CH 7: Sie an' I
I rush inside, trying not to seem panicked, but unable to hide it so good. H.G. greets me at the Bed and Breakfast, which I decided to stop by first in case she were here packing.
"Claudia?" She questions. "Aren't you back a little early?"
"The guys said they have it under control." I explain. "Um, did Myka tell you about what happened with Sie...?"
She rolls her eyes and laughs. "No, but should I just start making assumptions?"
"Shut up!" I command. "She's in a lot of trouble, and I just wanna know if she's been here or not."
H.G. tells me she hasn't been here since she left for the warehouse this morning. Same story from Leena. All her stuff is still sprawled out across her room and other rooms, so I assume neither she nor a regent has come to evict her yet; or at least pack for her.
"Look, if either of you two see her here, could you please let her know I'm looking for her?"
They comply, and I head off to the warehouse.
"Welcome back." Myka scoffs in anger.
Then she takes note that I'm back early, and the guys are not with me.
"Well, they're busy with some delinquents, and they said they don't need my help." I say.
I wanted to just out and ask her where Sie was, but Myka was still mad at me for earlier. There's gotta be a way to go about this lightly...
"Claudia don't even try. I know you're here for Sie so why don't you just go ahead and ask, and we'll keep the jokes to a minimum, sound fair?" She offers.
Damn it, Myka!
"She's my friend, Myka. I just want to say goodbye before she leaves." I affirm.
She smiles. "I didn't imply that she was anything but your friend, but whatever. Sie should be somewhere around section A of row 29."
She may have tried to say something after that, but I was gone by that time. Pay backs for hanging up on me earlier. I swing over to section A, and slowly walk down the row in search.
All these little objects... all of which had their own story behind them... their own little history... the regents can't just fire Sie without getting to know her first!
"It's unfair... they just... judge her off of one visit, and think she's some sort of lunatic..." I mumble.
"Sounds familiar." A voice reverbs, and I realize she's on top of the shelves.
"Sie!" I fake-smile. "Looks like Pete accidentally left a monkey after the zoo explosion. Get down here!"
She hops down.
"You know, I heard you and Pete saying mean things before you guys even met me." She explains.
It doesn't surprise me. "Sie... I'm sorry about that. I had a feeling you overheard some things..."
She shrugs.
"Why would you want to be friends with everyone, even after we said all that stuff about you though?"
She grins, and trots around. "'Cause I'm just better then you!"
Still, just the cutest thing. "So Myka told you about... well, I guess you already know."
"About the getting fired thing?" She picks up. "Yeah, I heard, but nothing's official yet."
"You're so optimistic." I admire.
There was silence for a moment. Acceptance, then nothingness.
"...So did you come here to help me clean up?" She asks finally.
"No Sie, I came to say my goodbyes before they send you off and I never see you again."
She didn't say anything, just laughed. I... I was worried about her! And she was just laughing at me!
"Common Claudia! What makes you think we'll never see each other, just because I'm not gonna be working here anymore?" She gets out after examining my expression.
She should know!
"I'm still going to school with Leena, and I'll probably be around the area considering I'll have to live on campus!"
"I don't think you realize how serious this is." I begin. "Sie, they could wipe your memory, or drop you in some strange foreign land! There's no telling what they're going to do with you if they see you un-fit to work here after you've already worked here!"
She continued to smile anyway.
"You joke about H.G. having to stock up on candles for her birthday, but do you realize why she's so old?"
"Well, yeah, she was bronzed, but-"
"What if they bronze you? What if you have to sit there, incased in metal, for century after century! And that's not even the worse! They could inject you with poison, or even-"
"Will you just calm down!" She interrupts, then giggles. "We don't even know for sure they're going to fire me silly. They said they'd have to give me a performance review first, so-"
"I KNEW they couldn't just fire you!" I boast, still worked up, but now a little hopeful.
"...look, thanks for coming all the way back just to see me, but I promise, no matter what they do to me, we'll still find a way to see each other. Okay?"
"Even if they incase you in bronze or wipe your memory?" I sniffle.
"I'll find a way." She smiles. "You and I are tight... I don't think we could stay away from each other if we wanted to! You know what I mean?"
I don't know what she was talking about, but I was glad to hear there's a chance she can stay. Myka made it sound so bad... I must have missed the part when she said it was only a test.
I did get a little worked up over this... but I can't help it. She's right; we're close. It's not my fault if I care for her well being.
For now, I'm back from Chicago with nothing to do, so it looks like I'll be helping the monkey organize this place. There's really nothing else I could do to help her; I just gotta hope the regents don't make a decision deadly to her health, unless it's the decision to allow her to stay.
Myka's version of what happened sounded so mean! Sie was telling me all about her run-in with the stingy regent.
"So he says, all snooty-like, 'are you going to offer me some hors d'oeuvres', but I was like- no way dude! This ain't some fancy French restraint, we only got snacks here!"
I smile. "You did not!"
"Well, something like that, but along those lines! And then He was like- 'Myka, is this your daughter?' but I mean, I'm too cute to be Myka's daughter!"
I see a huge improvement in her confidence since she's come to work here. The warehouse has been a GOOD thing for her! Hopefully the regents will see this.
"Well, I hope you know to be respectful while they're here evaluating you." I advise. "We'll all be."
"Don't worry so much Claudia. It's gonna be okay."
She was looking into my eyes, smiling so carefree and confident. I think maybe she is a little worried about the situation though, but she wanted to act like it's not so it doesn't upset me. It could be. I wasn't paying attention to the placements of the objects anymore... I was just putting stuff on shelves while constantly looking back at her, diligently stacking, neatly organizing, concentrated...
I don't know when it happened, but there's no use trying to fight it now. I was falling for Sie. Hard.
