Shan (1x01)

Shan is the first episode of Saints. It revolves around character Shan Donnegan and herself being the sole provider in her family.

"Shannon" my mother says to me sitting at our dinner table before I cut her off. "Mum, for the one thousandth time, call me Shan." I snap at her. "Shannon Samantha Donnegan, do not give me that tone." my mother yells at me. "Whatever." I say rolling my eyes. She obviously ignores my eye roll and continues. "So, honey, I've got something to tell you." she tells me. "Yes?" I ask her in a sarcastic tone. "Well, I'm sure you know about my chain of boutiques...we'll I'm afraid the business has gone bankrupt, and we've lost all of our money." I sit at the counter shocked, what's going to happen to us now? Are we going to move to a homeless shelter? Have the whole family work two jobs? I have no clue. "Well, what's going to happen?" I ask timidly. "Well, I was never the working type as you know, and your little brothers are far too young to be working, so, you're going to have to start working part-time yourself." she tells me. "Just me? Supporting all five of us?" I ask, clearly shellshocked. "Pretty much, glad you understand sweet heart," she takes her purse and begins walking out the front door. "Well, I'll be at the salon hun, call me if you need anything." she says, and like that she's gone. "What the hell's wrong with her?" I mutter to myself. "Frankie, Tim, Eric, I'm going out, ok?" I shout upstairs to my three little brothers, ages twelve, eleven, and ten. No answer. I shrug it off and head outside.

I pull my cell phone out as I walk through the crowded streets of Manchester and call my best friend Nina. Nina and I have been best friends forever, her mum even helped deliever me when I was being born. The phone rings several times until I hear Nina's voicemail system, "Hey, this is Nina, leave a message and I'll call you back soon, well, unless I hate you, bye!" "Nina, tonight, me, you, Nasi, and Deli, Psychedelic, be there." I say. This time, I call Delilah, another one of my lifelong fiends, and leave an identical voicemail. "What the fuck, has everyone died or something" I mutter to myself. I leave the same message on Nasia's answering machine until walking into my favorite place on Earth, Union Jack's Café. "Hey Jack." I say smiling at Jack Union, the owner of the café. Jack is a stocky man in his late 40's who used to be a member of the British Navy back in the day. He's covered in tattoos and seems like an intimidating person, but in reality, he's just a mushy gushy gentle giant. "Ah, hello Shan, what would you like today?" he says, but I'm clearly not listening. I see Delilah, Nina, and Nasia walking outside with the one and only, Cassidy. My biggest enemy ever. When we were in year 7 she spread a rumor around school that I slept with our geometry teacher, ever since then she's been on my list, and you don't want to be on my list.

I run out of the café and intercept the group of four on their way to the subway. "Well hello there my lovely mates, and Cassidy." Cassidy rolls her eyes at me but I honestly don't care. "Oh hey there Shan." says Nasia obviously realizing how awkward the situation is. "So what's going on here exactly?" I ask slightly rudely. "Well we were just gonna hang with Cassidy at her place." says Delilah. I ignore her. "So why weren't you answering your phones?" I bark. "Um..." they all stammer. "That's what I thought." I say rolling my eyes as I walk back into the café.

Nina chases after me back into the café and grabs my arm before I can walk away from her. "Shan, I know you and Cassidy have had rough patches in the past but she's changed, and she's really nice now." she says to me. "Yeah, sure." I say sarcastically. "I'm serious Shan, just give her a chance, how bout tonight at Psychedelic? The boys can come too." she pleads with her adorable light brown puppy dog eyes right in my face. "Ugh...fine, but if she does anything don't expect me to be nice to her." "Yay!" she squeals jumping up and down while giving me a hug. "This is gonna be so much fun!" We both run out of the café back into the busy Manchester streets.

"So, tonight, all of us, Tyler, Mau, John, and Joey are gonna head to Psychedelic, that sound good?" Nina asks all of us. We all nod in agreement until I comprehend the name 'Joey' was just said. "Wait, Joey's coming?" I ask. Joey's my ex, we dated for about three years until he broke my heart. "C'mon Shan, you're gonna have to get over Joey eventually." says Delilah as she puts her hand on my shoulder. "I am I am, it's just, I don't know." I say putting a smile back on my face. "I sure hope so." says Nasia in the sly tone she always uses. "I think it'd be really fun, party all night, and y'know not get up for our first day of college tomorrow." says Cassidy sarcastically. "Shit, I forgot bout college." says Delilah. "Yeah, me too." says Nasia. After seeing how let down Nina looks by the sound of the doubt in the air, I decide to try to turn things around. "But c'mon guys. If we don't get completely wasted we're gonna sleep till noon tomorrow, we'll make it through, trust me." The others seemingly reluctantly nod in agreement. Nina's smile begins to brighten as we exchange a glance. "So, let's all meet tonight at Psychedelic, about 10:00 pm? So we can get there just as it's opening?" "Sure, I guess I can never turn down a night of clubbing." says Nasia jokingly. "Gotta agree with my girl over there." laughs Delilah. "So, it's settled? Awesome. Well I'm going to continue on with my lunch, bye-bye." I walk back into the café as the group of four outside continue on into the subway.

