"You're coming with us, Natalie. It'll be a lot of fun, which is something I rarely see you do."

Being the leader and head writer of the school's paper made Natalie one very busy bee.

"You know when you mentioned hanging out with you, I was thinking more like shopping or a picnic date... breaking into the school with you and the boys is not something I can see myself doing for enjoyment," She replied, sitting back down at her desk to retype something.

"You make it sound like a crime. All we're doing is finding some easy places to sneak in and scoping the areas we can use for senior prank." We're going to ignore the part where it lowkey is a crime. I think.

"Yes but, what if we're caught? My mother is Asian, and I happen to find the idea of surviving at least until graduation very appealing."

"First of all, we won't get caught. Plus we'll have Cyrus with us and he's pretty good at keeping us out of any real trouble. Adam already knows a good place to sneak us in so it'll be a quick explore and we'll be out before you know it."

"You're asking me to put my trust in Adam?" She asked completely unconvinced.

"No I'm asking you to put your trust in me," I replied with the most innocent smile I could muster.

She took a quiet minute to think it over. She was saying she didn't want to go but she also seemed to be heavily considering it too. I waited patiently as I saw her gears turning.

"If you want to say no, you can. I'm not going to force you to do anything you're not comfortable doing. But, look at how much work you put in this paper week after week. You deserve to let loose a little, have some fun."

She smiled softly after a moment and gave her head a quick nod, "Okay, fine," She finally said, and after a quick moment of consideration she added, "But I'm taking my own car... For emergency quick-escape purposes."

I laughed at her genuine caution. "Okay, that seems fair."

She let it sink in that she actually said yes and I saw her eyes light up in the slightest. She just agreed to do something out of her comfort zone, and I could tell it excited her over all that worry.

After a moment of playing with her sleeve, she pulled it back over her wrists and continued typing.

"Aren't you hot in here?" I asked her. I had taken my jacket off a while ago and was now comfortable in my short sleeves. They must have bumped the heater.

She looked at me with a blank expression. "Oh," she said finally, realizing I was referring to her long sleeves, "No. I'm just anemic. Iron deficient. I have a heavy period, so it's a problem for me." Her eyes widened then. "Is that oversharing?"

"No, just plain old girl talk. My mom used to be anemic, so I get it."

"Natalie why is the printer acting up again? I don't know how you get it to work, but I need you." Lillian spoke from the other side of the room.

I looked towards the other members of the team. Michelle was independently typing away on her own computer, while Tucker was violently banging the side of the printer in attempts to get it to work.

"Tucker, you're going to break it into pieces again!" Natalie said in a distressed tone. She hurriedly made her way over to the other side of the room and worked her magic.

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Dad and I were sitting at the dinner table when I found the courage to speak on what I had wanted to ask him.

"I think I want to get a job."

He lowered the fork of food he was about to pop in his mouth and dropped it on his plate. Then he stared at me silently.

Then, he started chuckling.

"What's so funny about me wanting to pick up some responsibility?"

He cleared his throat after a while. "You don't want a job Row. Why would you want a job when I give you money for free?"

"Because you won't buy me a camera so I think I should work to buy one of my own."

"Okay... that's oddly responsible of you."

"Mhm, just thought it would be faster to get one myself. Plus, you haven't bought me one because I haven't earned one yet," I said with exaggerated quotations, even though he hasn't heard a single complaint from any of my teachers, the principal, or any parent of another teen at my school. "This way I'm still working for it, but it won't come out of your pocket."

He nodded his head slowly, clearly agreeing with him saving some money on getting it for me himself.

"Where would you even work?"

"Jimmy's diner is hiring, I saw a help wanted sign on the door just last weekend."

He squinted his eyes, "How are your grades? I don't want you falling behind in your schoolwork."

"Straight A's dad. I won't be falling behind."

He took a deep sigh in consideration. "I don't know Row. Isn't Jimmy's off of Industrial and Greenville? That's not a very safe part of town."

"Dad I basically spend the same time eating there than I would be working there. If you wanted to worry about the location, you should have said something years ago before setting me and Cyrus into an obsession over that diner."

He knew it was true. I was six years old the first time Cyrus and I ever tried Jimmy's. Dad took us after a long and exhausting beach day. We were instantly hooked on the French fries and the cookies and cream milkshakes.

Over the years, a small and steady rise in crime wouldn't stop Cyrus and I from going there as soon as we got our driver's licenses.

"Ahhh," he groaned in uncertainty.

"Come on dad pleeeease. You know you like the idea of me earning my own money, you're just putting up a concerned dad front."

"There's no front about my concern Row. There's a lot of dark things out there," he said tensely.

It had been obvious he was stressing about work more than usual. I could see it in the way his shoulders would sag from exhaustion when he thought I wasn't looking. I could see it in his eyes, even when he hid it with a smile. But dad never liked to talk about work.

"Well then it's a good thing you raised a badass," I said finally.

He let out a short breath of laughter with a half-smile. Finally, he looked up from his food. "Okay fine. It's no guarantee, but you may apply."

I silently wiggled in excitement. "Oh, I am so getting that job. Thanks pops."

I went back to eating my casserole, feeling extra proud of the fact that it was the second time that day I had convinced someone to tell me, 'Okay fine.'

A/N: Suprise Monday update! One of my shorter chapters, but all still relevant information.

No goon content this chapter, but I hope to still be seeing you all for the regular Friday update ;)

As always, thanks for reading!❤️