You Confuse Me {mialotte}

✧˖° 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐 - 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐬

CHARLOTTE'S POV:
~ I've been covering so much at the sister nursery recently I may as well work there. Reece is back now so it's not ALL bad, but Mia is still deputy manager. I really dislike her; she's always trying to stir up trouble one way or another. She seems to take pleasure in being horrible for absolutely no reason at all. For example, last week, one of our preschoolers, Paul, had a groin injury and couldn't sit cross legged. We had him on a chair for circle time so he could stretch his legs. Mia walked into the room, and of course she had a lot to say about it. She called him a 'diva' , said he was a spoiled brat, and wrote him up?! I actually couldn't believe how ignorant she was being. However, that little story does have a happy ending. She got punched by Paul's mother. Honestly, I wanted to laugh and thank her.. but that seemed slightly unprofessional.

MIA'S POV:
~ Charlotte's been on the rota to work here so much recently. That really isn't helping the fact that I keep thinking about her. I don't get much opportunity to speak to her though. I just want to become friends with her but I don't see that ever happening. She's a nice person. She won't ever want to speak to me, especially after the things Rodger is making me do. I mean, saying that, I'm really not helping myself out. I keep being horrible, I think after all these years of doing Rodger's dirty work, I'm actually starting to become a bad person. For instance, last week, I walked past the preschool room and saw one of our toddlers sitting on a chair. In hindsight I shouldn't have gone in to inquire about it - I was in a really bad mood after arguing with Rodger. I only went in there because I saw an opportunity to speak to Charlotte, and then I ended up writing Paul up. I think I was subconsciously trying to pick a fight with a parent; I knew his mother would be mad. And she was, rightfully so. Punched me square in the face. It's not okay that it made me feel alive, actually made me feel something for once, I've really had to switch off my emotions to be able to do what Rodger makes me do. I miss who I used to be.

CHARLOTTE'S POV:
~ "Marjorie, please." I say when she calls me into her office again. "I can't stand it over there."
She knows I hate it at the sister nursery. She needs to stop putting me on the rota to work there. At this point, I think I'm just going to see if I can swap shifts with Carly.
On my lunch break I ask her. And to my utter relief she seems fine with it.. (after a tiny bit of persuading.) I call marjorie to let her know Carly can work my shifts.    "Okay my love. I'll call Reece and tell him to put her down to work there next week."
That's great. Carly somewhat likes working over there. She has such a lovely bond with Reece. It's sweet. Mia does bully her sometimes though. Maybe I shouldn't have convinced her to swap shifts with me...

MIA'S POV:
~ I look over at Reece while he sits on the phone to Marjorie, flirting. It's making me feel ill.
"I'll update the rota now, thanks for letting me know."
What's he updating? Who's going to be covering here now? My mind is absolutely racing. I thought Charlotte was going to be here next week. She's the only one I can stand. Please god don't let it be Jodie or Carly.
Reece get off the phone so I can ask you about it for goodness sake.
"No you hang up. Haha, You. You"
Reece shut UP my god.
"You."
I feel sick, get a room.
"I'm not hanging up, you have to"
Reece please this is just pathetic.
"No YOU just do it."
That's it. I walk over and grab the phone from his hand. I slam it down. "Enough of that Reecey." He shoots me a nasty look. I ignore it. "What are you updating?"
"Carly's covering next week." He snaps, as he picks the phone back up.
No. Not Carly. I hate Carly so much.
I can't even argue with Reece about it now. He's already back on the phone with Marjorie just to carry on the back and forth.

CHARLOTTE'S POV:
~ "Oh, Charlotte, Hello. I haven't been seeing you much recently." Comes the voice of a parent. It's Annabelle and her mother. "Hi, Annabelle." I say, turning around to face them. She skips  straight off to join her friends for breakfast, and I turn to speak to her mum.
"Yeah, I've been covering at the sister nursery a lot, they're quite short staffed at the moment."
"Oh, I see." She replies. "Well, I best be off."
I say goodbye to her, then I turn around to do handover with another parent that's just walked into the building.
The whole time all I can think about is Carly. How she'd be here doing handover with the parents if I hadn't swapped shifts with her. Mia better not give her any grief, she's always so horrible to Carly. I feel really guilty now.

