The next day of school Gwen stood in the hallway with her two best friends, the three of them trying to figure out what club they could join. "Football?" Shawn asked. 

"No, no. Pain. Cleats on face." Cory immediately replied to Shawn's question. 

"What about modern dance?" Gwen suggested.

"No." Cory shakes his head. "Lots of girls. Tights. No." Gwen chuckled and rolled her eyes.

Shawn tilts his head to the side. "Drama club?"

"No. A lot of guys. Tights. No." Cory responded.

"Hey, guys." Kamden greets as he walks over to the group. "What's up?"

"Hi, Kamden." Gwen smiles at him. "We're trying to help Cory find a club." She sighs, shaking her head. "So far, we have no luck."

"Got it." Kamden nods in understanding. He glances at Cory curiously. "How about art club?"

Cory immediately shakes his head. "No. Not talented enough to do anything with art and I don't have the patience for it. No."

"Thanks for trying, Kam." Gwen sent a thankful smile to Kamden, patting his shoulder. 

Kamden shrugs. "No problem." He smiles at the trio. "I'll see you guys in class, I gotta get my books from my locker." He then shared a smile with Gwen and waved at the trio before he walked away.

Gwen sighs heavily, looking at Cory sympathetically. "Look, Cor, you can't just say no to every club we suggest."

"Neve is right." Shawn nods, handing the list he held to Cory. "And that's the list, Cor."

"None of these are me, you guys." Cory frowns. "I mean, here I am, going into my eighth year of public education and who am I really?"

Shawn shrugs. "You're you, you're Cory Matthews."

"Yeah, but there's no Cory Matthews club on here." Cory points out. "There's no club for ordinary guys who don't know who they are and aren't great at anything."

Shawn smiles. "So, start one."

A sad expression forms on Cory's face. "Uh, I probably wouldn't get in."

Gwen chuckles lightly, patting his shoulder to comfort him. "Cor, if you're the founder of the club you would already be in it."

The bell rings, signaling for students to get to class. "Cory, come on. You got a lot of good qualities." Shawn tells Cory as the three best friends made their way to their first class. "Hey, you're honest, loyal, and decent."

"Housebroken, too." Cory adds. He frowns. "I'm a stinking beagle."

Gwen sympathetically smiles at Cory and follows her best friends into class. "Alright people, this just off the wire. Elections for next year's eighth grade class president will be held next week." Jonathan explained to the class.

Cory fake coughs, saying 'Who cares?' during the cough. Jonathan fakes coughed like Cory did, saying 'Detention!'.

"Sorry!" Cory spoke into a fake cough again.

"You people whine and moan about the way things run around here. Well, this is a chance to change things by getting involved. But remember, this is a student election." Jonathan explained.

The whole class speaks at the same time, "It's not a popularity contest."

"You know, I think we've been spending a little too much time together." Jonathan jokes. "The point is, your class president doesn't need to be a quarterback or a cheerleader. You'll be much better off with someone who's honest, loyal, and decent."

Gwen smiles over at Cory when her uncle said that. "Cory," Shawn said to Cory. "That's you."

Cory looks at him with furrowed eyebrows. "What?"

"You wanted to know who you were. You could be president." Shawn smiled.

"Come on." Cory scoffed.

"Alright, let's have some nominations." Jonathan spoke after he wrote the word 'nominations' on the chalkboard.

Gwen glances at Cory curiously, wondering if she should nominate him or not. Shawn pushes Cory's shoulder and sent him a questioning glance, silently asking if he can nominate him. Cory just shook his head in response.

A brunette-haired boy with glasses named Meese raises his hand. "I got somebody good." He smiles. "I nominate me."

"Your humility is impressive, Meese," Jonathan remarks. "But somebody else has to nominate you."

Meese glances at Topanga. "Topanga, how about it?"

"No, go away." Topanga immediately replies. "Don't look at me."

"Come on, Meese here has the guts to run." Jonathan said. "Someone should have the guts to nominate him."

"Alright, big deal." Cory rolls his eyes and raises his hand. "I'll nominate him."

Gwen and Shawn exchange a surprised glance before they both look at Cory. "What are you doing?" Shawn asks in disbelief. "That's your competition."

Cory turns to face him, shaking his head. "I'm not running."

Jonathan turns to face the class after writing down Meese's name on the chalkboard. "Anybody else?"

Gwen and Shawn share a glance, both knowing exactly what they were thinking. They were going to nominate Cory. They both nod and stand up at the same time. "The great state of Gwen and Shawn nominate the people's choice-Cory Matthews." Shawn declared.

Cory stands up, immediately yelling, "No!"

"No, he's not settling for second-rate leadership!" Shawn chimed in, making it seem like Cory yelling 'no' was planned and making it seem like Cory yelling 'no' was for this reason when in reality it was because Cory didn't want to be class president.

Jonathan points at Cory. "Matthews, you've been nominated. Do you accept?"

