Vivian definitely knew at this point in her life that she should have stayed in bed, but also knew she couldn't afford to.

Wincing a bit as she attempted to get up from the landing, she turned her head to look at the cause of her ungraceful descent down the stairs with the laundry basket. A tiny red race car toy lay on its side near the base of the steps. Picking it up, she let out a sigh.

"Teak, you can't be leaving your stuff laying around! How many times do I have to tell you to put them in your toy box?"

Sighing, Vivian tucked the toy car into her pocket as she made quick work of picking up the laundry that had flown everywhere. The sopping wet laundry left small puddles behind as she carried the heavy basket through the kitchen and out the back door. A crude line had been strung between the back posts of the house to hang the laundry off of, a few stray clothes pins hanging out in the breeze. Putting the basket down by her feet, Vivian started to pull the clothes apart one at a time to hang them up. As she did, she hummed to herself to keep her ever increasingly chaotic thoughts at bay.

'Today is the day they are supposed to call, and they haven't yet,' thought Vivian, hanging up laundry as heavy as her hopes.

Ever since her parents had suddenly died a year ago, it seemed as if the weight of the world had come crashing down on her shoulders. In order to take care of herself and her two younger siblings, she had to put any dreams she had aside. Doing that required her to take any job possible to make ends meet, but that was becoming increasingly harder with each passing day. Or at least, it certainly felt that way.

After all the laundry in the basket had been hung up to dry, she carried the empty basket back into the house, putting it down on the floor by the kitchen island. She could hear some sort of children's cartoon playing on the television in the living room. Seated on the floor in front of the television was her five-year-old brother Teak who was racing cars around. Walking towards him, she withdrew the car from her pocket.

"Teak, did you hear what I said earlier?"

He stopped racing his cars about the wooden floor to look up at Vivian as she stood in front of him.

"You can't leave cars on the stairs," said Vivian as Teak stared at her. "Understand?"

Nodding, he reached up a hand to try to snatch his red car from her hand. Sighing, she bent down enough so he could do just that before watching him start to race it about the floor with his other ones.

"Now where is Lillian?" asked Vivian.

Before her question was answered, Vivian heard the ringing of her cell phone. That had to be the call she had been waiting for all day, but she couldn't understand why her phone sounded like it was miles away. Wandering through the house, she tried to pinpoint the source of the ringing when she heard Lillian talking to someone that didn't sound much like an imaginary friend.

"I don't know where she is, but do you want to come to my tea party?"

Quickening her pace, Vivian rounded the corner and entered the room that was designated for playing. Her eight-year-old sister was sitting on the floor in front of a children's table with a pink tutu over her pants and a plastic tiara on her head. Glued to her ear was Vivian's phone.

"Oh! Viv isn't at my tea party. She was supposed to come, but..."

"LILLIAN!"

She didn't mean to shout her sister's name. She just was so flustered at the sight that it sprung from her mouth before she realized the ferocity with which it did. Lillian turned to look at her with surprise on her face. Flustered, Vivian walked over and yanked the phone right out of Lillian's hand.

"Hi. Sorry. This is Vivian. I didn't realize she had my phone."

Vivian paused as she listened to her potential employer become less and less like a potential one by the second. Eventually after a minute or two, Vivian hung up the phone. Lillian still sat on the floor at the table, looking up at her older sister to notice the sad look on her face.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine," she said, forcing a smile onto her face like she always had to for her siblings' sake.

- - -

Vivian sat on the back steps later that evening, watching the laundry she had set to dry what felt like a lifetime ago swinging in the breeze. Tucked on her lap was a variety of 'help wanted' ads. Most of them had been gone through, crossed off when they failed to bring any job opportunities her way. She could feel the tears silently tripping down her cheeks as hopelessness settled in on her. She was glad that Teak and Lillian were asleep and weren't awake to witness her tears.

Her cell phone suddenly started to ring from beside her. Brushing the tears away with the back of one hand, Vivian grabbed the phone and rose to her feet to go back inside.

"Hello?"

"Hello Viv...wait, are you crying?"

She nodded her head even though she knew her best friend on the other end of the line couldn't see her. Leigh was observant like that, but it was probably because they had been best friends since they were little kids. Even when her parents passed away, Leigh was always there for her, coming over to help watch Teak and Lillian on occasion so that Vivian could go to work and attempt to earn some money. Sometimes Leigh would even buy groceries to help them get by.

"What happened? Whose butt do I need to go kick?"

Letting out a weak chuckle, Vivian sank onto the couch in front of the television. It was on, but the volume was down low so that any talking on it was nothing more than mumbles. One foot absently toed one of Teak's cars that hadn't gotten back in the play box as she leaned back against the cushions and let out a sigh.

"No one's. I just lost another job is all. Apparently, they thought I already had too much on my plate."

"Bull. What would they know? Such a lazy, cop out of an answer..."

"Leigh, I don't know what to do at this point. I need more money to come in to keep this house. Just having a job at the store won't cut it anymore and I'm running out of options."

"Don't lose hope, Viv. There's something out there. You just need to keep looking."

"I just wish they were still here, Leigh," said Vivian.

"I know. I wish for your sake they were too so you could follow your dreams."

Vivian let out a sigh, her eyes landing on a contest that was currently being advertised on the television. It was something about the formation of the next greatest K-Pop boy band. She watched the clips of successful boy bands flash by her eyes followed by the dates and times of the auditions for the show. Once upon a time, Vivian had wished that she could become a successful performer, her heart aching at how this opportunity was given to so many others but always missed her and more than likely always would.

"Viv? You still there?"

"Yeah, sorry," she said, letting out a sigh. "I got distracted by an ad on the television for a contest to form the next greatest K-Pop boy band."

"You should enter it."

"Me? Enter a boy band contest?"

"Yeah! You always wanted to be a performer. Maybe this is your opportunity."

"Leigh, I'm not a guy."

"Doesn't matter. I can help you disguise yourself. I mean, this could be a great opportunity for you to try to chase the dream that you had to set aside. Come on Viv. What do you have to lose?"

"You're ridiculous."

"But also right. Don't forget that. Just give it a try. That way, at least, you'll have the thrill of being onstage again, even if it's just for a short time."

Vivian sat there and debated what Leigh said. What she had suggested was absolutely ludicrous, but by the time she hung up with Leigh a few minutes later, the ludicrous suggestion had somehow become her reality.