"All right, class. Time's up." Mr. Feeny said and Melanie groaned, placing her pencil down,
"Please pass your test papers to the front of your rows."
Turning her head, she stared awkwardly at Shawn's face. They had recently changed seats at school and she was now sitting next to Shawn while Cory sat in front of him. Melanie was exhausted. She hadn't gotten any sleep last night due to the cries of her two-year-old sister, Stephanie. Normally her mom or dad would have gone to quiet Stephanie, but last night it seemed as though they were dead asleep and she had to go and quiet her sister.
"Woah… Mel." She heard Shawn say and her eyes focused on him.
"You look dead."
Melanie groaned again before shoving her face into her arms,
"Not exactly what you should say to the woman you plan on marrying."
It was rare that Melanie brought up Shawn's promise to marry her but when she did, she used it to blackmail him and judging the look on his face, it had worked.
"Mel…" Shawn laughed nervously, "I was just kidding you. You look great. Honestly."
Melanie gave a tired smile,
"I'm just messing with you, Shawnie."
"Mr. Minkus, this test didn't require an essay anwer but how refreshing that you've chosen to include one." Mr. Feeny said as he took the papers from Minkus's desk.
"Ahem," Shawn began, "Suck up."
"Future plumber."
Melanie choked down a laugh as she passed her paper to the front of the room and Shawn shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"Feels a C-minus short." Mr. Feeny said as he weighted the test papers in his hand.
"Ah, yes." Mr. Feeny exclaimed as he walked over to where Cory sat sleeping on his desk, "Here we are…"
"Cory," Melanie whispered as Mr. Feeny tried to wiggle the piece of paper out from underneath Cory.
"Huh?" Cory woke with a start, "Is the test over? Did I get an A?"
"Looks like an 'A'" Mr. Feeny said.
"I got an 'A'?!"
"No. 'A' is the only answer you put down before you slipped into the coma."
"So, what did I get?"
"Well, you answered one question out of forty and got it wrong." Mr. Feeny explained, "So what grade do you think I'm going to give you?"
"Can it be found at the beginning of the word 'fajita?"
"Si, Senor."
"Come on, Mr. Feeny." Cory whined. "I was up till after midnight."
"Oh, and what earth-shattering event kept you up till that time of night?" Mr. Feeny inquired.
"A no-hitter."
Melanie and Shawn gasped.
"You got to stay up and watch the game?" Shawn asked and Cory smiled,
"With my dad."
"That's so cool." Melanie muttered.
"Ah, baseball. Silly me." Mr. Feeny said as he walked back to his desk. "I thought you would've stayed up for something frivolous, like the announcement from Stockholm of Noble Prizes."
"Biophysics—Dr. Ira Soochek, Medicine—Dr. Lin Yi Pao, Economics—Professor Narwhal Fowab." Minkus recited. "And I'm as fresh as a daisy."
"Teacher's pet." Shawn deadpanned.
"Go fix a sink."
~8~
Melanie walked down the sidewalk on her way home. She was tired and her bag was too heavy. Not only that, but her mom had just informed her that she would be home alone until eight because they were going to be eating out with her father's business partners.
"Hey! Melanie!" She heard someone call and she turned around.
"Shawn? What are you doing?"
"I noticed that you were walking home alone and you never do that. You always walk home with that friend of yours. You know, the one with the curly hair."
"You mean Topanga?" Melanie asked and Shawn nodded.
"She went home early. She had a doctor's appointment."
They two continued down the sidewalk for a while in a comfortable silence.
"So, can I help you with anything?" Melanie asked as she tucked a stray hair behind her ear.
"Just wanted to make sure that my girl got home safely."
"Whatever, Shawnie." Melanie rolled her eyes but still smiled.
As they arrived at Melanie's house, Melanie ran to the door before stopping and turning to Shawn.
"Thank you, Shawn."
"Anytime."
Melanie gave one last smile before she slipped through the open door. Yeah, she could get used to that.
