Disclaimer: I do not own Boy Meets World
Author's Note: This is my first B.M.W. (hey I just realized what the initials spelled, haha) fanfic but not my first fanfic ever. Please review lightly though, because I haven't seen Boy Meets World in a long time but I was very fond of the series. So, here it goes.
Teacher's Pet
Cory Matthews walked through the halls of his old middle school, deep in thought. He sighed contentedly at the thought of all the old pranks he used to pull with his friend Shawn.
Noticing the lack of commotion in the hallways, Cory figured everybody was in class. He briefly wondered whether he could visit Mr. Feeny when he was teaching. His old friend had gone back to teaching in middle school and Cory couldn't help but chuckle when he thought of the irony of it. Who would've thought that the time when they had caused the most grief for the beloved teacher would be the one he'd come running back to?
He's going to be happy to see me, Cory thought, a little bit sarcastically. No matter what, though, he knew the old man and him were always great friends, even if Mr. Feeny didn't seem like it in public.
Cory found his way to his old, familiar classroom and sure enough, he could Mr. Feeny through the window giving one of his infamous lectures.
"Mr. Feeny!" He exclaimed as he threw the door open.
Mr. Feeny didn't even flinch or look the least bit surprised. By now, he was used to kids and their wild antics-even grown up kids. He looked over at Cory expectantly.
"Hello, Mr. Matthews," he greeted, even lifting the side of his mouth just barely in an attempt to smile.
"Hey, Mr. Feeny, how's it going? You want to grab a bite to eat or something? You know, catch up on old times?" Cory asked, showing his old, childish smile.
"I'm afraid I can't, Mr. Matthews," Mr. Feeny replied simply.
"Why not?" Cory asked, confused.
"I'm teaching Mr. Matthews," the teacher pointed out.
Cory looked around, realizing for the first time that there were students. As his face reacted to their presence, the class laughed.
"Now, now children, settle down," Mr. Feeny said firmly, "Cory, can we do this another time?"
The wizened, old face looked at him almost pleadingly.
"Can't I just stay here, Mr. Feeny? Watch you teach like when you taught me?" Cory asked, smiling.
"I don't think that would be a good idea, Mr. Matthews," Mr. Feeny answered, sighing slightly.
"Why not?" Cory asked for the second time, the same dumb look on his face.
"You didn't even listen in my class when you were a student, Mr. Matthews," Mr. Feeny replied, to the scattered laughter of his class.
"Only after lunch, and that was because I was always on a sugar rush and then it came plummeting down," Cory explained, defensively. Again the class chuckled.
"Yes, conveniently right when I started talking," Mr. Feeny said; now giving a small smile as the class erupted with laughter.
Cory couldn't help but grin himself, too. That was partly true.
"Alright, if I promise not to sleep will you let me stay?" Cory asked, looking expectantly up at Mr. Feeny.
"Fine, but only for a while. Strictly speaking, there are to be no visitors in classrooms during school hours unless presenting something educational, and they have to have permission from the principal," Mr. Feeny explained.
Cory smiled and went to sit down in his old seat. To his amazement, though, he found it was already occupied.
"Heh?" He wondered out loud, "What are you doing in my seat, kid?"
"It's my seat now," the kid said, looking up at Cory. Cory backed up. The kid looked like he was ready to put up a fight.
Instead he took up a seat behind a nerdy-looking kid.
"Mr. Peters, that'll be enough," Mr. Feeny scolded the kid gently.
Mr. Feeny started talking again and for the first time ever since he had been a student of his, Cory listened with interest. It amazed him that this man had managed to teach him everything he was hearing now even though he'd been a slightly-below-average student.
Suddenly, Cory felt something wet fly into the back of his neck. Feeling around for it, he instantly knew what it was-a spit ball. Some punk had the nerve to be shooting these at him?
Cory turned around to see the kid from before and a kid that sat behind him, high-fiving each other. Cory sent a glare their way.
"Mr. Feeny, that kid's shooting spit balls at me," he complained, raising his hand. He didn't even wait for Mr. Feeny to call on him.
Mr. Feeny looked at him disapprovingly as his old student interrupted his lecture. He'd been afraid of this. He knew the minute he heard Cory talk in that familiar tone he'd used as a student, yet he let the boy in anyway.
"Mr. Matthews, please don't interrupt my class again or you will have to leave," he said reprovingly. Cory gaped at him behind his back as Mr. Feeny turned to continue talking.
He stared around at the two boys again. For a brief moment he thought they reminded him very much of himself and Shawn when they were that age. They also looked a bit similar too.
