Secrets

by musical geek

Sequel to "The Island" and "Complicated Times." Dani's acting weird, even for her. With the rift in Dani's and Shawn's friendship and everyone else explaining away the signs, Cory is the only one who notices. Can he unravel the web of secrets still surrounding her and figure out what's going on before it's too late?

5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Boy Meets World.

A/N: A special thank you to the guest reviewer from a couple weeks ago for giving me the push I needed to finally finish posting this story. After a long hiatus from posting this story, I had revisited and finished drafting it, but I kept stalling with considering the revision process complete and doing the final polishing. Over the last couple weeks, I replaced chapters 1-4 with slightly more polished versions. I will post the rest of the chapters as I have time to finish polishing them. There are 10 chapters total. I hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 5

Cory waited a few seconds after knocking on the joint bathroom door before walking in.

"Sorry." Cory started backing out again. "I didn't know someone was in here."

Dani stood at the mirror, putting some kind of skin-colored goop on her neck. He paused when he saw a mark still showing. He hadn't seen many hickeys—okay, he hadn't seen any—before, but that looked kind of big for one . . . and 'love bite' is not a term he would use to describe that thing. "You missed a spot," he said, not able to take his eyes off of it.

Dani turned her head a little before applying that goop to the visible spot. "Yeah, he got a little carried away."

"You think?"

She finished applying that stuff and turned her head both ways while gazing in the mirror. She wasn't kidding when she said that stuff works good. There wasn't even a trace of that mark left. She turned towards him after her own inspection appeared to be done. "Did I miss anything else?"

"No, looks good." It was hard to erase the image of that bruise-like hickey from his mind, though. "I think Brody and I need to have a little chat."

She put the cap back on the jar but didn't set it back down. "That won't be necessary."

"On the contrary, my friend and sister, that was just completely—"

"No," she cut him off. "I meant it won't be necessary because I'm not seeing him again. It's over between us."

"Wait a minute. You mean you two make out, he brands you—"

"I'm not a cow."

"—and then that's it? Did something happen? Are you okay? He didn't try or actually do anything else did he? Did you even want to make out?"

Dani's eyebrow slowly rose higher and higher throughout his tirade. "Chill," she said when he finished. "All we did was make out, and yes I did want to at the time. Some . . . things just came up after that made me realize he's not who I thought he was and it just isn't gonna work out."

Cory frowned. "Things like what?"

"That's between me and Brody."

"But you're not going out with him again?"

"Not in this lifetime."

It was Cory's turn to raise his eyebrow. Must have been something big to get that kind of reaction. "You sure you're okay?"

"Never better. The bathroom's all yours." She pushed past him and left.

Cory stood looking after her for a while before shaking his head. He couldn't shake the nagging suspicion that this was a bigger deal than Dani was letting on. It could just be her normal tendency of shutting people out, though. That's all it had to be. Right? Before she even started seeing the guy, she was ready to ignore him just out of a fear that he wouldn't accept her. Maybe he just said something that made her think that would be the case. Obviously, if she was letting that bother her, it still wasn't good, but maybe giving up on the relationship was for the best anyways.

The way she was acting, though . . . .

It wasn't like Cory had never seen her like this. He had . . . back on the island. That was the problem. He could be remembering things wrong, though.

He would just have to keep a close eye on her for a while. That's all. It was probably nothing. It had to be nothing. But it couldn't hurt to stay close. That's what friends and siblings did; they looked out for one another whether the person being looked after wanted to be or not.

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful. Cory and Topanga spent a movie night in on his couch. The rest of the family agreed to make themselves scarce—within reason, of course. He got another 'talk' from his parents beforehand—like he was actually dumb enough to try something like that on the couch in the living room where anyone home could just walk in . . . not that Topanga would agree to do anything like that anyways, regardless of the circumstances. He respected that. He was frustrated by it, but he still respected it because he respected her.

