A Complete Family

You Can't Ruin Me

SHANNON'S POINT OF VIEW

"Shannon?"

"Shannon!"

"Shannon, wake up!"

"You're going to be late for school!"

I opened my eyes to the sight of my father in his pyjamas.

~Ugh! Today's another school day wherein I'm late once more.~

"Hey! Are you going to get up or what?"

"Yeah," I muttered.

"Well, get going. Sonia cooked you pancakes and she also bought us some espresso," he boasted.

~Yeah. Keep talking, dad. As if I'm ever going to like your second wife. Well, never in my entire life! She will never replace mom in my heart.~

I got up and headed towards my closet. I changed into my jeans and went downstairs where I saw my father and Sonia cuddling. I cleared my throat.

"Shannon!" Sonia exclaimed.

~I swear she almost jumped. I can't do this anymore. I can't stop laughing in my mind.~

"Hi. I better go. I'm late. By the way, forgive me for interrupting," I said and got my shoes.

"Shannon, I told Carter that it would be better if he stayed home since he's been having a bad time sleeping. He needs rest so I suggested that I'll drive you to school. That is if that's okay with you," she hurriedly said.

"Seriously?" I paused. "I'm going to think about this later. Can we please go? I'm in a hurry," I wanted to disagree, but I didn't want to disappoint my father. And so we rode towards school in this extremely girlish car. As soon as we arrived, I got out and walked as fast as I could. She didn't even get the chance to wave me goodbye.

~I swear she's so pathetic. Enough of her, I better go to class. Mrs Johnson is going to kill me.~

"Shannon Blake! Is your alarm clock broken? I can lend you mine if you like," she joked.

Obviously, her students laughed.

~She's been embarrassing me ever since I revealed in front of all her students that she had a long-time crush on my dad. Well, I don't care as long as my dad's never going to be hers. Imagine my life in her hands. My life's already ruined just by having Sonia around.~

In response, I embarrassed her, "Why? Has your alarm clock woken you from daydreaming about my father?" Everyone laughed again. She silenced them. They tried to keep quiet, but they ended up laughing even more.

"Take your seat, Miss Blake! I'll have to see you in detention later," she said.

~Yeah. As if that's going to stop me from making fun of you, old hag!~

I took a seat right beside my best friend, Hailey, who was reading a book about boys or something.

I started to converse with her, "Hey, Hailey! What are you up to now?"

She replied, "Nothing much. Do you see that guy right there?" She pointed at a guy that I've never seen before. "He just transferred here from some school. I'm not really sure about the name though. But anyway, he's cute!"

I stared at him for a while. He must've known I was looking at him; he looked back at me. We stared for a few seconds. I started to think I was a bit lunatic since we don't even know each other so I looked away. I tried to concentrate on what was written on the board. The letters started to get blurry. My eyes felt heavy so I decided to take a little nap.

"Shannon Blake!"

A horrifying voice woke me. It was the old hag. I must've caught her attention once more. I looked around and saw everyone passing papers forward. I looked down on my desk and found an empty sheet of paper.

~Gosh! I can't believe I slept over a test paper again. My dad's really going to ground me for a month.~

And that's when the bell rang. Everyone started to stand up except for me and that new guy Hailey was talking about.

Hailey whispered, "See you later, Shan!"

~Detention! Ugh! This is the fifth time I've been in detention. I can't believe this! It's not my fault she was born ugly.~

I folded my arms and stared at Mrs Johnson. She looked at me, then at the new guy.

Wait! What? He's here? What's he doing here?

Mrs Johnson stood up and told the new guy to sit beside me. He was obedient enough to follow her orders. She started with her lecture.

"Shannon, I don't know what's going on with you lately. You've been a very nice girl three years ago. You've changed. I want to know what's going on so I can help you. Please tell me. I won't bite. I'm a friend, remember?"

~Yeah right. As if telling you my problem is going to help.~

She turned to the guy beside me. "Alexander, I'm going to give you a special assignment."

The new guy whose name turned out to be Alexander spoke.

"Okay, mom."

~Mom? Mommy? Mother? Mrs Johnson is his mother? My world is ending!~

"From now on, Alex will be your new friend and he will serve as your angel in disguise," she said.

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped.

"Is something the matter?"

I looked away.

~Can this day be my end? No! I won't let that happen. Not in a million years.~

The bell rang, signalling the end of detention. I slowly went outside, trying to take in all the words she said. I opened my locker and found another note from my secret admirer.