The More Things Change. (S1 E8)
Word Count: 4328
Series Masterlist
A/N: If anyone doesn't like the fact that the oc is black, go away.
TW: Racial slurs.
"Ah, the 43 million man." Cory smiled happily, taking a look at the article. Shawn pulled out a chair for me and took the seat next to me. I had my hair in two low pigtails with a braid crown. He had told me that I looked like an angel, that my hair was a halo. I was proud of my hair today.
"Why do they call him that?" Minkus asked, approaching the table.
"Because that's what he's getting paid to play baseball for six years." I muttered, taking out my battered copy of Red Dragon.
"7.6 million a year?" Minkus guffawed.
"If that's what it comes out to, yeah." Shawn said, before he started reading over my shoulder.
"You could calculate the value of a baseball card and yet you can't...Oh forget it. I'll save this conversation for when I have cake?" I mumbled before I continued reading. Shawn continued reading over my head shoulder.
"He happens to be one of the top guys in baseball." Cory nodded, continuing to read the article.
"Well, I happen to think Mr. Feeny is one of the top guys in teaching and he makes about 40 thousand a year." Minkus said and that's one of the few things I've ever and will openly agree to.
"That stinks." I look over at the blue eyed boy over my shoulder. He looks back at me with wide eyes.
"Finally. Something we agree on." Minkus nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. Feeny ain't worth that kind of money." I threw my head down onto the table. I felt someone pull my chair away from the table.
"Thank you, Cory." I mumbled with my head on my lap. He ran his hand over my back while they continued their conversation.
"You thought I meant he was overpaid? I meant that Mr. Feeny is grossly and tragically underpaid." Minus said and again I nodded in agreement.
"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."
"Yeah, instead year after year he has to deal with kids like you guys who don't listen." I kept my head down.
"Well, I think you're wrong." Minkus looks at the curly haired boy. Cory was definitely wrong.
"Well, I think l'm right. 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 us, asks Raven-Anniya about what books she just finished before he turns to me and says, "Good morning, Mr. Matthews. "I trust you've done the homework". Every day, the same thing. He's so predictable." Cory stated just as our teacher walked into the cafeteria. We watched the older man do just as Cory described.
"Good morning, Mr. Matthews. I trust you've done the homework." He says, just as Cory said he would.
"Yes, I did, sir." The curly haired brunette said. He wasn't genuine but to the untrained eye he may've been sincere.
"But my little sister ate it." They said together before Mr. Feeny walked away saying something along the lines of "You are so predictable." I had to agree and because I knew he was so predictable I knew that this was going to end up with a lesson for them. I just wonder how much I'm going to have to pay for.
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I had spent the better part of my day contemplating just how much of a mess this'll turn into. Cory has no clue what it took to be a teacher so how was he going to learn a lesson?
"This Week in Social Studies we'll be talking about prejudice."
"Good, 'cause I'm prejudiced against the scungy food in the cafeteria." Cory joked, which caused the class to fall into a fit of laughter.
"Then why do you keep eating it?" I asked. Nobody answered.
"We will be discussing black slavery in the American South," The kids all looked to me. "The Jews in nazi Germany and several examples of prejudice throughout history. Tonight your assignment... is to read the first pages of that book." Mr. Feeny said as he handed us the book. The Diary of Anne Frank. This book was amazing. I'd read it years ago and cried.
"Aw, man, it's a book about some girl." And there it was! Cory's definitely done it now!
"Maybe it's time to veer away from picture books Cory?" I looked over at him as he glared at me.
"Rave? I'll take your book suggestions seriously when Storm becomes Shawn's favourite X-Men character." Oh, please.
"Who's your favourite X-Men, Shawnie?"
"The one who kind of looks like your mom.She's cool." Shawn answered absentmindedly, looking over the book he'd just been given.
I turned to Cory with a smug look on my face. "If you're not going to read it because it's about a girl, that's on you. Good to know that you wouldn't want to hear about the experiences of people who don't look like you." I mumbled the last part to myself.
Just as Cory was about to respond, the bell rang and we all started packing our things. I made sure to put my copy of the book in my bag. I heard Mr. Feeny call Cory to stay back, but Shawn had already taken my hand and started pulling me out of the school.
