❝The older I get, the smarter my father seems to get.❞

Tim Russert

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"So tomorrow's the big day, huh?" Shawn grinned excitedly at his best friend.

"Yep. Tomorrow morning, Cory Matthews turns 16 and mobile!" Cory exclaimed proudly.

"And I have worked out all the details for our big birthday road trip," Shawn bragged.

"And I redid the whole thing after he was done so we don't end up in Mexico," Elena snickered.

Shawn smiled down at her fondly as he nuzzled his head into her shoulder. "See, this is why we're perfect for each other. We work so good together."

"Well together," Elena and Topanga corrected at the same time and shared a smile.

"You can get your father's car tomorrow night, right?" Topanga asked Cory.

"Well, naturally. I'm 16, it's my right. He's probably filling up a tank for me, right now."

"This is a life landmark," Shawn proclaimed dramatically "This is the first Cory drive road trip. The point is, we are merely guests of the car, the wind, and destiny."

"No, no. The point is, a license says we are adults with cars who can see an R-rated movie."

Topanga rolled her eyes. "I'm not going with you guys to some R-rated movie."

"Van Damme takes his shirt off," Cory informed her immediately.

She basically had hearts in her eyes. "Awooga."

"I've seen it three times just for that," Elena admitted with a dreamy sigh.

Shawn frowned and pulled her closer to his chest. "What's so special about Van Damme?"

"Everything," Elena huffed, offended on behalf of the actor, "Even his name is pretty."

"I've got a pretty name," Shawn grumbled, "And a pretty face too!"

"Shawn, please don't turn this into another Leo thing," Elena sighed as she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, so now you're on a first-name basis with Dicaprio?" He scoffed heatedly.

"All right, lovebirds break it up," Cory chimed in before he turned to Topanga excitedly, "The best part is, we are seeing it in Atlantic City."

Her brows furrowed. "Why would we go to Atlantic City when we can see it right here?"

"Because we can!" Shawn answered earnestly and slammed his fist on the table for emphasis.

"Because we can go anywhere," Cory added, equally as intense and impassioned as his best friend, "Because tomorrow, I got wheels. I am free and independent. Tomorrow, I am a man!"

Just as he said that their waitress walked over. "Who got the clown burger?"

The clown burger was a favorite for the kids since it came topped with a mini party hat.

Cory's hand shot up before he smiled sheepishly, seeing the contradiction to his previous words.

"I collect the little hats," He defended as he plucked the hat off the burger eagerly.

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Cory had gotten his license! But that was about the only thing that had gone according to his plan. When he'd gone home to share the news with his family, Alan's mood had noticeably dampened. He'd gotten upset that Cory had gone with Elena, Shawn, and Topanga to get his license instead of with him. But he'd forced a smile even when Cory told him he wanted to go on his first drive with his friends instead of his father.

Alan had promised to give Cory the car once he finished a few quick errands. Those 'quick' errands took five hours. When he finally did come home, he told Cory he only had 45 minutes to hang out with his friends before he needed to come to Chubbies for his birthday dinner.

The Matthews family along with Shawn, Elena, and Topanga were currently at Chubbies. Cory's face had been in a permanent pout since they'd gotten there because of his fight with Alan.

Shawn leaned over to his best friend and whispered. "I don't want you to think that I'm not having a dandy time at Chubby's where we always went 'cause we could walk here but could we just do the cake thing and hit the open road?"

Topanga leaned over before he could answer. "Will you stop telling Cory to ditch his own birthday party?" She turned to Cory, "And you, put a smile on your face and behave yourself."

Elena leaned into their huddle. "Pass the ketchup."

She was clearly too focused on her french fries to pay attention to their conversation.

"What's the magic word," Topanga raised a brow as she held the ketchup bottle away from her.

Elena's brows furrowed and she tilted her head to the side. "Or else."

"That was two words but point taken," She nodded quickly and handed her the ketchup bottle.

"I think they can hear us, it's a small table," River whispered as he too leaned in.

This time Alan leaned in and whispered. "Guys, we rented the room. You don't have to whisper."

"Sorry, Dad," Cory smiled tightly, "Um, listen. Thank you guys for the party. It's really nice but there's this movie we're trying to make."

"What movie?" Alan asked dryly.

