❝This is the greatest paradox: the emotions cannot be trusted; yet it is the emotions that tell us the greatest truths.❞

Don Herold

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Cory slammed Shawn's locker shut. "Shawn. Needless to say, I'm a little upset."

"You're always upset," He reminds him pointedly.

Cory paused before he shrugged. "Well, more than usual. You see, this morning I'm having breakfast with Janitor Bud."

Shawn's brows furrowed in confusion. "Janitor Bud?"

"I owed him," Cory brushed him off nonchalantly, "And, you know, we're talking, and it comes up that last night you were out with Dana Pruitt."

"Yeah, I went out with Dana, so?" Shawn shrugged, clearly not getting Cory's point.

"So, first of all, you don't tell me, and second of all, Dana is a very nice girl."

"Yeah," Shawn nodded with a fond smile, "Very nice."

"Shawn, a nice girl like that can ruin your reputation. I mean, Janitor Bud and I were shocked."

"Wow," Shawn breathed out as his eyes widened, "And Bud's seen dead bodies."

"I'm saying!" Cory huffed, "So, what was it like going out with a nice girl?"

"Cor, I'm the type of guy that talks about the women I go out with," He chuckled sheepishly.

"Yeah, you are," Cory scoffed, "Where you been? I mean, if it wasn't for your stories and the little pictures you draw me, I would know nothing."

"Well, I don't wanna talk about Dana," Shawn shrugged, "And don't ask me to draw her."

Cory paused before he smiled teasingly. "You must really like Dana."

"... I like all girls. And so far, they've all liked me," He trailed off as his thoughts shifted to Elena.

He knew Cory wouldn't mention it but they both knew there was one girl who didn't. The one girl Shawn Hunter ever saw himself getting into a serious, committed relationship with wanted nothing to do with him romantically.

Before the best friends could discuss the matter any further, Dana joined them.

"Shawn, could I have a word with you in private?" She asked with a polite smile.

He nodded quickly. "Yeah, sure. I'll be right over."

"Ooh, in private. What could this be?" Cory giggled excitedly.

"Well, she probably wants to finish what we started last night," Shawn smirked confidently, "So if I'm late for class, fall asleep without me. Oh, and make sure you lean back so Lena can use you as a pillow."

Cory nodded and gave him a thumbs-up as Shawn walked over to Dana.

"Cor. I think I got a surprising little problem with the Dana situation," Shawn explained slowly, clearly stunned by his conversation with the girl.

"What?" He smiled, "She wants another date with you and you don't know how to let her down?"

"She wants another date," He nodded with a frown, "With another guy."

Cory rolled his eyes. "Oh, well it's probably some pumped-up pretty boy jock."

"It's you."

"Huh, I was right," He joked, "No. No, I can't Shawn. I mean you asked her out first."

"No. No, no, no, no," Shawn smiled tightly, "This could be good for you. She'd great, funny, sexy penmanship."

Cory's eyes widened. "Does she have little hearts over the i's?"

"Yeah," Shawn grinned.

"I love that."

"Who doesn't?" He laughed before giving Cory a meaningful look. "So, feel free. Go for it."

Cory watched him and tilted his head to the side. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure I'm not going to be alone for long," Shawn reassured him, "Hey, Rosie, Gina!"

Rosie and Gina, resident bad girls at John Adams High, gave him flirty looks as they passed.

"These are the girls I should be going out with, anyway," Shawn chuckled weakly.

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"Yes, but Morgan how do we really know if the light bulb goes off when we close the door?" Shawn wondered as the two stared into the refrigerator.

"Why don't you get in there and find out?" She smirked up at him.

"Morgan, time for bed," Alan called as he and Amy joined them in the kitchen.

"I can't. I'm babysitting Shawn."

"Morgan, you're the only one in this house with your own room," Alan reminded her, "Why don't you ever use it?"

"Because life is short," She shrugged.

"So are you. Go to bed," He ordered, "Shawn, I don't know if you're aware but Cory, whos' actually related to us, left after dinner. So, we wouldn't be offended if you did the same."

"Thanks but I'm fine. Y'know, I figured I waited three hours, I might as well wait a few more minutes for Cory to come back from his date," He chuckled as he sat down at the dining table, "I'm sure he's going to want to talk about it, buddy to buddy."

"Okay, Shawn, then we'll just go to sleep," Amy smiled warmly, "Buddy to buddy."

"Why don't we adopt him?" Alan wondered as they left, "Get the tax deduction."

