"Okay, we're talking about The Grapes of Wrath," Jonathan said, holding the said book in his hands. He looks at the class. "Who can give us an overview of what we've read so far?"

Gwen looked at Cory with surprise when he raised his hand. Jonathan raises his eyebrows at Cory. "Muscle spasm, Matthews?"

"No, sir. I'd like to take a shot." Cory responded, lowering his arm.

"Okay, everybody, give him room." Jonathan voiced.

"Alright, I think the conclusion of the book shows the Joad's family been pretty much destroyed by the greedy farm bosses, but the author's telling us they still have their dignity, and they're going to fight on." Cory explained.

Gwen looks at him with a wide-eyed expression. Since when does Cory read an actual book? It seemed like she wasn't the only one surprised because as she looked at her uncle, she noticed he looked surprised as well.

"What just happened?" Jonathan asked.

"You're a disgrace to the entire back row." Shawn said to Cory.

Gwen reaches over to hit the back of his head, which causes him to wince and look at her with furrowed eyebrows. "That means you're calling me stupid, Shawnie." Shawn sends her an apologetic expression. "Sorry, G. Didn't mean to do that."

Gwen's lips forms into a smile when Shawn said that and she shakes her head. "It's okay. And he's not a disgrace." She looks at Cory with a smile. "Proud of you for actually reading a book."

Cory grins and glances at Shawn. "You hear that? She's proud of me." 

Shawn rolls his eyes playfully. "Yeah, whatever."

"Okay," Jonathan closes the book and gets off the desk he was sitting on so he was standing. "This story about migrant farmworkers in the 1930s shows us that powerful people will exploit the powerless until they organize and stand up for their rights." When Cory raises his hand again, Jonathan nods at him. "Yes."

"Yeah, the thing about the 1930s, will we have to know dates for the test?" Cory inquired.

"Well, the date is not as important as understanding the historical context of the whole struggle for worker's rights." Jonathan replied.

Shawn raises his hand, opening the book with his other hand. "Excuse me. What page is the historical context on?" Gwen rolled her eyes, not surprised that he asked that. 

"No, forget about the test." Jonathan responds. "I want you to learn about this book to add to your personal knowledge, not to just pass a test. I don't want to hear any more about the test." He furrowed his eyebrows with frustration when Cory raised his hand again. "What?"

"Uh, when is the test?" Cory questioned.

Jonathan shakes his head, looking annoyed. "What did I just say?"

"Okay, could I just ask one more question about the..." Upon seeing Jonathan's annoyed expression, Cory decides to use a different word than 'test'. "The written thing you put a grade on that tells our parents we're idiots? There won't be essays, will there?"

"Matthews, as long as you read the book and open your yap during class discussion, no test, okay?" Jonathan responds. "Now could we possibly return to what is important here?"

The bell rings, and the whole class shouts in response to Jonathan's question, "No test!"

****

"Alright, class. In The Grapes of Wrath, we see that the struggle to organize to get justice for the migrant farmworkers was long and difficult. Heads were broken, people were killed. A lot of blood." Jonathan explained.

"Sounds like Bingo night in my trailer park." Shawn remarked.

"Now, like the Joads, we also find ourselves in the middle of a little struggle." Jonathan begins to pass out papers to the class. "We don't want tests. We think we can learn the material without them. But the boss, or Mr. Feeny in this case, doesn't believe us. So what we've got to do is prove to the boss that we can learn this book without taking a test."

Cory nods. "Right."

"Right." Shawn nodded.

"And to prove that, we're just gonna answer a few questions on this piece of paper." Jonathan voiced.

Gwen knew this was going to backfire in some way. She takes the paper from the black-haired girl in front of her. "It's a test." Cory noticed when he was given the paper from the girl in front of him and handed the other paper to Shawn.

"No, don't think of it as a test." Jonathan shakes his head. "It's a survey."

"Survey says..."

Everyone else finishes Cory's sentence. "Test!"

Cory stands up, looking at the English teacher with a glare. "You gave us your word!"

Shawn stands up, setting the paper down on his desk. "I even read the book!"

Gwen gasps along with the rest of the class. Shawn nods. "Yeah, my head still hurts."

Having no tests might be a good thing, Gwen thought and stopped filling out the paper. "Weren't you the one who said 'no tests'?" Gwen asked her uncle, tilting her head to the side and raising her eyebrows at him.