"101 Dalmatians," Cory answered, clearly having practiced the lie beforehand.

"Would you finally grow up?" Shawn scoffed, "We're going to see the new Van Damme movie."

Alan pursed his lips. "Aha, well, wouldn't that be an R-rated movie?"

"Dad, come on. I'm 16," Cory huffed exasperatedly, "I'm not a little kid anymore."

And once again, just as he said that the waitress came over with his kid's meal.

"Here's your clown burger. I told them it was your birthday so they threw in an extra hat."

"Whoo-hoo!" Cory cheered with child-like enthusiasm and threw his hand up.

Elena sighed. "Hand."

His hand came down but he once again cheered. "Whoo-hoo!"

"Grown-up voice," She reminded as she took a bite of her burger.

He cleared his throat. "Topanga, hello," His eyes widened in embarrassment at the slip-up.

Alan frowned in confusion and he looked to Elena for help. "Do I want to know?"

She shook her head. "You got bigger fish to fry."

Alan sighed. "Cory, I understand you're 16 and yet you have to be 17 to get in without an adult."

Cory stiffened his lips pressed into a line. "You really don't want to do anything at all, do you?"

"You want to sneak into an R-rated movie in another state?" Alan scoffed, "I'm not just gonna give you my blessing."

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," Cory snapped, his irritation getting the best of him now, "Dad, I wasn't asking for your blessing here. I just wanted to go somewhere with my friends."

"You think because you got a license, you can do whatever you want," Alan hissed.

"No, I just want to go somewhere with my friends. I don't care where I go, I just want to go," Cory spat heatedly as he threw his hands up in exasperation.

He paused for a moment and raised a brow. "I'll tell you what. You want to take a road trip? You wanna go off with your friends? That's the first adult decision you're gonna make?"

"Yeah."

Alan frowned before he fished the keys out of his pocket and slammed them on the table. "Fine. There you go, pal."

Cory stared at his father for a moment, the room filling with a tense silence before he grabbed the keys and stormed off. "Come on, let's go."

Shawn rushed after him, having been counting down the seconds to leave since he's sat down.

"Thank you for dinner, it was great," River smiled politely before he followed after the boys.

Meanwhile, Elena continued to munch on her burger as Topanga stood up and pondered whether to stay or go.

"I don't know," She whined, flustered, "I mean, a part of me knows I shouldn't get in that car with him but then there's the other side of me, which isn't sensible or mature at all, wants to get in that car with them and go, 'awooga'," The words came tumbling out of her mouth before she took a deep breath, "Thank you for your attention at this very difficult time."

With that, she turned to follow her boyfriend out of Chubbies.

By now, Elena had finally finished eating her burger and stood up. She paused as she thought of what to do before she walked up behind Alan and wrapped her arms around him in a quick hug. He patted her arm thankfully before she followed after her friends.

Just as she left, Eric walked over elaborately singing happy birthday as he held Cory's cake.

"It's his day, his day of birth! Yeah, that's right, his first day on earth! Happy burr-urr-irthday, yeah!" He sang and lowered the cake only to see Cory gone, "I missed something, didn't I?"

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"So here we are, on our own, driving down the open road. Just me, my Topanga, my Shalena, my good friend River," He grinned, "And a big full moon right behind us."

"Cory, those are headlights," River pointed out with a frown.

"Come around me. Come around me, please!" He begged when the cars behind him honked.

Shawn sighed. "Can you drive a little faster? Cause there's like 20 cars jammed up behind us."

"Shawn, I happen to be cruising at-" His easygoing smile dropped as his hands tightened on the steering wheel and he stiffened, "What's it say? I can't look down or we'll crash."

Topanga leaned over to check. "18 miles an hour."

"I'm up to 18," He stuttered nervously, "I hope this thing has airbags."

"Cory, if I threw myself out of the car right now I'd barely get a scratch on me," Elena huffed to emphasize just how slow he was driving, "I might even beat you to Atlantic City just walking."

"Cory, a bicycle just passed us," Shawn grumbled as he crossed his arms, annoyed and bored.

He waved his arm out the window frantically. "Come around me! Come around me please!"

"No. See it's already gon-it's already passed..." Shawn tried to explain before he threw his hands up tiredly, "Ah, never mind."

