The Start

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"Jay! Wake up! Your late!" I stirred. Ugh! Nanaman! (Eng Trans: Not Again!) Always, always, always! I'm always woken up 'cause of his lazy butt. I decided to get up and eat.
I walked past my brother's bedroom where my mom was trying to make him get up.
I sighed as I sat and put cereal on a bowl.
"Stressed? It's summer, just chill" my father said.
Yeah, I know, my parents are pretty cool. They seem like teenagers. Well, they are quite young.
"Yeah.." I simply replied.
"Hey Julie, up already?" Mom asked as she sat.
"Yeah, 'cause of him" I rolled my eyes at my yawning brother.
"Oh I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" Mom worriedly asked
"Nah, it's fine. I gotta get to work anyway"
My work is actually at 10am and it's still 5.
"Gotta go" Dad said and went off after we paid our respects.

Let me introduce myself. I'm Jang Su Jeong otherwise known as Julie Jang. I'm half Filipino, half Korean but I've lived in America for 5 years. I used to live the Philippines but we migrated when I was 8.
Yes, I'm 13 and I already have a summer job, 'cause we're really broke right now but I could pass off as 18 anyway. I work as a filing clerk in a motor parts company from 10am till 3pm and as a crew in an ice cream shop from 4 to 9pm. I get home at 9:30, I eat, wash up, do my things and sleep at 11:30. I usually wake up at 7am then I clean the house till 8. After that I prepare for work till 9, I do some of my things and go to work at 9:15 and that's basically my life for 2 summers including this year's. But since Jay, my older brother, got a summer job this year, I've been waking up 2 hours earlier than my usual wake up time.

"Ju-lie~ Guess what?" Leila greeted. "I don't wanna know" I held up a hand as the other one typed. I am pretty good at multi-tasking, really.
"Don't be like that, it's just that there's a promotion coming!"
"Yeah, so?" I asked unconcerned.
"Well, I just think you deserve it, dear."
"Well, I don't think I'll get that promotion, eonni. I'm 13, I'm irregular, you think they'd promote me?"
"Well, you've been here since last summer and you've worked harder than anyone else, saeng. They should promote you." she replied.
Leila Hwang is my sunbaenim and is also a Korean who migrated, she's 25 but we get along pretty well.
"You know I can't, eonni. I...." I trailed off as I turned to look at her.
"Well? You can continue anyways, even with school, right?" She asked.
"But my mom won't approve of it."
"Yeah, well, you'll never know unless you try." She winked at me and went off as she gestured at someone coming my cubicle's way.
I sighed and turned to continue typing as I heard Matthew's voice. "Uh, Julie" he cleared his throat.
"Yeah?" I replied without taking my eyes off my pc. I didn't need to ask though, I already knew what he was gonna ask.
For months, he's been asking me out on lunch and dinner dates but I, of course, politely declined. If I accepted, it would have given him false hope, that may lead to my firing if he didn't get what he expected.
Matthew is the only son of our company's CEO. He's next in 'throne', he's handsome (a lot), nice and hardworking. But I kind of have this motto 'study first, future first' and besides I couldn't care less about relationships.
"Mind for some snack?"
"No thanks" I almost immediately said
"Oh..." with his reply I knew that his face fell.
I ignored him more and finally my shift was over. I immediately went to my next work. I was 45 minutes early because I wanted to eat ice cream. All products were free for the service crew so I got mint chip ice cream bowl and leisurely ate at a corner table.

"Hey Juliee~" my friend Christina greeted. "Hey" I simply nodded. "What's up?"
"Nothing much." I replied
"How's it going?"
"Fine."
"Your mom?"
"She's 'kay."
"Your other work?"
"Good." I finished my ice cream as our conversation went that way as always. She asked, I simply answered. She talked, I nodded. What can I say? I'm prognosed with Bipolar Disorder. She knew me well, so it's fine, but I knew she's always having a hard time with me so I'm really grateful to her.
"Girls! Shift time." Christina's twin, Chloe called.
"Coming!" She replied.
"Let's go." Chris smiled at me and I forced a bright smile.

