It's My Life • Shawn Hunter

151| The Peace (AKA Nine The Hard Way): Part 2

"So what am I?" Rachel asked.

"What are you?" Zoey questioned.

"Yeah. I mean, you've made it really clear who everybody else is. Brothers, brothers, sisters, boyfriend and girlfriend, engaged, husband and wife. You all have these really strong bonds between you. I mean, what's the strong bond between us?" Rachel asked.

"You think husband and wife is a strong bond?" Topanga questioned. "I wasn't even a part of their stupid team."

"Topanga, will you pipe down with that, please?" Cory asked.

"Oh, tell it to your boyfriend." Topanga told him.

Shawn placed a hand on Cory's shoulder. "Remember what I told you. Stand up to her."

"Unbelievable." Zoey scoffed.

"Everybody is coming apart and they get closer?" Topanga added before she turned to her husband. "I'm your wife, you nimrod!"

"I wasn't talking about them, Topanga, and I wasn't talking about you, either. For once, in all the time that we've known each other, I was talking about me. I was talking about how I feel." Rachel said.

"How do you feel, Rachel?" Mr. Feeny asked.

Rachel stood up and walked to the front of the class. "I feel... like I don't fit in with these people, and I don't think I ever have."

Rachel was about to leave the classroom until Eric held an arm out in front of her to prevent her departure. "No, no, no, Rachel, no. Look, there's some bad feelings here, but we're gonna work them out right now."

"I agree, and what we're going to do is what they do is Miss Templeton's kindergarten class. We're going to take a piece of ruled paper and we're going to write down what we like about each other. That's what we're going to do, children." Mr. Feeny announced.

"'I'm your wife, nimrod!' Do you know what it's like to have that voice inside your head all day long?" Cory asked his wife. "It's not wonder I turned to him."

"Come on, guys. Rachel's leaving." Eric informed. "Just write down how we feel about each other."

"Oh, fine. Look at him side with Shawn, his lover!" Topanga shouted.

"Oh, very tasteful, honey." Cory said before turning to his best friend. "Did you hear that, Shawn?"

"Shawn, his lover!" Topanga repeated.

"Shut up, Yoko!" Shawn yelled.

"Guys, Rachel left!" Eric announced.

"You know, that's perfect. Even when it's supposed to be about all of us, it always comes back to them." Blake said, gesturing to Shawn, Cory, Topanga and Zoey.

"It's never gonna change." Angela agreed.

"Why didn't you write anything down, huh?" Eric demanded. "Well, shouldn't somebody go after her?"

Everyone remained silent.

••••
[Six years Later; Mr. Feeny's retirement]

Zoey stepped into the Student Union. It had been many years since she'd stepped foot inside the college and being here brought back memories, both good and bad.

Everyone inside were milling about as they talked to each other. Zoey recognized her ex-teacher, Mr. Feeny. The sight of him reminded her why she was there. She could recognize Jack easily from the time he'd been in the newspaper and Angela and Blake wasn't hard to spot, either.