Everything with you

Part 10

Justin

I wake up to Joanna jumping on my bed, falling face first onto me. I groan and wince in pain. "ugh... Joe, what are you doing?" I whine, still closing my eyes.

"Open your eyes, Justin! Mom told me you have to take me to my dance class today, and it's already 8!" she says, screaming near my ear. I open my eyes a little bit and see her face. She reminds me so much of my mom. She has the same green eyes and brown hair as Mom. She sees me, opens my eyes, and grins. I notice one of her front teeth has fallen out. Deciding to tease her, I give her a fake gasp.

"Oh my God! Joe, where's your tooth? You are getting old, Joe!".

"No, I'm not! Mom says it will grow back!" she whines.

"No, Joe, I'm afraid not to see that you're almost 8, and once you cross 7, they don't grow back," I say, looking at her sadly.

"No, you're lying. I'm asking mom!" She screams and runs out the door.

"Justin, stop teasing your sister," I hear my mom yell in a few minutes. I chuckle to myself and get up from the bed and head down after brushing my teeth. My mom is still consoling Joe, telling her that the tooth fairy will come and give her money in exchange for her tooth. I chuckle at Joe, who is now pouting and is sitting on the kitchen table with her arms crossed. I take a bowl and put some cereal in it. "Justin," my mom calls me.

"Yes, ma," I say, grinning at Joe.

"Tell Joanna the truth; you know that her tooth will grow back," she scolds me, making me laugh harder. She then gives me a strict look. I sigh and look over to Joe and say, "Your tooth will grow again, Joe. I'm sorry that I was joking with you." She huffs and faces away from me, making me laugh again.

"That's good, Justin. Don't make her get scared like that again," my mom says, smiling at Joe. I finish my breakfast and take her bag over to my car, and we leave for the dance class. I dropped Joe off at her dance class, and I called Nate, and he answered on the second try, "Hello." He said his voice was still raspy from sleep.

"Hey man, it's Justin. Can you do me a favor?" I ask.

"Why man? It's like so early in the morning," he whines, making me roll my eyes.

He was obviously not a morning person.

"It's almost noon, Nate... Can you do me a favor?" I repeated myself.

"Yeah, yeah. Tell me what you need."

"I need a job," I say with a deep exhale.

"Do you need a job now? Why?" he asks, confused.

"It's Ma; her treatment bills are starting to pile up, and our insurance is shit."

After a moment of silence, "Oh, okay, I get it. Let me see if I can hook you up with a job soon," he replies with understanding. Justin's family has the biggest auto shop business in town; it was the fastest job I could hope to find.

"Thanks, Nate; I owe you one."

"Not a problem!" he says and hangs up.

True to his word, I got a beep a few minutes later with Zed's number, who was in charge of the closest Gold's Auto Shop. I quickly save the number and wait for Joe's class to get over. After I took Joe home, I went to the auto shop and spoke with Zed; amazingly, he found a job for me to fix engines for the time being.

Half my savings were gone last month, thanks to my ex-girlfriend. I really needed to get a part-time job, but between school and soccer practice, I never had any time left, but now I couldn't put this off any longer.