Finally alone in the kitchen, Shawn's thoughts began to drift and his demeanor began to shift into sadness. He started thinking of Cory's words from the other day, about how weird it was for Shawn to be dating a 'nice girl'. He always thought of Elena as a nice girl, the nicest even. Did that mean he was never going to have a chance with her?

He figured if Dana Pruitt didn't want him, then it was no surprise that Elena never had and probably never would. He started thinking about her new boyfriend, Ryder. He, like River before him, was just as much of a golden boy as Shawn was not.

Before he could dwell any further on it, Cory cut him off as he walked in through the back door.

"Hello," Cory smiled as he stiffly walked in, his layers to keep warm making it hard to move.

"You come waltzing in here, after nine and all I get is hello?" Shawn scoffed heatedly.

Cory paused and frowned in confusion. "Hello... sailor?"

Shawn nodded slowly. "Better."

Cory arched a brow. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, oh, sure, make me out to be the bad guy," He huffed as he rolled his eyes.

"Look Shawn, just because my mom served us maybe the driest turkey ever doesn't mean you have to get mad at me," Cory rolled his eyes with a heavy sigh.

"It's not about the stinking turkey," He huffed before he held up a finger, "Which I'm still chewing, by the way. How was your date with Dana?"

"It was a date," Cory shrugged.

Shawn sighed in annoyance. "Oh, come on, I give you more than that."

"Look, Shawn, if you want to know if I kissed her, the answer's no."

"Well you know, that's okay. That's okay," He nodded calmly, "So do you like her?"

"Yeah, she's fine."

"No, come on, I mean on a scale of one to ten, how much do you like Dana Pruitt?" Shawn insisted, "Ten being Topanga on your first date and one being the lunchroom lady in a thong."

Cory took a minute to think before he answered. "Seven."

"Good," He nodded quickly, "Now, on a scale of one to ten-"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, Shawn. I've never seen you act like this," Cory watched him with worried eyes, "Are you fluey?"

"I've got a little tickle but I don't think that's what this is," He shrugged.

"Y'know, I think you're coming down with a bad case of Dana," Cory smirked knowingly.

"I-I don't know, Cor. All I know is that all through the dry turkey, knowing you were going out with Dana I just kept wanting to take the carving knife and stab you in the head... No offense"

Cory nodded slowly. "I'm good, I'm still here."

"So it's okay if I ask her out?"

"I'll stab you in the head if you don't," Cory joked warmly.

Shawn grinned at him. "You're good people."

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"Hey, Shawn," Dana smiled as he walked up to the blood drive sign-up desk.

"Hey, Dana," He smiled warmly, "Good to see you."

"So, you're here to sign up for the blood drive?"

"Way ahead of you," He grinned and slammed a paper bag onto the desk, "Blood."

"Where'd you get this?"

"Well, I went to my Uncle Louis's butcher shop this morning-"

"Shawn, we're collecting human blood," She cut him off worriedly.

"It's human. No, no, no, heh," He chuckled awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "From his arms. See, he gives all the time. He didn't even know I took it."

Dana nodded and smiled tightly. "...Thanks for thinking of me."

"Yeah, there's a couple of pork chops in there for you too."

"... That's great, it gives me a head start on the pork chop drive," She laughed politely.

"It's nice being here talking, isn't it?" Shawn sighed happily as he sat down next to her, "I swear I'd be happy talking to you all day."

"Well, what would we talk about?" She raised a brow innocently.

"Um, I, uh-" Shawn stuttered before he cleared his throat, "So, how was your date with Cory?"

At the mention of Cory, Dana grinned widely. "Oh, we had the best time. He's so sweet."

"Really?" Shawn faltered but plastered a fake smiled on his face, "That's cool 'cause Cory told me he had a good time too. So-so why didn't you kiss him?"

"Oh, y'know, it's a first date," She shrugged, "Why rush things."

Shawn frowned before he asked quietly. "You kissed me on the first date."

"Yeah but it's different with you," She chuckled as if it was obvious.

"How am I different from Cory?" He asked slowly, his brows furrowed.

"Honestly," She sighed, "Cory's the type of guy that could turn into a boyfriend and you're all cute and everything Shawn but face it, with your reputation you're just..."

"What? You can tell me," He reassured her when she trailed off and looked away from him.

She frowned before giving in. "You're not boyfriend material."

"O-oh," He nodded as he tried to pretend her words hadn't fazed him, "Hey, uh, what about y'know River or that kid Ricky?"

