FROM LOW TO HIGH

I let out a huge moan of exhaustion as I am walking my way home from a dead end fast food job, as I go to turn the corner onto my street I live on I see a smooth red car speeding around the corner almost running me over in the process. I immediately hop out of the way and scream “watch where your going ass hole” with an enraged voice already having a bad day. My thoughts start to wander back to my depressing life at home and I give a loud sigh as I question  what my parents will be arguing about today. I finally get to the end of our poor barren yard, I take a moment to stop and look around and as I am thinking there’s no joy whatsoever, I turn to go to the mailbox and as I open it i hear some screaming coming from the inside of my house then it suddenly stops and my mother comes stomping out of our house and turns to me with a kind smile and says see you later Max, and proceeds to get in her bright green car as soon as she enters the car she slams the door and screeches off down the road in a raged state as usual. I wind up rolling my eyes in frustration and pick up the mail, I head inside ignoring my father sitting on the couch sulking about how his wife always cheats on him and stuff. When I enter the kitchen I walk over to the wooden table in the middle of our dinning room and sit down with a thud into the plastic chair we got from a garage sale. I slap down all the mail as I hear a metal clank come from one of the envelopes, as I always do I ignore it knowing it is some car scam trying to get me to buy a car. I go to start making my dinner and start getting excited thinking about what i am going to start writing in my blog today. The only person I have told about my blog is my old highschool teacher professor creak, I laugh thinking about that nickname I gave him in sophomore year. His oficial name is Christopher but I call him creak cause he is always made a creaking noise when leaving his chair and I call him professor because I respected him as a teacher more then anyone would understand. Just thinking about it I realize I have a smile on my face, I quickly tuck those emotions away so that my dad doesn't see and start teasing me. I start to smell smoke and look down to see my stir fry  is getting burnt, I quickly take it off the heat in time to save it and slide the food into a plastic blue tupperware container then head upstairs with the mail in one hand and food in the other. When i reach my room I throw the mail onto my desk and quickly shuffle through the stack of mail to see if I got a letter from professor creak starting to realize I haven't heard from him in quite some time. At the bottom of the stack I see a bright orange envelope and I pick it up, as I stare at the envelope I realize it is not from professor creak. Actually it doesn't have a return label at all, I open it to find a picture of a medium sized house in what looks like a busy city with a lot of trees just starting to bloom with their blue leaves falling to the ground, then the small small key i heard from earlier falls out of the envelope when i set the papers down. I immediately get into a cautious state of mind because from the look of the trees the picture wasn’t taken long ago and read the letter that came with it, it is written in some kind of fancy lettering and as i read it i notice that whoever wrote the letter is saying they will give me an escape from my broken home, that they will give me a suitable place to live with a good paying job and I will be well taken care of. I start to laugh knowing this has to be a sick joke but the more I read it the more it sounds like professor creak, knowing how he writes he would have put a return label and his signature at the bottom at least. As I put the letter down I see a number on the back of the letter saying to call it if I wish to  live a better life,with that I go to sit down at my desk and start typing away on my blog about some laws i disagree with but i also give the states credit for trying to do their best. I look down at my hands to see them shaking and at that moment I start to cry seeing how my life is such a disappointment living with my parents who hate each other always yelling and how I have to hide in my room at the age of 25 just to be alone in a calm-ish environment. I start to think to myself why do I stay? If I were to leave I wouldn't have anything to miss and nobody to miss me, as I am thinking these things I look over to my shelf where i put my sword collection next to the window and look at the one on the top shelf which was the one professor creak gave me. That sword means the world to me, it’s the only gift I received from anyone, as I stare at the black sword with it’s golden laced sheath. I start to feel bold and I pick up a couple of my short swords and pack them into a large suitcase. I quickly gather my laptop and all my clothes into a box, just as I finish packing I give the number on the back of the strange letter a call, as I hear it dialing on the phone it suddenly makes a click noise and there is a automated message “I am glad you have decided to take this opportunity and make a huge change in your life, there will be a car to come get you in one hour.” I stand there dumbfounded with only one thought. Like hell i'm gonna get in some strangers car! The message continues “ there is a address on the back of the letter you received that is your new  home please take care of it and further instructions await you when you arrive” it was all said in a monotone voice like a robot, i couldn't tell if it was a guy or girl who recorded it. My first thought is i have to get out of here before that car arrives, I quickly grab my two lonely boxes and one suitcase to dash out of that house and go to throw everything i own into the back seat of my car, I get adjusted in my car and quickly put the address into my phone to give me directions, while i’m typing in the directions I realize the address is in new york and start to freak out at the distance i will have to drive. There's only one thing I can do now, I make a mad dash out of the driveway and start heading away from the only life I knew. 

