said the magical words. Charles considers me a moment before finally nodding. “Alright, you may work weekends and after school once your homework is complete. You’ll need to report to Maryne and she will tell you where she needs you. However, Harrison is still your superior and you will show him respect.”
I nod. “Yes, sir.”
“Right,” he says, looking down at his watch. “It’s too late to return for the rest of your school day so you might as well get changed out of your uniform and get started.”
I nod again. “Thank you,” I say graciously, feeling ease settle over me knowing that I now have a shot at making it out of here. “I won’t let you down.”
“Good, now unless you’d like to start explaining why this couldn’t wait until you had finished your schooling for the day, I suggest you run along.”
My eyes bug out at the thought of having to explain to Colton’s father that I slept with Charlie on one of his many couches and then was humiliated because I rocked his world so greatly that every fucked-up student at school was passionately demanding a slice of heaven too. No thanks, I'll pass on that one.
I get up from the desk chair and silently thank Charles once again before scurrying away so he doesn’t get a chance to change his mind. I thought for sure he was going to tell me no or he'd make me work a little harder for it but it all came together and now I actually have a shot at survival after graduating.
Elation fills me as I skip around the house, heading for the back door. I make my way into the pool house and just as Charles had requested, I get out of my school uniform and find the comfiest sweatpants and tank that I own. My sweatpants aren’t actually mine, they’re Nic’s that I stole and refused to give back so I have to roll them at the hips a few times just to keep them up. My white tank also isn’t mine. I’m pretty sure Kairo gave me this after he found it in his room. It’s tight and cropped and I absolutely love it, you know, after I washed it a million times. It’s the benefit of having a bunch of guy friends. After they sleep with a chick and kick her out the next morning, they usually leave something behind and that something is always given to me. I'd like to claim it as a token of their affection but the reality is that they don’t want to give the girl a reason to come back.
Knowing that Maryne is going to make me earn every cent, I grab Nic’s red bandana and tie it around my hair to keep it off my face. The last thing I need is my hair falling into the toilet or accidentally getting sucked into a vacuum cleaner. God knows my dark locks have already suffered through hell.
Ready for my first day on the job, I make my way into the staff quarters and report for duty. Maryne is busy rushing around as usual but she finds the time to stop and help me out. “Alright,” she starts giving me a cheesy grin. “I heard that you’re my new protege.”
“News travels quickly,” I laugh, having only walked out of Charles' office less than five minutes ago.
Maryne shrugs her shoulders. “What can I say? We like to be on the ball here. Now, I don’t have a uniform your size but I’ll get some ordered. Until then,” she says with a pause, looking up and down my body with a frown, “this will have to do.”
I don’t know whether to be offended or not so I put it to the back of my mind and follow her as she starts leading me through the staff quarters, going over the same introduction that mom had gone through with Harrison. Though I don’t know why she bothers, I know where I am and what’s going on. This is my third week here.
“Okay,” she says, twenty minutes later. “I don’t have a list of jobs set out for you just yet but for now, you can start by taking a few things off your mother’s list. She’s been working around the clock making sure everything is perfect. She’s worth her weight in gold.”
“She is,” I smile, proud of mom for doing so well in a job that she seems to really be enjoying.