'Mr. Peters', as Mr. Feeny called him, had a sort of seventy-style hair do. It was brown and slicked back, but even rubbing down the sides with gel couldn't control the mass of curls that resided on the top of his head. His friend behind him had that same rough look as Shawn. He was wearing a flannel, button down shirt but it looked like he had ripped the sleeves off. The shirt had been left open to reveal a gray tank-top. His overall features were slightly muscular-as much as a young boy could be-that reminded him of Shawn's physique when he was that age. His hair was also completely identical. Cory could have mistaken them for twins if it wasn't that this boy looked slightly bigger. His thoughts were interrupted as another spit ball-this one on the face-hit him.
They laughed and the one called, 'Mr. Peters' whispered something to him.
"Stop staring at us, perv," he laughed quietly.
Cory turned back around quickly in his seat, not even realizing that he had been staring at them that long. He had come back in to Mr. Feeny's lecture right when he had asked a question. A girl's hand, that was sitting in the front row a couple of seats away from him, shot up.
"Yes, Ms. Daniels?" Mr. Feeny called on her.
"South Dakota," she answered.
"Correct, Ms. Daniels. South Dakota is where Mt. Rushmore is located, very good," Mr. Feeny said and moved on. For the next ten minutes he continued to ask about the different locations of historical landmarks, or monuments and each time she would shoot up her hand and answer correctly.
Cory quietly scoffed in disbelief. He knew these types.
What a know it all. What a…Tapanga, he suddenly realized. She was exactly like his wife when she was that age all those years ago. In fact, as Cory thought back, this girl had her same sense of…unique...style that she had. The top part of her blonde hair was pulled up to either side and made into two loose buns that were held together by chopsticks. The rest of her long, wavy hair fell back behind her shoulders. She was wearing a weird combination of clothing as well. She had black leggings on and a short denim skirt over it. Her long-sleeved, teal shirt was covered by a thick denim vest. The whole package looked kind of strange, but Cory shrugged, thinking that it was probably just the style these days.
"Hey, what's her name?" Cory whispered, asking the boy in front of him.
The boy turned around, clearly annoyed by the disturbance.
"And why should I give you her personal information?" The boy asked snottily. He pushed up his large glasses on to the bridge of his nose but they just fell down again.
Cory looked at him like he'd grown a second head. What was this guy's problem?
"It's a name, it's kind of public information," he pointed out to the boy.
"Really-then how come you don't know it?" The boy asked, smiling at Cory mockingly. Cory gave him a look. Oh, how much this kid reminded him of Minkus, the weird, little know-it-all.
"What's the guy's name who shooting spit balls at me?" Cory asked quickly. He was testing something.
"Maurice but they call him Maury," the boy answered, his hair shaking a bit as he said the boy's name in contempt.
Cory paused just a second as he thought of how coincidental that was. Then he remembered what he was trying to do.
"You told me his name. Why won't you tell me hers?" Cory asked, narrowing his eyes. The Minkus-like boy's eyes grew wide in embarrassment.
"It…It's different," he said, his hair shaking once again in his arrogance. The boy pushed his glasses up again only to have them fall down once more.
"Uh-huh, I know what's going on," Cory said, grinning devilishly as he figured out that this boy liked her.
"Don't tell Zenon!" The boy whispered hastily.
"Zenon," Cory said, judging the name in his head. An unusual name for an unusual person-just like Tapanga.
The boy slapped his head with his hand in stupidity. His head shook again but this time out of self-pity.
"Is there a problem over there boys?" Mr. Feeny asked. His keen ears had heard them whispering to each other the entire time but he had just now started to address it.
"No sir," they answered in unison. Mr. Feeny raised an eyebrow, looking at Cory, but decided to leave it be and continued on. He had just barely said a sentence when the bell rang for lunch. Everyone got up quickly and rushed out the door. Now it was just Cory and Mr. Feeny.
Mr. Feeny turned his back on Cory for a minute, erasing some things on the blackboard and then he turned around, a warm smile on his face.
"Cory, Cory, Cory. How long has it been since I last saw you in that seat?" Mr. Feeny wondered aloud, gesturing to the seat where 'Maurice' now sat.
Cory grinned. This was the Mr. Feeny he had come to see.
"Way too long Mr. Feeny, way too long," he laughed lightly.
"So, what brings you here?" Mr. Feeny asked, sitting behind his desk.
Cory came up to the desk and leaned against it on his hands, looking around pointlessly at the things that were strewn atop it.
"Old times," he said simply.
"Well of course," Mr. Feeny said, giving a small smile, "but did you come to do anything or just give a quick hello?"
