Love & Care

Chapter 2

December 12

"Hello what can I get you?" I turned around to see the same woman from the day before and a small brunette.
"Hey Alexandra. Lovely to see you." Taylor greeted me. I smiled at her.
"Well good to see you too. What can I get the two of you?"
"I'd like a triple chocolate muffin and a mint tea." Taylor said. "What about you Sel?" She looked at the brunette.
"Uhm a cheesecake and a Cappuccino." I nodded and noted the items down.
"I'll bring your orders to your table so go ahead and sit down." They smiled at me and I started to boil the water for the tea and making the Cappuccino.
While the drinks were made I put the muffin on one plate and the cheesecake on the other one.
I walked to the table were the two woman were sitting and set the food down.
"Drinks will be ready in a moment." I smiled and went back behind the counter to get the drinks.
I walked back to their table and put the drinks down.
As it was quiet I did the dishes and cleaned the counter before sitting down and doing some school work.
Luckily it was music. My favourite class. I needed to analyze a piece of music which was pretty easy so I was done after a short amount of time.
Next was biology an essay about sympatric radiation. Well I needed to research for that so I took out my book and started with skimming through the texts and taking notes.
After a while the bells rang. Looking up I saw my sisters standing in the door.
"Lexi." Maya ran towards me and hugged my legs. I smiled and hugged her as well. "Hey Maya." After she let go of me I hugged Layla and greeted her.
"Not that I mind but what are you guys doing here?" "We wanted to visit you." Maya sat down on one of the chairs and dangeld with her legs.
"Alright. Layla do you need to do homework?" She nodded. "Don't worry I'll do them now." I smiled. "And what about you May. Do you wanna draw something?" She nodded and got pencils out of her bag. "I'll get you some paper." I kissed her on the top of her head and quickly went behind the counter where I got her some paper.
"There you go." She smiled and started to draw.
A man walked in.
He looked at me and ordered a big coffee to go.
While the coffee machine was working he was talking to someone on the phone.
Apparently he was stressed because the coffee was taking to long.
"When will you be finished?" He snapped at me.
"One moment Sir. The coffee will be ready soon."
"I hope so." He said angrily.
The machine was finished and I handed it to him.
"That be two dollar." He put some money on the counter and walked out.
I teared up. It was only 1.2$. Now I'd have to use some of tips to make sure the register was right.
I started panicking. Damn not now. I can't have an anxiety attack now. Not while I'm working. But the thought of me having to give up some of the extra I earned that I needed in order to pay for my sisters jacket made me panic. It was already hard enough to pay for everything.
"Sunshine. Are you alright? " The brunette was standing in front of the counter.
"Yeah" I let out a shaky breath.
"Are you sure. You look a little pale. Why don't you sit down a moment and drink something?" While I stepped in front of the counter she came towards me and slowly led me to the table were my sisters were sitting.
Taylor was standing there now as well.
"Hey Alex. You feel alright?" I nodded while I sat down.
Layla handed me a glass of water and I took a few sips.
She nodded but didn't seem convinced.
"Who are you?" Maya had took a grab at the dress of the brunette.
"Hey there sweetheart my name's Selena. And who are you little princess?" Maya giggeld and beamed at her.
"I'm Maya and this my sister Layla and this is my sister Lexi." Layla waved at her.
"It's very nice to meet you Maya." Selena said and sat down next to my baby sister.
"What are you drawing princess?"
"A princess in her castle and a unicorn and a rainbow." Maya pointed out on the paper.
The brunette, that introduced herself as Selena, smiled lovingly at my sister. "That's a beautiful picture."
"Thank you." Maya gave her a smile and went back to drawing.
Layla was doing her homework. So she was alright as well.
"Alexandra" "Just call me Alex" Taylor nodded. "Okai. Alex are you alright. You still seem very pale and you're hands are shaking." She had crouched down next to me.
"I'm alright. I just need a few seconds." She nodded but didn't get up, her concerned look didn't leave me for one second.
"I'm better. Promise." She smiled.
I got up and started to walk towards the counter.
For the rest of my shift Selena played with Maya and Taylor either checked in with Layla to help with homework or made sure I'm alright.
At 5pm my colleague came in. We walked out.
"So Maya. Do you want to go looking for a winter jacket?" She jumped up and down.
While Maya and Layla started walking in front of me Taylor and Selena stayed by my side. It irritated me why were they still with us?
"So what are you little ones doing now?" Taylor asked with a smile on her face.
"Buying Maya a winter jacket and than home I guess." They nodded and smiled shortly.
"Alright. I guess we'll see you around." Selena said and smiled at us. I nodded  "See you around." They went over to one of the cars nearby. Maya ran over to both of them and hugged their legs. They smiled, crouched down and hugged her back. "Bye Selly, bye Tay." She giggled and went back to us.
It took us a five minute walk to arrive at the secondhand shop we usually went to. There we looked through the kids jackets to find something fitting for Maya.
After a while we found a sweet jacket and a cap for Maya all in the price limit of 40$ we even had some money over to buy Layla a new cap, as her jacket from last year still fit her. If we had some money in the next few weeks I'd need to buy myself a new pair of shoes but that would take a while. My sisters came first.
Dressed in her warm new coat Maya was jumping up and down in front of us.
She looked so happy that it made me smile.
As we arrived at our home I realized that our parents were drunk at least that was what the new bottles in the hallway indicated.
"Guys go to our room and stay there no matter what you hear." Layla seemed to understand what was going as she quickly pulled Maya upstairs into our room.
"Where were you?" Dad came into the hallway. He stumbled a bit and his words were slurred.
"Work. Sir" "As if a useless thing like you could even find a job." He raised his hand. My cheek started stinging. "I bet you had to sleep with someone to get this job... Probably also to keep it. I don't think you'd be able to actually work." While he was talking me he continued punching me. But he actually switched to my stomach.
He pushed me and I was laying on the floor.
"You stupid brat." He kicked me. "Why did we even have you?" He continued to kick me "You're useless." "You're worthless." At this point I passed out. My body was to tired to handle anymore pain.
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