Chapter Four

"Sean groaned and sat up. “What time is it?”
“Time to get up,” Raven replied, coming out of the bathroom in fresh clothes.
Deborah was going into the bathroom.
“Guys, get up, we have to shave!” Sean shouted.
“Shut up, weasel,” Doug moaned at him. Chris managed a tired whimper. Nick sat up and looked around. Then he stretched and headed for the bathroom and pounded on the door.
“Deb, hurry!” he yelled.
“Shut up!” she retorted. She came out looking fresh and clean.
Nick went in and shut the door. The others waited, not daring to yell at him.
“Some of you girls can get dressed in the closet,” Raven said, pointed, and instantly they all ran there.
Nick poked his head out of the bathroom. “You got a razor or something?”
“In the green bag. It’s a girl one but it’ll have to do,” Raven replied.
“How long have you been up for?” Cassie asked.
“Since about…” Raven looked at her watch. It was nine o’clock. “Seven.”
“And you didn’t wake us?” Adam stared at her.
“Nah, you all looked so sweet curled up together,” she answered with a grin.
Cassie and Adam blushed while the others laughed. When Nick came out of the bathroom there was a mad dash by the Henderson brothers to get in. Chris won.
“Let me in!” Doug shouted, pounding on the door with his fists. Melanie rolled her eyes.
“You know, there’s that bathroom in the front office people use when they’re not checked in,” Diana said, suddenly remembering.
“We guys will go,” Adam said gallantly. “You ladies should stay in the room.”

Half an hour later, they were piled in their cars and eating twenty-five-cent doughnuts from a gas station, heading for the grocery store.
They meandered in at five-minute intervals with their applications filled out.
“Hi, I’m back,” Raven said, handing Dave the forms.
“Listen, we’re on short hours today because it’s a Sunday but do you want to start anyway?” Dave asked, handing her a time card.
“Sure,” Raven answered, surprised.
Dave briefly scanned her application and said, “You can handle a cashier, right?”
Raven nodded as she pulled on the uniform shirt over her T-shirt.
“Here’s the code for number seven and I’ll clock you in.” Dave turned to go, then paused. “I might as well to you about the others now. There’s Del, the cart boy. He’s the only other teenager who works here. Marie’s my assistant manager. Tony is the butcher, Tracy is the other cashier and Big George does all the hauling boxes and stuff.”
“Thanks,” Raven said, and headed off to her post. She saw the others come in, one by one, and grinned to herself. They were experiencing her kind of life now. They were finally her kind of people. She wasn’t a part of their Circle and she always left when they had meetings, and it was bad enough that they were all rich kids, but finally they were going to see some of the real world.
Chris and Doug were shuttled off as cart boys and immediately went to talk to Del. Diana, Cassie and Laurel were also set as cashiers. Melanie was down in customer service with Marie. When Nick came in, Raven saw him disappear in the back and reappear with a big black man. Both were carrying boxes. Sean and Suzan were put in the deli together – much to Sean’s delight and Suzan’s horror. Adam was also put in as a cashier. Deborah was put in as Tony’s new apprentice, and she looked dangerous wielding that butcher knife.
Business was pretty slow and every now and then Dave would stop by and explain something new for her. Raven had been a cashier before and knew a lot of the stuff, but she had to learn some of the key codes and all the store policies for checks.
At lunch, Raven and a few of the others sat in the back room nibbling on some sandwiches Diana and Laurel had whipped up.
“So, why did you move here?” Del asked.
“’Cause school sucked and we didn’t want to go,” Doug answered.
“Really?” Del looked impressed.
Raven rolled her eyes. He looked like a really nice kid who was really impressionable. He was smaller than the other guys, light in build with mousy brown hair and hazel eyes.
“I couldn’t do that, my parents would hang me,” Del said.
“We don’t have parents,” Chris said, and there was silence all around.
“I’m sorry,” Del apologized, looking sad.
“I’m not,” Raven said. “They’re somewhere better now.”
“Do you have any pictures of them? Those would help you remember them.” Del nodded, looking down at his sandwich.
The others exchanged glances. None of them had pictures of their parents.
“So what are you doing tonight?” Raven asked.
“Club meeting, probably,” Cassie replied, looking around at all of the others. They nodded.
“It’s not like we could go anywhere if we wanted to skip,” Sean muttered into his bread.
“What club?” Del asked.
“Just the Club, you know, hanging out at the beach and stuff,” Laurel answered.
“Is the meeting important?” Nick asked.
“Do you have somewhere more important to go?” Adam challenged.
Cassie put a hand on his arm. Raven noticed that there was no love lost between the two boys.
“It’s to decide on who’s going to fill in the empty spot in the Club,” she replied. “I’m sure you’d like to have a say in it.”
“One place, one candidate, what can I disagree on?” Nick stared at her with his opaque eyes.
“Someone always disagrees,” Deborah pointed out.
“Like Faye,” Suzan added.
“Faye isn’t here, is she?” Nick retorted.
“Hey hey, give each other a break,” Diana cut in.
“Well, I’m going out on the twenty-first,” Raven told them all.
Chris looked at her and was engaged in the prodigious feat of thinking. “The twenty-first? What’s so good about that day?”
Melanie whacked him upside the head and realization dawned.
“Oh! It’s Longnight – !”
Melanie gave him a sharp look and he fell silent.
“Well, we should be getting back to work,” Del said, standing up.

