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Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The next day, I was still feeling embarrassed about what happened. Letting everyone know I am poor wasn't exactly my plans before. What else was I going to say though? Lying would have gotten me nowhere, so it was best to tell the truth. At least I won't have any hidden secret the whole time I'm here.

Nonetheless, surprisingly, it didn't change anything between the girls and me. By the girls I mean Twila and Bradyn. They were still very cool with me and didn't seem to care about my financial situation. In fact, when we got up that day, they both busted into my room, through the bathroom of course, and woke me up. It was about nine in the morning, so I wasn't so mad about it. Still, it was early.

"Wake up! Autumn, we have a day ahead of us." Bradyn yelled, jumping on my bed to get me up.

I groaned rubbing my eyes, my hair giving off my bed head. As I sat up, Twila and Bradyn were both already dressed and ready to go. Twila was in a cute summer dress and Bradyn wearing some shorts and a crop top. They were up at nine and dressed for the day. What kind of shit? The only time I ever get up early is if I must go to work, and I barely want to do that.

"What's happening? What did I miss?" The confusion was written all over my face as I was still adjusting to being awoken.

Twila chuckled, crossing her arms. "Breakfast, but that's not why we're waking you." She said, "we're going out for shopping and lunch. You're coming with us."

Shopping? Lunch? Either they didn't hear me last night or they weren't paying attention. I legit had little money, so shopping and lunch wasn't exactly in the cards for me. Would it be nice to get out of the house? Sure, but what fun will I have if I watch them shop, and I don't get to do anything? However, we were building a friendship, so of course I was going to go.

"We already called someone to drive us, so be ready by 11!" Twila yelled before they left to let me get dressed.

I wanted to stall for a little longer because I was so tired, but I didn't want to be late, so I reluctantly got up to shower. Making sure all the doors were locked to the bathroom, I turned the water on as hot as it could be before stepping in. The water instantly woke me up, making me feel refreshed and relaxed. The shower was one of those walk-in ones without the tub. It was very spacious, and the water came out of the nozzle so smoothly. This was nothing like at home.

Washing my hair, my mind wandered to the events of last night. I still vividly remember how lonely I felt and the stares I got. It was draining, but somehow, he made it better. By he, I mean Cyrus. When he came out to talk to me, I felt important. It wasn't anything crazy, and he didn't say much of anything, but it did give me the courage to go back in there and face my fears. So did it really matters that people don’t like me? I liked me and that's all that mattered.

After pondering, I got out of the shower, my hair was still damp. I did my usual morning routine and then picked out something to wear. There wasn't going to be anything flashy like theirs. It was going to be comfortable and something I'm willing to walk around in all day long.

I grabbed my overall, denim dress with my long sleeved, rainbow crop top. Of course, I matched it with my black converses and a black beanie. My hair was still wet, so I figured I'd throw in a hat like I normally did until it dries. The last thing I did was search for my lip gloss just to give my lips a little shine. As I was rummaging through my little bag, I found the envelope my Grammy gave to me. She told me not to open it until I got here and well, I was here.

Setting the lip gloss aside, I sat down on my bed for the next eight weeks, wondering what exactly could be in this envelope. Nothing really came to mind because my Grammy wasn't really a gift giver. The fact that she told me to open it when I got here meant it was something important. She couldn't give me more than she already did with the dresses and everything. However, I was wrong as my eyes widened when I took out what was inside.

Money. Actual Money. It had to be more than just a couple of hundreds. And I was right! The more I counted, the more surprised I became. My Grammy sent me here with about fifteen hundred dollars. It was more than enough for me, since I wasn't a big spender. It was more than I ever had in my pocket. This was hard to process because where did she get the money from? Hopefully, she wasn't pimping herself out. Okay, I'm joking but that's what it felt like.

It was entirely too much to be carrying on my person, so I counted three hundred and kept that with me, hiding the rest between my clothes. Once this was over, my Grammy was going to be embraced with a warm hug. She was overly generous with me, but that's the benefit of being her favourite.

By now the time had reached ten, sparing me an hour. After I applied my lip gloss, I went downstairs aimlessly trying to find my way to the kitchen. We were going out for lunch, so I wasn't going to eat anything heavy, but I still needed something. Like a cup of coffee and some fruit. Me trying to find the kitchen was a nightmare. This house being as big as it is really agitated me. How was I supposed to navigate through the place? The struggle was real and if it weren't for me running into him, I could've said goodbye to the coffee and fruit.

