I walk through my front door ten minutes later to find my mom and older sister, Ava, going through a wedding magazine together. Quietly, I slide past the kitchen and down the hall to my room, knowing they probably didn't notice me anyway. That's the difference between being at my house and being at Vale's. At Vale's house, I'm always seen and heard. His dad makes a point to help me when I need it, just like he did last night with the Baked Alaska. Vale is my best friend in the whole world, and I know he would do almost anything for me. He sees me more than anyone else does. But when it comes to my own family, I'm invisible.

I still hear my mom talking down the hall to my sister as I take a quick shower, dry my hair, and throw on a cute purple tank top and a pair of ripped denim shorts. After doing my makeup, I run down the hall and back into the kitchen, where I see a jug of milk is sitting on the counter. Sighing in frustration, I grab the milk to put it away, only to find that it's warm to the touch. My younger sister, Viv, is sitting at the table with her colored pencils and Mystical Ocean coloring book, an empty bowl of cereal sitting next to her.

"Viv," I say, my tone a little snappy. My sister, who looks like a younger version of me, looks up at me with wide blue eyes. "Did you make your own breakfast this morning?" I ask, gesturing to the empty bowl on the table next to her. She nods her head quickly, and I point to the almost full milk jug on the counter. "You need to remember to put things away when you're done using them, okay? If you leave things out like this, then they'll go bad, and it'll be a waste. Or it can make people sick. Do you understand?"

She nods her head and reaches for a set of cards next to her, flipping through them until she finds the one she's looking for. Then she holds it up for me to see. It says, "I'm sorry." I nod my head in response to her card, and just as I'm about to turn around, I see her blink several times really fast and then hit herself on the forehead. She grunts as she hits herself again and again, and I jump forward to stop her when my mom enters the room.

"What's going on in here?" she asks me, running toward my little sister. "Gen, what did you do?"

I gape at her. "Nothing. I just told her to make sure she puts things away when she's done using them. She left a jug of milk on the counter, and it's warm now. So it's no good anymore."

My mom ignores me, and I realize that she never cared for an explanation. She grabs my little sister's hands gently and places them on her colored pencils. It takes a few moments, but my sister goes back to coloring again. My mom picks up her empty bowl and sets in the sink, and I know it's pointless, but I tell her, "Hey mom, I'm going to meet my friends at the mall. Going to a party tonight too, and then I'm staying the night at Vale's. Okay?"

She's too distracted to listen, and a few seconds later Ava calls her back into the living room to continue looking at magazines. This is when I take my leave, stealing a quick glance at my baby sister before I go. She's back to being calm, coloring in her book, her only focus the way the pencils move across the paper. I grab my small backpack by the front door with my overnight stuff in it and go out to my car. Then I make my way to the mall, where all my friends are waiting for me.

It's really hard sometimes to feel like I'm a part of my family. My older sister was a troublemaker for most of her life, and even though now she's turning her life around, she's also about to get married. So my mom spends a good chunk of her time helping Ava with the planning. And when she's not helping Ava, she's either working or taking care of my autistic sister Viv, who needs a lot of care. My dad is on the road a lot. He's a truck driver, so he's hardly ever home. Most of the time it's not so bad. I just get to do whatever I want. No one cares that I sleep in my best guy friend's bed all the time. No one cares if I go out to parties and stay out all night. But it also kind of sucks, because I don't feel like my family really sees me at all. They don't even know I want to be a pastry chef. Or that the only place I feel really at home is in the kitchen when they're all asleep.

Now that I'm alone again, I try to think of ways I can save up money for school. I've been working part-time at Vale's dad's restaurant for a couple years now, and I've managed to save some money. But that's nowhere near enough money for the tuition, and I don't think Victor can afford to pay me anything more than what he already does. My mind is spinning with different ideas. I can walk dogs. I can babysit. I can mow lawns. Anything to make money fast.

I pull into the practically dead mall parking lot and park right next to Vale's car. When I go inside the mall food court, I see a handful of people scattered throughout, and a larger group of teenagers sitting at one table near the ice cream shop. They wave me over, and I join them. Vale is sitting on top of the counter eating a double scoop ice cream cone. Our friends Tree and Taylor, twin sisters, are working behind the counter, or at least pretending to work, as no one else is anywhere near their store. Tyler is sitting at the table across from Keke, and the two of them are sharing a basket of fries they bought from the crappy hamburger stand.