"Fine, fine," Cory sighed, still apprehensive,  "I'll go faster. How much farther to Atlantic city?"

"What's the difference? We're all gonna die here," Shawn sassed dejectedly.

This was nothing like the road trip he'd been imagining.

"Speaking of that, I think we should call your folks and let them know we're okay."

"Forget it. I'm not calling my dad, okay?" Cory snapped, clearly hating Topanga's innocent suggestion, "Kids have to call. That's just what my dad expects his little kid to do."

"Cory, I don't get it. You and your father have always gotten along great," Topanga frowned.

"Yeah, 'cause I've always been safe and dependable Cory. Well, tonight, a new Cory is born. Dark, wild Cory, built for speed," He smirked as his foot slowly pressed down on the gas, "24, 25, 26... Look at me. I'm breaking the law."

Just as he said that they heard the wail of a siren behind them with red and blue flashing lights.

"Well, we all saw that coming," Cory deadpanned as he pulled to the side.

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The five friends had been escorted to court for going one mile over the 25 mph speed limit. It was a speed trap. The officer who apprehended them told them they could avoid trial by paying a fine. A $200 fine. Cory refused to even think about paying since he'd only been one mile over the limit.

"I clocked the vehicle, your honor, traveling in excess of the posted speed limit."

Cory stood up from his seat and slammed his hands on the table. "One mile over!"

"The law is the law, boy," Judge Lamb said sternly, "And we obey the law in my courtroom, and if you speak out of turn again," He waved up a small nose, "I'll hang you."

Cory gasped in shock, his heart hammering. "You would hang me on my birthday?"

Judge Lamb put the noose away and leaned over his bench. "It's your birthday under oath?"

Cory nodded frantically and raised his right hand. "Under oath, your honor."

Judge Lamb hit his gavel against the bench. "You want a dog or a hat?"

Cory's brows furrowed. "What?"

"Hey, how about..." Judge Lamb pulled out a red long balloon and blew it up with the air tank next to his desk, "A sword?"

Cory turned to his friends with a questioning look but they were just as confused.

"Here have a sword," He held out the balloon sword as if it were a normal occurrence in court.

"Wow, cool," He breathed out and turned to Shawn with a grin, "Look what I got."

"Yeah, yeah, that's cool. Sidebar, your honor?" Judge Lamb nodded and Shawn quickly pulled Cory aside, "Cory, the first thing I learned on the street is that any judge who spontaneously makes you balloon toys will, at the end of the day, actually hang you," He cautioned.

"It's my sword and I'm not sharing it," Cory held the sword to his chest protectively.

"So what brings a freshly licensed 16-year-old kid from Philly all the way out here?" Judge Lamb asked as he leaned into his chair.

"Well, I wanted to drive. They said I could drive so I just drove," Cory explained, "But my dad refuses to accept that I'm not his little kid anymore. Y'know, he wants to keep me at home, watch games, play football. So I just got friends, got the keys, and drove. I feel I did right."

Topanga nervously walked to the judge's bench. "Your honor, sir, hi. Topanga Lawrence. Um, I just wanted to say I can pay Cory's fine if you'll just tell me where the nearest ATM is located."

Judge Lamb and Officer Dibble chuckled. "There's no ATM. You're in the middle of nowhere."

She frowned. "In that case, all I can say is that Cory is a very nice boy who never hurt anyone. And if you do anything to him on his first day of driving, then I just think you're a mean, mean-"

Judge Lamb hit his gavel down again, making Topanga jump. "...Dog or hat?"

Topanga's eyes lit up excitedly. "Can it be a purple dog?"

"You got it," He smiled and quickly made her a purple balloon dog, "There you go."

Elena walked up to the judge. "Okay, how about I just write you a cheque for the $200?"

Once again, Judge Lamb and Officer Dibble laughed. "What good is a cheque going to do me in the middle of nowhere?"

"Well, what good is $200 going to do you in the middle of nowhere?" She countered, "You going to use it to pay off your speeding ticket when you go over the limit by one mile?" She sassed.

Judge Lamb chuckled and pulled out a pink long balloon. "What am I making?"

"Queen crown please," Elena answered immediately with a giddy smile.

"There you go, your highness," Judge Lamb handed her the pink crown.

