Cadence.

A job?

Could a high school freshman afford to hire someone?

Yes, if that freshman was Hugo Collins. My mind reminded.

"Job? Like what?" I pried. What could it possibly be? Like his maid or something? Didn't he already have plenty of those?

"I need someone to take care of..." He trailed off looking lost. His eyes clouded with something close sadness.

"My little sister." He completed letting out a shaky sigh.

"You want me to babysit her? That's the job?" I was surprised. Why was he asking me when he could probably get the best nanny in this town.

Something seemed to piss him off. He started yelling.

"It's not babysitting! She's not a baby! She's a grow-". He stopped abruptly, horror plastering over his confident face.

"I'll tell you the details later. If your answer is yes, come to the library tomorrow after school." He quickly said and turned around to walk away but stopped.

"Also, I know you need money. I can pay you much better than that job you do here." He pointed to the cafe. I bit my lips. He already knew this much.

"Okay." was the only word I could mutter up.

On the way home I couldn't stop my heartbeat from speeding up. I didn't know how and when he collected this much information about me. It scared me.

"Welcome back sweetie." Uncle Richard grinned widely when he opened the door. He was sweet and kind unlike his wife and daughter. The only person on this planet who cared about me and Cole was uncle Richard.

Usually I would greet him back with same warmth but today I was too tensed to do so. I failed to hug him and just returned a small smile.

His brows furrowed as he watched me going upstairs.

"Dinner's in ten minutes!" He called out just when I was to open the door of our room. "Yeah!" I replied before going in.

Cole was lying on his bed with his body upside down, playing video game.

"Cole, I need to talk to you." I whispered switching on the lights.

"About what?" He asked his eyes still on the game.

"It's about a job offer. We'll talk after dinner." I plopped down on my bed which was opposite to his.

"Kay." Cole cooed.

At dinner Myra kept shooting death glares at me. It was something she always did, but today she looked extremely upset. I was about to take the noodles curled around my fork to my mouth when Myra spoke out of nowhere.

 "Who were you flirting with today Cadence?" She muttered between her teeth. She only called me by my name when Uncle Richard was around.

"Flirting?" Uncle raised a brow in curiosity.

"I wasn't." I gobbled down my food, trying not to choke on it.

"I heard you were with Hugo this morning. Everyone could not stop talking about it." She gave me a fake smile.

"I'm glad to hear that you're socializing honey." Uncle Richard said sweetly.

 He always nagged me about socializing more especially with boys. He was scared that I might not get married at this rate. My face scrunched up at that thought. 

That stopped Myra from talking further though. I mentally heaved in relief. Rest of the dinner went silently.

I came back to the room only to find Cole dozing off, sitting at the edge of his bed. Oh god.

"Wake up Cole or else I'll kiss you." As much as that thought sounded disgusting in my head it made me wrinkle my nose at it. But it was the only way to bring this sleeping beauty here out from her beauty sleep.

"No!" He woke up, screaming. My smile grew wider as I saw him stumbling out of his bed and his pretty little face planted on the hard floor in the process.

"What the fuck Cade!?" He rubbed his nose, getting up.

"We need to talk. It's about a job." I sat on my bed facing him.

"Oh, right. What job?" Cole drawled rubbing his eyes.

"You know Hugo right?" I started. "He offered me a job."

"Hugo Collins?" His eyes widened, sleep vanished from his face. "That rich guy who is worshiped like some God at our school?"

"Yeah." I couldn't help but notice how Cole's eyes glimmered when Hugo was mentioned.

"Wow, you should totally do it." He declared throwing his hand behind his head. "He's filthy rich."

"Don't you want to know what the job is?" I asked but Cole was already asleep. Great.

"Okay then." I said before throwing my body on the bed. Hugo's darkened green eyes followed me in my sleep through my dreams. 

***

In school I was debating whether to tell Monica and Jasmine about Hugo offering me a job or not.

Monica's keen eyes kept darting over at me during English and I was positive she already smelled that something was wrong.

"Why is Hugo Collins looking over at us?" Monica exclaimed loud enough for the students around us hear her clearly. Everyone's eyes snapped at Hugo in a second including mine and I felt dominance radiating from him. Unable to maintain eye contact with him I quickly turned my eyes down. It was like he was forcing me to accept the job offer through his eyes.

Whispers exploded around me and I glared at Monica with my leg accidentally kicking hers under the table.

"Ouch!" She cried looking angrily at me.

"You just can't keep it to yourself, can you?" I said, gritting my teeth.

"Sorry." She muttered, glancing around her. Her eyes glistened for a split second because she loved attention but when she looked at me guilt reflected in them.

Jasmine was too busy texting someone to notice all of this happening around her and I actually appreciated that. I didn't need another maniac to go crazy over the fact that Hugo was looking at us.

When we were heading out of the cafeteria, I threw one more glance at Hugo and found not only him, but everyone sitting around him, staring at me. I gulped because his friends included Caleb Jordan; the official jock, Ryder Florence;  the bad boy as what people called him and Justin Parker; the goofy chocolate boy. They were all smirking at me as if they knew a secret of mine which would get me in bed with them just because I was desperate enough to keep it hidden.

And of course how could I overlook the person who stood above them all, his demeaning cold leafy green eyes never leaving mine as a knowing smirk played on his lips.

When I realized I was staring back at them for more than necessary and all of the cafeteria had their judgmental eyes on me, heat rushed to my cheeks. I quickly turned around tugging at my bag and walked out before embarrassment could kill me.

****

Rest of the day went in a blink. After pestering me constantly  about Hugo for like two hours, Monica had finally given up and left the school. Jasmine said she had to meet up with someone and I highly suspected it was her boyfriend who she just had broken up.

So here I was, standing in front of the humongous library, peering in, looking for signs of the golden boy.

"So, you came." His voice made me jump. I strode further inside and found him reading a thick book, giving it his entire attention. I stopped beside him and my eyes roamed around his body. How did this guy managed to look so royal in every damn thing he wore was beyond me.

His features were standing out even more in the beige sweater he wore with dark blue jeans and the big fat Rolex watch on his wrist screamed money in every way possible.

"Sit." He closed the book and put it back in the rack.

I moved my eyes away from him and pulled out a chair and he did the same.

Time stood still for few seconds as we just stared at each other. I didn't even know why I was so tongue-tied in front of him.

"So," he pulled out a file from under the table and flipped it open."Let's me explain you, your job."

__END__

A/N : I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please vote and comment if you did! It motivates me to write more :) Also I'll be uploading weekly now so see you next Friday!