The DJ at the reception had a perfect record, Shannon thought: every song he'd played was one she hated. Of course, she hadn't wanted to come to the wedding in the first place, but since it was Robert's old college roommate who was getting married, she really didn't have an option.
Where was her husband anyway, she wondered? Ah, there he was over by the bar, deep in conversation with some guy she didn't know. "This is worse than going to somebody else's high school reunion," she thought morosely.
"Hey, PK!" a female voice yelled from the doorway, and Shannon's head shot up in surprise. Looking around she spotted a young woman her own age with a drink in her hand.
"Tracy!" she squealed. "What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in forever!" The two young women embraced excitedly; then Tracy turned toward the man who'd accompanied her.
"Hey, Darren, this is Shannon, my best friend forever from back in high school. Shannon, this is Darren, my boyfriend."
As Tracy made the introductions, Shannon looked the young man over with interest. He was a little over six feet tall, with jet black hair combed back from his face. His jaw was covered in dark stubble, and a silver earring flashed from one ear. Unlike most of the men at the reception, Darren was clad in tight black jeans and a black leather bomber jacket worn over a black t-shirt. "Tracy's found herself a bad boy," Shannon thought enviously.
The couple joined Shannon at her table and the two women began to talk animatedly, while Darren ignored them and scanned the surroundings in amused contempt. It quickly became apparent to Shannon that Tracy had already hit the bar several times, judging by how loudly she was talking, but Shannon was just glad to see a familiar face in the throng.
When their conversation paused, Darren took advantage of the opportunity. He turned to Tracy and pointed at Shannon. "You said her name was Shannon. Why'd you call her 'PK' earlier?"
Tracy laughed a little too loudly. "Because she's a Preacher's Kid," she said, "and we never let her forget it."
The truth was that there was no way anyone, least of all Shannon, would ever forget that her father was the minister of a Methodist church in suburban Philadelphia. His position meant that she was expected to behave as a role model for others. But like so many offspring of religious figures, she responded by rebelling every chance she got in every way that she could find, to her parents' unending dismay.
In school, despite being bright and quick to learn, she performed poorly and was a constant disciplinary problem. By the age of fourteen she was already sneaking out of the house to meet up with the type of boys of which her parents did not approve. She experimented with pot and alcohol, but fortunately did not have a tendency to addiction. She was similarly lucky with sex: a pregnancy scare early on drove home the importance of contraception, and although she continued to be sexually active, she always made her partners use protection.
Her parents were not aware of just how loose her morals were, but they despaired of the crowd she ran with, especially the boys she dated. "Why can't you find a nice young man?" her mother asked on more than one occasion, but her attempts to set her daughter up with dates she considered more suitable were met with open defiance.
It was in Shannon's junior year of high school that an event altered the direction of her life. Her boyfriend at the time had arrived to pick her up for a date, but when Shannon walked out to his car she found another girl in the front seat. Despite her date's fervent assertions that he was just giving the other girl a ride, Shannon flew into a jealous rage and refused to go, retreating to her room to sulk. Later that night she was stunned to get a phone call with the news that her boyfriend and the other girl had been killed in an automobile accident.
Even though they hadn't liked the boyfriend, Shannon's parents insisted that she go to the funeral. As she sat in the pew during the service, she felt a welter of emotions: sorrow at the boy's death, guilt at the angry thoughts she'd had that night, and most of all fear at how close she'd come to losing her own life.
That last emotion caused her to reexamine her lifestyle and make significant changes. Still a rebel, she nevertheless began to keep her defiance in check. At school she started to focus on her studies, and even got a summer job to bring in some income. She also toned down her partying, being especially careful around drugs and alcohol. As her parents watched their daughter's transformation, they agreed that the accident, tragic as it was, must have been an act of divine intervention.
Thanks to her innate intelligence and the work that she had put into her last year-and-a-half of high school, Shannon was able to score high enough on the placement test to get into the Community College of Philadelphia. She began commuting to the main campus, working toward a degree in Business Administration.
Emboldened by the changes he saw in his daughter's behavior, Shannon's father began to encourage her to take part in some of the activities for singles that his parish offered. Although she showed little enthusiasm, her father went so far as to introduce her to Robert Cunningham, a young man in his late twenties who'd begun attending church there.
Robert was tall and clean-cut, with wavy brown hair. Although he was handsome enough, Shannon was only mildly attracted. He was far too preppy and conventional for a young rebel attracted to bad boys. But her attitude changed after she learned that the quiet young man was an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Numerous movies and television shows filled her head with images of danger and derring do, and her interest in him grew accordingly. Robert, in turn, was entranced by the attractive young woman, and the fact that she seemed to share his attitudes and values only increased his desire.
Soon the two of them were a couple, and Shannon's parents could hardly contain their joy that their prodigal daughter had returned to the fold. By the time Shannon graduated from Community College, she and Robert were engaged.
"And now we're living happily ever," Shannon told Tracy. Her friend instantly picked up on the sarcasm in Shannon's voice.
"So where is your hubby, anyway?" she asked Shannon
"You mean SpongeBob SquarePants?" Shannon replied with barely concealed contempt.
"What did you call him?" Tracy asked with a giggle.
"SpongeBob SquarePants," Shannon repeated. "I call him that because he's a total square and he's sponging up all the fun out of my life!" she said bitterly, and Tracy couldn't help but laugh.
"Come on, Shannon, I thought you'd married a cross between the Lone Ranger and Eliot Ness!" she teased.