“If you think I’m doing what your idiot of-a-mum asked me to do, you’re more stupid than I thought.”Mia narrowed her eyes at her supposed new sister. “Trust me, I don’t expect anything from you.”Savannah flicked her golden hair off her shoulder in a well-practiced motion. “Good. Because I wouldn’t be seen dead with someone like you.”She went to leave but turned back again. “Oh, and just to let you know, your outfit is beyond tragic.”And with a final wrinkle of her nose, she took her leave, sashaying away in a pink mini-skirt.Mia sighed and looked up at the brick building that was her new high school.  “Might as well get it over with,” she muttered to herself.BANG. The thick mathematics textbook crashed into the locker door. Today was not going well for Mia Fernwood.“Look at me like that again, and I’ll be throwing more t

Mia tapped her foot against the thin carpet, noticing how plumes of dust emitted everytime. Gross. The woman sitting opposite her was still reading the print outs Mia had handed her. She scrutinized them through thick-rimmed glasses that made her look more like a mole than a woman. The floral pattern of her blouse was giving Mia a headache, but she couldn’t leave yet.Finally, the woman who’d introduced herself as ‘Mrs Parkinson’, looked up and gave Mia a faint smile. “Well Miss Fernwood. You appear to have good grades in all your subjects, although you should work on mathematics to level it up more.”Mia nodded. She’d expected that anyway.“However, I am concerned that aside from your academic accomplishments, your extra-curricular activities are rather lacking. Remember you should be writing about those too.”Mia frowned. “What do you mean?”“Well, colleges want to see well-r

When they pulled up to their destination, it soon became clear why the kids that hung out here might not want their parents to know. This was the spot for the ‘cool kids’. A few cars and trucks were parked up already, and down by the water a handful of teenagers were sitting on battered deck chairs, cheap brown bottles and cigarettes swinging from their fingers. A few girls were perched on the edges of boys laps, throwing their heads back in an exaggerated motion as if the boy had said the funniest thing ever.Mia realised that without the invasion of high-schoolers, the place was actually beautiful. Clear water babbled over the rocks of the river bed, bordered by foliage and trees on either side. Hamlet would love it here. She decided she would have to find somewhere similar that hadn’t been taken over by jocks and cheerleaders.She reluctantly followed Ryan and Savannah to where the group were sitting, making sure to keep her head held high.

It took a second for him to register her presence, but when he did, he almost tripped over himself. “Hello F…Mia.”Mia resisted to urge the scowl at him in front of now what appeared to be his mother. Out of all the places she could have looked for work in…“You kids know each other?”Ryan seemed to recover from his small shock, because he managed to smile at Mia in that way of his. Now she knew why Angela had seemed familiar. They looked very alike.“Yeah, Mia is the girl whose Mom married Bob Miller.”Angela looked at her perspective employee with renewed interest. “Oh right! I should have known when you said you were new in town.”Mia did her best to smile back, but the rising panic she was feeling turned it into more of a grimace.“So, what did you come in for Mia?” Ryan’s voice was layered with false geniality.“Mia came into ask about th

“Okay so today I’ll just ask you to put out some new stock and package some stuff up for me. I’ll teach you how to use the register next weekend if you pass the trial today.”Mia nodded her head and wrung out her sweaty hands on her jeans. She hadn’t felt this nervous about something in a long time. But she had no choice, she had to see it through. Part of her also wanted to show Ryan that she was going to do whatever she wanted too.“Okay yeah, that sounds great. What would you like me to do first?”Angela tapped the boxes that were stacked on the counter. “So, these are washers.”Mia bit her lip. She had no idea what washers were.Guessing her thoughts, Angela chuckled. “They are small metal discs that go in between nuts and bolts in order to keep the fixture secure.” “Oh…okay.”“It’s alright. You’ll soon pick everything up.