Some Help

Ally

Austin and I were working hard at the store. There was a sale on piccolos, and apparently twenty billion flute players are now joining their school marching band. I looked over to Austin who got very confused when a little girl asked if we had any wooden piccolos.

I decided to step in. "Well, we have a few, but are you interested in playing in a marching band or in a concert band with your piccolo?"

"Marching band," she answered.

"Then, I would recommend getting a silver piccolo, so it doesn't get ruined when it rains."

"Okay!" she said and ran to grab a piccolo off the shelf.

Austin looked at me and asked, "Why did your dad decide to have a sale on piccolos. Isn't that the least bit random to him?"

I laughed, "I guess we'll never know. He is my dad after all. OH! I almost forgot. Guess what?"

"What?" he answered just as enthusiastically.

"My dad hired a part-time manager to come in and run the store, so I don't have to all the time! And do you know what that means?"

"More song writing time?" he asked hopefully.

I giggled, "Exactly, but we have to meet her soon, and in order to do that we have to clear out these piccolo players within the next five minutes or so."

He suddenly got a mischievous grin. "Okay, first ones out of the store get a hug from the one and only AUSTIN MOON!" He then ran being chased by the pack of girls and their mothers.

I cleaned up some things and got ready for the new part-time manager to come. By the time Austin returned, everything was looking as spiffy as usual.

There was then a punky red-head standing in the doorway looking at us.

"Um, hi, I'm here to meet with Ally Dawson. I'm Alana Lavine the new part-time manager." she said.

"Oh, hi, I'm Ally. This is my partner Austin, so he'll be around a lot. You may as well meet him now too," I replied.

She smiled and we all made our way up to the practice room, so we could talk.

                                                                          XXX       

"So when I happen to be working the store, will I be all by myself?" Alana asked.

"Not necessarily. Most of the time I'll be up here, and me, Austin, and our other two friends all know how things go on here. No matter what, we're all in and out of here all day," I explained.

"Okay, so I'm also taking some courses at University of Miami. That's why I'm only part time."

"That makes sense. Well we are all in high school, so during school days my dad watches the store, and now whenever your shifts start to even out with your schedule I guess."

"Another thing. I'm a freshman in college, and I really don't know anybody here yet. Would you guys mind if I hung out around here when I'm not working?"

"We don't mind," Austin said finally talking to Alana. "All the better if you know how to write songs.

Her face brightened at this.

"Oh, I love to write songs."