"No way!" Cory denied.

"No way would he turn down the chance to serve his fellow students." Shawn added.

Jonathan narrows his eyes at Shawn. "What are you, his handler?"

Shawn nods. "Yes, I am."

"No, he's not." Cory rolls his eyes. "Look, I don't know anything about being president. Okay, I wouldn't have a clue." He begins to go on a rant, walking towards the front of the class. Gwen and Shawn smirk at each other and fist bump because their plan worked and then they both sit back down. "I'm not somebody special, I'm just an average guy, like all of you, the simple, hard-working..." His voice trails off as he realizes what he was doing and realizing he was now standing in front of the class. He then figured he might as well continue with his speech he made up. "Students who struggle day after day with too much homework, unfair teachers, and an antiquated justice system that relies too much on detention."

 "And if elected, If I win, and you guys vote for me," Cory picks up the flag in the room as he yells. "I would say to each and every one of you, 'hey, thanks!'."

****

"You got something, man." Shawn comments. "You could really win this."

"Yeah, that was a real convincing speech." Gwen smiles. "I'm proud of you."

"Yeah, but guys, there are, like, four hundred kids in our grade." Cory reminds his best friends. "And I don't even know most of them."

"That's why we have to take your message from the lunchrooms to the bathrooms," Shawn said dramatically. "From the halls to the stalls. We have to tell everybody who you are!"

"Nice speech." Gwen commented, smiling at him with amusement.

Shawn grins at her. "Thanks."

"But I'm not anybody." Cory frowned.

Shawn nods and smiles at Cory. "Say it again!"

Cory stares him with confusion. "I'm not anybody."

"That's what they like." Shawn points out. "You're not some handsome, smart popular guy. You're not cool. You're not even-"

Upon noticing the sad look on Cory's face, Gwen puts her hand on Shawn's shoulder and grimaces. "Shawnie, just stop. You're not helping."

Shawn stops speaking, apologetically smiling at Cory. "Yeah, I'm with G." Cory said, pointing at Shawn as Gwen takes her hand off of Shawn's shoulder. "You're on my side, right?" Cory asked Shawn.

"There is no other side." Shawn tells him. With a smile on his face, he wraps his arm around Gwen's shoulders. "Gwen and I are gonna put together a campaign like this schools' never seen."

Gwen raises her eyebrows at him. She thought Shawn would've talked with her about doing something like that. "We are?"

Shawn nods, smiling brightly at her. "Yes, we are." He takes his arm off of Gwen, looking back at Cory as he continues. "An unstoppable tidal wave, gathering snow, blazing through the sky, crushing everything in its beak."

Cory and Gwen stare at him with amusement. Shawn was much more enthusiastic about this than Cory and Gwen are. "You're getting off on this, aren't you?" Cory asked Shawn.

Shawn nods and smiles widely. "I gotta say I am."

****

"This is Cory Matthews' campaign commercial, directed by me. and Gwen" Shawn introduces Cory's campaign to the video camera Gwen was using to record him the next day at school. "The following is paid for by citizens to elect Cory which so far, is me and Gwen.

Shawn gets out of camera frame, standing beside Gwen. "Action!" He yelled.

Gwen aims the video camera at Cory, who shook hands with other students. Shawn speaks as the narrator for the video. "Cory Matthews...Loyal...Honest...Decent...A leader who dares to say..."

Cory smiles and points at the camera. "Hey, I'm average." He walks over to Topanga and shakes her hand. "Why, hello there, young lady. And what do you think of me?"

"Hi, Cory." Topanga smiles. "Tell me how you plan to make this school a more effective institution for the entire student body."

"Well, that's a very-" Cory panics, looking at Shawn with a nervous expression. "Shawn!"

"Cut!" Shawn shouts and Gwen stops recording, lowering the video camera. "Topanga, could you just read what I wrote out for you?" Shawn asked Topanga.

Topanga glances at the cards she held, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, like I'm gonna say, 'Cory's cute and cuddly. That's what important to me as a girl.'"

Gwen looks at Shawn with an 'are you serious' expression and hits his shoulder to scold him. "What?" Shawn questioned, shrugging his shoulders. 

"This is not how I think." Topanga answered.

"Or how any girl thinks." Gwen added and Topanga nodded in agreement.

"And there's no 'm' in cuddly." Topanga told Shawn, showing him the cards he gave her. 

Gwen sighs, shaking her head as she glances at Shawn. "I'm telling you, I should've written the cards."

"There's nothing wrong with my cards." Shawn frowned.

"There's a lot of things wrong with them." Gwen argued.

"Topanga, please. Shawn knows what he's doing." Cory reassured Topanga.

"Actually, he has no idea what he's doing." Gwen chuckled.

"Yeah, I don't." Shawn agreed, earning a surprise look from Gwen and Cory. 

