Right Now

Chapter 7- Run Away

Chapter 7- Run Away

Rhea groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. Every single part of her body hurts. She slowly stood up and stumbled back down. Rhea could taste blood in her mouth. She looked around and her eyes landed on the ticking clock on the wall. The time was 8:07 in the morning, she had only twenty-eight minutes left to get to work. Rhea tried her best and dragged herself to the bathroom in her room. She striped her clothes off that were cover in dried blood. She looked towards the mirror and cringed at the sight. Her cheek was a bit swollen, she had a black eye and it was awful.

'God I'm gonna be using a lot of makeup,' she thought.

She turned on the shower and stepped in when the water was warm. She sighed as the warm water streamed down her bruised body. She could feel her body muscles loosening. Once she finished she quickly covered her bruises with makeup and got dressed wearing a white shirt and black skinny jeans. She grabbed a purple jacket from her closet when she looked out the window to see the wind blowing the red and brown leaves off the ground. When Rhea reached for her keys, her phone started to ring. She picked it up and noticed the unfamiliar number. She swiped the screen and placed her phone towards her ear.

"H-hello?" She answered.

"Rhea?"

"Candace? Is that you? How do you have my number?" Rhea asked, shocked.

"I asked Chris."

'That makes sense,' Rhea thought. "Ok, so why are you calling? Is there something you need?" She asked.

"Yeah, when do you want me to pick you up? You're coming over to help tutor me, right?"

"Oh Candace, I'm sorry. I have work today, I can't help you."

"You work?"

"Yeah I work at a small bookstore downtown."

"Well do you work all day?"

"No, just the morning shift."

"When does your shift end?"

"At 3:30."

"And what's the name of this bookstore?'

"Pages"

"Pages? I never heard of that bookstore before."

"It's new. It was built two years ago and opened just last year."

"Oh, that's nice to know, I'll pick you up at 3:30 then. Bye."

"Wait? What?"

Candace hang up the phone, leaving Rhea confused. But upon seeing the time on her phone she was gonna be late if she didn't leave right away. Rhea quickly grabbed her black messenger bag and stuffed her wallet, book, homework, keys, and phone into it. She ran out the door ignoring the pain that shot through her head. She grabbed her black bike from the garage and rode down the road to the store.

The ride on the bike was like about thirty minutes. She parked the bike in front of the small bookstore. Rhea looked up the to green plate with the name of Pages in white. The store was made from brown bricks with two large glass windows on each side with one glass door in the center. Rhea pushed the door opened and walked into the quiet store that was filled with books on shelves. She walked to the counter on her left with the cash register and desk top.

"Rhea, good morning."

She turned around to greet a blonde girl who was in her mid twenties. "Morning Jess."

"You'll be taking the cash register today?"

Rhea nodded. "Yeah." She sat down on the chair and took out a book from her bag.
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