As I enter the highway I have been driving for about an hour watching all the blooming wild trees growing on the side of the road before long I realize the car from this afternoon that nearly ran me over is coming up behind my car, I quickly change lanes to see if it follows and sure enough it did. I start to think of what options I have, there could be some real danger here so the only thing i can think of is to get off the highway. I decided to get off at the next exit at the last moment so that the car couldn’t follow. When I finally dashed off the highway and get jolted up into the air by the crack in the road but I realized that I am no longer being followed, I let out a sigh of relief as my phone was practically yelling at me to get back on the highway. I decide to pull over to the side of the road and take out one of my short swords in case I am still being trailed, I set it in the passenger seat and it fit perfectly into the cushion. As I start to pull off the side of the road the bright red car from before dashes right past me and comes to a halt blocking my way to the road, I jump out of the car with the short sword hidden behind my back, ready to attack at any moment. The car is cherry red the more I look at it the more I notice how up scale it is, but I keep my guard up as the driver side of the car opens up I scream “I’m armed! Don’t come near me!” to my surprise a black haired man in a nice suit steps away from the car with his hand in the air and says “ I’m not here to hurt you, I came to pick you up, i sent that letter an-” I quickly cut him off saying “who are you?!” with a tinge of stress in my voice and pull my sword out from behind my back and the man's eyes go huge as i point the blade in his direction. He stutters out his name saying “I am paul, i was a friend of christopher’s. He sent me to find you and make sure you got home safe! But i can see he doesn't need to worry about your safety…” Paul says with a chuckle. He continues to talk “I am not going to come near you so please put away the sword” in reply i say “ it’s a dagger not a sword” in a muffled voice. I relax my stance  for some reason i feel like a guy in this situation wouldn’t lie and I slowly put my short sword in the front of my car to where I can still reach it. I accidentally let out a sigh of relief as I yell over to him from across the two cars “do you know how worried you had me?! You were following me all day and I was starting to think I was in danger. I thought you were going to be some big hit man or something” then giggle “no your just some fancy business man following me in his car?” with as much sarcasm i can put in my voice and he just stands there shocked at what i said and after a few moments of silence he replies “ I don't know if i should take that as a compliment or an insult”. I start to get back in my car with ease from the passenger side and make my way over to the driver's seat and look over to see he still hasn’t moved from that spot. I give him an irritated look and he proceeds to say “ I can't move my car until you are safe inside of it” I glare at him with a look saying no way in hell. I get the courage to  start talking and tell him to move his ass and then as if he knows what I am about to say he starts talking “remember I most likely have better insurance than you”. I was about to go ballistic then come to terms with his statement and simply reply with my favorite phrase “you son of a bitch”. I go to get out of my car through the passenger side so I can keep my distance and ask him “what about my stuff?” he looks over into my car still planted to the spot and asks “ is that it?”. I give him an angry look and shout “yeah that’s it, anything else you would like to add else to the fire?” he starts to walk over to my side of the car and i automatically reach for my short sword in the front of my car, i hold it to my side so that he knows I won't hesitate to retaliate, then he reaches into my car and grabs my boxes and suitcase with ease. As he leaves the side of my car he gently put my belongings into the back seat of his car and says “you can keep the sword but you have to sit in the back” in a very polite manner. For some reason I let my guard down as he says that and I respond back to him “it's a dagger” pause for a moment then continue “fine but only because you asked nicely” and chuckle to myself. I slide into his car with a little flop and as soon as he gets into the driver's seat I call up to him “don't go so fast, I get motion sickness!” with a meaningful voice. All he does is look back, smiling as he slowly puts his foot on the gas. A little while after we set off, I sit up straight and try to start a conversation with him “why are you helping me?” he keeps his eyes on the road and replies back “i owe a lot to christopher and this is the only thing he has ever asked me to do for him” then he stops to think for a moment and continues with a sad voice “he is my best friend”. when I start to think for a moment, something seems off so I ask him “how is he your best friend if you are so much younger than him?” and he lets out a loud chuckle and comes back at me with “how come you know him so well if you're so young?” I sit there with a stupid look on my face for a good five minutes and finally say “good point, you got me there” with a small chuckle. We finally come to a stop after a couple hours of driving and when I go to look out the window to see a gas station, I rush out of the car and make a break for the bathroom, not looking back to see if Paul is following. Once I get into the stall I quickly releaviate all my body fluids I've been holding in for the past couple hours soon after I leave the stall with a sense of satisfaction and realize Paul probably thinks I'm calling the police or something. I wash my hands and leave the gas station with haste but not enough speed to grab anyone's attention. I walk up to the car and I don't see Paul and I quickly realize we are in a bad part of this town just by looking around at the shaggy homes in the distance. I pull open the door of the car to grab my short sword and put a sheath over it so nobody notices, I quickly start making my way to the back of the building and stop at the corner to listen in on the conversation I was hearing. The first voice i hear is Paul’s voice begging for the shady people to leave him alone but the part that really got my blood going was when i heard a man say “come on we know you can afford to