I Bought You a Ticket

About six or seven years before the beginning of Boy Meets World.

Cory's eyes scanned the pre-school room for Topanga as soon as he arrived. When his eyes fell on the most adorable brown, curly-haired girl in the room, he ran directly to her. He couldn't wait to share his plans with Topanga.

She flashed him the same smile she'd given him since that day on the monkey bars. "Hi Cory. Do you want to play blocks with me?"

He grinned back. She'd already stacked a few different blocks on top of each other and was well on her way to creating a fort. Topanga clearly didn't need his help, but everything he did was her was fun. "Sure." He picked up a block and placed it on top of the others.

Then he spun around to face her, excitement pouring from his words. "Do you want to see American Tail at the movie theater this weekend? Mom said she could take us, and I saved my allowance to buy you a ticket." It had cost Cory all his gumball money for three weeks, but the idea of Topanga seeing the movie with him made it worth it.

But to his disappointment, she didn't answer right away.

"Jedediah and Chloe say that movies are an example of too much commercialism in this world," she said eventually.

As fun as she could be, Topanga often said things that Cory didn't understand. This was one of those times. "So do you want to go, or not?" His mouth watered for one of those wasted gumballs.

At that point, the block Cory had placed on top of Topanga's fell, sending all of the other carefully placed blocks to the ground as well. Cory sighed. "I'm sorry I ruined your fort."

But Topanga gave him that same smile she always had. "It's okay, Cory. Anything I do with you is fun. And so, I'd like to go see American Tail with you this weekend." With that, she began rebuilding her fort.

Cory grinned back, feeling lighter than ever. Those gumballs hadn't been wasted, after all. "Great. Mom will pick you up at 1:30." He handed her a block, and she placed it in the perfect place.

OOOOOOOOOO

Cory thought Topanga looked perfect that Saturday afternoon as she climbed into their car with her bouncy curls and wide smile. But for some reason, she held an empty bucket.

"Hi Topanga. I'm so glad you're here today," he said as she buckled herself into her seat. This was going to be the best day ever. "But why did you bring that?" He pointed to the empty green bucket.

"Jedediah and Chole said that I should bring one of our containers for popcorn instead of using the ones that belong to the theater," Topanga said, fingering the bucket. "That way there won't be so much waste in the garbage."

Once again, he had no idea what she was talking about. Every time Mom and Dad brought him to the theater, they always used the popcorn bins from the movie building. "I hope you enjoy the popcorn, anyway," Cory finally said, still unsure what to say when she spoke like this.

"Of course," Topanga said with another one of his favorite grins. "We can share my bucket."

When they entered the theater, Cory stood on his tiptoes where he could just barely see the edge of the counter. "I have two tickets to see American Tail" he said proudly. He was so glad he didn't buy those gumballs now.

Then Topanga stood on her tiptoes to place her green bucket in front of the popcorn man. "This is the same size as a medium popcorn, but it won't be wasted when we're done with it," she said proudly.

It was already the best Saturday afternoon. Because he'd bought Topanga a ticket.