Simon's POV
"In that case, this way!" I spoke, and walked over to the bookshelf that was against the wall. Jeanette followed.
"Now, I'm sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause, but we're going to have to climb up this shelf...heh heh..." I chuckled nervously , whilst scratching the back of my neck.
Jeanette tilted her head way all the way up, just to be able to see the full length of the shelf. Then she took a deep breath.
"Alright," she replied quietly.
Less than two minutes later we were both standing on top of the dark coloured shelf, taking a look of the library at the tremendous height.
"Wow...The library looks amazing from this height!" Jeanette gushed. I smiled and nodded my head in agreement.
"It's just here!" I turned around and pointed to the air vent that was about 5 paces away. I walked towards it and so did Jeanette. I undid the small and loosely secured screws and took off the cover for the vent. I jumped in first, then stuck out my arms to help Jeanette. When I felt that she had had a strong enough grip on my wrists I pulled her in...a little bit too hard.
You see, I didn't know that she was so light weighted, so I pulled her into the vent with force so that she would land safely inside.
But that wasn't the case here.
She flew inside an landed somewhere very unexpected.
She landed safely, alright.
Right on top of me.
Jeanette's POV
Uh oh. I could already tell that this didn't end up well, judging by the shocked silence that came from Simon. Wait, what? I was expecting the cold hard, feel of the metal beneath me, but instead I felt warmth, fabric and...a beating heart? It couldn't be...no no no NO NO!!! It couldn't possibly be...S-Simon???
I dreadfully opened my eyes after closing them out of fear from my landing. It took a while for my eyes to adjust, because they were shut so tight.
When I could finally see, I had probably one of the most vicious cases of butterflies, the biggest mini heart attack, AND the fiercest blush ever. I mean, my face was burning so much that I felt like a chipmunk kettle!
Why?
Because, just a mere inch away from my face was Simon's face and...well...there was no gap between our bodies. How embarrassing!!!
Why am I always the one to be stuck in these embarrassing, cringe worthy situations?!
Simon and I just stared at each other in shock and embarrassment. Although he wasn't blushing like I was, his heartbeat gave his feelings away.
Finally when shock was kicked out by common sense, I scrambled off of Simon and sat next to him instead, with my legs out in front of me, and my hands folded into my thighs. Simon sat up and sat in the same position as me, except he used his hands to support himself.
I tried to avoid eye contact, and looking at him in general, but I often found my self trying to take sneaky sideways glances, so I disciplined and punished myself by forcing my head in the opposite direction. I looked out of the vent square and stared at the library's belongings.
After what seemed like forever, Simon broke the overly-awkward silence by clearing his throat.
"Erm...sorry about, you know," he gestured to me falling on top of him.
"I'm sorry as well," I replied.
"Really? What for?" He just had to ask.
"For falling for...er...I mean on you...heh..." I laughed weakly.
"That's okay," he smiled at my nervousness. I smiled too.
"...So erm, can you please explain what happened in the hallway earlier on?" He asked, and thank goodness he did. I almost forgot why we were even in hiding, after all that happened!
"Huh? O-Oh, so it all began like this..."
STORY BEGINS:
We---Brittany, Eleanor and I---stayed in Miami before, living happily with an old, healthy,bubbly but forgetful woman called Mrs.Miller.
All was well until bills and loan warnings came flooding in like a waterfall. At first we could just about pay for the first few bills but even more came in so we couldn't afford to pay for as many anymore.
Mrs.Miller,as mentioned before, was in her old age, so she couldn't work. Meaning we were running out of money really quickly.
Brittany, Eleanor and I became fearful for not only ourselves, but Mrs.Miller also. So, over time, we formulated a plan to get some extra money.
Everything would've worked out, and everything was set out, but the only problem would be to ask Mrs.Miller if we could go ahead with the plan.
So, one evening before dinner, the three of us decided it was time to finally pop the question during dinner. Although I didn't want to, we decided that it had to be me to do it because
1)Brittany always asked Mrs.Miller for ridiculous things, so she may not believe her or want to listen to her,
2)Eleanor was too young to ask a question like the one we wanted to ask and
3) We all knew that I was the best one of us at asking for things off people, since I was trusted and usually asked for reasonable things.
So during dinner, in which we were eating jacket potato with cheese and baked beans, I casually slipped in the question.
