During the day Shawn, Cory and Zoey were currently sitting at Chubbies, talking about the school dance that was happening on Friday night. As they were discussing, Cory got out of his seat and walked over to a girl Zoey knew was Sonia.
"Hi, my name is Cory." Cory greeted in a monotone voice. "The seventh-grade dance is Friday night, and I was just wondering if you maybe...."
"I'm sorry." Sonia apologised. "My grandmother's sick."
And with that Sonia walked away from him. Zoey placed a hand up to her mouth, trying not to laugh while Cory made his way back over to the table where Shawn and Zoey sat.
"Any luck?" Shawn asked.
"Apparently, it's not a good time to be a grandmother." Cory responded. He then looked around Chubbies and pointed to the girls that he had asked. "Look, her grandmother's coughing phlegm, her grandmother's hacking blood, and her...."
"Whoa." Shawn said, interrupting Cory. "I happen to know she has no grandmother."
Cory nodded. "Yes, and somehow she blames me for her death."
Zoey smirked. "At least you can't sink any lower."
"Hey, you." A voice called out. Zoey turned around to see two adults approaching their table. "Busy?"
"You're not gonna ask me to the dance, are you?" Cory wondered, looking somewhat frightened.
"What if I did?" The man questioned.
"I'd say pick me up at eight, but no slow dances." Cory responded.
"Just watch these for a second, all right?" The man said as he leaned his guitar case against the table beside Cory.
"I can do that." Cory said, nodding his head. The man's friend walked over to the table and placed his guitar case on the table in front of Shawn and Zoey before the two men walked away. "I'm not going to this dance with anybody."
"Why don't you just ask Topanga?" Zoey suggested.
"I could, I could, but that would show no personal growth if I simply ask the girl I've always asked ever since we were five." Cory said.
"So, when you gonna ask her?" Zoey asked with raised eyebrows.
"I figure tomorrow," Cory simply answered. "unless by some magic, girls suddenly start to notice me."
Just a second after Cory said that, Sonia and her friend, Sherry suddenly approached their table with smiles on their faces.
"Hi." Sonia greeted Cory. "I couldn't help noticing you."
Cory raised his eyebrows. "Oh, you're talking to me? Shouldn't you be at the hospital visiting one of your many blood-hacking grandmas?"
"Why didn't you tell me you play?" Sherry wondered.
"Huh?" Cory asked in confused.
Then it finally clicked inside Zoey's mind. Sonia and Sherry both thought that Shawn and Cory both played guitar, due to the guitar cases in front of them. Zoey chuckled softly at how stupid this was.
"Cory, they're onto us. They've spotted our axes. They know we play. They like musicians." Shawn told Cory, tapping on the guitar case in front of him.
"Oh, well, then watch me pull this rabbit out of my hat." Cory said with an excited smile spread across his lips.
"Musicians." Zoey corrected with a smirk.
"Oh, well, that's very different." Cory stated.
"You guys in a band?" Sonia asked, looking between Shawn and Cory.
"Are we in a band?" Cory said, chuckling before he turned to Shawn with a serious expression. "Are we in a band?"
"Yes, you idiot." Shawn told his friend through gritted teeth.
"Well, maybe you'd play for us sometime?" Sonia wondered.
"Yeah, we're gonna tell our friends we know you." Sherry said with a small giggle.
And with that Sonia and Sherry smiled at the boys before they turned around and walked away from their tables. Zoey smiled, knowing that this plan was not going to work.
"You know, they like us because they think we're in a band." Cory said.
"We could cash in on this." Shawn muttered.
"But we'd be total phonies." Cory stated.
"Phonies with groupies." Shawn pointed out.
Cory shook his head. "No. We could never pull this off in a million, billion, trillion years."
The two guys who asked Cory to watch for the guitar cases came back and grabbed them.
"Wow, you guys have roadies?" Sherry asked as her and Sonia walked back to them.
Cory smiled. "Boy, time flies."
••••
It was the next day at school when Zoey walked through the halls. She sighed and shook her head when she saw Cory and Shawn in the middle of the hall with guitar cases in their hands.
"Please don't tell me, you're doing this for the girls?" Zoey asked when she approached her best friends.
"No." Shawn responded with a serious tone. "We're starting a band to get girls."
"Didn't I just say that?" Zoey questioned, slightly confused.
"So, are you guys gonna be playing today?" Sherry asked, as her and Sonia walked up to them.
"Today? Now, we never play today." Cory said.
"We'd love to hear you play." Sonia stated. "Won't you please play?"
"Okay." Shawn quickly said.