"I don't know, I just got this sudden desire to be back in middle school. I mean, my life's great and everything now but in middle school it was…perfect," Cory said, looking off in another direction, remembering his middle school days.
Mr. Feeny raised his eyebrows in amazement.
"Perfect? I wouldn't think that they were that meaningful to you. You weren't with Tapanga yet, your school marks were, well…questionable," Mr. Feeny said, smiling.
"Yes, but I liked looking at Tapanga from the back…her beautiful hair, and on the other hand I was disgusted when I thought of girls back then," Cory smiled, remembering, "I liked pulling pranks with Shawn and talking about it in your class or just sleeping through them."
Now it was Mr. Feeny's turn to smile in remembrance.
"I liked shooting spit balls at Minkus's head. You know in middle school my life was so carefree. I didn't have to worry about problems in my own life or-or in my friend's lives," Cory said, now getting a little worked up, running a hand over his hair, "I could just be a kid. There were always tons of presents under the tree and everybody was there."
Cory now looked at Mr. Feeny sincerely, getting to his point.
"Everybody was right where I wanted them to be. No one had to move, no was seeking new opportunities elsewhere. We were all together and I didn't realize it then, but those were the best times of my life Mr. Feeny. I want to be in middle school. I want to be that little boy again. I want everybody to be right here, I just want it to be the way it's supposed to be-back to normal," Cory finished, still looking at Mr. Feeny for his reaction. Mr. Feeny looked at his old student gravely.
"I'm afraid that's not possible Cory. Come next year, nothing's going to be the way it was," he said, getting up and heading out the door.
"Wait, what do you mean, Mr. Feeny. You're still going to be teaching here right…right?" Cory said, turning around to face his old teacher. What he saw wasn't reassurance, it was regret.
Mr. Feeny looked at Cory. He could see the hope, the determination in this young man's eyes, but he could also see the thing hidden beneath those-loss. It was inevitable so Mr. Feeny just decided to tell him already.
"I'm retiring next year, Mr. Matthews," he said simply. And Mr. Feeny left the room just like that leaving Cory to stand there, the same defeated look on his face because he couldn't react any other way now. He was frozen in that spot, dwelling on what had just been revealed to him. After a while of standing there in the same spot, fixated on the doorway where his teacher once stood and replaying his last sentence in his head a million times, he quietly walked out of the room.
Cory Matthews was in a mental break down as he left his old middle school. He had come here proclaiming his deepest desire and left with it exploding behind him. It had backfired completely. Mr. Feeny was going to retire and his friends and family were all split up, none of them except his parents living around the place he grew up. And he decided that it was all over now.
-----
"Mr. Matthews," said a voice from above, "Mr. Matthews, wake up!"
Cory bolted awake, sitting straight up in his chair. Mr. Feeny was standing there, looking down at him.
"Mr. Feeny?" he wondered drowsily.
"Yes, Mr. Matthews. Do you have your assignment?" Mr. Feeny asked, ready to give him a reproving look.
"Uh," Cory stalled, looking around on his desk for this 'assignment'. He had completely forgotten they had one and he was starting to panic when Mr. Feeny spoke up.
"Is that it on your face, Mr. Matthews?" Mr. Feeny asked, pointing to one side of his face.
Cory felt where he was pointing and sure enough a paper was stuck there-probably by drool. He peeled it off and handed it to Mr. Feeny took it carefully in his hand and put it at arm's length, clearly disgusted by the condition of it..
Cory looked around to see Shawn, laughing at his embarrassment. Cory just shrugged and turned back to see Mr. Feeny up at his desk giving him an understanding smile.
In real life, Cory Matthews lay on his deathbed, smiling for the last time. He had passed away in his sleep, his last dream, of course, being one of him in middle school. After that day so long ago he had never visited Mr. Feeny again. He figured there was no point-it would just remind him of the dismal future that was to come. Nothing would ever be the same again. Eventually though, Cory got over that thought and decided that maybe-no he was-going to be in middle school again one day with his best friend Shawn behind him, future wife, Tapanga, in front, and his longtime mentor and friend Mr. Feeny smiling over at him from his desk. At home he'd find his dad and mom, Eric, and even his pesky sister, Morgan all sitting around the T.V. That was the way it should be and in the end, it was.
Author's Note: I hope that wasn't out of character. I just thought about it and thought it would be interesting. Kind of a farewell kind of thing-though it's long overdue, haha. At least it had a happy ending because, hey, he died smiling. Thanks so much for reading and please review. I'd love to know what you think!