"Wow," Gwen comments. "I was just guessing 'cause it seemed like you were making up things as you went along." 

"Topanga's right. I should've been more sensitive to our female brothers." Shawn said and Gwen facepalms. "Tell you what." Shawn takes the cards from Topanga and rips them in half, throwing them on the floor. "These, these are gone." He points at Topanga. "I want you to say whatever you think needs to be said as a human being who happens to be female."

Smiling, Topanga nods. "Apology accepted."

"Before you start, could you wet your lips?" Shawn asked her, wincing slightly when Gwen hit his shoulder.

Topanga glares at him. "You are so sleazy!" She responded and then walked away.

"What?" Shawn calls out to her and then glances at Cory and Gwen with confusion. "What?"

****

"Okay, the idea here is that you and your brother share a common bond-brotherhood." Shawn said to Eric later that day at the Matthews' house. Gwen was recording Eric as Shawn speaks to him. "We want to show that to the voters." Shawn added.

"So, basically, you just want to see me being an older brother." Eric realized.

"But more of a nicer one and act like you actually love Cory." Gwen added.

"I think I can do that." Eric nodded.

"Okay, action!" Shawn exclaimed.

Gwen moves the camera over to the side door to show Cory walking in. "Hey, Cor!" Eric greeted him.

"Hey there, older brother." Cory smiled.

Gwen then turns the camera back on Eric as Cory walks over to him. "You know, Cor, I was just sitting here thinking," Eric wraps an arm around Cory's shoulders and smiles. "What makes my little brother special? What sets him apart from the other seventh grade candidates? Is it his allergy to scallops?"

The smile fell off of Cory's face. "Eric." He spoke in a warning voice, not wanting his brother to say anything else that would embarrass him on video.

Eric picks something up off a nearby shelf. He smiles at the camera. "Is it his Scooby-Doo thermos?"

A shocked expression forms on Cory's face. "Where'd you find that?"

"No. I think it's his fuzzy bunny pajamas with the cotton tail." Eric continued, grabbing fuzzy pajamas off the chair next to him and showed it to the camera. 

Cory looks at the camera nervously. "I haven't worn these for years. I swear."

Eric grins, clearly amused by embarrassing Cory. He makes the pajamas jump as he said, "Boingy, boingy, boingy, vote for me, vote for me, boingy, boingy, boingy." Cory tried to stand in front of Eric and hide the pajamas. 

"Cut!" Shawn shouted.

****

"Mr. Macgruder, I don't care to hear what your little brother tore up or what your dog ate." Mr. Feeny tells a boy as they walk down the steps into the hallway. Gwen and her best friends were nearby and happened to overhear their conversation. "I want your paper on my desk by first bell tomorrow or else."

The boy nods. "You'll give me an 'F'."

"I'll give you a 'G'. As in, 'Gee, if I'd just done my work on time, I wouldn't be the only 40-year-old in the seventh grade.'" Mr. Feeny remarks. "Ta ta." He then continued to walk down the hallway.

Gwen and Cory follow Shawn as he walks over to the boy. "He's not human." The boy sighed.

Shawn tilts his head to the side. "You want him gone?"

The boy furrows his eyebrows. "Can you do that?"

"Cory can." Shawn pointed at Cory.

"He can't-"

"He can't wait to help you." Shawn interrupts Gwen with a smile, causing Gwen to roll her eyes. "If he's elected, Feeny's gone."

"You can do that?" The boy asked in an unsure tone.

"If that's what you want, that's what Cory will do." Shawn pats his back and smiles. "Spread the word." 

The boy smiles, nodding as he walks away. "Shawn, I want to win, too," Cory said. "But in what part of your diseased mind does the eighth-grade class president get to fire the principal?"

 "Cor, Shawnie doesn't have a diseased mind." Gwen defends Shawn, missing the fond look Shawn sent her. She taps the side of Shawn's head. "Sometimes there's just nobody home up there."

Shawn shrugs and chuckles. "She's not wrong." He shakes his head, looking at Cory. "Cory, come on. It's just a campaign promise. It's what you say to get elected."

"But Shawnie, people will think that Cory can actually do that and if he gets elected they will expect him to do it." Gwen tells Shawn. She sighs. "When he can't do those things he promised, they'll be upset."

Shawn waves a dismissive hand. "I'm sure everything will be fine, Neve." He puts a hand on Cory's shoulder. "Now, repeat after me. 'Give the people what they want'."

"Yeah, but-"

Shawn moves Cory's mouth to force him to say the words. "Give the people what they want." 

Cory spoke the sentence Shawn wanted him to say as the trio started walking down the hallway. Gwen rolled her eyes and sighed, wondering why she was friends with them while she followed her best friends down the hallway.

The trio gets to the cafeteria, surprised to see a crowd of students surrounding Meese, who was standing on a chair and speaking to the crowd of students. "And if teachers get paid for teaching, then students should get paid for learning."

