Nathan ran a hand through his hair, organizing it, straightening it, all while looking into his phone camera, just to make sure he looked presentable. He’d been doing this since he first rang the doorbell, which had to have been minutes ago at this point.

He put his hands in his pockets nervously. What was taking them so long? He didn’t want to drive all the way to his parent’s house for forty-five minutes only to learn that his family didn’t trust him anymore. They couldn’t have given up on him that quickly. Didn’t he deserve a chance? If it were them, he would’ve-

Sunny
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

They used to tease me at school and called me “Stunty” because I was small. It was like my growth was stunted all over – not just height but weight too. And I was slow to puberty. Stunted development – stunted all round, so they said, but when you are small you learn to handle things with humor, or at least that worked for me. I guess I just decided to turn my nickname on its head and learn to live with it. So, I decided to seek my fortune as a stunt man in Hollywood.

The rear alarms started going off. Men in black outfits with their heads covered came from the rear of the property. Along with the men were three side-by-side ATVs armed with miniguns.

“Um, Clair, did your team have defenses capable of stopping things like those ATVs?” Ada was standing near the back door.

Clair rushes towards her office and lifts the top off her desk. She starts flicking switches to arm the hidden defensive weapons. She looks at the monitors in her office as the three ATVs are engaged.

"So you quit the internship," said Reginald.

"Yes, I did," said Genesis. She was sitting at the dinner table with her dad Reginald, stepmom Paulette, and stepsister Ramona, having just told them about what had happened with Lucas at Pride Laboratories.

"You know, most people don't quit jobs or internships without putting in a 2-week notice," said Reginald. "That would be the professional thing to do."

"I know," said Genesis. "But now that Lucas Jacobson has shown his true colors..."

Emily Berrigan is a 23 year old woman, who hasn't seen her twin in six years. Not since she told her parents the truth and they threw her out. Now her older sister is getting married and she wants Emily there...as a bridesmaid. Will sparks fly?
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In this chapter, Emily comes to Chicago for the wedding weekend, confronts her mother's family and meets Jared's.
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I had a bunch of weird dreams last night. In one I was a man wearing overalls who jumped a lot. In one I was flying a spaceship, and in another driving a car. In real life I’m a 15-year-old girl in high school and I haven’t even started driving, but I didn’t have any trouble in the dream. But those were more normal dreams. The dream played out and I experienced it.

She took a measured sip of orange juice, apparently considering the best approach to her self-appointed task. “It’s been six months, and you're still acting like a mangy old cat who’s been dumped in a puppy farm.”

Substitute
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Rebecca Farnham was not an attractive woman, although she probably could have been. The fact is that she was brought up in a sporting family where achievement was more important than appearance. She had one brother playing pro-football and the older brother playing pro-golf. It was always assumed that she would excel in something physical. It could have been any of the sports she showed promise in at school, but she chose tennis.