"You mean Ryder?" She corrected with furrowed brows.

"Uh, yeah, sure, whatever. So, what about them? Are they... Boyfriend material?"

Dana nodded without a second thought. "Yeah. Yeah, they are."

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"So, she really said you're not boyfriend material?"

"I really liked her," Shawn breathed out sadly.

"I'm surprised because she seemed like the type of girl that'd end up with me," Cory shrugged innocently.

"Are you saying I can't end up with nice girls?" He snapped, glaring at him.

"No, no. Calm down, my Shawn," Cory laughed as he held his hands up, "I mean, I would love to go out with some of the girls you go out with. But I can't because I'm stuck being the nice guy and all those girls want from me are... directions to you."

"What do you mean 'those girls'?" Shawn raised a brow with a frown.

"Y'know, sexy, hot, flashy," Cory smiled in awe, "The kind of girls I've never gone out with in my life," He cleared his throat when Topanga joined them, "...Except for one time. Hello, flashy."

She rolled her eyes and shrugged. "It's okay Cory, I'm happy to be thought of as a nice girl."

Shawn sat up straighter and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, nice girl. Have a seat."

"Look, Shawn, if this has anything to do with Dana Pruitt, I don't have all the information yet. I've only been to the bathroom three times this morning."

"So, Topanga, as the second hottest and perhaps flashiest girl of the nice girl camp, would you ever consider going out with Shawn?" Cory asked as he gestured to his best friend.

"Well, he'd have to ask me."

Shawn paused before he slowly asked. "Topanga, would you ever consider going out with me?"

"No," She answered simply.

"Well, why wouldn't you go out with me?" Shawn huffed with a deep frown.

"You want the truth?" She raised a brow, clearly thinking he couldn't handle it.

"Yeah, I want the truth," He nodded vehemently.

She shook her head. "You couldn't handle the truth."

"I could handle the truth," Shawn scoffed.

"He can handle the truth," Cory agreed confidently.

"No, he couldn't."

"Give him the truth," Cory insisted.

"And you'll take responsibility for how he feels about it?" Topanga wondered.

"Absolutely."

"You don't understand women. You don't know what we are, you don't know how we feel and you don't know what we think. You see us as dating objects and the faster we are the more you want us. And until you can grow up and see beyond that, no matter how many girls you go out with, you will always be lonely."

Shawn stiffened, not knowing what to say to that before he snapped at Cory. "You let her say that to me?"

Cory gave Topanga a warm smile before he whispered to Shawn. "She's lying."

"Shawn, look at yourself," Topanga sighed, "You go from girl to girl and that makes anyone who'd even consider a relationship with you afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"Of getting hurt. Every girl thinks you'll eventually get bored and move on."

"Wow..." He ran a hand through his hair in shock, "They know."

Topanga rolled her eyes and decided not to waste any more time trying to explain things to Shawn. She turned on her heel and walked away from the two.

Shawn gulped nervously after a beat of silence. "... Hey, Cor."

"Yes, my Shawn?"

"I-is Elena a nice girl?" He asked as he wrung his hands out nervously.

Cory smiled at the mention of their best friend and nodded immediately. "Oh, yeah. The nicest. She tells me I'm an idiot to my face but then gives me candy!"

"Wait, are you happy that she calls you an idiot?"

"Well, I mean I can't really be that upset if it's true," He shrugged and smiled brightly, "And at least she says it to our faces instead of behind our backs!"

"Yeah, yeah, I guess that's true," Shawn nodded as his thoughts began to wander.

Cory didn't notice and continued to speak excitedly about all the reasons why Elena was such a nice girl. Meanwhile, Shawn was falling deeper and deeper into the pit of self-doubt. His mind was spinning with all the reasons why Elena would never ever be his girlfriend.

If a nice girl like Dana Pruitt didn't want to go out with him then Elena, 'the nicest girl' as Cory had put it, would never want to go out with him either. He'd been trying so hard to make himself feel better, to show himself that he could get any girl in school just because he could never get the one girl he ever really wanted. And all that ended up doing apparently, was scare Elena off.

Maybe he really wasn't boyfriend material. Maybe Elena was right to steer clear from him. Elena deserved the best and that wasn't him, at least that's what he told himself. Shawn could never compare to boys like River or Ryder. He'd never come close to them.

He spent so much time getting girls to fall for him before dumping them without a second thought. And all because he was just overcompensating for the feelings of insecurity and loneliness because the girl he'd dreamed about all his life couldn't even stomach the idea of dating him. He never thought how that would make Elena see him.