"Excuse us." Cory told the girls before dragging Shawn down the hall. "Shawn, I don't know what's in your guitar case, but I have an egg-salad sandwich in mine."
"Cory, they wanna see us play. Look at the pretty girls." Shawn said and the two of them looked at Sonia and Sherry. "Why can't we play?"
"Um, let me see... because you two don't know how." Zoey answered in a 'duh' tone.
Shawn raised his eyebrow and nodded. "Well, that would stop us." He then walked over to Sonia and Sherry. "Sorry, girls. At this moment, we're not performing for the public. Our managers won't let us."
"Oh, why?" Sherry asked, her voice filled with disappointment.
"Because...." Cory trailed as he quickly thought of a lie that was plausible. "We're still getting over the death of our drummer."
Zoey sighed deeply and placed her right hand up to her forehead. "Oh, my god."
"Oh, won't you please play?" Sonia asked as she slowly approached Shawn.
"Okay." Shawn quickly said.
"Cory, everybody's talking about you." Topanga spoke as she appeared beside Cory.
"They are?" Cory asked with a smile.
"Yeah." Topanga said, nodding. "They say you're starting a band?"
"They're awesome." Sonia stated.
"Except they don't have a drummer." Sherry added.
"Who are you?" Topanga questioned the two girls.
"My thoughts exactly!" Zoey exclaimed, raising her hand in a motion.
"We're with the band." Sherry answered as she crossed her arms over her stomach.
"Cory, I wanted to talk to you about the dance." Topanga started as she pulled Cory away to talk to him.
As Zoey stood around in the hall with Shawn, Sonia and Sherry, a wide smile spread across her lips when she saw Leo approaching her. Zoey rushed over to her boyfriend and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Hey!" Leo greeted with a smile. "How are you?"
"I'm doing well." Zoey said as they pulled apart.
"I was just wondering if you wanted to go to the dance with me?" He asked with a wide smile.
"I'd love too." Zoey responded. There was an explosion in her brain... the good sort... the type that carries more possibilities than she could be conscious of... but there were hundreds of ideas there in that buzz of electricity.... she could feel it.
••••
Zoey slugged her bag strap over her shoulder as she walked through the school hall the next day. As she walked, she noticed Cory leaning against the stair railing.
"Hi, Cory." Sherry greeted. "What are you doing?"
"I was just standing here, listening to the music in my head." Cory answered. Zoey rolled her eyes. How in the world are those girls believing this crap?
"Wow." Sonia said in amazement. "Is it loud?"
"Sometimes it drowns out my thoughts, but then I see you and I know it's our song." Cory explained. The two girls smiled at Cory before the walked away. "Ooh, that was a good one."
"'Listening to the music in my head'?" Zoey repeated as she walked over to Cory with raised eyebrows.
"What?" Cory questioned.
"It's pathetic, Cory." Zoey stated, crossing her arms over her stomach. "You know all things have a consequence, right?"
"Pretty smooth, Matthews." Mr. Turner commented as he walked down the small flight of stairs.
"Oh, hey, Mr. Turner." Cory greeted nervously. "I didn't know you were standing there."
Mr. Turner nodded. "Oh, yeah. Maybe you better turn down the music in your head."
"You know what, Mr. Turner? Me and you, we're a lot alike." Cory stated.
"Are we?" Mr. Turner wondered.
Cory nodded. "Yeah. Because you have this motorcycle helmet, people think you're cool. And I carry around this guitar case and people think I'm cool, too."
"Matthews, I got this motorcycle helmet so if I crash my bike, my head doesn't go splat." Mr. Turner explained. "Why do you have that guitar case?"
"Yeah, Cory?" Zoey asked as she tried to suppress her smile. "What do you have in that guitar case?"
"To protect my sandwich." Cory confidently answered.
Zoey turned around and saw a group huddling around something near the bathroom. The brunette approached the huddle group to see that Mr. Feeny was crossing out the musicians for the dance on Friday.
"It is with deep, deep regret, I must inform you that the Demon Seeds have pulled out." Mr. Feeny announced and the students all groaned. "Now, now, steady. You'll still be able to shake your little booties. I have managed to secure a more-than-adequate replacement - the cool, mellow Caribbean sounds of JoJo Man and Brother B."
Everyone all groaned in frustration. Zoey noticed Sonia approaching Mr. Feeny with a determined expression.
"We want live music." She stated.
"'Recorded live at the Fiesta Room of the Montego Bay Hilton'." Mr. Feeny read out on the tape box.
"Just get another band." Sherry said.
"Yeah!" The students agreed.
"Hard as it is to believe, my rock 'n' roll contacts are limit." Mr. Feeny said.
