"And it was always said of Scrooge 'that he knew how to keep Christmas well if any man alive possessed the knowledge and may that be truly said of us, and all of us. And so as Tiny Tim observed, 'God bless us. Every one." Mr. Feeny took a breath before continuing, "And so ends Dickens' masterpiece, A Christmas Carol."

"Wait a minute, that's not the end." Shawn softly commented as he finally paid attention to Mr. Feeny and stopped talking to Cory, "Where's the Grinch."

"Yeah," Cory agreed, "Isn't the Grinch supposed to show up now and, like, take everything?"

"How come it's called, A Christmas Carol, anyway?" Melanie rubbed her forehead at the question Shawn asked.

"Yeah. There was nobody in this story named Carol." Cory nodded and Melanie lightly slammed her head on her desk.

"Miss. Lawrence," Mr. Feeny sighed, "would you please trade places with Mr. Matthews."

"Alright." Topanga said as she straightened up in her chair, "I am a hyperactive, underachieving, eleven-year-old boy."

"I meant physically."

"Oh, well, that takes less of a psychic toll."

Melanie watched as Cory and Topanga quickly switched seats and she reached her hand out, giving Topanga a high-five.

"Why do I have to move?" Cory whined as he slid into his seat.

"We were just giving our view of the book." Shawn pointed out.

"Yeah. I mean, you say 'literary masterpiece', we say, 'eh'." Cory explained as he and Shawn gave a thumbs down.

"Mr. Matthews, I'm less interested in your review than I am that you understand the material. What, in your opinion, was Mr. Dickens trying to express in his Christmas story?" Mr. Feeny asked.

"That if you're a real butthead, then neat ghosts will take you to cool places."

Melanie watched as Mr. Feeny gave Cory a look before giving him a thumbs down,

"Ehh."

~8~

Melanie walked through the lunchroom doors and headed over to the table she sat at with Cory and Shawn. Melanie smiled when she saw that Topanga was standing there talking to Cory and Shawn.

Maybe they're getting along, she thought as she made her way to the seat in between her two best guy friends.

Bounding over, her cheerful smile dropped into a frown as she heard Cory and Shawn bully Topanga into moving away,

"Listen, Topanga, I think I can hear them calling you back into your own dimension." She heard Shawn say.

"Oh, yeah. They're saying 'Topanga, get your aura back here." Cory agreed.

"And bring Minkus." Shawn added.

Letting out a sigh, she slapped Cory and Shawn on the back of their heads as she sat in her seat and pulled out her lunch, watching as Topanga and Minkus moved away

"Ow!" They exclaimed, rubbing the back of their heads.

"From now on, whenever I see or hear you being mean to her, I'm gonna slap you on the back of your heads." Melanie declared with a firm nod.

"Fine," Cory said, "Anyway, Christmas tree update. I think I got my real leather NBA regulation basketball."

"Cool." Melanie said with a soft smile.

"Major gift." Shawn agreed as he took a bite out of his sandwich.

"So major a gift I've been saving up to buy my gift a gift." Cory announced.

"What do you get the basketball who has everything?" Shawn asked.

"A five-dollar top of the line imitation nylon net."

"You have five bucks?" Melanie asked as Cory held up the money.

"I've been saving up for a month."

"Let's go buy it after school?" Shawn voiced.

"No." Cory replied, "Then I tip off my parents that I know what I'm getting."

Melanie and Shawn nodded, amazed at the planning Cory put into this.

"You are a yuletide master." Shawn complimented.

"Christmas is very delicate. You screw up—wool." Cory explained before turning his attention to Shawn, "So, what's the update at your house?"

"Me? Hey, Bob Stubcheck's Sports World has to send over a truck with all the stuff my dad got me. He got me, like, everything." Shawn said with a large smile.

"That's great." Cory smiled.

"Yeah," Shawn beamed, "My dad totally came through this year."

"What about you, Mel?" Cory asked.

"I don't know." Melanie said as she sipped her juice box, "I guess that it's just gonna be a surprise."

"Well speaking of surprises," Melanie heard Minkus say and turned to see him standing there with a notebook, "You haven't chipped in your five-dollars for Mr. Feeny's class present."

"I thought I already did." Melanie pondered and Minkus quickly shook his head.

"Not you, My Sweet. I was talking to Shawn."

"Tomorrow," Shawn said as he looked down at his lunch.

"You said that yesterday." Minkus pointed out.

"Come on, Shawn," Cory encouraged, "Don't think of it as five-dollars for Feeny's present; think of it as five bucks to make Minkus go away."

"Look, Minkus, I just spent my last money on lunch, okay? I'll give it to you tomorrow." Melanie and Cory watched in confusion as Shawn got up and left the cafeteria.

"What? His mother charged him a packing fee?" Minkus snipped before walking off.

Melanie and Cory shared a confused look before looking at the door and then to their lunches.

~8~

"Hey, Cory, I'm here. What's up?" Melanie asked as she entered the Matthews' household.

