"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" The room exploded into cheer, an extraordinary feat for the 8 people in the room, two of which were children.

"Well, that was a year for the books," Lex noted. Everyone shared a nod of agreement.

"But it's done. This is the time for fresh starts. Are you doing to have resolutions, or are you done with them?" Ethan asked. Lex nodded.

"It's not to make me a better person. I just want to be employed with a steady paycheck by the end of the year," she said, "You?"

"Get a job that I can hold," Ethan responded, kissing Lex. She looked at him with a confused look. "We didn't do it at the stroke of midnight."

"Smart," she responded. The conversation fizzled and everyone moved to talk to someone different.

"So, Lex, are you thinking about going to college at some point?" Paul asked Lex.

"I might. When I'm older. I dropped out because I was too busy taking care of the household and that's my main goal," she explained.

"What would you study?"

"Business in all honesty. I might do psychology," she replied, "Maybe grad school after that, though I have no idea."

"Well, don't do what I did at grad school. I went to a grad school tour. I really liked it and I had done my interview. At the end they asked me if I had anymore questions. I looked at them and said, 'well, I don't have any questions, but I do want to say this—'" Paul said. Ethan came to the pair and looked at Paul.

"If you can't find me, I'm in my room from second-hand embarrassment," Ethan said. Lex and Paul nodded as Ethan headed upstairs.

"I said, 'I know I'm ready for grad school. But is grad school ready for me?'" Paul said. Lex groaned.

"Paul, you don't say that. I know that and I dropped out of high school," she said.

"I know, I know. It was really dumb," he admitted. Tom wormed his way into the conversation.

"Is this about the grad school story?" Tom asked. Paul nodded. "Please stop."

"Paul, yes stop. I don't want to start the year hearing the grad school story again," Emma said. Paul looked at her.

"Fine," he said.

The house began to empty after that. Lex went into the kitchen to refrigerate any leftovers and run the dishwasher. She was exhausted, partly because she left all the cooking to the last possible moment, requiring her to wake up at about three in the morning the day before. By some miracle, Lex managed to stay awake almost the whole day. When the final leftovers were put away, Hannah emerged in the doorway, pajamas on, teeth brushed, and a hairbrush with hair ties wrapped around it in her hand.

"What's up, Banana?" Lex asked, washing her hands.

"Can you please braid my hair?" Hannah asked. Lex grinned.

"Of course. Let's get to your room," Lex said, walking through the house, turning off all of the lights and locking all the doors and windows before setting the alarm and going to Hannah's room.

"Thank you," Hannah whispered.

"No problem. Did you have fun with Tim and Diane?" Lex asked, diving Hannah's hair in two and starting on the left side.

"Yeah. Diane goes into my lap of her own free will. Can I ask you a question?" Hannah asked.

"Besides the one you just asked, of course," Lex replied, adding onto the three strands, crossing left over middle, right over middle.

"What's the grad school story?" Hannah asked.

"Well, Paul was going to go to grad school after college. He went on a tour and did his interview, which he had to do to get in. At the end of the interview, they asked him if he had any questions. Paul told them he didn't have any questions, but he wanted to say this—and I quote— 'I know I'm ready for grad school, but is grad school ready for me?'" Lex told Hannah, tying off the left braid. "That's the one thing you don't want to say. It's just weird."

Hannah giggled. "I think that's funny."

"It is. But don't do that. I want you to promise me," Lex said, weaving her fingers through Hannah's hair.

"It's okay, Lex. I promise," Hannah promised. Lex carefully tied off the right side while Hannah got under the covers.

"Good night, Hannah Banana. Sleep tight," Lex whispered, turning off the light and closing the door behind herself. She headed to her room and found Ethan in the hallway. He was leaning against the wall. "You're still awake?"

"Yeah. It's only one," he said.

"Yes, only one. In two hours, I'll have done the full 24 hours," Lex said, yawning.

"Go to sleep. Now," Ethan ordered her. She smiled and passed out in bed before she knew it.

Nine hours later, Lex was up at ten in the morning and on an intense online job search. She hadn't bothered with contacts and had messily tied up her hair. "Lex, Lex, Lex."

"What?" Lex asked, looking up from the application she was filling out. Hannah was in front of her. "Good morning, Banana."

"Lex, you need a break. Let yourself rest. Until tomorrow, at least," Hannah said.

"I can't. It's like there's a void in me that I filled with work. Without it, I feel dead inside. Something's missing," Lex explained.

"Alright," Hannah said, getting a yogurt out of the fridge. She ate it quickly and disappeared to somewhere within the house. A good ten minutes later, Lex was in her zone. She had submitted two applications. It was the bottom of the company stepladder, but she would work hard to get higher up.

"Lex, can you stop for a few moments?" Ethan asked Lex. She looked up.

"Only for a few," she said, putting her hands in her hair to tie it up again. Ethan closed the laptop lid.

"Come on, babe. You've slept only about eight hours, maybe even less. You have to sleep," he said, taking her laptop from the table. When Lex stood, it was evident how exhausted she was. She had a sweatshirt that was Ethan's at some point with her running shorts from the one time she said she was going to work out and run daily. It didn't work out, but she kept all the clothes because they were comfy. Glasses were perched on her nose. Her hair was in a tangled knot.

