Revamped!

[After learning that my summer vacation will be nothing, I came here to update]. [2020: How cute. 17-old-me thought she'd have nothing to do that summer. Wait three years].

Winter's Melting: Part Five

After school, Cinder and Scarlet walk through the school parking lot together. Cinder found her first day at Lunar Academy to be decent. Despite hating the uniform, the cafeteria food, and the homework she got, she formally met Scarlet whom she also considers being a quick friend. Thank the stars she didn't spend the day alone. It would've been nice if Winter could experience it with her.

They spot Thorne in the parking lot, sitting on the front hood of his car as he waits for Cinder. He smiles at the sight of Scarlet.

"If you want, Scarlet," Thorne says as the girls approach him. "I could give you a ride. You know I'd do anything for you."

Scarlet rolls her eyes. "Goodbye, Cinder, see you tomorrow. Thorne … jump into a pool of piranhas if you're willing to do anything for me."

And with that comment, the red curls were bouncing their way, popping headphones in.

"She loves me," Thorne whispers to Cinder.

"She wants you dead," Cinder shoots back.

"That's Scarlet Benoit for 'I love you.' Maybe it's a French thing."

Cinder shakes her head. "French doesn't work like that."

"What do you know about French?"

"Oui oui baguette."

Thorne laughs as he slides off the hood of his car and opens the door for her with wide arms. "Your humble carriage awaits."

Cinder snorts a small laugh. "What are you, the horse?"

Thorne narrows his eyes. "Ha, ha, hilarious."

They sit in the car and Thorne puts the key in the ignition to start the engine. It whirrs but dies down. At a second attempt, the same result happens. Thorne curses as he slams his hands on the radio. Cinder sits back, keeping silent although she wants to say something. Thorne goes for the third attempt and thinks it's working, but the noise ends up being laughter coming from a gang of boys who stand against a fence, smoking as they mock Thorne. Cinder recognizes them from the boys outside The Rampion, the ones who Thorne told her not to look at. Looking at the curiosity on Cinder's face, Thorne sees her wondering about the boys.

"Ugh, not them. I have no doubts that Wolf was the one who did this to my precious car."

"Wolf?" Cinder questions despite learning it last night. "Why do we all have weird names?"

Thorne smirks, then remembers the state of his car. "Yeah, they kind of hate me. I told you that."

"If tampering with your car is kind of hate, then what would happen if they really hate you?"

Thorne shudders. "I'd rather not find out."

Cinder steps out of the car and walks to the front of it, glancing at Wolf and his cronies. Thorne steps out and watches her as she pops the hood and begins poking around with her hands. If Thorne said he wasn't the least bit impressed or turned on, he would be lying right through his teeth.

"You can fix cars?" Thorne questions. "How?"

Cinder shrugs as she pokes around Thorne's car. "I look at things and figure out how it works. I used to tamper around with little things around the house. I remember taking apart the toaster and putting it back together, constructing birdhouses for Winter, purposely dismantling Levana's espresso machine just to see the look on her face - anything. Then I worked at a car wash for a bit and sometimes people would ask about car problems since, you know, they're there."

When Cinder's done fixing what she can, she closes the hood and Thorne goes back into his car to test it. When the engine whirrs, Cinder brushes her greasy hands on the skirt of her school uniform. She returns to the car and Thorne is beyond amazed by what he witnessed.

"You know, if you don't want to go back home which I know you don't," Thorne starts as he pulls out of the school. "There's a garage just thirty minutes away from her, maybe forty from your place, and I think they're looking for a new mechanic. You'll get hired. Not only are you good at fixing things from what I've seen and they would love to have a female mechanic."

"That's what you would want."

"My wants are the same as everyone else's."

-o-

At the garage, Cinder sits for her job interview which happened the moment she walked in and asked for one. Thorne sweet-talked the secretary into printing Cinder's resume here which was granted.

Cinder sits with a straight back to give a confident vibe since she's a girl wearing a skirt (since she's still wearing her school uniform) in a place full of overgrown and greasy men and some bulky women. The one interviewing her was the owner who seemed to be a well-off man with gigantic biceps and tattoos sleeves on both arms. He looks at Cinder as if she's a little girl who lost her mommy at the mall.

"You can fix cars?" The owner questions with disbelief.

"You say that as if it's supposed to be hard to do," Cinder replies bluntly, making the owner sit back in his seat since he wasn't expecting this attitude.

"Do you have any experience with mechanics?"

"Not credible ones. I've poked around appliances at home and sometimes fixed cars at the car wash."

"When was the last time you fixed a car?"

"Less than an hour ago. I fixed Carswell Thorne's car."

