Dinner with all my friends and my family was better than I expected it to be. My parents didn't embarrass me too much and neither did my school parents. Peta was too occupied by Diara and Bee most of the time to even try. And they all left after dinner was over. The drive home took a while and dinner ran a bit late, with all the conversations that was going on. 

And I also completely forgot how I wanted to talk to Bee about how she lost her match with that girl. I could text her about it, but I'd rather talk about face to face. Or at least something like that. So I decided I would call, maybe. I'm not sure if I was ready to call her yet. Which shouldn't be a big deal but it was to me. I don't like calling, and my voice always sounds different. Or at least that's what I've been told by some people. 

And I still needed to figure things out about the gym situation, or money situation to be the main issue. I knew neither of my parents would give me money for the gym. And I knew my nan wouldn't either unless it was the holiday. All I had left was my aunt-te as an option, because no way was I going to even try asking my friends for money. I didn't even like when they bought me things. 

So I decided to text my aunt-te. Which eventually turned into a call, since aunt-te decided to call me instead of replying to my text. It made me a bit panicky since I wasn't expecting the call, but I answered anyway.

“Hello?” I answer while fiddling with my pencil. 

“Hey sugar, what's wrong?” she asks as I imagine how she looks behind this phone. I could feel she was frowning.

“Nothing serious! It's just I need money…” I mumble feeling guilt start to swallow me up. 

“You're not doing drugs now...are you?” she asks making my eyes go wide.

“Whoa, no!” I replied quickly and heard a sigh of relief from her side.

“Wait...you're not going on a date or something are you?” she asks causing my face to get hot.

“No! I just want to go to the gym.” I explain with a huff, as I mess up my hair more than it already is. 

“The gym? Why? I mean I have a membership card you could use but you’ll probably have to pay. At least it’ll be for less.” she suggests. 

“Ugh so a friend and I can just go there, hang out. And aunt-te if I had money then I wouldn't have called you about it.” I grumble and sigh in defeat. 

“Well is this just a one time thing?” she asks sighing herself.

“I don't believe so.” I say twiddling with my pencil again.

“Oh, sorry sugar. You're going to have to figure something out. Why don't you get a job?” she suggests making me groan mentally before eventually doing it out loud. “Ummm….hello?”

“A job…? I don't know.” I mumble as I start to think of all the stories dad told me, about his experiences of work as a teenager. I shiver just at the thought of them and fall face first into my pillow while groaning. 

“Look, you're going to have to get a job someday. And you want money don't ya? You can't always get money from others when you want or need it.” she explains and I sigh lifting my head from my pillow.

“I guess so, will you help me?” I ask hugging my pillow. 

“Sure, want me to come over and get you?” she asks as I hear rummaging in the background.

“Yes please.” I reply sighing in relief.

“Okay, tell your parents about it. I'll come get you tomorrow morning. Love you sugar, get some sleep.” she says making kissing noises, causing me to make a face.

“Uh huh..love you too aunt-te, night.” I say before hanging up. 

I put my phone on the charger and tried to decide whether to take my shower first or not. If I didn't then straight to my parents I should go. But I decided in the shower I could think of how to bring things up. I just had a feeling this would be big to them, they would make a fuss about it. They kind of had been doing that with other new things I've been trying lately. 

So the final decision was to take a shower. I made sure to take my time, not just think but also to relax and space off for a bit. After getting dressed and some chips as a snack, I made my way to my parents’ room. Ma's eyes instantly looked from the TV to the ziplock bag of chips in my hand. She gave me a disapproving look before shaking her head. Dad was nowhere in sight, but the water I heard from the bathroom was probably him taking a shower. 

“What are you still doing up? And why are you eating so late? Especially chips.” she was glaring at me slightly before looking back at the TV.

“Sorry mom, I get late night munchies sometimes.” I explain while getting onto her bed.

“Well we're gonna have to start locking up the fridge then and only give you water. And if I see bottles laying around then not even that.” she says glancing at me as I mentally rolled my eyes. 

“Yes ma, so tomorrow my aunt-te is coming to get me.” I say dragging her attention of the TV again and eat some chips.

“Why?” she asks lowering the volume of the TV.

“To help me with getting a job.” I say after swallowing. 

“Why didn't you ask me?” she asks with a tone filled with attitude.

“That wasn't my plan at first.” I say sighing.

“Uh huh.” she says with all sas, turning away from me and looks at the TV. “Well is that all?” she asks and I nod, only to realize she's still looking at the TV.

“Yes ma'am.” I say before popping some chips into my mouth, and turn in the direction of the exit of the room. 

“Who's getting a job?” I heard over water, which meant the voice could only belong to dad.

“I'm looking for a job!” I yell out so he can hear me over the water going and the TV. Before I knew it, I heard the water stop and eventually some rummaging, then dad walked out of the bathroom. 

“Why? When did this come up? Next thing I know, you're going to be going out to drive with someone else or finally decide to drive out of nowhere. Or because of someone else probably.” he says drying his hair, he was fully clothed in some pajamas. 

I sigh while trying not to glare at him, no matter how much I want to. “Dad I need money, and I know I can't keep asking for money. I don't want a job and I might not get one. But I'm going to check things out and possibly apply to a job or two.” I say with a shrug as both of my parents stare at me. “What?”

