Faking it.

CHAPTER 5

I walk back to Susan, who is leaning against the counter, scrolling through her phone, with a tablet full of dirty mugs and spoons and tell her to give the group of boys their bill. I quickly put the dishes in the dishwasher and walk back into the staff room to get my cardigan and put my nametag back in my locker. It's already half past five. I stayed an extra half an hour to help Susan out a bit. Well- okay. That's not completely true. I also stayed to see the British boy a bit longer.

When I walk out front again, I give Susan a quick hug, take my backpack off the ground and walk out of the Coffeeshop. 

As I wait for my bus to take me home, I see the group of guys out of the corner of my eye walk out too. They've been sitting and talking in the Café for hours.

I fully turn to them and look at the handsome boy again. He sees me and winks at me and I just smile back and turn away again. I can't believe Susan got his number for me. I'll definitely text him today or tomorrow.

***

The bus ride home was the same as usual. Boring. But the closer I got to my home, the more I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. I have this feeling sometimes but there is never anything worse to happen than me forgetting something at school or work, so I just shrugg it off.

As I walk to our front door, I notice both, Abby's and my parent's car in the driveway. Weird. Abby usually stays in the dorms form Monday to Friday because she's got late Tennis practise and doesn't want to drive half an hour back here.

I turn my key in the lock and open the door. I look around and see my parents sitting at the dining table with Abby standing next to them. My father looks furious and my mother just completely annoyed while Abby is giving me a smirk. What? I look around again and see what's going on. Everything is a complete mess. Pillows thrown on the ground. Dishes on the table and in the sink. TV is still running. Half empty bottles of water are on the coffee table.

But I cleaned everything before I went to school. I know that I did.

I look at Abby and it klicks. Of course. She did that. She knows that it's my responsibility to clean everything up downstairs and how mad my parents get when it's not.

"Hailey come here." My mother says in a calm voice, but you can hear the annoyance behind it.

I take slow steps towards them. My keys and phone still in my hand and backpack still over my shoulders.

I stop when my father speaks, "Hailey you know that you have only one responsibility in this household. Which is to keep downstairs clean."

"I kno-" My father interrupts me before I can finish, "Your mother and I work hard every day for over ten hours and we just want our home to be clean when we get back after an exhausting day at work. I don't see where the problem is for you to take maybe an hour of your time and clean!" At the end he was almost shouting.

"Dad I know. And I cleaned everything this morning." I tell him as calm as possible.

"Then who would make such a mess, Hailey. Tell me." He asks me in a sarcastic voice.

I don't even hesitate a second before answering, "Abby."

He starts laughing and everyone else does too. I bail my hands into fists.

This time my mother speaks, "And when would Abby have the time to do that, Hailey? She arrived at the same time as we did."

I open my mouth to answer her when my father cuts me off again, "I don't care. You're going to clean this up while we go out to eat dinner. Understand?"

I just nod. A lump building in my throat.

Don't cry. Don't cry. Not in front of them. Don't cry.

They walk past me, and Abby bumps her shoulder forcefully against mine. 

Bitch.

When I hear the front door shut, I let the tears fall. I silently cry and walk upstairs to put my stuff in our room and walk back down to start cleaning.

Fucking favourism.

It's silent. The only sounds are the ones I make while cleaning.

It took me almost an hour to get everything as tidy as it was in the morning.

I hate them. I hate Abby. She's the favourite child. She doesn't need to do anything in the household. Just spend my parent's money, go to college, get good grades and play tennis. She gets everything she wants.

While I go to school, get good grades, work from Monday to Friday, have dance practise on the weekends, don't go to any parties or even spend my money on anything except dancing and some food. Of course, my parents give me sixty dollars a month to 'go out and have some fun' but I never actually spend it. I always saved it up and still do. Mom and Dad never approved of me wanting to dance. They said it wouldn't get me a scholarship or anything else and that it was a waste of money. That's when I stared working at Maggs. I needed a job to pay for my membership at this insane dance studio I wanted to go to. It's at the edge of town and not that popular, again, but I met my best friends there. Milli and Simon. The two of them are cousins and we met when I had my first lesson there. We kind of clicked immediately. They're the only people who know how horrible my family actually is.

The sound of the front door opening catches my attention and I look at Joey. He sees my tearstained face and wraps me in a bear hug. He doesn't say anything, and we just stand there in silence.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here." He finally tells me, and I just shake my head and look at him. "It's okay. I'm used to it by now." I tell him. It's the truth. I am used to it by now. "Just a little bit over a year and then you're out of here." And then he smiles, "Wanna do some boxing in the basement?" I just grin at him and wipe my tears away, "Wouldn't miss an opportunity to kick your ass."