Disclaimer: I don't own Boy Meets World.

A/N: Here's the first chapter of the third story in this series. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

Shawn leaned back against his closed locker, waiting for Cory to finish what he was doing. He caught Angela's eye from across the hallway. The black-haired, dark-skinned beauty had just transferred to John Adams High earlier that school year. It was almost time to break up with his current two-week girlfriend. Maybe it was time to give Angela two weeks. Not only was she pretty and smart—quite a step up from a lot of the girls he'd dated who had been pretty but not necessarily the brightest—but word around school was she only dated guys for two weeks. It was the perfect setup. He wouldn't have to worry about her trying to cling to him after their time was up.

Life was finally starting to settle back down to what it was before the island fiasco. Well . . . almost. Dani was still around. He still knew that things he never seriously thought were possible before actually were in fact possible. He'd dealt with the impossible back in that 'Temple of Doom' place—even still had the occasional nightmare about it—but he finally felt like he was back to normal, or had at least found some kind of new normal, anyways. His nightmares weren't nearly as bad as they were before. He and John had talked a lot about what he was going through. Eventually, the aftereffects of those events started to fade away.

He hadn't talked much to Dani since the whole memory-wiping incidents a few months ago. She'd stayed true to her word and given both John and him space so they could deal with it all. Over the last few months, John's strictly professional teacher attitude towards her slowly started to melt back towards what it was before the incident—that is the way he had pretty much always been where Shawn, Cory, and Topanga were concerned. Shawn was still too burned by all of it, though. He knew the girl had meant well—that it had never been her intention to hurt him or John—that she was just trying to protect them in some warped way—but it didn't change the way he felt. It was like she betrayed his trust. It was hard for him to move past that.

Shawn and Cory slid into their seats seconds after the bell rang.

John was casually sitting on the front of his desk in his khakis, white and green dress shirt, and green tie, holding onto a book.

"Can anyone summarize what happened during the second part of Act III?" John asked the class.

That's right. They were supposed to finish reading that play—something about some guy named Ernest or something? Oops. Must have slipped his mind. He'd been dating Mandy, who was so much more interesting than some old play by some guy who was probably already dead.

Topanga's hand predictably shot up in the air. "Jack finds out his real name is Ernest Jack, so he was never really lying whether he said his name was Jack or that he was his fictitious brother Ernest. He's finally allowed to marry Gwendolyn, so Algernon—who turns out to be his younger brother—can now marry Cecily."

"Good. Now any thoughts on what we can learn from this play?"

"If you're going to lie about who you are, make sure the people who know you under one identity never meet the people who know you as someone else?" Cory spoke up.

"Nice try, Matthews," John said sarcastically. "Wanna try again?"

"No, that was the best I got."

"Angela?"

Shawn turned his head to look at her before she spoke.

"Well it's a satire," she said, "so there probably isn't any real underlying moral lesson here, but if I have to give one, I'd say it's that you shouldn't lie about who you are to begin with, then it won't matter if people in one part of your life cross paths with others you know."

Shawn smirked as Angela directed that last part at a certain curly headed friend of his. There was another friend—no . . . not really a friend anymore—more like an acquaintance—that could learn a thing or two about being honest . . . or earnest. The smirk slid from his face.

He snuck a quick glance over to Dani. If she heard that thought, she hid it good. They hadn't spoken telepathically in a long time. She hadn't responded to anything he thought or helped him with nightmares in a while either. Whether that was because she got a better grasp on her powers or whatever connection they had was gone or she was simply choosing to ignore anything she got from him was anybody's guess. He wasn't about to ask, not that she would tell him the truth, anyways.

He felt a slight pang of regret. He missed having her as a friend. True, they hadn't been friends nearly as long as him and Cory—or even him and Topanga, for that matter—but they had been close. How could they not be? She saved his life, he wasn't even sure how many times over, and he was pretty sure he saved hers too. They were the only ones who went through that hellhole of a place straight out of some adventure horror movie or something and they survived. They only had one another to rely on against that place and the goons with guns forcing them through it.

The regret didn't last long, though, as thoughts of what he and John went through when she erased their memories rose back up to the surface.

He almost jumped when a book plopped down on his desk. He glanced down at it. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Sounded like another real snoozer.

"We'll review the whole play tomorrow. Test the following day. I want you to read chapters one and two of this book for Monday. We'll review some English basics and do some in-class readings the rest of the week." John held up the blue book with the creepy looking eyes gazing out of it when he got back up front.

"Wow. Four whole days to read two chapters. You're going easy on us," Shawn said.

