After two long hours of endless talking, and basically ignoring Isaac, Shennan pardoned herself, saying that she needed to spend some time with Mykah.
"Who's Mykah?" Zac asked, instantly curious in her.
Shennan gave him a dismissive look before walking towards the door, with him following. "He is my little brother." Then she shook her head, "Stepbrother." She corrected.
"Oh," Zac murmured in understanding. "Then I take it, you two are close?"
She nodded her head slowly, "Yeah, as close as real brother's and sister's could possibly be, I guess." She said smiling slightly before she shrugged, "Maybe even closer."
Zac smiled suddenly; "Want me to walk you home?" He offered politely.
"No," Shennan replied casually. "Thank you anyway."
She turned towards the door, before turning back to face him. "It was nice meeting you." She said shaking his hand, not really minding it this time.
He shook her hand as well. "You know," He started. "When I first met you a while ago, I thought you were going to be some quiet sadistic chick." He confessed.
The smile she gave him was wry and amused. "I am usually like that." She admitted. "It's a habit." With that said, she walked out, leaving him behind.
Walking inside the Hurst home, Shennan saw her father sitting on the couch, and reading the morning newspaper. "Hello, Father." She said nodding in his direction, as she continued walking across the room.
Mr. Launders looked up and folded his paper precisely at the creases. "So what did you and Stefani do, and where is she now?" He asked worriedly when he didn't see her with his other daughter.
"Don't worry, Father," She assured. "She's still alive and at the neighbors house."
"And what happened there?" He queried patiently.
Shennan shrugged lightly. "Chatted for near two hours." She stated rolling her eyes. "Then I pardoned myself, so that I could read to Mykah. Where is he?"
"He's in the kitchen with your mum." He replied going back to his paper.
She cringed visibly, not liking the idea of Ms. Hurst being her "mum." Nor did she like the idea of Mykah being left alone with the old slag.
Quickly, she went into the kitchen to see what she was up to.
The scene had taken her by surprise, then she became outraged.
Ms. Hurst had a bowl of fresh strawberries, cherries, and green grapes sitting in front of her, with Mykah on the other side of the table. "Now Mykah, if you say one sentence, I'll give you this bowl of fruit."
"What are you doing?" Shennan asked coldly. "Is this your idea of 'getting in good' with my father?" She questioned when Ms. Hurst had turned around.
Without even waiting for a reply, Shennan went over to Mykah, who was smiling in relief now. Bending down slightly, she made sure that he was okay.
Ms. Hurst stood up; "He needs to speak." She defended herself sharply.
Shennan scoffed at her, "How? By bargaining him? She was silent for a moment before she stood up straight. "My brother does not need you or anyone else bribing him to speak! When he wants to, he will, so bugger off!" She stated loudly before she helped Mykah off the chair and led him out of the kitchen.
Grabbing one of her reading books, Shennan took Mykah into the backyard where she had found the hammock earlier that day.
Situating herself and him on the dinky thing, she opened the book and took a deep breath.
"Whatcha doin'?" Zac asked as he crossed over into their yard.
Holding in a sigh, Shennan looked up at him. "I was just about to read Mykah his favorite story."
"Oh, what?" He asked coming closer until he stood next to them. "Green eggs and ham?"
Looking down at Mykah, she grinned at him. "Actually no." She answered. "It's Hamlet, by William Shakespeare."
Zac carefully looked over Mykah. "You have got to be kidding me." He uttered in disbelief.
Shennan laughed. "Nope. It suits Mykah's fancy just fine."
Shaking his head, then sticking his hand out towards Mykah he said, "Hi, how are you? I'm Zac."
Mykah looked up at Shennan, his eyes lined in fright. She nodded for him to shake his hand, and he did, extremely quickly.
"He doesn't speak." She explained a little sadly. Then she perked up, "You are welcomed to stay and listen if you like." She offered him. "Just as long as you don't interrupt. Mykah hates that." She said ruffling his hair slightly.
Zac's face lit up and he bobbed his head up and down before laying himself down next to her, putting Shennan in the middle. "First off," He started before she did. "How did Mykah get into Shakespeare? Isn't he a bit young?"
Shennan smiled at him. "Oh, well, I needed to read it for a course, but I also needed to watch him. So I did them both at the same time. And Mykah got hooked, so I decided to just keep reading to him."
"Okay." Zac replied. "Go ahead."
He started relaxing when Shennan started reading. It wasn't in the play version, so the different characters were unnecessary. But with Shennan's accent, she seemed to make the story more interesting and realistic.
Shennan had kept reading, and never glanced or looked up. Once she started into a book, she tuned out the entire world. Only taking notice of the fine print that she was reading.
As the story progressed, she found herself lost in it. But when they were called into the house for dinner, and she looked up, she saw Jason, Taylor, Stefani, and even Isaac sitting around listening to her read.
With difficulty, Shennan finally swallowed the lump in her throat. "Did you get bored?" She asked, attempting humor in her uncomfortable state.
"No, we came to hear you read." Taylor said seriously.
Jason nodded his head, and so did Stefani. Isaac just sat there on the ground moodily, and remained silent. Satisfying both him, and Shennan.
Shrugging it off as best as she could, Shennan got out of the hammock after Zac and Mykah did. "Well, it's time to eat." She said nervously. Quickly stretching out her cramped muscles, she latched onto Mykah's hand and went inside.
The group started splitting up and Stefani kissed Taylor goodbye. Saying that she's probably seen him again, later on that night.
"Shennan, what was everyone doing out there?" Mr. Launders asked as they all sat down at the table.
Before she could respond, Stefani did. "We were listening to her read Hamlet." She said looking over at her sister proudly.
Shennan smiled back weakly. "It was actually quite fun." She mumbled inaudibly to herself.
"What was that?" Her father asked.
She shook her head roughly. "Nothing, Father." She replied quietly. "Am I doing anything tomorrow?" She asked, eagerly trying to change the subject.
"Why do you ask?" Mr. Launders questioned as he speculated a hush puppy.
"Just trying to plan my day." She answered staring at the same thing her father was, that was on her plate. "What are these?"
Her father gave her a stern look. "Hush puppies." He told her slowly.
Shennan gave him a confused look. "Hush puppies are shoes, Father."
Around the table Shennan heard snickers, while her father tried to keep his grin hidden.
"These are deep fried cornmeal cakes." He explained with laughter in his voice.
She knew full and well what one was; she just wanted to prove the cultural difference between them. She remained still eyeing the piece of food.
"Tomorrow, if you like Shennan," Ms. Hurst started out softly. "I can take you to some clothing stores to shop. So that you won't have to keep wearing that same outfit everyday."
Mr. Launders instantly shoved the hush puppy into his mouth so that he wouldn't laugh out loud.
Looking up at her, Shennan chewed her mouthful of food silently, then swallowed and cleared her throat. "I do not wear the same outfit everyday." She explained slowly. "All of my jumpers and trousers are black. But they are all differently styled though."
Ms. Hurst's cheeks burned a bright red, and then the rest of the meal was silenced.