give up some cash, you've got that nice suit why don't you throw that in too”  without knowing what my body was doing i got so angry at that comment i rushed around the corner screaming “if you want a nice suit go earn it yourself you bum” with a strained voice, as soon as they see me they look like they see a ghost and take a step back. When they step away from Paul I shout over to him “hey stupid, get over here before you get hurt!” he makes haste and jogs over to me as i whisper to him in a hushed voice “go get the car and pull it around back here”. With that he leaves me with the shady goons. I just stand there with the short sword in one hand staring at them then blurt out “if you think picking on some goody goody will help you improve your life you're just sad! Now get out of here before i get really mad!” with that they run back to the houses off in the distance with their tails between their legs. I turn around to see Paul standing in front of his car with a look of regret, I let out a deep breath and ask “how much of that did you see?” he replies simply “all of it”. I put my short sword in the back of the car after sheathing it. out of automatic reaction i get into the driver's seat, after I get in Paul is still standing in front of the car in shock so i decide to yell at him “hey your going to catch a fly, get in i will drive since you're obviously still out of it” with that he slowly makes his way around the car and sits in the passenger seat. I look over to him as I start driving, and as soon as I see his face I feel bad for the guy. I gently tell him “hey, you will be okay” after I speak to him he tries to muster up a smile but can't manage to and says “twice, i've had that happen two times before this.” Then paused for a second to think about something “The difference this time is someone came to help me” then paused for a few more seconds then said “thank you” with a sigh. I look at him with a solemn expression as he finally smiles and says “i bet it’s pathetic i can't defend myself, huh?”. I start to slow down the car as we finally enter the big city full of gorgeous trees sprouting out of every crevasse they can grow from, Paul looks up and has a look of realization and starts to give me the directions to my new home. As we are driving through the city I realize oh crap I don't have insurance for his car in my name, I make a hard stop on one of the side roads behind an office building and Paul gives me a weird look and asks why we stopped. I look at him with a grave expression on my face and whisper “i’ve been driving your car with no insurance” then as I look at him i start to smile and laugh while he continues to look at me in a state of confusion, I get out of the car and shout  into the car for him to drive and he quickly gets out and goes to sit in the driver's seat. As we are heading into a smaller part of the city I start to notice there are more houses than apartments as i watch the yards i see the trees are all changing colors from blue to yellow then proceed to ask “so do you live near here?” he lets out a single hearty laugh and replies “oh you’ll see” with a dramatic length in his voice. I look at him warily and he starts to slow down as we finally come to a stop in front of the house I had a picture of from the letter. I stare at the house in amazement, I notice it is very well maintained and has a bright yellow yard with a little white mailbox in the front, along the sidewalk are some medium sized stones lined up on each side, I go to look to the middle of the yard and see a small metal bench and a tree leaning out towards the road, the leaves are starting to fall. As I start to head to the front door I step on some of the dark blue leaves that fell from the tree and then hear Paul shout from the car “don’t be surprised when I say this Max but you now own the whole upstairs, there is a kitchen and everything you’ll need”. I turn around with a shocked look on my face and just stare at him for a good few minutes then finally say “but it’s huge!?” with a surprised voice. Paul looks at me but i ignore him and grab the key from my pocket and rush inside, as i enter the house I run through the living room and head straight up the stairs, when i enter the hall i notice it is all dark hardwood flooring and the walls are a light blue with white stripes in the corners. I walk down the hallway and see the kitchen, it looks newly renovated and I go straight to the oven and turn it on to find out it is a gas oven, my favorite kind! I let out a gleeful cheer and looked at the backsplash of the kitchen walls tiled with the ocean painted on them. Next I  run out of the kitchen back to the hallway, and I go straight into the room on the other side of the hall and see that it’s a small bedroom with nothing in it except a little hanging chandelier light that looks like it’s made of broken glass, i stare at it’s beauty and continue to look in the closet next to the door. It’s a rather small closet with a couple shelves built in, and I slide the door back into place as I realize there is one more room to check out. I feel myself getting all giddy and chuckle to myself, then I hear Paul’s gentle voice shout from downstairs for me to come to the living room. I do as i'm told and head to the stairs at the beginning of the hall as i notice the rail is also made of wood with small flowers carved into it, when i reach the bottom i am still feeling the happiest i have ever felt in my life and run over to him and give Paul a hug but soon realize he is holding all my stuff. I quickly grab my things from him and thank him with a smile, at that moment i look around the living room seeing that it is all furnished and my eyes go huge as i see the tv on the wall is huge maybe a sixty inch, i almost drop my stuff but come back to reality and stare Paul dead in the eyes to say “what’s the catch?” he backs up a couple steps as if he is nervous and says “well, i gave you the whole upstairs” and pauses and i mumble “uh-huh” and he continues “i am the one who owns this house, so i will be living downstai-” i cut him off with a scream of pure horror, he quickly rushes over to me and puts his hand over my mouth as if that would stop me from screaming. I quickly start thinking about how I had left my car on that side road all the way back home and the situation starts to catch up to me as i silent my scream, Paul puts his hand away from my mouth and tells me “Max i know this is not your ideal