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"So, Sunshine," Shawn said as I took a seat on the swing. "I have something for you." He looked straight ahead, refusing to make eye contact.
"You do?" Shawn had gotten me another gift?
"Yeah. It's ummm not much but..." He pulled a little book out of his bag, but it wasn't a regular one. It looked homemade. When I opened it I came face to face with pictures of me, of us, over the years. From my first day at school together, my mom must've taken them from my dance recitals and our Halloweens. On the very last page written in Shawn's handwriting "Happy 11th Birthday, Raven-Anniya!" And just underneath it, "Shawn P. Hunter & Cory Matthews"
"Thank you, Shawnie." I rested my hand on his shoulder. "You know my birthday was over a month ago, right?" I laughed.
He chuckled. "Yeah. But I wanted to wait for Cory to finish the book before I can give it to you." He rested his head on mine.
"So...social studies is going to be hard for you. If you need me to-" Shawn started but I stopped him.
"It's okay, Shawnie. Most of the kids in our class don't know any non-white people outside of school. You remember when Cory got his hair straightened?" Shawn nodded. "Well the girls he thought were making fun of him for his curly hair, were actually making fun of Dwayne Friedrick talking about why they wouldn't invite people like him to their stupid party. Making fun of his naturally curly hair because they could." I rolled my eyes, my mood suddenly sour.
"Those girls are just dumb then." Shawn put his hand on my head.
"But there are more people like them. People who will do more than not invite me to a party." I could see the confusion flash behind his eyes but I didn't want to tell him about it. He was still young. And this was nothing he'd have to experience but I don't want him to be as ignorant as the people I was talking about.
"You'd...you'd tell me if they..." He started but he stopped. I knew what he was talking about.
"Maybe." I answered honestly. He looked kinda hurt. "Sometimes Shawnie, you can't fix things. Not things like this."
"But I want to. I want to be able to help. For you." He rested his forehead against mine.
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"Raven!" I heard Jazmyne call me from downstairs. I went down to see her trying to balance boxes worth of school supplies in her hand. "Little help, please?" I quickly grabbed the smaller boxes.
"What's all this stuff for?" I asked, noticing half the random stuff in the box.
"I'm doing a project with my friends Linda, Tamara and Eric." She answered before unloading the boxes up in her room. "It's a multicultural thing."
"Cool."
"Yeah, so if you need me for anything, just call the Matthews house. Especially if Mom has a work thing." She concluded before she started working on the assignment.
"Okay." I nodded before going to my room. My ballet class was canceled today but my teacher said we should practice our routine. The calming music contrasted with the sharp moments, I tried to correct my movements using my shadow but it's easier to have someone else tell you what you need to fix.
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"Good morning, class. For the rest of the week I'm going to be your Social Studies teacher." Cory said the second I walked into the classroom. I froze in the doorway.
"Mr. Feeny? What's going on?" I asked, slowly took my seat beside Shawn and now diagonal from Mr. Feeny.
"Don't ask me. He's the man in charge." Mr. Feeny pointed to Cory and I groaned. This is going to suck!
"That's right, Raven, my friend. Me. I'm your new teacher, and my name is... Hey... Dude. That all right with you... George?" He wrote on the board.
"Mi clase es su clase." Mr. Feeny said, leaning back in the seat.
"And you guys know that rule about no baseball caps in class? History!" I watched as the boys in the class excitedly put their caps on. Topanga put her hand up, causing Cory to roll his eyes. "Yeah! Yeah, Topanga."
"If we're going to eliminate the cap rule can we also discard the dress code in its entirety?" I saw Cory's eyes widen fearfully.
"Why? You're not thinking about showing up... like, naked tomorrow, are you?" He asked her suspiciously.
"No. 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." She said assertively.
"Because nothing says cultural sensitivity like a white girl dressed in cultural garb she doesn't understand." I mumble to myself.
"Yeah, fine. As long as you're covered up."
"No, not fine! She can't just come to school dressed in someone's culture." I spoke up, staring at Cory only to realize the rest of the class had turned to stare at me.
