The Pet Shop Helper [G/t]

Chapter Five

When I went in the store, I didn't see Simon. Instead I saw a girl, who looked my age. She was petite with blue eyes and straight blonde hair going to her shoulders.

"Excuse me?" I said politely. She looked over at me with a small smile.

"Yes?" She asked.

"We're not open yet. How did you get in?" I asked back. She tilted her head and then she laughed.

"You must be Rose!" She said with a smile. "My name is Georgia. I'm Simon's daughter." She added as she walked up to me, hand outstretched. I shook her soft hand, noticing how flawless she seemed. How the hell did she come from Simon?

"Forgive me for asking, but what about your mother? Where is she?" Georgia's hand fell.

"She left me and my father when I was only nine. She hated the borrowers and the pet shop, and my father hated her ideas of just killing borrowers." She said, now fiddling with the tie on her shirt. She wore a sleeveless white shirt with a black skirt, and black boots. If you can't imagine that, imagine Hatsune Miku's dress except black and white.

"I-I'm so sorry, I didn't-"

"Please don't be sorry. It's not your fault." She smiled softly. "Now, I have to inform you that I have taken the business. My father has gotten a new job, but he didn't want to just shut down the place. I know it may not seem like it, but he cared about borrowers. And he'd quite fond of you as well, always saying he doesn't know why you stay working here." Georgia said. "And I know he wasn't wrong."

"Thank you, Georgia." I said bashfully. She laughed.

"So what do you do before you open the shop?" She asked.

"I'm going to feed the borrowers." I told her. Georgia seemed to perk up to that.

"Ooh, can I help? Dad never really had me help with this." She asked.

"It's not hard. We buy food their size, which is already wrapped and set up to serve. All we have to do is give it to them." I said. She nodded and followed me to the back room. I opened the fridge and pulled out a tray of breakfast trays. It was cereal, two cartons of milk (like the ones schools have), and fruit.
I handed Georgia half the tray on a plastic plate and then we went to give the borrowers the food. I clicked the button and the borrower's tiredly got up. Slowly but surely, we gave them all the food and waited as they ate.

"They're so adorable when they eat!" Georgia gushed. I couldn't help but laugh.

"You're going to make them blush if you keep it up." I joked. She laughed, and shook her head.

"Being the I now own the pet shop, I can't have a borrower for my own." She said. "So I really enjoy watching them. I don't mind having borrowers as pets, to a point at least." She said.

"Do you mean as friends or actually pets?" I asked curiously.

"As friends, of course. I mean, even if we set them free with papers, they're in more danger than if we kept them with us. I'm not saying I want to have them in hamster cages or anything. Just with me, you know?" I thought about the four borrowers in my home, and smiled.

"Yeah. You want to protect them, not enslave or imprison them." I said. She looked at me.

"Do you have any borrowers?" She asked. I tensed up a bit.

"No." I lied. I feel like she could sense my lie, but luckily for me, the borrowers were all done eating. So I went to press the button as they all walked back into their homes. Then Georgia spoke.

"Can't they stay out of their homes?" She asked.

"Sadly, we don't have a place for them to. If we let them roam the porch in front of the houses, they could escape that way." I said, clicking the button the locked their doors.