His mind drifted back to that—whatever the heck that thing on Dani's neck that she claimed was a hickey was. He didn't know what to make of that situation. Dani was still standing by her claim that nothing was wrong. She and Brody just had a little disagreement that brought some things to light that made her realize it wouldn't work between them. She went back to avoiding everyone again—granted, she was sick, so that would account for some of it, but still . . . . There wasn't much he could do about it. That wouldn't stop him from trying, though.

By the time Monday rolled around, Dani seemed to be better. Her cough had disappeared. She wasn't as much of an obvious hermit, but she was still distant. He had tried inviting her to come out ice skating with him, Topanga, Shawn, and Angela. With the awkwardness that still lingered between Shawn and Dani, activities like that or movies or something where the two of them weren't always in close quarters with one another seemed to work out best.

"No, thanks," she had replied.

"Why not?" Cory asked.

"I don't find slipping and sliding all over the place and falling on my butt every three seconds to be very fun."

"You're telekinetic. Just use that to—I don't know—hold you up or something."

"I don't think it works like that—I mean, I've never tried—but even if it could work, still no."

Cory had just bit his tongue and let her be at the time. He'd push the issue later—and keep pushing until she finally backed down. It worked before, so maybe it would again.

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Cory slid into his seat just as the bell rang. Mr. Turner sat on his desk up front, holding a book open in his hand. What was their assignment again? It had something to do with that creepy-eye book. Great Ganger or something?

"So most of Gatsby's story—at least the story he's told people—turns out to be false. Just make-believe. The true story is more compelling and relatable. In the end, though, it's lies and misunderstandings that lead to his death," Mr. Turner said. "There's a lot of symbolism in this book. Hunter, care to comment on any of it?"

"Don't shack up with a rich man's wife or the man whose wife the rich man has an affair with will shoot you after she's hit by a car?" Shawn said.

Mr. Turner raised an eyebrow. "Uh, no. Symbolism . . . not outlandish but valuable life lessons. Wait a minute . . . you actually read it? I'm impressed."

"You still owe me motorcycle lessons."

Cory smirked. If the teacher were smart, he'd keep dangling those lessons in front of Shawn to keep him doing the homework. Eventually Shawn might give up on it if Mr. Turner wasn't keeping up his end of the bargain, but still.

Mr. Turner shook his head. "Miss Lawrence, want to give it a try?"

"The light at the end of the dock is mentioned all throughout the book. It's green and what always seems to be the focus when everything is a go for Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchannon," Topanga said.

Cory started tuning out. He didn't need a lesson in how green meant go. What he really needed was a lesson in how to get Dani to stop pulling away from everyone. That's a light he really wanted to turn green.

Cory was willing to bet any money that whatever happened with Brody was directly linked with whatever she was still hiding. He wasn't living under a rock. He knew she still hadn't told them everything. Everyone in their little island family knew she was still keeping secrets. It's part of why things were still weird between Shawn and Dani. At least the two of them weren't as obvious about it now.

People were still droning on and on about that boring old Grisly book. How long did he have to sit through this?

He looked around at the clock. They were only five minutes into class. That had to be five of the longest minutes of his life. He heard Shawn snoring behind him. Cory smiled. So much for going for those motorcycle lessons. Cory's head started drifting down towards his own desk. His best friend had the right idea.

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"Matthews, Hunter . . . time to wake up," Mr. Turner said loudly.

Cory lifted his head off his desk and blinked repeatedly to clear the after-nap fog.

Mr. Turner stood right by his and Shawn's desks with his arms folded and his less-than-amused teacher face. "You know, if you two would devote as much effort into paying attention in class as you do to sleeping through it, you might actually have good grades."

"What if we took a class that taught us how to sleep good?" Shawn asked.

Mr. Turner glared. "Detention after school, both of you. Now go to your next class and at least try to stay awake."

Cory grabbed his books and backpack and stood up. "Sheesh. We've slept through class at least once a week every year. You'd think he'd get used to it by now."

"Oh, I'm used to it. Doesn't mean I'm happy about it," Mr. Turner said.

Cory followed Shawn out the door. Topanga stood off to the side of the door, waiting for him. One look at her face told him she wasn't amused by him or Shawn either. "Come on, Topanga. Don't look at me like that. I actually went a whole week without detention. That's got to be some kind of new record for me and Shawn."

