Enchanted ➜ Avani Gregg

006

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Cassandra's POV

"¡vamonos!" my mom yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

"coming!" i yell back.

i fell asleep around 6, and now it's 9. i've attempted to pull myself together in just ten minutes. didn't work out very well.

i'm still extremely tired, but my mom doesn't know what happened so i have to pretend like i slept all night.

i run down the stairs.

"get your water bottle," she says to me and starts to walk towards the door.

so i pretend to go and get it and walk out after her.

my mom owns a hand made jewelry and clothing shop, and it's about a 15 minute walk from where we live. we don't have a car, so it's either walk or uber. but the weather is nice, so it's nice to get out.

it's august 8th, a saturday, so our store doesn't open until 10. but we need to get there to open it.

"how did you sleep?" my mom asks.

"fine," i say.

"you have to make at least two jackets today," she says.

i nod my head. "i know."

my mom tends to make the jewelry, while i work on clothes, although we can both do both.

i like making custom jackets. usually, they are denim jackets and i cut out the back and put in a new piece of fabric, or i paint a design on the back. people can come into the store or call to order one. sometimes, i just make some to put in the store for people to look at and hopefully buy.

unfortunately, being a small business during this pandemic has hit us hard. it was our only source of income, and we couldn't work for a few months.

thankfully we are back open, we just need to wear masks.

so i complete a jacket by the time it's 1. we've had two customers, both bought things.

"mama," i say.

"yes?" she answers. she's working on an earring.

"can i take my break now?" i say.

usually i bring water and lunch to the store and eat in the back, but today i "forgot" it.

"just put that jacket in a box and you can go," she says.

i take the jacket i just finished and fold it up. i put it in one of our custom blue boxes with some white tissue paper, and a handwritten note that says "thank you for shopping here. hope you love it!"

i put it in the back. this way when the customer comes to pick it up, my mom can go grab it for them, all ready to go.

i walk out and immediately turn in the direction of the park. i have to go further than my house to get there. it will probably take 25 minutes.

typically i would take my time. i like go for walks and see what's going on and enjoy the weather.

but thinking about what could be waiting at the park was making me walk extremely fast.

plus, i had to be back at the shop in less than an hour or my mom would get angry.

i get to the park and walk over to the tree.

i was hoping avani knew which one i was talking about, but it's pretty hard to miss.

luckily no one was around. i walk around the base of the tree and don't see a letter. so i climb up to the first level of branches. i don't see anything on my side of the tree. i climb down and try the other side.

and there i see it. stuck between two tiny branches, an envelope with my name on it.

my heart flutters and i smile.

deciding there's probably no better place, i turn around so that my back is on the trunk of the tree, prop my legs up and open the letter.

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Cassandra,
No worries about dropping a letter off at my house. I thought it was a fan at my house at 4 in the morning, so it's not uncommon. I was hoping I'd see you again. Or talk, at least. I feel like we had so much more to say. I have so many questions. You must live by me if you were able to walk to my house, but I've never seen you before. Have you lived in L.A. you're whole life?
Oh, and of course, we didn't get to talk about all the normal things you would ask if you just met someone. How old are you? What's your favorite color? What are your hobbies?
You seem to know about me, but I'll answer these questions anyway. I'm seventeen, my favorite color is purple and my hobbies would be tiktok and makeup. I'd love to turn makeup into my full time career when I'm older. I'm a senior in high school, and I'm homeschooled. Are you in school?
I guess to wrap this up, I just wanted to say I'd really love to be your friend, and I'm so happy you wrote to me. This tree should be the spot we leave all our letters. So I'll look for another tomorrow!
Sincerely,
Avani

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e.j.'s notes:
so this was just more about cassandra's life and who she is. and, avani responded🥺