"Move peasants," Elena called as she strutted back to the courtroom gallery.

Just as she sat down, Alan Matthews walked into the courtroom quietly.

"Um, tell you what I'm gonna do, son. Gonna drop all the charges right now if you'll take this quarter and go to that phone there and call your dad and tell him you were wrong."

Cory thought it over for a second before he shook his head. "No."

"Cory," Shawn warned with a sigh.

"I'm sorry," He shrugged, "I don't believe I'm wrong."

"Well, I don't believe I'm wrong either, Cory," Alan finally spoke.

Cory stiffened and turned around with pursed lips. "You didn't have to come here, Dad."

"George Feeny told me you called. You should have called me," He said sternly.

"Why?" Cory scoffed as he crossed his arms, "So you could come to the rescue again? Prove once again what a little helpless kid I am?"

"Cory, you are my son," Alan snapped earnestly, "You'll always be my son, whether you're 6 or you're 60, and your problem is my problem. Now, I'm always gonna be there for you. Now, that is never gonna change."

"I just want you to treat me as someone who can handle his own problems, Dad," Cory burst out exasperatedly, "I want you to treat me like an adult."

Before they could argue any further, Judge Lamb hit his gavel. "All right, I've heard enough. This court is ready to pronounce sentence. Cory Matthews and Cory Matthews' father, approach the bench. I hereby sentence you to, uh, two years."

Cory's brows furrowed. "What?"

"Today is your sixteenth birthday, son. That means you have two more years of being a kid. Now I know that seems like hard labor when you have a license in your hand, but from what I can surmise of your home life, you're luckier, Cory, than most who appear before me. And you, dad. I sentence you to take those two years and cherish them because they go by too fast."

Alan nodded solemnly. "Yes, they do, don't they?"

Judge Lamb gave him a sympathetic smile. "It's a speed trap."

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After sorting out everything with the speed trap, the six had gone back to Chubbies to finish Cory's birthday dinner. Eric had once again sang his rendition of happy birthday and Cory had blown out the candles on his car cake. Everyone was now enjoying their slice of cake.

Well, almost. Cory and River were having a sword fight with their balloon swords from Judge Lamb. Eric was trying to steal Topanga's purple balloon dog. Morgan was bouncing off the walls on a sugar rush from the cake with Amy and Alan running after her to make sure she didn't break anything. Elena was taking bets from other diners on who would win the sword fight while Shawn kept score and narrated the battle.

Oh, and throughout all of this, Elena never once took off her queen crown.

Elena sat down at their table to count the bet money while Topanga continued to fight off Eric's attempt to steal her balloon dog.

"Elena," She called helplessly, hoping her friend would give her a hand.

Elena didn't so much as blink, acting as though she wasn't being called on.

Topanga huffed in annoyance and rolled her eyes. "Your highness," She deadpanned.

At that, Elena smiled and finally looked over at her friend. "Yes?"

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"I bet Dicaprio doesn't look this good in a balloon hat," Shawn scoffed as he put on the crown, "I think he'd look real stupid, nothing cute about him."

"Shawn, you don't have to be jealous of Leo," Elena sighed as she wiped off her eye makeup.

"Why are you still calling him Leo?" He grumbled, "It's not like you guys have been best friends for years. But you know who has been your best friend for years? Shawn Hunter," He said with a proud smile.

"And so has Cory Matthews," She countered with a teasing smile, "Besides, you have nothing to worry about. I mean if I really wanted to date Leo then I'd be with Jack Dawson instead of you. But I'm not."

His brows furrowed. "What's Jack Dawson have to do with anything?"

"Uh, you mean other than being basically a carbon copy of Leonardo Dicaprio?" She scoffed.

"I've seen the guy around school, he doesn't look anything like Dicaprio."

Elena stared at him in disbelief before she marched over to her desk and rummaged around until she found the yearbook from the previous school year. She flipped through the pages as she walked back to her boyfriend and shoved it towards his face with a proud 'ha!'.

Shawn grabbed the yearbook and looked at the picture of Jack Dawson she was pointing at. He tilted his head as he studied it for a moment before he shook his head. "Nah, don't see it."

Elena's face dropped and her mouth opened and closed in shock as she tried to figure out how he couldn't see the striking resemblance. "Shawn, they could basically be twins!"

