It's My Life • Shawn Hunter

91| Boy Meets Real World

Zoey sat beside Shawn in film studies class. Studying film from a variety of disciplinary perspectives will allow students not only to interpret the complex visual texts that pervade our image-saturated culture, but also to appreciate the beauty of the cinematic language that tells some of our greatest cultural stories.

Cory presented his documentary which was basically MTV, The Real World but instead he followed Jack, Eric, Shawn, Blake and Zoey around the apartment with a camera.

The first shot was Shawn sitting on the couch, holding a phone up to his ear.

"Oh, hi, Zoey." Shawn said into the phone. "Yeah, every day until the end of the school year is available. You're available every day too? That's great!"

the camera swung around to Jack's entrance to show him wearing a suit. "Hey, brother Shawn. It's me, Jack, home from college. Got an A. Now they want me to teach."

Then the shot switched to Zoey sitting on her bed, fiddling with a rubix cube.

"The only reason I moved here was because my Aunt thought it would be a good chance for me to get to know my brother, Blake. I really hope this things works out with my brother. Even though we're siblings, I don't know if we're anything alike." Zoey admitted into the camera.

The film ended and Mr. Feeny turned off the TV as the students cheered for Cory's work.

"An excellent start on your documentary, Mr. Matthews." Mr. Feeny praised.

"What?" Cory asked, surprised.

"Yes, excellent. I said 'excellent' and I was talking about something you did. I don't know what came over me." Mr. Feeny replied.

"Wow. Mr. Feeny, you really think that I made a good film?" Cory asked as he sat back down at his seat.

"Uh, no." Mr. Feeny corrected. "I think The Graduate was a good film. What we have here is an excellent..."

Cory looked up at Mr. Feeny with wide eyes. "What?"

"Don't toy with me, Mr. Matthews." Mr. Feeny told him sternly. "I would simply suggest that this being your senior year and NYU having a wonderful film program, that this student film could be your foot in the door to a fine university."

Cory leaned towards Topanga, grabbing the tape. "This film could be my foot."

"That said, are there any comments on the documentary we just saw?" Mr. Feeny asked. One girl in the back raised her arm. "Yes, Angela?"

"No offense, Cory, but your project looks like you ripped off that show on MTV, The Real World." Angela stated.

"I have no knowledge of this Real World of which you speak. My real world is the real, real world." Cory responded dramatically.

As the bell rang, Zoey slung her backpack on her shoulder before Shawn wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him as they walked out class together.

••••

The next day, Zoey slipped into the warm shower and sighed in relief as the water ran through her hair, dripped down her face onto her shoulders and chest and then down her back and legs. She stood straighter and gripped the shampoo bottle that awaited her on the side. Squirting some of the liquid into her hand, she ran her fingers and the shampoo through her hair.

After a good twenty minutes, Zoey twisted the knob until the water stopped free falling and was left standing. She reached around the curtain, gripping the towel that waited for her on the small hook. She brought the towel to her body and wrapped it around herself before pushing the curtain back.