Topanga turned her slight glare up a notch. "Try going for a whole year. Then I'll be impressed." Her glare was ruined by the slight quirk in her lips.

"You're not really mad, are you?"

The rest of the glare melted away. "No. You're cute when you sleep."

"As opposed to not cute when I'm awake?" He smiled.

"You're cute then, too."

The couple shared a quick kiss.

"That's one perk of only going out for two weeks," Angela said. She stood next to Shawn not far from the couple. "We'll never get that sickeningly lovey-dovey."

"Yeah, I think getting stuck on that island made them worse," Shawn said.

"Remind me to tease them mercilessly if they ever get like that with anyone," Topanga said.

Cory casually draped his arm over her shoulder as they started to walk away. "Right there with ya, babe."

"Let's get out of here in case it's contagious," Shawn said. "We'll see you in Bio." He and Angela walked away.

Cory heard Topanga sigh beside him. "Do you think those two will ever get over their commitment issues?" she asked.

"Who knows?" His gaze strayed over to Dani over by the lockers. She barely even acknowledged them when she finished and walked past them to head to her next class. "I don't get what her deal is."

"Angela?"

"What?" Cory looked at Topanga in confusion before realizing she was still on track with the Shawn-Angela commitment issue conversation. "No. Dani. She said it's over between her and Brody already."

Now Topanga looked confused. "I thought things were going great with them. They seemed so cute together."

"Yeah, well, I guess now they're not, and now she's pulling away again. I tried inviting her out ice skating with all of us tonight, but—well . . . ."

"She is just getting over being sick. Maybe she just doesn't want to risk getting sick again? Ice skating probably isn't the best thing for her right now."

Cory just looked at her. "You do realize you're talking about the same girl who jumped over a waterfall on purpose after using herself as bait to draw a whole bunch of guys with guns away from us, right? I don't think her own well-being is high on her priority list."

Topanga gave a half nod. "Okay. It's a stretch, I know."

"A big stretch."

"Maybe we should just give her some space for a few days and then push the issue again."

"The more space we give her, the more she'll fight us when we try to push the issue."

"You're going to annoy her until she gives in again, aren't you?"

"Who? Me? Annoy someone? Now, that's just preposterous. I'll just be very persistent."

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"Brody seems nice. Pretty cute, too," Angela said.

Shawn looked up from his food tray and over to Dani. She didn't look happy or embarrassed like she usually did when the topic of Brody came up. "Are you two joining us at the Ice Palace tonight?"

"I'm not seeing Brody anymore. And no, I'm not coming either."

"Why not?" Angela asked.

"Ice skating isn't really my thing."

"What about Brody? I thought you really liked him."

"I did," Dani said, her voice clipped.

"What changed?" Topanga asked.

Dani frowned. "He's not what he seems."

Shawn almost let out a humorless laugh. "Isn't that a bit hypocritical? Considering—" Cory and Topanga were both giving him wide eyed looks. Angela looked at him confused. Dani was just staring back at him with that same blank stare he'd gotten so used to seeing her wear. He shut his mouth and let the conversation drift into an awkward silence. Probably better to not open that can of worms with Angela right there.

"Even if you don't go ice skating, we're probably going to Chubbie's after. You should join us then," Topanga said to Dani.

Dani gave a tight smile. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'm still kind of tired from being sick and all. Maybe some other time."

Shawn saw Cory not-so-subtly share a look with Topanga. He really didn't see what the big deal was. If she didn't want to come, let her sit it out. She obviously didn't want anyone butting into her life. Anyone who tried was just shut down over and over again. They should just let her be. If she ever let them get to know the real her—the full real her—maybe that would be different, but until then . . . .

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"For the last time, Cory, no. I'm not going, so please save us both more aggravation and lay off." Dani slammed her locker door shut before turning towards him.

Cory resisted the urge to slam his locker door shut too. "Dani, why do you keep doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Pushing all of us away?"