Wandering around, I stumbled into Cyrus, who happened to be walking by. He was a busy man, and I didn't want to disturb him, but he knew better than me. All I wanted was some freaking coffee! My taste buds can already feel the sweetness lingering inside my mouth.

Cyrus stopped to look at me, smiling. "Oh, you're Autumn, right?" He asked, remembering my name. What a shocker.

I nodded. "Correct. I am also very lost." I admitted. "I need the kitchen, if you don't mind."

He chuckled. "Are you really lost?" His laughter filled the little hallway that we were in, agitating me even more.

I frowned, crossing my arms over my chest. "I'm sorry. I don't live in a maze of a house! It's very confusion on a first go around." I defended myself.

Cyrus laughed some more, holding his stomach in the process. "That's priceless!" He exclaimed, wiping a tear from his eyes.

Clearly, he found this to be very comical, however I didn't. I need to find my way back before making the girls late. Plus, the fruit was calling my name. He's not helping, and instead making fun of me was really such a drag. I'm sure their stuff was nice and fresh too. Not even comparable to the things at home.

Since he was going to keep laughing at me, I rolled my eyes and started walking down the hallway again. It wasn't worth the laughter he was giving me right now. All I wanted was directions. Of course, he had to turn it into a joke that wasn't even funny. Complete asshole.

Footsteps running behind me, Cyrus caught up to me, still chuckling at me being lost. "Hey, I was just kidding, A." He said calling me A. I'm not sure why I blushed when he did, but it sounded different coming out of his mouth.

I rolled my eyes again, ignoring it. "Whatever, can you please just help me?" I asked, still wandering around.

"Yeah, it's just right over this way." He took the lead, walking down the hallway a little more than taking a right.

As we got into the kitchen, the girls, all of them, were sitting in there. Jenna looked at me with a frown on her face. Probably wondering why I showed up with Cyrus, like that was any of her business. It felt good to make her pissed off, since she felt joy knowing that I was poor. Though, I wasn't going to stick it to her too much.

That didn't stop her from walking over to the both of us, practically pushing me aside to get to Cyrus. She was such a bitch, and I already hated the chick. Little did she know I didn't give a shit about Cyrus. I just wanted help finding the kitchen, for fuck sake. He was all hers.

"Hi, Cyrus, what are you doing over here?" She asked, gleaming from ear to ear.

I made myself a cup of coffee and grabbed some strawberries, listening to her horrible flirting. She was trying hard to get his attention, and Cyrus didn't look impressed by her in the slightest. Who would be with how desperate she was being? Already knowing the family well, if they wanted her to win, I'm sure she would. The rest of us were just pawns.

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, stepping back a little. "Oh, I was just helping, A, to the kitchen. I actually have an important meeting to attend to." He explained, looking at me again. I kept chewing on my strawberry, looking back at him.

Awkward.

Jenna rolled her eyes as she saw his eyes focused on me. "We'll, maybe we can get together later on?" She asked again.

"Maybe. But I really got to run. See you girls around." He said bye to all of us. "Try not to get lost next time, Autumn." He winked at me with a smirk on his face. I liked it when he called me A.

Not saying anything back, I rolled my eyes while he laughed and walked away. Everyone was giving me looks like I committed a crime or something. Especially Jenna. She looked like she wanted to snap my neck in half just for staring at him. The way she was acting was as if she owned him. Besides, all he did was show me to the kitchen. Nothing more, nothing less.

Still, it caused problems that I did not want but got anyway. Jenna strutted herself over to me, crossing her arms in an angry position. Her trying to intimidate me was laughable at best. There was no way I was going to back down to her. Whatever power trip she was on wasn't going to work on me. No matter how hard she tried.

"Listen here, I don't know what you think you're doing, but this innocent act isn't going to win him over." She sounded angry.

I shrugged my shoulders, not really caring what she said had to say. "I don't want to win him over, Jenna. He's not even my type for your information."

She rolled her eyes. "Good, I'm sure his type isn't broke bitch either." Her voice was very condescending.

"And I'm sure his type also isn't bitch on arrival, but who am I to judge?" I fired back at her.

I knew this was going to add even more to the tension between us. However, I wanted her to know I wasn't backing down to her, no matter what she did. She may have power over girls at home, but not with me. We're too old to be acting like twelve-year Olds. If she wanted to fight over him, then she was going to be fighting with herself. I was on vacation and was going to enjoy it.

Jenna huffed, rolling her eyes at me. Her long index finger pointing in my face. "Just stay out of my way!" She yelled.

"Then stay out of mine!"

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