"So why don't we just talk about the book like you said?" Cory questioned.

"Because I couldn't change the system overnight, Matthews. Come on, work with me here." Jonathan said.

"I'm not taking this test." Cory walked to the front of the classroom, handing his paper to him. He walked back to his seat, looking shocked, and Gwen didn't blame him. She was shocked that he did that.

Shawn looks at Cory with raised eyebrows. "You can do that?"

"I don't know." Cory replied, glancing at Jonathan.

Shawn walks forward, handing his paper to Jonathan. "Me neither."

Everyone followed in suit with handing their papers to Jonathan, besides Gwen, and sat back down in their seats. Gwen hesitated to turn her paper in, but she eventually walked up to her uncle, who looked at her with surprise as she laid her paper down on the tall stack that was in his hands. 

"Sorry, Mr. Turner." Gwen still found it weird to call her uncle that, but she had to in school. "Shawn has never read a book in his life," She shakes her head and chuckles. "I still can't believe he actually read one. But if this is what will get him to read more books, then I think this is a good idea."

Jonathan looks at his niece with a bit of surprise, not expecting her to go along with what everyone was doing. Gwen sits back down in her seat beside Shawn just as Mr. Feeny walks in. "Good morning, Mr. Turner." Jonathan glances at him as Mr. Feeny walks over to him. "Obviously, I was wrong. And your students were so prepared that they finished the test two minutes after the bell has rung."

"Let me grade them, and I'll get back to you." Jonathan told him.

"Well, that shouldn't take long," Mr. Feeny takes the stack of papers from him to look at them. "Considering that all these papers are blank."

Mr. Feeny hands Jonathan the papers back. "I guess that would kill the curve." Jonathan voiced.

"Do you mean to tell me that your students refuse to take the test?" Mr. Feeny inquired.

Jonathan nods. "That's the decision they seem to have made."

Mr. Feeny gestures him to follow as he walks over to the side of the room. After their talk, Mr. Feeny took the stack of papers from Jonathan. He walks over to stand in front of the classroom. "I realize that all you seventh-graders are delicate, adolescent flowers just beginning your high school blooming. And so I say this with utmost sensitivity. Take this test...Or die."

Gwen looks at him with surprise and sarcastically comments, "Very sensitive, Mr. Feeny."

Mr. Fenny walks over to Jonathan, handing the papers back to him. Cory then walks up to the front, facing the class. "Is this fair?"

"No!" Everyone shouted.

"Have we've been tricked?"

"Yes!"

"Take the test or die?"

"Die!"

"Then we die together, organized, like the people in the book should have done. The first student union!" Cory exclaimed. The whole class clapped and cheered.

Cory raises his arm, beginning to sing. "Look for the union label," Shawn gets up, following Cory as the curly-haired boy begins to march around the classroom with both boys singing. Shawn glances at Gwen and gestures with a nod of his head for her to follow them. Gwen sighs heavily, part of her not wanting to join the boys on their antics, but she stands up and joins them anyway. "If you are buying a coat, dress, or clothes."

The rest of the class joins them, marching out of the classroom as Cory and Shawn sing. "Our union's growing, our wages going to feed the kids..."

****

"What are we?" Cory yelled.

"Kings!" Everyone shouted in response.

"And don't forget Queens!" Gwen added.

Cory nods, pointing at her in a sign of agreement. He looks at the class that surrounds the table he's standing on in the cafeteria. "And what do Kings and Queens say?"

Everyone went to reply but stayed quiet when they realized they didn't know what to respond. From her place beside Shawn, Gwen looks at Cory with confusion. "Cor, what do we say?"

"We say no more macaroni." Cory answered.

"No more macaroni!" The class repeated.

"We want steak!" Cory exclaimed.

The class repeats him. "We want steak!"

"And what do we want with our steak?" Cory inquired.

Shawn raises his arm along with Cory, but he is the only one who shouts, "Macaroni!" He looked around with furrowed eyebrows when no one joins him. Gwen chuckled and looked at him with amusement.

Cory lowers his arm, looking at him with furrowed eyebrows. "No, we don't like macaroni."

"Oh!" Shawn lowered his arm with a sheepish expression on his face.

"And as a side dish to our steak...Lobster!" Cory shouted.

"Lobster!" The class repeated.