She'd never want to date the school's resident heartbreaker. Not when she'd seen firsthand just how little he cared about the girls he dated. Shawn was berating himself for ruining everything just like he always did. He barely had a chance with Elena as it was and he'd gone and made it infinitely worse.

Shawn found himself frowning deeply as he thought of all the reasons why he didn't deserve Elena. His breathing grew heavy and he stood up shakily with a rushed excuse to Cory before he bolted out of the cafeteria.

"Shawn?" Elena called with a frown as he bumped into her.

"S-sorry," He breathed out, not even stopping to check on her as he ran down the hallway.

"Shawn!" She called after him worriedly before she sighed and followed after him.

Shawn took a deep breath once he was outside, feeling like he could finally breathe. He panted as he leaned against the wall, his heart racing.

"Shawnie?" Elena's hand fell onto his shoulder comfortingly, "Are you okay?"

He jumped away from her as if she'd shocked him and stared at her with wild eyes.

She stared at him with furrowed brows as she tried to make sense of what was happening.

"I-I'm fine," He managed to force the words out, "Just leave me alone."

She frowned and stared at him in shock. In all their years of friendship no matter how bad a fight or how big a mistake, he'd never told her to leave him alone.

Elena shook her head decidedly. "Shawn, I-"

"Just leave me alone!" He roared as his head snapped to her with a heated glare.

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"And so, had press coverage into the private lives of past politicians been as invasive as it is today, such men as Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, might never have been elected president," Mr, Feeny explained to the class.

"Mr. Feeny, would you consider John Kennedy a great president?" Shawn asked and everyone stared at him in shock.

"Well, his time in office was short, but, yes, he accomplished a great deal," Mr. Feeny nodded.

"And, now, the fact that he was a babe magnet didn't make him any less great, did it?"

"In a lot of people's eyes, it did, Shawn. Less of a husband, less of a leader," Dana answered slyly.

"Well, we've heard from the women," Mr. Feeny noted, "What do you think, Mr. Hunter?"

"Well, all I know is that it's not easy for a guy to change who he is," He shrugged tiredly.

The class erupted in sounds of agreement from the boys and complaints from the girls.

"Whoa, steady. Whoa, whoa, steady, steady," Mr. Feeny called, trying to calm them down.

"You can't change if you don't try," Elena mused, not even turning to face Shawn.

"I can't try if you don't give me a chance," He snapped quietly, no bite behind his words.

"Mr. Hunter, you have spurred a debate."

"Yeah, fine," Shawn sighed, "When's detention?"

"Can it be when I don't have detention?" Elena requested.

The two had gotten into a big blowout after he'd yelled at her and could barely look at each other. They'd screamed at each other until Cory found them and forced them apart. It seemed both of them had a lot of pent-up feelings towards each other, not that they knew that.

"No, no, no, it's a good thing," He reassured him, "I like to hear your opinions. In fact, I would like to hear everyone's in an essay due tomorrow."

The class groaned in distaste and huffed in annoyance.

"Class dismissed," He called once the bell rang.

"Lena, we gotta talk," Cory pulled her aside as everyone rushed out of the classroom.

"If this is about the fight with Shawn then I really don't want to talk about it," She sighed.

"No, no, don't worry. I'm still trying to process that so expect a conversation about it about two to three business days," He assured her, "I need to talk to you about Ryder."

Elena rolled her eyes. "Cory, no."

"No. Elena no!" He huffed, "Look, I think you're trying to hide your feelings for... Dawn and Diver-"

"You are the worst at coming up with code names!" She snapped and looked around to make sure no one heard him, "And that is not why I'm dating Ryder."

"Oh yeah?" Cory scoffed, "Because he looks like Shawn and River- I mean Dawn and Diver had a baby and called him Ryder!"

"He does not look like them!" She argued and crossed her arms decidedly.

"Fine. Then explain why his name is basically a rip-off of them?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," She shrugged.

"I spent all of free period doing research in the library," Cory explained to her, "And 'Chase' dates back to the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture of Britain and means Hunter. Ring any bells for ya? And Rider is just one letter away from River! His name is basically River Hunter!"

"No, it's not. Ryder spells his name with a 'y' so that's two letters," She argued childishly before tilting her head to the side in thought, "Y'know, if you tried this hard at schoolwork you could-"

"This isn't the time for crazy talk!" He groaned in annoyance, "Look, you're basically dating a carbon copy of Shawn and River."

