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After class, Cory, Shawn, Lennon and Raven were walking through the corridors to search for Eric who was supposed to be responsible for dropping them off at home.
"Ah, Eric, Yes. That feels so good! Don't stop!" They halted when they heard a moan coming from the newspaper office.
"Okay, we found my brother." Cory said with a smirk.
The three slightly opened the newspaper office ajar and popped their heads inside. The four then saw Eric massaging the newspaper's editor's shoulders as she was typing on the computer.
"This personality profile of our new principal is superlative." The girl said.
"Well, the man lives next door. Glad I could give some help." Eric said with a smile.
"Yes. Well, you give a wonderful neck massage." Molly commented.
"You know, Molly, I'm more than just a pair of strong, masculine hands." Eric said as he continued rubbing her shoulders.
"Well, of course you are, my little cabana boy." Molly said, before finishing up the newspaper. "Well, fini!"
Eric chuckled softly. "No, no. It's 'Feeny'."
"He's so stupid." Lennon murmured which was agreed by the rest despite not knowing what it really means.
Molly gave him a confused look. "Fini is French for finished."
Eric huffed. "The French... our neighbors to the north."
Lennon rolled her eyes and greeted with an innocent smile hoping to end miserable scene; "Hello!"
Eric and the girl turned around to see the four peeping inside the newspaper office, before they walked inside.
"Not now, I'm working." Eric told his younger brother.
"You said you'd drive us home." Cory said, placing the rat cage he held onto the table. The girl let out a terrified scream and jumped back.
"Hey, babe, you're wiggin' out the rats!" Shawn told her, grabbing the rat cage.
"Rats?" The girl questioned, looking terrified.
Raven nodded. "Yeah. We're studying natural selection. 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 rets on furry little Shawn, Cory and Raven." Shawn said, holding up the cage.
"You named them after yourselves?" Eric wondered as he looked into the rat cage.
"Yeah." Cory said, before showing his brother the rats. "Raven is the ones chewing the lock. I'm the one with the skin disease. and Shawn is the one clawing it's way out in the corner near Lennon"
"Keep your little vermin away from tomorrow's edition of the school paper." The teenage girl said as she slowly made her way over to the computer.
"Yeah. Come on, let's go, all seven of you rats." Eric insisted.
Eric, Shawn, Lennon and Cory began walked out of the newspaper office, whilst Raven had grabbed onto the cage. The brunette frowned realizing something is missing.
"Um...." Raven trailed off, giving the others an worried look. "All six of us rats."
"Little Raven broke out?" Cory asked with a smile. He stepped forward and noticed the rat on the ground. He picked the animal up and began approached the editor, taunting her. "He wants to kiss you!" The girl let out another piercing scream as she immediately ran out of the room, slamming the door shut.
"Come on, you kissed Eric! What's the difference?!" Lennon Questioned loudly.
"Hey, thank you. Thank you very much. I finally get a brainy girl interested in me, and you guys screw it up!" Eric said, frustrated as Cory placed the rat back into the cage. Eric turned around to the door and tried to push it opened. After a moment, he turned back to the three with a smile. "Oh.. pull."
Lennon raise her eyebrow and scoff. "Even a rat can get out of its cage."
"Watch it your majesty." Eric warned and they all smirk as they watched Eric pulled the door open and immediately sprinted after Molly.
"Hey, that floor's real slick out there. Just -" Janitor Bud called out, before he was interrupted by Eric yelling as he crashed. "Good."
"Well, I gotta get home." Shawn said as he helped placed the rat cage onto the table. "I promised Mum I'd cracked her back before American Gladiators."
Raven and Lennon didn't listen to him and stared at Cory who was sitting in front of the computer which had the newspaper on it. at the screen is a picture of Mr. Feeny on the cover.
"What are you doing, guys?" Shawn asked, making his way over to them.
"Check it out." Cory said, motioning Shawn to come over.
Shawn stood beside Lennon and laughed when he saw the front page. "A screen full of Feeny!"
