tomatoes, and mushrooms. Sounded like a winner to me.
As the smell of breakfast cooking wafted through the house, Sam was the first to appear, dressed in his school shorts at shirt.
“Wow this smells great, Kait.” Sam was his overenthusiastic self. Neri followed shortly after, with a ghost of a smile on her lips.
“It does smell pretty good.” She agreed, ruffling Sam’s hair. He shrieked, ducking out of the way, as he glared at his sister.
“I just did my hair.” He whined, trying to tame the mess his sister had made of his hair back into place. He was fighting a losing battle. Neri rolled her eyes and tried to grab his hair again. Sam screamed.
“Guys!” I yelled, covering my ears. They stopped abruptly, looking sheepishly at me. “Eat.” I Added. “Then finish getting ready and we will get going.”
“Get going? It’s 7:30am.” Neri interjected.
Right. Good point.
“Well by the time you’re ready it will be after eight.”
I pulled up outside of South West High, after dropping Sam off at the kindergarten. Before I was even out the door, he’d made friends with Jack and Michael.
“I’m guessing you don’t want me to come in with you.” I said wryly. Neri shook her head, her eyes growing wide with mock horror.
“I think I will be fine. Thanks Kait.” I watched her walk off into the school grounds. Her long blonde hair waved dramatically in the wind, as she tried to tame it over one shoulder. She looked older than her fifteen years in her skinny jeans and blue sweater. Part of me was glad she had a steady boyfriend who lived half an hour away. The other part of me knew what girls with steady boyfriends got up to.
It really was a lose/lose situation.
I waited until she had disappeared into the building before I started up the car. It cranked over three times, before letting out a loud explosion of smoke. I winced, as people around me stared. I needed to get that looked at. I made a mental note to book the car in for a service.
I headed in the direction of South West College to sort out my schedule. I needed to condense as many of my classes as I could into the least number of days so I could be around for the kids as much as possible. Ara was already helping out so much, I didn’t want to rely on her to help while I was at college.
More than anything I wanted to avoid dropping a class. I was so close to finishing my degree, and I already had an internship lined up for next semester. Dropping a class would stuff up all my plans for next year. I had decided on international business after doing an introduction subject in my first semester and really enjoying it.
After spending close to an hour arguing with the student administration, I finally had a schedule I could work with. Three days a week, all starting after 10am and finishing before 3pm.
Reaching for the paper on the back seat, I took a breath and dialed the number for the job.
“Hello?”
“Hi. My name is Kait. I’m calling about the job advertised in the paper.” I kept my tone warm and friendly, knowing how important first impressions were in any type of job.
“Kait, yes Jess told me you called Saturday. I’m Mauve. Do you have any experience in this type of role?” That was the question I’d been dreading.
“Not specifically, but I have been at my current job for ten months, working in a café. Before that, I was at another coffee shop for over a year.” I didn’t add that I wasn’t entirely sure what type of role this actually was that I was applying for.
“Can I ask why you are looking for something else?”
“I need something that suits my lifestyle better, and nights suit me much better right now.” I left it at that, not wanting to elaborate on exactly why nights suited me so much.
“Okay. Can you come in for a chat tonight, say 8pm?” Mauve responded.
“Sure.” I said, surprised. “See you then.” I hung up the phone, slightly surprised that it had been that easy to score an interview. Eight seemed late for an interview, but at this stage I’d take whatever I could get.
Now I just needed to figure out what to wear.
“You’re sure you don’t mind?”
Ara sat on the edge of my bed, watching me get ready. “Seriously, I’m home anyway. It’s all good.” I positioned my black skirt