They all continued to keep on enthusiastically shouting things, but they all started to murmur with confusion, confused at what to say next. Then Gwen got an idea. She pulls out one of the chairs at the table Cory's standing at and stands on the chair. "Why stop with no tests? What about no homework, and how about we get more freedom?"

She smirks, raising her fist. "No homework, more freedom!" Cory and the rest of the class began to join in on her chanting.

Shawn smirked, looking at her with a proud expression. Gwen usually just joined his and Cory's rebellious acts to make sure they didn't do anything stupid, but she seemed to be enjoying it this time. He was beginning to think they were rubbing off on her.

The class grew quiet, turning to Mr. Feeny when he spoke in a megaphone he held. "Alright, this is your warden speaking. So you want to play rough with George Feeny? Fine. We'll take off the gloves."

"Uh-oh." Cory spoke.

Gwen cringes, lowering her arm. "This isn't good."

"The seventh-grade dance is hereby canceled." Mr. Feeny declared. The class began talking amongst themselves, all upset about this.

Shawn moves to stand in front of the class, looking at Mr. Feeny with a wide-eyed expression. "You can't do that."

"I can do whatever I want." Mr. Feeny points the megaphone in his direction. "I have the megaphone." He faces the class. "Here's a doozy. The entire football season..."

Shawn's shoulders drop in defeat. "Oh no."

"Cancelled." Mr. Feeny finished his sentence.

"But that means-"

Mr. Feeny lowers the megaphone, interrupting Shawn. "Yes, Mr. Hunter. No cheerleaders."

"No!" Shawn shouted dramatically with an upset expression on his face. He dropped to his knees, covering his face with his hands.

Gwen rolls her eyes at his antics, thinking he was being rather dramatic about this. She hops off the chair she is on, going over to stand beside him along with Cory. "Shawnie, this isn't a soap opera. Stop being so dramatic."

"Yeah, she's right. You gotta stop being dramatic, Shawn." Cory agrees. "It's a strike." He shrugs. "We have to make sacrifices."

"But he's taking my girls." Shawn cries. He turns to look at the curly-haired boy with a glare. "Why can't we just sacrifice you?"

"Now, I would prefer you go back to your classes and take the test, but being a reasonable hoe, I am willing to offer you a one-minute window of amnesty, beginning..." Shawn gets up as Mr. Feeny checks his watch. "Fifty-five seconds ago. You have five seconds."

As he began counting down, the class headed back to the classroom. When he got to three, Cory stopped everyone from going. "Wait a minute, everybody!" The class turns to face him. "He can't punish the seventh-grade class if there is no seventh-grade class. We're a union, remember? And I say starting right here, right now, our union is on strike. Let's go, everyone. We're walking out of school."

Cory marches to the cafeteria doors, singing, and Shawn joins him with marching to the doors, hesitantly followed by Gwen. "Look for the union label. Is anybody behind you, my Shawn?"

"I got to tell you, besides Gwen, there's no one with us." Shawn sings in the same rhythm Cory did. "We're all alone here. I'm gonna bail."

"Yeah, not gonna happen." Gwen sang, grabbing his arm to pull him back when he started walking away.

"Oh, yes, I am." Shawn continued trying to get away.

This time instead of Gwen just pulling him back, Cory grabbed his other arm to pull him back along with her. "Oh, no, no, no."

"Yes, yes, yes." Cory and Gwen sang, dragging Shawn out of the cafeteria.

The rest of the class walked back to the classroom with Jonathan and Mr. Feeny behind them in the hallway. "Mr. Turner, I now return you your students, sadder but wiser."

"What about my niece, Matthews, and Hunter?" Jonathan asked him.

"For those three, I shall have to go nuclear." Mr. Feeny replied.

Jonathan raises his eyebrows. "And that would mean?"

"I shall call their mommies." Mr. Feeny responded.

Jonathan nods. "Okay, but for Gwen, can you call her dad instead? Her mom is, well, how do I put this nicely?" He pretends to think for a few seconds before saying, "She's a jerk. And I know she would be tough on Gwen if she found out about this." he sighs, shaking his head. "I just don't want things to be anymore tough for her at home than they already are."

Mr. Feeny's face softens, and he nods. "Yes, of course. I'll call Mr. Calloway instead."

****

"How come there's nothing on the news about our walkout?" Cory questioned. He was now at home, sitting on the couch next to his two best friends. They were watching the news in hopes of seeing their walkout on tv.

"Why is every station covering that dumb missing bomb story?" Cory inquired.