"I'm not pushing anyone away."

"Sure, you aren't. You avoided everyone all weekend."

"I was sick."

"And now you're going back to not being willing to go out with us."

"I'm still tired from being sick. It's one time of not going out with you guys. You're overreacting."

Cory pulled the rest of the books he needed to take home from his locker. "No, I'm not, because if you keep following your usual pattern, this one time will turn into two times and then five times, then every time."

Dani rolled her eyes.

"If you want to prove you're not doing that this time, then come with us. I'll leave you alone for a few days at least after that." Cory stared at Dani expectantly. She just stared back before shaking her head and walking past him. He stood there for a moment before making a conscious effort to not slam the locker closed. He lost his grip on his books and they scattered with a crash on the floor.

"Now, that's just great." Cory said. He bent down to grab the fallen books. He looked up as he saw Dani come back and grab some as well. He shoved his stack in his backpack and grabbed hold of the few Dani had.

Dani appeared to tense up. Her eyes went unfocused. Her grip was still firm on the book she handed him. It only lasted a few seconds before she let go of the book and looked back at him again. He could swear she looked worried about something for a second before her face went blank. "I think I will come after all." She walked away without any further explanation.

Cory stared after her for a little while before shaking his head. He would never understand women or how their minds worked. He understood Dani even less than he did most girls. He knew better than to ask her about it. All that would accomplish is make him even more confused.

He shoved the last of his books in his pack and headed for detention.

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Shawn laughed as Angela moved into his field of vision, hands on her hips. He could feel the cold wetness of the ice seeping into his jeans. "I'll help you up," Angela said, "but you better not pull me down with you again this time.

"Scout's honor," Shawn said.

"Yeah. That would mean more if you actually were a Boy Scout." She held out a hand to him.

He grabbed onto her hand, smirking at her comment.

"Don't even think about it," Angela said with a warning tone.

Sheesh. Pull a girl down with you on the ice once and she never trusts you again. He laughed again. "Don't worry. Not this time." He held on while he stood up and regained his balance.

"You good?" she asked, still holding onto him.

"Yeah, I'm good." He stared right back while she looked him over. The seriousness of her expression told him she meant more than just his balance. He'd had another minor freak-out when they first arrived. The ice brought on a flashback about those water ice thingies back on the island. He told Angela it had something to do with a bad ice fishing experience when he was little. He wasn't really sure how to explain those things to her without sounding crazy. "Really, I'm good." He smiled. He really was, too. The fun of the moment—and the fact the ice stayed solid rather than melt and turn into water monsters—helped him forget about that experience.

She nodded after a moment. She didn't let go of his hand, though. Fine by him. It was kind of nice holding her hand while they ice skated.

Cory and Topanga stood over by the wall, watching them, also holding hands. Topanga had an annoying smile on her face as she watched him and Angela.

Dani, on the other hand, didn't look amused or happy . . . or anything, really. She wasn't even looking at them. She was holding onto the side railing, her face almost completely blank—not that that was anything new and different—and staring around the rink. Her posture was stiff. The only part of her face that gave anything away was her eyes. It wasn't so much an emotion showing as it was this hyper-awareness he hadn't seen since they got off the island. It was like she was on the lookout for something—waiting for something to happen. He suppressed a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold air or damp jeans. The problem was that in his experience with Dani, if she was looking like that and ready and waiting for something to happen, something did happen and that something was very, very bad.

He looked over at Cory. Cory met his eyes for a moment. Shawn pointedly glanced over at Dani before looking back at his best friend and then raised his eyebrows. Cory's brows drew together before he finally seemed to get the hint. The curly-headed boy just gave a subtle shrug. Topanga looked between the two of them and then over at Dani. Her eyes widened ever so slightly.

"Am I missing something here?" Angela asked.

Shawn looked over at her. Angela was staring between the rest of them. "Uh," Shawn said.

"You know how best guy friends are," Topanga said. "They've got some kind of code between them they think is subtle but isn't. Who knows what they're trying to say to one another? Cory, if there's something you and Shawn want to talk about without us girlfriends here, why don't you just go talk it out and come back?"

