Tough | a Cory and Shawn (BMW) fanfiction

Chapter 2: Goodbye

     I woke up that morning and got ready for school. Oh yeah! That's right. Not school. I got ready to get picked up, and shipped off to the facility of nightmares. Or at least, that's what I thought of it. I thought all sorts of things about the place. Awful things, because I really had no idea yet, still, what was coming. I wished someone could just tell me already. I imagined something like out of the movies. I knew I would see it myself soon enough. As I laced up my shoes I checked the clock beside my bed. It was 5:30, which meant Cory wouldn't have to leave for school for a good hour. I got up earlier than planned so that I could sneak out to see him to say goodbye. I grabbed my leather jacket off the rack and put it on, then went out my room and into the hall to check John's whereabouts. He was on the couch as usual, going over the day's lesson at the very last minute possible. Right before he had to teach it. It seemed to work for him anyways though. With me being one of the hardest people to teach, he somehow eventually got his point across, which meant he was good at what he did. He wasn't just a good guardian, he was also a good teacher. Even if it did take me a while to see that. With his eyes focused on all the papers, really really hard, I knew now was my chance to sneak out unnoticed. I would come back before he even knew I left, before he even knew I woke up. As far as he would know, I never did either until he knocked on my door.

     I slipped back into my room and shut the door as quiet as I could. I made sure I had Cory's old baseball card that he forgot at my house ages ago. I knew it wouldn't matter to him at all now, with that phase totally gone. So I decided to keep it for myself in case John's statement came fully true. I stuck it in the button pocket on my jacket so I wouldn't lose it.

     I went over to the window and pulled it up carefully. It creaked sometimes, and I just hoped that it wouldn't now. It did a little. But I could still hear John talking to himself about the grades, so I knew he didn't hear. I climbed out on the scaffolding and shut the window back almost all the way, so that I wouldn't have to take the door on the way back in later. I made sure it wasn't locked. Then, I traveled down the metal stairs and eventually got to the bottom. I climbed down the ladder at the end and plopped my feet on the ground. It felt weird sneaking out during the day. I always did it at night. It kinda felt like night though, with the sun just coming up. It was also cold outside, and I was glad I brought my jacket.

     I walked the many miles to Cory's house, and when I got almost there I got extra careful around Mr. Feeny's house. He always went to school about now, which I wished I had remembered earlier. He had to be there first because he was the Principal now in high school. When I heard his front door close I hid in the bushes on the edge of his curb. It was painful and filled with thorns, but it was better than getting caught. But then I remembered that I met Cory before school sometimes and went with him, so I started to get out, but then I also remembered that I was hiding, and if Mr. Feeny saw me come out of his bushes at that point he'd think something was up. I decided to stay put and did until his car pulled away. When the coast was clear, I got out of the bushes at Feeny's and snuck into the Matthews' front yard. The porch lights were all off, so no one was up yet. That was good. I found my usual entrance tree, but saw that the branches up top had been trimmed. They did this on purpose, I thought. But then I saw that it wasn't that bad, and realized, more danger. I grinned at that idea. Climbing up the branches, I finally made it to the top where I would get onto the roof. I had to walk out to the very edge of the cut branch to get as close to the roof as I could. Then I had to jump. And I did.

     I aimed too short, and ended up clinging to the super strong gutters. I held on with one hand, and tried my best not to scream. I normally wasn't scared of heights, and especially danger, but I knew that with how high I was I would certainly break something but most likely everything if I fell. I was two stories up after all. After the short lived panic, I came back to myself and slung my other hand up to the gutter. With two hands now, I pulled my body up and onto the roof. I took a deep a breath, climbed over the top of the roof to the backside, and crawled to Cory's window. It was open for me, as always. I climbed through and into Cory's room. He was normally up when I came to visit, but now he was sleeping, so I wondered how I would wake him up without causing my cover to be blown. He sometimes had clown nightmares, and woke up loudly from them. I hoped he wasn't having one, because then Eric would wake up and he'd know I was here. He'd ask questions, and I couldn't handle that right now. I just came to talk to Cory one last time. I hoped I could tell him all I knew. I tiptoed over to Cory's bed and started to shake him, but before I even touched him he was awake. "Shawn?" He asked and rubbed his eyes. "Yeah, it's me." I whispered back. Somehow he could always tell who you were while still half asleep. Cory sat up and I sat on the bed beside him. "Is it time for school?" He asked, starting to freak out, looking for the clock that was beside him the whole time. "No, no," I had to grab him by the shoulder to calm him down before he got too loud. "Oh," he said. He finally got quiet. "Then what's up?" He asked me.