"I just want to express my appreciation for their cultural beauty." She pouted but I didn't care.
"Do you even know the names of the goddesses you're planning on emulating? If you can't name them, say who they are and why they're prayed to, you shouldn't get to play dress up with something you don't understand." I slumped in my seat.
"People, people, people. Are we going to do our Social Studies work today?" Minkus called attention to himself.
"Minkus, Minkus, Minkus. Shut up." Shawn mocked.
"OK, guys, for homework tonight... read the first pages in Whatever that book was that George assigned us yesterday."
"The Diary of Anne Frank, you doofus." I muttered.
"But that was the assignment last night."
"Minkus! 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 and I'm sure my Raven Beauty did too." Minkus bragged. That caused Cory to snap.
"Minkus, get a life. That's your homework assignment. Get a life." Cory exclaimed before the class erupted into complete chaos. I just sat back and continued reading Red Dragon.
It was sad that nobody was taking anything seriously.
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We were sitting in class the next day, Cory was trying desperately to get Shawn and I to help him. I wasn't listening to it. "Look, you have to help me get the class back under control."
"Hey, you're the one who let it get out of control." I looked up from my book to Shawn. He was right.
"Well, you're the one playing poker with Feeny." Cory rebutted. I rolled my eyes.
"Maybe if you took this class seriously, the class wouldn't be out of control." I continued reading. I had finished Red Dragon, so I started Silence Of The Lambs.
"Lighten up, man. You're starting to sound like a teacher." Shawn said before continuing to shuffle the cards as the bell rang. Cory walked to the front of the class as Topanga, who came to school in a sari, started moving her desk out of the way.
"Topanga, what are you doing?" Cory asked.
"Moving my desk out of the way. I've decided I'd rather sit on a traditional yoga cushion." Topanga sat on her cushion as Minkus moved his desk out of the way.
"Oh, come on, Minkus, don't tell me you want to sit on a yogurt cushion!" Cory whined.
"No. You told me to get a life. Now I'm going to be as fun as the next guy." Minkus started bouncing on a ball.
Cory let out a defeated sigh. "OK. I know things got a little loose here yesterday but we've got a test day after tomorrow and it's time to get down to business. Let's start With the roll call." Cory started doing the attendance. "Archer, Raven-Anniya." I raised my hand.
"Lawrence, Topanga." The girl was sitting in the lotus position.
"I'm channeling. I will only answer the name..." she growled. Literally.
"OK. Present, but not all here. Hunter, Shawn." Cory continued and I'm just now realizing he's not doing it in alphabetical order. "Hunter, Shawn." Again, Shawn didn't do anything. Cory was waving his hand in front of his face.
"Out of my face. I'm stacking the deck." Shawn pushed him away.
"Hey. Where's Mr. Feeny? I mean, George." Cory asked, looking for our previous teacher.
"Hey, dude. Sorry I'm late. I was chillin' with my homies." Mr. Feeny walked in dressed in a Philly's jersey. He sat in Cory's seat facing Shawn as he picked up the cards. "I'm in." He said as he started playing. He looked around the class with a depressed look on his face.
"Minkus, this is Social Studies. Stop making those paper turkeys." He tossed the book onto Minkus' desk.
"They're flamingoes, and quit calling me Minkus. You call everyone else by their first name... so start calling me Stuart." Cory whined.
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When the bell rang after school, I was shocked to see Jazmyne by my locker. Shawn smiled her way, waving as he walked me to her. "Hi Jazmyne." He said carrying my books as I opened my locker.
"Hey, Hunter. Sorry to have to steal your little bird today but Brianna said I've got to take her to the mall with my project partners." Shawn's smile fell for a second but he nodded.
"It's okay." Shawn rested his head on my shoulder, giving me a hug. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sunshine." He pinched my cheek before he turned to his locker.
I put my books in my bag and started walking behind Jazmyne towards her classmates. I knew Eric but I didn't know anything about Linda but she was a very pretty Asian girl. I sat in the back of the bus clutching my book as I read. When we got to the mall, we went from store to store, me still reading and being careful not to walk into anyone. Eric and Linda were a bit behind Jazmyne and I when someone walked into me and stepped on my book.
