Best Writer Ever!

Chapter Four 

Nash 

I am not allergic to cinnamon. I have never been allergic to cinnamon. But I don't care. Kaya Page can have every cup of cinnamon butter I ever receive. Seeing her face light up when she saw it, man it sure was something. Made me a little bit jealous, not even going to lie. I want to be the one to make her light up like that, or atleast get to know what does. So she will be getting all of my cinnamon butter until I die. 

Kaya will not tell me what she has planned for us tonight. I know that I want to take her to the races, though. She told me that the farmer’s market is set upright now, and that is where we are going next. I groaned internally when she said it, only because it is very, very humid outside at the moment. She is still eating away at her potato soup, so I have a little bit of time left in the air conditioning.

I am still staring at her when her bowl is empty, in awe of course. She is glowing. I do not know how, she told me that I am scaring off customers because of how tired I look. Yet she still looks like an angel. Even if she doesn’t act like it. She looks up at me, catching me in the act of staring.

“What? Do I have something on my face?” She gives me a dirty look. 

My mouth gapes slightly. “Um, nope!” My voice squeaks a little bit and she smiles.

“You are not at all slick, Nash.” She grins at me. I love her smile. I should not be thinking about these things. We will be moving soon. I know it. Dad doesn’t like his job. Most people in this town hate us. We will not be here long. I know it. But this girl is making me like this place more and more. She looks at me again and then sighs. “Come on, it will only get warmer outside.” She drags me out of the booth after leaving some cash on the table. 

Another thing Kaya told me about the places we were going to, was that they were mostly walking distance from Page’s. I do not think she understands that definition of walking distance, because by the time we make it to the farmer’s market I am sweating buckets and my knees feel like they are falling off. Why did I agree to this? Kaya runs ahead of me and heads straight for the peach stand. She is talking to the lady working the stand and the sun hits her just right and I swear I am drooling. 

She looks over her shoulder at me. “Nash, get over here!” She shouts. I move towards her but I feel something tugging at my shirt and I decide to just walk forward harder. Big mistake. A surplus of oranges fall to the ground and surround my feet. I look up at Kaya in terror, only to see her covering her mouth, cheeks reddening with embarrassment. I slowly turn my head to look at the woman who was running the orange stand. Her face is contorted with anger, so much so that she is turning a shade of red. 

“Do you know how much work has gone into this stand? How much labor?” The woman rasps.

“I am so, so sorry! I- my shirt caught on the rod and-” I stammer.

“I do not want to hear your excuses! I have put so much effort into this stand! I am here every week-” her voice fades out of my mind when I see Kaya laughing her butt off in my peripheral vision. She is glowing. Again. I do not think I will ever get used to how pretty she is. It drives me mad. The woman is still going ballistic on me, but I have drowned it out by this point. I want to stay here. In this town. I want to see her glow. The realization has me sweating, but that is fine. “-you kids need to learn to respect your elders. You guys always roll your eyes or something.” 

“I am so very sorry ma’am. I will pay for any damages.” I sigh. The woman looks at me with pity.

“It’s fine. There isn’t much damage, the most you have to do is help me pick these things up.” She seems to have calmed down. I reach down and pick up oranges. Two per hand, hopefully it’ll help. I hear quick footsteps coming towards the woman and myself. I look up to see a woman who seems a couple years older than me. She smiles at me brightly and helps pick up the oranges. 

I look behind my shoulder at Kaya and her face is pinched up. Weird. There must be something that smells bad here.  I look back at the woman helping me, she glances up from the oranges on the ground. “Are you doing anything tonight?” She asks me out of nowhere. 

“Um, I actually had plans with my friend over there,” I point to the scowling girl behind me. “And I do not really think that she would appreciate me ditching her.” The woman’s eyebrows scrunch and then her eyes widen.

“Oh! I am so, so sorry. I did not realize you had someone. Again, I’m sorry.” She rushed out and the speeds out of sight. I turn around and see Kaya with a beaming smile on her face. Dear God. 

“What is that on your face, Boss?” I ask cheekily.

“Nothing you need to care about, Newbie.” She rolls her eyes at me again and I smile like an idiot.

•-••/- - -/•••-/•

“Where are you taking me?” I ask the girl dragging me around. 

