Ten Months Later

The pounding of rain filled my ears as I stared wide-eyed at my boss. He returned my look with a solemn one. "Please," I begged, clenching my fists. "You don't understand. I need this job! Without it I can't support my brother and myself—"

"Harley," my boss snapped, silencing me instantly. "I can't have you coming to work late every day!"

"It's not every day!" I responded, my voice rising. "My brother just misbehaves sometimes and I have to deal with him first—"

My boss's expression hardened as he cut me off. "I'm sorry."

"But—"

"You're fired, Harley," he stated with an air of finality.

"If I don't have a job I can't pay the rent or buy groceries!" I protested, tears gathering in my eyes.

"My best advice is that you let a foster family adopt you and your brother," he responded, looking uninterested. "And you should go back to school instead of working full time."

"I get home-schooled," I snapped. "And there's no way I'm going to take the chance of my brother and me being separated. He's all that I have."

"Well, then, I'm sorry."

I glared at him. "At least I know what kind of man you are now. The kind that would fire a worker even though her life depends on the job!"

My boss... well, ex-boss now, sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Here I look for workers who work hard and actually show up on time. I'm sorry you couldn't follow those rules."

"But—"

"End of discussion. Please leave my office immediately."

I scowled at him with as much hatred as I could muster. He returned my look with a bored one, motioning for me to leave. I eventually stood up; purposefully knocking over the chair I'd been sitting on in the process. Jaw clenched, I stomped towards the door.

"This is why you don't hire children," my ex-boss muttered to himself.

I slammed the door as hard as I could, heading into the staff room to grab my coat from my locker. I didn't look back as I left the room, heading straight through the exit, ignoring looks from my coworkers who never liked me anyway. They wouldn't be having me as a customer again.

I opened my umbrella before stepping out into the downpour. Scowling, I made my way down the street, trying to avoid the puddles. I hated rain. Everything bad happened when it rained. Today was no different.

The walk to my apartment only took ten minutes, but during those ten minutes, I became incredibly cold. It was October! It shouldn't have been this chilly out! But then again, New England, especially Vermont, had an incredibly indecisive climate. I shouldn't have been too surprised. I hurried up the steps to my apartment complex, but instead of going straight to my apartment, I went to my neighbor's. I knocked on his door and after a moment the young man opened it. His green eyes widened in surprise. "Harley? What are you doing back so soon?" he asked.

"I got fired," I muttered, pushing past him and into the apartment and trying to hold back tears that threatened to roll down my face. It would be worthless to waste them over this.

"You got fired?" he responded in disbelief. "Why?"

Giving him a flat look, I crossed my arms. "Because a certain someone's little brother made her late to work one too many times."

Speaking of the devil, suddenly entered the room, his mop of curly chestnut hair looking as messy as usual. He raced up to me and clung to my leg, a goofy grin on his face. "Pig!" he cried, gazing up at me happily. "You're back!"

I frowned back down at him. "I told you to stop calling me Pig."

"No! Pig is Pig," he stated stubbornly.

I scowled. Pig was what my mom used to call me because I ate a lot. I guess it'd stuck with my four-year-old brother. It wasn't a nickname I particularly enjoyed, however.

"You're back early," Elliot said, still smiling. "Why?"

"Um, I got a day off," I responded, not wanting to have to explain what happened. Explaining things to toddlers was not fun. He asked way too many questions.

"So we can play?"

"We can play," I said with a laugh. "I just need to talk with Will for a moment."

My brother nodded his head in excitement. "I'll go get it started!"

He ran off, probably to go turn on the Wii, his latest obsession. I turned back to Will with a sigh, flopping onto the couch. "I don't know how you can put up with all his energy all the time," I started, watching as Will took a seat on the recliner across from me.

"I'm not that old," he pointed out. "I'm twenty-seven."

"I still feel bad for leaving him with you all the time. Doesn't he distract you when you have to write?"

He shook his head. "Not at all. He's easily entertained. And you shouldn't feel bad. I'm the one who offered to watch him when you have to work. I don't see why you just won't let me adopt you two..."

I smiled, rolling my eyes. "I can support the two of us. You do enough. You watch Elliot almost all the time, you home-school me, and you cook dinner for us almost every night."

