During school lunch, Zoey was in the cafeteria, sitting on one of the lunch tables beside Cory. Minkus decided to join them and stood beside the two of them.

"Hey, Cory." Shawn called as he walked into the cafeteria, holding a newspaper. "Brought you a great article on Barry Bonds."

Shawn handed Cory the newspaper, whilst he sat down beside Zoey.

"Ah, the $43-million man." Cory said, fascinated as he opened the newspaper and began to read it.

"Why do they call him that?" Minkus wondered.

Zoey raised her eyebrows at the nerd. "Why do you think, Minkus?"

"Because that's what he's getting paid to play baseball for six years." Shawn explained.

"$7.16 million a year?" Minkus questioned, surprised.

"If that's what it comes out to, yeah." Shawn responded with a small nod.

"He happens to be one of the top guys in baseball." Cory said.

"Well, I happen to think Mr. Feeny is one of the top guys in teaching and he makes about 40,000 a year." Minkus told the three of them.

"That stinks." Shawn commented.

"Finally, something we agree on." Minkus said.

Cory and Zoey nodded. "Yeah."

"Feeny ain't worth that kind of money." Shawn stated

"You thought I meant he was overpaid?" Minkus questioned. "I meant that Mr. Feeny is grossly and tragically underpaid."

"Minkus - May I call you Minkus? Does spelling ever change? No. Does History ever change? Uh-uh. Does Feeny ever change? Never. Know why? He doesn't have to. Know why? Cause nothing about teaching sixth grade ever changes." Cory explained to Minkus, confidently.

Minkus crossed his arms over his stomach. "Well, I think you're wrong."

"Well, I think I'm right." Cory stated. "I think in about five seconds, Feeny walks in here takes a sip from the drinking fountain flicks his mustache, goes to the coffee machine... sees me, and says, 'Good morning, Mr. Matthews. I trust you've done the homework'. Everyday the same thing. He's so predictable."

Five seconds later, Mr. Feeny walks into the cafeteria. Zoey watched as he approached the drinking fountain, and took a sip. Once he was done, he flicked his mustache before making his way to the coffee machine.

"Good morning, Mr. Matthews." Mr. Feeny greeted. "I trust you've done the homework."

"Yes, I did, sir." Cory said.

"But my little sister ate it." Both Mr. Feeny and Cory said in unison. Zoey snickered slightly.

"You are so predictable." Mr. Feeny told Cory.

••••

Back in Mr. Feeny's class, Zoey sat at her desk,. She let out a soft sigh as she listen to Mr. Feeny, while he was erasing the black board.

"This week in social studies... we'll be talking about prejudice." Mr. Feeny informed the class.

"Good, cause I'm prejudiced against the scungy food in the cafeteria." Cory spoke.

Everyone in the class laughed. Shawn outstretched his arm towards Cory, who gave him a high five. Zoey softly chuckled at the joke.

"We'll be discussing black slavery in the America South... the Jews in Nazi Germany and several examples of prejudice throughout history." Mr. Feeny informed as he handed the class books. "Tonight your assignment is to read the first thirty pages of that book."

"Aw, man, it's a book about some girl." Cory muttered as he looked at the blurb of the book.

The bell rung. The class all rose, gathered all their thing and began to walk out of the classroom.

"Mr. Matthews." Mr. Feeny called, motioning Cory over to him.

Cory turned to Shawn and Zoey, giving them a nod, telling the two of them to go without him. The brunette gathered her books and walked out of the classroom and into the hallway along with Shawn.

"What do you reckon they're talking about?" Zoey wondered.

Shawn shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know... probably nothing good."

••••

Next day at school, Zoey walked into Mr. Feeny's classroom and sat down at her desk. Her eyes slightly widened when she saw Mr. Feeny sitting in Cory's seat.

What was happening?

Zoey closed her eyes and shook her head a couple of times.

Was she dreaming?

Nope.

When she opened her eyes, she still saw Mr. Feeny. The brunette was extremely confused. She turned to Shawn, giving him a confused look. Shawn returned the look with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Now, I'm really in charge. You're not going to call the bet off if I do things a teensy bit different from the way you would?" Cory asked Mr. Feeny.

"We made a bet, Mr. Matthews." Mr. Feeny said. "It's your class. They are your minds to mold."

Shawn and Zoey both glanced at each other at the same time, confusion all over their expression.

"Cool." Cory said, before making his way to the front of the class. "Good morning, class. For the rest of the week I' going to be your Social Studies teacher."

"Mr. Feeny? What's going on?" Minkus asked, his voice sounding panicked.

