Page 17 of Petite Fleur

"I just want you to know, all this suffering. This is revenge for making Denise kill herself; she didn't deserve to die. She was young, she was beautiful. She didn't do anything wrong." I shout at him.

I have a long night ahead of me. One I may actually enjoy as long as he keeps screaming like he is.

This is my favorite part of getting revenge on the scum of the earth.

Chapter 6

Maeve Henderson

You know, you'd think by now that I'd know better than to go grocery shopping the day before Thanksgiving.

You'd think some part of me would have realized there would be a jumbled mess of last-minute shoppers, but it couldn't be avoided.

Holidays and weekends are the only times the dining hall is closed, and I have no food at home to last me the long weekend.

So, here we are. At the local grocery store that's filled with so many people that I'm actually lucky I even got a cart.

As much as it sucks that I have to stretch my already tight budget even more, I'm glad that it's giving me a little trial run for what I have to look forward to during winter break.

If I can't make it this weekend without blowing my budget, I definitely won't survive two weeks next month and I'll have to go home for the holidays.

That actually sounds worse than starving.

Carlie says she's going home for Christmas and she'll happily give me a ride, but the list of things I'd rather do than visit my mother is longer than the entire encyclopedia.

I want to enjoy the peace and quiet of campus, I want to walk around and enjoy the scenery without a hoard of students ready to trample me at any moment.

I want to be able to watch movies that Carlie hates and make the food that Sean complains smells bad.

It's cabbage, Sean throws a tantrum the moment he sees me even buying cabbage.

I know it's stupid, but I take joy from small things.

Sue me.

It's a blessing and a curse to be at the store the day before Thanksgiving. It's disgustingly packed; there are screamingchildren, and everybody is buying liquor, but at least the food is well stocked.

The shelves are full and even the end caps are stocked, both with regular groceries and a wide variety of fall-themed foods.

Everything is pumpkin spice or apple flavored and it makes me increasingly jealous that I can't afford the luxuries.

Fall is easily my favorite time of the year! Cinnamon everything, the leaves change, this God-awful heat finally subsides just the slightest, and it's socially acceptable to talk about Halloween non-stop.

I love it.

Or I would love it if I could afford to go all out for fall.

I'd love to have a cabinet in the kitchen dedicated to all the fall foods, but unfortunately, I only have $50 to spare every month for food, which can't be wasted on caramel-coated apples and pumpkin pie.

I hate that my life is like this. I work the maximum number of hours I'm allowed on campus to earn a paycheck and work towards my scholarship, but I don't make enough to allot more grocery money.

I would get another job, but I barely have time to study and have a life as it is. I can't risk falling behind in a class because I am too busy balancing two jobs.

So, I'm stuck.

I know most of the other kids request more from their student loans to pad their wallets, use their financial aid for stuff like this, or their parents give them the money to live, but none of those are an option for me.

It's fine, I've accepted it, mostly.

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