"Well, Cory and Shawn have a band." Sherry exclaimed.
"They're really good." Sonia stated.
"Mr. Matthews, you have a band?" Mr. Feeny called out.
Cory nodded. "Well, yeah, but..."
"They're really great. I've heard them." Sherry commented.
Cory's eyes widened in shock. "No, you haven't."
Zoey bit her bottom lip, trying not to laugh as the students began chanting 'Cory and Shawn'. Sonia and Sherry stood on both side of Cory, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.
"Well, Mr. Matthews, you seem to have quite the following." Mr. Feeny stated, gesturing to the students. "So, what's the name of your jolly group of music makers?"
"Our name? Um... they call us..." Cory trailed off hesitantly before looking around the hall. "The Exits."
"Well, kudos!" Mr. Feeny exclaimed as he wrote 'exits' on the dance poster. "You have a gig. Have your people call me."
"You're in so much trouble." Zoey sung as she stood behind Cory.
"Wow!" Sherry gaped in amazement. "We'll get to hear you play in front of the whole school."
Shawn than appeared as he walked over to the small group and stood beside Zoey.
"Shawn, look who they got to play at the dance." Cory said.
Shawn looked at the poster and smiled. "The Exits. They're great."
"They're you and Cory." Zoey explained with a teasing smile on her face.
Shawn frowned. "Ooh, they're not so good."
••••
It was the night of the seventh-grade dance. Zoey wore a knee length purple dress that had small black patterns at the bottom of the dress. Zoey's hand was in the crease of Leo elbow. They walked into the gym which was decorated like a party with a stage at the end of the gym.
Leo and Zoey stood beside each other with all the other seventh-graders waiting for Shawn and Cory to perform.
"Check. Microphone one. Test, test." Mr. Feeny said into the microphone, gaining everyone's attention. "Stay in school. Get a good education. Don't slouch."
"George." Mr. Turner called as he appeared behind the curtain. "George, you are killing the mood."
"Good." Mr. Feeny simply said before he disappeared behind the curtain.
"You look really nice, Zo." Leo compliment as he looked at the dress she wore.
Zoey smiled. "Thanks, Leo. You don't look bad yourself."
"John Adams High!" Mr. Turner shouted into the microphone, gaining everyone's attention. "It is with great pleasure I give you... The Exits!"
Everyone erupted in cheers and clapped as the curtains opened to reveal both Shawn and Cory, who were eating turkey and looked scared to death. Zoey couldn't help but chuckle, knowing that this plan was going downhill. Shawn and Cory talked for a second before they grabbed their guitars and walked up on stage.
"Good evening, John Adams High!" Cory shouted into the microphone. "Are you ready to rock?" Everyone all cheered. "Are you ready to roll?" Everyone cheered once more. "Are you ready to rock 'n' roll?"
"Goodnight everybody!" Shawn shouted. He was about to run off stage but Cory grabbed onto him and pulled him back.
The seventh-graders began to 'boo' at Shawn and Cory because they weren't playing any music. Zoey felt extremely bad for her best friends, but they had to learn somehow.
"Hey, you there, what's your name?" Cory asked a girl.
"You stink!" Sonia shouted.
"No, I think your name is Sonia, and I've got a song for Sonia." Cory said before he began to play the guitar badly. "Sonia, Sonia, bebonia, banana-fana fafonia Fee-fi-fafonia Sonia!"
Everyone immediately turned around and walked out of the gym. Topanga and Zoey were the only ones left the gym.
Zoey currently sat on one of the chairs, looking down at her fumbling fingers. Leo had left her to go meet up with his friends at Chubbies.
Shawn and Cory appeared behind the stage. They gave each other a look before Cory walked over to Topanga, while Shawn approached Zoey at the table she sat at.
"Hey, where's Leo?" Shawn wondered.
"He went to Chubbies with his friends." Zoey explained with a slight frown.
"You know it's dangerous leaving such a beautiful girl on her own." Shawn pointed out.
Zoey's blush seared through her cheeks and for a minute she thought her face was on fire. She suddenly felt awkward demure, and coy; even going as far as attempting to hide her rosy features behind her slim fingers.
"You know that Leo was meant to slow dance with me." Zoey said as she looked around the empty gym. "But he isn't here."
"But I am." Shawn simply said with a gentle smile.
Zoey couldn't help but smile. She got out of her chair and wrapped her arms around his neck. Shawn placed his hands on her waist. The slow music twirled like thread around them. Zoey rested her head on his chest as they danced.
__________________
PUBLISHED: March 6, 2018
WORDS: 2491