"He's gonna be on the front page of the school paper?" Raven muttered, crossing his arms over his stomach.
"Won't it scare children?" Shawn wondered.
Cory smirked. "It won't scare 'em if he's...." He quickly changed the F in Feeny into a T. "... Teeny."
Shawn chuckled. "This has definite possibilities... Let me in there." Cory got out of the chair as Shawn sat down at the computer. "Okay, new principal is..." Shawn than started changing Feeny's first letter into a different letter. "Been, Deeny, Leeny..."
The three let out an amused smile when Shawn had finally changed the F into a W, making it Weeny. The four stared at each other mischievously.
"Ha!" Cory and Shawn shouted in celebration.
"'New principle is Weeny'." Cory said, reading off the computer. "Can you imagine two-thousand students reading this?"
"Power... ultimate power." Shawn muttered as he rubbed his hands together in excitement.
"Yeah, but we would never... would we?" Raven asked, glancing between the boys.
"Power!" Shawn exclaimed. He turned to the three with a wide smile. "We'd be notorious! We would be legends!"
Cory narrowed his eyes in confusion. and Raven question curiously. "What do you mean?"
"Well, what are we now?" Shawn asked.
"We are lowly seventh-grade sewer scum who name rats after ourselves to feel important." Cory responded. Lennon step away from them wishing to be exclude in Cory's proclaimed.
Lennon nodded in agreement. "He's got a point."
"And... how do you feel about it?" Shawn wondered.
"Better than the guys with not rats!" Raven pointed out, and Cory nodded in agreement with a wide smile.
"Hey, guys, wouldn't you rather be something special... or would you rather be us?" Shawn asked in a serious tone.
Raven sighed. "Shawn, power like that in the wrong hands... it's dangerous."
"Yeah." Cory agreed. He leans over the keyboard and changed Feeny's name back to normal. "Come on, let's go."
Cory and Shawn made their way out of the newspaper office, whilst Shawn continued to sat down at the computer, rubbing his hands slowly.
"Yeah, wrong hands, wrong hands." Shawn muttered.
"This is wrong." Lennon said and attempted to stop Shawn but the boy stared at her with a smile and planted a quick kiss on her.
"I know Wife, but..."
Lennon tilted her head and watched how Shawn changed Mr. Feeny's name into Weeny.
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Lennon took a deep breath and tilted her head slightly and responded to the boy's kiss.
"Shawn..." She leans away and let the boy kiss the side of her mouth down to her chin and ended in her neck.
"hmm?"
"we have to go to class." Shawn reluctantly pulled away and kisses her forehead.
The pair then walk toward's Lennon's locker and the girl opened it and pulled out her hair brush and stared brushing her messy hair in front of her mirror.
She glance a bit towards Shawn and saw him listening to Harley and his gang's.
Lennon Doesn't care about them and continued brushing her hair completely aware of Her boyfriend's excited demeanor.
Then she started applying her candy apple lip tint. after that she fixed her clothes and pulled out her textbook and closes her locker.
"Lels are you okay about all of this?" Cory asked concerned.
Lennon stared at him then to her boyfriend and hum. "I am not but... Shawn needs to learn his lesson."
"The truth." Cory firmly said.
Lennon pressed her lips together and helplessly sigh. "what he did was amazing, if it was my boyfriend I would do anything."
Shawn smiled and hug her waist. "Oh, it's killing me." He teasingly said and press their lips together, ignoring Cory's complains.
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The class is listening to Mr. Turner's lecture about The scarlet letter. Lennon played with the strand of her hair as she listens to her teacher.
"Ok, The Scarlett Letter Hester Prynne has a red letter 'A' on her dress," Mr. Turner began as he wrote a giant 'A' on the chalkboard, "Now, everybody knows what the A stands for, right?"
"Boring?" Cory asked and the class laughed. "Ass head." Lennon muttered.