When the workday was over, it was still pretty early in the afternoon so they went off in search of a place to live.
“We want the cheapest place possible,” Adam reminded them all.
“But not exactly a cockroach hotel either,” Suzan added.
“We won’t exactly be poor,” Melanie pointed out.
“How do you know?” Doug asked.
“Well, if we’re all working full time at a supermarket in a nice neighborhood that stocks imported goods we’ll get paid about ten dollars an hour, work fourteen hours a day and ten on Sundays, and there’s twelve of us, so all together we’ll get a lot of money,” Melanie answered.
“I know where some places should be cheap,” Raven offered. “On the beach right near the college where a lot of college kids stay can be from two hundred to five hundred a month, and we’ll be able to pay that without starving.”
“Access to the beach would be nice, but what about furniture?” Adam asked.
“We’re teenagers, we should live like it,” Suzan said. “Get one with three rooms, one for the boys and two for the girls and some easy furniture like bubble seats and bean bags and stuff. They’re all really cheap but really fashionable, too.”
“She’s not as dumb as she looks,” Deborah whispered.
“Well, let’s go!” Chris urged.

“You think we can afford this?” Adam gasped.
“Hey, I did the calculations and we’d each make about four thousand dollars a month, and there are twelve of us, so that’s nearly fifty thousand a month from all of us,” Melanie answered. “About four hundred and eighty from each of us a month would cover all the living costs – “
“Hey! Spare us the math,” Deborah cut in with a sharp gesture. “We get it.”
“Just how much will this place cost, anyway?” Cassie asked.
Melanie studied the house. It had five bedrooms, a kitchen, one bathroom and a den/living room. The landlady was standing a little distance away while they made their decision. It was getting dark and they wanted to move in soon. Everything was being done very hurriedly and even though they didn’t like rushing things, this place seemed like the safest bet. It was a nice place, near the beach and there were lots of other kids around so they wouldn’t seem out of place.
“I say go for it,” Sean urged.
“It looks pretty expensive to me,” Suzan said doubtfully.
“Who would sign for it, anyway?” Adam asked.
“The one with the most money, duh,” Doug retorted.
Chris was silent, his face screwed up in intense concentration when he finally said, “Couldn’t they recognize one of our names or something?”
They all exchanged worried glances.
“What should we do?” Laurel asked, looking to Cassie and Diana for a decision.
“I’ll sign. I have a name I can use that no one will recognize,” Raven offered. The others shot her puzzled looks at the mention of another name to use, but right then no one paid much attention to it. There were actually a few people who might know her other name, but she doubted they would be seeing their rent contract.
“It’s our best bet, let’s do it,” Cassie said.
“All right, we’ll take it,” Adam said for Mrs. Carter to hear.
“Come with me to my office and we’ll get the contracts for you to sign,” she said. They went back to their cars and followed her to her real estate office.
Raven went into the office with her to sign all the papers.
“How are you liking Orlando so far?” Mrs. Carter asked.
“I’ve lived here before, so it’s home for me,” Raven answered.
“You have quite a group there – are you all friends?”
“Yeah – they’ve all grown up together but we’re great friends,” Raven answered. “Where do I sign?”
Mrs. Carter reached over and pointed, and Raven scribbled her signature.
“Thank you Miss…” Mrs. Carter frowned at the name.
“Just call me Raven, all of the guys do,” she said.
“All right. Raven. Well, it was good doing business with you.” She smiled and handed Raven a brass key.
“Thank you,” Raven answered politely, and they shook hands. She went out to the others and they crowded around her.
“So when can we move in?” Diana asked.
Raven grinned and held up the key. "Tonight!”
They all cheered and spilled out of the agency.

After checking out of the hotel and buying necessities, the group headed to their new home.
“I’ll get all of you copies of the key,” Raven promised as she unlocked the front door.
“All right, who sleeps where?”
They stood in the middle of the den and looked at the five rooms that branched off. There were twelve people and five rooms…
“We’ve got this room!” Chris and Doug yelled, running for one of the bigger ones.
“Hey, that’s a big room,” Adam called out. “Share it with Sean.”
He received razzes as Sean trudged into the room as the others laughed.
“There’s another room big enough for three people,” Melanie pointed out.
“We’ll share,” Raven volunteered, grabbing Deborah and Suzan each by an arm and dragging them into the room.
Nick and Adam went into the room in the middle. Cassie and Diana, Laurel and Melanie got the rooms that adjoined the bathroom.
“We have no beds!” Sean protested.
“Here,” Cassie said, tossing in two comforters. They had already ordered five cheap double beds and had bought the comforters for them. Doug and Chris settled under one while Sean slept in the corner.
There was an air of excitement as they settled into their own house.
Raven and Deborah were sharing a comforter. Suzan turned off the lights and joined them on the floor.
“Our own house,” Suzan breathed in awe. “Wow.”
“You’ll get sick if it soon, trust me,” Raven assured her.
“We forgot to have the Circle meeting,” Deborah muttered with a yawn.
“Worry about it tomorrow. We have work then,” Raven said. There were various calls of ood night throughout the house before everyone drifted off to sleep. nly to be awaken by the sound of scuffling n the room with the Henderson brothers.
“Give me some of the blanket! You’ve got all of it!”
“I’m cold. Come on Doug, it’s not fair.”
“Move over and get your bony elbow out of my side!”
“Get your legs off of me!”
“Shut up!”
“No, you shut up!”
“Go to sleep!” Nick bellowed from two rooms down. The laughter stopped.

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