Her apartment was completely and utterly wrecked. Calling it a mess would be an understatement. Alysia carefully stepped over broken glass, glancing into her bedroom.

Or what used to be her bedroom. It wasn't quite a bedroom anymore, seeing as there wasn't even a mattress. The room seemed barron with the lack of the mattress.

"Did they have to steal my goddamn mattress?" She ran her hands through her hair, feeling frustration bubble up inside her. She grabbed the vase that sat on the kitchen counter, chucking it at the wall.

The cheap glass vase shattered, and more pieces of broken glass fell to the ground.

She slumped against the kitchen counter, trying to calm herself. Taking deep breaths, she clutched the fabric of her t-shirt tightly.

Calm down, Alysia. Calm down.

"Ugh!" She shouted, and it was as if all the anger pent up in her had been released. Her eyes widened as the couch caught on fire. "Damn it!" she rushed over to her room to get the fire extinguisher, stepping over pieces of glass.

Once the fire was extinguished she groaned. Why was everything going so wrong?

Two weeks ago, she had been content with life. Well, as content as she could be. She only needed to worry about getting enough jewels to give to Gevasi in order to pay her bills, and of course, occasionally fearing for her life.

But now?

She was fearing her life on a daily basis because of Ziren City's new villain, was jobless, and somehow had become a vigilante-in-training after scorching a robber.

She groaned once more, resting her head in her hands. She needed a way to pay her father's hospital bills. She'd have to give up her apartment.

Where was she gonna stay?

How was she gonna pay her bills?

She needed a job.

She got up from her spot on the kitchen floor, wincing as a piece from the glass vase she had shattered dug into her hand. "Ouch." she muttered, pulling the small shard of glass out of her palm.

She went over to the rug, pulling it up, frowning when pieces of glass started to rain from it when she shook it out. "Ugh." She lifted up the floorboard, letting out a sigh of relief when she saw the silver top of her laptop.

At least she didn't lose the last pieces of her mother that she had.

***

Alysia had decided to ignore Nathan's texts telling her to train, shoving her phone into her pocket. Training could wait.

Leaning forward on the counter of The Busy Bean, Alysia glanced around, glancing around the cafe for April. She smiled when she saw the redhead running back and forth, serving customers.

April looked frazzled, mumbling a quick apology to a customer, as she nearly tripped over their legs. When she saw Alysia, a grin overtook her face, as she rushed over to her. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see my best friend, duh." Alysia propped her head up on her arm, glancing at the redhead. She grinned as April's light blue eyes lit up.

"And?"

Alysia sighed. April knew her far too well. She knew her far better than Alysia knew herself, which is exactly why Alysia knew that April knew about her.

She could see through any of Alysia's lies, for better or for worse.

"I need a job." She muttered, giving some change to the barista as she handed her the iced coffee.

"Oh I can totally get you a job here! Shay said we need another barista anyways, so you can  do that!" April's eyes widened in excitement, as she pulled Alysia into a hug. "We can finally be coworkers!"

"Lockheart."

Alysia pulled away from April, eyes widened in surprise as she looked at the familiar blond. "Expresso boy."

Eric rolled his eyes, and April looked between the pair, confusion etched onto her face. "Do you two know each other?" She inquired her eyes flitting between her and Eric, her facial expression mirroring that of a deer caught in headlights.

Alysia hesitated, opening her mouth to speak before closing it. She wasn't quite sure if Eric and her were close enough to be considered friends. Their relationship was more of a hate-love dynamic, majority hate.

"We've worked toge-"

"We're friends." Eric interrupted, sweeping a piece of blonde hair out of his face, revealing his bloodshot eyes, presumably from the headache which was handling the rebellion."Used to be coworkers."

Alysia felt the beginning of a smile creep onto her face, before dropping it when she saw the look Eric was giving her. She nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Friends."

"Wow, and here I thought I was your only friend." An easy grin made its way onto April's face. "Should I be jealous?"

Alysia laughed shortly. "Of Expresso Boy? Never."

Eric rolled his eyes, tightening the strings of the black apron around his waist. "I'm going back to what I was doing."

April turned towards her. "Not much of a talker is he?"

She shrugged, glancing over at Eric who was brewing a drink.  "Nope. Kind of an emo dude."

"Figures. Makes sense why you two would get along." April said, glancing in the reflection of the glass she was holding before frowning. Alysia rolled her eyes, deciding on not to say anything as April continued. "Jesus, my hair looks like crap."

"As usual." Alysia joked and April giggled, patting down the flyaways.

"Anyways, you'll definitely have a job by the end of the week. This is our middle school dream! Being coworkers and wreaking havoc!" April's eyes sparkled with excitement, the cafe lights reflecting off of her irises, making them seem brighter than ever.

"Calvert! Get back to serving!" Shay, the manager, shouted. "It's rush hour!"

"Right, I'm working." April grabbed a few drinks, placing them on a tray. "Wait for me! My shift ends in twenty!" She told Alysia, before rushing off to serve more customers. Her two braids bounced around as she ran from table to able.

Alysia shook her head, slightly smiling. "Will do, April. Will do."

This chapter was kinda late! Sorry! I hope everyone's been having a wonderful week! And thank you so much for 800 reads, it means a lot to me!

QOTD: Do you prefer reading or writing?

I personally enjoy writing a lot more, because  I haven't read any books in awhile unfortunately. Any recommendations would be nice :) It can be a book on Wattpad too!