"(THEME SONG PLAYING)" "Hey, Debbie, you wanna sign my..." "I guess you don't." "Hey, Mike, let me sign your..." "We were never that close." "Isn't this great?" "(LAUGHS)" "I mean, I love this week." "Yeah, me, too." "Is it over yet?" "No." "Look at Frankie and Joey." "I mean, they're gonna be graduating this year, and it only took them eight years." "This is it, my good friend Joey." "Our last week as juvenile delinquents." "Yeah." "Out of high school." "The real world." "So what do you think we should be?" "Criminals?" "Okay." "But we should start small." "Yeah." "Let's rob our friends." "Cory, Shawn." "BOTH:" "Hey." "Because we have shared both times good and bad, we would be honored if you would sign these yearbooks we have pilfered." "Wait." "You took somebody else's yearbooks?" "But you get your own." "Where's the joy in that?" "(GROANS)" "You know what, Shawn?" "Even Frankie and Joey have the spirit this week, right?" "I mean, what would you like me to say?" "Just put down your address." "Yeah, and what time you're not gonna be home, you know." "You don't have a big dog or nothing, do you?" "Just, right there." "You boys take care of yourselves." "And remember, always stay friends." "(GRUNTS)" "That's nice, Frankie." "Yeah, well, we like to think of ourselves as the Cory and Shawn of the underworld." "Oh, I wanna be Cory!" "Can I be Cory?" "That makes me Shawn." "Come on, Joey." "You see that, Shawn, huh?" "Do you see how important this week is?" "Saying goodbye to people we might never see again." "Saying goodbye to people who've been around, but we've sort of lost touch with." "Like who?" "Well, I don't know." "I guess there's nobody really like that." "Hi, Minkus." "Oh, now it's "Hi, Minkus."" "For the last four years, it's like I haven't even been in the same school with you guys." "Well, you know, we just never saw you around." "I was." "I was just in the other part of the school." "What other part of the school?" "You know, over there." "Well, we don't go there." "Yeah." "You go over there, you may never come back." "Ah, that's crazy." "Hey, Mr. Turner, wait up." "Well, Shawn, (CHUCKLES)" "I think the time has come to sign each other's yearbooks." "Shall we talk about it first?" "No, no." "Let's just do it." "Okay." "Boy, oh, boy, where to begin, huh?" "What am I gonna say to you?" "Man, this is gonna take me at least a week." "I'm done." "You're done?" ""Hey"?" "You write "hey"?" "And I mean it." "You don't even write my name?" "Cory, it's your yearbook." "Who else would it be to?" "You know how I feel about you." "Why do I have to write it down?" "Because it's just the spirit of the week, Shawn." "It's about this place." "Now, why don't you care about this?" "Look what we got." "Oh!" "Our senior rings." "Yeah." "They just got here." "You can pick up yours in the cafeteria, Shawn." "No, I can't because I didn't order one." "They're stupid." "They mean nothing..." "To me." "So, have you been thinking about Yale?" "This is a big decision." "I told you, Cory." "I'm going to Pennbrook with you." "That's what I want." "You don't turn down Yale without thinking about it first." "I have thought about it." "Listen, I got you some information from the Internet last night." "Okay, but promise me you'll read it before you make up your mind." "(SCHOOL BELL RINGING)" "I love you, Cory." "Well, you should." "Pretending to be supportive." "Very smooth." "I'm not pretending, Shawn, and I'm not smooth." "Topanga got into Yale, and I'm proud of her." "If she cheats herself out of going because of me, how do I live with that?" "But you don't want her to go." "I want to support her, and I want you to support me for supporting her." "I support you." "Go, Cory!" "You're pretending, aren't you?" "Yeah, Cor, just like you." "Welcome to your final week of Feeny, everyone." "Here's your assignment." "(ALL GROAN)" "Oh, shut up." "I'm tired, too." "Now, this assignment is completely optional and is for no credit." "Oh, well, I'll get started on it right away." "Oh, look!" "I'm done!" "That's right, Mr. Hunter." "You don't have to do it." "I want you to write about what's in your heart during these last weeks of school." "Why are you looking at me?" "I don't have to do it, right?" "Do it, Shawn." "It's no pressure." "It'll be fun." "It would not be fun." "Why not?" "I'm doing it, and I'm getting an A." "It's for no credit, Miss Lawrence." "I have 699 A's." "I need one more." "Give me the A, Feeny!" "Okay, fine." "You've got an A." "You don't even have to do it." "I'll just give you an A because I'm scared of you." "Now that makes an even 700." "Seven hundred." "That's more than anybody, right?" "Oh, more than anybody." "Good luck in hell, Mr. Matthews." "Surprise, Mr. Graduator!" "Jack, I told you." "I'm not into this." "Oh, yeah?" "Well, I got something that may change your mind." "Ta-da!" "Is that supposed to be me?" "Yeah." "Isn't it great?" "I had a guy do it from a snapshot." "Yeah, yeah, it's great." "Now graduation