A/N: I don't know how to feel about this chapter but let me know.

Just last week, two girls named Jill and Mindy asked me to hang out with them. They were popular and pretty okay for the most part. They loved shopping and cheerleading which was okay, but they never really took interest in what I liked, but that's okay because I still hung out with Cory and Shawn.

"Yes," I tell Shawn as he held my hands.

"Say it again," he grinned.

"Yes, I'd love to go out with you," I giggle.

"Now say it with my name," he said, leaning his forehead against mine.

"Yes, Shawn, I'd love to go out with you...Shawn."

"Well, who's Shawn?" he asked.

"You are."

"I know."

"You're so cute," I tell him.

"You're cute," he said.

"You're cuter," I reply.

"You're the cutest," he replied.

"I know."

"Betty, come on," Jill called.

"That's my cue," I sigh. "I'll see you later?"

"Absolutely," Shawn said, pressing his lips against mine before I followed Jill.

***

At lunch an hour later-

"Joey's cute, but he's not that smart," Mindy ranted to Jill.

"I'd date Ross, I love the geeky hot character," Jill replied.

"Chandler is...okay. But Joey is...wow."
Both girls turn to me as Mindy asked, "Betty, what do you think?"

"Um, all the guys and girls in Friends are great, but-"

"But?" Jill asked.

"I don't know, I kind of like Jason Dean from Heathers."

"He's a psycho," Mindy replied.

"You just don't know his life story before he went to Westerburg. But I also like Dylan McKay from Beverly Hills, 90210."

Mindy rolled her eyes. "Of course you like the low-life boys."

"What's that suppose to mean?" I ask.

"You're dating Shawn Hunter," Jill answered.

"So?"

"So he's trash."

"Excuse me?" I ask, hoping she'd better watch her tone.

"Come on, you know it's true. He lives in a trailer park and his parents-"

"Just stop," I cut her off.

"You're so not meant to be," Mindy finished. "You're a straight A student, you live in a nice house and you've been awarded for good behavior last month. Shawn Hunter is the opposite of all of those things. You're just dragging him."

"Total opposites," Jill added. "They don't attract. As a matter of fact, he's probably going to be the one to drag you down."

"Which reminds me, being seen with trash is not good for the high school reputation."

"Dump him," they said in unison.

I felt my heart jump in my chest. "Why?" I ask.

"You want to hang around with us..." Mindy began.

"And get known and loved by everyone here..." Jill added.

"Ditch him and you can hang with us completely. You'll finally find your place."

I felt sadness fill me as I slump in my seat as I glance back at Cory and Shawn who were talking at a table nearby. Shawn smiled and waved at me. Sadly, I waved back.

I've waited so long to find my place in this school...was this worth it?

***

The next day at school, I wore the headband Mindy gave me instead of wearing my usual ponytail.

"Topanga, you wrote your biography on who?" Mr. Turner asked.

"Someone I really admire, Katie Couric," Topy answered.

"Oh, please," Cory said. "'I'm so perky, I have such a big smile.' She's a phony.
At least pick someone real."

"Okay, Cory, who are you picking?" Topy asked.

"Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise."

"Come on, Matthews," Mr. Turner said. "Real people. The assignment is biography, not fiction. Captain Kirk-"

Cory covered his ears. "La-la..."

"Captain Kirk is a made-up TV character."

"La-la-la-la..."

Topy poked at him. "It's the truth."

"No, it's not!" Cory exclaimed.

"Matthews, come on. The guy's 63 years old. He wears a tribble on his head," Mr. Turner said. "It doesn't have to be somebody famous. Just somebody real. Anybody you like."

"Anybody?" Cory asked.

"Anybody."

"Absolutely anybody?" Cory asked again.

"Absolutely anybody," Mr. Turner answered.

"I pick Shawn."

"I pick Cory," Shawn said.

"You know you walked right into that," Topy told Mr. Turner.

"I did, didn't I?" he questioned. "Betty, who are you writing yours on?"

"I-I don't know," I spoke for the first time.

"Are you okay?" Mr. Turner asked me quietly.

"I'm fine, just have a lot on my mind."

"Okay, my door's open if you want to talk."

I nod in response.

***

Later at lunch, Jill, Mindy and I walked into the cafeteria. When Shawn looked at me, He howled.

He got up and walked up to me, "Betts," he leaned closer to me, but I turned my head so he kissed my cheek. "Oh, nice hair," he said, pushing a strand of hair behind my ears. "It's too bad Friday's all the way at the end of the week, huh?"

I glanced at Mindy and Jill who were watching me before back at Shawn, "Yeah. Look, Shawn, about Friday..." I tried to hold back from crying in front of them. "I can't go out with you."

"I'm free Saturday too," Shawn replied.

I bit down on my bottom lip. "I can't Saturday or any day."

