𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 ━ shawn hunter¹

5│JULIET FINDS HER GROOVE

"Mr. Matthews, give her back her nose."

"Oh, I'm just playing with the kid," he protested.

"Cory, I do believe 'the kid' whose nose you hold is Alexandra Nechita."

"Alexandra Nechita?" Cory repeated with disbelief. Mr. Feeny pointed to the plaque on the wall, causing him to look back and forth comically. He chuckled awkwardly. "Hello. See, this isn't really your nose. It's my thumb, and. . . here."

Mr. Feeny ignored his student to address the girl. "Miss Nechita, I'm a great admirer of yours. I'd be very interested in hearing your thoughts about classic versus modern technique and the impact of the renaissance on the modern palette."

"Feeny, you're drooling, man," Shawn told him.

"I'm sorry Mr. Hunter, but I get carried away when I see a young person with such extraordinary gifts."

Cory leaned forward. "Are you saying we don't have extraordinary gifts, Mr. Feeny?"

"No, of course not, Mr. Matthews," the man answered. "You also have extraordinary gifts."

"Like what?"

He hesitated before he patted the boy on the shoulder. "You have your health, good for you. Step aside while I talk to the genius." His gaze fell on Juliet, who was still looking at the paintings. "Miss Capelwood, would you like to join us?"

The redhead's expression brightened at the question and she hurried over to them. "It's lovely to meet you," she told the blonde. "I'm Juliet."

"Alexandra," she responded politely.

Mr. Feeny put a gentle hand on the girl's back to guide the pair away from the rest of the group. "What are you doing in Philadelphia?"

"There's a showcase of my earlier work."

As the trio went to look at another portrait, Shawn watched them go. "Wow. She has earlier work. I'm not surprised that Feeny included Julie under the 'genius' label."

"Wait a minute," Cory said. "I'm eighteen and I have no work at all."

"It's okay, Cory," Topanga told him. "Everybody can't be a great painter."

"Yeah, but she's, like, as old as my sister and she already knows what she's good at," he pointed at the redhead. "There's no need to mention that, is there?"

His words caught the interest of the younger girl. "You have a sister my age?"

🌎🌎🌎

"I don't know," Juliet said to Rachel when they had lunch together the next day. "At the risk of sounding like Cory, just looking at everything she'd done before even becoming a teenager made me feel like I've missed out."

Rachel shrugged. "Not every one can be so good at one thing. Most people are just average and are happy with that."

"Yeah," the redhead agreed, "but I don't want to be average. I've always done my best to be the smartest in the room save for Topanga and Minkus— sorry, Stuart. I'm not a certified genius or anything but my grades prove that I'm smarter than most. It still doesn't feel like enough."

"Do you have any special talents? I can recite the alphabet backwards if you want a demonstration."

She chuckled. "No thanks, I'm good. The only thing that I can think of is that I have a pretty good ear for music. There's a lot of songs that I can identify within the first ten seconds."

"That's pretty impressive," Rachel encouraged her. "And you do love music. Have you ever thought of playing an instrument?"

"Well. . . yeah, actually," she admitted. "I know how to play My Girl on the guitar since my uncle taught me. It felt. . . right, y'know? I haven't done it since then, though."