The Troublemaker's Return

Chapter No. 1

Sophia

Every person has their own way of dealing with stress. Some people like to work out, some indulge themselves in over-eating, some artistic minds like to paint or dance or something like that while some people cry themselves to sleep.

Well, I have a way of coping with stress too and that's cleaning.

That explains why I have been scrubbing the tiles of my apartment for the last half an hour. The red stain of wine that was once there was long gone but I was still torturing that spot diligently.

If only I was this good at doing my job.

While doing so, I heard the door to my apartment open and someone came in. I knew exactly who was it because only one person had a key to my apartment except me. Well the landlord too, but that's another thing.

"Sophia? Are you okay?" the voice belonged to Tessa Scott, my current best friend and coworker. She towered over me from behind, despite the difference between our heights and I felt her worried gaze on me.

I put the sponge aside, took off the dirty gloves from my hands and wiped the sweat off my face. Flopping on the floor, I brought my knees to my chest. "Yep. Peachy." I said, shrugging, but the sour expressions on my face said otherwise.

"Why didn't you come to work today? What's wrong? And don't feed me any crap, you know I can smell bullshit from a mile away." she demanded, sitting in front of me. I knew that it was true, this girl was an exceptional mind reader and she could easily see behind my forced smile.

I have been working with Tessa for a year and half and during this time, our friendship has grown stronger. I like her for her assertive nature and confident personality, despite the fact that she is really tiny and looks like an innocent doll with her shiny blonde hair.

"I'm supposed to have dinner with my parents tonight." I sighed, resting my head on my knee. "I am screwed Tess; I can already feel their glares boring hole on my forehead."

Tessa didn't speak anything and I knew why, she didn't have any positive thing to say. Despite her optimistic nature, she was aware of my parent's not-so-hidden ability of interfering into my personal life and asking the same nosy questions over and over again.

"I'm going to give you an amazing advice." she bent forwards enthusiastically, as if she was going to propose an excellent idea. "Tell them you're pregnant and you don't know who the daddy is. They will forget about everything else." she made a dramatic pause, probably expecting a pat of appreciation from me. "I swear it works."

I chuckled at her idea and imagined how it would actually go, if I follow her plan. Dad would probably disown me for throwing my life away at this young age and shutting the doors for any future opportunities. His words, not mine.

"Thank God Beth isn't here, she just adds fuel to fire." I said, thinking about my sister. I don't particularly dislike my sister but she can be a bit ostentatious sometimes and I wasn't in mood of hearing about her success when I was struggling to make both ends meet.

"Siblings!" she let out a small groan and rolled her eyes at nobody in particular. "My brother sometimes makes me want to castrate him so the world won't see another one of him."

"Why? Shane is so cute." I defended him. Her twin brother is just a male version of her, with blonde hair that reaches his neck and eyes that changes color with his mood.