CONTROL ➳ D. HALE [2]

06 ; thunderstorm

06 ➳ THUNDERSTORM

Elise looked up from the cash register, finding the teachers face from the storage closet looking down at her. "Sorry," she said. "I didn't realize that you worked here." Elise stared wide-eyed at the woman, unsure of how to respond.

"Saving teachers by night, serving coffee by day," Elise chuckled dryly, earning a strange look from a customer nearby. She gave the woman an expectant look, waiting for her order.

She must have misread Elise's expression, though, as her eyes widened. "I won't say anything, I promise."

"I'm actually just waiting for you to order," Elise replied, the corner of her lips quirking upward. Something about the woman still seemed off. It did seem that Elise's abilities had been on the fritz lately, though. She was picking up things that weren't there and following strange swarms of unusual insects into the forest. For all she knew, this was just another mistake. Perhaps the woman was completely normal. She chose to ignore the strange signals that she was getting.

"Oh, right," the woman said, visibly embarrassed. She paused for a second, her eyes flicking to Elise's nametag. "Well, Elise, what would you suggest for someone who has to start two dozen teenagers on The Crucible in thirty minutes and has no idea where to even begin?"

Elise smiled at the woman and typed in an order for an iced coffee and a blueberry muffin. It was Elise's go to order on a warm day like the one they were experiencing, and she figured that it was hard to go wrong with such a simple combination. "If I were you, I'd mention how the themes of good and evil overlap with the themes of lies and deceit and how the entire play is basically just a giant allegory for McCarthyism." Her suggestion earned a surprised look from the woman. "English was pretty much the only class I never had to worry about failing. Aside from art, that is," she explained, prompting the woman's lips to form a small smile. Elise chose to leave out the part where she'd read nearly every book that even mentioned the term 'witch' when she'd learned of her lineage. "That'll be five-fifty," she added.

The woman nodded, pulling out her wallet and handing Elise the money. "Name?" Elise asked, earning another confused look. "For the order?"

"It's Jennifer," the woman replied, her cheeks flushing a light shade of pink. Elise wasn't quite sure how someone who got so easily flustered could manage to teach at a high school, but she wasn't going to question it.

Elise nodded and set to work preparing the woman's order.

➳

The rain poured outside of Elise's window as she nodded her head to the music that was steadily playing from her stereo. After she'd gotten off of work, the weather had quickly turned sour and a thunderstorm had rolled in.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang from downstairs, making the brunette jump slightly. She looked up from where she was aimlessly sketching and made her way down to the front door, still faintly bobbing her head to the music, despite the song being nearly inaudible from the other floor of the house. She closed her hand around the cold handle of the door and pulled, opening it to reveal Isaac standing on her doorstep, drenched in rain.

"Isaac!" Elise exclaimed, pulling the shivering boy inside. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"I need a favor," Isaac muttered as Elise rushed to grab the boy a towel.

Elise stared at the boy in disbelief for a moment before replying, "Is this really something that you couldn't have just called about?" she asked, handing him a towel. "It's freezing outside!"

The blonde boy took the towel from her, a grateful expression on his face as he began to wring out his curly hair. "Well, I didn't really have anywhere else to go," Isaac replied, his eyes downcast. "Which leads me to the favor I mentioned earlier... can I say here a while?"