"Why not?" Shawn asked, sounding disappointed.

My chest began to hurt. "I just can't, okay?" I say, tears pricking at my eyes. "I'm sorry, Shawn." I stalked away, tears falling down my cheeks once I brushed past Shawn to go to the girl's bathroom.

***

3rd POV

Cory saw Shawn walk back to the table, disappointment etched in his expression. "What was that about?" he asked.

"I don't know. She just totally blew me off," Shawn said.

"Yeah, but yesterday she couldn't wait to go out with you. She always can't wait to go out with you."

"Doesn't make sense. Something's wrong. I know Betty."

"Look, just wait here," Cory stood up, he approached the girl's table as Shawn walked to a machine to hear every word they said. "Mindy. Listen, what's with Betty? Why'd she dump Shawn?"

"Come on, Cory, I think it's pretty obvious. You saw the way she react when she saw Shawn."

"But she was so happy with him yesterday. Betty has a problem with Shawn?" Cory asked.

"Only a lot. She said her and Shawn don't exactly belong to the same you know, circle."

"What do you mean 'circle'?" Cory questioned.

"Hello! His family, where they live, what they do. I mean, yuck! All she said was for Shawn to stay away from her, she doesn't want to see him anymore."

Shawn heard the last sentence and frowned. Betty Cooper, the girl he cared about and one of his best friend was dumping him? For the first time, Shawn felt...what's the word girls use all the time?

Oh yeah. Heartbroken.

"May I go, please?" Mindy spoke in a rude tone.

"Yeah, go," Cory replied. He knew something was wrong with his blonde best friend. She practically had stars in her eyes whenever she saw Shawn.

Shawn turned and Cory immediately saw the sad look in his eyes. "Hey, come on. What does she know, right?" he asked, referring to Mindy.

"I shouldn't have asked her out," Shawn said, thinking of the time he and Betty were secretly dating after they kissed.

"Oh, come on. We know Betty, let's ask her what's wrong-"

"She doesn't want to see me," Shawn cut Cory off. "What was I thinking? Like I had a shot at a girl like her."

"She doesn't know what she's talking about."

"Yeah?" Cory asked. "Look at where I live."

"You live in a great place," Cory told him.

"Cory, I live in a trailer park," Shawn stated, walking away.

"But what a trailer park. I mean, it's got all sorts of things. Like a pool-" Cory followed after him, grabbing his notebook from the table as he did so. "You know, when it rains."

***

Betty

After school, I ditched my homework and lied in bed with a tissue box near my head as I cried my eyes out.

"Betty, are you here?" I recognized Topy's voice coming up the stairs.

Oh man. Zack must've let her in. I quickly wiped my eyes, tossing the tissues to the side and covered my whole body and head with my blankets.

"Betty?" I ask hearing her voice enter my room. I pretended to snore, unfortunately it wasn't the believable because a second later, my blankets were tossed away from my head. "Come on, Betty. I know when you're not sleeping."

"Dang those sleepovers we had during the weekdays," I say, sitting up.

"Oh my God," Topy looked at my eyes. "Were you crying, Betty?"

"No, I wasn't," I lie, my voice cracking. "I'm terribly sick."

I look away so she couldn't see my eyes that were filled with tears. "You are crying, aren't you?"

I turn to look at her, my bottom lip trembling and my eyes pooling with tears. "Yes."

Topy hugged me immediately asking what was wrong. I told her a lie that had nothing to do with the girls or Shawn, it just felt nice to have a shoulder to cry on.

***

At school, I was walking to Mr. Turner's class when I hear Shawn tell Harley Keiner. "Hey, you got yourself a sitter."

I entered class, hoping they wouldn't notice me, but I stayed by the door.

"Hey, Shawn, why do you want to hang out with these guys?" Cory asked Shawn.

"What's wrong with that?" Shawn questioned.

"Listen, whatever your problem is, these aren't the guys to help you."

"So you think I have a problem?"

"Class starting, door shutting," Mr. Turner called for them. "Matthews, Hunter, this means get in."

"I think you're gonna have a problem if you hang out with guys like that,' Cory continued.

"They happen to be my kind of guys, okay? We're part of the same circle," Shawn replied.

Cory grabbed Shawn's arm. "Look, Shawn-"

"Cory let go," Shawn said before walking towards the exit.

"Hey!" Mr. Turner called. "Where's your friend going?"

"I wish I knew," Cory answered before noticing me.

I backed away and sat in the desk, closest to the corner, opposite from Cory's desk.

Oh my Gosh, I did this to Shawn, didn't I?

***

The next day, in the hall.

"Shawn! I've been looking all over for you," I heard Cory exclaim. Where have you been?"

"Nowhere, man," Shawn said.

"Come on, Shawn."

"Listen, I've been thinking. It's time we both faced the facts."

"The facts?" Cory questioned.

