The Summer of Our Discontent by Jacquel May (best way to read books .TXT) 📕

few moments, but when everything calmed down, they all stared at Taylor Parker.

She had dark brown eyes, short brown hair, and deeply-tanned skin. She was taller than most people in the fifth grade and she was a year and a half older than the other students. She looked out of place at Harrison Creek Elementary School.

"Well, it seems that I have some company today," Taylor said as she stared at Mara, Stuart, and Irene. "What did Shaffer get you in for?"

"Well, she was angry that we weren't running around playing on the playground like the other kids, so she brought us here," said Stuart. "As if I'm going to be like everyone else when pigs fly."

"Pigs don't fly," said Irene.

"For shame," said Taylor. "Shaffer caught me trying to sneak into the computer lab, as if I was a juvenile delinquent. Like doesn't she know I don't like to go outside?"

"Really?" said Mara. "Why not?"

"I'm older that most of the kids here," said Taylor, "and it's already weird that I'm here when everyone my age is already in middle school. Isn't that sad?"

"It is," said Irene. "Shame on your parents."

"Yeah, who cares?" said Taylor. "Anyway, I'm tired of having to follow a bunch of stupid rules and being around people who follow the rules. Those rules are stifling and pathetic. I say we find a way to break those rules. Are you guys with me or not?"

* * * * *

While Mara, Stuart, Irene, and Pearl were on their way to Harrison Creek Elementary School, Shara was in her new house, getting ready to meet with her uncle and cousins. She hadn't seen them since she was 9 years old, when an incident involving a wheelchair-bound girl named Christina McAllen and Shara's inflatable pool drove a wedge between the Shinnok cousins. Shara banned them from visiting her for the next ten years.

Today, however, was the middle of the ten-year ban; Shara's uncle Raven wanted to call a truce and get Shara to reconcile with her cousins. She had not seen them since the ban was enacted, nor did she have her cousins visit her for her birthday or Christmas. Raven was alarmed at the ban and he told his brother that the ban was destroying their own relationship.

"I don't know why Shara isn't speaking to her cousins," said Raven to Shad when he was able to get away from the media circus surrounding his house. For the last 24 hours, Raven was surrounded by reporters asking questions such as, "did you know your daughter exposed a violent gang three weeks ago" and "has your daughter been exposing predators online". Raven's sons Spenser, Arthur, and James were too distraught to leave the house, and no one knew where Trevor went. Only his sister Tallulah was interested in seeing Shara, which was because she preferred her cousins Aaliyah and Rufus over their older sister. "Is it because she's sick?"

"Well, for your information, I recall Shara telling you not to bring the boys over because of Christina McAllen," said Shad. "The girl almost drowned, for crying out loud!"

"But they got her out," said Raven.

"Only after I screamed at them for almost killing her," said Shara as she came into the room. "What they did to her can never be forgiven. You're lucky Christina's parents chose not to press charges against your sons, charges that would have landed them in juvenile hall until they were 21 years old."

"My sons are your cousins," Raven began, but Shara snapped, "I don't want to hear any of your lies and excuses! They almost murdered a helpless handicapped girl; they don't deserve to have a cousin like me!"

"But that incident occurred five years ago," said Raven. "Can't you just let it go?"

"I can't let anything go when I'm still having nightmares about Christina drowning in the pool and Jacquel not warning me about her," said Shara. "Plus, I still can't believe that you defended their actions to Christina's parents, as if telling them that "the boys were just playing with her" would be acceptable. Christina keeps telling me that she should have sued you when she had the chance! I hope you have a good lawyer because as soon as it's possible, she's going to drag you into a California court and sue you for everything you have!"

Raven and Shad could only watch in shock as Shara stormed out of the kitchen. Janine saw them and said, "Let me guess: Shar's still not happy about Christina, isn't she?"

"Yes," said Shad.

"Well, you know what they say about karma," said Janine. "And I'm guessing something bad must have happened to someone you know because of that karma. If you do something good, good things happen to you, but if you do something bad, bad things happen to you. That's how karma works. Now, why are you here?"

"My daughter Tanya has gone missing and so far, no one knows where she went," said Raven.

At that, Shad found himself snorting. "You're not laughing, are you?" Janine glared at him.

"No, I'm not laughing," said Shad. "This is terrible, just terribl—-hey, wait a minute! You don't have a daughter named Tanya! What's going on here?"

"I don't know," said Raven. "Five years ago, a social worker handed me a girl. No one knew who she was or where she came from, only that her name was—-"

Just then, the phone rang. Shara picked it up and heard Kelsey Johnson's frantic yelling, "They totally stole Tanya from me!!!"