'So, Mrs.Miller, the three of us were just wondering, since the bills are so high and our...money...is so low, if we could do street performances to,you know, gain a bit and pay the bills off bit by bit? Please?' I put on my puppy eyes and most convincing smile. Brittany and Eleanor caught my drift and did the same.
Suddenly Mrs.Miller began choking and her face nearly turned purple! We gasped and all ran to her, Eleanor rubbing her arm in support, Brittany patting her back and me on her lap, telling her to take deep breaths and just breathe.
When she finally caught her breath, Mrs.Miller freaked out and began to scold us all.
'How could you ask for something like that? Do you actually know how dangerous it can be outside, especially for young girls like you?! Not to mention, you are female talking chipmunks! What if a governor or an undercover scientist comes and sees your talents, an kidnaps you and takes you to some messed up, scary, dangerous science lab or training facility, where you'll all be separated, alone and treated badly? What would you do then?! Also, even if that doesn't happen, something else will! People can steal your money, mistreat you, make fun of you or even hurt you!
All because you wanted to street perform? Absolutely not! Jeanette, how could you ask such a foolish, dangerous thing, you're the sensible one!'
Even though I was hurt and scared by the mentioned possibilities, I still tried to reason with our mother figure. I knew she meant well, and I knew and understood why she acted way she did. I put my paw on her hand and spoke gently.
'Mrs.Miller...you and I both know that we need the money, and if this is the only way to get it,then so be it. Plus, we're teens. What about when we would need to start going to high school, to college, to university? You need to get prepared for those days, Mrs.Miller, and this would be a good start for that,too' I patted her hand and left it at that.
Brittany, Eleanor and I returned back to our seats and looked worriedly at Mrs.Miller. If this is how she reacted when we were just asking to get mini jobs, then how would she react to us having to go off to get further education?
Mrs.Miller stood up, excused herself, took her plate and walked miserably out of the room. There was an uncomfortable silence for a while after she left. Then we heard the faint sound of crying coming from upstairs. We looked up and felt terrible. Well, I know I did.
'Oh no...Was I to harsh? Too rude?' I asked my sisters out of concern for the woman upstairs. At her age it was not good for her to stress and get upset too much.
'No, you did fine, Jean, it's just that the going away bit really got to her. You know we've spent so much time with her...and it's really hard for any parent or guardian to let their children go,' Eleanor answered.
'Well, I think that she should suck it up and move on. She should've seen this coming!' Brittany yawned and looked at her nails.
Eleanor and I were overwhelmed by her selfishness and lack of empathy and sympathy.
Eleanor slapped the back of Brittany's head.
'Owwww! What did you do that for?' Brittany winced and glared at Eleanor.
'Are you kidding me? You should've seen that coming! How could you be so selfish and so...so...' Eleanor tried to look for the right word 'Inhumane?!'
A look of guilt and realisation fell upon Brittany's face.
'You're right, I'm sorry. I'm just so stressed and worried about our money levels. I didn't mean to take it out on her feelings...' She rubbed her arm in regret. Then she shot a look at Eleanor.
'What?' She asked, confused.
'Well?' Brittany snapped at her.
'Again, what?' Eleanor snapped back at her.
'Aren't you going to apologise for almost causing me blindness?' Brittany did have a point.
'As I rightfully said before, you should've seen it coming!' Eleanor growled through gritted teeth. I could sense an argument coming on, and it wasn't going to be pretty.
'Guys, guys! Let's just be reasonable, here. Brittany, Eleanor has a point. You really should've expected to not get away with saying something like that. But on the other hand, Eleanor, Brittany has a point. If that hit was hard enough, Brittany could've been blinded for life. So both of you are in the wrong. So say sorry to each other,' I reasoned with them.
'Sorry,' they simultaneously apologized to each other.
'Good! Now, we need to find out a way to convince Mrs.Miller to let us go and earn money...' I thought aloud.
Just when we'd all run out of methods and strategies, Mrs.Miller entered the room, red eyed and pale.
'Okay, girls...I've made my decision...' She sighed.
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Heeeeey😏
So did you enjoy the chapter? The last one was kinda boring so I decided to...spice it up a bit😊.
Hope your enjoyed it!
Please vote, comment and share if you want to😉
Have fuuuuun🌈(=^‥^=)
P.S: Who do you think should be older: Brittany or Jeanette? Please comment☺
~Jeanette Oladimeji~