Zoey stood in Mr. Feeny class along with everyone else. The class was reciting the Pledge of Allegiance except Topanga, who just sat in her chair. Zoey looked at her like she was crazy.
"And to the republic for which it stands... one nation, under God... indivisible... will liberty and justice for all." Zoey said, along with the rest of the class and Mr. Feeny.
When they finished reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, they all went back to their desks. Zoey sat down in her chair, and watched Mr. Feeny slowly making his way to Topanga's desk.
"Miss Lawrence, I couldn't help noticed... that you didn't recite the Pledge of Allegiance this morning." Mr. Feeny told her.
"Yes, sir. I elected not to." Topanga responded, calmly.
Mr. Feeny was taken back. "Why was that?"
"I didn't feel like it." Topanga said.
Zoey's eyes widened slightly at her response. A second later, Cory turned around and faced Shawn and Zoey, with a wide smile plastered over his face.
"This is gonna be cool." Cory stated, rubbing his hands together in excitement.
"What was that, Mr. Matthews?" Mr. Feeny asked.
"Uh..." Cory trailed, turning back to Mr. Feeny. "I said, this is gonna be cool, Mr. Feeny."
"Why?" Mr. Feeny questioned.
"Cause you're finally gonna nail Topanga for being weird." Cory responded with a slight chuckle.
"Do you think it's weird to engage in social protest?" Mr. Feeny asked, as he approached Cory's desk.
"I think it's weird to pick on me when she didn't say the pledge of allegiance." Cory said, pointing at the girl in front of him.
"Well, Mr. Matthews... it seems that you and Miss Lawrence have opposing positions for this morning's debate." Mr. Feeny told him.
"Uh-oh." Cory muttered.
"You've been set up, bud." Minkus said to Cory, smiling proudly.
Cory leaned over his desk towards Topanga. "Mr. Feeny told you not to say the pledge?"
Topanga turned around and gave him a smile. Zoey huffed, before her attention went back to Mr. Feeny, who was beginning to write on the black board.
"Today's social studies discussions - American traditions... the Pledge of Allegiance versus social protest." Mr. Feeny informed the class, as he wrote 'Pledge v Protest' on the black board. "Mr. Matthews, defend Old Glory. Miss Lawrence, defend the right to dissent."
Cory sighed before he and Topanga stood up from their seats and turned to the class.
"Just because it's a tradition doesn't mean you have to do it." Topanga said.
"But it's the Pledge of Allegiance." Cory told her. "It takes, like, ten seconds to say. Why can't you just say it and make everyone happy?"
"Because if I'm forced to do it just because it's some tradition I don't understand... then it doesn't make me happy." Topanga responded, placing a hand over her heart.
"Can you spell... peculiar?" Cory wondered, raising his eyebrows.
"And you're normal?" Topanga questioned. "You talk to a flag every day... and you don't even know what you're saying."
"But I do it. I do it because I'm supposed to do it. And that's what makes me a great American." Cory said, as Shawn and Zoey started humming 'Glory, Glory, Hallelujah' along with Cory's speech. "That's what makes this country great. That flag. Because that flag gives us the right to have this discussion. And this discussion is the most important discussion we will ever have, and -" Cory stopped when the Bell rung. "Out of here!"
Shawn, Zoey and Cory instantly grabbed their belonging and raced out of the class as fast as they could.
••••
Zoey, Cory and Shawn held their lunch tray as they stood by the vending machine to grab their drinks. When they got them, the three of them approached an empty table.
"Parents don't understand how important the weekend is, you know?" Cory said as they placed their lunch tray onto the table.
"Yeah." Shawn agreed, sitting down with his friends. "Like there's not enough pressure on us being in the sixth grade all week."
"And then they want us to do stuff on our only days off." Cory added.
Zoey rolled her eyes at her best friends, before Minkus approached the three of them, placing his lunch tray at the end of the table, beside Shawn.
"Only three days till Monday." Minkus said, excited.
Zoey gave him a confused expression. "We're already at school, Minkus. How can you be happy to come back?"
"I love school." Minkus said with a wide smile.
"Minkus, I'm sure that if you check your ticket stub... you'll see that your seat is in the goon section." Shawn told him.
"I'm just leaving my tray here while I get an apple, okay?" Minkus said, before he walked away from the table, leaving his tray sitting on the table... unattended.
"I mean, my weekends are jam-packed. I have no spare time." Cory complained.
