I walked inside of the diner from the back door and changed into my work clothes which consisted of a flowy knee-length black skirt and a white button-up shirt. Because it was cold, we could wear something warm on top, so I put on Ethan's warm sweater before tying my apron around myself.

"Hello, Kyle, Jenny." I waved at my coworkers as I stepped into the kitchen.

I liked Kyle and Jenny. They are the only reason that working in the diner is tolerable. They were a young couple at the age of 26 who were high school sweethearts and had lived together after moving out of their parent's houses. Kyle was our chef and had amazing cooking skills and Jenny was a waitress like me. They were so in love and were supporting each other through thick and thin. I always wanted a love life like the one they had.

"Hello, sweetie." greeted Kyle as he ruffled my hair, earning a groan and a glare that only made him laugh.

"Afternoon, dear." said Jenny and pulled me into a hug. She pulled away quickly and frowned playfully. "Is that a men's cologne I smell on you, young lady?"

"Men's cologne?" asked Kyle and sniffed my sweater. He frowned too and glared at me. "Care to explain?"

"Wow, wow, guys." I chuckled. "This sweater is for my friend from school. My cardigan was ruined and he lend his sweater to me."

"Ah, what a gentleman." said Kyle mockingly. "Surly he had no intentions by lending his sweater to some lovely girl."

"Okay, we don't have time now." said Jenny and pointed an accusing finger at me. "but you will certainly explain everything to us later, young lady."

"Yeah." glared Kyle. "And if things are serious, I want to see this young man soon. I should approve him before you two date."

"We are not dating. He is only my friend." I said loudly as Jenny dragged me out of the kitchen.

"Everyone says this at the start, sweetie." sing sang Kyle making me frown.

Soon, customers flooded into the diner and the hard work started. The diner had quite a fame because of Kyle's cooking. I was wiping one of the booths in a corner when the bell on top of the door rang, indicating new customers. My eyes widened at hearing the familiar voices and my heart skipped a beat.

My head snapped up and I froze as I saw Chris, Chase, Hector, and Vincent, walking inside while laughing loudly. I gulped and ran behind the counter and clutched my heart. This was not good at all. The diner was on the other side of the town, far from school and they had never shown up here before in the past four months that I was working there. The diner was just too cheap for their pockets. I looked frantically around, searching for Jenny but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Eleanor!"

I jumped as I heard Mr. Cruise the owner of the diner. I whipped my head and saw him standing there, looking angry like always. No matter how hard I worked for him. He was always angry with me, saying I'm not doing my job good, and whining about my age. But Jenny always would remind me to ignore him and his comments, telling me that I'm doing great.

"What the hell are you doing?" he barked angrily. "I don't pay you to play hide and seek. Can't you see we have new customers? Go and get their orders."

"Can't Jenny do this?" I asked quietly. I just couldn't face the boys.

"Are you defying me, girl?" seethed Cruise. "Jenny is in the kitchen, helping Kyle. Now go and do as I say."

He said before he stomped away. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. "You can do this, Eleanor." I whispered. "They are just customers."

I grabbed my notepad and pen from the pocket of my apron and walked up to their table with shaky legs. Once there, I cleared my throat. They all fell silent and looked up at me as I tried not to squirm.

"Hello, I'm Eleanor and I will be your waitress tonight." I said quietly, proud of myself for not stuttering at least. "What can I get for you guys?"

I watched a nasty smirk appear on Chris's lips and I gulped looking down at my notepad. "Look, who's here, guys." he said teasingly. "Our lovely poor nerd."

"Can we order you?" asked Chase and put his chin on his palm while looking up at her. "I would like you on the side, babe."

"Please. I work here." I mumbled pleadingly. "Can you just order from the menu?"

"We all will have burger and fries with cokes." ordered Chris, showing mercy.

I quickly wrote down the order. "I will be here with your order soon." I said forcing a smile and rushed toward the kitchen sighing in relief. That was it, I just had to give them the food and the nightmare of tonight would end.

"Four burgers with fries, please." I announced as I stick the order to the counter for Kyle.

"Hey, girl." said Jenny, leaving the knife she was using to cut the tomatoes aside. "Are you fine? you look a bit pale."

"I'm fine. It's alright." I answered and forced a smile.

"You sure?" asked Kyle as he put two dishes of pasta on the counter in front of me. He continued to stare as I nodded. "Okay. This is for table three. Two Alfredos."

I nodded, grabbed the dishes, and rushed outside.

You may say I should have gone from another route to avoid that disaster or did anything to avoid it. But believe me. It was not possible. The diner had three rows of tables and the boys had sat in the middle row and the couple that I had to deliver the dishes to had sat at a table in a corner that I had to pass the boys to reach.