“To my second favorite place in this town,” she is out of breath at this point. We have been running the town all day so it makes sense. She has had so much energy all day. I do not know how. But now she has me by the arm and is taking me to a mysterious place. It is a tad bit scary, but I would rather it be her taking me somewhere than anybody else. 

I can hear the sound of a drag burnout happening and my face lights up with a dumb smile. “Your second favorite place is a drag strip?”

“Yeah. It is a close one. But I like fencing more than cars. Just because I know more about it, though.” Her steps come to a halt just behind a bush. “I used to come out here all the time when I was a kid. I do not do much anymore because the people here are a little sexist.” My face pulls into a scowl. 

“Are you serious?” She nods and I scoff. “That is so dumb.”

“I thought you would like something like it, though. Maybe you can race your bike sometime.” She spews her thoughts for a little while and then stops. 

“Maybe. I would like to bring my car out here before my bike, though.” That bright smile is on her face again. 

“You have a car? Like a racecar?” She inquires.

“A racecar, indeed.” I confirm. She mumbles something under her breath but I choose to ignore it. I look at the lineup going to the starting line in awe. Lots of oldies, some electric. They are all really pretty. Just as I finish drooling over some automobiles, I feel two hands tugging on my arm again. 

“Can we go get your bike from the diner? This next stop is further away.” Kaya explains. 

“Sure. But you will have to tell me where we are going.”

“Fine with me. There is a party going on in the next town over. I want to go.” This surprises me.

“You, Kaya Page, want to go to a party. Like a party party?” I need some confirmation that I heard her correctly. 

She rolls her eyes for the thousandth time tonight and groans. “Yes, Nash Wyse. I, Kaya Page, want to go to a normal, teenage, house party. Forgive me for wanting to live a little.” 

Chapter Three: Kaya

I knew it would be a dumb idea to sit where I did. Reading a book in close-ish proximity to men playing a sport? Not the brightest decision on my part. However, I thought I would get hit by the ball, not embarrass myself by cackling like a witch when Nash’s opponent scored. I should have ran away when he made eye contact. Then he tries to talk to me? Some days I think he is blind. Or that he just can’t remember that his friends are approximately 7 feet away. Within earshot. I am honestly surprised that his friends have not turned against him and beat him to a pulp, but I guess I can’t judge a book by its cover.

His friends switch their gaze from his form to mine, and I can just feel a sinking feeling in my stomach. He is so dead. The guy he was playing soccer with drops the ball, and begins walking towards him and I get up and walk away. Not my circus, nor my monkeys. I make my way to fourth period. I just want to get the day over with. 

••••/•-/-/•

The rest of the school day went slow. Not much to do other than read or do a useless project. For once I was looking forward to work. It is crazy. Even though my coworkers drive me hysterical, it is nice to have something useful to do. 

When I do get to work, I am somehow tired. I have been doing this for years and I am usually not tired when I go to work on a school day, but I guess it was something about today that took it out of me. I can also tell by Nash’s demeanor when he walks in that he feels similarly. 

“You okay there, Newbie?” I ask him.

“‘M fine. Just tired.” He gives me a look and I can see dark circles under his eyes, I frown. 

“Did you not get your nap in?” I tease.

“No, I did not.” He glares at me again. “And my friends were not very happy with me after third period.” 

I cringe at that. I knew he would not get away with it. “Sorry about that.”

“Not your fault. I am the one who is friends with them. I knew it wouldn’t last too long, anyways.” 

“Right. Well, get  your apron on, I think I just heard the bell ring.” I walk away and smile as he groans.

••••/•-/-/•

The dinner rush does not come very quickly. It is a wednesday, so not many people want to eat out. That is a good thing, I do not think I would survive a dinner rush with the amount of energy I have. 

I think Nash scared off half our customers. He looks like a zombie. Not very appealing to the people in this town. Brian, our local survivalist, walked in, saw Nash, and immediately ran out. Probably to hide in his bunker. This boy made someone go into survival mode. These poor people. I still do not know why my dad let this boy work in a business like this. I mean, we are one of the most calm, civil restaurants in town. To be fair there are only about ten, but that is okay. So why would he allow a big, brooding, teenage boy in this establishment? I have no idea, honestly. I do not believe he was thinking.  