For her sake, he took another glance at the photo but he just couldn't see how she'd think the two looked anything alike. "I'm sorry, babe, but I just don't see it. But what I do see is that you think this Dicaprio knockoff has the best smile," He frowned as he noticed the other doodles.

"He's not a knockoff!" She argued, "They could be the same person!"

"Yeah, yeah," Her boyfriend brushed her off as he studied the red marker drawings across the page, "So, Dawson gets 'best smile' and a kiss, River gets all these hearts and a crown, and all I get is a question mark?" He looked over at her, hurt clear as day on his face.

Elena paused as she looked down at the yearbook that was stained with red ink. Then she remembered that one night when Topanga had been over, the two had gone through the yearbook and doodled all across it.

"Well, I mean, I think Leo has such a pretty smile and since Jack looks exactly like him even if you can't see it," She scoffed, "And when the yearbook came out last year, I had a crush on River."

He nodded slowly. "Okay, but why the question mark and..." Shawn's squinted and brought the yearbook closer to read what she'd written on top of his picture, "You think I'm 'trouble'?"

Elena's eyes widened, knowing exactly how he was going to interpret that when he moved away from her. "No, Shawn, it's not like that."

"Then what is it like?" He snapped, feeling defensive as his thoughts swirled. To him, Elena had always been the one person who always saw him for more than everyone else did. And the prospect of that being taken away from him, that she thought he was nothing but a troubled trailer park kid too, made him feel sick to his stomach.

She sighed and grabbed his hands and held them tightly. "I was starting to see you differently-"

He scoffed and turned away from her heatedly. "Yeah, of course, you were! Just like everyone else eventually does," He hissed as he went to get his jacket so he could leave before the stinging he felt in his eyes could eventually turn into tears running down his cheeks.

"I was starting to like you!" She blurted out, hoping she hadn't woken up her father because she couldn't deal with that too right now, "You were always just Shawn, my best friend. No matter how many times you told me you loved me or that I was Mrs. Hunter, I never saw you as anything more than my friend."

Shawn froze in his tracks, slowly turning around to face her.

"And then I knew I liked River but I also had these new feelings for you that I didn't understand. I didn't know what to do with them...I thought they were trouble. Because if I really did like you as more than a friend then I was losing the best friend that I've had for years."

His brows furrowed and he took a step closer to her, his arms coming up to rub her shoulders comfortingly before he quietly spoke. "Lena, you're never going to lose your best friend."

"You don't know that!" She argued, her lips turning down into a frown, "You can't promise me that we're going to be together forever or even that if we ever break up we'd still be friends."

Shawn didn't say anything as a tense silence fell upon the room before he pulled her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her tightly. "You're right, I can't promise you that because I don't know what's going to happen years from now. I barely know what Feeny taught me in class today," He chuckled softly, "But I do know that I will do everything I can to make you happy. Whether I'm your boyfriend or just your best friend."

Elena pulled away from his chest slightly so she could smile up at him. The two stared into each other's eyes before their faces slowly inched closer and their lips met. The kiss didn't last long but it was enough to calm their nerves.

And soon enough they were sitting on Elena's bed, flipping through the yearbook.

"Hey, why'd you give Cory a mustache?" Shawn chuckled as he played with her hair.

"Because he was always complaining about not having any hair on his face so I decided to at least fix that for Yearbook Cory," Elena laughed as she nuzzled into her boyfriend's chest.

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〚𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄〛

Since the last scene brought up the school yearbook, I thought it'd be the perfect opportunity for a yearbook manip! And a great way to tell you guys that I decided to change Elena's BMW face claim to Victoria Justice.

When I got the idea to bring back Shawn being jealous of Leonardo Dicaprio, I remembered that Zack and Cody joke where no one thought Maddie looked like Sharpay. And then I decided to use that with Leonardo Dicaprio and his Titanic character Jack Dawson.

Eric singing happy birthday made me laugh so much. Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter! The yearbook scene turned a lot more serious than I'd originally planned but I think it ended up being cute. Also, I missed River so he's making a permanent comeback, what do you guys think?

I'm so excited for the next chapter since it's the episode Chick Like Me. What do you guys think/want to happen?

Please don't forget to vote and comment, comment, comment!

Have a great day and stay safe ♥♥