The Reputation Redemption

Chapter One ~ Good Morning Flora

My eyes fluttered open and then shut again. I stretched out my long legs and suddenly was made aware of the sleeping body next to me. I counted to five and then opened my eyes. The room was painting a soft gray with a large window overlooking a main street. The room was mostly bare aside from a metal desk with a bookshelf above it. 

Oh, college kids. 

There was probably a time in my life were I assumed I would strive to go to college. When I was younger I told everyone I knew I was going to write books one day, and sell them all over the world. But that was just a childhood dream.

Don't get me wrong, I think people should follow their dreams as much as the next gal. I just also believe in being practical, which I still think a lot of people do not understand.

For me, the dream would be living in a big apartment on Beacon Hill in Boston, waking up to look out on the commons and write fabulous books that people enjoyed reading and were inspired by. Somewhere along the line, I would meet a sweet guy who thought I was great and we would fall in love accordingly. 

As glamorous as that sounds, it was very far off from what I knew my future would be. I worked as waitress at Tessa's restaurant which is the best job I could have asked for. Aside from being a best-selling author, working at Tessa's was a dream job for someone like me. My day consisted of taking orders and delivering them, but it also gave me a lot of time to learn about people, especially my regulars. 

The stirring of the large body besides me woke me out of my day-dream. I needed to leave if I ever wanted to get back to my house in order to have time to shower and get ready for tonight. I was working from 5 to 12:30 PM and then I would have all of Sunday to myself. 

I slowly unwrapped myself from the tangle of sheet I had around me from Matt's bed. Or at least I think he mentioned his name being Matt. I shrugged to myself and pulled on my pink dress I wore last night. The dress itself wasn't too flashy to look unusual on the streets of Boston on a Saturday morning, but the shoes were. The heels I wore last night were definitely in my my top 5 favorite things I owned. They were a nude color with a matte look to them, and boy they were sky high. The spikes of the heels got skinner the further down towards the ground they went, and the platforms added at least two inches. 

I looked in the mirror and couldn't help but smile back at myself. With my outfit and wild hair, I looked wild. Something about my face today reminded me of my mother, which mad me smile and inwardly sigh at the same time. Sometimes I missed her so much I can't stand it.

I walked out of Matt's flat and onto the streets. I was glad it wasn't too cold because I forgot to bring a jacket last night. It was still September, which gave me plenty of time to dread the upcoming snow and cold that would be inevitable this winter.

The walk to my apartment wasn't bad, Matt didn't live too far away from me. I opened the door to my apartment and it was exactly the way I left it. I threw my keys down on the table and sat in the soft, cushioned armchair I found for a great deal. 

I looked around at my apartment. The walls were all an egg shell white, with one accent wall in the corner painted a pale yellow. The floors were old and cracked hardwood, but I still loved them. The kitchen was on the left when you first walking in the door. Although the kitchen was smaller and outdated, I spent many paychecks going to stores to get deals on cute things to add to the kitchen. Just because its old doesn't mean it can't have spunk.

The furniture of my apartment was all mix matched. A chair from here, a table from there, and a rug as old as time made up my living room. Off to the right of the window was my bedroom, which just had enough space for a bed and a nightstand. 

Looking up at the clock, I realized it was only 11:00 AM. This meant I had around five hours of free time before my shift. I decided to power up my laptop which was most certainly the oldest thing in my whole house. When I pressed down on the power button, I began to hear the fans of the laptop spinning to life. The whole process of powering up this laptop was like powering a plane, and it took a lot of work to make it happen.

When my laptop finally did power up, I opened up Microsoft Word and clicked on my most recent document. For each chapter of my book, I made a new document just to keep everything in order. 

I was at the part in the book were something meaningful needed to happen. The worst part of writing for me is trying to tie up the book to lead up to an ending. My issue is I keep spinning more plot lines and so much happens that it makes it impossible to tie up all the lose strings. I really did love writing though. It was my one exemption to my practicality rule.

~

Knock Knock. Knock-knock-knock knOCK KNOCK

I turned over onto my side to look at my clock. 8:43 AM. Sunday was the only day I could sleep in the whole week, so unless my house was on fire Mr. Impatient outside my door better have a damn good reason for all his knocking.

I stumbled over to the door and opened it wide. "What could you possib-" My words stopped as I looked up at the man above me. 

"Good morning Ms. Williams. I believer we need to talk," said by no other than Mr. Jacob Owens. 

~~ Author's Note ~~

HEY GUYS!

I hope everyone liked this short and sweet introduction to Flora. Although we have yet to see her many personality traits, I thought you might enjoy this little teaser to set the stage and let everyone meet Flora.

The next chapter should be posted sometime tomorrow, but it might be awhile because I want to make it fairly long because thats when you will meet most of the characters and get to know their predicament. 

Stay warm and safe!

- Tessa Ruan