Please listen to Love Runs Out - OneRepublic for this chapter
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"Alena, I need you to eat your breakfast so that we can explore this town, we have a lot to do" I stood across my sister, who was sitting at our little dining table while I was drying my hair with a towel.
The landlord was a lovely Fifty-six-year-old woman who took pity on us and gave us this tiny two-bedroom house, completely furnished for a really good price. It also worked in our favour that no one had rented the property out for over five years, so I guess we were both desperate.
Alena looked up from her plate, mouth full of eggs and bacon "Whath abour lou lough, wheg gour plad?"
My eyebrow raised in confusion as I tried to understand what the hell my sister just raddled. I waited as she finished her mouthful and then repeated herself, "What about you though, where is your plate?"
"Aly-cat I'm not hungry, eat up so we can get going"
Truth is, if we were going to survive, I would have to sacrifice a lot. We only had $5,000 to survive. $5k might sound like a lot to some people, but once you cut living expenses, education, bills....
We wouldn't be able to survive a month, two at max. I would rather go hungry for a day or so knowing that my sister was well looked after.
Looking after my her became second nature to me. When we were back home with our mum, I had to walk my sister to and from school, cook dinner, clean the house, do my homework and help Alena with hers. Her happiness and well-being is all I care about.
You could easily tell we were sisters, Alena literally looked like a younger version of me. We both have long brown wavy hair, sun kissed tan and hazel eyes, there were only a few differences between her and I... I had fuller lips, longer lashes and I was 5'5. Alena had thinner lips, adorable dimples and was a little shorty, but considering the fact that she was only ten that was okay.
We drove a block or so down from our place until we started to see a cute little strip that had a lot of cafes and restaurants set up side by side each other. One of the restaurants '515 Restaurant' caught my eye mainly because of the "Apply now" sign I was so desperate for.
We walked in slowly, taking in the environment around us. It's definitely one of those 5 star restaurants that would charge you a $100 a plate for something that is probably made with one or two ingredients.
The man at the front desk looked up and smiled warmly at us "Hello, my name is Claude, do you have a booking for this evening I can help you with?"
"Hi, my name is Avery, I uh- actually wanted to see if you were still accepting job applications?"
"Ah yes! Right this way, normally the manager would provide you with an application but he is on his lunch break so, I will go grab one for you."
I smiled at Claude grateful for the assistance. He stopped half way down the hall just before the doors for the main dining room to turn around and ask "Avery, are you coming?" He then smiles at Alena, "Come on little one, we have an application to fill out!"
We both hurried along behind him, not aware that we were supposed to follow him "Sorry, right behind you!"
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'I hate this part'
I'm currently standing across the owner of the business, in the dining area as they are yet to open for the public. A beautiful lady who looks like she's in her early forties, with piercing blue eyes, fair skin, short bob haircut with blonde highlights through it. I nervously looked up at my sister who was now sitting next to Claude at the front reception, eating hot chips he managed to score for her when no one was looking.
She looked at me with a wide grin, giving me a thumbs up. I smiled back, instantly relaxing before looking back at the owner who wanted to interview me right there on the spot.
This all happened because Claude was not able to get into the Managers office so he had asked the owner to get one on his behalf as she happened to be there at that time.
She had looked in my direction and asked "Is the application for you honey?" When I had agreed with her, I thought we were in the clear as she went to grab the form but, then changed her mind stating "Oh what the hell, there is no need for that. I'm right here so let's just fill this out together and do the interview yea?"
I didn't even respond, well if you don't include me nodding at her with wide eyes filled with fear.
I don't do well with interviews, I walk in well prepared to sell my skills for the job but the moment they sit in front of me with their judgmental pen and paper, I clamp up. If it wasn't for my boyfriend Noah... Ex-boyfriend (still haven't gotten used to saying that) I wouldn't have had a job. He helped me with my applications and interviews. As crazy as he was, he did have somewhat of a kind heart towards me at times.
"Shall we?" She asked, snapping me back to reality.
She started to walk to the dining area just next to the reception.
I took in a deep breath "You can do this" I whispered to myself.
With that in mind, I proceeded to follow her to an empty dining table to conduct our interview.
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"I told you! I knew you would get the job sis! I'm so happy for you!" Alena's voice screeched with excitement in the car.
"Thanks sis."
Everything had gone well with our interview, until she asked about emergency contact details.
I just stared at her with dread, how was I going to explain why I didn't have these without completely telling her my whole life story.
She definitely sensed my discomfort because she smiled warmly at me and said "We'll figure something out. Welcome to 515 Avery"
The hours though were from Monday to Thursday 5-9, unfortunately that's all they had available. The good news was that the pay was actually really good, bad news was that it still wasn't enough to help us survive
Once upon a time I used to race almost every weekend, that had always made a huge difference to my pocket, for the better. Truth be told, racing had once earned me more in one night than any other job did in a week. However, if I started racing again, that would only attract attention from an unwanted ex-boyfriend, thanks to social media.
Let's not get into that story shall we?
"OK, so now all we need to do is enroll in school" I looked at Alena from the corner of my eye.
"Nooo do we have to! I don't wanna! We didn't in the last town we were in" Alena said as her bottom lip formed into a pout.
"Alena, we have to. You need to complete school and I need to finish my senior year. We didn't in the last town because we didn't get to stay long enough" she doesn't need to know specific details about what happened in the last town. The less my sister knew, the better.
"So why is this town different?"
"I don't know, I have a good feeling about this town. If it makes you feel any better, I heard that there is a school that has been divided up into two buildings. The building you would be in is directly across the building that I would be in, if we get in."
The owner had wanted to know about my sister and I, so I told her minimal information. When she asked me about senior year, I told her that I wanted to enroll to finish, but was worried they wouldn't accept me because of my lack of "parental resources."
There was something about her, she was so easy to talk to. I almost had to keep reminding myself to not expose too much to her.
She started talking about her kids and the school they go to, her son also a senior and her adopted son go to the same school but the buildings were separated and on the same street. That's where I had got the information from.
"Go see them, tell them I sent you. They are really good. If you have any issues, just let me know."
As we arrived at the school, we both got out and started towards the Principles office. I wrapped my arm around my sister's shoulders "Come on Aly-cat, let's go show them what amazing students we are."
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A/N:
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- Claire xx