're the only ones. The only ones," he repeated forcefully.

"Hey Cory, here's your supper." Eric entered the room and placed a tray on the floor before howling as Cory joined in.

"The only ones, huh?" Shawn noted.

"He's family," the boy explained with a shrug before he got on all fours and dug into his food.

"Listen, since you're going through this change can I have you autographed Lenny Dykstra ball?" Shawn requested.

Juliet hit him on the arm. "Be more sympathetic, dummy."

"Besides, it's my ball," Cory objected, picking his head up from his food.

"Just a minute ago you didn't believe him," Shawn told the redhead. "And anyway, Cory wouldn't need it since he's a wolf."

"I still don't believe him but that doesn't mean you can't be sympathetic," the redhead argued.

"I can still fetch," Cory added.

"Listen, on the off chance that you are turning into a werewolf, why don't we head to the drugstore? They've got that aisle— beauty aids. If they got stuff that can take the 'stache off my mother they've gotta have something for you."

"Don't you think I already thought of that? Listen, after school I went back to Madame Ouspankaya's. . ."

🌎🌎🌎

After finishing the last of his story, Cory signed off on his note: "so I hope you will all forgive me as I cannot escape my destiny. Fondly, Cory A.O. Matthews."

"What's the A.O. stand for?" Shawn asked.

"Ah-ooo," Cory howled before he looked at him. "What are you doing?"

"I'm taking your running shoes. If you don't have four of a kind there's really no point," he explained.

"Cory, Topanga's here!" Mrs. Matthews called up the stairs.

"Oh no, she's here. Shawn, I need you to do something for me. Promise me you'll keep Topanga away from me. Swear by everything holy that you'll do everything in your power to keep that poor, innocent girl from a terrible—" he interrupted himself as Topanga walked in. "Hi, Topanga," he started before he did a double take and screamed instead.

"I think we should leave now," Juliet said as she eyed the two.

"We'll just leave you two alone, have a good time," Shawn agreed while he pulled the redhead out the door with him. 

[edited may 2022]