"Don't get too excited Hunter. They're long chapters." John smirked. "But for now, back to The Importance of Being Earnest."

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"So, Chubbie's later?" Cory asked the group as they left Feeny's class.

"I'll be there, but not with you guys. I've got a date," Shawn said. "It's time to break up with Mandy. Maybe I'll join later, if you're still there when she leaves."

"What is with you, Shawn?" Topanga burst out. "Don't you want a real relationship? You can't just keep breaking up with everyone after two weeks. Sooner or later all the girls will wise up and refuse to go out with you."

"Yeah, right," Cory said. "Everyone already knows he's a two-week-er. He still has girls lining up to go out with him."

"Well, one day they'll stop, and then he'll be alone."

"Then one day I'll keep a relationship for three weeks."

"Unbelievable."

"Well, believe it babe." Shawn flashed a grin. "At least I'm more believable than a certain other friend of ours." His gaze pointedly shot over to Dani before he walked away.

Cory sighed. "What about you, Dani?" He turned to his up-till-then silent foster sister. "You up for Chubbie's?"

"I think I'll pass." She walked off the opposite direction of where Shawn went.

Cory sighed again.

"Shawn will come around eventually . . . maybe," Topanga said.

"It's been months," Cory said.

"Can you blame him?" Topanga faced him fully. "After what happened—what she did?"

"Well, yeah, I get that, but it's not like she had full control over it or anything and she meant well. I mean, I guess I understand and all—I would've been pretty mad about it too, but . . . ."

"But you hate seeing people you care about avoiding one another because you have a good heart and since you want everyone to love you, you want everyone you care about to love one another too." She smiled at him. "I know, and it's one of the many things I love about you. These things take time, though. It really is up to Shawn."

"What about Dani?"

"She's giving him space—leaving it up to him what he wants to do, which is for the best."

"No, I mean . . . she's avoiding us again." She had been steadily withdrawing from all of them ever since the incidents. She hadn't been able to completely avoid them like she used to on the island—school didn't allow for that and neither did their parents—but so much of the time she was there without really being there and she almost always turned down any invites to do something, even after her grounding was over.

"This is Dani we're talking about. I don't think there's much anyone—including you—can do. Maybe she'll come around, maybe she won't. She's the only one who can decide that," Topanga said.

"Alright. So I'll just keep pestering her to come out with us until she realizes that just going along with it will get me to shut up about it and therefore be less annoying for her," Cory said.

"You do realize that plan can backfire on you, right?"

Cory shrugged. "We'll see about that. I know Dani is stubborn, but I can be really persistent and really annoying when I want to be."

Topanga adopted a mock surprised look. "What? You? Manipulative, persistent, and annoying? I never would have figured."

"Hey! I never said manipulative."

"You didn't have to," Topanga said. "It was implied. And don't look so offended. You know it's true."

Cory shrugged again. So maybe it was. He did have a hard time butting out of other people's lives.

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Cory looked at the door when he heard it open to see Dani walk in. He turned back to the fridge to pull out a can of soda. The sound of his mom chopping something for whatever she was making for dinner barely slowed before she got back in her rhythm.

"You're back late," his mom said.

"Sorry," Dani said. "I was a little tied up."

Cory plopped down in one of the kitchen chairs and took a long swig of his soda. "Detention?"

"Something like that."

His mom stopped chopping all together. A quick glance up showed all her attention was focused on Dani. "What happened exactly?" Her tone was carefully casual, but Cory knew that was through sheer force of will.

Cory heard what Dani admitted to their parents about why she was so guarded and secretive—that there were bad people out there with powers that she'd had to deal with and may still have to deal with. His parents always got pretty up tight anytime Dani gave even the slightest hint she might not be telling them everything ever since finding that out.

Dani paused in her stride over to the stairs and shrugged. "Nothing much, really. A teacher wanted to talk, was all." She looked and sounded bored.

"About?"

"Making up a test I missed."

His mom frowned. "But you haven't missed any school . . . . I mean, you haven't, have you?"

"No, just a couple classes. Massive headaches and whatnot from trying and failing to block everything out during power surges, you know. Not a big deal."

Cory stared between his foster-sister and mother until his mom gave a slight nod and went back to making dinner. Dani continued towards the stairs.

"Any chance you changed your mind about Chubbie's later?" Cory called out to her.

"Nope."

Cory sighed as Dani disappeared up the stairs.

"What about Chubbie's?" his mom asked him.

"Topanga and I are going later. I tried inviting her too, but you know how she's been since the incident."

"Still trying to avoid everyone, huh?"

"Yeah."

