𝙎𝙄𝙏𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙊𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙎𝙃𝙀𝙇𝙁 | Marcus White

Part-time hires

It had been a long, long morning. Amy had you over at 4:30am, meaning you had to get up at 3:30am - an hour and a half earlier the usual - in order to help Emma get ready for her first day of work. Poor girl had already been put on an early-start without having learnt the ropes yet.

So, you'd been running around Amy's house for the last hour before you set off for the store, helping Emma get ready and hyping her up for the first day on the job. 'One down, 50 years to go,' you'd teased, ignoring the way her eyes had rolled and she'd tried to stifle a laugh.

You were thankful you were of an age where teenagers thought you were the peak of coolness - not old enough to really be an 'adult'   yet old enough to do what felt like everything, legally - it really helped ease the affects of teenage angst Emma seemed to be lashing out with. It was never anything major, and never hurt anyone's feelings, but you could tell something was up; and you were sure her parents divorce wasn't helping either.

"So without further ado, it's my great pleasure to welcome our newest part-time employee, Emma Dubanowski." The early start had been worth it. Emma's hair was neatly done and even she had admitted she looked, and felt, better then she had thought she would for her first day on the job.

Glenn's slideshow was an odd surprise addition to the day however, 'welcome Emma' printed in bold, green letters on the Tv screen. "That's very nice of you and also very unnecessary. Oh, there's more."

"14 years ago, our Cloud 9 family got a little bigger." It had begun. A slideshow of Emma's life so far began to play on the screen, Glenn narrating over it with the story of how Emma went from a baby to being a member of staff.

"Mom!"

"I don't know how he got those pictures." Amy was aghast, confused as to where Glenn had got any of the intimate and long ago photos of Emma.

"Oh, I keep a copy of all the photos employees get developed here."

"Oh, God. It's somehow gotten worse." You slumped into your seat, cringing at idea of the sights Glenn had seen just from keeping a copy of each photo developed.

"That's horrifying." Jonah muttered beside you, avoiding your eyes as you turned your head sharply to face him, sudden realisation crossing your features as you remembered some of the things Jonah had mentioned getting developed in the store.

"Stop." You gasped, a hand hitting his shoulder as you tried to contain your laughter. "I told you we should've got them developed at Michaels."

"You don't have any of my photos, because I don't pose for them." Dina asserted, a charming smile gracing her lips as she bragged about her digital footprint - or lack thereof. "You know, if I ever got kidnapped, the police would have quite a time finding a current photo to put on the news."

"Anyway, over the years, we've watched Amy's daughter Emma grow. Who could forget the time that she lost a tooth right here in the store and Elias ate it 'cause he thought it was a Chiclet?"

"Glenn, you're drifting." Jonah murmured, forcing Glenn to conclude his impromptu life story and get back into the morning announcements.

"Oh. Okay, well, we'll finish that later. Anyway, Emma, we are so happy that you're here, and we hope you have a great first day!" Glenn dismissed the break room with a wave of his hand, the slideshow clicking off as everyone got up to start their respective shifts.

Half the break room had already cleared out when glenn finished checking over his list of announcements, settling on one scrawled in pen last minute at the bottom of the page. "Oh, also, starting today is Kelly Watson."