I own Boy Meets World. Not.

Cory Matthews was afraid of three things in the entire world. Clowns, (really horrible things, really) Heights (which effectively rules out roller coasters) and Chet Hunter.

At seventeen years old and a junior in high school, his life was pretty good. He had a steady girlfriend, awesome parents, and a great best friend. More then once in his life, though, he thought that all of that was going to slip away. Chet Hunter was the reason for that.

Sometimes, when he really thought about all that Shawn had gone through, goose bumps started appearing on his skin even if he was warm. Shawn had told four people exactly what happened to him- Mr. Feeny, Mr. Turner, Topanga, and himself. The adults had done everything in their power to catch Chet Hunter, but never were able to.

Cory could remember eight times during his childhood where Shawn had been abused so badly that marks were left on either his back or his face. Once Shawn's "father" had gone as far as to break his wrist. After the wrist incident, Mr. Feeny and Jonathan Turner had tried to find Chet Hunter, but he was already gone.

So Shawn had gone to live with Mr. Turner, and life had been good for a little while. Cory had gotten to second base with Topanga (she refused point blank to go any further) Shawn's grades were improving to the point where he had a solid C+ by the middle of sophomore year.

Then one night when Shawn had gone back to Turner's apartment he found Chet waiting for him. He had taken a beating much worse then anything he had ever gotten before, passing out half-way through. He had managed to drag himself to Cory's, thank god.

It had taken a lot of convincing to get Shawn to go to the hospital. As a child, he had been threatened with things worse then death if he so much as talked to a cop or went to a hospital, but then again so had all the kids who grew up in his trailer park.

Cory spent the following nights with Shawn, and had been his confident about the dreams he experienced time and time again.

Throughout this whole ordeal, Topanga had flitted over and out of Turner's apartment. Topanga had been both of the boys' life-line, 'cause both of them loved her to pieces (two separate kind of loves, of course.)

Turner had legally adopted Shawn shortly after that. For a couple of months, Shawn was quiet and guarded, trusting no one except for the four people who knew his "whole story" and the Matthews. Gradually, though, he became his old self again. Sort of.

And now Shawn was living with Eric and his own half-brother Jack. From what Cory had heard, they were doing pretty good, and Shawn dropped by Turner's for a visit a couple times a week.

They had come so far, the three of them a group-inseparable. They were Seniors, all had passed their fall exams (Topanga had gotten the highest score). It was three and a half weeks until Christmas. Nothing could spoil their friendship.

Except Chet Hunter.

I was going to wait 'til December to post this one, but I couldn't wait. Just review.