"Yeah!" The crowd shouted.

"And this homework thing, what is that about?" Meese continues. "If they can't teach enough during school hours, why is that our problem?"

"Yeah!" The crowd agreed.

"This guy may be cheesier than we are." Shawn noticed.

"Kamden," Gwen said to the blonde-haired boy when she noticed him standing in the back near where she and her two best friends were. He glances at her, smiles slightly and then walks over to her. "Question." Gwen tilts her head to the side, raising her eyebrows. "How much of a shot do you think Cory has with winning against Meese?"

"Honestly, I say he has a good shot." Kamden admitted, earning a smile from Cory.

"Thanks, Kamden." Cory said and Kamden nods as he smiles. A nervous expression forms on his face. "I still have no clue what to do. What do we do?"

"Just be yourself, Cor." Gwen smiled.

"We break out the heavy cheese." Shawn replied and stood on a chair.

Gwen sighs heavily, pointing at Shawn. "Or, I guess, we can do that. Yeah, whatever." Kamden chuckled lightly, patting her shoulder to comfort her.

"Let me tell you something, my friends." Shawn said to the crowd of students who turn to face him. "How can you believe anything this guy says? He's got straight A's. He's been making you look dumb for years. Can you really trust this, this curve breaker?"

Shawn then started a chant and soon everyone (besides Meese) was shouting 'curve breaker' and in the middle of the chant he got off the chair to stand by his best friends. Shawn stood by Cory, putting both hands on his shoulders and gently pushed Cory forward.

"Talk to them, Cory." Shawn suggests. "Tell them what they want to hear."

Gwen and Kamden glanced at Cory an encouraging expression, Gwen even gave him two thumbs up as the curly-haired boy stood on a chair.

"My fellow students," Cory speaking made the other students stop chanting and turn to face him. "There are many challenging issues which currently face John Adams High..."

Gwen glances over her shoulder when she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye, noticing Mr. Feeny and her uncle walking into the cafeteria. She exchanged a smile with her uncle when they locked eyes and then she turned her attention back to Cory as the curly-haired boy continued to speak.

"Issues that seemingly have no solutions." As Cory continues, the crowd of students didn't seem interested. They turn to each other and talk instead of listening to Cory speak. Some kids even left the cafeteria. "And I say there'd be fewer problems if we spent less time here." 

Gwen's eyes widen and she shared a surprised expression with Kamden. Neither one were expecting him to say the last part. But while Gwen and Kamden looked surprised and even shocked by what Cory said, Shawn looked at him proudly. What Cory said got the attention of the students who were left in the cafeteria because they all grew quiet and turned back to face him.

"I mean, what's the deal with this five-day school week?" Cory questions. "I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty much shot by Wednesday, so let's end the week there." He points at himself. "If I'm president, Thursdays and Fridays are part of the weekend."

As great as that sounded, Gwen knew that wasn't possible. Cory isn't allowed to do that and like she said earlier everyone will be upset when they find that out. But for now everyone else yelled 'yeah' out of excitement. 

"Mondays are optional!" Cory added with a grin on his face.

"Yeah!" The crowd of students cheered.

"Now, Tuesdays, come in prepared to learn." Cory smiled.

"Yeah!" The crowd of students shouted and clapped.

While grinning, Cory raises his arms. "We are the future!"

As everyone cheers and applauded for Cory, Kamden leans over to Gwen and whispers to her, "I think the power is going straight to his head."

"Oh, yeah. Definitely." Gwen agreed, worriedly looking at her curly-haired best friend. She was worried that Cory was liking the fact that everyone seemed to like him now. Like her uncle said, being the class president wasn't about the popularity and she feared that Cory already forgot about that.

Meese steps off the chair, walking over to Cory and glares at him. "Hey, you can't make five-day weekends."

"Yeah, well, you can't pay kids for going to school." Cory told him.

Meese looks at him with offense. "Are you questioning my integrity?"

"Yeah, we are." Shawn chimed in.

"Well, I question yours. And I have proof." Meese looks at everyone. "Nobody move."

Gwen grimaces while Meese walks away. "This isn't gonna be good." Kamden sighed and shook his head in agreement.

Cory looks at his friends with worry. "Guys, he doesn't have anything on us, does he?"

"He's really smart, Cor." Gwen replies, sympathetically smiling at him. "He could probably figure out ways to get that."

"No, it's a bluff." Shawn chuckles, waving a dismissive hand. "Gotta be."

Cory nods and gets off the chair. Shawn puts his hand on Cory's shoulder with a sheepish expression on his face. "Listen, man, a lot of weird stuff goes on in a trailer park."

"Voters and voterettes..." Meese said as he walks over to the group with a blonde-haired girl. The best friend trio and Kamden now stood in the middle of the half circle the crowd of students formed when Meese and the girl walks over to them. "This poor exploited young woman is named Paula. And she has a sordid story to tell." He puts a comforting hand on Paula's shoulder. "Go ahead, Paula. Tell them what you told me."