It was around eight-thirty before we started closing up. We usually wait until about nine-forty-five to close, but because of the slow business, and because Nash and I were dead on our feet, we closed early. We were wiping off all the tables one last time before I heard the bell ring. I swear I put up the Closed sign. I walk up to the door, ready to chew someone out, but I am greeted with a woman with a very swollen stomach. 

“I don’t have a car. My water broke.” She has tears streaming down her face. The nearest hospital is a half hour drive away. 

“Dad!” I screech behind my shoulder. I look back at her. “Can you lay down?” She nods. “Okay, I’m going to have you lay down and breathe.” I help her lay down on the floor. Good thing we mopped before. Dad finally gets to us when she is fully down.

“Oh my God. Jesus. I’ll call an ambulance.” He breathes. I nod and look back at the woman again. 

“What is your name, ma’am?” I inquire.

“Maddie,” she answers.

“Okay, Maddie. We are calling an ambulance. What are you going to name your baby?” I try to distract her from the pain. 

“Danny,” she pants. Her breath is starting to become more and more shallow.

I rack my brain for what we did with Mom. It was only a couple months ago, too. “Okay Maddie, I need you to take some deep breaths, yeah? Can you do that for me?” She nods her head and begins to breathe in through her mouth, out through her nose. “Good, you are doing so good, Maddie. The ambulance is going to be here really soon. They’ll take good care of you and Danny here.” 

We finally heard the sirens outside of the restaurant and I almost jumped with joy. I do not want this woman to have to have her baby on this nasty floor. Once they get her wheeled in there I look back at my dad and let out a long sigh. “Think we should stay closed tomorrow?” He asks me. I look at him like he is insane. Thursday is pretty busy. Some people can’t wait until friday to start drinking away stress from the work week, so they stop by here after work and grab a bite to eat before heading to the bar down the block. 

“I think we can manage. We have more help than we used to, anyways.” I look back at Nash and cringe. “You still good there, Newbie?” 

He drags his wide eye up from where they were looking at the ground. “No.”

“That is just wonderful. We’ll see you tomorrow at 4 o’clock, right?” 

“Will that whole interaction get taken out of my paycheck?” He asks me, and almost laugh in his face.

“No, Newbie. You will be fine.”

••••/•-/-/•

A couple days went by, and the rushes got faster, the work got harder, and Nash got tired. I told him one day that he could probably take a longer lunch break. Try to get a nap in or something. He denied it, so I guess he is fine. I can see how tired he is, though. His eye bags that were barely there before are now very prominent, his movements are substantially more sluggish, and his hair is always messy. I get that it is his first job, but what the heck. I told him that this job would not be easy. On his first day! Yet he is still here, even if he looks like a zombie. 

Today’s lunch rush was rather slow. Page’s is not many people’s first choice for a weekend lunch, so it makes sense. Our regulars are here, but that is about it. It gives me an idea. 

“Hey, Dad?”

“What is it, Kaya?” He sounds a little pissed. Oops. 

“Since we know that today is going to be a little bit slow, why don’t we just,” I take a pause for dramatic effect, “close for the day.” He shoots me the dirtiest look in the world. 

“Kaya Page. Do you want to get fired?” He asks and I internally roll my eyes. 

“Please Dad? Nash is barely able to keep his eyes open at this point.” Please work. I need to show this boy that this town can be fun. Hope thrums through me when Dad sighs.

“Fine. But I want you home by 1:30. And be safe.” He gives me a knowing look.

“I will.” I most likely will not. After the thought crosses my mind I run towards the break room and spend way too much time trying to get him off of the couch. When I do get him up and tell him about the current state of our shifts, his mood changes. 

“And how did you do that? Are you the favorite or something?”

“Or something, now come on. I have quite the plan for today.” 

••••/•-/-/•

“Are you taking me on a date, Boss?” Nash asks me from across the checkered table. It is nice to finally eat food that I did not make. We decided on going to Mikey’s. I wanted some soup, Nash wanted spaghetti, and I knew Mikey’s had both, so that is where we went.

“It would only be a date if I were paying-” I try to say, but he cuts me off.

“I thought that the rule was that if you asked someone on a date, you had to pay.”

“That is the problem. I did not ask you on a date. I asked you to hang out with me instead of sleeping all day. You agreed.” I explain tersely. “I was taught that the man should always pay, anyways.”

