Boy Meets Girl (Shawn Hunter from BMW Love Story)

chapter three

A week had passed and I had gotten somewhat used to life at John Adams High. Topanga, Cory, and Shawn were the people I found myself hanging out with the most at school. I guess you could call us school friends. The boys were fun and they made school much more interesting for what it was worth.

I still needed time to adjust to the fact that I was the only colored girl in the school. Living with that fact was burdensome and the consequences of my reality were difficult pills to swallow.

"Today I will be giving you all a project to complete," Mr. Turner, my English teacher mentioned.

"Not again!" Cory groaned as he buried his face in his hands.

"I didn't even do the last one!" Shawn added. He rolled his eyes, folded his arms, and slouched back in his seat.

"I want you to get into groups of two-

"I call Shawn!" Cory yelped as Shawn simultaneously called his name. Mr. Turner rolled his eyes dramatically and shook his head.

"Nope, the groups must consist of one boy and one girl," Mr. Turner informed as the entire class groaned in annoyance. "You will both be reading Romeo and Juliet and you will give a presentation in the front of class about the power of love and its impact on the characters in the play," he explained, causing the class to groan again in protest.

Topanga whipped around in her seat to face Cory and asked him if he wanted to be her partner. "Topanga, now I consider you to be a very intelligent girl. Why on earth would you choose me to be your partner?" Cory questioned as I smiled at Topanga's surprised facial expression.

"Shelikesyou!" Shawn coughed loudly. Topanga glared at Shawn and then looked back at Cory.

"Cory, do you want to be my partner or not?"

"Women, these days," Cory sighed as he looked at Shawn, who shook his head in disappointment. "They're always so pushy, but sure Topanga." I shook my head at Cory's response and swiveled in my seat to face the front.

"Mary Jane," Shawn called from behind me. I responded by turning my head to look at him. "Do you want to work together?"

My heart skipped a beat.

I found myself struggling to respond like my tongue was trapped inside my mouth. My jaw was wired shut, incapable of responding coherently. "Pleaseee?" He added.

"Sure," I answered with all the fake confidence I could muster. Soon, the bell for lunch rang and everyone began to file out of the classroom. I stood up from my seat and scrambled to put all of my stuff in my backpack. As soon as I put on my backpack and walked towards the door, I noticed Shawn was standing outside waiting for me.

"Hey."

"Oh hey," I replied. Together, we began to walk to the cafeteria.

"So since we're partners, I was thinking we could meet after school today and figure out how we're going to do the presentation," Shawn told me. His eagerness almost made me speechless.

"Yeah that sounds good to me. Where do you want to meet up?"

"Well my home isn't exactly the best environment for learning..." he trailed while avoiding eye contact.

"Then we can go to my house," I finished.

"Sounds good to me."

     * * *

After school, I met Shawn in the student parking lot. He offered me a ride, and I agreed. "Hey, where's your car?" I called as I saw Shawn walking over to me.