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__________ c h a p t e r t h r e e
Awoken by her alarm clock, Sam turns on her stereo and gets ready for her first day of work.
When her dad forced her to get a job for the first time, she utterly dreaded it, but now, she enjoyed working for the most part. It gave her a routine to follow, a chance to try different things, and, at least this time, an excuse to look at clothes all day.
"Oh, girls just wanna have fun," she sings while tying her hair half-up half-down.
"Hey, can you check if my braids are even?" Bianca walks into the room, pointing to the French braids she'd done.
"You know our mother literally does hair for a living right?"
"I'm trying to learn for myself. I'm not a baby anymore," she stands in front of Sam's vanity, stopping her from looking at her own hair. "Plus she's having brunch with Joyce."
"Oh, she gets her braces off and suddenly she's a grown woman," she mocks shock, earning an unamused face.
"Can you just check the hair?"
"It looks fine. Are you leaving now?"
"Yeah, we gotta get there before Dawn leaves for work."
"What exactly are you doing?" she pulls on her socks and Adidas.
"We're surprising Dustin," she grins.
"B, come on!" Lucas's voice comes through the walkie-talkie, making them both roll their eyes.
"Can't believe he's rushing me," she shakes her head, running downstairs with her bookbag. "Bye Ma, Bye Dad!"
Climbing on her bike, she's net with the group outside of her door, waiting for her.
"He's gonna be home soon, come on," Mike waves his hand over, leading them down the street.
They hide their bikes around the shed, knocking on the door.
Dawn opens it, fully in her Starcourt Cinemas attire, and ushers them in quickly. "Hurry, I've gotta go!"
"We're going, we're going," they all yell, hiding in the appropriate spot.
"He's so gonna lose his shit," Bianca giggles.
Eventually, the car pulls in, and Dustin grumbles to his room, whining about no one being excited to see him.
"Now," Bianca whispers, and El closes her eyes, making his toys come to life.
He slowly follows them to the living room, where El stops them. He inspects them carefully, clearly confused as they sneak into the room behind him.
"Surprise!" they yell, holding up a banner and blowing noisemakers.
In a panic, he sprays Lucas with the hairspray in his hand. The boy screams in pain, while the group looks on in shock and amusement.