"Don't ask me. He's the man in charge." Mr Feeny said, pointing at Cory.

"That's right, Minkus, my boy. Me." Cory said, spreading his arms out. Zoey smirked. "I'm your new teacher, and my name is...." Cory trailed off, as he walked to the black board and wrote 'Hey Dude'. "Hey Dude. That all right with you... George?"

"Mi clase es su clase." Mr. Feeny responded.

"And you guys know that rule about no baseball caps in class? History!" Cory announced, as he placed his red cap on.

"Yeah." Zoey breathed out, as her and the boys placed their caps on their heads, while Topanga raised her hand.

"Yeah, Topanga." Cory said.

"If we're going to eliminate the cap rule can we also discard the dress code in its entirety?" Topanga wondered.

"Why?" Cory questioned. "You're not thinking about showing up... like, naked tomorrow, are you?"

"No." Topanga responded. "Although I find nothing shameful about nudity. I was thinking about wearing garments from cultures more in tune with the goddess. A sari, perhaps, or a pareo."

"Yeah, fine. As long as you're covered up." Cory told her.

"People, people, people." Minkus spoke up. Zoey sighed and rolled her eyes at him. "Are we going to do our Social Studies work today?"

"Minkus, Minkus, Minkus." Zoey said, mocking him which caused Shawn to chuckle. "Shut up."

"Okay, guys, for homework tonight... read the first thirty pages in whatever that book was that George assigned us yesterday." Cory instructed the class.

"But that was the assignment last night." Minkus pointed out.

"Minkus!" Cory began, as he leaned on Minkus' desk. "Not long ago, I was a student myself... and I remember that sixth-graders don't always do their homework so this way, everyone gets a second chance."

"Excuse me, Mr. Hey Dude, but I did my homework." Minkus said.

"Minkus, get a life. That's your homework assignment. Get a life." Cory instructed.

And with that, Cory let everyone do their own thing. It felt like recess. Zoey was having a great time as she played poker with Shawn and Mr. Feeny, and whoever won the poker game, they get gum.

••••

Zoey couldn't wait to go to school the next day, knowing that she wouldn't being doing any work. When her and Shawn entered the classroom, Cory immediately approached the two of them.

"Look, you two have to help me get the class back under control." Cory told them.

"Hey, you're the one who let it get out of control." Shawn pointed out.

"Well, you're the one playing poker with Feeny." Cory said as Shawn and Zoey sat down their desks.

Shawn grabbed a deck of cards and shuffled them. "Lighten up, man. You're starting to sound like a teacher."

"Yeah, Cor." Zoey agreed. "Just relax."

The brunette pulled her game-boy out of her bag and began playing as she waited to play poker with Shawn and Mr. Feeny. Zoey sighed and placed her legs on top of her desk.

The bell rung.

Zoey looked around and noticed that Topanga was pushing her desk aside, before placing a pillow on the floor.

"Topanga, what are you doing?" Cory questioned.

"Moving my desk out of the way. I've decided I'd rather sit on a traditional yoga cushion." Topanga said, before sitting down on the pillow.

Zoey's eyes glanced over to Minkus, who was also pushing his desk aside.

Cory sighed. "Oh, come on, Minkus, don't tell me you want to sit on a yogurt cushion!"

"No." Minkus said, holding onto a red ball. "You told me to get a life. Now I'm going to be as fun as the next guy."

Zoey chuckled as Minkus began to jump up and down on the red ball. Cory's gazed over to her, noticing that she was playing on her game consol.

"Zoey, what are you doing?" Cory questioned, approaching her.

Zoey sighed. "I'm waiting for the poker game. So at the moment, I'm playing my game-boy." Cory sighed in frustration. "Look, Cory this is all you. You allowed us to do this."

"Okay, I know things got a little lose here yesterday but we're got a test day after tomorrow and it's time to get down to business." Cory informed the class. They simply ignored them. A few people in the class began throwing paper balls across the room. "Let's start on the roll call. Lawrence, Topanga."

"I'm channeling. I will only answer to the name..." Topanga trailed off, before she let out a growl.

"Okay, present but not all here." Cory stated, staring at Topanga like she was crazy. "Francis, Zoey." He called out, but Zoey ignored him. "Zoey!"

"Mr. Hey Dude, you've already seen me, which means I'm here." Zoey told him, raising her eyebrows.

"Hunter, Shawn." Cory called out. Shawn didn't responded. "Hunter, Shawn."

"Get out of my face." Shawn said, as Cory approached his desk, which had cards spread out across the table. "I'm stacking the deck."

