Dangerous waters of Appletown

First day in a new job

"Morning, Carrie! Get outta your bed and get ready to start the first day of the rest of your life with a huge smile on your pretty face!" Adrianne is jumping up and down on our double bed, obviously very excited.

"I'm never ever again staying in the same room as you. Jeez, it's not even 8 o'clock. Let me sleep," I give her an upset look and curl myself up in a ball under my blanket. I can feel the bed bounce as she keeps on jumping like a crazy tree frog.

"Get up from your damn bed, Caca!"

"Allright, Add, I'm getting up, just please stop jumping, got it?" I try to calm her down. I scavenge through my wardrobe to find that gorgeous new dress Mom bought me to celebrate that we were finally done unpacking. (She got herself a new phone and bought a suit for Dad.)

I finally find the dress and change.

"Wow, how much did that cost?" Add stares at me with her mouth wide open.

"It was actually on sale," I admitted. "Mom decided that our family deserved a treat after all of that packing and unpacking."

"How much?" she insists. "It's gorgeous. Is that really silk?"

"The label says so," I grin and put on a bit of mascara. The dress really is gorgeous. The top is made of lace while the skirt has two layers - the bottom made of something synthetic and the top one of silk.

"I have to be flawless if I want to get a boyfriend," I say with a wide smile. "What are you wearing?"

She shows me a navy blue shirt, black shorts and a cute necklace with a little white ribbon. We get ready for our big day.

After eating a bowl of cornflakes, I wait for Add outside the house with my bicycle ready. She gets hers, we say goodbye to Mom and we head for the juice bar where we're planning on working.

As we arrive, the first thing I notice is the big banner that says 'Happy Mango juice bar'. It's hot. The sky is blue just like the sea and there are already some fine boys on the beach. I resist the urge to run into the waves and I let Add drag me to the bar.

"Hello," we greet a young red-haired woman behind the counter.

"Hi, how can I help you?" she smiles.

"We're the new workers," Add explains to her.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Kelly. You're here early," she says.

"Yeah, we are, because someone was too excited and got up at 7:50." I give Add an angry look. The woman laughs and tells us to introduce ourselves.

"I'm Adrianne Coleman but most people call me Add."

"Well, I'm Caroline Jones. Call me Carrie," I say. "We're both sixteen years old. I've just moved here and I'm going to attend Appletown High. Adrianne is here only for the summer." We shake hands and she tells us what we have to do. She's really kind to us. We read the brochures that explain the basics and try to memorize the catalogue. One of us is going to make juices, the other is going to sell them. The juicers are quite easy to use so there's nothing to worry about. When the bar opens, I'm the first one to stand behind the counter.

"Hello, how can I help you?"
"The raspberry smoothie is ready!"
"Five dollars, please!"
"Make me a big apple-cinnamon smoothie and a medium Veggie Bomb!"

The morning goes by. The queues at Happy Mango become quite long and I have to concentrate so I don't mess up the customers' orders. Some really hot boys order a couple of Apple Jacks (apple with vanilla, cinnamon, cream and a hint of pear) and they seem like they're having fun. One of them is really gorgeous. He's probably the most shy one because he's not trying to make fun of me or hit at me.

"Hey, beautiful," the blonde one says, "Three Apple Jacks." I blush as he calls me 'beautiful' although I know that he's probably the type which hits on everything that has a vag.

"Nope, I actually want a Berrylicious," the ginger barges in. "A medium one."

"Two Apple Jacks and a medium Berrylicious, is that right?" I ask.

"Yeah, a large for me and a double for him," he says and points at the sexiest guy I've ever seen in my life. Including cover models and actors.

"A double?" I gasp.
That's one freaking litre of juice! How can anyone drink that?! Is he even human?

"Yeah, I always order it. Are you new here? Haven't seen you around," he says. I immediately notice that his voice is just as sexy as his body, deep and calming with a little accent. Maybe French, maybe Italian, maybe English. I suck at accents. You could make me talk for five minutes straight with a Russian who barely speaks English and the first question I would ask him would be: "Could it be that you're French?"

Add is just as surprised as me when I tell her and Kelly to make a double Apple Jack.

"You get the juices over there," I remind the blonde douche who is now looking right at my chest. Not that there's much to look at.

"When does the bar close, baby girl?" he asks, making a trying-to-be-sexy face. "I can show you incredible things."

"Magic, madness, heaven, sin, saw you there and I thought you should pay for your juice and fuck off," I reply with a cold smile. He probably sees that he's not going to get laid so he grabs his large Apple Jack. The ginger one gives me an apologetic look as he follows his friend. The sexy shy one smiles at me.

"Watch out. He always gets what he wants. And sorry for him. My name's Simon." He shakes my hand and I introduce myself. Then he pays for the three of them and grabs his double juice. I'm blushing, my hand is still tingling from his touch and I can't deny the butterflies in my stomach.
You are in love. True love.

Taylor Swift's new album is really good.

At exactly 14:00, we close the bar for a while to have a lunch break. Kelly shows us the employees' room. There is a wooden table with comfy chairs, a first aid kit and a fire extinguisher. Add notices a fridge with "for employees" written on it. She opens it and realizes that it's full of fruits. I can clearly see that huge smile of hers.

"Kelly? Can we have some?" she asks. Her eyes are glowing.

"Of course. They're leftovers so don't forget to check if they're OK," she smiles and takes a strawberry.

"Paradise," I whisper. "And I'm getting paid for this."

Me and Add eat some berries and a whole mango before we unpack the sandwiches Mom made us.

In the afternoon, I'm the one to make juices and Add sells them. The boys don't show up and I haven't got much time to think about Simon and his warning because the queues get even longer and the orders pile up as if everybody in town has decided to go get some fresh juice.

"Small Berrylicious! Medium carrot juice! Large Bananilla!" Add ovewhelms us with orders and we try to make juices as fast as possible.

When work is finally over, the juicers are hot and there is one leftover juice that some guy paid and didn't take it because he felt sick all of a sudden. We share it - me, Add and Kelly - and I ask Kelly if she knows Simon and his two friends.

"Simon? You mean that handsome brown-haired boy? That one with dark blue eyes?"

"Yeah. They're even darker than Add's but they're still blue."

"Whoa, someone fell in love at first sight," Add cringes. "Haven't you always said that you didn't believe in it?"

"Hey!"

"Well, Carrie, I don't know Simon, but the ginger one is my brother. His name's Ethan."

"Okay. Simon, Ethan and a perverted blonde douchebag. I'll remember them. Bye, Kelly," I say.

"Bye," Kelly waves at us and we head home.