CLAIRE.I spent the whole week studying anything I could from the internet. I knew that Becky was irritated that I spent my time doing nothing but sitting in front of my laptop. Father had a lot of hunting calls this week and he barely spent the time at home at all. Becky, on the other hand, hated seeing me content with life now that I finally started learning something, so she plied me with odd house chores, working me till when she thought I would be too tired to read up on more topics from my online courses. She was wrong, because I always spent the night catching up, making sure that I was not behind. Becky had friends over now and that was a reprieve for me because I could read as much before her friends went back. She had only sent for me once when she needed someone other than herself to share the snacks I had prepared between her friends. They barely said anything to me as I passed the snacks around and one had only inquired as to when I would bring out the wine; I wasn't the

CLAIRE.Evie had been nothing but mean ever since she got back. She'd come into my room and showed off the clothes, shoes and bags she got while in college. She had new friends too and kept on making video calls with a variety of them. They spoke in slang I didn't understand that was probably based on the happenings in her college. They seemed to have had lots of events because Evie owned T-shirts and sweatshirts from one college event or the other. A wave of jealousy passed through me like the wind and I couldn't help but wish I had the opportunity to have the college experience she'd had these past months. "Claire, I need you to cook up something splendid for this evening. We'll be having a family dinner." Becky said as she entered my room, without knocking of course and waving those hands of hers in the air like they were going to make the food magically appear."Okay," I said but was still on my bed, and wasn't ready to get up till noon. I had done so many chores this morning an

CLAIRE.The morning fog was everywhere. It had entered my room and I could barely see a thing. I laid on my bed and closed my eyes, thinking of how soothing Alex was last night while I was ranting. How could Evie bring Scott home and introduce him as her boyfriend? She was just in my life frustrating me, and Scott played the perfect role, acting like he didn't know me. I had to endure all through my stay at the dinner. I was amazed at Becky's warmth towards me, inviting me to the table to eat with them all in a bid to be under the pretence that we were a happy family. While I dated Scott, he knew a handful of what was going on in my family and how they treated me, so he might have realized that yesterday was totally out of it... Except Evie had brainwashed him. I mean, they were together so he has to be on her side, evil or not.I shifted on my bed. The fog was now reducing and I could see outside my window. The neighbourhood was still quiet and I could hear the chirping sounds of b

ALEXAKIS.I was standing in front of a run, watching Claire go against Motty. It was obvious that he was holding back for her benefit and Claire knew this as well and it made her more furious. And also careless, because her swings went wild and her punches didn't pack as much strength anymore. She was breathing hard, focusing on Motty's hands and not his feet or eyes. I frowned, wondering if that was the only thing that was bothering her. She had come into the den this morning, ready to spar with anyone. But the guys had all been preparing for the series of fights happening throughout this week and so she spent that morning watching us fight against each other, getting more irritable at the moment. "You're going easy on me." She snapped at Motty when he slapped her fists away, instead of blocking them and following with a fake hook. She grunted again when Motty smiled at her instead of chastising her outburst with a jab to her middle. I frowned too, Motty could obviously read how wor

ClaireWork had ended in a very low mood. The rush of customers we got had reduced and everyone was getting exhausted by the hour. I was counting down to the last 30 minutes I had to spend there. This was not a job I enjoyed doing, I just needed the money to fuel my dreams as most people do.Growing up, I always had the idea that 9-5 pm should not be the ideal job for anyone. They can do what I'm doing now but should only be seasonal. I felt people that gave 9-5 jobs should be arrested because it was a lot of hours for the peanuts that they were going to pay their workers at the end of the day. They were selfish, superior and demanding people, except for the ones that had coffee shops like this and were just trying to make an honest living. There was a TV set in the shop and anyone was allowed to operate it, so I took advantage of that. I liked watching cartoons and music videos, so that was what I did. Customers that came in when I was watching cartoons always wondered who the child