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❛ ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ ᴇʏᴇꜱ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ʙᴀɴᴅ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴜɴ ꒱


❝ YOU, UH, LOOKED
HANDSOME ON STAGE
WITH YOUR GUITAR & HAT ❞

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"Hi, my name is Cory and the seventh grade dance is Friday night and I was just wondering if you maybe wanted to—"

"I'm sorry, my grandmother's sick," the girl cut him off, giving him a fake smile before she walked away.

Cory returned to the trio's table with a disappointed look on his face as he sat back down. "Apparently it's not a good time to be a grandmother," he huffed. "Look— her grandmother's coughing phlegm, hers is hacking blood and her, her—"

"Whoa," Shawn interrupted him. "I happen to know she has no grandmother."

"Yes, and she somehow blames me for her death."

"At least you can't sink any lower," Shawn tried.

Juliet rolled her eyes, not even sure about what the big fuss was over their first dance. It wasn't like they hadn't had them in middle school so this one would probably just be as lame and she'd spend it with Shawn making fun of how awkward other people were.

"Hey, you busy?" an unfamiliar voice spoke up.

"You're not gonna ask me to the dance, are you?" Cory quipped.

"What if I did?"

"I'd say pick me up at eight but no slow dances."

"Just watch these for a second, alright?" the stranger requested as he handed Cory his guitar case.

"I can do that," he agreed as the other guy placed his case down too. "I'm not going to this dance with anybody."

"Hey, Cor, why don't you ask Topanga?" Juliet suggested. "Shawn and I are already going together like usual."

"I could, I could, but that would show no personal growth if I simply ask the girl I've always asked since we were five."

"So, when are you gonna ask her?" Shawn smirked, knowing he would.

"I figure tomorrow unless by some magic girls suddenly start noticing me."

The two girls from earlier returned to their table. "Hi, I couldn't help noticing you."

"Oh, you're talking to me? Shouldn't you be at the hospital visiting one your many blood-hacking grandmas?" Cory sassed.

"Why didn't you tell me you play?"

"Huh?" Juliet and Cory asked at the same time.

"Cor, Julie, they're onto us. They've spotted our axes, they know we play. They like musicians."

"Oh, well, then watch me pull this rabbit out of my hat," Cory said, mishearing Shawn's words.

"Musicians, Cory," Juliet corrected him.

"Oh, well, that's very different."

"You guys in a band?" the first girl queried.

"Are we in a band?" Cory echoed with a laugh. "Are we in a band?" he repeated, looking at Shawn.

"Yes, you idiot," the boy told him through clenched teeth.

"I'm not—" Juliet started, wanting to get out of their ridiculous scheme before it began.

"She is," Shawn immediately cut in. "She's the singer."

"Except I've got this really, really bad illness that prevents me from singing, like, ever, so unfortunately I've retired," Juliet continued, shooting him a pointed look. "I'm still a fan of the band, though."

"Well, maybe you'd play for us sometime?" the same girl wondered.

"Yeah, we're gonna tell our friends we know you," her friend added before they walked away.

"You know, they like us because they think we're in a band," Cory commented.

"We could cash in on this."

"But we're total phonies."

"This is gonna end badly," the redhead noted. "You can't pretend something like this."

"Is that why you tried to get out of it?" Shawn questioned her. "What if it totally works?"

"It's not gonna," she answered bluntly, "but I won't stop you, you know that."

"Jules is right," Cory admitted as he shook his head. "We could never pull this off in a million, billion, trillion years."

The girls came back as the two guys returned to pick up their cases. "Wow, you guys have roadies?"

"Boy, time flies."

Juliet sighed and buried her face in her hands. "What's even the point anymore?"

🌎🌎🌎

"Juliet!"

The redhead paused and pulled her head out from her locker to see who was calling her. She knew it wasn't Shawn since he and Cory had left school right away to do auditions for their "band." Turning, she saw Jack approaching her with a smile. "What's up?"

The girl turned to face him more fully and gave him a friendly look in return. "Not much. What's up with you?"

She'd spoken to him several times since the day he'd talked to her after her hair flip and the two got along quite well. Jack was well-dressed compared to the average school population with neat khaki slacks, a medium blue button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and new-looking sneakers. His blond hair was floppy (similar to Shawn's, Juliet couldn't help noticing) and he had bright blue eyes. During the time she'd known him, Juliet had realized he had far more intelligence than either of her two best friends and had actually read most of the books she had, much to her pleasant surprise.

"Not much either," he admitted, sticking his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the locker next to hers. "Except I was wondering if you'd maybe like to go to the dance with me?"

The redhead gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, I'm already going with Shawn. It's kinda our thing since I've gone to every school dance with him."

"Are you and Hunter a thing?" Jack inquired curiously.

"I wish," she mumbled before her eyes widened. "You never heard that."

"Heard what?" the blond teased her.

"Exactly."

He looked around. "Hey, where are Hunter and Matthews? They're usually always with you."