"Which means I'm basically like your father anyway," he pointed out with a grin. "Him and I were pretty good friends back in the day, even though he was only my babysitter. We were more alike than you think. You could go to normal school again and—"

I shook my head, cutting him off. "I like my life."

"Really?"

"Really," I responded, looking him straight in the eye. "After losing my parents I realized family is what's most important. I want Elliot and me to stay together. And not going to high school, well... the part about not having a lot of friends kind of sucks, but at least I don't have to deal with the drama. And I don't have to wake up early all the time either."

He grinned at me. "I like your attitude."

"You say that all the time," I , a smile slipping onto my face.

"But it's true," he insisted. "Even after all the tragic events in your life, you managed to not only stay as positive as possible through all of the ordeals, but after your parents died you didn't hesitate to drop out of high school and start working so you and Elliot wouldn't be separated. It's very admirable, and not many people could do it."

I blushed a little, clearing my throat. "It's not that big of a deal..."

"And now you're being modest."

I scowled at him, crossing my arms. "Whatever. I need to start looking for a job right away."

He gave me a worried look. "Are you okay with this month's rent? I can pay if you—"

"I have it," I interrupted, shaking my head. "Thank you for the offer, but I'm not going to take your money. I only have to do this for about a year more. Then I can receive my inheritance and be all set."

"But..."

"So, has your editor asked about your manuscript lately?" I asked, trying to change the topic.

His face instantly paled. "Unfortunately, yes. She wants it by next Monday. I'm not even close to being done..."

I laughed out loud. Will was always like this — waiting until the last second to finish his manuscript so it could be turned in to his editor. He was a writer — and a good one at that. That's how he managed to look after Elliot for me all the time; he worked from home. Sometimes I felt bad for unloading my brother on him, but Will had been a family friend for a long time. He basically lived with us at one point in his life.

"Well keep working on it," I urged him. "We don't want a repeat of last time..."

"There won't be a repeat," he stated stubbornly. "I'll get it done in time."

"Sure you will."

"I will!"

I ignored him, getting up, and walking over to the computer desk. I sat down in the swivel chair, spinning around to face his laptop. After pressing the on button, I leaned back and waited for it to load. A few seconds later Will appeared, hovering over me.

"Yes?" I inquired, looking up at him.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to apply for a few jobs," I told him, typing in his password, and logging in. "The sooner I get one the better."

"Ah. Good thinking, Kiddo."

"Pig!"

I swiveled the chair around to look at Elliot, who was frowning at me. "Yes?"

"I thought we were playing!" he complained.

I made a face. I didn't have time to play with him. Turning to Will, I gave him a pleading look. He smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Pig is kind of busy, so why don't I play with you instead?" he said, walking over to Elliot.

"Okay!" my brother said sounding excited.

"Don't call me Pig!" I called at the pair of them as they walked away.

I heard Will laugh and I scowled. That nickname was so unfitting! I didn't eat that much anymore. Okay that was a lie. Most of the time I preferred food over people. I probably ate too much... but I wasn't even overweight.

I turned back to the computer again, gazing at the screen. Forest green eyes appeared in the reflection, and I stared at them for a moment, watching my pensive face. My eyes were the only trait that my mom had passed on to me. Every time I saw them in my reflection, I couldn't help but remember her. The desktop background appeared, making my reflection disappear, but the memories lingered. I blinked a few times to clear my thoughts before clicking on the Internet browser.

I brought up Google, frowning as I thought of places to apply to first. Tapping the keys absentmindedly, I finally decided I would start with the most known stores. Walmart was up first. It was better than nothing.

Two grueling hours later, I had applied to six different stores. Hopefully ones that would hire seventeen-year-old girls full time. Not many stores did that though. The bakery had been the exception, but now I had been fired from it...

"Geez Mom, Dad. Couldn't you have just been rich and made things easier?" I joked out loud, gazing up at the ceiling.

It had almost been a year since their death. Some people called me cold for being so optimistic after losing both of my parents, but they were wrong. I missed my parents like crazy; no one could understand how much I missed them. But I knew they wouldn't want me becoming depressed. I didn't want to, either. And so I became who I was today. Independent, optimistic Harley Allen.

Who needed to find another job and as soon as possible.

I let my head drop onto the desk. "Ugh."