BMW Shory ShawnxCory Oneshots

3

Wrong Side of the Tracks

By:BloodWhitePanther

Summary: This story takes place immediately following the episode "Wrong Side of the Tracks". The first scene is Cory's point of view and past tense. The next two scenes are Shawn's point of view and present tense.

Story:

I picked Shawn Hunter for my biography assignment because Mr. Turner said it didn't have to be some one famous, it just had to be some one, anyone, I liked. And there's no one I like better than my best friend, right? When he picked Cory Matthews, I figured we'd be hanging out, doing the assignment together, and pretty much goofing off like always. That's what friends are for. And when Jill's friend Mindy said Shawn's family, Shawn's home, Shawn's whole life (outside of school and me) made him gross, it was the first time since preschool that I wanted to hit some one so bad that I didn't care she was a girl. I got rid of her before I lost control, but when Shawn got that look that's worse than a kicked puppy, when his whole chest slumped and he looked at the ground and said he should've known he didn't have a shot with a girl like that, all I wanted to do was run after Mindy, and Jill, too, grab them by the hair, and smack their faces in. I might've, too, but I had some one more important to take care of.

So I floundered and joked and reminisced until I thought I'd managed to talk Shawn back from wherever he was headed, I really did. Until I didn't see that last lifeline in time. He wanted me come over to his place for a change. Eat fish off the radiator of his dad's car. I've done it before, and I should have realized what he was asking me before I turned up my snobby-ass nose. What's a little antifreeze if it means validating a friend's life?

When Shawn said people like us shouldn't be friends, wouldn't be friends later on anyway, it kind of felt like Harley had slugged me in the stomach. Only, for the first time, Harley and his goons weren't throwing the punches. When Shawn said he knew where he was going to end up, that people like him don't have friends like me, I figured out which of them had the better right hook.

So when Dad told me Shawn still needed me, needed me more than ever, and that's why he was pushing me away, it wasn't only for him that I showed up to steal the bat. See, I didn't just stop him from vandalising Mr. Turner's bike, or from doing it without me anyway, or because Shawn needed me. Or even because I respect Mr. Turner. I took the bat away because I still need Shawn — and I think I always will. When Shawn said we won't stay friends, that I'm going to leave him behind some day, he was being a real low-class moron for the first time in his life. Because if Shawn's planning to stay a trailer park thug forever, guess who the white trash roommate's going to be?

See I know Shawn Hunter, raised-by-wolves, better than I know myself. And I saw the scared sort of hope on his face when Mr. Turner told him he was worth something, that he shouldn't have to ask to know he was, that low-lifes don't have friends like me. I heard Shawn when he said that I can't tell him what's going to happen to him. And I heard the tremor in his voice when he was asking Mr. Turner to say he was alright.

It took the whole walk home, the rest of the afternoon, supper (which I didn't actually swallow), and three hours lying awake that night before I knew what Shawn needed from me (although, I knew he didn't know yet that he needed it and might not take to the idea all that well when I told him). And it took a bike ride in the dark to the rough end of town (which was more than a little terrifying at this time of night even if it was only two blocks) before I knew for sure I wanted to give it.