Working your way up

Chapter 1

Clementine woke up to the sound of the rosters her family owned. She headed out to the barn to feed the chickens and her only goat, Minty. "Good morning Minty", she said as she fed her. She quickly fed the chickens and cleaned their coop before returning inside where her mother was already cooking in their rusty old stove. "Good morning mum". "Good morning Clementine back already from your morning chores". "Yes mum woke up early today".  Clementine help set the old wooden table in their small kitchen. "Mum do you think today I could go over to Oliver's house". "Yes but be sure to go after your work hours are done". Soon after, Clementine's 5 brothers came down. Percy, the twins Charles and Brian, James and small Sebastian all sat down at the table in their regular spots. "Good Morning mum", they all said,"good morning Clementine". "Good morning brothers", said Clementine instead of saying all their names. Clementine sat down and ate quickly. "Why in such a rush", asked Percy, the oldest. "I wanna finish early today", she answered. Percy as always nodded stating he understood. Percy was the oldest at age 17 as mentioned before, each of the children starting age 9 worked to earn money for the family. Percy worked at for an inventor hoping he will become one soon. The twins Charles and Brian,who always fighted saying who was older, were in second place with the age of 14. Both work as assistants at the Post Office. Clementine being the middle child (12) loved dancing but never did unless she wasn't being watched but works as a maid at Mrs. Pomel's house, the richest person in London, and as her daughter, Amanda's assistant. James(10) was a shy one and loved to read so he worked rearranging the books at the public library. The only one left was little Sebastian who was only 6 years old and didn't work at all but helped here and there with chores. But besides their job they had a chore assigned in the cottage. Little Sebastian sneezed,"Oh Sebastian please don't tell your poor mum that you have a cold". "No mum", the boy responded. "Good because right now we have enough money to buy our food and that's it". Once Clementine finished she excused herself and went to change in the room her mother and her shared. Being the only girl,  Clementine found it hard to share a room with any of her brothers. She put on her uniform and left the small cottage. Clementine had to walk for a while before entering the streets of busy London. Once arriving as always Mrs. Pomel greeted her with a mop and a bucket,"Climitine my daughter is having a party with her friends in the ballroom and I want the floor and windows to shine". "Yes Mrs.Pomel", she said grabbing the mop and bucket. "It's clementine", she muttered to herself. Clementine looked at the clock marking 9:10 am. She started to mop so quietly she heard the grand clock tick. Tick tock tick tock... Clementine let out a deep breath, "I have to make this exciting". She started humming a beat. Little by little the beat grew stronger and Clementine mopped and swept dancing. She jumped here twirled there, she was having so much fun then...."CLIMINTINE", yelled Mrs. Pomel,"I pay you to work not to dance, leave that to my daughter she is obviously much better than you and whatever you're doing, now focus and work". Clementine finally finished by 11:15 mostly because the window were 3 time bigger than her and also she had to refill her bucket many times. "Just in time", clementine said and ran upstairs to Amanda's room was. She knocked their secret code and Amanda opened the door,"There you are Clementine I thought I was going to have leave you". "I know but I finished just in time, let's go". Both girls went down and got inside the limo. "Hey have you recieved your letter from the London Academy of Dance". "No but I might tomorrow". Both girls squealed and laughed the entire way. "Here we are m'lady". Amanda and Clementine walked inside."You know I come here almost every day and I still get amazed every time I enter it". "Yeah it is beautiful....but we better hurry or I'll be late". Clementine helped Amanda with her stuff and hid behind the the curtains to watch. Amanda is the daughter of Mrs. Pommel. She is also 12 and goes too the second most prestigious ballet school in london. Clementine always waited until everyone exited the classroom before coming out from behind the curtain and joining Amanda. "Amanda you were great today. I wish I could dance like that but all those french words confuse me". "Thanks Clementine and don't worry you'll dance just as well as me one day I promise". Once back at the mansion, Mrs. Pomel gave her 20 thousand new things to do. The grand clock marked 3:30 and Clementine ran out of the mansion to