"Watch it, kid." The man said, pushing past me and hitting me with his bag. Jazmyne was helping me up off the dirty floor as Eric and Linda went to confront him.
"Hey man, she's just a kid!" Eric said, pushing the jerk.
"Yeah. You didn't have to push her." Linda said. The man rolled his eyes and started walking away but Jazmyne pulled him back.
"You need to apologize. You walked into her." She said, glaring at the older man.
"I don't need to do shit." He said pushing Jazmyne off of him. Linda stopped Jazz from falling over.
"Hey!" Linda said, loudly. The jerk took a step towards the two teenage girls and Eric stepped over them protectively.
"You need to back off." He said to the jerk.
The dude scoffed. "You need to back off. Take your chink and your niggers and get the hell out of here." He pushed Eric, which caused a domino effect with the three teenagers, making them all topple onto the floor.
Linda started tearing up, Jazmyne just got quiet and I sat there with tears in my eyes. It's not something I wasn't used to but it still hurt when it happened.
"Come on, Birdie. Let's get you out of here." Eric said taking me to the bus stop. We hopped on the bus, each of us sitting in silence. Eric took my hand as tears fell over torn pages of my book. He rested my head over his shoulder. We got off the bus and walked into the Matthews' house.
"Come on, let's go sit on the couch, all right?" Eric guided all of us to the couch and I finally broke. I was sitting on the chair sobbing. Jazmyne came up, holding my book out to me. I didn't even notice that I dropped it. I opened it and pages came falling out. I started crying more as the book fell from my hand.
"Eric?" Cory asked, looking around the room at all the sad or angry people.
"I've got it, Cor." Eric consoled a crying Linda. "Everything is going to be oK, all right?"
"Eric?" Cory looked over at me, pointing at my tear stained face.
"I'll talk to you later, Cor." Eric said in a more assertive tone.
"It's getting chilly out there." Amy came in.
"Linda! Linda! What's wrong with Linda?" Morgan rounded the corner and saw Linda crying. She looked over and saw me. "What happened to Raven?" She walked over and hugged my head.
"Some jerk at the mall called us some bad names." Jazmyne said. She was sad too, but her sadness was mixed with anger too.
"Where? Our mall?" Cory asked.
"What did he call you?" Morgan turned to Jazmyne.
"It's not important, Morgan." I spoke between choked sobs.
"In our mall right here?" Cory asked again. Morgan gave Linda and I tissues.
"Thanks, Morgan." When I got the tissue.
"A boy at daycare once called me poo-poo head." Morgan tried to console us.
"That's not very nice." I replied as she handed a tissue to Linda.
"Thanks, Morgan." Linda smiled graciously.
"Mom." Eric looked over at her, pleadingly.
"Come on, Morgan. Let's make some hot cocoa for everybody." Amy grabbed a hold of the young blond. Eric held my hand.
"Man, sometimes people can be total idiots." Eric looked at his brother, not accusingly but the venom behind his eyes was evident.
"This happened today?" Cory said, disbelieving. He looked at me but I looked away.
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The next day, I walked into class with Shawn only to see Cory in a suit and tie.
"Hey, Mr. GQ. Nice neckwear." Shawn said jokingly. He's been joking around all morning. I know he knows something is wrong but I have been denying everything. I didn't want to burden him.
"Excellent Windsor knot. Did your mom tie it?" Minkus said as I slumped in my seat. I had no motivation to do anything today.
"Minkus... Stuart, I need your help. You're the smartest kid in class... maybe if you pay attention to me some of the other kids will."
"Why should I help you? You made fun of Mr. Feeny, and said he gets paid too much." Minkus crossed his arms defiantly.
"Look, Minkus, I'm only coming to you because Raven isn't doing well today." Cory glared but the bell rang before he could say more.
Mr. Feeny walked in and looked at Cory. "Hey, dude. Ooh, that suit. It's not cool."
"Class, I'd like to talk to you today about prejudice... and how it still exists in today's world." Mr.Feeny turned to Cory as he spoke. "I didn't even know that till last night when I saw some really smart, totally cool girls... crying their eyes out because some idiot at the mall... called them bad names. My lesson for today is that when people treat other people badly... because of their skin color or their religion or where they come from...then real smart, totally cool people... can really suffer." Cory passed my desk, dropping a note between my elbow and my head.
