At Cory's house, the three of us went out through the kitchen to see Mr. Matthews and Mrs. Matthews. "Dudes! Dudette! Where are you guys off to?" Mr. Matthews asked.

"We're gonna shoot some hoops," Cory answered.

"You want some actual competition?"

"Yeah. Who do you know?" Cory sassed.

Mr. Matthews stood up. "Can you be funny like that with a basketball stuck in your mouth?"

"Ooh. I'd like to see that," Shawn said.

"How much to see that?" I chuckled as Cory opened the door, all of us exiting, waiting for Mr. Matthews.

***

In Mr. Feeny's class-

"Thus, the transcontinental railroad spelled the end of the Pony Express," Mr. Feeny continued as Shawn passed me a note as did Archie on my right. "Mail service was faster, more reliable." Before I could read the note, Mr. Feeny already grabbed it along with grabbing the others. "Letters no longer had to be passed from hand to hand." He showed the notes. "These just in." He opened them. "Ms. Wilder wants to know what Ms. Harrington thinks she should wear to her party. Ms. Harrington wants to know what makes Ms. Wilder think she's even invited."

The redhead looked to the girl. "I'm not invited?"

"We'll just see, okay?" Melissa replied. 

"Ms. Cooper wants to know if Mr. Hunter has even been invited to the party." I hid my face in my arms on my desk.

Archie looked to our teacher. "Mr. Feeny, please..."

"Mr. Adams was curious to know if Ms. Cooper would use this party as another date," Mr. Feeny continued. Archie leaned forward, his forehead smacking onto his desk while I lifted my head up to look at him. When he saw me looking, I nod causing him to slightly smile. "Mr. Matthews wants to know 'Is this going to be a make-up party?'"

Melissa turned to him. "Well, sure, Cory. You can borrow my lip gloss."

Cory looked to Mr. Feeny. "Out! Not up!" I face palmed myself. "A make-out party."

"Ah, so it is," Mr. Feeny said. "Mr. Matthews wants to know if this is going to be a make-out party."

Shawn laughed. "Not for him."

***

After class, Cory complained, "I blew it. There's no way Melissa's gonna invite me to her party now."

"So Feeny cut you off at the knees. People will forget."

"Yeah. You'll get invited to the next party," I shrug.

"You think?"

"Totally."

"This is high school  too much going on to remember anything," Shawn adds.

Suddenly, Harley, Joe and Frankie came up to Cory, "Don't think I forgot about you, baboon," Harley said.

"We spoke too soon," I told Shawn.

"Don't think I forgot about last Tuesday, you sat in my chair in the cafeteria."

"I'm sorry, Harley. I didn't know it was your chair," Cory apologized.

"Everybody knows that's Harley's chair. Everybody knows it's always been Harley's chair and it's always gonna be Harley's chair every year that he's a senior. Ain't that right, Frankie?" Joey asked.

Frankie looked to him. "What are you sayin'? I like my sister?"

I tried not to show my smile to hold back a chuckle as Joey objected, "No, no! I'm not sayin' that. I'm just sayin' you have a very close family." He noticed Frankie walking away. "Hey, where ya goin'?" 

"I wanna call home," Frankie told him before continuing.

"Is he all right, Harley?" I ask.

"He's got a few issues," he told me. "I, on the other hand, have one issue," he looked to Cory. "And that's you, baboon. I don't like you. I look at your face and I wanna hit it." He looked to me. "Is that so wrong?"

I shrug, "Well..."

Two nerds walked down the hall, "So there I am, finals of the chess tournament, a mere three moves away from checkmate, and out of nowhere I swallow my rook."

"Pardon me. It's my 11 o'clock," Harley said before walking after them.

"You know, I almost wish he did kill me this time," Cory spoke once Harley was gone.

"How come?" Shawn asked.

"Then I wouldn't be here to be humiliated when I'm not invited to the party."

"You're sounding just a little bit whiney," I spoke.

"Betty, this is the first party of our high school lives. I mean, it'll divide our class into two groups-those who were invited, the cool guys, and those who weren't, the geeks."

"You're losin' it, Cory," Shawn told him as he walked to his locker.

"Yeah, I'm losing my whole future." I roll my eyes at Cory. "No one will talk to me ever again. I might as well grow a hump and find a tower and ring the bell."

"Don't worry, man," Shawn told him.
"There's always room on our couch for you."

"I thought your Uncle Frank was on the couch."

"No, not anymore. He won the lottery and stopped talking to us."

"What? What did he win?" I question.

"Six bucks." He looked behind Cory.  "Don't look now, but the Pony Express just pulled into town."

It was Melissa handing out invitations. "Oh, no! She's handing out the invitations," Cory gasped as she handed the other kids invitations. Cory tried to lean against the lockers, but Melissa handed him an invitation, skipping me and Shawn.

Cory looked to us, excited. "Guys, there's been a miracle!" 

"Yeah, whatever," Shawn said.

I roll my eyes. "Come on, let's go, nerd. We're gonna be late for class."

"Class?! We don't need no stinkin' class. Our futures are set. We are high-school gods," Cory cheered, doing a weird pose. "Come, let us repair to the gym and rejoice in our invitations."

"It's gonna be kinda hard, since I didn't get one," Shawn answers.

"What?"

"I didn't get one either," I say. "Looks like I have to cancel my date with Archie."