situation but it was the only way i could get you out of that worse situation” i nod at him still with huge eyes in shock. As I'm calming down I start to sit on the floor but he gently takes me over to the couch, we just sit there for a while until I finally say “This is so cool” in a hushed tone. Paul gives me a confused look and starts to say something but i dont let him, instead i interrupt  “i’ve never had a house mate that’s as cool as you, i’ve never had my own room, i have never had my own space to call home” as im naming off all the glorious things i now have i start to cry just staring forward at the floor. I sit there for a few more minutes and Paul gets up and goes to his own little kitchen in the back of the room that’s separated by a wall with a window to see through, and he pours something in two glasses then walks back over to me and says “here, some orange juice” i calmly take the glass and he starts to laugh.after a minute Paul looks at me with tears in his eyes from laughing “I’m glad you like it christopher would be pleased” as soon as he says that i lean back onto the couch and laugh at myself. “I cant believe this” then pause for a second and he looks at me “im just glad you didn’t get mad and stab me with your sword”. We both continue laughing at all my childish reactions as i lean back forward i ask him “can i go see the last room” and give him puppy dog eyes then he nods at me and I quickly chug the rest of my orange juice set the glass on the table in front of the couch and run up the stairs once again. When i reach the end of the hallway i quickly turn the nob on the door of the last room, as i open the door i notice the room has a forest green colored wall with huge open flooring and a built in bathroom. The bed is in the corner of the room is in front of a window that has locks on it, just seeing that i instantly feel safer. I make my way to the bathroom and see it also has the ocean tile all over, i instantly notice it is all stocked with shampoo, conditioner and body soap all with the matching sent of lavender, i let out a little scream of excitement to myself. I soon leave the bathroom to go sit on my bed and look around the room to notice a shelf that goes from ceiling to floor just outside my bathroom, as i look at it i notice it’s just big enough to fit my sword collection so i rush downstairs grab my suit case full of swords and my one lonely sword i carried the whole way here then quickly give Paul a shout to meet me upstairs. Just then i realize im acting like a child, as i head upstairs in a rush i let out a little giggle, when i reach my room i go strait over to the shelf and start putting my swords on the shelves as i hear my door open i scream “wait a minute” he quickly stops and backs up into the hallway, i proceed to line up my swords in a neat way. Then i open my door to the hallway to find a puzzled looking Paul standing in the middle of the hallway and proceed to say “I’m sorry for acting so childish when we got here, i guess i’ve never had anything like this happen. So in exchange i want to show you my greatest gift from professor creak, so please come in!” i open the door and show him to the shelf i am so proud of. He just stands there in awe of my collection then i point to a black sheathed long sword with a handle the has some kind of fox carved into it and i say “I got this from professor Creak when i graduated high school, it’s my most precious item” then pause to think about a promise i made to professor creak “and the only time i will take it out of it’s sheath it will be when i finally meet Creak’s son” with a grim voice. Paul slowly walks up to me with a look of astonishment on his face and says in a high pitched voice “I’m glad you think so highly of him but what are you gonna do when you meet his son?”. I look him dead in the eyes and say in another grim voice “I will show him how it’s properly used” and hold in my laughter as i look at him, i wait for a minute then burst out in laughter at his face. When i finally finish laughing i say to him “don’t worry it’s not like im hunting him down or anything!” then he relaxes and lets out a sigh of relief. I sit down on my new bed as i continue talking “anyway on a lighter note what do you think of some of my collection?” he starts to sit down next to me in a chair by my bed and says “so this is only SOME of your swords?” I sigh as i nod my head then he continues “it’s an impressive lot of swords, i guarantee nobody will rob us” i look at him and reply “yeah but what about those instructions about my job? The note you gave me through the mail said there would be further instructions.” as i say this it’s like he snaps back to reality and seems to remember something. Paul randomly got up from the chair and rushed out of the room, i was just left there sitting in curiosity. After about five minutes he comes back and has a stack of papers in his hand “I have a job offer for you, the company i work for is a popular magazine. i talked to the office and they took a look at your blog. They offered you a job in the writing department, they’re even going to let you pick wich office you want to work in.” I instantly say “yes, of course! When do i start?” with a impatient voice, he goes through the stacks of papers for a few moments and he calmly says “as soon as you sign these papers”. I jump up to grab a pen out of my boxes and snatch the papers from him, i quickly glance over all the papers and start to enitial everywhere i need to. I look at him with a gleeful smile and ask “when can you show me the office?” in a rushed voice, he presumes to state a very obvious fact “it’s already ten at night so you rest up tonight and we can go in the morning, how about that?” i give him a look of disappointment then nod my head in agreement. As he starts to walk out of my room and i whisper to myself “he is so nice” thinking he couldnt hear me just at that moment he suddenly stops and says “at the office you can call me boss, oh and don’t think i will be as nice at work. I am known for being” he pauses for a second then says “stern and hard working”. I look at him at giggle “i can’t imagine you being like that!” i smile at him and wave goodbye as he leaves shutting the door behind him. Soon after he leaves it hits me how exhausted i am, i make my way under my new covers, as  i am laying there i notice my sheets must be made of cotton or something because as i get snug in them i slowly drift away into sleep.