'I'm sorry for this. I just need to get to him' as well as a quote from the book. I looked over at him, as he nodded his head towards Shawn. I then realized that aside from Mr. Feeny, I was the only one really listening.
"Hey, George, this isn't gum. These are Rolaids." Shawn said, looking at our teacher.
"Deal me out of this one, Mr. Hunter." Mr. Feeny said, giving Cory more attention.
"What? Why?" Shawn asked.
"OK. You win. I'm a crummy teacher, and I resign. Hey, Shawn, before your mother got married... what was her name again?" Cory turned to the blue eyed boy.
"Cordini." He answered.
"Cordini. So, that would make you a wop, right?" Cory said, nonchalantly.
"CORY!?" I yelled. I didn't think he was going to do that.
"What did you call me?" Shawn looked up at Cory in shock. Shook his head, festering in his anger.
"You heard what I called you." Cory spoke clearly, before he looked at me and nodded.
"Whatever, man." Shawn rolled his eyes and started playing solitaire.
"I guess I understand why you don't care. You spend your day with a monkey and her family of crows. It's astonishing how smart she is though. I honestly expected Ebonics when we first met her."
I looked up at him in fake shock. Did he really think that? No. Before I left his house last night, he asked Jazmyne what kind of things people have said to her and her family. Cory didn't even know what Ebonics is this morning. He literally held up a paper and asked me what it was this morning. I expected him to say this. What I didn't expect was for Shawn to slam him into the door.
"What did you just call her?" Shawn practically snarled, slamming Cory into the door. Nobody said anything.
"Do I need to say it again?" Cory quipped, sarcastically. He seemed unphased when Shawn slammed him to the door again.
"Say it again, I'll kill you!" Shawn screamed.
"Mr. Hunter!" Mr. Feeny intervened.
"Did you hear what he called her?" Shawn looked guffawed.
"Yes I did. And I heard what he called you. What are you going to do about it?"
"He's the teacher." Shawn looked at Mr. Feeny confusion.
"What are you going to do about it?" The older man asked. It seemed to trigger Shawn.
"I'm gonna knock his head off!" Shawn pushed Cory.
"What if you couldn't? What if you couldn't do anything about it?" Cory exclaimed, pushing Shawn back.
"What?" Shawn buffered.
"What if you lived in a country where I could kill you just because of your mom's last name?" Cory spoke loudly for the class.
"Cory, what are you talking about?" Shawn asked.
"A -year-old girl is dead! Doesn't anybody care?" Cory faced the rest of the class.
"Cory..." I sat up slightly, trying to calm him down. He looked at me for a minute before holding the book over to Shawn.
"She was like Raven, Shawn. She was real smart and totally cool. She wrote this book. Her name Was Anne Frank." He pulled his Cory up. "They say she died of typhus but they killed her... because her name Was Anne Frank. Anne Frank was a victim of antisemitism." He said incorrectly but I was so proud, I didn't think I should say anything.
"Anti-Semitism." Mr. Feeny corrected.
"Thank you, Mr. Feeny. 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." Cory pointed at Shawn approvingly. Cory turned back to me. "Raven-Anniya?" He nodded to the book.
"In spite of everything... I still believe that people are really good at heart." I quoted.
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On Monday after school, Shawn and I were sitting in the park when he pulled out his test. He looked really nervous when I unfolded it. He got a B. "You got a B!" I was beaming.
"Yeah, I really wanted to do well." He nodded sheepishly.
"And you don't want to do well on all your other stuff?" I asked, jokingly poking him but he grabbed my hand.
"I wanted to do well because this was important. When it's something important I want..." he stopped before he could finish. "I wanted you to be proud of me." He answered honestly.
"I am proud of you. You defended me when nobody else did. I'd be proud of you anyway." I hugged him. He chuckled.
"You spoke up first, Sunshine." Shawn flipped my hair over my face.
We stayed in the park for a few more hours. I had spent most it reading The Diary of Anne Frank again.
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