𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 ━ shawn hunter¹

18│UNCLE DADDY

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❛ ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ ᴇʏᴇꜱ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴜɴᴄʟᴇ ᴅᴀᴅᴅʏ ꒱


❝ CORY, IT'S CAKE. EVEN
BETTER, IT'S FREE CAKE ❞

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Shawn, Cory and Juliet were sitting in the curly-haired boy's room studying for the SATs. The redhead sat on the bed with a prep book in her lap as her pencil tapped rhythmically on the paper. Cory sat at his desk with a similar book opened in front of him while Shawn paced between them.

"You know," he said, "I think I'm developing quite a knack for these scholastic aptitude tests or, as I prefer to call them, SATs."

"Okay, here's one," Cory told him, "verbal."

Shawn joined Juliet on the bed. "It's how you talk and stuff. Keep 'em coming."

The redhead gave him an amused look. "Shawnie, he's telling you what type of question it is."

"Okay. 'Perigree is to apogee as zenith is to: A: Nadir, B: Cortex, C: Sulfur,'" Cory read.

They watched as Shawn pulled a pained expression and his hands moved to rub at his temples. Cory stood and opened the window so his best friend could climb out. As he did, Eric entered the room. "A: Nadir. I'm right, aren't I?"

"Yeah," his brother replied.

Juliet gave the window a longing look and Cory sighed. "Fine, you can follow him."

Her expression brightened and she said, "thank you!" before she exited out the window. The boy hadn't gotten far and was a few houses past the Matthews' when she caught up to him. "Hey, Shawnie."

He jumped, surprised. "I didn't know you'd follow me."

"Of course I would," the redhead told him.

They began to walk home and the boy stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets. "I dunno if this testing stuff is for me, Julie."

"Yes it is," she insisted immediately, "I know you can do it."

He gave her a fond smile as they walked, knowing that she wouldn't give up on him so easily. "I just don't know how I'm gonna manage to keep all this stuff in my head."

"We'll think of a way," Juliet promised him, "then it'll be a piece of cake." As she said the words, her eyes widened and she excitedly grasped the boy's arm. "Shawn, that's it! A piece of cake!"

He looked down at her, confused. "As much as I love cake I don't see where you're going with this."

"Who was the first president of the United States?" she asked, her eyes gleaming with anticipation.

"Uh— George Washington." He froze. "How did I know that? That's right, right?"

"Yes!" Juliet cheered. "I taught you that using cake, remember?"

She had? A fuzzy memory returned of them sitting at her kitchen table as she talked, though the girl's words were muted to him as he watched, enthralled, as she spoke animatedly about history. All Shawn could really remember was staring at how brilliant her blue eyes had been and the way her face had brightened as she talked about what they were studying. He vaguely remembered something about cake but the majority of his memory was taken up by how pretty he'd found her in the moment.

Shawn realized she was waiting for an answer and quickly agreed, "right, of course."

Unfortunately, she didn't seem convinced. "Uh-huh. Anyway, come over tomorrow, okay? We'll see if the Cake Method still works."