The Jazz Club

Chapter Three

unedited

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21st October 1919.

Julia didn't get much sleep that night. So when she finally did wake up, not that she slept very long, it was still dark outside. She did her usual morning routine; showering, brushing her teeth before she got dressed in her favourite blue dress, the one gifted to her by Irene on her sixteenth birthday.

Putting on some light powder to try and cover up the fact that she didn't have much sleep, she made her way to the living room to retrieve her bag and with the little money she had left from the cash draw, Irene kept in the kitchen for emergencies. She put it into her purse before kneeling in front of Irene's picture.

"I'll be back soon," Julia smiles, placing a kiss on top of her fingers tips and touching the glass. "I'll be safe, I promise"

Picking herself up, Julia heads to the door, leaving the apartment and locking the door behind her. It didn't take her long to walk down the stairs and out of the apartment building and walking to the bus stop. Arriving around five minutes later, she swiftly got onto the bus and took a seat.

Many places she recognised flew by her as the bus drove along. She saw where her father used to work, where Irene used to take her when they were younger, a small ice cream shop that had become their family tradition every time their father had good news. They hadn't been there since their parents passed away, at first it hurt to see the quaint ice cream shop, but then it became a distant memory for the both.

Realising she was close to her destination, Julia pressed the small blue button to inform the bus driver to stop and got off the bus. The cold air hit her and she realised she shouldn't have left without a jacket as her thin sleeves did little to shield her from the cold. Thankfully for her, it wasn't as long walk to her destination and she hurriedly made her way down the street.

The large luminescent sign of the jazz club loomed over Julia's head.

The familiar sinking feeling in her stomach had returned, but she chose to ignore it. Taking in sharp deep breaths to energise herself, she forcible opens the door and enters before she can go back on her decision.

The jazz club was quiet, well quiet as it could be when the staff were getting ready for the nightly show, but the sound of the door opening and closing caught the ear of one of the ladies working up on stage.

"You know this place is closed right?" She asks, hopping off stage and making her way over to Julia. She nods, about to speak before the lady gasps and grabs hold of her wrist. "Are you here for the job?"

Julia's eyes went wide and a small gasp left her mouth and she didn't get the chance to respond before getting dragged to the back of the jazz club to be met with another women, this time someone around Irene's age or maybe a bit older.

"Evelyn!" The girl that had a hold of Julia's wrist cried. "Someone's here for the job"

Evelyn nodded swiftly before her eyes shifted to Julia. Something in her eyes changed at the sight of her, it was like Evelyn had seen her before she Julia couldn't understand how or why. Coughing, Evelyn's eyes go back to the younger girl.

"That's okay Anna, you can leave her here to talk to me" The Anna girl nodded, before sending a smile to Julia as she turned away.

"I hope you start working here! It's nice to meet you!" Julia smiled, nodding her head in thanks. Anna rushed out of the room straight after.

Turning her attention to Evelyn, Julia awkwardly pushed some of her hair behind her ear and looked down to her feet. Evelyn chuckled, crossing her arms over her chest as she examined Julia. She examined how her prime and proper light blue knee length dress made her stand out to any of the crowd in this place, but mostly it pointed out how much she was like Irene. Sweet Irene, so naive that the girl couldn't stand up for herself when she needed to.

"I didn't think you'd be this shy Julia, especially with the way Irene talked about you" Julia's head shot up and her mouth dropped.

"You knew Irene?!" Evelyn chuckled again. Raising an eyebrow, she sent Julia a look.

"Well that's why you're here isn't it?" Evelyn suggested. "To see what you can find out about her? I'm assuming you didn't know about the job offer going on here either"

Julia shook her head.

"I heard she was here a lot," Julia explained, shrugging her shoulders. "So I just wondered that's all, but," Julia clicked her fingers. "I am here for the job role, I don't have much money at the moment you see"

Two birds with one stone. Julia thought.

Evelyn nodded, looking down at her desk before picking up some paper work and handing it over to Julia.

"Fill these in and we'll talk about it" Julia nodded and went to sit down before Evelyn stopped her. "No Julia, go home"

"No!" Julia cried, "I need this job and I need to make money to keep being able to live in my home" Evelyn sighed, running a hand through her blonde hair.

"We may have never met properly before, but I know your sister and I know what she was like, she'd never want you being here let alone working here" Julia blinked, taking a deep breath in.

"Well she isn't here anymore and I don't know why someone took her away from me!" Her eyes started to glaze up and a hiccup got caught in her throat. "I will do whatever it take to find out more and if I have to do it another way then I will"

"You're not giving me a choice are you?" Evelyn asked.

"Not a chance"

And that's where Evelyn realised, no matter how similar the two sisters looked, no matter how close they were, they had their differences. Where Irene was too shy to stand up for herself, Julia wouldn't stop at anything until the person in the wrong understood. It made Evelyn wonder about how two girls can be so similar yet so different at the same time.

The room fell silent. Evelyn had run her hands through her hair again before stomping her foot onto the ground. Crossing her arms over her chest, her eyes narrow as she looks at Julia.

"Fine, you can work here," Evelyn says. "So I can, not only keep an eye on you, but to also make sure you don't go picking into thing you shouldn't be picking" A smile broke out across Julia's face and Evelyn just rolled her eyes. "Don't get too excited, you'll have a big job to do and you better do it well" Evelyn explained.

"What do I have to do?"

Evelyn sat down in her seat and raised an eyebrow at her. Tilting her head to the side, a smirk appeared.

"Well Julia, can you sing?"

Julia started to wonder how she had gotten herself into this situation. Her hair was pulled back, with a bold red lip and a simple eye shadow that was accompanied the dress she was wearing. It was long, red and sparkly. The dress was too long for her, so Evelyn had given her a pair of heels they had randomly found in the back stage room and prayed they fitted, which thankfully they did.

She didn't understand how people could stand under the burning lights and not sweat like crazy. Maybe they were used to it? Or maybe they were supernatural creatures that were unable sweat?

Julia had listened to every rule Evelyn had given the few hours before she had her first time on stage; Smile, make eye contact with the audience, move and most importantly sing, sing like you've never sung before.

So there Julia was, standing on the stage for the first time ever in her life. In the place her sister told her never to go, the place that was notorious for gangsters and the place that her sister without a doubt worked at. Julia wasn't stupid, she could tell straight away by how Evelyn had talked about Irene, by how she knew of Julia. Yes, Irene didn't mix personal life and business life much, but if she trusted Evelyn as much as Julia suspected that meant Evelyn also knew more than she was letting on and Julia was going to find out what that was, even if it took her own life in the process.

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I hope people enjoy this book because I enjoy writing it:)

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