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Chapter 7

"Ok so... How do I do this?" I asked, holding the reed up to Si. It was my first day and the guys were showing me how to make reeds for the line. I listened carefully as he shared how to properly cut and 'manicure' the reed to perfection.

His words... Not mine.

Anyway, he talked for ten minutes, going on and off the topic. Just what I expected him to do.

I looked around at Jase to see him snickering behind his hands, Godwin trying not to look, Jepp rolling his eyes, and Red shaking his head.

'Help me' I mouthed when I looked back over to Jase.

'Your on you own kiddo' he mouthed back smiling.

I rolled my eyes and slowly watched the clock tick by. Seconds that passed turned to minutes and those minutes turned into an hour. I was clearly bored out of my mind and I got the concept of making reeds from the first fifteen minutes of Si explaining.

"Ok Si, I think I have it now." I said, cutting him off and standing up.

He nodded and sat down along with the others. "I've got $40.00 on me. who wants to go to McDonald's?"

They all cheered and stood up, following me out the door. I'm my few weeks of being here, I slowly learned my way around. Well, everything in a 10 mile radius anyway.

"I'll drive." Si said, raising his hand in the air, causing us all to yell 'NO!'. "I can drive perfectly fine"

"We know Si, we just wanna get Hannah used to her new surroundings" Godwin replied.

"You say it like I'm a dog" I laughed, tilting my to the side and looking at him in a weird way.

"That's not how I meant it but the way you're angling your head right now makes you look like a puppy" I laughed at his response and hit his arm.

"Oh shush"

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We made it to McDonald's, but not without having to argue with Si on how to get here. Constant arguing. 'Turn this way, no wait that way. Hold on I had it right the first time.'

Like just... No.

Jase directed me the right way, finally, and we were now inside ordering our food. I ended up using the majority of my last pay check from back home. So now I had to wait for my first one from my new home.

We all day in a booth and are our food. I ate my double cheese burger and large fry while they all ate whatever they ordered.

"So Hannah, what do you plan on doing in the future?" Red asked.

"Well-" I took a sip of my mocha frappe "I plan to make enough money and get my own apartment close to work. So I won't have to stay with Willie anymore you know?"

"Do you not like it?" Jase asked.

"No it's not that. I love it. but I just don't belong there. I'm not in their-your-family. And I feel out of place." I shrugged.

"You shouldn't. You're part of duck commander"

"That's the thing Jase, I'm part of Duck Commander. Not the Robertson family" I finished off my food and threw my trash away, then sat back down with the guys.

"We count you as family Hannah."

"I don't. You guys barely know me, not the me that applied for the job, but the real me. And I wanna tell you, I just have to wait for the right time. It's hard to accept and its hard to cope with. I'm still trying to understand it. I'm not sure how y'all will take it."

With that, they said no more and finished their food. I drove us back to the office and started on making the duck calls.