In which she falls for her brother's best friend
❝When I need a friend, You're the one that I choose, We're better together, Whenever we get stars in our eyes, Synchronize❞
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"Make Cory pretty"
Shawn and Cory are standing in the hallway outside Mr Feeny's classroom; Shawn is holding open the school newspaper and him and Cory are reading it. "Haha, my column!" Cory points to a section of the paper looking chuffed.
"'Is It Just Me?'" Shawn read. "BY??" "Cory Matthews" Shawn looks at Cory "Do I have to?" "Enjoy" Cory grinned.
"Is it just me, or does paste just not taste as good as it used to?" Shawn read nonchalantly, as he casted a sidelong glance to Cory who laughed at his own joke. "Is it just me or is Homer Simpson getting a little too old to be on the show?"
"Isn't that so true?" Cory chuckled.
"That's such a cute bracelet...he gave you that?" The boys turn around and see Brooke and Topanga walk over to them. "Yeah I know, it was great! We were talking and laughing and having such a great time, and then..." Brooke sighed.
"At the end of the night..." Topanga started. "He leaned in to kiss me. I backed off. I mean, it is my first kiss, I wanted a special occasion. Then we headed over to play foosball. I was literally beating him! But he was like "no, lemme teach you" and then-" "He wrapped his arms around your arms to 'teach' you" Topanga scoffed. "All over me. I mean, what happened to the nice guy I had dinner with? It's like, the night's almost over so he's all over me? Why are guys such jerks on dates?" Brooke huffed.
"Not all guys, Brookie" Topanga said.
"Not all guys, Brookie" Cory repeated as they both eavesdropped.
"After a night of fighting him off, it's like, I don't know whether I want to go out on dates anymore, you know? I'd rather spend my time in the library. It's that pathetic..."
"It's too bad guys and girls have such a different idea about what a date is supposed to be." Topanga pats Brooke's shoulder. "I mean...what even goes on in their heads?!" Brooke sulked.
"You wanna find out? there's two of them right now..." They both walked over to the boys. "Topanga. Twenty-four hours a day it's the Topanga Channel in here." Cory grins. "Who's a good boy" Topanga pops a candy in his mouth.
"Back to you, Brooke. Why did you let him do that to you? If I was there, I would've kicked him in the face." Cory rolls his eyes, annoyed. "I could have too, Cor. But it's complicated..."
"Brooke, don't you think that, uh, guys and girls are looking for the same things on dates?" Shawn stands up straight. "Well... girls are looking for an evening of good conversation... and, you know, the sense that you've made a genuine connection with another human being." Brooke explained. "You aren't interested in making out?" Shawn asks. "Maybe I am, Maybe I'm not. But it shouldn't be expected because I went on a date with you...I don't want my first kiss to be a petty make out with no feelings."
"So how're we supposed to know what's ok?" Shawn asks. "We'll let you know." "You don't let us know very clearly..." "Yes we do! You just don't listen. You're too busy planning your next moves to hear us say no."
"...What?" Shawn snaps out of his trance, making Brooke roll her eyes.
"You see, this is why I write my fun column – to take us away from the drudgery of interesting conversation." Cory tells Topanga "Yeah, but you should be writing about something that affects people." She argues. "Yeah, why don't you write your column about why guys are such big jerks on dates?" Brooke scoffs.
"Brooke, if you really feel that all guys want to do is to go too far then why go out with them at all?" Shawn scorned. Brooke furrows her eyebrows.
"You're right. And y'know what...I'm done" Brooke rolls her eyes and walks away. "Way to be sensitive, Shawn. Brooke wait!" Topanga follows her. "Yeah, yeah, it really pays to be honest with a girl" Shawn shoves the newspaper at Cory and walks off.
"Is it just me...or is it just me..."
--
In Mr Feeny's classroom, Cory, Shawn, Topanga and Brooke are seated amongst the other students; Mr Feeny is stood at the front writing on the blackboard.
"To research his book, 'Black Like Me', author John Griffin – a white man – had his skin pigment temporarily darkened so that he could experience life through the perspective of a black man." Mr. Feeny explained
"Wouldn't it have been easier to just... ask?" Cory questioned Griffin's method. "Well, there was such distrust between the races that Griffin felt that only by becoming black could he begin to understand the horrors of segregation."
Shawn leans forward to whisper to Cory.
"Hey, Cor, that could be your next story!" "What?"
"To understand what girls are talking about, you experience the world from a girl's point of view... [grins] ...by becoming a girl!" "That's crazy talk" Cory rolled his eyes.
"No no no no – you dress up like a girl and write about it. 'Chick Like Me'!" Shawn suggested, as Cory started giving the idea a thought.
--
Topanga enters the kitchen from the Matthews' back door. "Hey Shawn...I kinda got protective over Brooke this morning. I didn't consider your point of view" Topanga said, side hugging Brooke.
"I never knew I had a point of view!" Shawn chuffed. Topanga rolls her eyes; Cory is still holding the black dress against himself "Y'know what, Topanga, everything's worked out for the best because I've decided to be a girl and see what it's really like!" He said, smoothing out the dress. "Not in that dress you're not." Brooke wrinkles her nose.
"Well... that's why I was counting on your expert assistance to help in selecting the proper female accoutrements." Cory formally says. "You want her to dress you up like a girl?" Brooke asks. "Yes, Brooke. Make Cory pretty!" Cory said, adopting a childish voice. "Cool!"
---
One thing led to the other, and the gang was in Cory's room waiting for him to hurry the heck up.
"Cor, you've been in there forever!" Brooke groaned, knocking on Cory's bathroom door. Shawn, Brooke and Topanga are leaning against the walls waiting; the bathroom door is shut – Cory is inside; discarded clothes lay scattered on Cory's bed.
"Cory? Sweetie? You have to come out eventually." Topanga sweetly called out. "Don't wanna. Second thoughts." He said, gruffly from behind the closed door. "Come on out! We won't laugh." Brooke attempted to make a promise. "You're not seeing what I'm seeing!"
Topanga and Brooke look towards Shawn for help "Hey, Cor. Come on, buddy. You're gonna write an article that means something! You're going to make a difference not only in our lives, but in the lives of guys and girls everywhere." Shawn knocked on the door.
"You're not seeing what I'm seeing." "C'mon, Cory, how bad of a girl could you be?!" Shawn released an exasperated sigh.
The bathroom door opens and Cory steps out, embarrassed, in a figureless brown dress, brown tights, bright white high heels, and a wig with hair longer on one side than the other; his lips are three times their normal size due to exaggerated lipstick appliance; Shawn, Brooke and Topanga look dismayed.