"Minkus left his hamburger here." Shawn said, staring at Minkus' food.
"I get up Saturday morning and I watch 'X-Men'." Cory said as he continued to complain.
Zoey let out a soft groan. She was basically sitting in between Dumb and Dumber. She rolled her eyes and noticed Shawn staring intensely at Minkus' hamburger.
"It's very hard for me to be alone with Minkus' hamburger." Shawn stated.
"My next stop is the comic book store." Cory said.
"Specially when it's just sitting there begging for more salt." Shawn said as he quickly grabbed the saltshaker from the table and opened it.
Zoey watched as Shawn pulled the top bun off the hamburger and began to pour salt onto the burger. He shook the saltshaker, and a gush of salt poured onto Minkus' burger.
"Shawn!" Zoey hissed, trying not to chuckle at the same time.
Shawn turned to her with a smirk. "What?"
"And then in the afternoon, I hang out with you and Zoey." Cory continued.
"I don't know if this is a personality disorder with me or what." Shawn said, chuckling.
"Then it's home for Saturday night pizza night." Cory told Shawn and Zoey.
"But I'm never happy unless I'm doing stuff like this." Shawn said as he scooped a spoonful of pudding and placed it on Minkus' burger. Zoey huffed and shook her head slightly. How does he get away with this stuff?
"And then it's four hours of video games... and it's a good night." Cory finished.
"I don't mean just a little happy." Shawn stated as he continued to put pudding on the burger.
"Where's a spare minute?" Cory questioned, raising his arms up.
"I mean I'll have this moment and know it was a good day." Shawn said as he placed the pudding down and placed the top bun back on Minkus' burger.
"I can't take the pressure of a father/son softball game." Cory told his two best friends.
Shawn turned to Cory and groaned. "Oh, I hate those."
Zoey just stayed silent between the boys. She didn't like talking about fathers, to her it felt like they were pointing out to her that she didn't have a father figure, but they weren't.
"I know. They take it so seriously." Cory responded. Minkus than came back from the cafeteria and stood by his lunch tray.
"I know. My dad always screams and yells like it's the most important thing in the world." Shawn said.
"And they always get injured." Cory added.
"To us it's only a game." Shawn stated. "To them it's a guest shot on 'Rescue 911'."
"The trouble with fathers is... they sometimes try to live vicariously through their children." Minkus informed Shawn and Cory.
"Okay, Minkus. That's enough quality time. Take your little hamburger and go to your table." Shawn insisted, trying to supress his smirk.
Minkus glanced down at his hamburger. "Hey, did you do anything to my hamburger?"
Shawn scoffed while his feet tapped under the table. "Yeah. Sure. Like doing something to his hamburger gives me my jollies."
"Look, guys. Shaquille O'Neal." Minkus gasped, pointing in the distance.
Shawn, Cory and Zoey glanced at each other, knowing that it was a bluff.
"Ooh, where?" The three wondered as they turned their heads away from Minkus.
Whilst they turned their heads, Zoey heard a slam behind them. It was Minkus swapping the burgers around. The three turned back to Minkus with a sarcastic frown.
Cory sighed. "Gee, I guess we just missed him."
"Hey, Minkus, isn't that Stephen Hawking?" Shawn wondered, pointing behind the nerd.
"Where!" Minkus asked, immediately turning around. Zoey watched as Shawn swapped the hamburger back again. After a few seconds, Minkus turned back to the three of them. "Oh, darn. I missed him, too. Well, see ya."
And with that, Minkus grabbed his tray and walked away from the three of them.
Shawn chuckled. "Why do they think he's so much smarter than us?"
Zoey watched as Shawn bites into his hamburger and stopped, leaving the burger in his mouth. She started laughing when she realized that Minkus didn't swap the burger around, but Shawn did, getting Minkus' burger instead. Shawn held the burger in his mouth.
"Because he is, isn't he?" Zoey asked as she tried covering her smile with her hand.
Shawn sadly nodded in response, which caused Zoey to laugh.
••••
When school was over, Zoey walked back home with Shawn. He didn't know why but he felt like he should be with her.
A moment later, they finally arrived at the front steps of Zoey's house. Zoey sighed heavily as she fumbled with her fingers.
"What's the matter, Zo?" Shawn asked, concern lingered within his voice.
Zoey sighed. "It's just that... you and Cory have memories of your dad's. You guys complain about them, play with them, enjoy being around them.... It just reminded me that I don't have one."
