Pretend It's OK

Carmen was a relatively normal girl. She wasn't overly pretty, but she was cute enough. She's never had a real relationship with a boy, but she's ok with that. She had three best friends, Lori, Sawyer, and Hannah, and she loved them to death. She liked to think she was smarter than the rest of her class, even though she knew she wasn't. She had the greatest and most annoying big brother. She had some medical issues, but no ones perfect. And she had a pretty functional family, or so she thought. Carmen knew her brother would always protect her, but when family situations finally become clear to her, she falls apart. She shields herself from everyone; her friends, brother, mother, father, cousins, aunts, uncles, everyone. to them she was handling it, but on the inside, she was falling apart. Because for the sake of her sanity, Carmen had to pretend it's OK.