"Cory, you and I are different," Shawn answered. "Just like me and Betty, sooner or later, we're gonna end up in different places."

"Says who?" Cory asked.

"Why don't we just do us both a favor right now and call it quits, okay?"

As Shawn tried to walk away, Cory said, "What has gotten into you?"

"You just don't get it, do you?"

"Get what?!" Cory snapped.

"Look at your house, Cor. Look at where you live. Look at how I live. Look at your parents. Look at my parents. I know where I'm gonna end up. Just let me get there now," Shawn said.

"Shawn!"

"Just let me get there now!" Shawn yelled.

As Cory walked one way as did Shawn, I stared at the ground, walking.

But when I looked up, I almost ran into Shawn, but both of us stopped before we could. The air was tense as both of us had many things to say. Neither of us said anything, but as we tried to walk the opposite ways, we kept getting in each other's paths until finally, I walked past him.

I frowned to myself as I walked over to talk to Mindy amd Jill.

***

The next day-

I was waiting for Mindy and Jill outside of their class when Cory came over to me. "Hey, Betty."

I nod to him stiffly. "Cory."

I tried to walk away, but he followed. "Hey, hold on." I stopped. "Why did you break-up with Shawn? Why did you stop hanging around us? We're your friends."

"Because," I looked at clock in the hall to see we had five minutes until the bell rang. "Mindy and Jill are part of the crowd that's higher than the populars and then, just two weeks ago, they asked me to sit with them. I just felt like that'd be my moment to find my place in this school and not be a 7th grade no body. And once I did, I thought I could take you guys with me. But they said I'd have to dump Shawn to be with them and get what I want."

"Betty, Shawn was hurt by what you said to him and what Mindy said," Cory replied.

"What did Mindy say?" I ask.

"That you guys don't belong in the same circle. You want Shawn to stay away from you, that you don't want to see him anymore."

"No, I didn't say that. She put words in my mouth," I felt my anger boil. "Is there drain cleaner in the janitor's closet? I'm going to pull a Veronica Sawyer on Philadelphia's Heather Chandler."

Cory stopped me. "Hey, Shawn thinks he's going to end up like his parents and is going to do something stupid with Harley Keiner right now. But being with those snobs, was it worth losing your best friend?"

I paused, thinking it over just as the bell rang and Mindy with Jill came up to me. "There you are, we're going to the mall for new hair curlers." Mindy looked at Shawn. "And what are you doing talking to him?"

I look in between Cory and the girls. "He's my friend, Mindy. And I'm done with you monsters."

"Excuse me?" Jill questioned.

"You heard me. My best friends were not worth losing after realizing how horrible you two are," I say removing the headband from my hair.

"You wanted popularity and a place where you belonged. We helped you and we can take it away just as easy," Mindy said.

"Go ahead," I tell her. "I'm going back to my boys."

"You were done with that trash-"

"Done?!" I nearly yelled. "I love Shawn!" It had been the first time since I said that and no words can explain how good it felt to get it off my chest. "And if you call him trash one more time..." I trailed off. "Do not push me, Mindy because I will...push...back."

Finally, I tossed her back her hairband and pull out my hair tie to fix my hair back into it's usual style.

All the girls did was groan in disgust and walk away. Once I tightened my ponytail, I look to Cory. "I'm sorry for being a jerk," I tell him.

"It's okay and it's good to have you back," he smiled.

I wrapped Cory in a hug. "I missed you, Cor." I back up. "Now, let's go save Shawn from Harley."

***

Later, we found Shawn with Harley and Joey in the parking lot.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Cory asked.

"Cory, come on, get out of here," Shawn told him.

"It's not just Cory," I say, making myself known.  Shawn's eyes turned down when he saw me. "What are you guys doing?" I ask.

"Gee, Betty, shouldn't you be playing dolls with the rich girls?" Shawn remarked.

It still hurt to think that I caused him to do this, but I had to keep through with Cory's plan.

"Shawn, that looks like a bat," Cory pointed out.

And could that be Turner's bike?" I ask.

"Yeah, you're right! Now would you leave?" Shawn snapped.

"Nah, this kind of looks like fun," I smirk, tightening my ponytail. "Doesn't it, Cory?"

"Oh yeah. You're right, Betty. It does. Here, let me go first."

Cory grabbed the bat, but Shawn pulled on it. "Cory, let go."

"No, I'm gonna try it."

"You're not even supposed to be here."

"Yeah? Neither are you."

Shawn finally got a hold of the bat."Would you just let me do this?"

"If you're gonna do this, Shawn, then we're gonna do it," Cory answered, pointing to himself then me.

"This is not your place, okay?" Shawn replied.

"Are you saying we don't belong here?"

"Yeah. That's what I'm saying."

"If you belong here, then we belong here."