"Hey, everybody, don't laugh at Matthews, okay? He's never seen an A before." Mr. Turner sassed and Lennon snorted, "Okay, the buzz is all over the Massachusetts Colony that Hester has taken pure out of Puritan. It's a scandal. It's gossip," He held up the school newspaper, "It could've come right out of today's headlines."
A loud cough interrupted the class's laughter and everyone turned to the doorway.
"Mr. Feeny," Mr. Turner straightened up, "Good morning."
Mr. Feeny sighed as he entered the room, "Actually, Mr. Turner, I've had better."
They all watched as Mr. Feeny picked up the newspaper and turned to face the class.
Lennon already know what will happen next but out of respect she didn't ignore the man and listened to what he's about to say.
"You see, I have been forced on this particular morning to go from room to room, asking anyone with information about this journalistic prank to come forward. Hmmm?"Lennon softly flip her hair to her back,
"I will go a lot easier on the perpetrator if he or she or they," his glare looks like it intensify, "Voluntarily confess. Very well, I will now return you to your lecture on..." Mr. Feeny looked at the board, "On the letter 'A'. Keep up the good work."
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The next day at school, Lennon, Shawn, and Cory were standing beside the locker. Raven wasn't with them because he wanted to be with his new friends.
"Okay, a rumor was going around that the 'weeny' headline was just a typo. That nobody did it, like I don't exist." Shawn explained. "Check it out."
Shawn then grab Cory and pulled him towards the principal office, Lennon following behind them. The three peep in Mr. Feeny's office door. and saw the office door name plate of Mr. Feeny's name turned into Mr. George Weeny.
"Now I exist," Shawn boasted, looking proudly at his work and Cory gasped, "I am a somebody. What a beauty, huh? I snuck out early this morning and changed it. Looks like the real thing, doesn't it?"
"Except for this drip," Cory pointed out as he leaned in and gave it a poke.
"Shawn, Shawn, Shawn you're out of control!" The boy exclaimed, looking at Shawn in disbelief.
"Yeah, I am." Shawn clapped Cory on the back, "Tell your friends."
Shawn placed his hand on the girl's lower back and lead her to their next class. but the girl didn't comply and kisses the boy's cheek.
"You go first, I got something to say to Cory." The boy stared curiously at the girl but did't ask and walk away after planting a quick peck on her lips.
"Dumb face-" Before she could say something a voice suddenly interrupted her.
"There're your criminals, Mr. Weeny!" The duo turned around to see the janitor pointing at her and Cory. Mr. Feeny gave the janitor a look before turning back to Cory and Lennon.
"Mr. Feeny, we did not paint this 'W'." Cory defended as he crossed his arms and Lennon simply runs her hands in her hair and crosses her arms.
"And the headline in the school newspaper?" Mr. Feeny asked as he raised his eyebrow.
"It wasn't us." Lennon calmly said. Lennon can't lie especially to those people she deeply respect and what she said was not a lie so she calmly answered/
Mr. Feeny sighed, "Ms. and Mr. Matthews, our own esteemed Janitor Bud placed you two at the scene of the crime."
"I seen em with my good eye." Janitor Bud nodded.
"How about the bad eye?" Lennon asked attempting to find a way for them get away.
But the man simply doesn't follow common sense; "My bad eye saw it as well!"
"Well, that'll be all, Janitor Bud." Mr. Feeny dismissed and the duo watched as Janitor Bud gave a nod and shoved his way through the crowd of students.
"Scene of the crime?" Cory asked, giving Mr. Feeny a confused look. Lennon was there when she saw what Shawn did but she wasn't willing to give away the boy.
Not because she likes him but because she knows the boy will do the same.
"Janitor Bud said he saw you and Cory at the scene of the crime toying with the computer after school. There was another boy with you who ran out seconds before you two." Mr. Feeny stated and Cory stared at his principal in disbelief.
Lennon finally knows what the bad eye saw.
"Mr. Feeny, we're totally innocent. My hands are clean." Cory held up his hands and lennon controlled herself not to laugh when she saw his finger had black paint of it, "I didn't do it, I swear!"