“That only applies to rich guys, Ky.” Ew. “I am, believe it or not, dirt poor.” I sigh at that. I know he is not dirt poor because he told me he usually picks up candy when he fetches groceries. But I do not say anything, because it is not my place. I’ll pay. I know I will. He knows I will. So when our waitress comes up to our table with a bright smile on her face and asks if we’re on the same bill, I nod my head with vigor. 

The waitress gives us some dinner rolls and cinnamon butter, and I look up at Nash the same time he looks at me. I dive my hand into the bread basket and grab a roll just a tad bit quicker than he does, and he laughs. I think it is the first time I have heard him laugh. It’s smooth, rich, warm, and sweet. What? That is so dumb. I can’t be thinking things like this about the Newbie. That is weird. “I love cinnamon butter. I think I could eat it by the gallon.” I state and he pauses his chewing to push his cup of it towards me. I look at him in confusion.

“I am allergic to cinnamon.” He says after he swallows his bite. My eyebrows furrow. 

“No you are not. You ate cinnamon candy the other day!”

“That was cinnamon flavored. No real cinnamon. I love the taste. Hate dying.” I hum in understanding. 

We talk for a little while longer and then our waitress drops off our drinks. “Are you kids ready to order?” I look at Nash and he nods his head.

“I will have the loaded baked potato soup with extra bacon pieces, please.” I recite my order to her and give her my menu.

“I think I would like a medium plate of spaghetti with a side of green beans and mashed potatoes.” He speaks effortlessly. I look at him oddly. He was complaining about being hungry earlier, but now he only orders a medium? No.

“Could you size that spaghetti up? I might have to take a couple bites of it.”I grin at her. “Other than that I think we are good over here.” 

“Of course, I will get that right out to you guys.” After she walks away, my smile drops and I look at Nash. 

“I thought you were hungry?” I question with a frown.

“Yeah, but the sides would have taken care of it, plus I know you won’t let me pay, and I do not want to add to your bill.” He sighs. I shake my head.

“I don’t care how much it costs, you need to take care of yourself. We need all the help we can get back at the diner, okay?”

Chapter Two

Nash

When I applied for this job, I was not told about a ‘dinner rush’. Kaya told me that this job would be easy. To be fair, it was in fact easy for the first half of the day, and she did check up on me before it started. I was not expecting it to be this stressful, though. I hear the bell at the cook’s window ding again and I almost lose it. I am on my way there when I hear Kaya yelling. Kaya Page is yelling in her family restaurant. And not in a good way. 

“Let go of me!” The second the words leave her mouth I am sprinting to where she is. My eye catches on the huge man that has an iron grip on Kaya’s wrist. I speed up and grab the man by the collar. I begin to drag him to the door, and we are halfway there before he processes what is happening to him and scratches at my hands. The marks only stay red for about half a second, due to the man having blunt nails, and I can barely feel it. When we finally get to the door, the man is up and scrambling to get out of the place. I do not say a word to him, because he just knows what will happen if he comes back.

My mind does not clear until I can see Kaya again. She is fine. “Are you okay?” she asked me. 

“Are you?” I quip.

“It happens all the time, I am fine. Are you okay?” She repeats.?

“I have been better. What do you mean in ‘happens all the time’?” I grit out.

“Pretty girl in a restaurant? Things happen.” She sighs. “I have been doing

this for years without anybody helping. Things do not need to change now. Just do your job and go home.” 

Not wanting to pry, or get fired I reply simply. “Yes, ma’am.” 

•-••/- - -/•••-/•

I was tired when I got home. Which has not happened in a while. After the day I had, I can’t tell if I will pass out the second I hit the pillow, or if I will stay awake replaying every conversation I had throughout the day, trying to imagine what things I could have said differently. Or I could stay up thinking about ‘what if’ scenarios. What if I did not hear Kaya? What if her dad did not hire me? What if I had not taken the plate to table five quick enough? Stupid things like that. 

I take a shower before I go to bed, despite taking one this morning. I smell like soda and chicken, I guess I will have to start taking showers before bed. My body was still sticky with sweat by the time I walked through the door to my room so I could grab a change of clothes. Nasty. I probably have a green cloud trailing me. It amazes me how quickly a day can go wrong. I never would have thought working for a day would turn out the way it did. 

I felt much better after my shower. I told myself that it is now my downtime. I do not need to think about anything from my day. It is just time to relax. So, I plop down on the couch and kick my feet up on the coffee table. We do not have much entertainment other than books at the moment, so I crack open a book and begin reading. Eventually, all the words begin to look the same, and then I am out cold.

