A New Beginning

Meet the Family

Shane opened up his locker and stared inside it for a moment. His last class had just ended, and he was relieved to be out of the classroom setting. His whole face hurt from being punched by Trip earlier that day, and it was giving him a pounding headache. Needless to say, he had been in a bad mood since then.

"Are you still up to studying Spanish together?" Shania's voice sounded from close by.

Turning around, Shane saw Shania standing behind him, her backpack on her shoulders and her hands clasped in front of her expectantly. Her long brown hair was draped around her shoulders and her beautiful green eyes sparkled.

In spite of his head hurting him terribly, there was no way Shane was going to pass up an opportunity to spend with Shania. "Of course!" he responded, making his voice sound cheerful. "I'm still up for it if you are."

Shania smiled. "Great!" she exclaimed. "I'll see you tonight!"

"Awesome!" Shane replied as he watched Shania walk away, her brown hair swishing behind her. Already, he felt better, just knowing that he was going to spend time with the girl he liked. Slamming his locker shut, Shane headed downstairs to the locker rooms to get ready for football practice.

That evening, Shane waited anxiously for Shania to arrive at his house. He sat at the kitchen table, playing a game on his phone while tapping his foot impatiently. The rest of his family was in the living room, watching Ghostbusters on TV, for Shane could clearly hear the familiar theme song from the doorway. He just hoped that they wouldn't embarrass him during his study session with Shania.

Soon, the doorbell rang. Shane jumped up from the table, stuffed his phone in the back pocket of his jeans, and flung the door open. Shania stood outside, wearing a long sleeve lacy pink top and skinny jeans, with her usual cowboy boots on her feet. Her brown hair was thrown across one shoulder, and on the other shoulder hung her heavy backpack.

"Hey," Shane greeted her. "Come on in."

"Hey!" Shania replied, her eyes lighting up upon seeing Shane. "Ready to get cracking on Spanish?" she asked as she stepped inside the house and carefully closed the door behind her.

"I suppose," Shane answered, leading Shania down the basement steps and into the family room, where a long couch sat at one end and a TV sat at the other end. There were a few toys of Kaden and Abby's scattered on the floor. "We can study in here or go to my room," Shane told her. "It's up to you."

"In here is fine," answered Shania shyly.

"Okay. Just let me get my backpack and I'll be right back," Shane told her as he edged towards the hallway. "You can take a seat on the couch and turn on the TV to whatever you like." He bolted down the hall and burst into his room. Glancing around, he spotted his backpack on the floor by his bed. Picking it up, he slung it over his shoulder and walked back out in the hallway, carefully closing his door behind him.

When Shane joined Shania in the family room, she already had her books out on her lap and was working on homework while watching House Hunters on TV. Taking a seat on the couch beside her, he slipped his backpack off his shoulder and dug out his Spanish textbook. "So we're supposed to do the three exercises on page 54," he confirmed, paging through his textbook to find the correct page.

"Yes," Shania answered. "What is it that I can help you with?"

Shane sighed as he stared at the first question. He always felt embarrassed asking for help from anyone. Plus, if he was going to win Shania over, he absolutely had to hide his weaknesses from her at all costs. "This may sound cheesy or retarded," he began, his heart pounding in his chest, "But the real reason I wanted to study together was to spend time with you."