𝑬𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝑴í𝒂 | ᴮᵒʸ ᴹᵉᵉᵗˢ ᵂᵒʳˡᵈ

17: Bombs Away

I was laying in my bed drawing in my notebook when Eddie walked into my room with the landline.

"Here, it's Cory." He said.

"Oh, thanks." I took it, and he left. "Hello?" I said, putting the phone to my left ear and using my shoulder to hold it when I continued to draw.

"Adriana-Camila?" "Shawn? Eddie said Cory was on the phone."

"I was." Cory answered. "Well, hey, guys, what's going on?" "Shawn blew up a mailbox with the cherry bomb!" Cory exclaimed. I heard Shawn shush him. "Shawn, what!?" I said, sitting up and moving the phone to my right ear and holding it up with my hand.

"Put him on the phone." "She wants to talk to you..." I heard Cory say.

"Hey! If it isn't my favorite girl! How's it going?" Shawn said. "You did what with the cherry bomb?" I asked. "Adriana, it was an accident, alright? There were people around, so I couldn't throw it." "So your next idea was to mail it?" "Not one of my smartest moments." "You blew up a United States mailbox?" "It's still in one piece... minus the mail inside. It all got torched." I sighed.

"Are you at least okay?" "Yeah, but I think I shook the cops. Maybe even the FBI." "Are you gonna tell your parents?" "No, I can't. All my old man will hear is that I did it." "Okay, well, if you need anything or a place to stay... I'm here." "Thanks, Adriana-Camila." "No problem. Goodnight, Shawn." "G'night." Shawn hung up, and I sat the phone down on my nightstand.

♥

"I think Shawn was making a daring political statement." Topanga told Minkus.

"And what statement was that, build more prisons?" Minkus replied.

"You guys don't know anything about it." Cory said.

"Sorry I'm late." Mr. Feeny said. "I see you've all heard about Mr. Hunter's little stunt yesterday. I just spoke with his parents. Evidently, Shawn didn't come home last night." I messed with the bracelets on my wrist anxiously. "I imagine no one here has heard from him." Mr. Feeny looked at Cory.

"Me? What makes you think I heard from Shawn?" Cory replied. "I was addressing the entire class." Mr. Feeny said. "Yeah, but you make it sound like I lit the cherry bomb and stuck it in the mailbox on "K" street near the Market Giant." Everyone looked at Cory. "I'm guessing."

"He claims he hasn't spoken with Shawn since the incident, yet he knows the precise location, knows Hunter's plot involved a cherry bomb. I smell conspiracy. I smell cover-up." Minkus said, putting his finger in Cory's face. "I smell a nerd with nine fingers."

"Mr. Matthews, unhand that Minkus. Mr. Minkus return to your seat." He did, and Mr. Feeny continued. "Now, then, we shall continue reading aloud from page one fifty-seven. Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-tale Heart." Mr. Feeny said.

"They heard. They suspected. They knew. I could bear those hypothetical smiles no longer. I felt that I must scream or die, and now, hark, again. Louder. Louder. Louder." Mr. Feeny read.

"Mr. Matthews? Anything wrong?" Cory didn't answer, and Mr. Feeny kept reading.

♥

I wanted to visit Shawn at Cory's, but dad needed me home. I walked through the door, and he was sitting in his chair like always with his newspaper.

"So, I heard that friend of yours blew up a mailbox." Dad said. "What?" I said, acting clueless. Dad put down his paper. "Don't act like that. I heard the phone call yesterday." I sighed.

"Do you think he's gonna be okay?" I asked. "Most likely. He'll probably just get a slap on the wrist and then get to go home." I nodded before walking into my room.

