Chapter Two: Mr. and Mrs. Brillo Head
A/N: Are you serious? 11 reviews just for one chapter? I honestly woke up, saw all these alerts and died of happiness! Thank you guys so much and I'm so glad you love it so far! I've got some great ideas for the next few chapters and you can see the entire update schedule for both this story AND Landscapes in my bio (inspiration from Mimi1239). Like I said, I'll be updating every Saturday unless there's a problem and this story will definitely not interfere with Landscapes (which by the way is almost over. Can you believe it?). Well, here's chapter two; hope you guys like it!
And yes, I'm uploading this chapter a day early because I'm sick and I don't want to deal with anything tomorrow I just want to sleep. Don't complain, you should be thanking me.
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And suddenly she couldn't breathe.
"2015? Are you, um, are you sure, ma'am?" Topanga sputtered out, almost choking on her words. She could feel herself getting nauseous like she was going to faint and she had to remind herself; in, out, in out.
"I'm as sure as you are, little girl. What are you doing down here anyway?" She barked, making Topanga jump from the volume of her voice. Footsteps ran up behind her and she felt a hand on her back, either for support or just because she looked like she would keel over any moment.
"Don't worry miss, my friend here hit her head and we were stopping so she could rest. We'll be on our way now." Cory lied easily like it was something he did everyday rather than Shawn. As long as Topanga had known Cory he had barely ever lied in his life. Well, unless it was about his homework that he didn't turn in.
"Ohhhh." The woman cooed, a grin breaking out on her face. "Are you two a thing?" She questioned as if she actually cared. Topanga looked over to Cory, both of their faces turning as red as a tomato in an instant.
"No, sh-she, well she's my friend. Who's a girl, you know the type, my friend who happens to be, y'know, of the female population. But, no, not my girlfriend." And suddenly Cory's breeze of confidence was gone and he was rambling like an idiot. "By the way, what street are we on? Just wondering." Cory asked, obviously trying to change the subject. It honestly let Topanga down a little that he answered so quickly she wasn't his girlfriend. Not even a moment of hesitation, but, then again she would have done the exact same thing. The past year she had been teasing him about going out and playing hard to get, but it hadn't worked on him. She would try to remember what her mother said about girls maturing faster than boys but it didn't matter. Cory had always been an immature thirteen-year-old and next year he would be an immature fourteen-year-old.
"Hey genius, can't you read? The sign clearly says; subway. Subway Street." Shawn interjected, coming up behind Cory and Topanga, pointing towards a sign titled "Subway". Topanga let out a sigh of frustration. She could not believe she had actually traveled twenty years in the future with Shawn Hunter. A good friend, not so good in school. However, book smarts were what they were going to need to get back to their time.
"I'm guessing you kids aren't from around here are you?" The woman asked, taking her hat off and patting to the bench next to her. They all sat down, more than reluctantly, and Eric stood next to the bench. Their eyes fixed on the woman who apparently held all the answers to wherever the hell they were. "You're on Bleecker Street, you know where that is?" She huffed, pointing to the sign. The four teenagers all shrugged in synchronization. "New York, Manhattan to be exact. How far do you live, I can buy you a ticket." She offered, pulling out her heavy looking purse that matched her purse. Topanga found herself wondering if she picked out her clothes to match her accessories each day.
"Yeah," Eric scoffed under his breath. "About seventy miles and twenty years ago, think you can buy us a ticket?" Luckily, the woman didn't hear his remark and the three thirteen-year-olds shot him a look.
"No thank you." Topanga lied sweetly. "We can manage on our own, don't you think guys?" She asked her friends and they all nodded almost immediately. "We better get back home or my parents will be angry." She stood suddenly, vertigo catching her and she stumbled before she felt someone grab her arms tightly. "Ow!" She complained, ripping away from whoever caught her. She whipped around, her hair smacking Cory in the face. "Oh," She whispered, her face falling. "Sorry." She apologized weakly.
"No problem." Cory accepted, shrugging it off. They thanked the lady before racing up the stairs, making sure she didn't follow them.