Oliver's house. The windy day was as always, she passed the great bridge and walked on the edge daring herself to survive, but that day destiny was to strike. While walking, a mailman passed by and the wind snatched away a letter from his hands without him noticing. It hit Clementine and fell to the floor. The girl grabbed it before it flew away and turned fast to catch the mailman who was long gone. "Wait Sir a letter you...". She stopped and wondered where he had gone. Clementine caught her breath before closely examining the letter. She gasped at reading the name: Ms. Amanda Pommel. She knew instantly she had to give her the letter because it was from the London School of Dance."Oh no she'll never get the letter if I don't deliver it. But it's from the London School of Dance and I've always dreamed of going there . Clementine argued with herself, pacing from one side to the other and finally decided she would give the letter tomorrow. She ran to Oliver's house to study. "Olli open up!". Oliver, a small thin boy, opened the door while eating a muffin, "Oh -mrff- Clementine come in". Still eating his muffin, Oliver showed her to his inventors room. "So what are you working on?", she sad sitting on an old chair. "Oh well I'm trying to make a homework helper". "Really?! Can I take a look". Both put on goggles that they made a few years ago and got to work. Oliver and Clementine both loved to work on inventions and present them in the annual convention in hope of winning the prize money and splitting it for their families. "Hey maybe if you tighten this, it might work", she said. "Huh I hadn't thought of that. Ok let's try". Oliver did as she suggested and for a moment the pencil started to move but then the machine shut down. "I guess I was wrong". "No you weren't wrong we just need to tweak that idea". An hour later, the church bell rang indicating it was 6pm and Clementine headed home for dinner. "Mum are you home?". "Yes Clementine I'm in the kitchen, please set the table and after dinner please hang the laundry outside". "Ok mum". Clementine, her mom, and her five brothers all ate quietly until Percy broke the silence,"Mum today Mr. Mendez's first assistant quit so I might get promoted". "Great, Percy I'm proud of you." They all noticed their mom seemed down.  Clementine and her brothers all looked at the calendar which marked August 21st and understood everything. August 21st was a sad day for the family for their dad died that same day 6 years ago, only a year after little Sebastian was born. Their dad worked in a mine as a coal worker. He had been working there for 15 years, sadly one day there was an explosion during work hours and no survivor was found. That day, Clementine with all her brothers were walking back from school and heard sirens which was uncommon. They all followed the noise and ended up by the mine where they found mom beside a body covered by a sheet. She cried and all the children just watched her, until they went next to her and cried. Sebastian asleep in his mother's hands as they all cried.  Every year their mother remembered his Patrick and felt very sad for a few days. They all stood up and hugged her as their mother burst out in tears with her children,"Oh Patrick", she sobbed. It was bedtime and everyone had completed their chores. "Good night boys", said their mother closing the door from their cramped room. The 5 boys shared a room with two beds and a sleeping bag. They took turns having a schedule on the wall saying which day they were to sleep on the floor. Clementine shared room with her mum but she had her own bed. "Mum do you miss dad?". "Oh Clementine I would give anything to have him back, although I have you 6 to keep me quite busy". Clementine soon heard her mom snoring very quietly, so she allowed herself to study the letter. Opening it as quietly as she could she read:

Dear Ms. Amanda Pomel:

We congratulate you as you have  been accepted in the London School of Arts and look forward to your presence starting September 12th. Please know that your tuition has paid for in advance and you will not be receiving any payment letters. Thank you and we hope to see you soon. 

Clementine was happy for Amanda but then faced a big problem. What should she do? Should she give her the letter or attend the school herself? No, this was her chance, she had to, it was her destiny. She would ask her to help her learn basic ballet so she wouldn't look stupid and could convince people she was Amanda and maybe become a famous ballerina one day. The plan sounded impossible but she had to do it, she wanted to. Soon she fell asleep thinking about her dad and remembered her last time with him, his last words. "If you feel it's right do it God knows what's right for you".