I dream about a mystery girl. I can’t see her face, but I can make out her body shape. We were running in a forest, her in a frilly dress, and me in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. I was chasing her, I do not know why, it was just an urge. When I finally had found her and turned her to face me, I woke up to the sound of my alarm, and I sigh. Might as well get ready. 

•-••/- - -/•••-/•

When you only have a couple weeks of school left, you tend to stop caring about your classes, about your teachers, about your grades. After you take your finals, teachers stop caring as well. They only want to be there just as much as the student does. Many teachers will just take us outside so we can run around. Get what is left of our energy out. I think that adding this much time to the school year is stupid, but I do not dictate things about the school system. At least I am not working the whole day. That would be asinine. 

In this particular class, the only person I know is Kaya, but I can’t really talk to her during school. Not civilly, at least. This class would be the only possible time for it though. None of my ‘friends’ are in this one. So, I muster up some courage and try to talk to her. However, the instant she sees me, she gives me a glare. I take the hint and speed back to my seat. She is so rude, sometimes. My mood is ruined for the rest of the hour. 

We get to go outside next hour, I play soccer with Fynn. Most of the guys go to the basketball court and have a ‘tournament’. It is a little silly, but it is okay. I dominate in soccer because Fynn sucks, and because I am too good. I have played for nine soccer teams since I was five. I learned a thing or two. Many years of practice from professionals, and many from my dad, who thinks he is a professional. He does not play with me as much as he used to, due to growing a little old. What he does now is sit on the back porch and watch me kick the ball around. My thoughts are interrupted by an annoying voice.

“Goal!” The boy screeches. I slap a smile on my face to keep my sanity. I know this boy is my age, but this kid will make me go crazy. He is one of the loudest people I know. I hear a giggle to my right, and I am met with Kaya sitting against the wall. She has a forgotten book in her lap, and a huge smile on her face, one that I have never seen before. Her cheeks redden when she realizes she has been caught, and she quickly turns her attention to the book. I grin.

Chapter One: Kaya

When I walked into Page’s for my shift, I was excited because we had hired someone, which means help. After seeing who exactly the new employee was, all excitement drained out of my body. I should’ve taken the day off. 

“Kaya! Glad to see you so bright eyed this morning.” My father greets me loudly. I glare at him. “As you can see, we have a new recruit. You know I have to help out your mother, so… I thought you could train him!” He grins at me but I can see the desperation in his eyes.

I look over to Nash, giving him a once over. “Did you pick him up off the side of the road?” I beam brightly at my father. I can see Nash’s surprised face in my peripheral vision. Dad looks at me with a mix of shock and pride.

“Kaya! You cannot say things like that!” He winks at me with the eye Nash can’t see. 

“You always told me to never lie though! I was just making an astute observation. He could scare off customers.” I spout sweetly. “I am just keeping the business in mind.” Dad is trying his best to hold in his laugh.

“Ju-Just take him to the break room and help him learn the rules, Ky.” He sighs. I roll my eyes and head towards the break room. Loser could not help laughing. When we reach the room, Nash runs ahead of me and tries to open the door. I hold it in place before he can open it the whole way.

“I can open a door, Nash.” I sass under my breath. 

“Just trying to be friendly, Kaya. I don’t want to lose my job before I get to train for it.” He rolls his eyes at me. I take a moment to size him up. Curly brown hair, he’s taller than me, but not that tall, deep green eyes. He is cute, I guess. But he is new, and weird. He did look good on his motorcycle, though. 

“The job is really simple,” I announce while grabbing one of our navy blue aprons. “Just write down orders on this,” I hand him a note pad. “And then just give the ticket to the people at that,” I point to the cook’s window, “window. Make sure to remember which order goes where, or just listen to the order number when you pick it up from the window. After you get it, take it to the number. Got it?”

He stares at me blankly. “...No, not really.” He begins to speak again after he hears me sigh. “I think I will understand it when I start to work, though!” I look at him like he is crazy and shove the apron in his hand. 

“Whatever you say, Nash. Just throw that on and get out there,” I spit. I hear him muttering curses under his breath as I leave the room, but I choose to ignore it. He should be grateful my dad is so unaware of what goes on at school, or he wouldn’t be in a five mile radius of this building. Karma will hit him one day. I put a smile on my face and try to get the whole thing off my mind, walking up to a new table. 