"All right, then give me the name of the person who did." Mr. Feeny challenged. Cory didn't dare meet Mr. Feeny's eyes and looked at the ground instead, Lennon stared at the man and smiled innocently. "I see." Mr. Feeny hummed, "Mr. and Ms. Matthews, you both have until the end of school tomorrow to give me the perpetrator's name. Otherwise, you will be suspended."
Lennon and Cory watched as Mr. Feeny walked away, The latter sigh and the former tilted her head and decided to got to class where Shawn is.
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Lennon was filing her nails beside Cory who is still pondering about admitting Shawn's fault or hiding it when a voice spoke capturing both of their attention.
"Mr. and Ms. Matthews," the pair turned around to see Mr. Feeny walking down the stairs towards them, "I trust you're not forgetting our three-thirty meeting."
"Come on, Mr. Feeny." Cory starter
"It was just a little prank." Lennon nonchalantly said and Cory nodded in agreement, trying to get Mr. Feeny to just let it go.
"Ah," Mr. Feeny sighed, "You think I'm acting like a weenie, Mr. Matthews. Am I acting like a weenie?" not bothering to ask the gurl knowing he would just ignore him.
"You know we didn't do anything." cory honestly said. Lennon didn't bother to say anything to defend her self knowing that the principal just wanted to make them confess so he could find proper evidence that Shawn did it.
"But I know you know who did, and until you tell me who it is, the only person I can talk to is the two of you." Mr. Feeny turned around to leave, "Three-thirty, Mr. and Ms. Matthews."
"Did you tell him?" Shawn asked as he raced up to them.
"What do you think?" Cory sneered, a look of disbelief crossing his face.
Shawn sighed in relief, "Thanks, guys."
Lennon turn around and opened her locker and properly placed down her nail filer in her personal mini drawer. then pulled out a hairbrush and carefully brush her hair.
"You're welcome." Cory clapped his hands together, "Cause it was just a little prank, right? And nothing else is ever gonna happen again, right?"
"Right," Shawn nodded, "So, have you seen this?"
Lennon placed back her brush and lightly looked over Cory's shoulder at the paper in his hands, "In our last edition incorrectly named the new principle as Mr. George Weeny." Cory let out a breath of relief, "Good, it's over."
"Read on, little buddy." Shawn urged and Cory looked at him suspiciously.
Lennon closes her eyes in slight annoyance and closes her locker.
Cory furrowed his forehead in confusion and read again. "His true name is 'Weeny Weeny, Weeny, weeny, weeny, weeny, weeny, weeny, weeny, weeny. Continued on page three, column one." Cory quickly flipped to that page, "Weeny."
"Are you completely deranged?" Cory exclaimed and Shawn nodded,
"Yes, I am. But I didn't do this."
The slight annoyance in Lennon's lightly dissipated and stared at the boy with a slight smile.
"You didn't?" She asked.
"No! Somebody ripped my idea. I'll never be a legend now." Shawn sulked and Cory started to read the paper again.
Lennon's smile turned upside down and the annoyance that once dissipated came back.
She took a step forward and Shawn naturally opened his arms but the girl didn't glance at him and walk past the boy and left without looking back, ignoring the calls from the boy.
Shawn stared at the back of the girl and frown.
"What happened?"He asked Cory who ignored him and sat down on the bench. Shawn hesitated for a bit but went to sit beside him.
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In the class, everyone was listening to Mr. Turner giving his listen excluding Shawn who is sleeping on his desk.
"So in the end, Hester Prynne is faced with a pretty tough decision, huh? Does she rat on the person who's responsible for her predicament, or does she keep his secret and face the scorn of society?" Mr. Turner looked over to Cory, Shawn, and Lennon, "Pretty relevant stuff. Eh, Matthews?Hunter?"
"Sir! It stood for adultery, Sir!" Shawn shouted at the sound of his name. Looking around, he noticed that they were all still in class and he smiled sheepishly, "I was practicing for military school." then sat back down in his chair, he glances at the girl beside her who didn't talk to him the entire time and frown.
