Note: This takes place in late season 4. Also, Shawn has his hair long here, the way it was in the beginning of season 3 (‘The Double Lie‘, ‘My Bestfriend‘s Girl‘). I just think it’d be cuter that way in this particular story, lol.

Chapter One

“She’s cute right, isn’t she Cor?” Shawn asked Cory, with his eyes still not withdrawn off his newfound object of affection. “Yes she is, now can you focus on something else -- you know, besides the new girl?”

“I can’t keep my eyes off her. What’s her name?” Shawn’s thoughts were too clouded to give his full attention to Cory. Standing by the lockers, waiting for the bell to ring, Shawn insisted on waiting for the new girl to walk pass at her usual spot. She was refilling her books alongside a chummy girl friend beside her. He watched on, almost like a predator.

“How should I know! You’re the ladies expert. I’m surprised you haven’t found out already,” Cory somewhat sighed, a little exasperated by the attention Shawn got from all the girls at John Adams High School. Cory would always catch a group of girls whisper to one another whenever they walked in the hallways, sometimes bursting in a fit of giggles when they spoke about Shawn. A girl would be so lucky if they ever got asked out by Shawn Hunter for a week or two. Cutest boy in school. Nice long hair that would always fall in the way of his face. Also known to be a great kisser. Shawn could have any girl he wanted.

Not that I’m jealous. Cory thought suddenly, awoken by his ping of slight envy. He had Topanga, and that‘s all he ever wanted. And he did have his fair share of girls who were attracted to him, albeit all of them wound out to be psychos one way or another. But he still wondered what it would be like to be lusted from so many girls.

“I got to ask her out…” Shawn murmured, his head down, trying to think of some sort of way to get closer to the new girl. She’s only been at school for a few weeks, and he was already infatuated with her. He had to formulate a strategy to be the first one to date the pretty new girl at school. He had to ask her before anyone else did. Shawn already noticed he wasn’t the only one giving looks her way.

“Shawn, you barely know her!” Cory through his arms in the air, floored by his sheer determination on the dating game. “I could get to know her,” he gave a tiny smirk, still looking down as if imagining what a typical evening at ’Hotel del Shawn’ (what he liked to call his ‘dates‘) would be like.

“Shawnie, I don’t mean to rain on your parade but…what if she says no?” Cory hesitated. He hadn’t meant it the way it sounded. It almost sounded matter-of-factly, but his intentions were from something entirely different. Some thing as students at John Adams never really thought about; race.

“What do you mean? I’m Shawn,” he smiled. Shawn looked up, no longer lost in thought.

“I mean…she’s Black,”

They both stood there a little stunned at the simple word. ‘Black‘. No one saw race in school, it wasn’t acknowledged; though one could argue there weren’t many other black students around to begin with, and barely any other minorities either. The only constant black person Cory and Shawn ever saw was Mr. Williams, Mr. Turner’s friend; someone Shawn saw on a regular basis since he moved in John’s apartment.

“So? I’m equal opportunity,” Cory couldn’t help but roll his neck backwards along with his eyes. “I’m not talking about your preference Shawn. What if…what if she doesn’t date White boys? I mean, not in a racist way but, some girls might not feel comfortable dating someone of a different race, that’s all.” That was pretty straight-forward, Cory thought. He couldn’t miss the point now.

“But I’m Shawn,” he shrugged with a clueless look on his face. Whatever Cory had just said didn’t seem to compute in his best friend’s mind at all.

“Never mind Shawn,” The bell rang and they both picked up their backpacks from the floor and slung theirs across their backs; Shawn along side one shoulder, Cory the proper way. Despite walking in the opposite direction, Shawn continued eyeing the new girl as he walked to class, almost bumping into the wall next to Mr. Turner’s classroom.

“Whoa!” he held his forehead for a moment, with a ‘painful thinking’ expression on his face. "What just happened?"

“You enter the classroom by the door, Mr. Hunter.” Mr. Feeny walked passed, as usual, with a smart alec comment to throw their way. “Keep your eyes on the prize,” and with that, he left onto his unknown destination.

“Oh I am,” Shawn gave another boyish smile.

Here we go.

Angela Moore. Now I’ve got a name to go with the face. And what a pretty face it was, Shawn thought.

He hadn’t seen or dated any other girl like her. He paused for a minute, wondering if part of the reason he wanted to date her so badly was for the ‘something new’ aspect. He had never dated anyone outside his race. Not because he didn’t want to, but there was hardly any other girls at school to choose from.

It was borderline shallow, but it wasn’t an experiment, Shawn assured himself. He was genuinely interested in her. Whenever he had the fortune of seeing her walk by, she was always smiling, joking around with her friends. She seemed like a nice girl. And Shawn could see him truly having a nice time with Angela.

Reading from the attendance book served to be a good strategy. Her name was at the very bottom of the list, marked in pen, unlike the others that were typed.

Angela. That makes her an ‘A’. First name in his black book.

He was already on the look out for his lucky new 2 week girl for a few passing minutes now, and finally he saw Angela again. They were in the lunch room, and Cory was sitting across from him, babbling about some boring thing he did with Topanga the other day. He felt somewhat guilty for not really paying attention, especially knowing how bat-shit insane Cory could be when he notices he‘s not listening, but it wasn’t something he could help; not now.

Despite the fall weather, Angela was wearing a short sleeve white t-shirt. From what he could see without getting up from his seat, she had light blue jeans on with a matching jacket tied around her waist. Her hair was no longer in the cute pigtails she wore during her first few weeks of school, but curly and slightly brown highlighted curls that complimented her pretty caramel brown skin.

Finally, for what it seemed like ages in Shawn's mind, Angela came walking toward Shawn and Cory’s way. This is it, he thought. This is my chance. She looked even prettier up close, Shawn thought. If that were even possible.

He immediately got up from his seat, his abruptness with the sudden sound of the scratching chair legs almost startling both her and Cory.

“Hi,” he voluntarily extended his hand for a handshake. It proved to be a good strategy to get girls. “I’m Shawn,”

Oh were we go, Cory thought. He was about to spit his game, and Cory couldn‘t help but look on, watching the ‘master’ at work. It was pretty entertaining, even after the thousandth time.

Only this time, he was skeptical how the outcome would be. Shawn Hunter’s charm and good looks may not be enough to break down the mindset society has brought on people due to race relations. Shawn or no Shawn, a white boy was still about to black girl out on a date.

“I saw you Mr. Feeny’s class, you’re new right?” he kept on smiling. He sure knew what he was doing. Angela looked downward briefly before she answered. “Yeah,” she said in a soft voice. Angela did seem sweet. He could see why Shawn already liked her.

“Oh, cause I’ve never seen you before…”

“uh, well, I‘ve been around…” before Angela began to complete her response, with only having an incoherent answer in mind anyway, he interrupted. “Cause you know, I think you’re pretty,” he said matter-of-factly. She gave a nervous giggle.

I can’t believe it. Cory’s mouth was slightly ajar. Though Cory had great faith in his best friend, he didn‘t think he could get Angela. “Thank you Shawn, that’s really sweet. No one’s…ever told me that before,”

Hook…Line…

A small smile began to curve Shawn’s lips as he put both of his hands inside his pocket. OK, this is the part. He’s going to ask her out now.

“You’re welcome…Angela, is it?” she simply nodded in response. Shawn gave a happy smile in return, his voice slightly higher than normal.

Cory was a little stunned, he actually seemed a bit nervous. “So I um, was wondering, would you like to go out with me for two weeks? It could be fun.” Angela smiled again, tilted her head as if she were thinking about it, but Cory knew there wasn’t much to think about.

“Yes,”

Sinker.