Not as they seem...

“Are you looking forward to going back to school?” He looked up over his bowl of cereal, perplexed at why she would ask such a stupid question. “Hmpff,” he answered, before continuing to eat. “Maybe you'll miss hanging out at home...” “Shut up,” he poured the last of the milk straight from the bowl into his mouth and pushed his chair back. It screeched along the ground as he got up. “You had better be ready to leave on time,” he replied as he left the room. “I know you have the hots for her!” “Shut up!” he yelled again as he made his way down the hallway to collect his bag. Anna stood before her full-length mirror, thankful that she didn't have to wear a shirt and tie this term. She'd pulled her summer uniform out of the cupboard and slid it over her head. She hated the button up front, but a uniform was a uniform- at least everyone looked as hideous as each other. Term 3 was always tricky. The cold months weren't quite over, but she couldn’t wear her winter tights with her summer dress. She was just going to have to freeze her legs off for the next few weeks until the mornings weren't so cold. She checked the weather on her phone, then decided to add a long sleeve t-shirt under her dress before grabbing the woollen jumper and blazer. Rust red, they called it, but it was really just a weird brown colour. She couldn't wait till next year, when she could ditch her blazer and wear just the official yr 12 jumper. The senior jumper was properly red. Not clown nose red though. It was more of a classy red. She pulled on her rusty red blazer and starred at herself. The sound of clicking up the hallway made her stop and listen. Her breath hitched in her throat and she was suddenly incapable of moving. The clicking continued towards her door and the hair on her arms stood to attention. “Mum,” she breathed quietly. The tapping sounded just like her mother's steps on the hard wood floor. She'd heard that sound so often throughout her childhood that it still made her feel safe. Like she was truly safe and everything all was right in the world again. Her breath was rustling through her ears and her heart beat was pounding through her like the base at a rock concert. She held her breath for a moment, waiting to hear her mum's voice calling out to her. Her bedroom door swung open and her dad stuck his head through the door. “Hey there, sweetie,” he grinned. He was always way to chipper for the morning. “Hey,” she replied, her voice coming off croaky and weird. “You about ready? Your chauffeur leaves in 10min.” he chuckled. He always thought he was so funny. He left and the sounds of steps walking away from her room sounded nothing like her mother's heels. What was she thinking! How could she mix up her dad's business shoes with her mum's heels? What was wrong with her! She raked her hair up into a high pony tail and threw the last of her books into her bag. Term 3, here we come! She hadn't had much of a school holiday. Her manager at her part time job and wrangled her into working full time for the whole holidays whilst she took off with her boyfriend to Byron Bay for 2 weeks. So, instead of sleeping in late and vegging out in front of the TV with her friends, she had been hauling her butt out of bed and trudging into the shopping centre each morning to open the store. She had wondered why she, the 16-year-old casual worker, had been gifted this responsibility above others that already worked there permanently. But having worked with them for 2 weeks straight- she was beginning to understand why. She really loved her job and the guys she worked with, but man, they were clueless! That shop would have crashed and burned...literally burned twice, if it weren't for her. Having grieved for the loss of her holidays, the paycheck she received at the end did soften the blow of a lost holiday more. She'd spent a large chunk of it updating her wardrobe and the rest had gone into her car fund. Her phone chirped with a message. She zipped up her school bag and checked her message. You catching the bus? Meet you there? She heard her dad heading to the front door and quickly replied to her friend. Sure thing. See you soon She grabbed her bag and phone and met her father at the front door. “All ready?” he asked, still grinning way too brightly for this time of the morning. “Yep,” she replied, “All ready.” “I have missed your company the last couple of weeks,” he said to her as they pulled the door to their house closed and jumped into the car. Her predictions had been right -the air was still frostily fresh. She pulled her long socks all the way to her knees while the car's heater warmed up. Her father tuned into the classical music channel, then backed out of the driveway. Her father left for work in the city early. Anna caught a lift with him for part of the way, getting dropped off at a bus stop where she met up with her friend Belle. That way they could ride the same bus together the rest of the way to school. She usually had to wait a bit, as her dad left so early, but it was better than having to walk to the bus stop near their house and catch the bus from there. Sometimes she cursed her parents for picking a school that was so far away from their home, but mostly she was used to it now. When she jumped out of the warm car at Belles bus stop, the cold air struck her face and whipped around her neck and knees. She shuddered as she bid her dad goodbye and stuck her air pods into her ears. She picked the daily mix on spotify while she settled in on the cold bus stop seat with her hands jammed into her blazer pockets to wait for her friend. Belle arrived after what seemed forever. Her mother dropped her off on her way to work also. Anna knew the car before it pulled into the stop and watched her friend jump out. She waved to Belles Mum, who waved back briefly before hastily exiting the illegal stopping in the bus zone. The girls hugged in greeting before Belle dumped her bag next to Annas and settled back onto the cold metal seat together. “How you going?” Belle asked her friend, “Did your boss show up on Sunday?” Anna laughed and she shook her head. Her boss had promised to come in on Saturday so Anna could hand the keys back and hand over the chaos that had happened while she'd been away. Anna had been looking forward to having Sunday off. She was going to an end of holiday party on Saturday night with Belle and some other friends. Unfortunately, her boss never showed up, so Anna had to peel her semi-hung-over body out of bed on Sunday to open the store at 9am. Her boss showed up at 2 in the afternoon and at which point, Anna's headache had well and truly taken over and her care factor had dropped to about 1. She'd simply tossed the keys to her boss and walked out of the store without a word. Benny, who she had been working with at the time, watched perplexed at the interaction between adult boss and teenage boss and thought he would try and leave also. The adult boss had to push him back into the shop and insist he get back to work.