I rushed in the aisle and toward the lovely couple to deliver the pasta. I did my best to not look at the boys, so I didn't see Chris's leg that suddenly was thrust in my way. So I tripped and fell face first on the floor.

The dishes crashed on the floor and the pasta spilled on the parquet floor between the broken pieces of the plates. The sound of my muffled scream and the breaking made the diner silent. But the next second the silence was broken with four piercing laughter that echoed through the diner and stabbed my heart.

"Oh my God, Eleanor" Jenny's worried voice reached me, and the next second she was kneeling beside me, helping me up. "What happened?"

I winced as Jenny helped me to sit up and couldn't help the tears that left my eyes both from the pain that I was feeling all over my body and because of the humiliation I was going through.

"She tripped over her feet." laughed Chris. "I should call you clumsy poor nerd from now on."

The laughter echoed one more time, louder this time.

"Oh, Jesus. your nose is bleeding." said Jenny and pressed her apron to my nose.

"What the hell is going on here?"

I flinched at hearing Mr. Cruise's voice and I quickly stood up with Jenny's help, facing a furious owner who was looking at the mess with tightly clenched fists. His nostrils were flaring as he stared from the broken dishes to me. Kyle had come out of the kitchen as well and now was beside me.

"Mr. Cruise. please sir, I can explain. It was not ..." I began to explain hurridly forgetting about my bleeding nose and aching body. Fear was tugging at my heart like crazy and the poor organ was jumping out of my ribcage.

Cruise raised his hand and stopped me. "Just shut up." he hissed, doing his best to not shout at me in front of his customers. "You are fired."

The three words poured down on me like a bucket of ice. My heart stopped for a second and fear made me speechless.

"You can't fire her like that." protested Kyle with a deep frown. "It was an accident."

Kyle's voice snapped me out of my trance. "Please Mr. Cruise." I pleaded with clasped hands and walked closer to him. "Please sir, I will pay for the damage. Just don't fire me. you know how much I need this job."

"I don't care. Just leave here instantly. I had enough of you." he seethed before pointing a threatening finger at Kyle and Jenny. "And you two, go back to work before I fire you as well. Clean this mess too."

I sobbed as Jenny rubbed my back and I watched desperately at Cruise's retreating form. That was it. I had lost my only source of income. The only money that my family desperately needed. All thanks to one person.

I slowly turned and looked him right in the eyes. He wasn't laughing anymore. His smirk dropped the moment we locked eyes. He was just looking at me with an unreadable expression on his face now.

Only God knew how much I wanted to shout at him, to slap him so hard in the face, to punch him in the gut. But I did none of them. It was useless. His plan had worked. He had truly ruined my life. I just stared at him for a moment before letting Jenny walk me toward the locker rooms.

Half an hour later I was standing in front of the front doors of my house. I should have probably looked like shit for crying for long. A sad smile came to my face as I heard shrieks of laughter from inside. But the smile turned to trembling lips a moment later.

What should I say to my siblings? Why was I so careless to lose the job? What should I do now? Jenny and Kyle had reassured me that I would soon find a job, but It would take long for an 18 year old who had no academic degrees to find a job that would pay well to afford four people plus hospital expenses.

I wiped my eyes after a moment and fanned my face a bit, before opening the door and walking inside. I smiled once again when I saw Liam and Daisy wearing Indian hats with feathers and chasing each other around the living room.

They both stopped once they heard the door and looked my way. Liam stared at me wide-eyed and his smile dropped as he took in my messy appearance and probably bloodshot eyes. But Daisy's eyes lit up and she ran to me happily.

"Elie!" she shrank and jumped into my arms and hugged me tight around the neck.

I easily hauled her up and kissed her head while hugging her tightly, trying desperately to heal the ache in my heart.

"Mum?" asked Liam quietly and I shook my head quickly, rejecting his assumption about something bad happening to mom. He sighed in relief and closed his eyes before glancing worriedly at me. "You are home early."

"I will tell you later." I told him while putting Daisy down. I needed to tell Liam about the situation. He was old enough to know and be aware, but not in front of Daisy.

Daisy grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the kitchen. "Come, Elie." she said happily. "Liam has bought us ice cream with his first salary."

"Salary?" I asked and turned to look confused at Liam who was behind me.

"Yeah." chuckled Liam nervously and scratched the back of his head. "I decided that I can't sit around and do nothing. So I found a job after school. I would trim the grass and walk the dogs. Nothing hard and not so much money, but I can earn my own pocket money. You don't need to pay me anymore. And before you worry, Mrs. Shawn was more than happy to take care of Daisy the two hours I will be gone."

