Beautiful Monster by Bella Forrest Page A

to make the shot a double. After all, if it was going to be a long drive, I needed to be fortified.

C HAPTER 5: AMY
    I knew the bills were overdue, but I had no way to know how badly they were until I woke up the next morning and found that my cell phone was not charged, nor did the lights in my room turn on.
                  “Dad?” I called, hearing his voice in the kitchen as I headed down the stairs. He was on our house phone, furiously arguing and scribbling something onto the back of an envelope. I headed to the stove and switched it on, hoping to make breakfast, but my hopes were quickly killed when the red light remained unlit.
                  Finally, my father hung up, continuing to write things on the back of the envelope.
                  “What’s going on?” I asked finally, and he sighed.
                  “We’re just…a little behind on things, Amy, that’s all. I had the bills set up to be withdrawn automatically, so I wouldn’t forget them…but it appears…”
                  “We don’t have enough money,” I filled in. “It’s not surprising. You’re missing a week or more of pay.”
                  “Thank you for reminding me,” he glared at me, as I sat at the table, mentally calculating how much we would be missing.
                  “Dad, let me come today.”
                  “No,” he said, sharply. “You missed yesterday, and that was enough. You should stay home, Amy and…”
                  “Work with an abacus and a pencil and paper?” I asked, unimpressed. “My computer won’t turn on, there’s no heat in the house, it’s Tuesday, so the library is closed, and I can’t even use my cell phone.” I knew I had a point, so I continued to talk. “So unless I can call into an online school and get all the information faxed over…without a fax machine…its better that I come with you. I can do homework on the school’s wireless, and work for half a day, make up the missing wages faster.”
                  “How are you feeling?” He gave me a long hard look, and I did my best to match it. I felt a bit tired from yesterday, but that was normal.
                  “Fine,” I replied. “It’ll only be for half a day. Adam said that I could have a few shifts a week any time. Anything is better than staying here, and the faster we get everything turned back on, the faster I can stay home and rest.”
                  Dad sighed, relenting. “Fine. But if you start to feel overtired at all, you’ll come back home right away, agreed?”
                  “Yep,” I shot upstairs, to grab my cell phone, charger and laptop, packing a bag with everything I thought I would need. Of course, I had no intention of doing homework, but I had to create the illusion of doing so. The senior theater class had rehearsal today, and I wanted to catch that.  I could charge my phone at the school, keeping Sarah in the loop.
                  “Are you ready?”
                  “Yes,” Dad was increasingly impatient and I knew that he wasn’t happy about the idea of me going to work with him. However, he couldn’t argue with my logic, and so off we went, arriving at the school only a few minutes before his shift was due to start.
                  “Back again?” Adam said, teasing as he saw me. I nodded, but Dad wasn’t in the mood for jokes.
                  “Clock her in for half a day please, Adam, nothing more.”
                  “Aye aye, Captain,” he said, making a face at me behind his back. I giggled, as I headed towards the changing room. “We’ve got more props to cook, Amy, come on over here.”
                  “Yep.” If there was one thing I was happy to do without protest, it was that. Adam led me to a corner, where there was a