really means a lot to me." "What was that?" "Why don't you appreciate my caricature of you with a big head and a tiny body and you're riding the big diploma like it's a magic carpet ride to your future, huh?" "Why?" "You don't appreciate anything, man." "It's a crappy picture." "I hate it!" "Don't you understand, man?" "You will never go to high school ever again!" "Yeah?" "Hooray!" "(GRUNTS) Well, you know what?" "I'm just trying to put you in touch with your feelings." "No, no." "You're trying to put me in touch with your feelings." "Why do we always end up wrestling?" "I think it's how we communicate." "Yeah." "Well, I have something else to say." "Yeah, you would." "(BOTH GRUNTING)" "Feeny thinks he's retiring?" "He thinks he's moving away?" "Uh-uh." "I'm gonna stop him." "I don't know how, but I am." "Maybe I'll ask the French for help." "Or the Belgians." "They're not doing anything." "You babies stop fighting." "Chickens in the hallway." "Chickens in the hallway!" "Huh?" "(LAUGHS)" "Someone must have let them loose as the official senior prank." "Why, this is hilarious!" "Look at 'em!" "Look at 'em!" "Oh, my gosh!" "Look at the chickens!" "(CLUCKING)" "Chicken alert!" "Yeah!" "Oh, my gosh, this is crazy!" "I wonder which crazy senior thought this up?" "This is nuts, huh?" "What'd you do, rent a couple of chickens?" "Yeah." "Don't step on 'em, or else I lose my deposit." "Chickens!" "You know, if I were into this, which I'm not," "I'd do a senior prank that you'd remember." "Oh, I'm sure you would, Mr. Hunter." "Are you working on that assignment about what high school's meant to you?" "Oh, yeah!" "The assignment!" "No, I'm not." "Chicken alert!" "(LAUGHING)" "I really think you should." "Are you saying I have to?" "What you end up doing, Mr. Hunter, is up to you." "Always has been." "I'm just here to point out what page we're on." "Chicken mania!" "Yeah!" "Whoo!" "Finished my valedictorian speech." "You guys wanna hear it?" "Oh?" "And what makes you so sure you're the class valedictorian, little missy?" "Because I'm Topanga." "Well, I'm Minkus, and I have 699 A's, which, according to my records, is the same as you." "You counted A's?" "What kind of sick psychopath counts A's?" "Oh, yeah." "I'll tell you what to do, Stuart." "You can go get Feeny's grade book and count them again." "You did something." "She did something, didn't she?" "Take it easy, Minkus." "You never had a chance." "Oh, she's evil, Cory." "She's an evil little girl." "Yeah, but every time I kiss her, I don't care." "I read that material on Yale you gave me." "Yeah?" "What do you think?" "Cory, when you said you were serious about being supportive, you weren't saying that just to be supportive, were you?" "Topanga, listen." "Yale is one of the best schools in the country, and you deserve to go there." "I always tried to be a good student because I thought college would be the most important decision in my life." "It is!" "What could be a more important decision?" "Listen, Topanga, I'm okay with this." "Really?" "Yeah." "Go." "Thank you." "You guys gonna leave me, too?" "Topanga's going to Yale." "(EXHALES)" "Told you, man." "This is gonna be a terrible week." "Gosh." "Why did I have to act so supportive?" "So you were just pretending." "I didn't think she'd actually go through with it." "So, tell her how you really feel." "I can't." "Why not?" "Because I don't want her making the wrong choice because of me." "And you're not pretending this time?" "No, I'm not." "(KNOCKING ON DOOR)" "Mr. Feeny, hey." "I was in the library, and I saw your light on." "What are you still doing here?" "Oh, just packing up a few things." "What on earth are you doing in the library?" "I was working on my valedictorian speech." "Oh, your speech will be fine." "Give yourself a break." "Yeah, but now that I'm going to Yale, everyone's going to expect it to be like from someone who's going to Yale." "Fine's not gonna be enough." "Miss Lawrence, what did you actually come here to ask me?" "I don't know what to do." "Should I go to Yale?" "If you're asking me if Yale is one of the finest academic institutions in the country," "I would have to say, "duh"!" "That's not why I'm asking." "Well, if you're asking me whether or not you would be successful there," "Yale wouldn't have accepted you if they didn't think you could live up to the challenge." "That's not why I'm asking." "I'll tell you what." "I retire right now, hmm?" "(LAUGHS)" "What do you want?" "If I knew what I wanted, I wouldn't have come to you." "Well, then listen very carefully." "Unless you have a very good reason for not going to Yale, you should go." "Thanks, Mr. Feeny." "You're welcome." "If you need any more counseling, my door is always open to my students." "Okay, Mr. Feeny, you are not retiring." "You're not going anywhere." "However, I must learn to close my window." "You are gonna live in that house next to my parents until you die or until I die, whichever one comes first." "Although, you