Gwen shrugs. "Maybe 'cause that dumb missing bomb story is more important than our walk out?"

Shawn shakes his head. "Nah, that can't be it."

"Young men and young lady," The trio looks over when Mrs. Matthews speaks, and they see her and her husband walk into the living room. "We just got off the phone with your principal."

Mr. Matthews puts his hands on his hips as he stares at the trio a glare. "You held a strike over a test?"

"You walked out of school?" Mrs. Matthews added, disbelief laced in her voice.

"What were you possibly thinking?" Mr. Matthews asked them, raising his voice at the three kids.

"Well, for Shawn and me, thinking isn't our strong suit, dad." Cory replied, looking at him with a sheepish expression along with Shawn.

Mr. Matthews sighs. "I'm convinced." He looks at Gwen with disappointment. "Gwen, what were you thinking? You normally stop them from doing stupid things like this!"

"Yes, that's true, but they're my best friends. Part of me even wanted to be involved. It looked like fun, and I agreed with them." Gwen admits. She shrugs. "I mean, I never want to do that rebellious kind of stuff because I'm a good kid, and I know better," Mr. and Mrs. Matthews' faces softens as she speaks. They knew she was a good kid. They even hoped that maybe she would rub off on the boys. "But I just wanted to be rebellious for once because I wanted to. And I liked it."

"You know, maybe what we did wasn't smart," Shawn chimes in, turning to face the married couple and points at them. "But at least we stood up for our principles."

Mr. Matthews tilts his head to the side. "And what were your principles?"

Shawn is quiet for a few seconds, looking confused. "I remember something about macaroni." His eyes widen when he realizes something, and he grins. "Oh, and something about no homework, more freedom!"

Gwen chuckles at his sudden enthusiasm and smiled when he remembered what she said earlier that day. The doorbell rings just seconds later, and Mrs. Matthews sighs. She walks over to the door, hitting the back of Shawn's head when she walks by the couch. Shawn turns, so he was facing the tv with his back leaning against the back of the couch and had a sheepish expression on his face. "Thank you."

Gwen's eyes widened when she saw her uncle standing at the door after Mrs. Matthews opened the door. Her shoulders slump in defeat, and she groans, leaning her head on the back of the couch. "I'm in so much trouble."

"Yes?" Mrs. Matthews asked Jonathan, looking at him with furrowed eyebrows since she didn't know who he was.

"Mrs. Matthews, Mr. Matthews, I'm Jonathan Turner." Jonathan introduces himself. Although Gwen has been best friends with Cory for many years now, her uncle and his parents have never met. "I'm Cory's English teacher, and I'm Gwen's uncle."

Mrs. Matthews glances at the bike helmet he held with raised eyebrows. "You wear a helmet?"

"I fall off the desk a lot." Jonathan replied, and Gwen rolled her eyes at the lie he told. She understood why he didn't tell Cory's mom that he rides a motorcycle. Cory's mom probably wouldn't like the fact that her son's teacher rides a motorcycle.

"You want to talk to Hoffa and Costello?" Mr. Matthews questioned, gesturing with a nod to the trio on the couch.

"Yeah." Jonathan nods, walking further into the house while Mrs. Matthews closes the door. "I don't usually make house calls, but, uh, this all started in my classroom, so I thought I might step in and mediate."

"You're not going to bust their heads, are you?" Mr. Matthews inquired.

"No." Jonathan answered.

Mr. Matthews points at him. "'Cause I'm okay with that." Gwen looked at him with narrowed eyes, hoping he was joking, but it didn't look like he was.

The trio gets up and follows Jonathan into the kitchen. "Mr. Turner, all we did was read 'The Grapes of Wrath'." Cory explains. He sat at the kitchen table, taking a seat near the entrance to the living room while Gwen and Shawn sat across from each other. "And you know what we learned? You have to fight for your rights. That's why we went on strike. And that's why we're in trouble."

Shawn shakes his head, muttering, "That'll teach me to read a book."

"So I guess this is what happens when the little guys try to stand up to the bosses, huh?" Cory asked.

Jonathan shakes his head. "No, let me straighten you out, Matthews. You threw a hissy fit, and you walked out."

"We went on strike." Cory corrected him.

Jonathan walks over to stand by the kitchen table. "You didn't go on strike because you didn't have the one thing you need to go on strike. You know what you didn't have?"