She let out a big sigh before starting to chop stuff again. "Maybe your father and I should try talking to her again."

"And I'll keep pestering her till she agrees to go out with us."

He heard her chuckle. "You do that."

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"Why don't you go watch TV or something?" Alan said to Morgan. The young blond kid shrugged, gave a quick knowing look back at her foster-sister, and left the room. Both he and Amy stepped aside to let the girl through before walking further into the room.

Dani sat at her desk with her back to them, her black hair pulled up. She didn't move a muscle, seeming completely absorbed in whatever homework she was working on. They'd gotten to know her enough to know she was hardly ever as oblivious as she appeared; she was just really good at ignoring people when she wanted to be.

"Dani, honey, do you have a minute?" Amy asked.

The teen still kept her back to them and didn't show any signs of movement other than to start tapping her pencil against her notebook. She stayed this way for a short time before finally looking back at them. She raised an eyebrow as if to ask what they wanted.

"You can't keep hiding away from everyone and everything forever," Amy said.

"I'm not," Dani said. "I'm still going to school. We're talking. I talked to Cory some earlier. Morgan and I talked. I just have a lot of homework to do, so if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to it." She turned her back to them again and flipped a page of her textbook.

Alan and Amy shared a look.

"Why didn't you tell us you were still having trouble with your powers?" Alan asked. Maybe changing topics would help. Get her to start talking to them and hopefully listen too. They could come back to her avoidance issues later.

"Because I'm not." She started writing in her notebook before typing some numbers on a calculator.

"You said you missed a test because of a headache from a power surge . . . ," Amy said, confusion clear in her voice.

The teen wrote more in her notebook. "Because I did." She did more calculations. "Not everything that happens like that is because of my abilities going out of control. Sometimes it's just because I'm really tired or stressed or in a large crowd of people or whatever. That's normal . . . or at least normal for me, anyways."

"Think you can take a break from your homework for a minute?" Alan asked.

She set her pencil down and moved so she was sitting sideways in her chair and could face them.

Alan sat down on one of the beds across from her. Amy did the same beside him. It was better to talk with her on the same level rather than talk down to her.

"What caused it this time?" Alan asked.

"That would fall under the 'or whatever' category."

"Dani," Amy said in a warning tone.

The girl frowned. "It's Shawn," she said. "Most of the time I don't get anything from him anymore—like he went from being this telepathic broadcast radio station to an expert at blocking his thoughts overnight, but every once in a while it's like he forgets to keep his wall up and I have to strengthen my shields by a lot in order to block him out. Before that power boost I got a few months back, I wouldn't have been able to completely block him out. Now I can, but it takes just about everything I've got. Thus the killer headache."

She'd told them during one of their many talks after what happened that she and Shawn had developed some kind of mental connection after what happened on the island. She was telepathic by nature, so she could have that kind of connection with anyone if she wanted to, but this connection seemed to stem from his end, not hers.

"Couldn't you let the thoughts come in and just try to ignore them?" Amy asked.

"I don't want to invade his privacy like that. I'd rather the headache than . . . ." Her frown deepened.

". . . Than risk abusing your powers again, however unintentional it may be," Alan said.

The girl looked down.

"Have you tried talking to Shawn about this?"

"Not since I . . . well, since our talk after what I did."

What she did . . . . It was difficult to forget she was capable of erasing memories, though they all tried to avoid the topic as much as possible. Alan frowned. That was months ago.

"I know you wanted to give him his space after what happened, but maybe it's time to try talking to him again," Amy said. "More than just what is strictly necessary when you're forced to be together because of classes and Cory and Topanga."

"I told him I would wait until he was ready—if he's ever ready. It's the least I can do and I'm sticking with it. They're just headaches. I can handle it."

Boy, she was stubborn. Of course, so were him and Amy and the rest of their kids, but still . . . . "Is that why you've gone back to trying to avoid everyone as much as you can?" he asked.

"I haven't . . . ."

Alan raised his eyebrow, matching the incredulous look she liked to give. He didn't even have to look at his wife to know she shot their foster-daughter some kind of look as well.

"Okay. So, maybe I have."

He and Amy looked at one another again, this time with the slightest of smiles. Getting her to admit that was a good start.

"Cory invited you to join him and Topanga at Chubbie's tonight, didn't he?" Amy asked.

The teen shrugged. "Yeah. So?"

"We think you should go."

"Do I have to?"

He and Amy shared another look. "Well, no. You don't have to," Amy said. "But I did hear Cory say he would keep pestering you until you agreed to go."

Dani groaned. "Enough said. I'll go."

