Boundless

Chapter 1

Because these things will change, can you feel it now?

These walls that they put up to hold us back will fall down.

-Change, Taylor Swift

It was another Saturday in the café where Paige worked as a waitress. She was tying up her hair as she did a quick scan of her section, finding nothing out of the norm--Men with lewd gazes fixed at her co-workers' butts, college students laughing, a shy teenage couple who looked like they were on their first date, an old couple sending not-so-furtive glances at each other and a group of chatty ladies gushing out gossips loud enough for the whole cafè to hear. Paige approached the ladies first.

"Did you happen to hear about Sebastian Daniels's epic visit to that bar in LA?" Paige heard one of them saying as she got closer.

"Who are you talking about, Kayla?" Asked a redhead who appeared to be in her mid-forties.

"Oh, my God! Don't tell me you don't know who Sebastian Daniels is. He's only the hottest guy on the planet, isn't he, Minerva?" Was Kayla's answer. A blonde woman, who Paige presumed would be Minerva, nodded dutifully.

Paige tried really hard to maintain her composure. These ladies would be old enough to be his mother

Be nice, she reminded herself.

"He's also the lead singer of the band, Bad For You, by the way," she heard herself saying. This information seemed important enough; much more important than his physique.

"Uh, yeah, that too," replied Kayla.

"And who might you be, young lady?" inquired Minerva.

"I'm Paige, ma'am," she said pointing at the name tag attached over the breast pocket of her uniform. "Your waitress. What can I get you all?"

After taking their orders, she glanced at the table of the college students. She didn't want to approach them. They reminded her of everything she wasn't; everything she couldn't have.

Her parents were far from loaded. Her dad had been unemployed for a while now, and her mum made ends meet to provide her a roof over their heads and to fill their bellies. Paige couldn't afford college and she was by no means a star kid who could get in one on scholarship. They have a little saved up, but it's not enough for both, her sister's and her own education. Paige, who'd rather major in music than have, as a her parents like to say, a more practical degree, didn't think she was a worthy candidate for the savings. 

Her sister, Sarah, on the other hand, who was now a senior in high school, had received a scholarship from a very reputed medical school in California. Although it covered her tuition fees, the boarding and other necessities would still be left uncovered. She'd rather have one of them live the life they dreamt.

And so Paige worked. She did waitressing and babysitting, and held piano lessons for kids. Basically, she tried to get money from wherever she could to save for Sarah's boarding fees, to support their family's income and maybe-just maybe-to have enough funds someday to go to college herself.

That glimmer of hope was enough to lose her frown lines and approach the table of the students.

"Hey, guys. What can I get for y'all?" She asked with a palpable cheer in her voice.

"Aren't you Paige Williams?" Came the voice of a brunette at the far end of the table. Paige vaguely remembered sitting next to her in one of her classes during the senior year.

"Yes, I am," Paige confirmed, looking at her questioningly.

"I'm Laura. We used to have history classes together."

That explained why she couldn't place her. Paige always used to spend the period sleeping or trying not to. That didn't leave room to observe much of her surroundings.

"Oh, yeah, Laura! Now, I remember you."

"Oh, I'm sure," Laura replied with a knowing grin. "So, you're still in the city? I've never seen you around campus."

"Oh, I go to another college. It's not that far away, so I can easily travel." The lie poured out of her mouth as easily as water from a cloth. She didn't want to bore others with her sorry tale and demand their sympathy.

"Ah, I see. Well,  I'll see you around, i guess."

"Yep," Paige smiled at them and took their orders.

It was going to be a long, long day.