The next morning i wake up to the smell of something burning I swiftly get out of my bed and rush downstairs to find Paul waving a flaming pan with his hand, i push my way past him and grab the pan to take it away from the fire, after i remove the pan i turn the stove off and set the pan back down. I skillfully over the cooking pan with a baking pan to get the fire to suffocate, then i turn around and see Paul just standing behind me looking like a fool. I look at him and in a harsh tone say “were you trying to make bacon?!” he straitens up and replies “yes, i felt like i should make you breakfast for your first day here but as you can see im not the best cook” I slap myself in the face and let out a sigh and a laugh of exhaustion. “Okay dont try something like this again, besides how do you even get by with those cooking skills? You dont eat out a lot do you?” I look up to find him looking ashamed so i quickly put a smile on my face “I’m sorry, i wasn’t trying to be rude it’s just that was very dangerous for both you AND me.” as i stand there he stares at me and i quickly realize im in a tanktop with no bra and some very short shorts, my face goes completely red and i rush upstairs to my room. Once i reach my room i unwrap one of my boxes labeled clothes and grab the first bra i see then reach for my favorite purple shirt, it’s a v-neck that has a laced neckline. I whisper to myself “this is my fanciest shirt it will have to work i guess” then i grab a pair of skinny jeans and rush into the shower with my face as red as a tomato. I think to myself that this is going to be the fresh new start of my dreams stepping into the showeras i turn on the water the room starts to steam up and i feel the water running down every crevice of my body i grab my new lavender shampoo and squeeze it into my hand then put my hands together so i can spread the soap into my long black hair. As i wash out my hair i notice there is a not in my hair and i neatly unravel it and it leaves a curl in my hair, next i do the same with the conditioner. When i finally finish washing my crazy long hair i put the two soaps aside and grab the body wash, as  i look at the bottle it seems to be a name brand of some kind, not one ive heard of. I finish my shower up with ease and step out of the tub, i grab my towel and start drying off just then i look in the mirror i notice how absurdly skinny i am and just shrug it off. I put on my clothes and step out of my bathroom and get a shiver  down my spine because the window has been open all night, i go over and shut the window and go to lock it with a click. I start to head out of my room then my instincts kick in and i head back to my packed box and grab my small pocket knife just in case, i mean you never know what could happen! I continue to head downstairs with my trusted knife in my pocket, luckily Paul doesnt seem to notice it and shouts out “you ready to roll?” in a loud confident voice. I follow him out to his car with a happy skip in my step, then he reminds me to call him boss and not paul “okay i promise i will try”. We were only on the road for about ten minutes then we pull up to an office building, he pulls up to the door and and tells me to go inside and wait until he gets there. I step out of the nice red car as i walk up to the building he zooms away into the parking garage, as i head into the building i notice everyone is either in a suit or some really nice clothes and i let out a sigh of disappointment. Just as i start thinking about how out ranked i am in financial status Paul walks up behind me and says “okay you can follow me now miss kokio” i look at him in shock as he calls me by my last name but continue to follow him as he walks up to the front desk “excuse me but do you have the work badge i asked for?” he says with a nice gentle manly voice to the receptionist, the lady reaches into her desk and grabs a purple name badge with a scan bar on the back. He thanks the lady and hands me the badge, he sudden says to me “this is what you will use to clock in and out along with accessing different points of the building” we start to walk towards a elevator as he continues to explain the rules and obligations i will have to do, as he is explaining it i notice there is man tall brown haired man with black glasses as i turn my attention back to Paul i feel something touch my back pocket, when we reach the fourth floor we enter a carpeted hallway and the man in black glasses follows then turns into one of the rooms for editorial management, i stop in my track as soon as he enters to realize that man pick pocketed me! Paul doesnt seem to notice and continues walking, i turn around and enter the room. Almost immediately one of the men in the room comes up to me, i notice he is a shorter man with strait black hair that goes to his ears. The man starts to talk saying “excuse me miss but im going to have to ask you to leave, you dont have a badge which means your not authorized to come in here.” i glare at him and reach into my front pocket grabbing my purple badge and notice he has a yellow badge. He looks at me and smiles “okay thank you for your proof miss kokio, may i ask what business you have here?” i point my finger at the man with the black glasses and say “i know you took my wallet.” with a stern voice then i continue to speak as i look at the short man who approached me “may i ask for your name?” he looks at me with a worried expression and mutters that his name is Drew, he then goes to stare at the man with the glasses and chuckles “so someone finally caught you Jack?” then jack looks back to us “so you must be pretty perceptive to have caught