"What?" Cory asked. "Oh, yeah. Right. Shawn?"

"Yeah. I could use a break from the ice anyways." Shawn looked over at Angela. "It's just guy stuff. I'll be right back."

"Guy stuff?" Angela asked.

"It's safer not to ask," Topanga said.

Shawn let go of Angela's hand and carefully glided over to the wall by Cory and Dani. Topanga and Angela skated off the other way.

"Can I help you two?" Dani asked, finally pausing in her scan around the rink to focus in on him and Cory.

"You want a break from the ice, too?" Shawn asked.

"That's not really a question, is it?" Dani replied.

Shawn and Cory shared a look again before the trio skated the rest of the way to the exit. They wobbled their way to a bench in a fairly secluded area—or at least as secluded as they were going to find, anyways. The two best friends sat on either side of Dani.

"What's going on?" Shawn blurted out, careful to keep his voice down.

"I was going to ask you two the same thing," Dani said, voice even.

"Seriously, Dani, the way you're acting now is like the way you acted before every bad thing that happened on the island."

Dani didn't even look at him or Cory. She was back to looking around the room. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe that's just how I am? Maybe the real me is like that. The fact you only noticed it—or maybe even only remember me being that way—before those times is just a coincidence?"

"That's bull. What's going on?"

"Does it have anything to do with Brody?" Cory asked.

Shawn looked over at his best friend, but didn't say anything.

"Nothing is going on. And forget about Brody. It just didn't work out between us. That's all there is to it."

Shawn shook his head. He really wasn't in the mood to put up with Dani's politician—secret agent—whatever-you-want-to-call-it attitude. He'd had enough of it before. The last thing he wanted was to risk another bout of memory loss. He wasn't sure she'd resort to that again, but he didn't want to push the issue either. If Cory wanted to risk it, that was his decision. "Whatever," he said. He stood and left before his best friend or former friend could say anything.

Shawn wandered around the facility aimlessly. He should go back and rejoin Angela, but he needed to clear his head—cool off a bit—before he did. He couldn't face her and any questions she might have until then. As annoyed as he was with Dani, he still understood and respected the fact that what little he did know about her secrets did actually need to remain secret.

Up ahead, there was a heavy-set, solid-built man who looked really familiar. Shawn walked closer. The man had short grey hair and a squared-off face. "Dad?" Shawn asked softy to himself. He quickened his pace and approached the man. The man almost ran into him when he suddenly switched directions. "Da—" The word stuck in his throat. It wasn't him. "Sorry. I thought you were someone else."

Shawn shook it off and quickly walked away. Pull it together, Hunter.

"Hey, Shawn. I was wondering where you went off to. Both Cory and Dani already . . . ." Angela stopped right in front of him. "Shawn?"

"Yeah, I—um—thought I just saw my dad," he said. "It wasn't. Don't know why I thought it would be. Haven't seen him in almost a year. Not even after I got back from the island. I think I'm ready to go back on the ice. How 'bout you?" Shawn hobbled off towards the rink without waiting for a response.

The man had been in and out of his life throughout most of it, and had barely been a part of it this past year. The only reason he was even still part of it was because of the rare occasional phone call. He was done waiting around for the man. He wasn't going to let that ruin his fun. He came here to have a good time with his friends. That's what he was going to do. The first thing he saw when he reached the ice rink was Cory and Topanga skating hand-in-hand. He reached his hand out to Angela. He smiled over at her when she grabbed onto it. He had his friends and other people he cared about and who cared about him. He didn't need Chet Hunter, which was good, because Chet Hunter obviously didn't need him.

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Dani never did seem to relax out of that hyper-alertness thing she had going on the whole time they were at the Ice Palace. It continued on even at Chubbie's. Topanga, Shawn, and Angela were all talking, joking around, laughing, and having a good time. He couldn't stop worrying about whatever was causing Dani to act like that, though. His mind kept going back to how she had been so adamant about not coming with them tonight, until she changed her mind all of a sudden—no explanation, no nothing.