Shawn nods. "Mob connections." Gwen rolls her eyes and kicks his leg under the table, earning a slight glare from the dark-haired boy as he winces. "Ow."

"A job," Jonathan tells the three kids. "You're just kids. You're in school. Your parents make your lunch. You're not a migrant farmworker picking grapes. You're just kids. You sleep on sheets with little dinosaurs."

"Rocketships." Cory corrected him in a quiet tone.

Jonathan sighs, shaking his head. "Look, I messed up, too. I should've taught you that you can only take action if you're prepared to take responsibility for those actions."

"Mr. Turner, put yourself in our position," Cory said. "If you had done to you what we had-"

"Been there, don't bother." Jonathan interrupts. "Look, you're just three kids playing way over their heads. Okay, now you can decide that you're still students and get back in school where you're sheltered and protected and abide by the rules that go with that."

"Or you can go into the real world," The trio looks to the entrance that leads to the living room as Mr. Matthews speaks. He walks into the kitchen with his wife. "And get an immediate test called 'Find a Job or Starve'. Now you want to take that test or his?"

The trio exchanged a glance before they each glanced at Jonathan. "They got us surrounded." Shawn noticed.

"You guys know what we have to do, right?" Gwen sighed, looking at her two best friends with a guilty expression.

Shawn nods and stands up. "We escape."

Cory grabs his arm, pulling him back down. "No escaping."

Gwen bites her lower lip, considering Shawn's idea since she wasn't looking forward to talking  to Mr. Feeny about this. "Are you sure?" She points at the door. "'Cause the door is right there. We can make a quick run for it." Shawn nodded and pointed at her in a sign of agreement.

Cory shakes his head. "As much as I want to escape, we all know we shouldn't." Gwen sighs anod nods in agreement. "We're going to have to talk to Mr. Feeny." Cory said.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Mrs. Matthews nodded.

"Face it, guys. Feeny's not going to go away." Jonathan tells the trio. "I mean, he's going to be all over your case. You turn around, he's going to be there." He turns around to prove his point, his eyes widening when he sees Mr. Feeny working outside next door to the Matthews. "Now that's scary." He looks at Mr. and Mrs. Matthews. "You know you got a principal living next door?"

Mrs. Matthews nods while Mr. Matthews shrugs. "It's not something we brag about."

Jonathan walks outside, Cory, Gwen, and Shawn following him. "George, you live next door to Matthews?" Jonathan asked Mr. Feeny.

"It's not something I brag about." Mr. Feeny replies. "What are you doing here, Mr. Turner?" He glances at Gwen before looking back at Jonathan. "Here to pick up your niece?"

"Yes." Jonathan nods, leaning on the fence as Mr. Feeny continues gardening. "And I was also here to talk to her and the boys. Turns out they have something to say to you."

"Look, Mr. Feeny, we got it all wrong because we read this book all the way to the beginning." Cory confessed.

Gwen points at Cory and Shawn. "They did. I read it the right way."

Mr. Feeny nods. "I'm not surprised. But I don't suppose you learned anything from it."

"Well, we learned you're supposed to fight back against what you think is unfair." Cory informed him.

Mr. Feeny folds his hands out in front of him. "And that's the parallel you drew from the Joad family?"

"They were out it the real world," Shawn responds. "They knew they had something big to fight for."

"And how do the Joads relate to you?" Mr. Feeny asked.

"They don't relate to us." Gwen shakes her head. "They're not kids, but we are."

Shawn nods. "We're not really out in the world yet."

"They had nothing to eat, nowhere to live." Cory added.

"All they knew was that they deserved a decent wage." Shawn voiced.

"We don't really know anything." Gwen spoke, shrugging her shoulders.

Shawn raises his index finger, dramatically quoting from the book. "'And wherever there's a guy who don't know nothin', I'll be there'."

Mr. Feeny nods and smiles slightly. "Well said."

"It's from the book." Shawn smiles, folding his hands in front of him. He shrugs. "I actually read it."

"I believe you did," Mr. Feeny says. "And I'll take that into consideration." He nods at the trio. "That'll be all. You can go." Together, the three best friends walked back into the kitchen.

A/N i added the part with turner & feeny just to let you guys know more about how gwen's relationship with her family is & kind of with feeny as well. we all know feeny has a soft spot for cory & shawn (& even eric) & he definitely has a soft spot for gwen as well :)