Saudade: The Return of the Pink Flamingo Kid
Fearing more heartbreak ahead, Shawn walks away from Jon and returns to being the Pink Flamingo Kid.
Jon struggles to hold onto Shawn and himself.
Between the scenes of the season 3 episode, The Pink Flamingo Kid
Instantly Jon was in teacher mode and in the middle of the crush of students.
"Break it up! Break it up!" Without paying much attention to the boys at the center of scuffle, he grabbed the one on top who continued to swing even when he was out of range of his opponent.
Jon turned a stern glare on those still watching who hadn't figured out that the main event was over. "Get back to class now!" He barked as he pulled the teen who was still fighting him over to the side. He looked over his shoulder and made eye contact with Eli who had the other part of the problem and saw the familiar curtain bangs of the teen he was retraining.
If Eli had Shawn then who in the world did he have?
The look of realization hit Eli at the same time, and they stared at each other in shock for a moment.
"Did you guys know you were fighting each other?"
The answers from the boys didn't clarify anything and Shawn seemed angry with him too. That didn't bother him nearly as much Shawn going after Cory whom he could easily hurt if he really put his full strength and fury into it.
Before anything could be pulled out of them, Mr. Feeny stepped in and handout detention. Once he was gone Cory stormed into Jon's room without another look at Shawn. Shawn tried to storm off in the opposite direction, but Jon grabbed him by the back of the shirt again.
"What is goin' on with you?"
Shawn pulled out of his grasp and shrugged him off. "What do you care?"
The teen attitude set a fire under him that Jon didn't understand. "Don't talk to me like that, Hunter. What is goin' on?"
Shawn stared at him, wide eyed and mouth slightly open, then his eyes narrowed. "Hunter, huh? We goin' back to that now?"
Jon was thrown off guard by Shawn's hangup on something irrelevant for a moment. "C'mon, Shawn, stop avoidin' the question."
"Cory's bein' a jerk. Happy?"
Jon stared at him for a moment, struggling to find the right thing to say, the correct parental thing to say, but frustration got the best of him. "Yeah and so are you. You'd better change the attitude."
Shawn looked unimpressed. "Or what? Is that supposed to be a threat?"
It took him a moment to respond as he tried to recall what Alan might do in this situation. "It's a promise your butt won't see anythin' other than this school and your room until the end of the school year."
Clearly he said the right thing because Shawn glared almost hatefully at him. Jon expected that. What he did not expect was for Shawn to square up to him nose to nose and say in a quiet dangerous tone, "You're not my dad."
Time stopped or Jon stopped breathing. Either way something in Jon came to a grinding halt. The teen stormed off towards the gym, but Jon couldn't move. The hateful tone shocked him, and the words devastated him. Taking a few steps back he stumbled and caught himself against the stair wall. He leaned against it trying to get himself together enough to get to his class.
Just a few weeks ago Shawn was calling him "dad" and saying he had his six.
Jon grimaced. Feeny was the last person he wanted to talk to right now.
"Jonathan, are you alright?"
It took him a moment to put on his poker face. He pushed himself away from the wall and turned to face the principal. "Yeah sure, George," he said, not bothering to keep the scorn out of his voice. "I don't got a care in the world. It's great havin' the kid you live with hate you."
Feeny was taken aback by the sarcastically rude quip. But seeing the stress and anxiety on his teacher's face made him soften.
"I know you're under a lot of pressure, Jonathan," he told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Hang in there. Shawn will come around. A year will pass quickly, and you will be reunited with Audrey."
The words meant to encourage did the opposite. If Feeny had just left him alone none of this would have happened. Losing Audrey and now Shawn was the direct result of the principal's double standard where he was concerned. If he had not had to hide his relationship with Audrey, there would have been nothing for Kat to expose.
Bitterness overtook him and Jon gave Feeny a blank look. "Who?"
The principal regarded him warily. "Audrey."
When Jon didn't respond, he added, "Miss Andrews."
Jon pursed his lips together and shook his head slowly. As he walked away, he called over his shoulder, "I don't know anyone by that name."