“Girl, don't say what to me.” Ma says raising an eyebrow at me. 

“Sorry.” I mutter as she shakes her head before looking away from me, and looking back at the TV.

“Well I just better teach you how to drive.” dad says taking the towel off his head, and wraps it around his shoulders. 

“Okay dad.” I say mentally rolling my eyes and walk up to him, then kiss his cheek. “Night dad, love you.”

“Love you too.” he grumbles making me shake my head with a smile, before walking over to mom. 

I give her a kiss on her cheek as well. “Night mom, love you.” 

“Love you too chimp, get some good rest.” she says moving some of my hair back, and gives me a small smile. 

I went to my room and went to sleep. Well, I tried to go to sleep. My mind just kept racing with thoughts of what could happen tomorrow, a job, Bee, and my aunt-te. Then I started thinking about my parents and driving. My mind just wouldn't turn off, but eventually I fell asleep. 

The next morning Peta just wouldn't leave me alone. But I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised. He always wanted to go out places, which we couldn't always. Or at least not the fun places he wanted to go to that cost money. 

“So you're going to get a jooobb?” he asks while following me into the kitchen. 

“Maybe.” I answer while making two bowls of Cap'n Crunch cereal, one for me and one for him.

“So you’re gonna get money and buy me things? Ooo! Get a car too, and drive me to Disneyland?!” he gasped bouncing in excitement, while I get us spoons. 

“Surprised you didn't say Disney world.” I say rolling my eyes and hand him his bowl.

“I was trying to be nice, grateful, make things easy for you.” he huffed and left the kitchen as I scoffed. 

I eventually left the kitchen myself after getting a cup of orange juice, and went to the table. He was eating his cereal like a dog. I rolled my eyes at him and ate my cereal close to me, just in case he splashed some milk over my way. I shot him a glare as my phone went off. I looked down to see Aunt-te text me.

Aunt-te:
Hey sugar, I'm outside but I'll be coming to the door. Let me in please when you hear me knock and ring the doorbell.
8:17 a.m.

Me:
Okay! 
8:17 a.m.

“Why ya texting at the table?” Peta asks kicking me gently, under the table.

I glared at him and turned off my phone. “I was texting our aunt-te, and before you ask the answer is no.” I say and finish my cereal, as I hear the doorbell then knocking. 

“Coming!” Peta and I yell at the same time, before looking at each other glaring a bit.

“Race ya!” he says grinning, before getting up from the table. He runs off before I can even understand what was going on.

“Peta!!!” I yell getting up and run to the kitchen then the front door, to see Peta already opened the door for aunt-te. “Hey aunt-te.” I greet her while walking over to them as she hugs Peta.

“No girl, you need to dress formally.” Aunt-te says letting go of Peta and closes the front door. 

Next thing I know my hair is oiled and tied back in a ponytail. No messy hair to be seen and pretty straight, for now. And any curls I had were oiled right to my skin, stuck to the side of my face. I wore a darkish, gray-green button up shirt and some black formal pants. Shoe was all I really had were flats, I barely had many shoes to begin with. 

“You look fantastic baby, every place we go to are gonna want you.” Aunt-te says smiling at me in the rearview mirror, before looking back at the road. 

I felt my face heat up and I grumbled glancing at myself in the mirror on the car door. She was going to take me to every store she saw in sight, and well liked too. If she didn't like it I wouldn't be able to look at it. She would drive past it too quickly.

Our first stop was Dunkin’ Donuts. She parked and I glanced at her. She glanced at me with a raised eyebrow. I rose one right back and she laughed. 

“Are you going to go in or do you need me to go in with you, holding you hand?” she asks causing me to almost roll my eyes, but I huff instead. 

“I'll be fine.” I say unbuckling my seatbelt and open the door getting out.

“I'm sure, make sure to smile and have good posture.” she says giving me her own smile, and I nod before closing the door.

I start walking to the doors and try to shake off my anxiety. As soon as I open the door I try to swallow my usual self down, and give the lady behind the cash register a big smile. She smiles back with a raised eyebrow.

“How can I help you?” she asks when I walk up to her. 

“I would like an application to work here.” I reply back still smiling but not as big as before, so I wouldn't creep her or anyone else out. 

“Oh...we don't have any physical paper applications, you can just apply online.” she replies back.

“Oh.” I say and look around. “Thank you for telling me.” I reply and leave the place grumbling to myself. 

When I get into the car, aunt-te gives me a curious look. “What happened?”

“I wasted my time, she said I could just apply online.” I mutter while putting on my seatbelt. 

“It's okay sugar, we still have other places to go to.” she says pulling out of the parking lot and drives off from the place. 

Next we went to Starbucks. The same thing happened but a guy did say they would leave in a word for me. I hope they were telling the truth. Then we went to Applebee's. I was done, the same thing happened again! Aunt-te decided that the world was really changing. She told me how she just went to Hardy's and got the job the next day. 

“Did you apply to the jobs yet?” she asks and I shake my head, earning a look from her. “Get to applying girl, since it's online that mean you have way more competition.” she says causing me to sigh, laying back against the seat. 

“Okaaay aunt-te.” I say pulling out my phone and showing her it, before I started to apply to the jobs. 

Hey everyone! So this may be the last chapter for a while, all depends if I decide to enter this into the Wattys or not. But I want to thank all those who read and kept reading!