Story Time Animated

"How dare you make a fool out of me!"

"I don't have to make a fool out of you, you're doing that all on your own!"

Mr and Mrs. Randall, our next door neighbours, argued back and forth. I pressed the space between my eyebrows.

"I guess it's time for a break anyway." I pushed my homework aside.

I went downstairs and lo and behold my mother sat on a beach chair with a bucket of popcorn with the front door open, watching the neighbours as though she had front seats to a WWE match.

This was just the beginning. Mom's crazy addiction affected everyone in town.

After my parents' divorce Mom and I moved to a small town. Why did they get divorced? Well, Dad told Mom she was married to her job; she wrote juicy gossip for tabloids and she was the best at what she did. When he asked her to quit she did it because she loved Dad but he left anyway and I watched Mom wither before my eyes, until she started to meddle in people's business once more. It seemed to bring back a spark to her personality. I love my Mom but her addiction was crazy!

Around midnight after studying, I decided to head downstairs for a snack when I saw Mom looking through blinds by the front door.

"Ugh, don't tell me the Randalls are at it again!"

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"Get Stephanie!" Dad screamed.

"Daddy! Help me!" I stretched my hand towards my dad but the more I stretched the further my father looked. 

I was drenched with sweat and blood trickled down my face. I tried to stand but I fell with a thud to the ground.

My eyes shot open. My breathing was heavy as my heart raced. 

"It was just a dream. It was just a dream."

Hey, if you want to hear more about my story, stick around. I went from knowing where I came from to knowing nothing at all, can you believe that? 

"I think it's time we go back home," Mom said. 

"We don't need to make that decision just yet. We will put her in danger if we leave now," Dad responded.

"We'll put her in danger if we stay."

I was heading to the bathroom but Mom's words made me stop in my tracks. Where was home? I've lived in this neighborhood all my life. 

The following day, I cleared my throat and questioned them during breakfast.

"Mom, what did you mean when you said you think it's time we went home? Did we live somewhere before here?"

At school my mind replayed what I heard the night before.

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“Ugh I can’t believe this! Life is garbage! I’m going to break everything in here!”

I heard my mom screaming from the kitchen and figured she was having another one of her tantrums. She usually behaved like that when she was upset about the smallest things but she didn’t break anything. This time it was different because I started hearing plates crashing on the walls. I ran downstairs.

“Mom! What’s wrong? Calm down! For goodness sake!”

“The publisher won’t accept my novel! Something about it being too cliché and romantic!”

“But mom, you’re already a best-selling novelist who has made so much money! We are so well off and I can’t understand why you don’t just retire!”

“Retire? NEVER! The fans want more! But I can’t give them what they want anymore.”

At this point she started crying and I was about to roll my eyes and walk away when she said

“But hey, I do have an idea for a book that will definitely sell but I need your help. I want to provide insight into the lives of rich guys – particularly those around your age. I just need you to go on dates with super rich guys then report to me everything that happened. It’s going to be my best book yet! Maybe it will even become a documentary...”

“Mom...”

“I’ll pay you! A few hundred for each date. How does that sound?”

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I couldn’t believe how much I was shaking. Jason, the captain of the basketball team and my crush, was getting his books out of his locker right next to me! How did I get so lucky he had been assigned a locker so close? I couldn’t let this opportunity pass me by. 

I’ve always felt like I’m in the background at school. I could sink into the wallpaper, and no one would even notice. My best friend Cindy has said she doesn’t mind being so low profile. But when it comes to talking to guys, it has always stopped me from getting what I wanted, and I wanted Jason to notice me. Little did I know, I was about to make that happen! Before I tell you how I did it, make sure you like and subscribe to Story Time Animated for more insane stories like mine!

I was just about to say hello when Rebecca stepped in front of me, sipping a smoothie. She’s the Queen Bee of our school, and like a bee, she could sting you with every one of her words. 

“Nice scrunchie Sam! I love how it matches your dress. They’re both equally tacky!”

I turned back to my locker, blushing so much I thought my head would explode. Jason looked uncomfortable. Rebecca turned to him quickly, whipping me in the face with her long brown hair. 

“Hi Jason. I’ll be at your game tonight. I hope you win…” 

Jason smiled, “Thanks Rebecca. See you then!” He started down the hall as the bell rang.

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“What do you mean your mom just left you all alone?”

“I woke up one day and she was gone. I haven’t seen her in three weeks and there’s no more food in the house. I don’t know what to do. You guys need to find her and arrest her.”

“Well honey, we’ll try all we can to find her but first we’ve got to get you into foster care.”

“Foster WHAT?”

I couldn’t believe my ears. How could my mom do this to me?

Well, it was probably all my fault but I’ll let you be the judge. I’ll explain everything that happened until we got to the point of my mom totally abandoning me. Don’t go away now!