"No," She huffed, "I am not, okay. You're being crazy, Ryder looks nothing like..."

Elena trailed off as her eyes widened in shock when Shawn, River, and Ryder all trailed into Mr. Feeny's classroom and came to a stop side by side. They unintentinally spoke at the same time.

"Elena we need to talk," River told her seriously.

"Hey Elena," Ryder smiled shyly, "Are we still walking to class together?"

"Lena, can we talk please?" Shawn said quietly as he stared at her sadly.

Elena stared at them in horror, the truth behind Cory's words finally setting in.

"I'm crazy, am I?" Cory whispered to her with a smirk.

It didn't help that Ryder was standing right between Shawn and River.

"He really does look like Shawn and River had a baby together," She whined quietly.

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"Shawn, look, don't let what Topanga said bother you, okay?" Cory laughed, "I mean if I listened to everything Topanga told me..."

"You guys would still be together," Shawn pointed out for him as they walked into Jonathan's apartment.

Cory paused, seeing the truth to his words before he scoffed. "Then what are you listening to me for? Mr. Turner, see what you can do with this?"

Jonathan raised a brow at the mopey Shawn. "You wanna fill me in, Matthews?"

"Yeah. Dana Pruitt," He explained simply, And Shawn Hunter. Relationship trouble."

"Oh," Jonathan nodded in understanding.

Cory took a step closer to him and his voice dropped to a whisper. "Although, if you ask me I think this has less to do with Dana and more to do with Elena," He clapped his hands and called out, "Okay, now you're up to speed, my work here is done. Wish me luck, I'm going back out in the blizzard with one mitten. Godspeed to me."

"Hey, Shawn," Jonathan spoke softly as he sat down next to him, "You okay?"

"I really like Dana and I'm pretty sure she likes me but she's afraid to get involved with me."

"Ah, the Hunter reputation, huh?" Jonathan pursed his lips knowingly.

"I used to be so proud of who I was," Shawn sighed heavily.

"Wow, Shawn, the only thing you've ever worked on, it blows up in your face," Jonathan teased.

"I lost my other mitten now," Cory chuckled as he walked back into the apartment, "Isn't that something? Don't mind me, I'll just look."

"I mean what was I thinking asking out a girl like Dana Pruitt?" Shawn scoffed.

"Because you liked her and obviously she meant something to you," Jonathan mused, "Like maybe if you could date a nice girl like her then you could also have a shot with another girl?"

"Yeah, but what's the difference? I couldn't get Dana and there's no way Ele- other nice girls will go for me," He sighed, "I know exactly where I belong, back with all those fast, flashy girls."

"It was blue, fuzzy?" Cory asked them, hoping they'd have seen it.

"You know, Shawn, it seems to me the people you care most about in the world are not very fast and flashy," Jonathan nodded his head to Cory.

"Hey, look! It's the scarf of mine I lost last year," Cory held it up excitedly, "Yes!"

"You mean Cory, don't you?" Shawn asked as he smiled fondly at his best friend.

"You think?" Jonathan laughed, "You see this guy right here? This is your best relationship. You guys listen to each other and you really trust each other."

"And that's what girls are looking for?" Shawn finished for him unsurely.

"Yeah," He nodded with a proud smile, "Especially the nice ones."

"It's funny, Elena's the only girl that I've ever really listened to," Shawn mused.

"Now, you see, does she know that?" Jonathan raised a brow.

Shawn shrugged. "I could tell her."

"Do better," Jonathan said earnestly, "Show her."

"I had it the whole time!" Cory laughed when he noticed the mitten stuck to his coat, "You gotta love Velcro, huh?"

Shawn took a moment to think over Jonathan's words. He'd never really tried showing Elena that his feelings for her were real. All he'd ever done was tell her and scare away boys so they couldn't ask her out. He'd never done anything to show her that his feelings were real and not just some childish crush.

He smiled to himself as he started to think of a plan.

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"Why are you forcing me outside?" Elena complained as River dragged her outside of Chubbies, "You know it's freezing out there, right? And inside is warm."

He laughed and shook his head. "Well, there's just something I thought you'd want to see."

After her epiphany the other day at school, she'd broken things off with Ryder. Then River dragged her to the art room to talk to her about her feelings for Shawn and the two had a long talk about everything going on. And finally, Shawn joined her when River left to apologize.

"You mean frostbite?" She scoffed teasingly before she paused, "Shawn?"

"Hey, Lena," He waved stiffly, not being able to move much from the cold.

