"Cory why are you freaking out about this?" I sat on my bed while on the phone with Cory after school. He was worried about his date. "You were the one who asked her."

"I know but I didn't mean for it to be a date."

"Then what did you want it to be?"

"I don't know, I just felt like if Shawn did it then I had to."

I sighed. "Cory just because Hunter does something doesn't mean you have to do it too. And frankly I don't think it's fair to Topanga that you're using her to keep up with Shawn."

"Yeah you're right. But what do I do now?"

"You call her and be honest. Girls like that."

"Ugh, fine. I'll go cancel."

"Bye Cor."

"Bye."

I hang up and put the phone back on my nightstand. I took a deep breath.

When did boys get so complicated? When did Shawn get complicated? I needed a distraction.

I hopped off my bed and went to the keyboard piano in the corner of my room. My dad got it for me when I was 10. I loved singing so much when I was by myself, so he thought getting me a piano from a young age would help me be a better singer. I only really used it when I was either super bored or super stressed and needed distraction. Like right now. Plus my dad and stepmom were still at work and my sister was over at a friends so I figured this would be the best time to practice.

I grabbed out a tape with bohemian rhapsody on it and put it in the VCR in my room. I've been trying to learn to play this song since forever. I hate learning to play songs by learning the notes and chords. It takes too long and makes my patience run low. I'd rather just play it by ear. I got pretty far with the song but I could never get the bridge right.

I did a warm ups for about 10 minutes to make sure my voice wouldn't crack and I pressed play on my VCR and sat down on my piano chair to follow along.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

I started to play the intro and took a deep breath to get my voice ready.

"Is this the real life?

Is this just fantasy?

Caught in a landslide, No escape from reality.

Open your eyes.

Look up the the skies and see—"

I took another deep breath.

"I'm just a poor boy, I need to sympathy.

Because i'm easy come easy go.

Little high.

Little low.

Anyway the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me.

To me—"

I played and sang all throughout doing the best I can to hit all the notes. Then the guitar part after the chorus was coming to an end and that's when I tried my best to focus to get this right. I decided I was only gonna sing freddie's solo part to make it easier.

{from this point on, she sings the the rest is just the harmonies}

"Scaramouche! Scaramouche! Will you do the Fandango! THUNDERBOLTS OF LIGHTNING VERY VERY FRIGHTENING ME!"

"Galileo! (Galileo)

Galileo! (Galileo)

Galileo Fígaro

Magnifico-oh-oh-oh-oh"

I was super happy with myself because now that I've got the beginning of the bridge down the rest of the song was easier from here.

"He's just a poor boy, from a poor fam-il-y.

Spare him his life from the mon-stros-it-y!"

I loved doing the cute little piano part here.

"Bismillah! No, we will not let you go"

"Bismillah! We will not let you go"

"Bismillah! We will not let you go"

"Will not let you go"

"Will not let you go

Never, never, never, never let me go

Ah

No, no, no, no, no, no, no"

"Mamma mia, let me go

Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me"

I hit the note perfectly and inhaled a lot from the loss of breath. Damn i'm good. I took a break for the 4th verse though, to make sure I wouldn't damage my voice. I just played along with my piano. The ending came and I thought I could sing the rest so I did.

I played the last note on the piano and flopped on my bed in relief that I was able to pull that off. I felt way better. I was on cloud 9 right now.

I laid down for a few minutes looking up at the ceiling when I figured I should probably go check on Cory. I grabbed a jacket and walked over to his house. When I got there somebody left the front door unlocked so I just walked in to see Cory giggling at Topanga on the couch with his arm around her. That giggle sounds just like the one Shawn had when Hilary asked him out.

Shit.

He went squish.

Cory and I were sitting on the swinging bench in his backyard while talking to Eric. We see Shawn walk up looking a bit disappointed.

"Hey guys." He said walking over to us.

"There he is, young me." Eric said as I rolled my eyes. "How was your second date?" He shook Shawn's hand.

"You had another date?" I asked.

"Yeah. My last one." Shawn slumped next to on the bench.

"Ah, second date slump i've seen it happen a thousand times." I raise my eyebrows at Eric when he said this. "Not to me though."

Shawn leans forward. "You know, i'm thinking it's deeper than that. See, each one of us is born with a certain amount of coolness. Now, a guy like Minkus could live to be 1,000 years old and never use a drop of his cool." He points to himself. "Me, i'm a 13 year old burnout."

Cory gives Shawn a weird look. "Shawn get a grip. You're still cool. It's just the planet Mercury in retrospect." I face palmed knowing he meant retrograde.

"What are you babbling about?" Eric questioned.

"Some astrology thing. Topanga was explaining to me."

"Hey that's right how was your date?" Shawn crossed his arms and teased him.

"What date? I didn't have a date I canceled it."

I turned to face Cory. "Then how come when I came over yesterday you too were on the couch giggling?" Cory's eyes went wide.

"Yeah and when I came home from work, you had your arm around her looking all cozy." Eric teases his brother.

"That was not a date. She came over to bring me some aura juice." Cory defended.

"And?" I teased.

"Nothing I taught her how to shots a basket."

"Okay so let's recap. Point A, she brought refreshments, point B, you chose the activity."

"Sounds like a date to me." Shawn leaned in and nudged Cory with his elbow.

"I'm telling you there was no date. We talked snot what we were getting our moms for mother's day."

Eric raised his eyebrows at Cory. "Aha, point C, shared interests."

Shawn cupped his hands over his mouth to sound like a radio. "16 to base. We have a confirmed date. Send backup." We all smiled and Cory rolled his eyes.

We all are sitting in the hallway on the floor by the lockers.

"Face it guys Minkus was right." Shawn said.

"I hate it when that happens." I put my hands on my face.

"No matter how ya look at it, there is gonna be hormones and girls," He looks over at me. "and guys, are gonna come into our lives and stay for days at a time."

I see the new kid we heard about from london walk down the hall. Uh oh.

"You know what's cool?" Shawn said. But I didn't care, I was tuning out. I look at the new kid for longer, damn he's cute. "Is that after that whole first date fiasco, we are all still best friends."

I sat up more and he looked over at me and smiled. Pretty sure my heart skipped a few beats.

I heard Cory say something about all of us sticking together through stuff. I don't exactly know but right now I don't really care.

"Right Cris?!"

The new kid and I were still making eye contact and he started to walk over to me.

"Crissy?" Cory said.

The kid was now standing in front of me. "Hi i'm Harrison. What's your name?"

I tried speaking I really did. But all I could get out was a stupid giggle. It's the stupid accent, know what? I don't even care.

"Carrillo?" Shawn snapped near my face to try and get my attention. I turned to him and smiled. "Boys, I went squish."

Their eyes widened and I looked back up at Harrison. I stood up and he asked me a question.

"Do you happen to know where Mrs. Patrick's class is?"

Shawn stood up next to me and tugged on my sleeve to get my attention. "Carrillo, it's just an accent, don't listen to the telegram."

I didn't even look over at him. "Mrs. Patrick, of course I know where she is. I have her for science come on let me show you." I walk away while Shawn is still holding onto my sleeve and now gets a grip on my arm. I elbow him in the stomach and he lets go.

Shawn is now bent over a bit and looks to Cory.

"I'm gonna kill him."