Steam hissed around Aranea as she fixed the build up in the train engine, Wiping sweat from her forehead as she stood and turned. Saying that she was able to fix the problem still gave her a thrill so she hurried to grab her tools and get to the main office and tell the people that had hired her. This wasn't the first time Aranea had been hired by the Wenstons, so she gave almost no thought to where she was going. Knocking on the office door three times Aranea stepped back to give some space. A few seconds later the door was opened by the secretary. Aranea knew him well, as he was the one to hire her each time. They smiled to each other as Aranea passed, and she continued to smile as she walked up to the desk of her employer Mr. Wenston.

"Good afternoon sir, I fixed the train's engine like you asked."

"Thank you Aranea, There haven't been nearly as many problems at the train yard now that we've hired you."

Aranea smiled at the compliment. "Thank you sir, I always try my best." The cliche sentence escaped her mouth without a second thought.

Her employer gave a half hearted smile. "Running the station has become so much easier with you helping. Mr. Vanderbilt has stopped breathing down my neck, but that doesn't make life any easier."

Aranea's smile faltered as she replied "I'm sorry sir, if you ever need my help again just call!" nodded as Aranea walked out of the door. Aranea pressed the down arrow on the elevator and waited for the hiss of steam and opening of gates. After waiting a few minutes she gave up and decided to take the stairs. There were only six flights, just enough for Aranea to go down, and be able to carry her tools without too much pain. After two minutes she made it down the stairs and out of the door and was on the street to her house. It wasn't a bad house but it wasn't the best. The house was all brickwork, with a tan door and a circular window. There were two stories, a small kitchen, and a living room where Aranea slept. Using her key she opened the front door and dropped her tools by the entrance. She walked to the couch and flopped down.

"Hey Aranea." A persuasive tone floated through the air only to reach deaf ears. The voice tried again. "Hey Aranea." This time more commanding. Aranea groaned and turned so her back was facing the voice that was bothering her. The owner of the voice was getting annoyed from the lack of attention coming from Aranea, they decided that this was going to be the last time that they tried to awaken Aranea. "Aranea!"

Aranea gave up and rolled back to face the person. "What?"

The person smiled, they had finally gotten Aranea's attention.

"So I know you have a good job." The tone was back to persuasive again and Aranea knew what was coming. She only groaned in response to get the conversation over with. "Well, the rent needs to get paid, or all three of us will be kicked out." The person stopped and waited for Aranea to make some motion that she was listening.

"And…" Aranea already knew her answer to the question, but she knew if it was going to be accepted she had to play along.

"Well, I spent all of my money saved for the rent on buying this new dress." A sigh escaped Aranea's lips. No matter how hard she tried, every month Nicole used all of her money that she "saved" on some new fashion statement. Ignoring the interruption Nicole went on. "Can you pay my part of the rent?"

"You want me to spend all of my money on the rent while you get to spend it all on yourself? Since the first four months after you moved in I can't remember one time that you actually paid your own rent. You either beg me, or Heather for money that we can't provide you with all the time. Actually I've only gotten seven jobs this month and I'm going to be running low on money after I pay my own rent, there's no way I can pay yours as well."

Nicole turned her back on Aranea and started to stalk away. After a few steps she stopped and turned with a smirk on her face. Aranea had sat up at this point and was worried about what Nicole had in mind. She didn't have to wait long to find out. "You know there are still a few more days before our rent is due, and the science center is always accepting volunteers for experiments. Aranea wanted to either hit Nicole for thinking of sending her to the science center, or curl in a ball for her fear of the rumors of what they do in said centers. Nicole seemed to not care of how Aranea felt and continued. "They always pay you, so you could get a job there and help me pay the rent!"

Aranea stood up and grabbed the front of Nicole's low cut dress and pulled her up off the ground so she was face level. "Nicole I don't care if you are late on rent, and all three of us are kicked out, though I know that they'll only kick you out not all of us. I don't care that you are annoying and keep asking Heather and I for money because you spend it. Although you do a million things that push my buttons, if you EVER mention that 'science center' which is actually a place where they send people to lower the population, I will not hesitate to sign you up." Aranea dropped Nicole and went back to her couch and started to read. Nicole had never seen Aranea so mad, she thought it was just a joke. She had now idea how scared Aranea was of that place, or that she could defend herself when placed in that kind of situation. Aranea made sure that Nicole had gone up to her room before letting out a large puff of air. If Nicole kept this up there would be problems. Aranea had only gotten this house for such a cheap rent because she had promised to fix any problems that came up. Nicole and Heather were some of the nicest people Aranea could find to share the house with, if Nicole was kicked out there would be some problems, problems that Aranea couldn't fix. Maybe she would have to face her fear and enter the science center.