In a family of four, Shannon Cole was always referred to as 'The Black Sheep'. When her siblings grew up listening to contemporary classical tunes and doing their homework, Shannon was blasting God Module from her noise-canceling headphones, taking long drafts of the pink muscato she kept hidden in a discarded bottle of body wash. While her brother Andrew was the star quarterback of their high school football team, Shannon skipped under the bleachers, smoking cigarettes with the other burn-outs. While her twin younger sisters, Maya and Leia, were hitting the books, Shannon was clam-baking in an old Civic while discussing the finer things in life to hate. This difference was solidified in their family picture: There were smiles in their best Sunday clothes all around, with the exception of, you guessed it, Shannon. She was clad in all black and staring at her toes, despite the vehement protests of the photographer.
Shannon reflected on this one day, sitting in the park. She held the picture tightly by the edges. While she stared, her mind wandered. Back to the days where her parents couldn't stand her and her siblings wouldn't even walk near her in public. She thought back to the days of hushed whispers as she walked down the hall, venting her rage by clutching her books ever tighter. "Humph." She quickly wadded up the paper and tossed it behind her. That was all in her past now.
She tossed her head back and began watching the snow surge. She had not prepared for a full-on blizzard, having opted to wear a sweater, jeans, and boots; all in black. Her shoulder-length hair was tied in a neat ponytail, her hair only 1 or 2 shades brighter than her clothes. The snow was coming down in waves now; after it began to slow, she stood up and began the slow trek to her dorm.
To make her walk more pleasurable, she had cranked her iPod's volume to the point the music could be heard as if it was coming from a speaker, resting her headphones on her neck. Hands shoved into her loose jeans, she hummed with the blaring death-metal that exploded from the speaker. Walking quickly, she heard heavy footsteps from behind her. What she saw almost made her laugh.
Running up the pathway was and a man carrying several books, a freshman, Shannon surmised. He was huffing and puffing, the campus bookstore ironically not on campus. Once he reached Shannon, he stopped to catch his breath."Could you..." One hand firmly on his knee, his breath finally caught back up with the rest of him. "...tell me where the library is?" Shannon shook her head. "Are you crazy? Did you not look outside when you left your house?" He was definitely unprepared. His outfit consisted of a worn Nirvana t-shirt, and a pair of grey sweatpants. His sneakers were untied; had she not came to the park that day, he probably would have tripped and hurt himself. "I meant to go to the library today but I overslept. The Library closes at six, but I thought if I ran I would get there before the snow started."
"I'm also guessing you didn't check the clock before you left?" He frowned and shook his head.
She quickly pulled out her phone and glanced at the time: 6:30. "Well you're a little late now."
"Aw, crap..." He was shivering heavily. Night was also closing in. He would freeze to death before he made it back to his house. "So, let me get his straight. You left to find a library, which you don't know where it is, you left and tried to beat a blizzard, which you failed horribly at, and now you're in the dark cold without a jacket. Did I get that right?" He scratched his brown hair, which were struck with a terrible case of bedhead. "Well I guess so..."
Strange as Shannon was, she definitely was not heartless. "Your gonna freeze to death if you head back now. My name's Shannon and you'll stay with me until the snow blows over." She was not asking. She was telling him. He looked as if the wind had been knocked out of him. "But I-"
"Shut the fuck up and walk with me. My apartment is up the street." She grabbed his hand and pulled him through the snow covered park.