"I need a job, babe. I have to fill this void that's empty in me," she said. Ethan put her laptop away.

"Listen, we have financial compensation. You could go back to school," he said. Lex's eyes burned and that's when Ethan knew he had fucked up big-time.

"I'm never returning to hell. Retail is unimaginably better than anything I experienced," she said.

"Yes, I didn't mean to say that. But staying on topic, you could do it online," he suggested, starting to make a new pot of coffee.

"We're doing just fine," she got out in gritted teeth.

"You have to eat and sleep regularly. You're going to get unimaginably fucked up. That would require psychological help, which a) I'm sure you don't want to come and b) we can't afford it. I want to do what's best for you," Ethan said.

"And I want to do what's best for us."

"The first step to helping others is to help yourself. Go take a shower or sleep."

"Fine."

Later that day, Lex had taken a nap and she had washed her hair, which wasn't an everyday feat. She had put a pause on her job search and was now doing all the laundry, despite the fact that she had done it three days earlier.

"At least she's not working?" Hannah said.

"I'm a little worried about her. She has to rest and take care of herself," Ethan said.

"We're not leaving the house," the young girl said.

"Agreed," he said. When Lex came from the laundry area, it was evident she had run out of laundry to do.

"Hey, Lex!" Hannah said.

"Oh, hi," Lex replied, leaning against the wall.

"So tonight, do you want to like, watch a movie? Order pizza?" Ethan offered. Lex shrugged.

"I guess," she said. Ethan and Hannah shared a look. Hannah looked at Ethan with wide eyes and a slight tilt backwards. The message was clear. Go away. Let me do this. Ethan gave a subtle nod and left the room.

"Lex, come on, sit down," Hannah said, pulling out a kitchen chair. Lex, defeated, sat down. "So spill. Tell me what's up."

"I feel useless. I want to go back to a normal routine of my nine to five," Lex said, her voice filled with defeat. She let her hair down. "I miss that. I need something productive to do."

"I can maybe help with that," Hannah smiled. Lex looked at her younger sister.

"What do you mean?" Lex asked.

"Well, we could play board games, read books, go to the library, at home workouts, or the animal shelter. That's off of the top of my head, but ice skating also exists," Hannah said.

"That's true. We'll have to wait an hour or two to leave the house or anything that requires actual clothes, because they're all being washed or dried," Lex smiled. Despite her earlier shower, she had put on pajamas again.

"I'm going to go put on real clothes. I have them," Hannah said, heading upstairs. Before she did anything, she went to Ethan's room. He stood up.

"How's everything?" He asked.

"Well, in two hours we can do things requiring real clothes. They have to finish washing and drying. She needs the nine to five routine," Hannah explained. Ethan flung his arms around her and planted a kiss on Hannah's head. She smiled. "Well, I'm going to go put on real clothes. Take your pick."

"Will do. I'm going to go talk to Lex," Ethan said. He and Hannah parted ways to get ready.

After helping Lex and a fun week, Hannah started school and Ethan his TA job. Lex was delighted that Ethan had a job, but she also wanted to be productive. The first day of school, she sent in more work applications until noon, when Ethan texted her that she wasn't allowed to apply anymore for the day unless it was once-in-a-lifetime. After eating lunch, Lex went onto YouTube. Since her conversation with Hannah, Lex had picked up yoga and easy ten minutes workouts. The best ones were on YouTube and they allowed her to feel semi-productive.

Later in the month, life had adjusted to normal. Lex had interviews almost every day. Due to the bad Hatchetfield weather, most of them were at home over Skype. She hoped they all went well, especially for jobs she was excited for, like working at a pet store. There wasn't a chance for a demon doll to take over, and Lex loved animals.

"How did they do today?" Ethan asked as he and Hannah slipped into the car. When Lex heard the two clicks, she started on the way home.

"They went well. I'm starting to hear back, but I haven't read any of the emails," she said.

"Lex, I think you have the chance for any job you'd like. If you got turned down, maybe they have lots of people applying," Hannah said. Lex grinned as Ethan grabbed her phone.

"Hey- Ethan! Put my phone down, please. I don't want to read them yet," she said, blindly pushing his arm down.

"Okay! Okay! But I think you should read them when we get home. Banana has homework, I have some things to grade, and you can get work done, too," Ethan said to Lex.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but stop talking. I'm so nervous. It's been a month of searching and interviews. I just don't want to get my hopes up," Lex said. The rest of the ride home was silent minus the radio.

When the trio got home, they all sat around the kitchen table to do their work. Lex opened her email. The first one was from the pizza place across the street.

Dear Alexandria.

We regret to inform you that you have not been selected to work here as a customer service employee. We very much thank you for your time and for being interested in working. However, you are our first choice on our waiting list...

Lex couldn't read the rest. Her favorite pizza place had turned her, a loyal customer, down. However, she had a few more to go through. After reading that she had been accepted for a clothing store and a cash register employee at fast food restaurants, she carefully clicked on the email from the pet store.

Dear Alexandria,

Word Count: 2142

Disclaimer: These characters belong to Starkid productions. I am in no way affiliated or endorsed by them. All the fictional events are mine and mine alone.

Hello, my dudes! I hope you had a good week and you are all staying safe! I don't really have much to add here, so have a great week!

--Luna :D