Hearing the bell ring, Lennon packed up her stuff, not letting the boy do it like how he does always, and then walk towards Cory.
"You can go first, Ms. Matthews." Mr. Turner said, "Tell Mr. Feeny that Cory's going to be a few minutes late."
Lennon chewed gum and turn towards the door and headed to the principal's office.
When she reached the office she immediately said what Mr. Turner said to Mr. Feeny and sat down in a seat and both waited for Cory.
"Listen, about the headline and all well, I'm sorry for what happened." Cory said as he entered the room and sat in the chair next to Lennon, "Must've hurt being called... you know."
"Wasn't if I never heard it before," Mr. Feeny stated as he looked over some paper, "It was practically my nickname growing up." His head shot up at the information he accidentally revealed, "Uh, that's not to leave this room."
"I guess it's more of a big deal than I thought," Cory stated.
"As the principal of this high school, I'm expected to keep order." Mr. Feeny informed them and they looked at him, "Unchecked, these pranks undermine my authority and breed disrespect."
"So, I guess we'll get punished for something we didn't do," Cory said.
Lennon just look away ignoring what is happening around her.
"Name the person who did, and you walk out of there scot-free." Mr. Feeny offered and Cory and Lennon looked at each other,
Lennon rubs her lower lip ad hum in contemplation.
"I'm sorry, we can't do that." Cory apologized.
"You thought about this, and that's your final answer?" Cory stared at his cousin and the girl played with the strand of her hair before confirming.
"Yeah."
"You've decided that protecting a friendship is more important than the grisly punishment I shall now dispense."
"Mr. Feeny, he did not mean to hurt anyone." Cory voiced and he looked at him, "He just wanted to do something that would make him somebody special."
"Ah," Mr. Feeny sighed, "to be somebody special is quality from within, Miss. Strong. To give you an example, I think it's a very rare quality for you to put a friend's welfare before your own."
Cory leaned forward, "But, just a second ago, you wanted us to rat on him."
"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." Mr. Feeny explained softly and Lennon gave a small smile.
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"So how long are we suspended for?" Cory asked as he, Lennon, and Mr. Feeny exited Mr. Feeny's office.
"You're not. Detention for five days. One day for each letter in 'weeny'. Which in this instance," Mr. Feeny closed his door to reveal Shawn eating a snack bar, "Should be properly spelled W-E-E-N-I-E. Shouldn't it, Mr. Hunter."
"You told him?" Shawn accused as he walked over to Cory and Lennon.
"What do you think?" Lennon asked as she referenced to Mr. Feeny.
"I think you wouldn't," Shawn squeezed his eyes shut, "I'm an idiot."
"They refused to rat you out, Mr. Hunter." Mr. Feeny informed as Shawn turned to face him, "And now they face a week of detention in your honor. But the punishment for not being caught, Mr. Hunter, is farm far worse."
"I did it, Mr. Feeny," Shawn confessed, "I confess."
"I will be watching you every moment of your high school career, which, in your case, could be decades." Mr. Feeny stated, looking at Shawn's panicked face.
"But I just confessed," Shawn protested.
"Too late, Mr. Hunter. You are my new special friend," Mr. Feeny said as he glared at Shawn before walking off.
Shawn turned and looked at Cory and Lennon, "Why didn't you two turn me in?"
"Take a guess." Lennon coldly said without looking at him and left.
but before she could completely leave, a hand stop her. Lennon looks back and saw Shawn sadly staring at her.
"I'm sorry, I was wrong."
"For what?" Lennon asked with a frown.
"Well, one, because I didn't immediately turn myself in despite knowing that it will cause more trouble. and two, for being insensitive. and three for being a jerk." Lennon fought back her smile seeing the melancholy expression on his face.
Lennon leans her head and lightly bumps her head on him. causing the boy to stare at her with a startled expression.
Lennon scoff. "Good, that you know your wrongs. hmp." Her arrogant attitude made the boy smiled widely.
"I'll take over house chores for you as an apology."
"K."