Juliet sighed as she put away the last of her books and shut her locker. "Doing something stupid. They're trying to start a 'band,'" she explained.

"Why the air quotes?" Jack wanted to know. He pushed away from the locker to walk next to her down the hallway.

"They think it will help them get girls." The redhead rolled her eyes. "They don't even know how to play."

"Ah, then 'band' would make sense," Jack replied with a grin, using air quotes again. "You usually tag along with this stuff, don't you?"

"Yeah, but this is something that they can't BS their way through and I needed a break. As much as I love them they seriously lower my IQ. It's nice to have intelligent company for a change."

"So, does that mean you wanna hang out?" the blonde guessed as he ran a hand through his hair in an eerie mimic of another familiar movement.

"If you've got nothing else to do," Juliet conceded hopefully.

"Ice cream's on me, then."

"Hey, wait, Jack!" she exclaimed as the boy sent her another teasing grin.

"Race you to the ice cream place and if you win, you pay!" he called, already picking up the pace.

Juliet couldn't help the happy smile that grew on her face as she chased after the boy, her confusing feelings about Shawn momentarily forgotten in the delight of the minute.

🌎🌎🌎

At school the next day, Juliet and Jack joined the crowd of students surrounding the poster for the dance. "What's this?"

"Some band called The Exits has replaced the old one," Jack explained, using his height to his advantage.

The girl's face fell and she facepalmed. "Oh, no."

He turned to look at her. "Hunter and Matthews?" he guessed.

"Ding, ding, ding," Juliet mimed a bell. "Let's see how they get out of this one. As much as I love it when I'm right I know it's not gonna end well."

🌎🌎🌎

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!" Cory greeted the crowd from the stage and he smiled brightly at the cheers from the students. "Are you ready to rock?"

"Yeah!"

"Are you ready to roll?" Shawn called out.

"Yeah!"

"Are you ready to rock and roll?"

"Yeah!"

"Goodnight, everybody!" Shawn yelled and Juliet rolled her eyes almost fondly as Cory grabbed his shirt to pull him back. The two looked at each other nervously before trying to play.

The crowd quickly figured out what was happening and began to boo.

Standing next to Topanga, off to the side of the crowd, Juliet exchanged a look with her friend. "Sometimes I want to feel bad for them but then I remember that I tried to warn them and they didn't listen," she pointed out as the crowd made for the doors.

"I do feel bad for them," Topanga informed her, watching the two boys make fools of themselves, "but you have to admit that their effort is at least cute."

"I hope you're talking about Cory," Juliet huffed, glancing at her.

Topanga hummed in agreement before she gave the redhead a knowing look. "I was also saying that for your benefit."

Juliet turned pink as she looked up to the stage where Shawn and Cory were still standing. She had to admit that Shawn did look cute with his guitar and hat even as he failed miserably.

🌎🌎🌎

The four of them ended up being the only ones staying after the dance. Topanga approached Cory in his own corner while the redhead joined Shawn on the steps.

"You're gonna say 'I told you so,' aren't you?" he accused her sullenly.

"Not today," she assured him, hesitating a moment before she reached for his hand. She took it tentatively and slid her fingers to interlock with his to give him a gentle squeeze.

"We probably just should've done what we've always done and made fun of awkward people."

She shrugged. "There's always next dance," she reminded him, moving closer to him to lay her head on his shoulder.

"Were we really that bad?" he wondered quietly.

"Nah," the redhead dismissed.

"You said that this was gonna blow up in our faces and it did. Cory played the name game. Who does that?"

Juliet turned pink and was thankful that she wasn't looking at him. "I didn't think it was horrible. Maybe it was just who was behind the guitar."

"What d'you mean?"

"It was more the package. You, uh, you looked kind of handsome up on stage with your guitar and hat," she confessed.

"Is this you trying to make me feel better?"

Juliet righted herself from his shoulder and moved so there was a bit of space between them. "Yeah, totally. I don't like being right all the time, y'know."

"Thanks, Julie. I'm sorry we messed it up."

"It's okay," she told him. She stood and pulled the boy up with her. "Like I said, there's always next dance."

The dark-haired boy looked down at the redhead who smiled up at him. He could tell that there was something off about the look but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what it was. Shawn paused before he removed his hat from his head and placed it on the girl's. "You can keep this as a reminder of how horrible we were."

Her smile turned more genuine as she let out a little laugh. "Thanks, I'll never take it off," she joked.

"Well, it does look a whole lot better on you than it did on me." It was true, now that he was looking at her. He supposed he kind of understood now about what she meant with the 'whole package.'

She tilted it at a jaunty angle and grinned at him. "We can still salvage tonight, y'know?"

"Oh yeah? How's that?" he asked as he picked up the guitar case.

"Race you home!" she exclaimed, already turning to leave.

"Hey, I'm carrying a guitar!" the boy called after her. 

[edited may 2022]