"Oh, good, you're here." Cory exclaimed as he raced towards her from the staircase, "Listen, Shawn's dad lost his job and he's gonna be like Tiny Tim on Christmas."

"Cory, what are you talking about?" Melanie asked as she gave him a confused look, "Shawn said that his dad got him a bunch of presents this year."

"Yeah, well, he was lying." Cory said as he dropped his arms to his side.

~8~

"Ta-da!" Cory exclaimed as he saw Shawn, holding a box wrapped in red and green wrapping paper with a big, red ribbon.

Melanie sat on the on the steps of the backyard, biting her nails. She didn't think this was a good idea. If Shawn didn't tell them, he was probably embarrassed and giving him this present might make it worse.

"What is it?" She heard Shawn say and she bit her nail.

This really wasn't a good idea. If someone did this to her, she would be thankful but at the same time she would be offended. She would feel like they would be doing this out of charity.

"Mel, you're here too?" She heard Shawn's say, snapping her to attention.

"Mmmhmmm."

"A real leather NBA certified dribbles like a dream basketball! I'm giving this to you." Cory said as he handed Shawn the ball, "Don't you love me."

"Why'd you give this to me?" Shawn asked as he spun the ball.

"Because it's Christmas."

"So? We never give each other stuff on Christmas."

"Yeah, but this year's different." Melanie flinched as she heard Cory say that.

Wrong move, pal. She thought.

"Why?"

"Well, because…"

"Because why?"

"Because you're my best friend."

"But I wasn't last year." Shawn looked over at Melanie who was biting her nails and staring over at Mr. Feeny's garden. "Why doesn't Melanie have a gift?"

"No, you were. Mel alre-"

"Cory, best friends don't lie to each other." Shawn cut him off and Cory sighed.

"Ok, Look, Shawn, I gave this to you because I didn't think you'd be getting that many gifts this year."

"Hey, I told you. I'm getting a ton of stuff. I don't need a basketball. My dad already got me two." Shawn said as he walked over and sat on the fence dividing the houses, still holding the basketball.

No, Melanie mentally scolded, get out of my view.

"Best friends don't lie to each other." Cory repeated.

"What are you talking about?" Shawn asked, confused as he looked over at Melanie, who was still avoiding him.

"I know about your dad getting laid off." Cory admitted.

"Says who?" Shawn said as he jumped off the fence and approached Cory with a dark look on his face.

"Says my dad."

"Oh, so what'd you do, go tell everyone?" Shawn accused as he glared at Cory, "I'm guessing you already told Mel."

"Yeah, I told Mel. She has a right to know. She's one of your closest friends." Cory defended, "I didn't tell anyone else. Look, Shawn, I'm trying to give you a nice gift so you don't have a Tiny Tim Christmas and you're acting like you're mad at me."

Melanie listened as her two closest friends argued over the gift and closed her eyes. She saw where Cory was coming from, but the way he presented it was wrong and could be taken the wrong way. She also saw where Shawn was coming from.

"I'd rather have nothing for Christmas than your lousy charity." She heard Shawn exclaimed and she looked up to see him throw the ball down and storm out, with Cory yelling at him about how he should be thankful.

"Shawn," She called as she got up and rushed after him, "Shawn, wait!"

Melanie panted once she finally caught up with his furious figure.

"Shawn, he didn't mean it like that." She tried to explain, trying to keep up with him.

"He was trying to be a good friend." She tried again.

"Mel, just stop." Shawn exclaimed as he finally stopped, causing Melanie to accidentally crashed into him, "Just leave me alone. You were in on this too."

Melanie felt her heart drop as she watched Shawn turn and walk in the direction of his house before turning and walking to hers.

"I'm sorry." She quietly whispered.

~8~

Melanie sat next to Cory and watched as Shawn sit at another table.

"This sucks." She muttered and Cory nodded in agreement.

"Yeah."

The two of them watched as Minkus approached Shawn and started asking for the five-dollars. Shawn stormed out and Melanie watched as Cory approached Minkus and gave him the five-dollars that he was gonna use to buy the net for his basketball.

Melanie smiled and after Minkus left pulled Cory into a crushing hug.

~8~

"Hey, guys." Melanie said as she walked into Cory's backyard.

"Oof!" Melanie exclaimed a large force envelope her in a hug.

Opening her eyes, she smiled and squeezed Shawn back.

"I'm guessing we're all good now." She said once Shawn pulled back and he nodded.

"Yeah, we're all good."

Grabbing Cory, she pulled him into their hug,

"Merry Christmas, guys."

"Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas."

Another update and maybe one more after this.

We finally got to double digits! Yay!

Kittkatty: Yes, I will be continuing this into Girl Meets World (which I'm so excited for). I like your idea of making Maya Shawn and Melanie's daughter and I have been thinking of ways of making that happen; however, do you guys want Maya to be their daughter and if you do, do you have any ideas on how to make it work?

Thank you for the reviews! I love to read them!

See you soon,

Ana