"Thank you God," Shawn muttered, but I heard him. I slapped his arm. "No biggie. We didn't get invited."

"There's gotta be a mistake," Cory said, You're the coolest guys in class, you've gotta be invited."

"Yeah, well, looks like I'm not."

"That's sweet, Cor. But we didn't get an invite," I shrug.

"I'm gonna find out what happened," Cory said.

"Let it go, okay? Just let it go," Shawn told him.

"You want me to ask her?"

"Yeah, would you?"

"Please," I add.

As Cory walked towards Melissa, I look to Shawn. "Oh man, what if it wasn't a mistake?"

"Relax, we'll figure it out," Shawn answered.

"How?"

"If we don't get invited, we'll just go grab a bite at Chubby's."

"We do that a lot though."

"Fine, we'll eat at Chubby's then go see a flick at the movies. Better?"

I nod. "Kind of," I answer, sitting on the bench.

"Come on, don't be upset, Betts," Shawn sat next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. "It'll be cool. Absolutely rad date."

I almost beamed at the word 'date', ready to reply, but Cory came over. I threw Shawn's arm off me, standing up. "Hey, Cory's back! So what's the story?" 

"Right, look. From what I gather, in the last three seconds everything in the world has changed," Cory answered.

"What do you mean?" Shawn asked.

"I'm not sure. I mean, You guys, you're much cooler than I am. At least, I thought you were."

"Trust me, I am."

"Then how come I got invited and you didn't?" 

"So we really didn't get invited?" I spoke, my mood slightly better after what Shawn said.

"Unless it's a big surprise party for you."

"Ha! I wish," I say, sitting down.

"I guess it's just one of those high-school mysteries," Shawn sat beside me. "Like how Janitor Bud lost his eye."

"Well, what are we gonna do?" Cory asked us.

"You're gonna go to the party."

"I'm not goin' to a party that you're neither of you are not invited to."

"Oh, don't sweat it, Cory. We'll go grab a burger at Chubbie's," Shawn said, standing up, swinging his arm around my shoulders again. And I feel butterflies.

"No, you won't."

And why not?" I ask. 

>Because I'm cool now, which means I run with a very influential crowd. Which means all I do is pick up this telephone," he walked over to the pay phone, picking it up. "Pull a few strings and get you invited to the party."

"Who are you gonna call?" me and Shawn asked.

"Well, normally I'd call you," Cory said.

***

Me and Shawn were planning hang out at Chubbie's, until some big group of kids invited us over, it was kind of odd how Melissa was here and not at her own party.

"Hey! Hey! Everybody!" I looked in the direction of Mr. Turner. "Hand in your homework, right now. Shawn, Betty, your friend's here." I looked at Cory, waving at him as Mr. Turner said. "Just kiddin' about the homework. Good night, everybody."

"Let's go say hi to Cory," I tell Shawn as we both stood up.

We went over to him, smiling at him, before either one of us could say anything, he spoke,"Don't worry about me. I'm just leaving."

"Why? I got an order of chili cheese fries. Extra gravy," Shawn said.

"And I just ordered milkshakes, you love getting those," I say.

"No, you're too busy with those other guys," Cory told us.

"What other guys?" Shawn asked.

"The other thousand guys at your table."

Me and Shawn glanced back at our table. "So they'll make room," Shawn replied.

"Shawn, they're gonna see you talking to me."

"So?" I ask.

"You know, you've been acting really weird since you got invited to this party," Shawn stated.

"Do you not wanna hang out with us anymore?" I ask, feeling somewhat offended and hurt if it was true. 

"I'm a geek!" Cory exclaimed causing everyone at our table to look at him. "Oh, like you didn't know?" he sassed. 

Shawn motioned to sit in an empty booth. "Cory, what are you talking about?" Shawn asked. 

"I'm the worst kind of geek. I'm a geek who didn't know he was a geek."

"Cory?"

"Yeah?"

"Do either of us hang out with geeks?" Shawn motioned to me, causing me to smile at them both.

"No. That's why I'm leaving."

As Cory stood, I snapped, "Cory, sit your butt back down. Come on. We're all best friends."

"You just gotta loosen up," Shawn adds.

"You don't think I'm a geek?" Cory questioned.

"Of course not," Shawn answered while I shook my head.

"You think I'm cool?"

"Of course not," I shook my head again to Shawn's answer.

"Then what am I?"

"You're Cory." Shawn nudges me. "She's Betty. I'm Shawn. Just like it's always been. What else do you need to know?"

Cory paused. "I need to know how to be cool, like you guys."

I laughed. "We're not cool."

"Yes, you are. Betts, look around you. I mean, this is the cool party. You and Shawn are the center of the cool party."

"This is the cool party?" Shawn questioned. 

"Yes."

Me and Shawn share a look. "Let's bail."

"What?"

"This place is a zoo. Let's get out of here," I add, standing up with Shawn.

"Oh, I got it. You're trying to teach me how to be cool."

Me and Shawn both asked,

"What?"

"Huh?"

"You're trying to show me that it doesn't matter where you go because if you're truly cool, wherever you go is the cool place to be," Cory said. "Right?"

Me and Shawn share another look while I chuckled,

"Cory?" I ask.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up," me and Shawn simultaneously say before walking towards the exit.

"A very cool thing to say," Cory grinned before following us.

***