I'm sorry! :( It was summer and I seriously didn't think about this. No excuses. And school just started 2 weeks ago so I've been trying to work on my grades at the same time of practicing for Color Guard. Then I've been working on other stories on my other account. But I am back. After I publish this I'm going to work on the next chapter but I won't promise you in saying it will be done today. I actually have no idea when it will be done. Hopefully by the time this 3 day weekend (now 2 days) is over. Please forgive me and my busy/lazy self?

-J

Hot. That was one word to describe what Margaret was feeling. Beads of sweat formed at the top of her forehead. Dripping, forming shallow cascades, down her brow and face until reaching the crease where her lips met. Her tongue swept out and she could taste the salt. She brushed the back of her hand along her forehead to prevent more of the sweat from falling.

"Margaret?" Margaret looked up when she heard her name. The woman calling her name waved her hand before continuing. "Come on Margaret. It's time to go."

"But Mooom? I want to keep playing."

"It's getting late, sweetie. We need to get home and clean you up before Grandma gets here. You don't want to be covered in dirt when she arrives, do you?" Her stern look caused Margaret to quickly pick up her Barbie dolls from the ground. She stood up and brushed the dirt from her hands and knees and ran over to her mom.

"No mommy. I don't want Grandma to see me dirty. I want to be all pretty for her."

Then Susan held out her hand for her seven-year-old daughter to take before they walked to the car to go home and get ready.

~~~~~~~3~~~~~~~~

An hour after they returned home Margaret was wearing a pink, knee-length dress with white sandals. Her bangs were clipped behind her ears while the rest hung loosely around her shoulders.

She sat on the couch waiting for her mom to come back downstairs so she could help her mom make dinner.

She sat and waited. About 5 minutes had past and she continued to sit and wait until her eyes started getting heavy.

Eventually the couch looked better with her laying down on it. After a moment's hesitation, she laid down to rest her eyes. Sleep quickly came and her light snoring echoed throughout the empty room.

Slowly consciousness came back to Margaret. She brought her right hand up to her eyes to wipe the crust that dried from her crying.

At first everything was unfocused but after rubbing her eyes she could see more clearly. The room was arranged a little different and magazines were strewn around the table. The carpet wasn't the light brown she remembered but instead it looked worn out.

She swept her hand through her hair but it got caught in a few tangles. When she finally freed her hand she decided to take a shower.

Her feet dragged on the carpet and slowly carried her up the steps.

When she finally reached the bathroom she looked in the mirror and gasped. She knew she probably didn't look at her best, but what she saw starring back at her wasn't who she thought she was.

Her normally cream skin was ghostly pale. Hollowed cheeks made her eyelids were look more worn out than they were and dark bags hung under them. Almost repulsed enough that her stomach decided to churn, she turned the shower on to distract herself.

The steam began to collect on the edges of the mirror while the temperature rose a few degrees higher.

When her feet hit the tile in the shower it felt like someone had wrapped a soft security blanket around her form, promising to protect her.

Eventually she started to cry and her tears mixed with the running water.

It wasn't the last time she cried, but each time it felt like a small weight was lifted from her shoulders.

~~~~~~~~~~3~~~~~~~~~~

Weeks continued to pass and people continued to check up on Margaret periodically.

She finished High School a year early and got excepted into an American school. She didn't want to move away, but the house held too many memories for her to successfully move on.

Graduating top in her class with a degree in English to follow in her mother's footsteps like she promised at a younger age.

Margaret's first job got her started in her publishing career as a secretary at Colden Books. Initially, working as a secretary wasn't her best plan to starting a career, but it started her in the industry and paid enough for rent. So instead of complaining and finding another job, she settled with the intent to move up quickly.

An unsweetened Cinnamon light soy latte in one hand, a white chocolate mocha in the other, and an unread manuscript tucked under her arm immobilized Margaret from using her hand to hold her phone up to her ear. Instead, it was firmly placed between her ear and shoulder as she walked towards the publishing company.

"Yes ma'am." Margaret rolled her eyes. "No, I didn't have time to call her." She let loose an exaggerated sigh as she listened to her boss on the other end of the line. "Yes ma'am, I will do that right away." During her conversation, Margaret never noticed the tall, muscular man walking towards her. "When I get into the office I will-Ahhh!" The man bump shoulders with her causing her to spill her boss' coffee down the front of her blouse. The manuscript fell from underneath her arm while she looked down in shock at the coffee that now occupied her shirt instead of its cup. "I, uh, I have to call you back." Margaret closed the phone and looked at the man guilty of causing her to spill the coffee.

"I am soo sorry, Miss. Here let me give you a hand with that." He reached over to pick up napkins from the nearby hot dog stand and handed them to her while he reached down to pick up her manuscript. "I wasn't paying attention where I was going and I don't know how can I make it up to you?"

"Well, you could maybe help me not get fired considering I just hung up on my boss." She dabbed at her now ruined shirt.

"Uh, I don't know if I can do that, but maybe I can buy you another cup of coffee and lunch sometime soon?" Margaret looked up at the proposition. His blue eyed gaze caught her and held, making it hard for her to say no. "Excellent, I'll call you sometime and we can maybe schedule a time to meet."

"That would be great, but now I have to go. I'm sorry." She wrote down her number on another napkin and started walking away before he called out.

"My name's Brad, by the way."

She turned around and smiled. "Margaret," she replied, before continuing to her waiting boss.

Haha, all will be explained in the next chapter. And hopefully you'll start to see more of why Margaret does to Andrew what she does!

P.S. I'm no longer sure if I have a beta or not, so please excuse any grammatical (or any other) mistakes I will make.