"Boy, was she a freak if I ever saw one." Shawn pushed his hands through his hair. "She's what my dad would call, well um, my mom." Shawn knitted his brow suddenly, most likely thinking about his parents and Topanga felt a pang of sympathy in her chest. Sure, they had transported twenty years into the future and all their parents were back in the 90's but this was normal for Shawn. Well, not the time travel thing, the fact that his parents were gone.
"Sure hope not everyone in 2014 is like that." Cory exhaled, glancing around the city. People passed around them in obscure clothes, some normal and some totally out of line. The city looked relatively normal though and felt somewhat comforting to Topanga.
"Well I sure hope we don't have to stay here any longer than we should." Topanga declared, trying to peer over the crowds of people.
"I'm with Topanga on this one; I need to tell Feeny I won't be able to take the SAT'S on Saturday. How can I do that if I'm two decades ahead of him? Some long distance call, huh?" Eric joked weakly. He was always trying to make the best of a bad situation but this was a bit hard. But maybe it didn't have to be a bad situation.
"There must be some reason we're in New York twenty years in the future. Maybe our future selves are in trouble or something!" Cory exclaimed wildly to get his point across. "Maybe our grandkids need us for some reason." He continued before Topanga held up a hand to silence him.
"Grandkids? Cory, we'd all be 32 or 33. Eric would only be 36!" Topanga reasoned rationally. If they were going to be like this the entire time then she was in trouble. Why can't people ever pick who they want to time travel with?
"Hey, you never know, Tippy." Shawn flirted jokingly, elbowing her in the arm and raising an eyebrow. She groaned in frustration, pushing Shawn away from her.
"Why don't we find a phonebook or something and see if one of our future selves lives around here?" Eric suggested and Topanga nodded in surprise. That was actually a good idea. She followed him into the nearest corner store as he asked the cashier for a phonebook. After a confused glance he passed the four kids a battered phonebook that looked like it had been used as a doorstop or a footstool. In peeling letters it read "NY Phonebook and Yellow Pages 2014". A little more than giddily, Cory first flipped to the H section, scanning the pages for Hunter.
"Nothing, sorry buddy." Cory apologized, shooting his best friend a grin. Shawn shrugged, brushing his feelings off again.
"No biggie. Pretty sure future Shawn wouldn't look as good as present Shawn anyway." He laughed falsely. Topanga rolled her eyes, but shot her friend a concerned look. She was always worried for Shawn but now he was isolating his feelings from his friends and now himself. He was unpredictable to begin with but now he was like a ticking bomb that could explode any minute.
"Check for Matthews now." Eric whined impatiently, grabbing the book away from his brother and flipping through it himself. Cory looked over his shoulder unable to keep his curiosity at bay. "Okay, we got a…" Eric's voice trailed off before continuing and he broke out in a huge grin.
"What? What is it? Don't tell me, I'm dead! You're dead? Tell me, you're killing me here!" Cory shouted, closing his eyes so that he couldn't see.
"Well, we got a Cornelius A. Matthews." Eric taunted, revealing Cory's full name which had Shawn and Topanga in stitches before he could even deny it. He ignored his friends who were basically in tears and turned back to his brother.
"And? What about you?" He questioned eagerly.
"Oh, I'm not in here." Eric sighed, still smiling like an idiot which was driving Cory crazy. "However, there is a Mrs. Matthews." He teased not letting his brother know what was going on. Topanga suddenly stopped laughing, her mood dampened by the news. A Mrs. Matthews? Cory got married, had kids, a house? There was a lump in her throat that she couldn't swallow and she felt like crying but then Cory would know how she felt about him.
"What's her name? Is she cute?" Cory persisted, trying to peer over the pages again only to have his older brother push him away.
"Cor, it's a phone book not a fortune teller, back off. Eric, tell us who it is." Shawn demanded, also obviously interested in Cory's future wife.
"Yeah, I can definitely see you and Mrs. Lawrence-Matthews being happy together." Eric nodded, finally turning the book over to Cory. He glanced at the page and then at Topanga. Then back at the page, then Topanga. Page, Topanga, page, Topanga. That was the way it went for nearly a minute before he turned an odd shade of white and then a deep red that made Shawn whistle loudly.
