This Just In

Chapter 1: Mia

"Mom please, this is the first day of work not the first day of school, I don't need you to pack me a lunch."  

My stomach was already turning and I could barely hold down breakfast.  I was an hour away from starting my first job, my dream job, and every thing felt wrong.  My hair wouldn't fall the way I wanted it to.  My pants were hugging my ass as the beer weight I put on from college clung to me weeks after I left campus.

"Amelia, I pack your father and myself lunch every morning, there's no reason why I can't pack one for you as well," my mother said as she spread mayonnaise on another slice of bread.

I hated when my mother called me by my real name.  I was living like a guest in my own house.  It's hard to come home after four years away.  I went to school half-way across the country and rarely came home on breaks.  My parents were now in a routine, one that made me an outsider.  My mother though, was trying to merge me back into their little group, once again making us a trio.

I didn't want to move back home.  I wanted to go out and claim the world as my own, but with no money and no car my options were limited.  Three weeks before graduation I was offered a job at WTBX, a local television station.  I had interned there the summer after my junior year of school.  I was the type of girl who called the news director every other week, checking to see if there were any open jobs.  One day, Mr. Hughs answered the phone and offered me a producer job right on the spot.  Maybe it was because of the work I put in as an intern, or maybe he just wanted the calls to stop.  Regardless, I was beginning my career as a journalist today.

I climbed into the passenger seat of our beat up old van.  I never understood why my parents bought this car.  There are only three of us.  I remembered my father bringing the van home when I was seven.  My mother was filled with joy, embracing him as he put his hands on her waist.  But as the years passed, our family never grew and the once thoughtful gift  remained an barren shell.  I looked back at the two empty rows behind me, a reminder that my parents always wanted more.

"Are you ready for your first day?"  

The sound of my father's voice snapped me back into the present and I realized we were already moving.

"Yah, super excited," I said.  " Would you mind dropping me off a block away?  I don't want the other kids to see you with me."

My father grinned at my sarcasm, a trait that mirrored him more than any physical attribute ever could.  He was merging onto the expressway when his eyes flickered in my direction.

"We discussed this, your mother and I want to see you save some money.  After a few months you'll have enough to get your own car."

My father always had a way of putting things into perspective for me.  As a college graduate all I wanted to do was be on my own.  I sat defeated in the passengers seat.  I pulled out my phone and opened up my bank app.  I swiped to my checking account.  The number on the screen looked more like a grade point average than a balance.  I did the math in my head.  At this rate, I was years away from owning my own car.

I closed my eyes, imagining my last few weeks of school.   Days before we walked the stage, our journalism class met for one final lesson.  During that time we all hugged and cried.  We looked back at four years together spending late nights editing video.  We recalled early mornings on set putting on a campus-wide broadcast.  We had become a family, and no one wanted to break apart that union.  I sat with my eyes shut, wondering what this next chapter of my life would bring.

"You sure you don't need me to walk you in, maybe help you make some friends?"

My father was chuckling at his own joke.  It was at that moment that I realized we were stopped.  I looked out the window and then back at him in panic.  Everything I had been working towards for years had come down to this moment.  I was about to do what I always wanted to.  I was going to use my voice to tell other people's stories.

I opened the door and got out of the car.  I grabbed my home-made lunch, my AP style book and straightened out my pants.   As my father drove away I looked up at the station letters.  WBTX was going to be my new home and I was ready for the challenge.  I took a deep breath and headed through the front doors.