"Sorry about that Jack, I just had to handle something." I say walking back into the café. "Oh don't worry about it Shan, I understand you go through your teenage girl problems." he says while chuckling. I laugh as well. "Well I think I'm just gonna get a nice black coffee today." "Coming right up." he says as he goes away to work on the drink. While I'm waiting for my coffee I think to myself about Cassidy. Maybe I was just overreacting, could she of changed? Well tonight, was the only way to tell. As Jack comes back to my table he hands me the coffee. "There you go Miss." "Thanks Jack, well I think I'm gonna take this to go, bye, I'll see you around." I say as I get up from the table. "Oh Shan, this one's on us, you got a rough day tomorrow." he says winking at me. I giggle slightly. "Thanks Jack, bye." I say walking out of the café.

I make a sharp right and bump into a rather tall man, spilling my steaming hot black coffee all over his white t-shirt. "Oh man, that sucks." says a man standing next to him. When I pick my head up I realize that this friend is Tyler Presley and the man I just spilled coffee all over, is Joey. "Oh god, hey guys, sorry bout that Joey." I say taking napkins out of my purse attempting to clean his shirt off. He chuckles. "Shan, it's fine I'll just clean it when I get back home." he says. "You sure, it's pretty bad." I say managing a slight smile. "Yeah, don't worry about it." he says reassuring me. "So did Nina tell you about tonight?" I ask them both. "Yeah," Tyler says "it's gonna be sick." I giggle slightly. "What he said," says Joey chuckling "Mau and John told me they're coming as well, I guess we can expect the whole group tonight." "Awesome, well I guess I'll see you guys tonight." I saw awkwardly, trying to avoid more conversation. "Yep, I guess so." says Joey. I quickly walk away before the conversation could get any more awkward than it already was.

I check the clock as I get out of my bathroom. 9:30. Only a half an hour to get ready. I lay out an outfit onto my bed. A tight black crop top with some acid wash jeans and black heels. "Perfect." I whisper before my mother comes into my room. "Shannon, I'm back from the salon." she says to me, obviously intoxicated. "Well I can clearly tell you're back, don't know if you went to the salon though." I snap to her. "Listen you little whore," she says to me stepping closer. "I don't want to her that tone from you anymore, got it?" "Yeah, sure mum." I say. "Good, well I'm gonna go to the bar now, boy could I use a drink." she says leaving and closing my bedroom door behind her.

I walk up to Psychedelic decked in an outfit I wouldn't even think of wearing any other day. "Shan, over here!" yells Nina at the front of the line to get in. It seems like everyone's here, Nina, Delilah, Nasia, Joey, Mau, Tyler, and Cassidy. This is gonna be an interesting night I think to myself. "Can I see your IDs?" says the bouncer at the front of the queue. We all hand him our fake IDs which he barely takes a look at until he sees mine. "You're 21?" he asks. "Yes..." I say, obviously nervous. "Oh, so what uni are you in?" he interrogates me. "Um, well I'm not in uni." I say. "Hmmmmm." Just then Delilah comes back out. "Um excuse me, is there a problem here?" she asks the bouncer. "Um, well..." he says. "Yeah, that's what I thought." she says. "Get your arse in here girl." she says grabbing me by the arm and pulling me through the main entrance.

Psychedelic is just amazing. Live bands, neon glow in the dark furniture illuminating the warehouse, everyone covered in body paint. It's just spectacular. "So how'd you do that Deli?" I ask her. She giggles. "Look at me, girls like me get what they want." she says jokingly. I laugh as well. Delilah runs off near where the band is performing and I'm left alone in the crowded club. As I search for my friends I see Nasia leading some man into a bathroom and I instantly try to erase what they're going to do in there out of my head. Then I see Cassidy making out with some blonde girl with glasses at the bar. Maybe I was wrong about Cassidy, maybe she did change. Next, I see Tyler trying to pick up some redhead, who's obviously had a little bit too much to drink. It ends with the two furiously making out on the floor while John looks on, clearly disgusted. Then I see Delilah kissing some guy. Good for Delilah, she's been single for awhile it's good to see her-. My train of thought stops. That isn't just any guy, that's Joey. I don't understand why this means so much to me. Joey and I have been over for awhile now. Why am I freaking out over this? I go over to talk to Mau, who seems to be having just as much of a bad time as I am.

"Hey." I say as I sit beside him. "Hey Shan." he says as he sips the liquid in his cup. "So, you having any fun here?" I ask him. "Eh, not as much as it was cracked up to be." he says. "I know what you're saying." I reassure him. "Excited for college tomorrow?" I ask him. "Who gets excited for school?" he responds. I let out a sigh. "How bout we just get completely wasted tonight, fuck school." I ask him. He smirks. "I like that idea." We walk up to the bar and order a couple tequila shots. I've never had a drink of alcohol in my life, but I think I'm ready. "Cheers." I say before taking a sip.

THE END