"I was in third grade with Shawn Hunter. One day, he and I were standing near the Monkey Bars and..." Paula starts to cry and looks down. "I can't go on."

"Go ahead, Paula. Be strong." Meese encouraged.

"Well, Shawn said that...That all girls...Were Icky!" Paula glared at Shawn as the crowd of students gasped, looking at Shawn with shock. Gwen remembered that day and while that was true she thought Paula was being way too overdramatic about this.

"Oh, c-come on." Shawn scoffs, looking nervously at everyone. "I never said that."

"You wrote it on my notebook." Paula shows her blue notebook to Shawn that he wrote on the front of it. And she was right, written in black Sharpie was 'all girls are icky'. "All...Girls...Are...Icky!"

"Give me a break. I was only eight!" Shawn defends himself. "I didn't like girls then." 

"And yet you were best friends with Gwen." Paula scoffed.

"Yeah, but one week when we were eight he did ignore me." Gwen admits, grimacing when she said that because some other students gasped and Shawn sends her a small glare. "Probably shouldn't have said that out loud." She apologetically smiled at Shawn, feeling bad because what she said made Shawn sound worse than Paula and Meese already made him out to be. 

"Okay, I may have didn't like girls then beside Gwen, and I may have ignored her for awhile," Shawn corrects himself. "But I don't ignore her and I love girls now."

Meese nods. "So, you changed your mind?"

"Of course." Shawn replied.

"Flip-flop." Meese told him.

"Flip-flop?" Gwen repeated, confused as to what he meant by that.

"What?" Shawn asked, looking at Meese with confusion.

"Flip-flop." Meese points at him. He glances at the crowd of students. "He changes his mind about girls. Who knows what he'll change his mind about next? Flip-flopper." He stepped on the chair, beginning to chant 'flip-flopper and the crowd joined him on chanting 'flip-flopper'.

Gwen puts a comforting hand on Shawn's arm upon seeing his sad expression and Shawn glances at her with a thankful smile since he was glad she was comforting him. "Wait a minute." Cory stands on a chair, gaining everyone's attention. They all stop chanting to listen to Cory. "Wait, wait." He gestures to Shawn. "Shawn's not even running here."

"But he represents you, doesn't he?" Meese inquired.

"I sure do." Shawn responded.

"Then Cory, are you prepared to drop out of the race?" Meese asked Cory with a smirk on his face.

"No!" Cory exclaimed.

"Are you prepared to drop your flip-flopping sexist campaign manager?" Meese asked, crossing his arms.

"All I want is justice." Paula confesses. She glares at Shawn. "Shawn has to go."

Gwen's eyes widen as everyone starts chanting 'shawn must go'. She looked at her friends with worry. This was not how all of this was supposed to go. Running for the class president was supposed to be a friendly competition, it wasn't supposed to get this difficult. 

"Guys, wait," Gwen speaks up, glancing at everyone with a frown as she moves to stand in front of Shawn. The chanting stopped when she speaks, all attention on her. "Is that necessary? Sure, Shawn made some mistakes," She chuckles softly. "And let's be honest, we all make mistakes. But 'cause he made some mistakes doesn't mean he needs to be kicked out." 

"You should go too." Paula tells her, causing Gwen to look at her with surprise. Paula glares at Gwen. "I mean, if you're on Shawn's side, then you're just as bad as he is."

Gwen looks at her with offense, feeling her hands by her side ball into fists because of the anger boiling in her. She was offended and angered because one, Paula insulted her, and two, Paula insulted Shawn. Noticing her hands were balled into fist and the glare Gwen sent Paula, Shawn put his hand over hers, stopping her from having her hand in a fist and intertwined their hands together in an attempt to calm her down. Luckily, it worked because Gwen relaxed, but Gwen was still glaring at Paula.

"Wait a minute." Cory gets off the chair and stands in front of his best friends. "Don't you guys want a president who's loyal to his friends one thousand percent?"

"No!" The crowd shouted.

"Really?" Cory stares at them with surprise. "That's what you want?"

"Yes!" The crowd replied.

Cory glances at Gwen and Shawn nervously. Gwen and Shawn look at him with surprise, them not believing that he was even thinking of dropping them. Cory smiles at the crowd nervously. "Then Shawn and Gwen are out!"

"I did not see that coming." Kamden commented, staring at Cory with shock. Gwen and Shawn glanced at each other with disbelief as everyone else cheered.

****

"How could you do this to us?" Shawn asked Cory. He, Gwen and Cory sat on one of the tables in the cafeteria that was now empty beside the three of them. Shawn sat between Gwen and Cory and Gwen had her head leaned on Shawn's shoulder.

"Did you hear them cheer?" Cory grins, causing Gwen to roll her eyes. "I think we picked up on a lot of girl votes." Cory looks at Shawn. "I mean, you said we were weak on girls."