That was all Topanga remembered before blacking out.
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Eric didn't want to spend the morning in the hospital.
The store clerk rushed over immediately after seeing Topanga pass out, the back of her head hitting the chair. He insisted on calling an ambulance even though Eric, Cory, and Shawn all protested. They had no money, probably couldn't give out their real names, and no former record or even an address. But, ten minutes later Eric found himself cramped in the back of the ambulance next to Cory and Shawn on a tiny bench seat with two female paramedics trying to revive Topanga.
"She just fainted, she's fine." Eric snapped whenever they would try to touch her. They didn't have the time for this or the money and it was a waste. They would get kicked out anyway when the hospital figured out they couldn't pay. That or thrown in an orphanage because they literally had no record before this.
He was panicking to say the least and that was something because Eric never panicked. Except now he and his brother and his brother's friends were screwed all because Topanga had to pass out when she learned she married Cory in the future. What was the problem with marrying Cory anyway? Eric wondered silently as he glanced over to his brother who was currently trying to comfort Topanga by petting her on the head like a dog while the paramedics had to shoo him away. Okay, never mind.
"How long is this going to take?" Eric persisted with his questioning over and over again as if he'd get an answer if he tried ninety times. The paramedics ignored him per usual as the ambulance came to a halt and they stood, slowly wheeling the stretcher out from the back of the ambulance. The boys followed them, walking swiftly into the emergency room doors but were held back by a female nurse, insisting that they couldn't go in there.
"Why don't you just fill out her forms and you'll be able to see your friend in a few hours?" The nurse sighed, shoving a clipboard to Eric. He didn't protest any further seeing that she was stressed out and the fact that they had exactly no way to pay for whatever they needed to do to Topanga wasn't going to help their case. He began jotting down the places he could fill out, ignoring the things he didn't know like their friend's social security number or the most important; parent or legal guardian section. This was going to go so well.
"Wait you idiot, don't put her real name down!" Cory hissed in his ear so nobody around them would hear. Eric realized his brother was right though, they couldn't pass with their real names in the future especially with future Cory and future Topanga living in the same city.
"Well what names should we use then?" Shawn asked in a hushed whisper, glancing over the forms where Eric was madly erasing the name Topanga Lawrence. "How about Tippy for Topanga?" Shawn offered breaking out in a devilish grin.
"Oooh, she'd kill us for that. Put it down!" Cory encouraged his brother who was failing to spell Tippy. He eventually gave up, crossed out the word and just put 'Nebula.' The boys shot him an equally confused look.
"Her hot older sister, remember?" Eric practically drooled remembering Nebula Lawrence who had gone off to live with her motorcycle-owning boyfriend the day she turned sixteen. Shawn and Cory shrugged, figuring it would work well enough for now. "What about her last name?" Eric asked, tapping the pen against his chin in thought. "How about Tompkins, name her after that cute social studies teacher from school." He offered and both Shawn and Cory cringed.
"Eric, she's like 33!" Cory shouted, earning a few well-deserved glares from the people in the waiting room with them.
"Big deal! Can't she still be cute?" He scoffed and Shawn just rolled his eyes.
"Little too late for her now, huh?" Shawn teased and Eric punched him in the arm. It was almost like they were back home again, just goofing off like always and not worrying about what was going to happen next. He sighed, a nostalgic feeling invading his body. They had only been away from home for a few hours but it felt like years. He wished they could magically travel back just like they had traveled forward in time.
"Nebula Tompkins. It's good, I like it." Cory said more to himself than the others, ignoring Eric's teasing glance. Eric knew his little brother had a crush on Topanga since they were two; he was just too stupid to notice it until now. "What about our names though?"
"We could use my mom's maiden name." Shawn suggested, finally becoming helpful. "Cordini."
"That's great and all but you forgot one small thing, Hunter." Eric sneered.
"What?"
"We're not Italian!" He shouted, accidentally startling an aging man sitting behind them who kicked Eric's seat.
"Ohhh yeah. Okay well, now we're half Italian on our mudda's side." Shawn improvised, trying to sound like a fake mob boss.