know, it'd probably be you because you're like, what, 80?" "Get out!" "Okay." "Hey, Topanga." "Hi." "(SCREAMS)" "Well, the bell is about to ring." "In a few minutes, you'll be flying out of here like your pants were on fire." "But since this is our last class together," "I just wanna say... (SCHOOL BELL RINGING)" "Usually, I time it better than that." "Okay." "The bell rang." "We wanna hear what you have to say." "We've got time." "Oh, well, I was just gonna say good luck." "The truth is, I'm not very good at saying goodbye." "We're not gonna get all sappy, are we?" "We wanted to know if your decision to retire had anything to do with us." "Mr. Feeny, we know we haven't made life that easy for you these past couple of years." "I mean, when you think about all the stupid stuff we pulled..." "You have to be leaving because of us." "Well, I am." "But not because of what you've done to me." "Because of what you've done for me." "We haven't done anything for you." "You three have given me more gratification in the past four years than I ever dreamed possible." "You must know that." "But you always complained about how difficult we are." "Well, you are." "But sometimes the things you complain most about are the things that you care most about." "Unfortunately, we don't always know that until it's too late." "By the way, how is that paper coming?" "(STUDENTS APPLAUDING)" "FEENY:" "I would like to welcome you all to the graduation ceremonies of the class of '98." "Congratulations." "We did it!" "(ALL CHEERING)" "And now it's time to introduce our valedictorian, a student who exemplifies academic excellence, as well as extracurricular achievement and social conscience." "She got one more lousy A than I did!" "Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Topanga Lawrence." "Cory, you're not clapping." "I can't." "The closer we get to graduating, the closer she gets to Yale." "Thank you, Mr. Feeny." "Ladies and gentlemen, my fellow class members of the class of '98," "I'm very honored to be your valedictorian, and I worked very hard on this speech, however, I'm not going to give it." "'Cause I know somebody who could give a much better speech than I ever could." "Ladies and gentlemen, my good friend, Shawn Hunter." "(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)" "Hey!" "You only go to high school once." "Thank you, Topanga." "You know, I read her speech." "It kicked butt." "I attended John Adams High School sporadically during the last four years." "I barely have a C average, that's why I'm here." "Mr. Feeny asked us to write about what we were feeling this week, and, of course, I was feeling like I always do," "I couldn't wait to get out of here." "Cory, I know what I wanna do with my life." "Shh." "Shawn's speaking in public." "This will never happen again in our lives." "But now high school is over." "And just when I'm finally free," "I find myself sneaking back into this place and sitting in the hall, thinking about my friends and all the time we spent here." "And you, Mr. Feeny." "I started thinking about you and how you've always told us what to do without ever telling us what to do." "You taught us about life." "I was thinking about how much this place has been my home and how many times I screwed up while I was here," "how I could've done better." "I could've done better." "That's, um..." "That's what I wrote." "That's how I feel." "I'm sorry." "I could've done better." "Congratulations to those of you who did." "Shawn..." "That was a fine paper." "No one could've done better." "Now I would like to say something." "No!" "You're not going anywhere." "Hi, everybody." "Hey, Mom." "Hey, Dad." "Excuse me." "Hey, kids, congratulations." "Excuse me." "(CLEARING THROAT)" "Excuse me." "Need this." "Eric..." "(CLEARING THROAT)" "Uh, as most of you already know, at the end of this school year," "Mr. Feeny will be retiring, and as a former student at John Adams High, it made me real mad." "Hello." "I'm Eric Matthews." "FEENY:" "Eric, give me the microphone." "Back off, old man." "Eric!" "Cor, I know what I'm doing." "Mr. Feeny, um, I could tell you what I think about you, but it would just come out a bunch of words, and I know that nobody could say it better than a little girl named Lulu." "Music." "(MUSIC PLAYING)" "(SINGING TO SIR WITH LOVE)" "Come on." "Let's get out of here." "Shawn Hunter." "Erica Jackson." "My little brother up there." "ALL:" "Shh!" "FEENY:" "Topanga Lawrence." "Cynthia Little." "Cory Matthews." "Jackie Miller." "Stuart Minkus." "Angela Moore." "Phyllis Nakamura." "Steven..." "So you were gonna say something." "Was that important?" "You mean that I decided what I want to do with my life?" "Yeah, that." "Mr. Feeny said I should go to Yale unless I have a really good reason not to." "Well, there isn't any good reason." "Actually, there is." "Myra Zinkerman." "Cory..." "What?" "Ladies and gentlemen, the John Adams High School class of 1998." "Will you marry me?" "(ALL CHEERING)"