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Shawn watched Mandy twirl her long curly blond hair around her finger as she giggled at something he said. He didn't really see how it was even that funny. But hey, if she found him amusing, great for her.

He bet Angela probably wouldn't just laugh for the sake of laughing. She seemed more down to earth—more . . . well, not a ditz. Maybe it was time to get on with it already. If he was looking at his date and thinking about another girl, it was definitely over.

The girl let out another high-pitched giggle. "Yeah, great," Shawn said. "Hilarious, I know. Look, Mandy, I think we need to talk . . . ."

She reached her hands out to hold his with this big grin plastered on her face. Oh, boy.

"It's been fun and all," he said. "Really, it has. You've been great. You're a wonderful person, but I just don't think it's working out between us."

The grin started fading as she slowly pulled her hands back away from him.

"It's not you. It's me. It's time we break up and start meeting other people, so yeah. I'll, uh, I'll see you around." He stood up and walked away just as she started to pout. The breakup was always so awkward. It's why he adopted the make it quick and get the hell out of there immediately afterwards policy.

He spotted his friends back by the pool table, or rather, his friends and Dani. Guess she must have decided to come out of exile. He forced a small smile back on his face as he approached them.

Cory stood holding a pool stick like it was a cane. Dani leaned back against the wall with her arms crossed. Topanga leaned over the table, setting up a shot. She barely clipped the solid orange ball. The cue ball went straight into the corner pocket. Dani's hand twitched. The ball popped back out onto the table.

"Hey," Cory said. "No fair."

Dani's lips quirked up in the slightest of grins. "You know those billiard balls. Always doing wacky things."

"Yeah, because someone gives them a little help." Cory grinned.

"I think it's perfectly fair," Topanga said. "It didn't scratch, but I didn't sink any balls either. Besides, I didn't hear you complaining when the 'wind' helped you out before."

"Well, yeah, because that was fair."

"Yeah, yeah," Topanga said. "Sure it was."

Shawn stepped towards them and grabbed another stick. "Maybe I can help offset the wind."

He looked over and met Dani's gaze. She stared back for only a moment before looking away. Whatever little happy moment she'd had there was gone. He could see it in her eyes.

"No need," Dani said. "The wind needs a little fresh air." She walked off with her eyes lowered.

Cory and Topanga looked at one another before looking over at Shawn.

"Why don't you two start a new game? This one was getting kind of old. I'll watch," Topanga said.

Shawn rubbed chalk on the tip of his pool stick while Cory set up the new game.

"You're going down, my friend," Cory said. He tried so hard to sound intimidating. He just failed so miserably. Shawn couldn't even bring himself to pretend he succeeded.

"I wouldn't bet on it," Shawn said. "I learned from the best hustler in town."

"Me?" Cory said in that playful tone of his.

Shawn just looked at him. "No," he said. "My dad."

Cory stopped moving and stared at him a moment. "When was the last time you heard from him?"

"You can break," Shawn said. Cory didn't move. Shawn sighed. "Last month sometime. He said something about pearl diving in Peru. Or maybe this time it was something about working undercover for the CIA. I don't remember and don't really care. Seriously, Cor, you break."

Shawn relaxed when Cory finally turned back to the table and started the new game. His first shot after the break missed.

"So, you end it with Mindy?" Cory asked.

"Mandy. And yeah." Shawn lined up his shot. Solid red ball in the right corner pocket. He smiled when it made it in with ease.

"Who's next?"

"Angela, I think."

"I hear she's got a two week rule too. Smart move, my friend."

Some kind of frustrated sound came from Topanga's direction. "You two are hopeless," she said.

##

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

Dani stumbled back a bit, but the guy reached out his hand to steady her. She looked up at the boy who ran into her—or who she ran into, she wasn't really sure—to gaze into warm hazel eyes. His short light brown hair was spiked up so perfectly, it was like he stepped right out of a magazine.

She shook her head when she realized she was staring. "No, it's okay. I wasn't really watching where I was going," she said.

"Well, I'm glad," he said. A blush crept up on his face. "Not glad you weren't watching or that I ran into you but that I did run into you, and I think I'm going to stop talking before I confuse things even more. Hi, I'm Brody." He held out his hand.

Dani shook it after only a slight hesitation. "Dani."

He gave a shy smile. "Nice to run into you—I mean meet you. Maybe I'll see you around?"

"Maybe."

He stepped around her. She stood still for a moment in a daze. He had a nice smile. So sweet. She shook her head to snap out of it. Weird. She still couldn't help smiling back in his direction, though. Really weird. Maybe she needed fresh air more than she realized.