Eddie followed me and closed the door. "You like him, don't you?" "No, he's my best friend." "You offered him help, a place to sleep." "I was being nice." "I see it in your eyes whenever you see him or he's mentioned in a conversation. You can't hide that kind of love, Adriana-Camila." I bit the inside of my cheek and looked down as I sat on my bed. "If you wanna sneak out to check on him, I'll tell dad you're doing homework and wanting to be alone." He said. I looked up at him and smiled slowly. "Window's right there." Eddie stared at me for a minute before leaving.

♥

Cory opened the door to the classroom, and we were met with Mr. Feeny. "Oh." Cory said. "It's not Monday?" "All week long, you three ache to get out of this classroom, and here you are in the middle of the night, sneaking into it."

As Mr. Feeny left Cory, and I walked in. Cory threw Shawn his backpack. "Did you bring the stuff I asked for?" Shawn asked. He opened the backpack and found nothing inside. "It's empty." He said. Cory and I looked at him. "How about some money?" We didn't answer him. "Can I borrow a bike?"

"Actually, we got a ride here." I said. "Who from?" "Your parents." "They're here?" "They're parked outside." I said. "Forget it. I'm not going home. You don't want to help me, that's fine. I'll sneak out the back." Cory stopped Shawn from leaving. "Get out of my way, Cory, or-" "Or else what, you'll hit me? Fine. Go ahead. Wipe the floor with me." "Cory, just get out of my way- Adriana, tell him to move." "No, you have to go home, Shawn. You can't run away." I said. "Yes, I can! Cory, just get away from the door."

Shawn tried to push past Cory, but he stopped him. "Shawn!" He said. "I'm not moving." "What do you want from me?" "We want you to come back on our side of the line." Cory said. "How am I supposed to do that?" Shawn asked. "Just go home." I answered.

Cory let Shawn go. "My parents are going to ground me for, like, a year." Shawn said. "Then, we'll see you in a year." I said. "Man, I'm going to get so killed." "Yeah, well, we're only twelve. We live again." Cory said.

Shawn smiled and grabbed his jacket before leaving with Cory and I.

♥

I was sitting on the couch at Cory's playing with Morgan. Cory and Mr. Matthews were watching TV and Mrs. Matthews was working on the computer. Someone knocked at the door. "What day is it?" Cory asked.

"The nineteenth." Mrs. Matthews answered. Cory and I looked at each other with a smile. "It's Shawn!" We both exclaimed. Cory ran to the door and opened it. Cory and Shawn yelled in excitement. "I'm free!" Shawn said. They did their fun handshake as I excused myself from playing with Morgan.

"A whole month! How are you?" I asked. Shawn hugged me tight, which caught me a bit off guard, but I hugged him back. "Oh, uh, not too bad. My eyes are still trying to adjust to the light, though." He replied.

"Are you hungry?" Cory asked. "Nah, they gave me bugs with my potato today." Shawn joked.

"Whoa! I hate to interrupt your touching reunion, but there's one minute left in triple overtime." Mr. Matthews said. "Come on, mom, you got to see this." Cory said. "Okay, I've got five more numbers to enter on this spreadsheet, and then I am done." Mrs. Matthews said. "Oh, TV. Hi." Shawn said, hugging the TV.

"Dawn, I know I've asked you out, like, fifty times, and I know you said no, like, fifty times, but you got to respect my willingness to get shot down. You will? Right now? Okay, where should I meet you?" Eric said on the phone with some girl.

The power turned out. "What happened?" Cory asked. "I had her!" Eric said. "The game!" Mr. Matthews shouted.

"Barbie's hair!" Morgan exclaimed. "I didn't save!" Mrs. Matthews yelled. "Dad, what happened?" Cory asked. "Alan, didn't you pay the electric bill?" Mrs. Matthews asked. "Of course I paid it. A month ago. I put it in the mailbox right outside... my store." Mr. Matthews answered. "On cherry bomb day?" Mrs. Matthews said.

Shawn found my hand and grabbed it before dragging me out the door with him. "Good night, everybody!" Shawn exclaimed before closing the door. We ran back to the trailer park, laughing.