I jump up on the counter next to Vale and look at his ice cream cone. He takes a quick lick and then hands it to me without a word. I smile and take a few licks of my own, an act that grosses Keke out. "That is so disgusting," she says as she makes a face. "Seriously, he's been going at that cone for five minutes, and you just come up and lick all his spit and germs off it."

A mischievous grin spreads across my face as I take another lick. "His spit and germs add extra flavor," I say, and Keke gags. Vale laughs and takes the cone back, taking a few more licks before handing it back to me again. This is our normal routine, and yet somehow it always manages to freak Keke out. She's such a germaphobe that I'm surprised she's even willing to share a basket of fries with Tyler. But then again, I notice he has his own little ketchup cup, and I know that's not his doing.

"Keke, can I have some of your fries?" Vale asks, eyeing the basket greedily. "I'll let you have a lick off my cone."

She shudders, and everyone laughs. "No, you can't have my fries. Your fingers look disgusting. There's black gunk under your nails. Get your own basket."

"There's always black gunk under my nails," Vale whines. "Ty, hand me some fries, please. I'll let you have a lick too."

Tyler grabs a handful of fries and gives them to Vale. Keke looks betrayed. But when Vale goes to hand Tyler his cone, he just shakes his head and says, "No thanks. Consider this one a gift."

Vale smiles wide. "Thank you, Tyler," he says, glaring playfully at Keke, who sticks out her tongue at him. He shoves the fries in his mouth all at once as he hands the cone back to me again. "And also, the black gunk is called grease. I can clean my fingers until the sun goes down, and they'll still look like this. Doesn't mean my hands are dirty."

"Whatever," Keke says with a roll of her eyes. "How is the new car going anyway? The Chevy Ford Toyota?"

Vale looks deeply affronted at these words, but he doesn't have it in him to explain her error. "The Dodge I'm working on is going great, thank you very much. Been working on finding a new starter for it. But I think I found a guy who's willing to trade me a starter for a battery I have lying around. If I can get that starter, then the Dodge will be pretty much ready to go."

"How much you gonna sell it for?" Tyler asks.

Vale jumps off the counter and grabs his own handful of fries. Keke's jaw drops and she slaps him away, but it's too late. He's already gotten what he wanted. I finish the ice cream cone as he shoves the fries in his mouth and says, "Six grand. Why, you interested?"

Tyler shrugs. "I know a guy who might be interested in it. So keep me posted, and when you're ready to sell I'll let him know."

This is what Vale does. He hardly ever actually spends money on car parts. He just trades things. Usually he starts with a tire or a battery or a starter, and he just keeps trading up and up and up until he has something he can work with. That, and working at his dad's restaurant part-time, is how he makes his living. He has no desire to go to college. School was never his thing, even though he's always been super smart. He just found it boring. The only thing that really gets his gears going is working on cars. Like me in the kitchen, Vale feels most at home in his garage, his head under the hood of a car.

I think that's one of the reasons Vale and I get along so well. Even though we're so different, we're more alike than most people think. We know where we belong and what we want to do. My problem is I don't know how to get there. I don't know how to be the pastry chef I want to be unless I go to that school. And that requires way more money than I have. I envy Vale in that respect. He hardly has to pay any money at all to do what he does. He just does it all through trading, and usually makes a good amount of money when the project is done.

An idea hits me so hard in the face that I almost slide off the counter. I remember seeing something on TikTok a while back about a woman who traded something small for something else, and she just kept trading up until she got herself a house. That's basically what Vale does all the time, but on a much smaller scale. What if I did it too? What if I traded up and up and up like that until I got something worth enough that I could sell? Then I could use the money I make to go to my school. My heart is racing at the idea, so much so that I ignore the fact that everyone is now talking about Maddie's stupid party later tonight.

I interrupt the conversation by asking Vale, "How do you do it?"

Everyone falls silent and stares up at me. "How do I do what?" Vale asks, confused.

"How do you start trading?" I ask. He raises his eyebrows at me, and I continue. "I was just thinking about it. You trade car parts and other stuff for things you need all the time to get the cars you're working on running, right?" He nods his head slowly, wondering where I'm going with this. "Why can't I do that too? To make money for school?"

