Genie in the bottle

First chapter

Our grandmother's shop is four blocks from our house, which is about a fifteen minute by walk. With my earphone in my ears, I walk towards the store and prepare in spirit what awaits me. I hadn't even heard of this shop at all and when I entered, I realized why.

"What does that smell?" I whispered and I looked away in disgust at the store.

"Hello Liz." A short girl with glasses appeared in front of me who is also shorter than me, which is rare.

"Hello..." I raised my eyebrows to wait her to say her name. She looked at me in shock.

"What?" I asked.

"We are classmates." She said. I looked at her thoughtfully. She seemed not rich. Maybe that's why I didn't memorize her name.

"We can stand here all afternoon, but it won't occur to me anyway, so would you tell me you name?" I asked.

"Zoe." She said shockingly.

"Nice. Now would you tell me where my grandma is? I came to work not to talk."

"Liz!" I heard my grandma's voice and we hugged each other. "You grew a lot." We met half a year ago, so I don't think so, but I let her be right. "I see you've met Zoe."

"Yeah. I'm so glad." I whispered under my nose.

"Hm?" My grandma asked.

"Nothing. What will be my task?" I asked with a fake smile.

"I love this enthusiasm. Your job is just to unpack the things in the box on the shelf." She said.

"That doesn't sound difficult. Where are the gloves?" I asked.

"Are there some gloves or... what do you mean?" She frowned.

"Gloves to grab things." She looked me weird. "I don't have to grab these by hand, do I?" I heard Zoe's laugh.

"You have to." Zoe said and cheerfully pressed a box into my hand.

"Are you kidding me?" I looked at them with a death-pale face.

"Don't worry about these things being used being disinfected." My grandma said with a smile. Are you sure? I took a deep breath.

"I can do it." I whispered to myself.

"I will be in the back and label things up. Until then, Zoe will be at the checkout and serving customers." She said. My eyes flashed at the word of the checkout.

"Can't we exchange with Zoe?" I asked hopefully.

"Nice try, but I heard what you did, miss."

"I think it's a no." I sighed.

"This job isn't so bad. You may even enjoy it later." She smiled. I don't think so. "A few minutes and we open. You have to find the location of things based on what it is, but later you will see that they need to be packed based on a system." I nodded. "I'll check a few more things and open it. If you have any questions, feel free to come back or ask Zoe." I looked at Zoe and we rolled our eyes at the same time. "Good luck." She said and walked away. I looked at the things in the box.

"You don't happen to know where to put the vases?" I asked and looked up. Zoe is gone, too. "Heh." I shrugged and started to walk.

You can really find everything here. Old records, used clothes, old barely used books and more I could list.

"I hope you will work as well as not just look around." Zoe said when she looked at me staring the books.

"I was just watching something don't bite off my head." I said. She sighed.

"Liz. Look! I don't want to be wrong with you. That's not my form. Plus, I heard what happened in the dining room." Zoe said.

"Good. I would be surprised if someone didn't know." I grumbled.

"Work isn't a shame!" She said.

"For you." I said. She frowned. "You're poor. You grew up saying that if you wanted to buy something you had to work for it."

"Wow. You really were spoiled." She looked shock.

"Is this such a bad thing?" She shrugged.

"I don't know. I haven't thought about that yet."

"I thought you are smart." I remembered she taking part in scientific competitions.

"So, you already know who I am. Depending on that, I can't know everything."

"Hm." That made me think.

"But I don't know exactly why you're here." I looked at her. She doesn't seem to condemn me if I told her but who knows.

"I spend some money." I said.

"Some?" She frowned. I sighed.

"Ok, a lot about my father's credit card."

"I see."

"Don't tell anyone!" I looked at her with narrowed eyes.

"I won't. What did you buy?" She asked I pulled my mouth away. At that moment, the bell rang, indicating that someone had come. Zoe smiled at me and then walked away to see who had arrived. I set out to put a few things in place when I heard Zack's voice.

"Hi Zoe." He said.

"Hi Zack. What did you bring today." She asked.

"Today?" I whispered to myself. I set off to see what was happening.

"Imagine we have a new employee." Zoe said.

"Who?" Zack asked. With that momentum, I turned a corner and quickly went into the warehouse, where the unlabeled things are. Later, I realized that what I was doing was childish and one day he would find out that I wasn't working in some cool place, so I went out, but he wasn't there anymore.