𝑬𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝑴í𝒂 | ᴮᵒʸ ᴹᵉᵉᵗˢ ᵂᵒʳˡᵈ

11: Pledge of Allegiance

We were reciting the pledge of allegiance like we did every morning. Topanga wasn't though. Everyone questioned why she didn't. When we were done, Mr. Feeny spoke to her.

"Miss Lawrence, I couldn't help but noticing that you didn't recite the pledge of allegiance this morning." He said.

"Yes, sir. I elected not to." She replied. I didn't know you could do that. "Why was that?" "I didn't feel like it." Cory turned around to Shawn and I.

"This is gonna be cool." He said, rubbing his hands together. Mr. Feeny noticed. "What was that, Mr. Matthews?" "Uh, I said, this is gonna be cool, Mr. Feeny." "Why?" "Cause you're finally gonna nail Topanga for being weird." Mr. Feeny got close to Cory. "Do you think it's weird to engage in social protest?" He asked. "I think it's weird to pick on me when she didn't say the pledge of allegiance." Cory responded. "Well, Mr. Matthews. It seems that you and Miss Lawrence have opposing positions for this morning's debate." "Uh oh." Cory said.

"You been set up, bud." Minkus said.

The lesson began, and Cory and Topanga began debating.

"Why can't you just say it and make everyone happy?" Cory asked. "Because if I'm forced to do it just because it's some tradition I don't understand, then it doesn't make me happy." I honestly stand with Topanga on this one. Cory began pouring his heart out, and Shawn was making some kind of music as a background noise for Cory's speech. The bell rang while Cory was in the middle of speaking, and we all ran out.

♥

"Parents don't understand how important the weekend is, you know?" Cory said as he, Shawn, and I sat at a lunch table.

"Yeah, like there's not enough pressure on us being in the sixth grade all week." Shawn replied. "And then they want us to do stuff on our only days off." Cory said. Minkus came over. "Only three days till Monday!" He spoke. I rolled my eyes.

"Only three minutes till I kick your butt." I spoke. "I'm just leaving my tray here while I get an apple, okay." Minkus walked away, and Cory began ranting again. "I mean, my weekends are jam-packed. I have no spare time."

"Minkus left his hamburger here." Shawn said.

"I get up Saturday morning, and I watch X-Men." Cory said.

"It's very hard for me to be alone with Minkus' hamburger." Shawn said as he kept eyeing Minkus' food.

"My next stop is the comic book store."

"Especially when it's just sitting there begging for more salt." Shawn grabbed the salt shaker and opened it. He then opened MInkus' burger and poured the salt into it.

"Then in the afternoon, I hang with you two." Cory said.

"I don't know if this is a personality disorder with me or what."

"Then it's home for Saturday night pizza night."

"But I'm just never happy unless I'm doing stuff like this." Shawn said, now putting vanilla pudding in Minkus' burger.

"And then it's four hours of video games, and it's a good night." Cory concluded.

"I don't mean just a little happy." Shawn said.

"Where's a spare minute?" Cory asked.

"I mean I'll have this moment and know it was a good day." Shawn closed Minkus' burger. "I can't take the pressure of a father-son softball game." Cory said. "Oh, I hate those." Shawn replied. "They take it so seriously ." "I know. My dad always screams and yells like it's the most important thing in the world." "And they always get injured!" Cory said. Shawn chuckled. "To us it's only a game. To them it's a guest shot on "Rescue 911." Minkus was back and spoke.

"The trouble with fathers is they sometimes try to live vicariously through their children." I wonder if my dad was like that with Eduardo. "Okay, Minkus. That's enough quality time. Take your little hamburger and go to your table." Shawn said, shooing Minkus away. "Hey, did you do anything to my hamburger?" Minkus asked. Shawn laughed. "Yeah, sure. Like doing something to his hamburger would give me my jollies." "Look, guys, Shaquille O'Neal!" Minkus said, pointing. We jokingly fell for it and looked away. "Ooh, where?" We asked. We looked back. "Gee, I guess we just missed him." Cory said.

"Hey, Minkus. Isn't that Stephen Hawking?" Shawn pointed, looking surprised. Minkus whipped around to look. "Where?" He asked. "Oh, darn. I missed him, too. Well, see ya!" Minkus left, taking his tray. "Why do they think it's so much smarter than us?" Shawn took a bite of his burger and then stopped. "Because he is, isn't he?" I asked. Shawn nodded with his burger still in his mouth. I laughed a bit.

♥

When I got home, I saw Dad and Eduardo practicing for the softball game for Saturday.

"Hey, Adriana!" Eduardo said. "Hi!" I said before going inside and making sure all my homework was done before I started making dinner.

♥

On Monday at lunch, Shawn, Cory, and I talked about how our weekends went.

"One of the all-time greats. I slept in, I watched TV, I relaxed, I played video games, and Sunday, I took it easy." Topanga came over.

"Hi, Cory." She said, "Oh, look who just beamed down." Shawn joked. "Hi, Topanga." "I missed you at the game Saturday." "What game?" "Your fathers grocery store against my fathers book store." She told him. "Uh, Topanga. In this dimension, there was no game." "Yes, there was. I played." "Topanga, that game was canceled." "You wish. We were killing you until your fathers assistant manager tried to throw the ball home from center field and sprained his elbow. The ambulance had to come and take him away." Shawn sighed.

"There's always an ambulance." He said. "My father told me that game was called off." Cory was confused. "Well, it wasn't." Topanga left. "Hey, what's the big deal? Maybe your dad didn't feel like playing." "Maybe he didn't feel like playing alone." Cory looked like he felt bad about not playing.

♥

On Tuesday, we were back in Mr. Feeny's class.

"Alright class, when we were last in social studies, we were discussing the issues of social dissent." Topanga raised her hand. "Miss Lawrence." "I've thought over my position, Mr. Feeny and not only do I not want to say the pledge of allegiance, but I also do not want to wear shoes." Topanga said.

"We who sit behind and near you object." Shawn said. Cory raised his hand. "Mr. Matthews, you were a pro-pledger, as I recall." "Yeah, I was, but I thought it over." "Oh, you've changed your position?" Mr. Feeny asked. "No, I haven't but I can argue it better now." "Really? Well, then, the floor is yours." Cory stood up and walked to the front of the class.

"At first, I thought we should just say it because it's a tradition, and it's the flag, but now I think it's dumb to do something and not know why you do it." "And what conclusion has that led you to?" Mr. Feeny asked. "That if there's something you care about like the country you live in, or the father you have, then allegiance which means," Cory pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket.

"Noun; Loyalty or devotion to a government or a group or a person." Allegiance is something you should show." He said. "So, then you believe that you should respect the traditions of that government or group or person." Mr. Feeny said, walking up to Cory. "Yeah, I should've." "Or teacher?" The bell rang loudly, and we all filed out.