Shawn woke up with a jolt. Panicked, Shawn sat upright and looked around his room. He was confused as to what woke him up so early. Judging from the light coming in through Shawn's grimy window, he guessed that it was only about six in the morning. He usually didn't get up for another hour. Shawn rolled over to grab his alarm clock and froze with fear as a loud crash sounded from the kitchen. 'Great,' Shawn thought. The day hadn't even started yet and his parents were already fighting. That must have been what woke him up.
Shawn rubbed his eyes sleepily and tried to yawn. His face was stiff and sore and, at first, Shawn forgot why. The memories of last night flooded back into his consciousness and Shawn brought a hand up to his face. He touched his cheek and flinched at the pain that was still present.
Shawn looked at his clock. It read: 6:22am. Shawn groaned mentally. He heard a loud bang and realized with relief that one of his parents had just left the trailer. Shawn closed his eyes hoped Verna was the one who left. He really didn't want to be alone with her right now, not after last night. Shawn scoffed at himself for being afraid of his mother, Shawn Hunter isn't afraid of anything! However, the thought of him and Verna alone in this trailer made him shiver frightfully so Shawn stood up cautiously and slowly inched his door open, trying his absolute hardest not to make a sound. Shawn stepped into the hallway and timidly glanced around the corner. Chet was sitting at the kitchen table, beer in hand, and Verna was nowhere to be found. Shawn let out a loud sigh of relief and smiled. He stopped almost immediately, apparently any facial expression was going to cause serious problems for him today.
Chet's head swiveled around and spotted Shawn standing there awkwardly. Chet sighed and waved him into the kitchen.
Shawn hesitated. He knew that Chet wasn't the one who hit him, but Verna never hit him before last night either. Shawn really would have preferred to be alone. Especially since he didn't even get a chance to look at his face yet, and Shawn really wanted to make sure that there was no bruising so his friends wouldn't be able to find out what happened.
"Want some breakfast?" Chet asked, staring at Shawn's face sadly before turning away to get out some cereal and bowls.
"Uh, sure Dad. I'm just gonna use the bathroom first." Shawn replied. He stepped into the trailer's small bathroom and gasped loudly. The sound seemed to echo dramatically around him as Shawn approached the mirror. His left cheek was covered with blue, and the right had a mixture of purple and blue to it. Shawn's bottom lip had a small cut.
"Oh no." Shawn moaned, staring at his bruised face in dismay. How the hell was he supposed to hide this from his friends? 'Maybe they won't even notice.' Shawn thought to himself with false optimism. It was obvious that something happened to him. Aside from the bruises and cut, Shawn had deep purple circles under his eyes from lack of sleep. Shawn just couldn't fall asleep last night. He kept tossing and turning, trying not to think about what happened.
Shawn sighed and decided to just take his day one problem at a time. And, currently, his first problem was sitting in the kitchen, probably growing impatient as he waited for Shawn to show up.
"I thought you were never coming out of there." Chet comment with a chuckle when Shawn finally dragged himself into the kitchen. Shawn forced a quick smile and sat down. Shawn pushed his cereal around aimlessly and hunched himself over.
"Yeah, sorry I took so long." Shawn answered uncomfortably. He didn't know how to act around Chet right now. Shawn's face scrunched in confusion. Why was he feeling so awkward? It isn't awkwardness, Shawn realized with surprise, it was anger. Anger at Chet for letting Verna do that to him.
"Hows the breakfast?" Chet asked, obviously trying to start some kind of a conversation.
"You know I can't really tell. Maybe it's the pain in my face that's distracting me from the taste." Shawn snapped, standing up and pushing himself away from the table.
"Shawn-" Chet started.
"No. I don't need this." Shawn said angrily. He grabbed his backpack, changed his clothes as fast as he could, and left, slamming the door behind him.
Shawn cursed himself mentally for leaving like that. As if having to worry about upsetting Verna wasn't enough, now he had to worry about Chet. And, Shawn didn't even get a chance to try to cover the bruises or cut before he left this morning.
School wasn't going to start for another half an hour, but Shawn was happy to find that the doors were open. Shawn walked through the empty halls, struggling to come up with a plan. Shawn's best plan was to apologize as soon as he got home, but the thought of swallowing his pride like that made him cringe.
Shawn walked over to his locker and shoved his backpack inside just as an idea struck him. Topanga probably has some make up in her locker that he can borrow to cover the bruises! However, Shawn doesn't have the combination. But Cory might.
With that plan Shawn went over to the pay phone, shoved a quarter in the slot, and dialed his number. The phone rang for a few seconds until Mrs. Mathews picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hey Mrs. Mathews! Is Cory there?" Shawn asked.
"Of course. Cory, Shawn's on the phone!" Shawn grinned at the sound of someone tripping over something across the phone line.
"Hey Shawn. Why are you calling so early?"
"I was just... in the neighborhood and wondered if you knew what Topanga's locker combination was." Shawn said, suddenly realizing that he had no excuse for why he wanted Topanga's locker combo.
"What do you want from Topanga's locker?" Cory asked suspiciously.
"Well, I... I want her make up." Shawn said honestly, smirking slightly at Cory's trade mark 'huh?'
"Shawn, why do you want make up?" Cory asked, even more suspicious now.
"Sorry Cor, but if I tell you that then I'd have to kill you." Shawn answered seriously. He really could not let anyone find out about what happened. If they found out... Shawn didn't even want to think about the ramifications of letting someone in right now.
"Shawn, are you in trouble or something?" Cory asked, his voice now concerned for his best friend. Shawn could tell that his family were listening closely now by the way their line went dead silent.
"Of course not, man. I was just kidding with you, I left some answers to a test in there." Shawn answered quickly, hoping Cory would just be relieved that Shawn wasn't in trouble and give him the combination. Shawn couldn't believe how easily Cory guessed that Shawn was having problems. Of course, they had been friends since before either of them could remember. Shawn felt a little comforted to know that Cory was trying to look out for him, but also dismayed as he realized how difficult it was going to be to hide what happened from Cory. He would probably notice if Shawn acted even the slightest bit off.
"Oh, the combination is 20-9-4."
"Thanks!" Shawn answered quickly and hung up. Cory hadn't sounded entirely convinced so Shawn would have to try a lot harder to convince him that he was fine during school. Shawn rushed over to Topanga's locker and opened it. He dug through her books and papers, thankful that she was a perfectionist and therefore had a perfectly clean locker, before finally finding her compact.
Shawn went into the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror where he stopped in horror. Since leaving the trailer and going into this bathroom the bruises had become even more prominent, and Shawn's lip was throbbing horribly.
"Crap." Shawn whispered, raising a hand to touch his cheek and recoiling from the painful touch. With a sigh, Shawn set to work and was happy to find that he and Topanga must have similar complexions.
When he was done, Shawn stared into the mirror and sighed. It didn't look great. There was a little too much make up on the left side of his face, and too little on the right. But, school was about to start, and it was the best he could do. Shawn slid the compact into his pocket, put on a false smile (after wincing at the twinge it sent through his lip) and left the bathroom.