me!” he stops and looks at me “i like her! She got spunk!” Drew waves his hands as if to say stop, my wallet gets chucked back at me and i catch it and proceed to walk up to him and punch im where his badge is then he puffs out a breath as if i’d hit him too hard. Suddenly Paul walks into the room and sternly says “what did you do now mr.Jack?” jack looks as if he is being targeted with a nuke then sits up strait and say “n-nothing sir, we were just talking” i glare at him as Paul motions over to me to come follow him, as i am about to leave the room i turn around and give a wicked smile at Jack flashing his badge in my hand the walk out quickly as he looks around for his badge a little ways down the hall i hear Drew shout at Jack “you just got beat at your own game dude!” as we head to Paul’s office i smile with satisfaction. When we get to the end of the hall there is another elevator that look nicer than the others, we take it up to the top floor and enter a huge room with a deck near the window in the back. Paul sits down at the desk and lets out a huge breath, he quickly says “wich department would you like to join?” i look at him dead in the face and say “definitely the editorial department, but shouldnt you ask your boss before giving me the choice?” he laughs a whole hearted laugh “i am the boss you ditz” i laugh at Paul in disbelief and he starts to get a serious look on his face and says again “i am the boss, so are you sure that’s what you want to do?” i look him with confidence and say yes again. Paul starts to type out something on his computer, after about five minutes of pure awkward silence there is a ding on his computer and says “okay, let go intro duce you to the crew. I am going to warn you these guys are a handful, you only saw a glimps of their personalities.” i stand up strait and give him a look of pride, he shrugs his shoulders and starts to walk me back to the elevator i put some pep in my step and follow close behind. When we arrive back at the fourth floor we walk up to the editorial room again and Paul walks in before me, everyone in the room freezes when they see him including one guy i didnt notice before he was also quite a tall man but he was slouched over with his brown curly hair in his face, i look to read his name tag and it says “Mark” just then Pauls booming voice interrupts my thoughts as he starts to introduce me “hello editorial team, this is Max and she will start working with all of you tomorrow as you overall manager.” he motions for me to say hi or something so i step up and say “hello my name is max, it’s a pleasure to meet all of you. Lets hope we can get along” and when i finish up i throw jack back his badge with a smile on my face. Jack glares at me as if he is mad, when i was finished talking Paul acts as if nothing had happened and continues “please stand up and introduce yourselves” one by one they stand up and say their names but Mark seems to be very shy or not interested, i cant tell. Paul cuts into my thoughts once again “okay she will be watching for the rest of the day to get a handle on things” he lets out a sigh and says in a pleading voice “please get along and dont fight” with that he is about to leave then looks at my pants with a confused look then walks up to me and says “hand it over” with a grim look on his face, i look at him with a glare and reach into my pocket to pull out my pocket knife “great now i'm defenseless”. Everyone in the room is staring at me with some different looks on their faces so i say “you can never be too cautious” and laugh a little. I decide to walk up to Mark because he seems the nicest “what are you working on?” everyone laughs in the room except me “what? What’d i do?” in the most innocent voice i’ve ever done. Jack leans over his desk in the middle of the room and chuckles out “Looks like your the first victim Mark” then goes back to his work. After that Drew walks up to us and blurts out “your not the typical office worker are you?” i look at him blankly “i’ve never stepped foot in an office once in my life” with a matter of fact tone in my voice, Mark looks up at me and asks in a hushed voice “then how did you get a purple badge?”. I look at him and all i can think of is him looking like a tiny kitten hidden away in the corner of the office “um, im not sure what you mean by that?” soon after i say that Jack joins in on our little corner huddle “Only one person has a purple badge and that’s mr. big boss CEO” then thinks for a second and continues “i guess now two people have it and that’s a big deal considering you’ve never been in office work. I mean that card gives you access to anywhere in the building!”. I gasp in shock and look back at Mark “well i guess that’s good, but shouldn’t we get back to work?” everyone laughs including me “ah oh god, i can’t believe i said that!”  soon after Mark looks down at his computer then Jack and Drew say “how come?” in perfect sync. Thinking about how to reply i stutter out my thoughts “well, before this i was a fast food employee who only wrote on my blog for fun” i started trailing off and looked down at my feet, suddenly i heard a huge crash come from Jacks desk i look up to see him laughing so hard he knocked off some things from his desk. As he is laughing i go to pick up the papers from the floor and am greeted by Drew’s smiling face, he starts to help me pick up the papers and comments in a soft tone “there’s only one thing to do to prove your worthy of our support” i look at him blanky “what’s that?” when we finally hear Jack stop laughing he cuts Drew off saying “we have to see this WONDEROUS blog that got boss’s attention, what else?”.
