"You missed a spot" Vivian's annoying voice said.
Sarah groaned in despair. She had been cleaning the stadium floors for the past two hours under the watchful eye of Vivian Kingly. The black haired bitch took a liking at pointing every single stain Sarah missed during her cleaning. Of course, of all the people that could have owned this place, it had to be Vivian's father.
"Whatever" Sarah grumbled.
"Clean it" Vivian said.
"Don't tell me what to do"
"I am here to make sure you do your job properly"
"You're here to supervise, not dictate" Sarah pointed out.
"It will be on my head if you do it wrong" Vivian replied.
"Not my fault"
"Of course it's your fault"
Sarah groaned and rolled her eyes. She was using every bit of control she had not to punch the shrew in the teeth. 'No patience' Leanne had told her. If this moment was not a test of her patience then Sarah didn't know what was.
In the past, Sarah did suffer horrible bosses but none as picky as the rich bitch. Of course, Sarah had never worked in a prestigious place where the floors were polished enough to be giant mirrors.
"Go away" Sarah spat but Vivian ignored her.
"Honestly, I thought a woman of your standards you know how to properly be a maid"
"A woman of my standards?" Sarah yelled as she turned around to face her.
"I'm sorry, have I offended you?"
"Leave me alone. Dégag, Criss ton camp" Sarah sneered before going back to mopping.
"You do know I understand French, since we are in a French province"
"Sinjimae, kisama" Sarah mumbled in Japanese.
"No need for insults, Green. Your lack of self-control is truly disturbing"
"Why are you here?" Sarah said tiredly refusing to tell the other teenager that she excelled in control by simply being in her presence.
"It is my punishment for being in detention" Vivian spat the last word with venom.
"Don't blame me Vivian. You got into detention on your own" Sarah replied. "God, why can't you leave me alone? Don't you have anything better to do than- Oh no"
Sarah suddenly started to laugh as she passed a hand over her face. She couldn't believe she almost missed it; it had been right there in front of her eyes. Vivian frowned at the sudden outburst but didn't say anything.
"I'm usually good at reading people, but you, you almost had me there Vivian" Sarah chuckled darkly as she paced back and forth. "You're fucking bored. God I hate your kind"
"I'm sorry?" Vivian asked confused.
"You got all the money you want. You have a school average of ninety-five percent-
"ninety-eight" Vivian replied offended.
"Plus you have a good social life with your so called friends who follow you like a bunch of lost puppies" Sarah continued ignoring her comment. "You have absolutely nothing else to do. Your heart stopped beating"
Sarah pocked Vivian's chest roughly between her breasts where her heart was. The rich girl recoiled in surprise by the bold movement Sarah did.
"My heart did not stop beating" Vivian defended herself but Sarah had turned around and passed a hand through her hair. With an idea in mind, the poor girl turned around and faced her nemesis.
"Oh it did. You can't seem to find life interesting so you decided to ruin mine for the sake of your entertainment. But you won't have me Vivian"
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, it is cuz' I have a deal for you" Sarah said. Vivian's eyes narrowed in suspicion but remained silent "Leanne and I are going somewhere this weekend. She said I can invite a friend and I'm inviting you" Vivian snorted at the word friend.
"If I can make your heart beat again, then you will leave me alone. If I don't then I will find another way to get rid of you because, frankly, you are ruining my time here and it's really getting annoying. Deal?"
Vivian stepped forward with narrowed eyes. "Why would I ever agree to that?"
"Because you didn't get a ninety-two percent in school without curiosity"
"I have a ninety-eight average and let me remind you that curiosity has killed many people in the past" Vivian spat as she took another step.
"Well, that is a risk you're gonna have to make, darling" Sarah said keeping her ground. She then said with a sly smile "Besides, what else do you have to do to get rid of your boredom"
Vivian snorted in disbelief. "You underestimate me if you think I will follow you into this 'deal' of yours"
Both girls turned around when they heard the front door opened and closed. This was signaling that Leanne had arrived to pick Sarah up. Turning her attention to her mop and bucket full of water, Sarah picked everything up and brought them to the closet. She dumped the water and replaced the tools where they were supposed to be before walking out. Vivian was still watching her, making sure the poor girl did her job correctly. Her father would kill her if something went wrong at his stadium.