When I came home, my parents were already home, which was unusual.
"Hey mom." I kissed her cheek in greeting and paid my respect. I did the same to my dad.
"What's up?" I asked.
"Mellie's dead." Jay stated while going down the stairs.
"What? No way!" I exclaimed.
"Yeah, she is. She gave birth to a dog." Jay laughed.
"Jay! Don't scare me like that!" Mellie is our cat. She looks like a slim lion, really.
"Mellie~" I called as I shook her bowl full of cat food I grabbed from the store.
"Meow~" she purred and lovingly brushed through my legs.
"Why you love that cat so much is truly a mystery to me." Jay said as he prepared for dinner.
I'm actually allergic to fur but I just love this cuddly cat too much to throw her out or give her away.
"Yeah" I said unconcerned.
"What's for dinner?"
"Mellie's kittens." Jay laughed again.
"She doesn't even mate." I smiled.
"There you go, you can smile." He said.
I smiled wider. He always knew.
"I'll call 'em" I offered and went to the living room.
Mom and dad were speaking lowly and seriously.
"Mommy?" I asked
They both loked up.
"Oh, hey Sujie." She smiled forcefully.
"It's Julie now, remember?" I smiled sadly. "Come on, let's have dinner."

Aa we ate, I talked and talked about everything, I was Bipolar that way, one second I'm sad, the next I'm overly delighted.
Occasionally,Jay would reply and crack jokes but my parents were unusually quiet.
"Sujeong." Dad called and made me anxious.
"Daddy? Tell me." I immediately said.
"Oh, not now, Jaekwon." Mom said and burst in tears.
"Mom." Jay and I exclaimed. Jay gave mom a glass of water as dad caressed her back.
I can feel the anxiety attack coming so I ran upstairs to my room.
I couldn't breath and barely locked the door as I blacked out.

When I woke up, I was still sprawled across the floor of my room. I knew that I just had a seizure but they thought I was just locking myself up out of bitterness.
This has been happening for 2 years now and only Chris and Chloe knew that I had Anxiety disorder.
Everytime I get stressed or worried this happens. So I never let myself care too much about anything.
I went out of my room to my brother's worried face.
"Finally, we've been knocking for hours." He said.
I glanced at the grandfather clock in between Jay's and my bedroom door. It was 12:30 already.
"You didn't finish your dinner." He stated.
I didn't reply and got myself a glass of water. I would've preferred milk but I was Lactose Intolerant.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Fine." I replied huskily and I cleared my throat.
He kept his eyes on me until I was upstairs in my room.
I sighed deeply. I need sleep.

When I woke up, it was already 8:45 and nobody was home. I went to work and was greeted with a shock.
I was getting promoted.
If I accepted the regularization, I would be a supervisor, if not, then somebody else was going to have it.
I knew why. Matthew recommended me.
"Yaayy! Congratulations, saengie!" Leila greeted me. I simply smiled.
She kept on trying to cheer me up the whole shift. And so did Chris and Chloe but I dreaded for the news at home.
Why did mom burst to tears?
I can feel the anxiety eating me up so I called Chris and she gave me a pill and I swallowed it gratefully, even though I did not know what it was called, she gives me these pills everytime I needed them and that was more than enough for me.
A feeling of relief washed over me like cold air. She worriedly asked how things were going and helped me go by our shift.
"Hey, want us to drop you off?" Chloe asked.
"Nah, I'm fine." I smiled and made my way home.

∞___________∞
Hey :)
Please comment on what you think, all kinds of comments are accepted ^o^
This chap is mainly to elaborate on what kind of person the protagonist is.
So please tell me what you think and this is my first story on wattpad btw, inspiration is all thanks to Duckie_fan and seokmine_ ^_^ Go and read their stories now! :D

~PerfectMistake1357♡

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