"Kamden was right. All that power went to your head." Gwen commented.

"Wow, I can't believe i agree with Kamden for once." Shawn said with surprise. Shawn glares at Cory. "Cory, you fired us!"

"Well, yeah, just a little." Cory sheepishly smiled.

Gwen lifts her head off Shawn's shoulder, whining a bit since he moved to face Cory. Shawn shoots her an apologetic glance and moves closer to her so she can lay her head on his shoulder again. Gwen smiles at him and lays her head on his shoulder. Shawn smiles softly at her before he looks at Cory. He shakes his head, pointing at himself and Gwen. "No, no, it was all of us." 

Cory furrows his eyebrows. "But I had to. We're in this to win, right?"

"We?" Shawn questions, looking at Cory with a glare. "We?" He leans forward, causing Gwen to whine again as she sits up, looking at Cory with hurt in his eyes. "We?!" Gwen looked at Shawn with surprise when she heard his voice crack as he said the last 'we'. She never seen him this hurt and upset before. 

Cory was leaning backwards, eyes wide as he looks at Shawn with shock. "Shawn, you're squealing."

"Yeah, I'm squealing." Shawn nods, staring at Cory with upset expression. "That's the sound you make when your best friend takes a gun and stabs you in the back right in front of your eyes."

Gwen tilts her head to the side, furrowing her eyebrows. "That's not how the saying goes, Shawnie." She shakes her head, her lips forming into a frown. "But I get what you mean 'cause I feel the same way."

The boys move to sit the way they were so they weren't leaning anymore as Cory said, "I just did what you told me to. I gave the people what they wanted."

"Well, we want our campaign back." Shawn said, gesturing to himself and Gwen, who nodded in agreement.

"Since when was it your campaign?" Cory looked at him with confusion.

Shawn scoffs. "Only since we nominated you and told you what to say every step of the way."

Cory is quiet for a few moments before he nods. "Okay, you guys were helpful in the early going, and I'll never forget that."

"You fired us!" Shawn shouted, looking at Cory with disbelief.

"Shawn, Gwen, my friends, this is not a time for bitterness. This is a time for healing." Cory told them and Gwen rolled his eyes, having enough of his attitude.

"Alright, I really wanna punch you right now." Gwen confessed, glaring at Cory and raised her fist. Cory leaned away from her and looked nervous.

Shawn gets off the table, putting his hand on Gwen's arm to lower her hand and sends her a look that read 'don't do it'. Gwen sighs heavily and crosses her arms. Shawn turns to face Cory. "You know what, Cory Matthews?" He points at Cory. "If I met you just this minute, I wouldn't know who you are."

"Come on, Neve." Shawn said to Gwen, gesturing with a nod of his head towards the door to signal her they should leave.

Gwen nods, getting off the table and follows Shawn. But she stops, turning to face Cory with a frown and it was clear by the look in her eyes that she was hurt. "Cory, I never thought you would ditch me and Shawn. I thought you were much better that that. I hope you know you really did hurt us with what you did and I hope you realize the mistake you made." She walked over to the door of the cafeteria where Shawn was waiting for her.

"Yeah, okay, whatever." Cory scoffs. "I'm Cory Matthews, the next president of the eighth grade." 

"Not without us, pal." Shawn remarked, throwing an arm around Gwen's shoulders as the two of them walked down the hallway.

After school Gwen and Shawn had made a plan. And what was their plan you might ask? They decided on becoming co-presidents.

****

That night Gwen found herself sitting on the couch in her pjs, eating a bowl of vanilla ice cream and watching cartoons. After getting dumped from one of her best friends she just felt like crying and eating ice cream that night. She wasn't really in the mood for sleep although sleep is probably what she needed.

Ian had woken up because he could faintly hear the TV which confused him so he went to investigate why the TV was on. He didn't expect to see his daughter in the living room. "Gwenny? You're still up?" Ian questioned, surprised to see his daughter awake and eating ice cream at midnight. 

"Yeah." Gwen mumbles, keeping her eyes on the TV as she takes another bite of the ice cream. "Not tired."

"Okay." Ian nodded slowly and walked over to her, knowing something must be wrong if she was eating ice cream at midnight. He sat  beside her on the couch, noticing the dried tears on her face thanks to the light from the TV that illuminated her face. He frowns since that meant she had been crying and he hated it when his daughter was upset. He knew that she would most likely not outwardly say what's wrong so he decided to just make small talk until she said it herself. 

"So," Ian raises his eyebrows at her. "Ice cream for a late night snack, huh?"

"Yeah," Gwen looks at him pleadingly. "Don't tell mom, please."

Ian chuckles lightly. "I won't. Promise." He pretended to zip his lips and threw away an imaginary key, earning a small smile from Gwen. 