"Oh... I'm sorry about that, Zo." Shawn apologized, giving her a sympathetic look.
Zoey shook her head sternly. "Don't be. You guys just... forgot."
Shawn paused for a moment, before he breathed heavily. "Do you know why you're Dad left?"
Zoey nodded. Her eyes shifted to the side again and became glazed with a glassy layer of tears. As she blinked, they dripped from her eyelids and slid down her cheeks. She bit her lip tightly in attempt to hide any sound that wanted to escape from her mouth.
"A few months after I was born... my mother said that her and my dad had a massive argument. My name was brought up...and then he went straight out the front door." Zoey explained as another tear rolled down her face. "I think, I was the reason he left."
Shawn reached out hugged her tightly. "No way you're the reason he left." He assured her. "It was his fault that he left a really cool daughter behind."
When they finally parted, Zoey looked up at Shawn. "Thanks, Shawn."
••••
It was Monday. Zoey sat down beside Shawn in the cafeteria, eating her lunch. During the weekend, Zoey did nothing except sit on the couch and watched cartoon with her mother. The brunette smiled at the memory.
Cory placed his lunch tray on the table as he sat down beside Zoey. She noticed that he seemed more happy than usual.
"So, how was your weekend?" Zoey asked.
"Ah, one of the all-time greats. I slept, I watched TV... I relaxed, I played video games. And Sunday, I took it easy." Cory explained to Shawn and Zoey.
"So, I'm guessing you didn't go to the game?" Zoey questioned.
Cory shook his head. "Nope. Dad said it was cancelled."
"Hi, Cory." Topanga greeted as she approached the table.
"Hey, look who just beamed down." Shawn muttered.
"Hi, Topanga." Cory greeted back.
"I missed you at the game Saturday." Topanga said.
"What game?" Cory asked.
"Your father's grocery store against my father's book store." Topanga told him.
"Uh, Topanga, in this dimension, there was no game." Cory said.
"Yes, there was. I played." Topanga responded.
"Topanga, that game was cancelled." Cory told her.
"You wish. We were killing you... until your father's assistant manager tried to throw the ball home from center field and sprained his elbow. The ambulance had to come and take him away." Topanga explained.
Shawn sighed. "There's always an ambulance."
"My father told me that game was called off." Cory muttered in confusion.
"Well, it wasn't." Topanga said, before she turned around and walked away. Cory leaned against the table, looking like he was in deep thought.
Zoey shrugged her shoulders. "What's the big deal? Maybe your dad just didn't feel like playing."
"Maybe he didn't feel like playing alone." Cory said, frowning slightly.
••••
During the next day at school, Zoey was sitting in her usual spot while Mr. Feeny was teaching the class social studies.
"All right, class, when we were last in social studies. We were addressing the issue of social dissent." Mr. Feeny told the class, before Topanga raised her hand. "Miss Lawrence?"
"I've thought over my position, Mr. Feeny. And not only do I not want to say the Pledge of Allegiance... but I also do not want to wear shoes." Topanga said.
"We who sit behind you object." Shawn spoke, before Cory raised his hand.
"Mr. Matthews, you were a pro-pledger as I recall." Mr. Feeny said.
"Yeah, I was, but I thought it over." Cory said.
"Oh? You've changed your position?" Mr. Feeny wondered.
"No." Cory said. "I haven't, but I can argue it better now."
"Really?" Mr. Feeny asked, sounding interested. "Well, then, the floor is yours."
Cory got out of his seat and approached the front of the class. "At first, I thought we should just say it... because it was a tradition, and it's the flag... but now I think it's dumb... to do something and not know why you do it."
"And what conclusion has that led you to?" Mr. Feeny wondered.
"That if there's something you care about... like the country you live in or the father you have... then allegiance, which means.." Cory trailed as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. "'Noun. Loyalty or devotion to a government or a group or a person'. Allegiance is something you should show."
"So, then you believe that you should respect the traditions of that government... or group or person." Mr. Feeny asked.
Cory nodded. "Yeah. I should've."
"Or teacher?" Mr. Feeny asked.
The bell rung. Zoey gathered her books off her desk and walked out of the classroom, along with Shawn and Cory. Cory stopped before he made his way back to Mr. Feeny's classroom and popped his head in.
"Or a teacher." He said, before catching up with Zoey and Shawn.
____________________
PUBLISHED: December 5, 2017
WORDS: 2459