Amanda’s POV.

"My life is doomed, kris." I muttered dejectedly as I combed my hand through my hair and puffed out a harsh breath, a helpless feeling settling over me in waves. I really was helpless at this point, there was absolutely nothing I could do at this moment.

Mrs Mary had come into the floral shop not too long after the teenager had left. To say Mrs Mary was furious was an understatement, to cut the painful story short, she ordered me not to ever come back to her shop with another painting equipment if I was considering getting another set– not knowing that I didn’t even have money to get dinner tonight and haven’t eaten anything since morning, not to talk of money to use in getting new set of watercolor.

I had left her shop without even bothering to try pleading with her, because I didn’t even have what I could use in working there any longer, and had headed straight to my best friends’ apartment almost immediately, purposely taking the longest route to get there, so I could walk the long mile by myself and get the chance to unwind and gather my jumbled thoughts.

"Aw, come on, she has probably been jealous of you winning over almost all her customers with your painting skills and has been looking for an excuse to order you not to step foot into her shop again all these while." Val interjected as she lifted her gaze from the laptop which was currently on her thighs– that she was vigorously tapping away on, a moment ago.

"Exactly! So she grabbed this incident as the perfect excuse." Kris took up from where Val stopped but I shook my head a few times, feeling extremely emotionally and physically drained as I fell into the bed I was currently perched on, the soft foam cushioning my pounding head.

"Look guys, I don't even care about that anymore to be very honest, it has happened. And even if she didn't ask me to stop coming, there was no way I would be able to go back there without a new set of watercolors. Not the normal one, but the one that actually stays on paper once it dries off, so that's completely out of the question now." I pointed out with a small lift of my right shoulder while glancing between the both of them, a sigh filled with dejection following my sentence in the next second.

"How about the jobs you applied for, have they sent you any emails yet?" Kris started to say after a few minutes of the room left in complete silence – except for the tapping sounds of Val fingers moving shirt fast against the keyboard of her laptop. I shook my head in reply after a minute, another feeling of helplessness washing over me again.

Fuck, I hate this feeling.

Ever since I graduated from college a month ago, I’ve applied to over ten companies all together. A few of those companies had been my dream companies, while the rest had been my second and third options. Two weeks after graduating from college, I was still hopeful that I’d receive an offer from one of those companies because I had done well in school, so there was absolutely no way one of the companies I applied to wouldn't take interest in me.

As time went by, it started to dawn on me that none of those companies were going to be sending me a job offer, to my utmost disappointment.

I let out a small sign as I rolled over onto my stomach and buried my face into the curve of my elbow, dragging in deep breaths and allowing it to slide out of my nose slowly while willing myself not to break down at the moment.

It wasn’t like sobbing and shedding tears was going to do a thing to help my predicament.

"You guys are not going to believe this, but I just saw a job vacancy at A & M.” Val whispered out in a quiet voice, her warm familiar breaking through the silence in the room and I whipped my head up immediately, staring wide eyed at her with my hair getting into my face. There was a wide smile playing out on her face and I felt it tug on some of my heartstrings with curiosity, even though a part of my mind wasn’t feeling as enthusiastic as I’d have felt, a day after I graduated– when there was still so much hope in my head and heart.

Now, everything looked so bleak and the future looked extremely gloomy, something I wasn’t looking forward to one bit.

"You're applying for this job, Ama!"

"I am, how?" I asked after a few moments as I dragged myself off my warm spot on the bed, heading over to the couch Val was currently sitting on, but Kris beat me to it as she gleefully bounced into the spot I was focused on a second ago.

I threw her a nasty glare as I made my way to the other side of the couch and knelt down beside Val's leg because I wanted to see the laptop as clearly as possible, and the couch wasn’t wide enough to contain three young adults. My lips parted in surprise and bewilderment as I saw the vacancy for a single post in the company, my eyes quick reading the few words thst was attached to the vacancy post.

A&M is a very big and popular shares company and I hadn’t even bothered applying for a job there because I felt they wouldn’t even want to ever hire freshly graduates.

I watched silently as Val edited my already drafted application letter which had been prepared even before I graduated, and had been edited a little as the weeks went by, because I started to wonder if there was something wrong with my application letter which was making no company interested in hiring me.

"I am sending it right now." Val drawled out in a sing-song voice and Kris nodded her head along with her, but I started to feel skeptical almost immediately, feeling extremely afraid of my hopes getting raised only to be let down once again the way the other companies had done.

"Hold on guys, what if they don't consider me at all, I mean..." I started to point out after a moment and Val gave me a knowing softening look, stretching out her right hand to me which I clutched in between my hands without thinking, dragging in deep breaths into my empty lungs.

"Relax, yeah? It's not that big a post, it reads 'secretary' here, so I'm sure you'll get hired." Val started to reassure me and I chewed on the side of my lower lip before shrugging my shoulders a little, feeling my head start to pound even harder against my forehead.

"Hopefully." I muttered slowly as I stared at the form Val was helping me fill with rapt attention, wondering within myself about what I’d be able to do without these amazing people in my life?

'Probably die out of loneliness.'

"And I just know the pay's going to be a lot, like I mean... We’re talking about A & M here." Kris gushed out excitedly, spiking some more excitement and hope in the depths of my stomach.

I held my breath and watched as Val filled the whole form and clicked on the ‘submit’ button without giving me a chance to reread the whole thing.

"Today's a Thursday, so hopefully, they'll request for an interview from you on Monday!" Val breathed out just as she powered off her laptop and closed it shut before hugging it to her chest whime nodding her head along with what she was saying.

I signed out softly without saying a thing, would they even be able to get back to me that fast– if they were even going to be interested in me, that is.

"Let's all stay positive!" Kris announced adamantly, staring pointedly at me as if she could magically read the thoughts running through my mind, off my face – which I had no doubts about, because it was Kris and she was just so good at reading people’s emotions.

I felt a small embarrassed flush start to cover my face and I pushed up from my knees and headed straight for the bed in the room, flopping into it and burying my face into one of the pillows whime ignoring how my empty stomach rumbled hungrily against the bed.

******

"Oh my gosh, Amanda! Get the hell up right now, A & M just sent you an email!" Val screeched loudly into my ears just as I was about to drift into a tired and dreamless sleep– a few hours after sending the application letter to A & M.