I look around the room and see Mark already on my blog page and he starts scrolling i feel my stomach drop as he looks at me and says “you naughty girl” with a mischievous smile on his face. I drop to the floor and putty hands over my completely red face, i muffle out the only words i can think of “nobody was suppose to see that, i mainly focus on the laws and legal part! Read that instead!” now everyone is curious and gets up to see what’s on the screen for some reason Drew turns as red as i am realizing how inappropriate those few articles are, and Jack replies “go to the laws section” like he didnt see anything. Mark goes to click on the laws section and looks at me without reading it “so who WAS suppose to see those articles, hm?” and i start to curl up into a ball even more when a sudden burst of joy comes over Jack and Drew. They walk right up to me and grab me by the arms to pull me off the ground as soon as im able to stand i rush over to the other end of the room so they cant see my face being so red. All of a sudden jack shouts “she is a literary genius!” and Drew comments “she’s something special all right”. They start to bombard me with questions about how i learned to write like what was on my laws blog and i get so irritated with all the questions i blurt out “enough! Im not that good, i only do it for fun!” just then Mark walks up to me and says “you put you opinions out there and made them fact! I know these articles could be used to persuade the laws and maybe even change a few.” I look at him in disbelief as he says those kind words in a nice tone. “Come on don’t steal the spot light you perv!” Drew shouts at mark laughing, “hey im not a perv!” then i let out a small giggle as Mark makes that comment. I finally let out a sigh and come out and say “i dont actually think boss read them, i think he got some input from a friend” they all look at me then look at each other as if coming to an agreement. Suddenly Drew puts his hand on my shoulder and comments “he definitely read them, he is a huge closet perv.” i roll my eyes and stare back at him “dont you dare tell anyone about my blog!” with a stern voice. We all finally calm down and they agree to it, as everyone is getting settled back into their spots Drew gets up and says he’ll be right back so i nod at him. About five minutes later he comes back into the room hauling a chair with padding and rolling wheels then sets it in the front of the room “now you can keep an eye on all of us while being comfy!” as he lights up with pride i sit in the chair and roll over to his desk. I watch him typing for about forty five minutes the he stops and looks over some papers “what do you think we could put in this column to make it catch the eye?” then looks at me. I already knew the answer because i was reading as he went along so i  leaned over the desk to type it out and when i was done i caught him staring at me but as soon as our eyes met he looked back at the computer and started to type again. A little later i started to roll my chair between the desks and helped them all out when they asked, suddenly Jack sits up strait and abruptly says “wanna go out for drinks?” not knowing who he was talking to i stay silent. Just as i was about to look at him from Marks desk I hear Drew say “sure why not” as soon as Drew was done talking Mark speaks up and comments “can we bring Max?” I look at him in shock, Jack sits there for a moment to think “well she is one of the team, so i guess that’s fine” Drew and Mark simultaneously fist bump the air. “So im one of the team now? Well dont i feel special!”. We all get back to work and in no time the day flies by in a breeze, as we’re heading out of the office i quickly realize that Paul is my ride home “hey guys i actually have to back out for the drinks” just then i hear paul’s booming voice come from right behind me “what’s this about drinks?” I turn around and stutter “we had all planned on going for drinks, but seeing as your my ride i wont be able to join them.” i say with a sad look on my face. Suddenly i feel a warm hand on my shoulder and see that Drew is holding onto me and says “well i guess i will have to give you a ride home” looking at Paul with a smile. Paul looks at Drew with a slightly irritated face and takes Drew’s hand off me “i dont think that would be wise, you dont even know where she lives nor should you” Drew fires back with a hiss in his voice “i dont see why it would be a problem boss, we are coworkers why not have a little drink?” feeling akward as hell i step away from the two men and walk over to Mark along side Jack “hey lets get out of here while their distracted!” we all nod in agreement and rush out of the building. “Hey guys i’m going to skip out tonight, see you tomorrow!” i start typing the directions home into my phone and as they start to tell me where to go i start to walk away from the building, just then Mark comes up from behind me and not long after Jack joins. “What are you guys doing? Dont you have cars?” then Jack lets out a little sigh of disbelief “Don’t you know how dangerous it is to walk anywhere