"I will see you at the Murray's house Saturday at around eight-ish in the morning. I do hope you'll learn to be civil in the meantime." Sarah grinned evilly and walked to the door leaving a furious Vivian behind her.
"How was it?" Leanne asked once Sarah got close to her.
"Not bad" Sarah grumbled "It's always worst on the first day"
Leanne led Sarah to her car. When both girls got in, Leanne started the car and drove to the golf course restaurant.
"Why are we going to the Legacy" Sarah asked "I lost my job by having community service"
"I am treating you to dinner, since everyone else ate at home, and there is no more food left" Leanne looked at Sarah sheepishly. Leanne still had trouble making the right amount of food for four hungry teenagers and two adults. Dean ate a lot due to him working out all the time. "Andy did tell me that you may have your job back after you finish community service"
"So in about a month" Sarah said unhappily. She had fifty hours of community service: two hours every week nights for five weeks. It was going to be a long month for Sarah.
"Yes well, there is nothing any of us can do" Leanne said
"What did Ken get?" Sarah asked.
"A warning"
Sarah sighed. Of course the bastard only got a warning. What else would the son of a millionaire get besides a warning?
Angry, Sarah got out of the car and slammed the door shut. She waited for Leanne to join her before moving. Leanne watched Sarah and couldn't help but feel pity. She really didn't know what to do for her.
Leanne held the door opened for Sarah as they walked into the warmth of the restaurant. Leanne had almost fallen on the ground when she accidently slipped on icy pavement. Sarah had been quick enough to catch her before anything happened.
"Hi" Leanne said to the waiter "A table of two please"
"Sure thing Madam" the waiter said. He grabbed two menus and led them to a table close to the windows where the beautiful view of a white golf course could be seen. "Would you like to start with drinks?"
"I will have red wine please" Leanne said.
"Hot cocoa" Sarah answered. The waiter bobbed his head and wrote the orders down before he left.
"So" Leanne started "I know you don't like to talk about your past, but could you tell me something about yourself? Your parents' or your favorite color? And in exchange I can tell you something of myself."
"You want to play twenty questions?" Sarah said in disbelief.
"If that is how you children call it these days, then sure"
"You first" Sarah said stubbornly. She tried to hide her smile when Leanne raised an eyebrow.
"Alright, my mother died of breast cancer five years ago" Leanne said "She was sixty-two"
"I never knew my father" Sarah answered back. "And I don't want to know who he is"
"I had two miscarriages before I got Carly"
"I'm the one who gave Sunny her nickname"
"Oh really, do tell" Leanne said. Sarah frowned at the older woman but Leanne simply encouraged her to speak.
"I met Sunny during my third year in the system. My first home was a disaster that left pretty shaken up" Sarah started but felt the need to explain more to Leanne. She really hoped she was doing the right thing by talking to Leanne. Her shrinks did tell her that confiding to someone could help her.
"I ended up in a mental institute for children due to PTSD, Depression, Paranoia and Suicidal tendencies. Anyway, I was there for seven months before the doctors deemed me stable enough to be sent back into the system.
My first home then was a foster shelter for girls. That's where I met Sunny. I was angry, I was hurt and I was known for fighting with the other girls. But that didn't stop Sunny. On the third day I was there, I was eating alone in the living room when this young, nine years old Asian girl just pops up, sits beside me and started talking, and talking, and talking. She had singled me out the moment I stepped in the house. Honestly, she just wouldn't shut up" Sarah laughed at one of her most cherished memory.
-
"And so anyway, she was like 'give it back' and I was like 'no way, it's mine'" the little girl started laughing. Honestly, Sarah couldn't understand how a nine year girl could talk so much without getting jaw tendinitis. The girl had been talking to her for the past three days now and it was getting irritating.
"And then the teacher came in and told the girl to leave me alone. But the girl didn't, you see-
"Oh my god, I don't care" Sarah finally snapped. Forget that she's talking to a nine years old, the girl was pissing her off "I honestly don't care that the girl tried to take your necklace. Fuck off before I make you. Go tell someone who gives a shit about your lame story because I don't care"
The Asian girl looked at Sarah with a pout. She cocked her head to side and pondered the words of the brown haired girl sitting next to her.