"Oh my God, I've heard about that," Taylor says as she walks out of the back room of the ice cream shop, her sister, Tree, following behind her. They've both got on silly red aprons and red hats to match. Their family is super rich, but they're the type of people with self-made wealth. So their parents insist they make their own way in the world, never giving them more money than they need to get by. They've been working together at this ice cream shop for two years now, and they plan on working here until their true crime podcast hits it big. And it's starting to.

"Yeah," Tree adds on. "I saw a woman on TikTok do something like that. Traded something small for something else, and she kept trading up and up until she got a house. That's not a bad idea, Gen."

"Especially if you film your journey," Keke says, and I know exactly where she's going with this. "And if you do that, you're going to need a videographer, right? Someone to help you edit your videos."

I give Keke a tiny pleading smile. "Think you can help a girl out?" I ask her, giving her my puppy dog eyes. It's totally unnecessary. She wouldn't have suggested it if she wasn't planning on doing it herself.

"Duh!" she says, smiling. Then she turns and looks at Taylor and Tree. "We might even be able to use the podcast and its platform to help boost Gen's trading channel. If that's okay with you guys?"

"Hold on," Vale says, and all eyes turn to him. "So let me get this straight. You want to trade something small like, oh, I don't know... Keke's highlighter... for something else? And keep doing it until you have something big enough to sell that would pay your way into that program?"

I shrug my shoulders. "Sure. Why not? Like I said, you do it all the time. And it's becoming more popular online. I don't see why it wouldn't work. As long as I have a little help from my friends." Keke, Taylor, and Tree all give me a thumbs up, and I feel hopeful for the first time since before the audition. I could really make this happen.

But Vale seems skeptical, and maybe even a little bit worried. "I don't know. Don't you think it's kind of dangerous?" I raise my eyebrows at him, and he frowns. "I mean, yeah, sure. You're right. I do it all the time. But... I'm a guy." Keke, Taylor, Tree, and I all glare at him. He groans. "Stop it. You know what I mean. You're going to be meeting strange people online. People you don't know. What if someone tries to hurt you?"

A smile creeps up on my face. "Aww, Vale. You do care." He rolls his eyes, and we all laugh at him. "Okay, I see your point. But I'll be careful. I promise. And besides, I'm more likely to get attacked at Maddie's party tonight than doing a trade. What do you think, Keke?"

Keke nods her head. "Definitely. Which is why I am not going." My jaw drops, but she just shakes her head at me. "Don't start. I just said a few minutes ago that I wasn't going to go. I'll follow you around with a camera and film your trading quest for that school, but I am not going to follow you to Maddie Shaw's stupid party. Besides, we're filming tonight. Right?"

I turn to look up at Tree and Taylor and see they're both nodding furiously. "Ugh, you guys suck. Guess it's just going to be you and me tonight, Vale."

"And Ty," Vale says, kicking Tyler's shoe with his own. "The three of us will work together to make this party the worst one of Maddie's life." He nudges me in the shoulder, and I nudge him back. I like the sound of that. "Speaking of which, I should go. I have some things I need to work on before we go tonight. Ty, you want to come with?" I glare at him, but he just shakes his head at me and says, "Car stuff, Genny. You'd be bored out of your mind. Besides, this will give you plenty of time to figure out how to start your trading game."

Hmm. He's not wrong. "Fine," I say, jumping to my feet as well and taking a seat on the chair Tyler was just in across from Keke.

The two boys walk off together, but before they go, Vale jogs back to me, leans against the table, and looks between all four of us girls before stopping and pressing his forehead against mine. "Be careful, okay? Seriously."

His gaze is piercing, and I know he means it. I swallow hard and stare back at him. "I promise." And that's all he needs to hear before he's running out of the dead mall, Tyler racing to catch up, leaving us girls together to start coming up with a plan.

Author's Note:

Hello, dearies! This is Aly, coming to you live from Coupeville, Washington. That's right! I'm in the middle of my vacation. Been trying to keep up with reading, but we've been pretty busy. Thank you all for being so understanding. I'll be posting pictures of my trip on Instagram in a few days, so follow me if you're interested. Also, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Fun stuff coming up, so be prepared. I'll be back on here soon. Hope you're all doing well. And take care until next time, loves!

XOXO,
~Aly