She's My Little Sister

Well When You Have A Sister Like Michelle, You'd Want To Brag About Her Too

MICHELLE AND CORY were having a very intense staring contest.

Cory had been watching Michelle for Shawn, who was in the bathroom, and he hadn't said anything to her yet. Michelle was staring right back at him, unmoving as well.

"Look Michelle," Cory started. "I know you can say my name, you know you can say my name, so why don't you say it?"

Michelle continued to sit there, staring at her Uncle with her head tilted. Cory sighed, reaching into the coffee table and grabbed a cookie. Michelle stopped and looked at the cookie with wide eyes.

"Now we're getting somewhere." Cory smiled. "Now, if you say my name, you get the cookie. It's pretty easy. You in?"

Michelle kept staring at the cookie, making Cory take that as a yes.

"All you have to do is say Cory." The curly haired boy said. "Can you say that? Cory?"

Michelle opened her mouth, but before any sound could come out, they were interrupted by Shawn.

"Are you bribing my sister?"

"No."

"Right." Shawn said slowly.

He walked to the couch, sitting next to his sister, who held the cookie in her hands. Michelle smiled at Cory as she licked the cookie.

This had been an ongoing thing for nearly three weeks now. Shawn and Cory would hang out, but the entire time Cory would spend it talking to Michelle trying to get her to say his name. It was getting a bit annoying, though Shawn tried his best not to let it show.

"Come on, Cory." Shawn sighed, closing his eyes as he rested his head on his sisters shoulder. "She'll say your name eventually. You have to be patient."

Cory flopped back dramatically. He had always thought that when Michelle started talking he would at least be her third word. He knew Shawn would either be her first or second, how could it not be? But here it was, Shawn her first, Eric her second, and Feeny her third. How could she say Eric and Feeny before his name?

Shawn set his sister down, and Michelle crawled away.

"Look at her go." Shawn said proudly.

Shawn went into bragging mode, making Cory roll his eyes.

"Shawn, you're like one of those Dad's who brag about their kid constantly for everything they do."

"Well when you have a sister like Michelle, you'd want to brag about her too."

Cory rolled his eyes, still annoyed that Michelle wouldn't say his name.

Michelle, who had crawled off into the kitchen. Michelle looked around the kitchen, crawling to a chair, dragging herself to her feet. The blonde went to take a step, but ended up falling backwards.

"Hey, Michelle." Eric said as he ran into the kitchen.

The baby lifted her arms up, wanting to be picked up. Eric did so, and got a smile on his face. "Hey, do you want to go help me pick up girls?"

Michelle clapped excitedly, and Eric headed out the back door. Before Eric could make it too far, he was stopped by Mr Feeny.

"Mr Matthews, where exactly are you going with Ms Hunter?"

Eric stopped, and looked sheepishly at his former teacher.

"We're just going to the mall."

"Does Mr Hunter know that you have his sister?"

Eric avoided eye contact, but walked backwards back to the house. Eric sighed, and set Michelle back down, and the little girl crawled back to the living room.

Michelle pulled herself up on the side table, and took a step towards her brother.

"Shawn, look!" Cory exclaimed, pointing at Michelle.

Shawn whipped around, and looked at his sister with wide eyes. "You're walking!"

Michelle went to take another step, but ended up falling back on her butt. Shawn smiled widely, scooping Michelle up. Though he quickly handed her to Cory and headed to the kitchen.

"I'll be right back, I'm going to get her a drink. I think she still has some bottles here."

Cory bounced Michelle slightly on his hip, swaying around with her.

"Hey Michelle, now that you're starting to walk, we'll be able to play baseball and Shawn won't get mad at me." Cory smiled.

Shawn was very picky on what Michelle was a loud to do with other people, which annoyed Cory to no end. He knew Shawn was protective—overly protective—but come on!

Shawn walked back into the room, and grabbed Michelle back out of Cory's hands. He handed her the bottle, which she dropped to the floor. Cory picked it up and handed it back to the baby, but she dropped it again.

Shawn sighed, and sat down on the couch, shifting Michelle so she was laying down against his arm. Rolling his eyes, Shawn nudged the bottle into her mouth.

"You are so spoiled." Shawn sighed, though there was no heat behind it and both Cory and Michelle knew that.

Besides, it was Shawn that spoiled her. He wanted to make sure that she had everything that he wasn't able to have. He gave her everything she wanted—as long as he could afford it. He took her to the park, because their parents never took him there. He took her shopping because their parents never shopped with him. He bought her toys because their parents never bought him any. He did everything that their parents weren't able to do for him.

As he fed his sister though, he couldn't help but feel a bit bitter as he listened to his friend talk about the things he had been doing. Shawn was bitter because he couldn't do any of these things. He wasn't able to go on bike rides without his sister tagging along. He couldn't hang out late because Michelle needed taken care of. He couldn't stay the night places because his parents weren't able to be trusted with Michelle. He wasn't able to do anything because of his sister.

As soon as he thought this, Shawn felt sick. He couldn't feel this way. It wasn't Michelle's fault. It was their parents. They were awful at being a Mother and a Father. Why would he blame Michelle, as if it was her fault? What was wrong with him?

Shawn had to blink back tears, and look at his sister to avoid crying. He took calm breaths in, and the phrase, It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. over and over in his head. But no matter how many times he repeated the phrase, the only thing that came up was, No it's not. No it's not. No it's not.

As Michelle's eyes fluttered shut, Shawn leaned his head back on the couch, tuning out Cory's ranting, and fell asleep.