Paw Prints | A Connor McDonough Fanfiction

The First Chapter

Celeste's POV

     As I woke up, I could feel my chest tighten. I was so nervous. Today was the day that I had to tell my boss I couldn’t work at Chipotle anymore.

     I stepped out of the shower and examined myself in the mirror. I couldn’t help but acknowledge all of my flaws. I was so pale. I could see dark circles under my eyes, scabs there, freckles here, scars there. I know a lot of girls in my class who would die for freckles. I’d willingly pass mine onto them if I could.

      I checked the clock and it read eight-thirty. I still had thirty minutes left to get ready.

     I hurriedly rummaged through my wardrobe and couldn’t find anything decent to wear. “Ah, what the heck,” I mumbled to myself as I grabbed my Chipotle uniform and put it on. I slipped on my Converse, and with twenty five more minutes left I was ready to go.

     “Cece, honey!” I heard Mom calling from downstairs.

     “What is it Mom?” I replied in an equally modulated voice.

     “Could you help me out here? I need to hang a painting but I can’t reach the nail,” said Mom, being the clean-freak she always was. Today was “Dust Day Monday” as she liked to call it. As you can tell by the day’s appellation, this is the day that the whole house gets dusted and you can hear my dad sneezing like crazy because he’s allergic to dust.

     I had only fifteen minutes left to get to Chipotle and here I was, arguing with myself whether or not I should help my mom. Eventually, the little angel situated on my right shoulder named Conscience won the mental battle, and I ended up helping her.

     I walked down the stairs and saw Mom dusting a table, the painting leaning on the wall waiting for me to hang it up. I grabbed it and did as I was instructed. “Mom, I should really be going now,” I said. She stopped what she was doing, approached me, and kissed my cheek. “Sorry I asked you to do this. You’re the only one who’s fit for the job of hanging the painting since your dad’s allergic,” Mom said in a soothing voice. “It’s alright Mom,” I said as I looked at my watch. I called for Dad to drive me to work and off we went.

-

Dad parked right outside Chipotle. “Good luck sweetie,” he said as he squeezed my hand. I nodded, got out of the car, and went in.

     It was quite packed up. Great, just what I needed to alleviate my tension. I brushed past all of the people in line and made my way to the personnel-only room. I was greeted by Barry, my only friend in this restaurant. He was the only one who approached and befriended me when I first signed up for the job. I would’ve been friends with everyone if it wasn’t for my being a socially-awkward-nervous-wreck.

     “How are you today?” Barry asked.

     “N-not so well. I was actually going to tell Mr. Franklin about it,” I said, uneasiness obvious in my voice.

     “Oh my.” He put his hand on my forehead and didn’t let go until he was satisfied that he felt a warm temperature. “You’re not that warm,” he said with one eyebrow shot up.

     “I k-know… Uh, where’s Mr. Franklin?” I asked, changing the topic.

     “He’s not here yet. Are you going to take the week off sick?”

     “S-sort of. Heh heh,” I said awkwardly. What’s wrong with you, I thought to myself. Why can’t I just tell him the truth!

     Seconds after my conversation with Barry, Mr. Franklin popped in. “How’s everyone doing? Oh hello Celeste! Why do you look so tired?” he asked oh-so-observantly.

     “Uh, about that… I was actually going to-“

     “Hey! I can see some spilled ketchup on the floor. Celeste, could you please mop that up?” I sighed and went to do as instructed. Barry entered the scene and did my job for me. I tried grabbing the mop from him but his hand wouldn’t budge. “Celeste, you’re not well. Please, let me.” And with that, I took a deep breath and trudged over to Mr. Franklin who was sitting on one of the couches reading a magazine about home décor.

     “Mr. Franklin sir,” I started. My eyes averted to the floor as I was too nervous to look him in the eyes. “U-uh… I just wanted to tell you that I can’t, u-um…” I could feel his eyes burning into my face, eagerly waiting for me to continue. Oh what the heck, I thought. It’s now or never.

     “I can’t work with you guys anymore.”

     “Why?”

     “P-please don’t tell anyone especially Barry.”

     “Okay,” he said in an uneasy tone.

     And then I told him.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hello everyone! This is my first ever story on Wattpad. I hope you guys won't get bored! I also want to warn you guys that I will most likely update very slowly. We've got a lot of things to do at school you see. I'll be posting the second chapter in two weeks' time. God bless you all! -Georgie. x

P/S: Sorry for the very short chapter. :(