Shelly's World
Chapter 9
It was six o' clock by the time Shelly awoke. She sleepily slipped her blue fluffy slippers on and walked downstairs where everyone was seated at a table eating breakfast. Everyone glared at her with tired eyes as she slowly walked to the counter where Doug was standing, giving them all a blank look. Doug snarled.
"Um… good morning, Doug?" Shelly said, confused.
"Oh, hi, Shelly. What would you like this morning? How about a serving of punch?" Doug lashed, slightly laughing at his own joke.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Shelly said, giving him a look.
"Don't give us that shit!" Karen raged. "You know exactly what he's talking about!"
Shelly slowly sat down at a table. "No I don't..." she replied.
"Oh, really? I guess this might turn on the light bulb then!" Karen shouted, pulling up her pajama's sleeve. On the top part of her arm, there was a huge black and blue bruise. "You even gave me a black eye! I had to conceal it so it wouldn't be noticeable."
"Now do you remember?" Ann said with a slight smirk.
That's when it all came back to her. Shelly remembered the night before when she and Karen had gotten into their little cat fight.
"You know, I wouldn't have punched you if you would've kept your rude comments to yourself," Shelly remarked to Karen.
"You still had no right to attack me!" Karen whined, wincing as her arm touched the table.
"I was defending Cliff, smartass," Shelly yelped, looking at Cliff as he just stared at her.
"Defending Cliff my ass!" Gray commented. "You hurt Karen and that's that!"
"It's not like I did for the heck of it!" Shelly screamed. "Why are you all treating me like this when half of you don't even know what happened? Like you, Ann. You basically just assumed Karen was right and you didn't even give me a chance to speak!"
Ann remained silent.
"And you, Cliff! Why are you mad at me for trying to protect you, huh?" Shelly spoke loudly as she rose from her chair. Cliff smiled weakly at her.
"Doug, this goes for you too. You can't believe everything your daughter says, can you?" Shelly said.
"Well… she is my daughter," Doug said nervously. "And I can trust her."
"But you're not being fair! You only got one person's side of the story, namely Ann! You didn't even get my view! See how unfair you guys are being?" Shelly was now shouting to everyone in the room, as if she were giving a speech.
The room was absolutely quiet for a few seconds. Just then, Popuri said, "I'm with Blondie!" then got up from her seat to sit next to Shelly.
Elli and Maria were the next ones to stand. "Shelly does have a point," Mary said meekly.
"Yeah, I feel sorry that I acted this way," Elli added as the two took a chair at Shelly's table.
Kai got up from his seat and casually walked over to the table as well. "I'm with you 'cuz you're cute," he said slyly as Shelly rolled her eyes, then smiled. Just then, Cliff arose and walked up to Shelly too.
"I'm sorry for getting mad at you just because you were trying to defend me.... Thanks," he said shyly and took the next available chair next to Shelly. The rest of the guys followed him, not saying a word to her.
"Shelly..." Ann said, on the verge of tears, walking over to Shelly. "I'm so sorry. I-I didn't even give you a chance to say anything. And you were right; we were all being unfair. Will... will you forgive me?"
Shelly sat there for a few seconds, then grinned, wiping away a tear from her face. "Of course, Ann! You're my best friend!" she shouted, shooting up from her seat and giving Ann a big hug while they giggled and patted each other on the back. Everybody else cheered and whistled, patting Shelly on the back and apologizing while Karen, on the other side, just sulked. Just then, a loud wail came from her mouth. Everyone shut up, looking at her as she held her hands over her eyes. When she removed them, mascara was running down her eyes and had smeared onto her cheeks and hands too.
"Karen? What's the matter?" Ann asked, concerned.
Karen gave a few sobs and gasps then finally regained the power of speech. "It's not fair!" she screamed. "Nothing's right here anymore... not since you came!" She pointed to Shelly. Shelly gave her the "who-me?" look.
"Yeah, you! You stole my best friend, you stole my popularity and you even stole my good looks! I was supposed to be the perfect one, but ever since you came, it's been you, you, you, you, YOU! Everything is Shelly this, Shelly that! Ooh, Shelly has a new boyfriend, oh, Shelly's so gorgeous, Shelly's got everything, Shelly and Cliff are so cute, ooh!" Karen trailed off and began to cry again.
"That's not true," Shelly began. "I-"
"Shut up! I was so nice to you, trying to start up a friendship, but ever since you took away my best friend, it's worthless! Why should I be nice to anyone who takes away my best friend?"
"Oh, Karen..." Ann said solemnly. "You can still be my best friend. You and Shelly…"
"I don't want to be friends with Ms. Perfe-" Karen started.
"You know, I think you're just jealous," Mary stated. "Jealousy will get you nowhere. Besides, it's one of the seven deadly sins, so... um, you're sinning right now."
"You're… not… helping!" Karen bellowed as tears trailed down her face. "You and your smartass remarks... just shut the hell up, geek!"
"Karen," Shelly started softly. "I never tried to take away your best friend. I didn't even know anything! And… perfect? Dream on! I have issues too! Besides, you're getting married! Me, I don't even have a boyfriend."
"You have Cliff," Karen said lamely.
"Ugh… for the last time, Cliff is not my boyfriend," Shelly said blushing. "I have other issues too, like… making friends. I have a terrible attitude…."
"So do I," Karen pointed out.
"I'm not finished. I also yell too much, drink too much wine, and swear a lot."
"So do I," Karen repeated.
"You know, by the sounds of things, you two sound like you could be really good friends," Gray said. "You both have a lot in common."
"Yeah," Tim said sternly. "Gray's correct."
"You see, Karen?" Shelly said encouragingly. "No one's perfect... especially not me."
Karen gave Shelly a half smile, then bowed her head. "Sorry, Shell. I'm such a bitch for all I've done. Can we be... friends?"
"Of course!" Shelly said, grinning. "Under one condition…."
"What's that?" Karen said, the smile fading from her face.
"…Don't call me Shell." Shelly said. She and Karen looked at each other then laughed. Everyone else joined along too.
A/N: Okay... yes, I'm back again with this chapter. Nothing's changed except this authors note because… um, well, I thought of an idea. It's actually a really great idea, in my opinion, LOL. *Ahem* SO! Anyway, my idea was that I could replace this chapter with my idea, and then use this chapter later, or I could just use this one and forget about my idea. If you wanna submit your opinion, e-mail me at fairyfriend@hmtown.com.