"What are you doing out here?" She huffed worriedly, "It's freezing! You're frozen!"

"I remembered that time you told me about that picnic you and your parents had when you were younger," He smiled warmly, "You always get so happy when you talk about it so I wanted to try and recreate it."

She paused in shock before a smile broke out on her face as she thought of the memory. It was one of the few times she could ever recall her parents not hating each other and actually having a good time together.

"Shawn," She breathed out as River nudged her to go join him, "That's so sweet."

Shawn smiled at her before he nodded to River. "Thanks, man."

"No problem," He smiled warmly at the two before he trailed back inside Chubbies.

River had been a great help to Shawn in setting the whole thing up and getting Elena there.

"So, uh, how's Ryder?" Shawn forced himself to ask with as big a smile as he could muster.

Elena frowned and shrugged sheepishly. "I broke up with him."

"O-oh. Well, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I was... I was dating him for the wrong reasons. It wasn't fair," She admitted as she played with her rings.

Shawn watched her for a moment before he grabbed her hand and smiled at her. "Well, either way, he was really lucky. You're a nice girl, Elena."

She smiled shyly and nodded slowly. "Thanks, Shawnie."

"No problem. I mean, you're like the nicest girl I know. Any guy would be lucky to have you," He admitted as he huddled into himself to keep from turning into an ice cube.

"You're freezing," She frowned and quickly nestled into him to keep him warm.

Shawn's eyes widened in shock before he stared down at her affectionately.

The two spent the rest of the night cuddled together, just talking and laughing.

"This was perfect. Thank you, Shawn," Elena smiled up at him fondly.

The two found themselves frozen as they stared into each other's eyes. After a beat of silence, Elena slowly started leaning up. Shawn's eyes widened when he noticed this and found himself forgetting how to even breathe at that moment.

Elena gasped in shock when she felt Shawn jump away from her and she stared at him with furrowed brows. She couldn't believe he'd pulled away from her when she'd been about to kiss him. He'd been waiting for a kiss from her since the first grade.

Shawn smiled at her sheepishly and held out a thermos. "Hot chocolate?"

He nervously opened the thermos and tried to pour the hot chocolate into a mug for her but it was so cold that the hot chocolate had turned into a frozen block.

"Shawn..." Elena trailed off questioningly as she stared at him in disbelief

"Hey, what's the rush, right?" He shrugged with a nervous chuckle.

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"Where have you been?"

"Oh, so you noticed that I was gone?" Elena scoffed as she continued walking towards her room.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Sofia demanded as she stormed after her.

Elena rolled her eyes as she sat down on her bed. "Don't you have better things to do than pretend you care about me? Or did you max out daddy's credit cards again?"

"Don't talk to me like that," Sofia growled as she glared at her, "I am your mother-"

At that, Elena chuckled snidely. "Happy has been more of a mother to me than you ever have! All you did was give birth to me but you have never been a mother to me."

Soon enough, the two found themselves in an intense screaming match.

"You think I want to be stuck here with you?!" Elena screamed as she squeezed her pillow tightly in frustration, "I hate it here! I hate you!"

Sofia stared at her blankly and rolled her eyes. "You don't mean that."

She scoffed as tears started falling down her cheeks. "How would you know? You don't know a thing about me. Because you don't care. You don't care about anyone but yourself."

"That is not true," Sofia bit out tightly as she lit a cigarette angrily.

"Yes, it is," Elena huffed as she glared at her mother through the tears, "I can't wait for you and dad to get a divorce so I don't have to stay with you anymore," She spit out.

Sofia chuckled haughtily. "Newsflash little girl, even if we get a divorce you're stuck with me."

"No, I'm not," Elena smiled, brushing away the tears, "Dad is doing everything to make sure you don't even get joint custody and he's going to win."

Sofia paused as she tried to process everything she'd just heard. She bit her lip anxiously as she tried to gauge whether or not her daughter was telling the truth or just taunting her. If it was the truth then Sofia was royally screwed.

"T-that's not true," She stuttered out and took a long puff of her cigarette to calm down.

"It is," Elena nodded and smiled, "And then we'll never have to see you again."

Sofia stared at her for a moment before she stormed out and slammed the door behind her.

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〚𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄〛

I hope you guys liked this chapter, I was really excited for it! Ryder was just meant to be a little funny side-joke like Russ from Friends. Anyway, things are starting to pick up between Shawn and Elena! What do you guys think is going to happen next?

Comment, comment, comment, please!

Have a great day and stay safe ♥♥