••••/•-/-/•

After the twelfth table is severed and happy, it is almost time for the dinner rush. Today is a Friday, which means that there will be way more customers coming in for date night, or family dinner, or something. I need to check on Nash –because my dad said that he will take money out of my check if I do not– just to make sure he is doing alright and does not want to quit his job yet. 

When I make my way to the back, he is laying on the couch. I lean to look at his face. If he is sleeping on the job, my dad might let me skin him. He is just staring into space. “Nash!” I screech right next to his ear. He jumps and almost falls off of the piece of furniture.

“What!” He screamed back.

“It is almost rush hour. My dad said that I should check on you before it starts. What were you thinking about?” I immediately begin to pry, how could I not?

“Nothing you should care about,” he grumbles, glaring at me. “And I am fine, in fact, I have served fifteen customers. From what I have heard, that is more than you have gotten to.” He grins at me in an infuriating way.

My eyebrows lift and my mouth drops open. “How? You could barely understand the training!”

“I thrive with hands-on training, Ky.” He gets up off of the couch and walks closer to me. 

“Call me that again and I will get you fired,” I grit out. I take a deep breath. “Listen. When the dinner rush starts, we will need to have each other’s backs, got it?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He nods his head and re-ties his apron. He quickly leaves the room and at the same time I can hear the front door bell ring. I hear it ring a second time, and the sound is followed by footsteps. And so it begins.

••••/•-/-/•

“Okay, guys. I have a chicken alfredo with a side of green beans?” I have to raise my voice so the family at the table can hear me.

“Over on this end, dear!” A ginger woman that looks to be in her thirties yells. Of course she is on the other end of the table. I pace over to her and set her plate down in front of her.

Prologue: Nash

Sometimes I wish my mom thought more of my dad than she did when she left. Some days I am fine with it, but today is not one of them. It’s almost my birthday, once again celebrated in a place I barely know my way around. At least I have friends here. Usually, the new kid is considered weird, but in a place like this, I have been more of a mystery than anything else. These people do not have a clue on what to do when somebody new rolls up in town. My friends are a bunch of douches, but being friends with them makes sure I do not get beat, so it is alright. 

There is someone who has made my time worthwhile, though. Kaya Page is one of the many people in this town who see me as a mystery. The thing that makes her different is the fact she wants to actually solve the mystery. She wants to find out who I am. I am not going to let that happen easily. I could instantly tell just by watching her in school that she is very studious. She pays the most attention out of anyone in school, she aces each one of her tests, and she takes really pretty notes each day. So I mess with her by talking while the teacher is talking, just loud enough so she can’t make out what they’re saying. It is sad that I do not share every class with her, I love seeing the silent frustration and the little dip in her brows. It makes my day.

Dad does not like his job in the slightest. He does not get to do anything, everybody bosses him around, and he said he just feels like he is in the way all of the time. I do not think that we are going to stay here too long. He has been complaining for the past two weeks about it, so it usually means we have got to go. For some reason, though, he hasn’t gotten the boxes out of his closet. He dressed up one night a few days ago, sometimes he does it when we have our little pit stops. He goes out on a “date” (it is really just him and a woman sitting next to each other in a bar), then he and his date come home stumbling, she stays for breakfast, asks about me about myself, and when she walks out the door no one hears from her again. This time though, Dad came home with a smile on his face, and could walk straight.

Soccer season is almost here. I asked my friends about it and they said the school has a team, and that try-outs are soon. I think I might ask Dad if we can stay here long enough for me to play through the season. I like soccer, it has been a constant for me, despite moving constantly I always have a ball on me. We have a pretty good size yard in this dumb townhouse, so I try to play every day after school. 

The house itself is alright, a little small, but it fits the two of us nicely. It has a three car garage, so we can fit Dad’s car, my car, and my bike, and I still have space to work on it all, so that is awesome. I work on my bike a ton, I race it on the weekends so it wears it down quicker than just using it casually. Dad and I found an alright track so we try to make it every weekend. Some days, we are just too busy, other days, Dad is too tired from working all week. 

I have been trying to apply for a job in town. It isn’t very easy. Most of the businesses are family owned and family run. There was one place. Page’s. I know who runs it, well I know I rival their daughter. It would be fun to work there, plus they need the help, so I dropped off my resume and application. They called me and set up an interview a week from tomorrow. 