by yourself in new york?” i shake my head and they just stare at me like im a alien or something. Just as we turn the corner two blocks from my home i remember i dont live alone, in fact i live with boss. I turn to Mark and Jack “hey guys i will be good from here on out” they continue walking anyway “guys i dont think you should take me all the way home” i say with desperation. We finally stop one corner from the house and then Mark speaks up “we’ll only let you walk home by yourself if we have your number.” just then Jack adds in “yeah, we need to make sure you get there safely.” I heave a breath and give into their commands, as we exchange numbers i see boss driving his way home and i quickly finish with them and start walking with extreme caution. When i finally make my way to the cozy little house i get to call home i remember what the guys said in the office earlier, about how Paul is a huge perv. I am starting to get anxious when i walk through the front door and see Paul pacing frantically in the living room, when he sees me he starts to talk so fast i can hardly understand him. All i heard was something about him being worried and about me leaving with Jack and Mark, i hold my hands in the air and start to say im sorry but am cut off with his booming voice “do you know how worried i was!?” i look at him with a confused look and he starts to slowly make his way toward me,i quickly dodge to the side and scream “why the hell would you worry about me so much!” and run upstairs to the first room i can get to. As i slam the door i notice it’s the blank room with the chandelier hanging, i plop down in front of the door so nobody can open it. As soon as i sit down i start to cry hysterically, as i am sobbing i hear footsteps coming from the stairs then suddenly they stop at the top of the steps right outside my door. I can almost imagine Paul sitting on the top of the stairs, suddenly his gentle voice makes it’s way through the air “hey, im sorry i got so worked up. I know all this must be new and difficult to take in.” just then i hear a clink right outside my door “i brought some orange juice” as he says the i chuckle to myself thinking how he loves his orange juice. I scoot away from the door and crackit just enough to grab the juice and bring it back into the room, i quietly whisper “thank you” then shut the door again. Then he comes out and says “It’s like i already know you, christopher had talked about you so much and it was like you were his pride and joy. He couldnt seem to get enough of you, he told me practically everything about you and im sorry if this is wrong or you dont like it but i feel the need to protect you. That was one of the things he asked of me, but it’s not because of him i feel this way. I dont know why it is but it’s there.” He went quite for a little while then i spoke up “i’m sorry i reacted that way, i’ve never had someone worry about me let alone to greet me when i come home. It’s like we live in different worlds but somehow i already feel like your more of a big brother than my actual one.” then i giggled so loud he heard it. As soon as i was done talking i heard a knock on the door, i got up as fast as i could and opened the door to see a smiling Paul standing in front of me. Just then i notice on my phone i am getting a call from a unknown number, it immediately ruins my good mood. I answer my phone and ask who it is with a stern voice and from the other end i hear Mark reply saying “what’s gotten you in a bad mood, huh?” just then a smile crept across my face “i can’t talk right now can i call you back around 7?” after that he agreed to it then hung up. As i was talking on the phone Paul was staring at me with curiosity “it was Mark, nothing to worry about” then a smile creeps across his face, as i try to exit the room he hugs me and whispers into my ear “i can’t let my little sister be talking to some weirdo” with a joking voice. We both laugh “he is no weirdo, he is my friend! Okay maybe he is a little weird” i say in all honesty, as he lets go of me he starts to say something but stops himself. I look at him with a grim expression “tomorrow is saturday right?!” he nods his head “oh thank god i need to go buy some more suitable clothes for work” he laughs at my comment and i cant help but join in. “well it’s already 6:30 so you should go relax or whatever girls do” i see him heading down the stairs and for some reason i follow, when we get to the bottom he continues to walk like he hasn’t noticed me or something so i go tap him on the shoulder and he jumps up pretty high in the air, i cant help but smile at his reaction “hey what cha got in the fridge?” it looks like he is back on the train of thoughts again so i walk myself over to his fridge and see he has exactly one egg in his fridge. I let out i gasp as i hear him come into his kitchen “hey what you up to?” he says in a calm voice unlike the one from work and i stand back up to walk out of the kitchen “i’m going shopping, it’s like you dont even eat! Wanna come?” i say half heatedly but then he starts to put his shoes on “sure, why not”.