MIAS POV:
~ I can't stand Carly. It's not her fault, but she's exactly who I was at that age. I hate seeing her bright, bubbly personality. She makes me grieve the person I was before Rodger. She reminds me of a time where me, Autumn and Reece were close, a time where I felt a part of their family.
I'll never get that girl back. And I see too much of her in Carly. It hurts sometimes just to see her being herself. I plan to avoid the preschool room as much as possible. But there's no doubt I'll have to see her anyway, she's always talking to Reece. She has the bond with him that I deserved all these years, not the corrupted, manipulative pile of crap that Rodger has turned us into, We used to be inseparable.
I open the door of the office and I'm already greeted with a horrible stare from both of them. And an extremely loud silence. Carly breaks it by saying she's going to get to work. She says goodbye to Reece, and shoots me another mean look. Which I reciprocate. TWO dirty looks in the space of 30 seconds. Great, I can tell the next week is going to be torture, and it hasn't even started yet. I look down to my notepad and write myself a little note..
'This is going to be the worst week of my life.'

CHARLOTTES POV:
~ I hope Mia isn't being horrible to Carly. She seems to have a real issue with a lot of people, Carly being one of them. I think the reason Marjorie keeps making me cover over there is because I'm the only member of staff who doesn't come back with a complaint filed against Mia.  I'm worried about what she's going to say to Carly. She's fragile, and Mia can be a bitch. She never says horrible things like that to me, though...
Why is she so nice to me, and so disgusting to everybody else..? Why hasn't she been let go yet; surley the owners seeing all the complaints? Why was she hired in the first place? What's her history with Reece and Autumn? And most importantly, why am I sitting here on my lunch break thinking about Mia?

MIAS POV:
~ "I'll be back in a minute. I'm going to check on Carly."   
I don't say anything. The phone rings. It makes me jump a bit but I play it off.
"Actually, can you?" Reece asks. "I have to take this call."    
You're joking.
I glare at him as I get up from my desk. "Fine."    If he picks up the phone and starts talking all lovey-dovey to Marjorie, I swear to god.
"Hey, you."    
Of course. How did I guess!? That really could have waited 5 minutes, couldn't it Reece?
I walk down the hall and prepare myself to see her. What does Reece even mean by 'check on her'? She can do her job. He doesn't have to baby her. There's another employee IN the room. I'm sure she's alive and well. It's just not necessary.
I open the door to the preschool room and step in.
"What do you mean JODIE'S a better storyteller than me?! I've got good chat."
My heart sinks. She's so carefree and happy, talking to a group of children. I wish I could be like that with the kids. I think they're all scared of me. Who have I become..?
"You should hear my version of 'Hansel and Gretel', okay. It SLAPS."
Just as I'm about to go back to Reece and tell him his precious little pet is fine, my eyes happen to wander and land on Carly's sweatpants. There's blood on them.
I have to tell her, obviously. I'm not horrible enough to just let her walk around like that until she realises herself. I'm not exactly sure how to word it. She hates me, I can't be nice to her. Okay, don't overthink it. "Carly."  I say. The smile drops on her face and I'm hit with another nasty glare. Well I'm definitely not going to word it nicely now, am I?
"Don't you think you're old enough to take care of yourself properly.."  
"What's that supposed to mean..?"  She asks, defensively.
"Darling, you've leaked all over your trousers."
She walks off, no doubt embarrassed. I apologise to the other staff member for Carly leaving so abruptly, and stay in the preschool room until she can call somebody down to cover.

CHARLOTTE'S POV
~ As the end of the day gets closer, I can't shake this horrible feeling that Mia is going to say or do something to Carly. Every time those two interact, she ends up hurt. Why did I convince her to swap shifts with me? I could have just sucked it up and covered there all week. Mia's never horrible to me. I'm honestly not sure why. I guess she could have a bit of a nice side.
UGH, Char, what are you thinking. This is MIA that you're thinking about. She's probably got some kind of ulterior motive. Or... maybe she just has a reason to be nasty to everybody else.

MIA'S POV:
~ As I walk back to the office, I hear Carly from down the hall. "I need to go home."    
Reece asks why.  
"Because.. Uhm"
I walk into the office. "Because little miss disgusting, here, has leaked all over herself, and she needs to go home to change her pants and trousers."   
Carly is mortified. I can tell. Reece is so nice about it though, offers to drive her home, and tells her to wait in the car.
"Really, Mia, bullying a 17 year old over something that's completely natural?"
Wow. I really am turning into a horrible person...