"Hey. Where's Mr. Feeny? I mean, George." Cory asked, gesturing to the empty chair in front of Shawn.

"Hey, dude. Sorry I'm late." Mr. Feeny said as he walked into the classroom, wearing a Phillies jersey and a baseball cap. Zoey chuckled. "I was chilling with my homies."

Mr. Feeny sat on his table and faced Shawn, ready to play poker. Zoey placed her game-boy down and connected her table with Shawn, as the three of them started player poker. While Shawn was shuffling the deck, Zoey watched Cory walking up to the front of the class.

"Minkus, this is Social Studies." Cory told him as Minkus created a paper flamingo. "Stop making those paper turkeys."

"They're flamingos, and quit calling me Minkus." Minkus insisted. "You call everyone else by their first name... so start calling me Stuart."

"I see your Juicy Fruit... and I raise you a Chiclet." Mr. Feeny told Shawn, throwing the piece of candy in front of him.

Zoey looked up to see Cory slumped in the teacher's chair, looking lost. She didn't know what kind of bet Cory and Mr. Feeny had, but it was pretty clear who was winning and losing.

••••

During the next day at school, Zoey walked beside Shawn as they entered the classroom. Once they entered, the two of them pulled their desks together, creating a big desk. Than out of nowhere, Cory walks into the classroom, wearing a suit which looked ridiculous on him.

Shawn and Zoey chuckled.

"Hey, Mr. GQ. Nice neckwear." Shawn commented. Zoey wasn't paying attention to anything as she started playing cards with Shawn.

The bell rung, and Mr. Feeny entered the classroom, approached Shawn and Zoey's table.

"Hey, Dudes." Mr. Feeny greeted Shawn and Zoey. He stopped in a halt when he saw Cory. "Ooh, that suit. It's not cool."

Mr. Feeny sat on his desk and began playing with Shawn and Zoey. While the three of them continued playing, not paying attention to anything, Zoey noticed that Mr. Feeny had turned around to watch Cory talking about the book.

"Hey, George, this isn't gum. These are Rolaids." Shawn told him.

"Deal me out of this one, Mr. Hunter." Mr. Feeny said.

"What? Why?" Shawn asked, and in response Mr. Feeny turned to Cory.

"Okay. You win. I'm a crummy teacher, and I resign." Cory told Mr. Feeny, before he walked to the door. He stopped for a moment, before he turned to Shawn. "Hey, Shawn, before your mother got married... what was her name again?"

"Cordini." Shawn said, looking down at his cards.

"Cordini.." Cory repeated. "So, that would make you a wop, right?"

Everyone in the class stopped at what they were doing and turned to Cory. Zoey's eyes widened slightly and her mouth parted in shock.

"What did you call me?" Shawn quickly asked, looking down at his friend.

"You heard what I called you." Cory said.

Shawn turned to Mr. Feeny. "Did you hear what he called me?"

"I heard what he called you." Mr. Feeny said with a nod.

"What are you gonna do about it?" Shawn questioned.

"He's the teacher." Mr. Feeny told Shawn. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I'm gonna knock his head off!" Shawn shouted, pushing Cory towards the door.

"What if you couldn't?" Cory asked, raising his voice. "What if you couldn't do anything about it?"

"What?" Shawn questioned, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"What if you lived in a country where I could kill you just because of your mum's last name?" Cory told him.

"Cory, what are you talking about?" Shawn wondered.

"A fifteen-year- old girl is dead!" Cory exclaimed. Everyone, including Zoey watched as he approached the front of the class. "Doesn't anybody care."

Zoey sighed. "Cory..."

"She was real smart and totally cool. She wrote this book." Cory said, holding up the book that Mr. Feeny assigned them too. "Her name was Anne Frank. They say she died of typhus... but they killed her, because her name was Anne Frank. Anne Frank was a victim of antisemitism."

"Anti-Semitism." Mr. Feeny corrected.

"Thank you, Mr. Feeny." Cory said with a slight nod. He glanced at the class. "You have to read this book and you have to pass this test... not because of me... but because when someone calls someone else a bad name... it's not good that just that one person jumps up. We all have to jump. up."

Everyone continued to be silent as they all watched Cory holding the book.

"'In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart'." Cory said, quoting from the book.

••••

During the next couple of days at school, everyone took the test, including Shawn and Zoey. She was feeling really confident about it. She read the book.

After the test, Mr. Feeny had passed the test back to everyone. When Zoey got hers back, she had received an 'A' on her test. A small, but proud, smile had spread across her face.

_____________________
PUBLISHED: November 26, 2017
WORDS: 2494