"Nope" The Asian girl finally said "Kuso, where was I"
Sarah groaned and threw her hands in the air. "When the girl didn't want to leave you alone" She was hoping that if the girl finished her story, she would finally have the peace she deserved.
"Ah yes, Arrigato Gozaimas. So, here I was with my necklace in my hands and there she was with her hands on her hips glaring at me"
Sarah got up at that moment to drop her dirty dishes in the kitchen, knowing full well that the girl will follow her. As predicted, the girl got up and followed Sarah in the kitchen without missing a beat of her story. She got a small stool from the side of the kitchen and stepped on it to reach the counter as Sarah opened the tap. Sarah poured soap and waited until the water was warm enough before letting it fall into the closed sink.
It was required that the girls do their own dishes but most of them never bothered to do so. Sarah, though, thought it was calming but now that a Japanese girl who was destroying her ear-drums decided to help her, Sarah was considering doing something else.
Suddenly, Sarah realised that the girl had stopped talking. She turned her head sideways and, true enough, the girl was drying the dishes silently.
"Done your story?" Sarah teased, or at least tried too. It sounded more like she had something up her ass. The girl turned her attention to Sarah and grinned.
"Hai" she said.
"Aren't you a girl full of sunshine?" Sarah said with sarcasm.
"Hai" she said again "My Oka-san always said that no matter what, I must always see the best in things"
"What a smart person Oka-san is. I'd like to meet him." Sarah said and the girl giggled.
"Oka-san means mother in Japanese, silly" Right. As if Sarah spoke Japanese.
"So, you have a name Sunny Girl?"
"Hai, Sachiko Nawagara. What's your name?"
"Sarah Green" Sarah replied.
"Hajimemashite, yoroshiku onegaishimasu" Sachiko said as she bowed deeply.
"Um, you too, I guess" Sarah said with uncertainty.
-
Leanne laughed. "So, you and Sunny became friends because you were the only one who listened to her?"
"Oh trust me; I wanted to slap the back of her head just to shut her up." Sarah said with a chuckle. "I say, the girl has not changed in that department. It also didn't help that I couldn't pronounce her real name at the time correctly, so Sunny just stuck around"
Leanne laughed and shook her head. "What an interesting way of meeting someone"
"Yeah well, I guess I hated the world so much that nothing mattered to me. I thought that maybe having someone who lived in the same world as I did but loved it instead had to have its perks" Sarah said as she pocked the remaining red peppers around her plate. Who knew she didn't like red pepper?
Leanne remained quiet as Sarah got lost in her thoughts. "She saved my life you know?" Sarah finally said. She had lost her smile and looked like a vulnerable teenager. "If it weren't for Sunny I- I devoted myself to her after that night. I decided that I didn't want her to lose her smile, so everything I did after that was to make sure she was going to make it past twenty with a career ahead of her"
"You didn't believe that you could have a life too?" Leanne asked quietly.
"You saw my school grades" Sarah argued "I had to drop out so that I could start investing money for Sunny to go to college; to rent an apartment and actually eat food more than once a day. I managed to open a bank account in my name where I can leave the money I gained while working two jobs"
"A seventeen years old girl shouldn't have two jobs"
"Yeah? Well life sucks" Sarah snapped. Hearing herself snap made her regret speaking. Sarah took a deep breath and calmed down a little "Sorry, it's just a touchy subject"
"I know" Leanne said and smiled "I'm glad you told me. And I do want to know how you ended up in a loony bin"
"A loony bin?" Sarah asked amused
"What?" Leanne asked her confused. "Don't you kids say that these days?"
"Honestly Leanne, you're gonna have to stop trying to speak teenager slang. It's past your years"
"I resent that" Leanne said playfully "I try to understand my children's new form of communication so that they don't trick me into doing something I will regret"
"Like, having a party?" Sarah said. Leanne opened her mouth, but shut it quickly without saying a word.
"Yes well, Carly has gotten her manipulation genes from me and I couldn't be more proud"
Both Leanne and Sarah looked at each other before going into a fit of laughter forgetting about the dark mood not a minute ago.
Leanne was quite glad that Sarah opened herself a little. Perhaps Rob was right. Perhaps she is on the correct path for both Sunny and Sarah to open up to her. Perhaps, this whole foster home arrangement will work properly.
"I know exactly where to go this weekend" Sarah said with a grin.