"Cory, you okay?" Topanga asked. "You've been really quiet."

"Yeah, you're never quiet. What gives?" Angela asked.

Cory tore his gaze away from the table to look over at his friends and his girlfriend. "Yeah." He gave a weak smile. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just tired. Maybe I'm coming down with whatever Dani had."

Dani actually met his gaze for a moment there. Her one eyebrow was raised.

Cory still kept looking even after she looked away. She stiffened almost immediately upon looking away. Cory swallowed and followed her gaze. Brody was here.

He looked back and forth between his foster-sister and Brody. He's definitely what had her attention.

Whatever worry he had about whatever was bugging Dani went out the window, replaced with anger about whatever happened between Dani and Brody—all of which was directed at Brody.

Cory stood up faster than Dani did, muttered a quick "excuse me" for his friends' benefit, and made a beeline for that guy. He just barely registered Dani's eyes widen and her head shake slightly before he did.

"Hey, Brody," Cory said as he approached the guy.

Brody flashed him a smile.

Cory didn't return it. "Look, pal, I don't know what happened between you and Dani the other night, but she wants nothing to do with you. Stay away from her."

Brody's smile melted away. He looked over Cory's shoulder. "What? I thought— Dani, what is he talking about?"

Cory looked over to see Dani standing to the side between him and Brody, her expression dark with anger.

"Brody, I thought I made that pretty clear at the dance, but apparently not clear enough. It's over," Dani said without looking at him, her tone clipped and sharp.

Cory frowned. That was weird. Usually when she went all confrontational, she stared the person down, whoever it was.

She turned towards Cory then. He met her gaze. "And Cory," she said, "back off. This is none of your business. Let it go. Go back over with the others and let me handle this."

"Dani—"

"No, Cory. Just let it drop."

"Is there a problem here?" Mr. Turner asked.

Cory spared him a quick glance. The teacher stood tall and imposing, in his dark grey sweater and jeans, with his arms folded.

"No, everything's fine," Dani said casually.

Mr. Turner raised an eyebrow before turning to Cory. Cory didn't even need Dani's telepathy to read the teacher's questioning gaze.

'Cory, please trust me on this,' Dani's voice said urgently in his mind. Cory just barely stopped himself from jumping. That was a weird experience. If he didn't know she was telepathic, he'd think he was imagining things. 'You need to let this drop. Please let it go. There's nothing going on here I can't handle.'

Cory glanced between her and Brody. He knew that even if he was reading too much into whatever was going on between his foster-sister and the jerk who apparently couldn't accept a brush-off, Dani was definitely downplaying whatever was going on. He didn't want to let it go. All he had to do was fill Mr. Turner in on his suspicions and maybe the older man could help him get Dani to talk about it.

He knew that wasn't likely to work either, though. Yeah, they'd managed to get her to open up about stuff when she was practically backed into a corner about it, but it was always tough to get to that point and it seemed like she was getting harder to crack on those issues the more time went on. The last thing any of them needed was to cause even more of a scene in the middle of the restaurant, especially when he had no proof anything actually was wrong except for observations that would lead to conversation topics they couldn't go into in such a public place.

Cory glanced over at Dani again. She stared right back, a determined glint in her eye and posture stiff. "No. No problem," he said to Turner. He could still feel the teacher's stare. He looked over at him again. The man didn't look convinced.

"Come on Brody," Dani said out loud. "Let's take this outside before anyone else decides to butt in on my love-life, or lack thereof."

Cory watched them walk off and up the steps, hoping he wasn't making a big mistake letting her go alone.

"What was that about?" Mr. Turner asked.

"I don't know," Cory said after a moment. "I guess just . . . me be overprotective for nothing. It's just a new experience dealing with a sister dating and all." Cory gave an admittedly pathetic attempt at a chuckle. "Just wait till Morgan starts dating, then look out."

Cory looked over at his teacher again. The man stared at him for a moment before nodding and walking away. One thing was for sure—he may have let the subject drop for now, but Cory was definitely not going to let this go.