"Wait, wait, wait, our mother? Whoever said our mother?" Cory asked. "We don't even look like brothers!"
"Cor, we don't even have a mother in this time period just play along." Shawn laughed "Well, what about our first names?" He questioned.
"I call Feeny." Eric piped up immediately. "Feeny Cordini. Perfect." He mused to himself, prompting the boys to break out in hysterical laughter.
"George Cordini, fine." Cory muttered, still laughing. "I guess I could name myself after my dad? Alan Cordini?" He guessed and Eric and Shawn nodded in agreement. "What about you Shawn?"
"I guess Jonathan Cordini could work. Jon for short." He shrugged simply as if it were no big deal. Cory and Eric both shot him a look.
"Don't you want to use your dad's name?" Cory asked as if he were surprised at Shawn's sudden change of heart. He loved his dad and looked up to him like he was his only role model. Maybe it was the fact he ditched Shawn to go look for his mother or that Shawn just didn't like the name Chet. Either way, Shawn was hiding something which Cory definitely didn't like.
"George, Alan, and Jon work fine." Eric interrupted before Shawn could go into depth about why he didn't choose his dad's name. He saw his brother shoot Shawn a look that read "we'll talk later" but ignored it. Cory was always worried about Shawn. "Don't you think future you will recognize your brillo head from a mile away though?" Eric questioned and Cory suddenly looked panicked.
"Don't shave my head or try to straighten my hair again!" He whined, giving Shawn a glare. The last time that happened was great, for Eric. He had so much blackmail material on his brother due to that incident. It was basically a gift from above.
"We won't. We'll just cover it up." Shawn assured his friend who was guarding his curly head with both arms. "Besides, what's the chance of us running into future you anytime soon?" Shawn joked, running his hands through his floppy hair. The three relaxed and Eric attempted to finish filling out the rest of the forms before the nurse called them in so they could get Topanga and leave. That is, if they could even discharge her from the hospital tonight. He hoped they could though because the minute they found out they couldn't pay for themselves, the hospital would most likely call the cops and he wanted to get a head start. Besides, running in daylight was way easier than running in the middle of the night. More witnesses.
"Boys? You're allowed to see your friend now." The female nurse called to the three teenagers lounging in the waiting room. Eric handed her the clipboard as she lead them into Topanga's hospital room, her eyes searching the paper for mistakes.
"So, Mr. Cordini? You're the legal guardian of Ms," She paused for a moment, looking over the pages again. "Tompkins."
"And my two younger brothers." He lied easily, ignoring the looks from Cory and Shawn. "I turned eighteen last month and well since the dairy farm accident-" he pretended to choke up, wiping away a few tears from his eyes. "It's just been so hard on them that I had to step up and take responsibility." He looked down at his two 'brothers' who were trying so hard to hold in their laughter.
"Dairy farm accident? My goodness, what happened?" The nurse questioned with alarm. Before Eric could think up a quick answer, Cory started sniffling and wiping at his eyes.
"Not around the kids, please." He bit his lip so hard he thought it might split from not trying to laugh. Shawn immediately began fake crying along with Cory as they finally reached Topanga's room.
"Nebula's a friend of the family. Her father was also lost in the," he cleared his throat, trying to come up with a good word. "-tragedy."
The nurse glanced over the paper for a third time, trying to make sense of the whole thing. She glanced up at Eric before she opened the door to the hospital room and stopped, blocking their entrance.
"Boys, I'm afraid you'll have to come with me. This would be a great time to start explaining, Mr. Cordini."
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A little confused about the whole thing? Don't worry it'll all get cleared up next chapter and you'll understand what's going on. Isn't Feeny Cordini a great name though? I think I just found the name of my future child that's for sure. Just imagine that name being called out during school...
The only times the kids will get referred to as their alternate names is in- well, you'll just have to find out won't you?
Thank you for all the kind reviews for last chapter and I really hope you enjoy this chapter even though it was like 96% dialogue and horrible jokes. Next chapter we found out the kid's living situation and meet Cory's future (It's kids and a low-paying job) Have a nice week!