"What's going on?" Shara snapped.

"I don't know!" said Kelsey. "All I know is that someone stole my stage name and was using it without our knowledge or consent!"

"Indeed," said Shara. "I should have known something was up during that D.C. trip!"

"What happened during our trip to D.C.?" said Kelsey.

"Remember when we met that other Tanya and her friends?" said Shara.

"Of course," said Kelsey. "Those kids were weird, if I do say so myself."

"Indeed," said Shara. "I wonder how on earth did she get your name. Why would she do that?"

"I don't know, but maybe this person was so bored with their life that they decided to steal mine," said Kelsey. "Who knows?"

"Well, all I know is that we should find out who stole your stage name and sue them for fraud," said Shara. "They had no right to take your name away from you, not where it counts."

"And it counts on my YouTube channel," said Kelsey. "Not just that, but think about the videos I starred in. I know that Maddy, Scott, and Jacquel are definitely up in arms over this. Especially Jacquel. She's the one who created Tanya Shinnok in the first place."

"I'll have to set up an online conference soon," said Shara.

"About that," Kelsey began, but the sounds of yelling were heard outside Shara's window. Shara looked outside and saw a teenage girl yelling at a police officer, saying something along the lines of "I didn't have anything to do with that brat's disappearance! If anything, I'd say good riddance to her! She put my boyfriend behind bars, that's what she did! I mean, he didn't do anything to that boy, I swear!"

"Yeah, yeah, save it for the judge," the police officer snapped as he took the girl to the car. The girl's parents protested the arrest, but the officer said, "Well, you should have known she was involved with a bully, and anyone involved with a bully is guilty through association. You better hope she doesn't go to jail for that."

As the police officer and the girl got into the car and the car took off, Shara said to Kelsey, "I don't know who did this, but when I get my hands on them, their social accounts won't be the only thing that's missing."

"Good," said Kelsey. "I mean, can you believe it? A person called Tanya Shinnok who goes missing just as you came to that city? No way are we going to let that fly."

Shara had no idea that someone was at her house listening to her phone conversation. The person said, "I believe we must be extremely careful."

"Why?" said the person on the other end.

"I've tracked down Shara Shinnok, who recently moved into Susanna Brezetta's former house," said the first person. "She knows more about Tanya Shinnok than we do."

"This isn't right, what she knows," said the second person. "If she reveals her knowledge of Tanya Shinnok to the police before the Teen Rebels can find her, we'll be ruined."

"Now don't fall apart yet," said the first person. "For all we know, Shara might be talking about a different Tanya Shinnok. I need you to look up this "Tanya Shinnok" on Google and take notes on what you find. We cannot let anyone else get the upper hand or allow the police to get involved. If either of those things happen, we could be destroyed before we can destroy the Teen Rebels."

"And why do you want to destroy the Teen Rebels," said the second person. "Whatever did they do to you?"

"It's not what they did, per se, it's the fact that they forgot about my sister," said the first person. "Tansy and Lavinia were once friends with Mara Llewellyn, Stuart Greer, and Irene Houghton and they dropped them like a bad sandwich."

"Blaming the kids for the deaths of your sister and her friend won't solve anything," a third person cut in. "Besides, Tansy and Lavinia were already too old to be attending Harrison Creek Elementary School, so they had to be removed from the school or else there would have been a huge scandal."

"What kind of scandal?" said the second person.

"A few years ago, the Harrison Creek School District came under fire for having students two or three years older than most of the students at its elementary and middle schools," said the third person. "With that, most of those older students were removed from their schools and sent to Georgeus Green Special Education School, where they would stay until they were 21 years old. But Tansy and Lavinia had to run away from that school and end up as murder victims. I mean, they could have benefited from being in a school where they could learn something instead of being judged by their ages or mental disabilities."

"I don't know why my sister left the school, if but to be with her friends," said the first person. "But no matter. If Mara, Stuart, and Irene want to forget about her, that's fine with me. But when I begin destroying them and everyone they love, those brats are going to learn that it's not wise to ignore my sister and her best friend and pretend they don't exist, and to replace them with another older girl who got them into nothing but trouble. Mark my words, they're going to be begging me for mercy when I get done with them."

 

Little did they know that Kelsey Johnson was standing right behind them, planning to take them down. "Nobody steals my name and makes up stuff about me and lives," she fumed. "NOBODY!"

* * * * *

 

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Publication Date: 02-21-2018

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