Chapter 7:

Emi's POV

"I'm Knight." Illya's announcement was barely a whisper, yet I shut up as he cut me off. "I'm Knight and I'm the one who suggested you as the replacement photographer."

Not the declaration I was expecting. But my reaction was still the same, complete silence. One of my friends just announced he's a secret musical star...Okay...

"Emi? Say something, please." Illya was quite calm, despite my slight freak out. "Emi?"

Right, Illya is still my friend. I thought to myself. Don't think of him as Knight of Noble...Nope not gonna think about it... "Umm...so photos?" Very smart thing to say. I mentally scold myself.

"The photoshoot, right. I got side tracked." Illya resumed our earlier converstion like he didn't just tell me a huge secret. "It's no sercet that you take pictures, Calex talks about it both of your hobbies nonstop. Calex sure does love taking pictures. Anyway, I've seen some of your work. Calex has a habbit of forgetting to detele stuff from his laptop." I rolled my eyes, making a metal note to smash Calex's laptop later. "Some of your stuff was mixed in with his. You've got a great eye. You could probably get a mentor easily if you wanted."

"My older sister is a photograpger, she sometimes lets me and Calex acompany her to work and help out. We're not actually taking picuters. We mostly just help set things up and double check things, like the lighting." I explained, leaving out the part of my sister's next assignment. "Calex is just as skilled as me. Why don't you just ask him? He likes sharing his work more then I do."

Illya turned to look at me, serious now. "Unlike him, I know you'll keep quiet about the while Knight thing." He whipshered, now that the park had become crowded. "Even if you don't accept the job, your not like Mara or worst Chole, the two of them alone can rivial any gossip magazine. I trust Calex to keep quiet, but knowing him, he'd slip the beans by accident. But I know you wouldn't, accident or not."

I glanced at Illya, trying to keep calm. Illya said he likes my work and trusts me. Illya trusts me.

RRRRIIINNNGGGG!!!!!!!!!

"I've gotta change that ringtone." I say, while fumbling around to find my cell phone. Big brother probably changed the ringtone, again, while I was asleep. I'm sooo 'erasering' all of his music and putting kiddie songs in there. "Hello?" I answered, relived to have this distraction.

"EMS!!!" The sound of plates clacking together and orders being shouted, made it diffcult to hear Calex on the other end. "...so get down here." He hung up, after that. Nevermind I didn't heard anything after Ems and only got part of the ending. But the message was clear enough, they needed help at the resturtant. Someone probably called out and it would be at least an hour or two before one of the other workers could get there. Calex is lucky he's my best friend. Doesn't hurt that I get paid in free food and sometimes actual money.

"Calex?" Illya asked, to my surprise he was right. "Don't look shocked, your not the only one he calls in. Ever work the dinner rush when three people called out?"

I rolled my eyes, "Is that your best or worst? Try working open to close on only four hours of sleep."

We spent the next five minutes sharing stories of working the the restaurant. What makes the place so popular, is the fact that the same menu is never used twice in the same week. Some dishes are in every menu, making them the main ones. But for those who want to try something different or from another country, the menu changes were what they liked best.

"Shouldn't you get going? Before Calex calls me to help instead." Illya glanced at his phone, afraid that Calex might really call him.

I rolled my eyes, but gathered my stuff knowing he was right. Calex would call everyone we knew if I didn't walk through the doors of the restaurant within the next twenty minutes. And even that was stretching it.

Waving by, I ran off in the direction Pixie had went to find her. She was napping in a flower bed. "Pixie." I whispered. "Time for choco-" Her eyes snapped open before the word was out of my mouth, then zoomed into my bag. Shrugging, I quickly ran out of the park and towards the restaurant.

"That was a long shift, thanks again for the help." Calex flopped onto his bed after having finished his shower. It was complete chaos when I had arrived five hours ago. Five of the staff had called out and only three of the others off that day could come in. Didn't help that several of the items needed to make some of the dished didn't arrive in this morning order shipment. Still, Calex and his family managed to pull it off. The restaurant had closed an hour ago, but there was still work to be done. Calex and I were allowed to leave early since we still had home work to do and school in the morning.

"You so owe me." I flopped onto the bed beside him, causing him to bounce a bit. "Why didn't you call some of the others? Im sure Mira wouldn't have mind helping. And we still have homework to do!" Ranting, I snatched the pillow from him and chucked it at his dad. Looking at the clock, I saw that I had about two hours to study and do homework before sneaking out to met Panda Mime. I glared at Calex, an evil plan forming.

He swallowed like he was scared. "Ems, what are you thinking?" He knew that whatever I was thinking wasn't going to be fun for him.

"I have two hours before having to meet Panda Mime tonight, and I would like to be able to get more than four hours of sleep tonight. You may friend are going to do both of our math and science homework. While I work on History." He groan, knowing that this was the best plan, but also hating have to do both math and science. Calex is okay at science,but has a way with numbers, making him the best person to tutor me in math. Just because heOs good at these subjects doesn't mean that he likes them. "And no, this doesn't count as you paying me back. You owe me, maybe letting me borrow your new camara will be a start."

Calex said nothing more, as he pulled out his textbooks.We spent the next two hours doing our homework, only stopping to look over each others work. By the time 11:30 pm had rolled around, I was in the middle of helping Calex with the science assignment. "Pixie, time to go. Let's Soar!" Pixie flew into the bracelet, transforming me into Blue Jay. Calex is family love over top of the restaurant, with his bedroom having a balcony that leads to the roof. Climbing up there often made it easier for me to catch air currents and use them to glide over builds and through the city.

"Seriously? Your just going to leave me with the rest of the homework?" Calex asked, already knowing the answer. He simply waved for me to go without waiting for an answer. Blowing him an air kiss, I climbed the balcony ladder to the roof, ready to make my way over to Panda Mime.