"That's fantastic." I said proudly. "I'm so proud of you, L."

Liam's eye instantly lit up and he beamed at me proudly.

"Come on, please." said Daisy and dragged me toward the fridge. "I want ice cream."

"Ah, uh, It's nine o'clock and you should go to bed." I said sternly before picking Daisy up. "No sugar before sleep. I assume you have already had enough."

"But I want more, please." whined Daisy as I walked toward the stairs.

"No way, sweet girl." I said. "It will trouble your sleep and you have school tomorrow. now be a good girl and brush your teeth. I will change and come to tell you a bedtime story."

Daisy squealed happily and ran to the bathroom down the corridor as soon as I put her down. I went to my room and picked up sweatpants and a t-shirt and went to the bathroom attached to the room.

I stared at the pale zombie that was staring back at me from the mirror. My hair was a mess from the wind and me pulling them out of frustration and my eyes were bloodshot. Before I can cry my eyes out again, I quickly freshened up and changed into the clothes I have brought.

Once I was done, I went to Daisy's room while pulling my hair into a messy bun. I chuckled once I found her already on the bed with her favorite book that I have read for her thousands of times in her hand, looking at me eagerly.

"Okay, sweetheart," I sighed as I made myself comfortable on her bed and grabbed the book. "Let's begin."

She quickly snuggled to my side and listened carefully while I read her the story. Soon she was fast asleep, snoring lightly. I gently kissed her face, pried myself from her hold, and pulled the covers around her before leaving her room, leaving her bedside lamp on.

I walked defeatedly down the stairs and saw Liam walking out of the kitchen, holding two small buckets of chocolate ice cream with two spoons.

"Let's eat ice cream." he said and pointed to the sofas in the living room. "You need some suger."

I gratefully grabbed one bucket and spoon and plopped myself on the sofa. We begin to eat in silence. I really appreciated Liam's patience. Never once did he force me to talk although I could see he was anxious, letting me gather my thoughts.

"I got fired." I finally said quietly while staring at my half-eaten ice cream. I heard Liam's loud shaky inhale but he didn't say anything. I sniffled a few times shoving my tears back and shoved a spoon of ice cream into my mouth.

"I know it was not your fault." finally Liam broke the silence and I looked up at him who was smiling slightly but sadly. "Don't blame yourself. But why?"

So I told him everything and saw his eyes harden and his jaw ticked with anger as I told him about Chris and what happened earlier. "That son of a bitch!" he seethed when I was done.

"Liam." I scolded him with a scowl on my face. "Language please."

"Oh come on, Elie." he groaned. "That bastard had made your life a living hell and you don't even let me curse him? Why haven't you told anything about it sooner?"

I smiled warmly at my brother. "What could have you done?" I said but my smile faded and sadness fell on my face, thinking about what I should do. "And don't worry. He wouldn't be a bother again. I don't think I see him again."

"What do you mean?" asked Liam confused. "You will still see him every day at school."

"That's the point, L." I sighed and put the now empty bucket away and looked directly into Liam's eyes. "I don't think I go back to school. From tomorrow morning I should go look for jobs. The diner was a miracle for me, letting me both continue school and work at the same time. But I don't think I will be lucky again. I should face the reality. No more school. I think everyone would throw a party if they were about to quit school."

I laughed a bit trying to light up the mood.

"Everyone but you." said Liam knowingly. "What about your dreams then? Didn't you want to become a psychologist?"

"It seems I can't for the meanwhile." I sighed but smiled at my troubled brother weakly. "But never is late. Soon things will become better and maybe I can achieve my dreams just a bit later. For now, I don't have any other choice."

"I will quit school as well." he responded and sat straighter. "I will work and help you. I hate that you take all the burden alone."

"Absolutely not." I answered sternly, leaving no place for an argument. "You can't leave school. If you do, the child service will investigate the case and when they find out about the situation I'm afraid they give you and Daisy to foster care and I don't have the financial ability to fight for your guardianship."

Liam's eyes widened a bit at hearing what I said. He sighed and leaned back defeated and rubbed his face tiredly. Seeing him like that, I stood up and sat beside him and pulled him into a hug.

"Don't worry, my dear." I said and kissed his head feeling him hugging me back while keeping his head on my shoulder. "Everything will be fine. I promise."

But later that night while I was laying on my bed staring at the ceiling wide awake I questioned my empty promise in my mind over and over again.

Would everything be okay ever?

What did you do to my life, Chris Harrington?

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A/N: Hi, lovelies. I hope you have enjoyed the story till here. Please vote and write a comment for me. I love to hear from you.

Thank you so much for your support

Ela :)