After my mom left, my dad put me in therapy. When I was there I would talk about how I feel about it. Frustrated. Angry. Tired. “All of those feelings are valid. Something detrimental happened in your family, it is okay to feel strongly about it, Nash.” She would almost only talk to me in a whisper. Like I would break if she talked like a normal person. She was okay. She is actually the one who told me about journaling. I was recommended to put my feelings down on paper. I was also told to look back on old entries to see how much I have progressed. I found one that I liked so I shall copy it down in today's entry.

Prologue: Kaya

Gone were the days of normalcy in this town. It used to be that everyday, I could get up, walk to school, gain knowledge, and go home. However, since he came along, none of those are true. 

If I recall correctly, his first day of school was in the middle of November. Odd, but not too bad. During his first week, he was quiet, did not really participate in class, and sat alone in the lunchroom. But, as he began to make friends, he got rowdy. He now had a big group of people to sit with at lunch, would talk during class, and would only raise his hand to mock the teacher. It angered me. Who does he think he is? I have known these people since before I could talk, and he is disrupting the peace. Before he came, nobody would really interact with me. I could go about my day just chatting with my friends, but now, his friends have been eyeing me oddly, almost maliciously. It’s okay, though.

It is almost his birthday, which means he will be even more obnoxious and will get away with most of it. The only way I know is because of the gossip that goes around. Because our town only has a population of 1,640, everybody knows everybody– if they are not already related– so word of a new two person family moving into the vacant house on the corner of Lake Road gets around pretty fast.  It has also been going around that the boy lives with his father only, which I do not judge. Sometimes I wish that I could go away from my huge family, even though I love them, they make me go crazy sometimes. 

Jamie and Janna have been doing well, despite being pri-mi twins, they have made a good recovery in the 5 months they have been on earth. Mom has been recovering well, too. She still can not bend too low, or pick up anything heavy, but she is still Mom. Dad has been taking care of her when us kids can not. He is almost too doting, it’s cute. He will bring her everything she needs, even if she does not ask for it. Their anniversary is in a couple weeks, but since Mom is still recovering, I do not think they are going to do anything. But, I am going to take myself, and the siblings that can walk to the mall to pick something out for the both of them. It will be on me because I took a couple more shifts, but hopefully I can take them this week. 

Anyways, my teachers have decided that they want to be the biggest jerks in the world and have us study for finals almost a month early. It is probably for the better because some people have not been at school to learn everything we learned throughout the semester. But it means more tiny tests that I have to study for, which sucks.Anyways, the reason for today’s entry is because it is in fact Sunday, which means that I needed to spew out everything I could on paper before the week so I can remember how stressful the last week was and compare it to the next. It helps keep me sane. I don’t think that someone my age should have this many things to worry about, but I guess it could be worse. I also need to revise my college application. Only a couple more years. It is scary. I know Mrs. Daniels will say good things, but I really should start sucking up more. I  I think that every year school just gets worse. Since I only have a few more semesters left until I graduate, it has gotten much worse than middle school or elementary school. I know I have to study for pre-calc because I have not retained a single bit of math knowledge since my multiplication tables. I also need to study some French vocabulary. French is one of my better grades, simply because the teacher engages me more in a subject that I like, so I want to live up to her standards. I have always excelled in English and science, so I don't really need to worry about those, and my other electives are just easy. 

I have a big fencing event soon. I get to fence this person who is like great at it, so I really need to practice until my arms feel like they are falling off. I only started fencing because of the books I read. I wanted to do sword-fighting, but mom said no, so fencing is the closest I could get. Surprisingly, it didn’t end up like every other one of my hobbies does, I only want to be better than everybody else at it half the time. Not the entire time. That is a big part of why I don’t do half of the hobbies I used to. I started ballet when I was five, but I got too competitive and made the other girls look bad, so I got kicked off the team. When I was seven, I played soccer, but broke a kid’s foot. I no longer play soccer. Then, I tested into the Gifted and Talented program in school, so I didn’t have much time for sports like that. This lasted until I went into middle school, and had a couple more easier classes that I didn’t really have to study for. Fencing isn’t as labor intensive as a sport like soccer or dance, so even if I had practice, I still had energy to study.