A comfortable silence fell between the two as they turn their attention to the TV. Gwen sighs, leaning forward to set the almost empty bowl of ice cream on the coffee table. "You know about the class election my class is having?" 

"I remember you telling me about it the other day." Ian nodded.

"Well, Cory is running up for president. Shawn and I were helping him, and one thing led to another. He got all greedy with power and fame, and then he dropped us," She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms with an upset expression on her face. "Just because that's what the people wanted."

Ian nods in realization. "Oh, okay. I get it. You're upset he fired you guys." 

"Exactly." Gwen nods. She throws her arms up out of frustration. "Shawn and I helped him out a lot with his campaign and then he threw us to the side like we don't mean anything to him."

"Well, it does sound like Cory let all power and fame go to his head." Ian said. "But if he really is yours and Shawn's best friend I think he will realize his mistake and apologize to you both." He smiles comfortingly at his daughter and puts a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure everything will work out. From what I've seen of you three, you guys have a strong bond that can't be broken. An eighth-grade class president election won't break you guys apart. I don't think anything will. And even if it did, I'm positive you would find a way to be friends again." Gwen smiled slightly at him and nodded, appreciating everything he said.

"I'm gonna go back to bed." Ian announces, picking up the remote to turn off the TV. He picks up the empty bowl of ice cream and then turns to face Gwen to kiss her forehead. Gwen smiles slightly at him. "You should go to bed too, Gwenny. Love you, Kiddo." 

"Love you too." Gwen called out to him as he walked to the kitchen to clean the bowl and put it in the dishwasher before he went back to his room.

Gwen sighs, looking at the floor as she thinks. She knew that her dad was right. He usually is right about most things. She didn't want her friendship with Cory to be ruin over some stupid class president election. She just hoped that Cory would apologize to her and Shawn because what he did to her and Shawn really did hurt her. She doesn't know if she could go on with their friendship if he didn't apologize for that. But she also doesn't know if she could go on any longer without being friends with Cory.

****

"You will return to your homerooms and cast your votes for eighth grade class president." Mr. Feeny said at the class election debate. "Now...The candidates." he puts his glasses on before he reads out loud the candidates. "Alvin W. Meese." Everyone cheers and applauds for him as he smiles and waves at everyone. "And Cory A. Matthews." Once again everyone cheered and applauded, but this time for Cory and it was much louder.

"Slim pickin's indeed." Mr. Feeny comments. "We will now hear opening statements."

Jonathan walks on stage from backstage, carrying another podium. "Slight change of plans, George." 

Mr. Feeny hits the podium he stood at since he was upset. "You said that I could be the moderator."

"Well, now there's even more to moderate." Jonathan nodded.

"Oh." Mr. Feeny voiced.

Jonathan sets the podium down by Meese. "Uh, technically, we never closed the nomination process. And so, as of just now, there's a new candidate for president."

"Oh good." Mr. Feeny smiles. "Perhaps a serious-minded student, appalled by the tawdry level of the campaign thus far."

Jonathan sheepishly smiles. "Shawn Hunter."

Mr. Feeny looks at him. "I quit."

Everyone applauses and cheers for Shawn as he walks on stage from backstage. Shawn smiles, waving at everyone. "How you doing? Vote for me. Vote for me."

Cory looks at Shawn with disbelief. "Shawn, what are you doing?"

"What I should've done in the first place." Shawn answers. "Run for president myself."

Cory glances at Mr. Feeny and Jonathan incredulously. "Can he do this?"

"Mr. turner, this is your little experiment in democracy." Mr. Feeny said to Jonathan, who now stood off to the side on the stage by Mr. Feeny. "Can he do this?"

Jonathan shrugs. "I don't see why not. Democracy is always invigorated by the infusion of fresh new ideas."

"Do you have any ideas, Mr. Hunter?" Mr. Feeny asked Shawn.

"Oh, yeah." Shawn grins. "Big honkin' ones."

"So," Meese faces Shawn. "Flip-flopper, call any girls 'icky' lately?"

Shawn points at him. "Thank you for bringing that up." He looks at the crowd. "Yes, I have made some mistakes in the past. I have called some girls 'icky'. But that was a long time ago...When I had cooties. That's right. I, Shawn Hunter, had cooties. But I fought my way back and I stand before you today cootie-free and girl-friendly. And to prove that, I'd like to introduce to you my co-candidate for president, Gwen Calloway." He smiled at Gwen and clapped along with everyone else as she walked on stage.

Shawn then gets a rose out of his back pocket and hands it to Gwen, causing her to smile softly at him and ignore the way her face heat up. She knew they had planned this, but still she thought it was sweet. "Awe, thanks, Shawnie. You're sweet."

Cory looks at Mr. Feeny with furrowed eyebrows. "Can he do this?"

Mr. Feeny looks at Jonathan. "Can he do this?"