I was an only child with two loving parents who showered me with affection. My favorite parent was my dad because he gave me anything I wanted. Remember Veruca Salt’s dad from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? He was sort of like that except I didn’t need to ask twice. So you can bet that my childhood was awesome

“Daddy I want a big dollhouse.”

“We’ll go buy it tomorrow dear.”

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My mom and I stood there with our jaws dropped. There was my older sister Jeannine, wrapped up in my stepfather’s arms. Their faces were stuck together!

“Eww.”

“WHAT THE... How long has this been going on?”

My sister and step dad jumped.

“Uh honey. I thought you weren’t getting back until tomorrow?”

“Oh yeah, well we took an earlier flight! Jeannine, what’s going on here? How could my own daughter do this to me? How long has this been going on?”

“Uhh...”

At this point I ran up to my room because I hate drama. I had no idea that this was just the beginning of the craziest part of my life. It kept getting more and more outrageous but you’ll have to stay tuned to find out how.

My mom thought she hit the jackpot when she met my stepdad. I was about five years old when she split up with my real dad and she was really sad at first but when she met Roger at a party and they started dating, she became the happiest woman alive. Roger owned an investment firm and a few other businesses. He was filthy rich and before we knew it, my mom, Jeannine and I were living in his mansion. Jeannine was already eighteen but she wasn’t about that college life. She just wanted to live like a rich man’s daughter for a while.

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“Mom! Dad! I have some good news for you." 

My sister Ella came rushing into the living room. I braced myself for whatever brilliant idea she came up with this time. 

Our parents looked up immediately, all their attention on her.

"I've been saving a lot from the jobs I've been doing over the weekends. I now want to start my own online business selling jewelry. You guys have inspired me since your store is so successful.”

She opened her laptop and showed us her new website.

"See? It's all ready, now all I need is to add the items I'll be selling."

My parents exchanged a look I saw often. It was a look of pride and joy at their brilliant daughter. Then dad turned to me.

"Aren't you going to congratulate your sister?" 

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes.

"Take that attitude and go to your room!"

I got up to leave but Ella blocked my path.

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“Dude, Sasha is so into you! Why do you keep ignoring her?”

“And Hayley was totally checking you out earlier.”

“Oh come on guys. You know that Jayden only loves one girl!”

“Merrlanie!”

My friends were total idiots sometimes but they weren’t wrong. Countless girls were into me but I only had eyes for Melanie. There was just something different about her – something dark and mysterious. She never really tried to fit in with other girls at all. Most of the girls at my school behaved like copies of each other; they wore the same clothes, had the same hairstyles and even spoke the same way. But Melanie? She didn’t care. She was herself. And while almost every girl was head over heels for me, Melanie ignored me.

“Why don’t you just try talking to her?”

“I’ve tried, but she ignores me all the time or just gives me one word answers.”

"Well try harder!”

Well, thanks to my Social Studies teacher, I wouldn’t have to try very hard. She walked in one day with a big announcement.

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“Hello. Is this the Wade Residence?”

“Yes. You’re speaking with Mrs Wade, is there a problem?” 

“I’m very sorry ma’am but there’s a huge problem, you may have the wrong child”.

“What?”

“What?”

“There has been a mixup. We apologise because it is all our fault. There was a mislabelling so the baby you’ve taken home may not be your biological son.”

“What the hell is this? You waited three years to tell us that? Honey, hand me the phone immediately!”

“We only discovered this error recently, other parents have been informed but you’re one of the last people on the list to know. You need to know because a lot of families may be coming over to yours, to figure out if your son is actually theirs. I’m so sorry and I apologise for the inconvenience”.

The nurse quickly hung up.

Hearing that the child they had loved and nurtured for three years may belong to another family was already bad enough, imagining that their real child may have been taken by someone else was even more terrible but the months that followed were downright exhausting.

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"Anna! Anna! Anna!"

Everyone cheered for me as I stood in place, ready to defend my title. I know what you're thinking, that I was standing at the starting line of a major race at the Olympics or something fancy like that. I wasn't.

We were at the annual cake eating competition at our school and I was the reigning champion.

"3,2,1...begin!"

I dove face first into the cake as the crowd went wild. I'd starved myself all day just for this moment. I took large bites of the delicious cake and didn't even bother chewing, I swallowed them whole, coming close to choking a few times.

Soon, the wild cheers turned into laughter and boos. 

"Oink! Oink!"

Was that my best friend Kyla? 

"OH my God Jason, your girlfriend is a pig!"

Why would Kyla say such a thing? She was my best friend since kindergarten and had never teased me about my weight. I looked over to where she was, with my boyfriend Jason standing next to her. They were both laughing and pointing to my face, now covered in cake. I quickly wiped most of it and ran off the stage, defending my trophy was no longer important.

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