Harley cut in. "Hey, baboon, look, we got some business here. So I suggest that you walk away while your legs still bend only once."

This time, I spoke, "Listen, Keiner, this is between me, my best friend and the boy I love," I point to Shawn.

"The what?" Shawn asked. "The boy you what?"

"Hey, hold on, Cooper-" Joey began, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't touch me and get out of my face," I snap, glaring at him.

Joey backed away, removing his hand. "Okay."

"Yeah, you heard her, Keiner," Cory said. "So take your greasy head and your rat-faced thug and get away from my friends." Cory nervously giggled at Harley's expression.

"Oh, my. Oh, my, my, my," Harley walked closer to Cory.

"All right, Harley, you've got one punch, but you better make it good, 'cause chances are, it's gonna kill me."

"Think so."

Mr. Turner came out in time. "Hey, fellas. Hey, whew. Boy, thanks for lookin' out for my bike. From my window up there, it looked like some clowns were about to mess it up," he looked to Harley and Joey.

"Yeah, well, I'm just glad that we got here in time, you know?" Harley replied. "Come on, Joey, we've got some appointments.

"Hey, when he said 'rat-face,' was that, like, pejorative?" Joey asked Harley as they both walked away.

"All right, you three," Mr. Turner looked at all of us. "You wanna tell me what the problem is here?"

"No problem," Cory and I said.

"Everything's great," Shawn lied.

"Who you kiddin'? What's with you, Hunter? Why you wanna hang out with these lowlifes?" Mr. Turner asked Shawn.

"Maybe I'm a lowlife too, okay?"

"Is that what you think?"

"That's what everybody else thinks. My ex-girlfriend thinks that," Shawn replied, getting me to frown.

"I wanna know what you think," Mr. Turner said.

"Hey! I'm out here with a bat, aren't I?"

"Yeah!" Mr. Turner grabbed the bat. "But you didn't swing it."

"Just 'cause Betty and Cory came along."

"Oh, you think that was an accident? Huh? That you have a friend who thinks so much of you," he glanced at me. "And another friend who's willing to put his own neck on the line? No, I don't think lowlifes have friends like that. Do you?"

"I don't know," Shawn answered.

"They don't," I spoke.

"I don't know anything! I don't even know who I am!"

"Well, Shawn, I know who you are. You're Shawn Hunter! You were raised by wolves. You're my friend! It says so in your biography," Cory said.
"I mean, what else do you need to know?"

"I need to know what's gonna happen to me and neither of you can't tell me that."

"Hey, Hunter. All Matthews and Betty can do is be your friend," Mr. Turner said. "And so far, Matthews been doing a real good job. Betty told me she made a mistake and I can tell she's trying to fix that. All I can do is teach you whatever I can, and hope that you'll leave my class a little better than when you came in."

Shawn scoffed, "You mean, drag the trailer-park trash up to decent society?"

"Hey, if you don't know that deep down inside you're all right, then I haven't taught you anything at all."

Shawn didn't answer for a moment. "You think I'm all right?"

"I think you need to think you're all right."

"You think I'm all right?"

"I think if you put your mind to it and get back inside that school, and never never go near this Harley, or that Harley Yeah I think you'll be all right."

Shawn didn't say anything, but walked back in school.

"Mr. Turner, do you really think he's gonna be okay?" I ask.

"Sure," Mr. Turner smiled.

I went back inside, looking for Shawn. He was by the lockers, sitting on the floor. I sunk down next to him. "Shawn, I'm so sorry. I just-"

"Save it, I heard what Mindy said," Shawn had cut me off. "What you think of me."

"That's not true. I don't think of you in that way. I know who you are."

"Do you, Betty? Did you know after that you are the only girl who made me feel..." he trailed off.

"What?" I ask.

"Bad about myself."

"No, Shawny," I coo, scooting closer to him. "I never wanted you to feel that way."

"Betty, why did you say you didn't want to see me anymore?" he asked.

I jumped back into an explanation for what I told Cory, but a bit more detail about Jill and Mindy, ending with how I told them off.

"You were close to not being a 7th grade no body. Why did you stop?"

"I'd rather be a 7th grade no body with my real friends than a 7th grade somebody with no true friends at all," I answer. "And I love you."

"You said it was too soon."

"Because," I continued, standing up myself before helping up Shawn. "I was scared of loving someone who wasn't my mom or brother. But I'm not anymore after what happened. I just hope that you still feel the same. I'm sorry, Shawn."

I walked away towards the exit, but I heard Shawn, "Betty," I stop moving and turn to him as he walked up to me.

He cupped my face, pressing his lips to mine in a soft, loving kiss. I quickly shut my eyes, enjoying Shawn's embrace and comfort once more.

He pulled back, leaning his forehead against mine. "I love you."

I smiled. "I know."

***

Hi!

4 more episodes until season 2 is done.