An eyebrow shoots up at the mention of his name. Maybe Thorne wasn't kidding when he said his family had a "noble lineage." After this, Cinder makes notes never to tell Thorne about this since his ego is already inflated enough. The owner stands from his seat and opens the door for Cinder. She walks out and the owner leads her to the garage. Cinder feels as if she's in heaven with all the dismantled cars and tools in sight along with the smell of motor oil mixed with car polish. The owner notices her pleasure and smiles like a father to his daughter.

"Okay, girlie," the owner says to her, "prove your worth by handling this car."

"Sure," Cinder says, readjusting her messy ponytail.

"I don't mean to put pressure but this client's quite the name here."

"Was that supposed to make it harder?"

Cinder grins and the owner leaves her to check another employee. Cinder looks at the engine and examines it, looking for the problem that brought it here. Seeing nothing in sight, she figures that she has to look at the bottom of the car. On a normal day, Cinder would dive right under that car without another thought but today just had to be the day she was wearing a skirt with many men surrounding her. Cinder sighs, getting down there while holding her skirt down.

-o-

An hour later, Kai walks into the garage and approaches the front desk.

"Is my car ready yet?" Kai asks.

"It is," the secretary of the garage replies. "The owner wanted me to let you know that he had our new mechanic take a look at it. I think it was a test."

Kai nods skeptically but smiling. He only hopes that this rookie didn't destroy his car.

Kai walks into the garage, careful in his steps. He doesn't want to slip on an oil spill or trip over a disregarded tool. This place was a mess: covered in sweaty people, damaged cars, rusted prongs, dirty towels, dented panels, bins of screws and bolts with an excessive amount in all, and other objects Kai couldn't name. He sees his car in the back and heads over to it. The closer he gets, he sees a pair of bare legs coming out from underneath his car. Kai's mouth opens, slightly confused. He looks around, on his toes, unsure of how to take this situation. What could he possibly say now? "Hey, I'm the owner of this car" or "Please, don't be dead and naked underneath."

Before he could say anything, the person rolls out from underneath the car. Thankfully, there were no dead bodies on sight. The mechanic stands up and to his surprise, it's a teenage girl his age. A girl his age is fixing his car. He has no words but she has her hair in a mess and oil and grease all in her hair, face, and school uniform (which matches his). She goes to their school and he's never seen her before, but there's something familiar about her.

Her hair was unkempt bangs that seemed as if she cut them herself without a mirror. She looked as though she never put thought into how she looked. Nevertheless, she was beautiful. Beautiful and trying to say something to him.

"Is this your car?" She asks him for possibly the fifth time, this time emphasizing each syllable.

"Oh," Kai says, quickly clearing his throat with a cough. "Yes, yes this Nainsi - my car, Nainsi."

Kai regrets saying his car's name aloud. The girl nods, wiping her hands on a greasy towel, doing nothing to help her but she doesn't seem to care. Even the oddity of naming a car doesn't faze her and he can't help but admire that. She raises an eyebrow at him, noticing the surprise on his face.

"You were assuming a Hercules-looking man covered in tattoos and three-day-old sweat to be fixing your car," she states.

"Or an old man," Kai replies. "I don't mean to offend you in any way but if you're great at what you do, then please fix my car. I would love to assign you to fix my car for the rest of time."

The girl looks up at him with a hopeful smile. "I'm not even sure I'm getting this job."

"The secretary made it sound like you already got it."

She lights up a little more, shoulders rising. "Really? Thorne was right. Don't tell him I said that."

"You know Thorne?"

"Doesn't everyone?"

"Fair. Look, I'll put in a good word for you. The best word possible. I'm Kai, by the way."

"Cinder."

He shakes her dirty hand without one single objection.

-o-

Cinder walks through the front door well into the evening and is greeted by Levana giving her a face of disgust, an expression that Cinder is already all-too comfortable with. She can't blame her wicked aunt for looking at her like this because unlike past times, she has reasons. Cinder just came back from the garage still covered in sweat and motor oil.

"You're late and look horrendous," Levana says to her. "Throw that uniform set into the laundry or, better yet, the fireplace."

"Hello to you too, Auntie Levana," Cinder greets bitterly.

"Please explain yourself."

"I got a job as a mechanic."

Levana takes a sharp and steady breath. Cinder wants to say that she sees a sense of pride for her niece in Levana's eyes but that's probably stretching it. If anything, Levana is still attempting to process that her niece is now working at a place like a garage. Cinder could get a job anywhere. Anywhere. And yet, she ends up as a mechanic. Levana has to give her credit for it not being another car wash but at least she'd come home from that smelling like soap.

"Well," Levana starts, "at least you're making money and proper use of yourself. Now, get washed before you stain the furniture."

From upstairs, Winter listens to Cinder's conversation with Levana. By the end of it, Winter just feels like a disgraced burden to the household.

[If there's one thing (out of many) that I have no knowledge in, it's cars].