Jonathan shrugs. "I don't see why not. Democracy is always-"

"Oh, be quiet." Mr. Feeny interrupts him. "How far are you willing to let this go?"

"I have faith in these students and the electoral process. And maybe just another minute." Jonathan responded.

"Shawn Hunter and Gwen Calloway are only in this race to just get back at me for firing them." Cory said.

Shawn scoffs. "And you're only in it because you didn't know who you were."

"Well, I know who I am now." Cory spoke.

Gwen raises her eyebrows at him. "Yeah, and who's that?" She rolls her eyes. "A boy who only wants and cares about fame and power?"

"No." Cory sassily said. He smiles. "I'm Cory Matthews, man of the people."

"Okay, man of the people, didn't you lie to the people?" Shawn asked.

Cory looks nervous as he said, "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you do you just don't want to admit it in front of the people you lied to." Gwen voiced.

"Didn't you make outrageous campaign promises you knew you couldn't possibly deliver?" Shawn continued.

"Yeah." Cory nods. "Only because you told me to."

Shawn scoffs. "If I told you to jump off a bridge, would you listen to me?"

Cory furrows his eyebrows. "Yeah, I did that one time. Don't you remember?"

Gwen cringes upon remembering that memory. She pats Shawn's arm. "Probably not the best argument to use, Shawnie."

Meese shakes his head, looking at the crowd of students. "How can you vote for a guy who's dumb enough to jump off a bridge?" Gwen looked at Meese with a glare, hating the fact he called Cory dumb.

"It was a miniature golf bridge." Shawn defends Cory, looking at Meese with a glare. "He jumped in to get my ball and don't call my friend 'dumb'."

"Yeah, there's no room in this campaign for name-calling, you four-eyed, frog-voiced geek." Cory told Meese.

"So back off and don't call my friend 'dumb' or any other rude name." Gwen chimed in, glaring at Meese.

Meese looks at Cory with offense. "My mother does not buy my clothes." 

The trio looks at him with raised eyebrows. "We didn't say anything along the lines of that." Gwen chuckled.

"I resign." Meese immediately said and ran away.

"Hey, nice outfit!" A boy from the crowd shouted at Meese and some laughter followed his comment.

 Mr. Feeny then gets everyone's attention by hitting a gravel (which is a mallet that Judge's use in court) on the podium. "Order. Order! This has all gone far enough. Go back to your classrooms and cast your votes for the remaining candidates. And may God have mercy on your souls."

As everyone stand up, Cory speaks. "Wait a minute, Mr. Feeny. Before they vote, shouldn't they hear what we have to say?"

"No!" Mr. Feeny answered.

"Look, I just want to say that before this election, I really didn't know who I was or what was important to me." Cory confesses. "But now, weeks later, after looking deeply into my soul..." A confused look forms on his face. "I still have no idea."

"I know less than he knows!" Shawn exclaimed and Gwen chuckled quietly at his sudden yell.

"Thank you, Mr. Lincoln, but wait your turn." Mr. Feeny said to Shawn.

"So I ran for president to find out who I was." Cory continues. "And what I think I'm finding out is that I'm not a good candidate..." He looks at Gwen and Shawn with an apologetic expression. "Or a good friend." He looks at the crowd. "So I withdraw from the race. And I think everyone here should vote for Shawn and Gwen." He smiles. "He and Gwen are the best friends that you could have."

Gwen was surprised Cory included her but she was also happy he did. She could tell Shawn was surprised by what Cory said as well and he even looked like he was in disbelief. He scoffs. "No, I'm not. I'm worse than you." He looks at the crowd. "I made up every lie he told. I've known Cory all my life and he really is honest, loyal, and decent." He glances back at Cory. "That's what you are, Cor. That's all you need to be."

"I agree." Gwen chimes in. "All you ever need to be is yourself 'cause your you." She smiles. "Cory Matthews. Honest, loyal, decent, and a great best friend."

After Gwen and Shawn exchange a glance, having a silent conversation with each other, they both nod and look at Mr. Feeny and Jonathan. "We withdraw from the race, too."

"Well, Mr. Feeny. We're all out." Cory noticed.

"Yes, well, I'm sure you'll do well in the private sector." Mr. Feeny remarked.

"But I wanted to be president." Gwen argues and she pouts. "I wanted to help make the school a better place and-"

"Neve, you wanna go to Chubbies?"

When she heard Shawn ask her that and saw him smiling at her with his hand outstretched for her to take, she couldn't help but give in. "Yeah, sure." Gwen shrugged, smiling as she took ahold of his hand and left with Shawn. This class president election didn't turn out how she thought it would but she didn't have a problem with it.

A/N you guys it was so hard to try to find a way to add kamden into this episode so i got some help from a friend & with that advise she gave me in mind i decided just to give him some small lines here & there like they do with some characters in the show. & you guys i love gwen's & her dad's relationship so much, it's so wholesome! gwen & shawn are so cute, i love them so much!