How, how, how!
Carmela crashed onto her bed for the hundredth time, pounding her head against the pillow. How the fuck did she trip? She has never, legit never , fallen during a performance. She didn't want to admit it, but yeah it was because of him. That curly haired asshole.
"Carmela? There's a call for you!" Aunt Kass's voice echoed into her room.
WAIT. Was it... could it... but how.... WHAT WAS HAPPENING! No way-there's no fucking way.
"OKAY! I'M COMING! WHO IS IT AUNT KASS?!" She blared with a shaky voice, and jumped out of her room and sprinted down the hallway into the kitchen. Aunt Kass was standing at the counter in a robe with wet red-brown hair, mixing eggs in a bowl.
Carmela slid over to her with her socks. She put a hand on her thudding heart as Aunt Kass held the phone to her.
"Its the bank!" She whispered.
What? Carmela's heart dropped to her feet as she snatched the phone angrily. She held it to her ear.
"Hello? Its Carmela Lee."
"Hello Carmela, we have unfortunate news regarding your credit tax statement. Due to the extreme overtime of your tax payments, we were forced to empty out your account and shut it down. Deeply sorry, Carmela, but I'm afraid your credit card is no longer valid and you'll have to make another account..."
Oh, no. Oh, shit. If it was possible, Carmela's heart sunk deeper than her feet. How could that happen... How could she be so careless? Aunt Kass is gonna be pissed as hell...
"Hello? Carmela are you still there?"
"Uhm-uh-yes! I, um, understand. Thanks."
She hung up the phone and stared at Aunt Kass in shock who stared back the same way.
"What happened mija? What was that about?"
Carmela gulped. "They shut down my-my, uh, credit card."
Aunt Kass clutched her hair.
"What?! Carmela, why?!"
"'Cause, we... wedidn'tpaythebills." She mumbled.
"Speak up!"
"We didn't pay the bills!"
"The bills? Why didn't you pay the bills? You just kept spending and spending and spending, without telling me to pay the damn bills!" Aunt Kass sighed and rubbed her eyes.
"Im sorry Aunt Kass. Sorry."
She went around to her aunt and hugged her from the side, laying her chin on her shoulder.
"Do you know what this means for us, Carmela? I've taken out enough loans to get you the card, and now its just... gone. What are we gonna do niña? Do you have some kind of hidden lottery we could use?" Aunt Kass joked, but Carmela could hear the annoyance and weariness behind it.
"Ill help us. If I get this job, we-"
Aunt Kass shrugged her off.
"Carmela, if you get this job. IF. How many jobs have you applied to? How many said they didn't want a rookie? How many Carmela? We've waited long enough, why dont you just go to college? I could take out another loan. It would be easier to get a job!"
"I can't believe it. All this time I'M here thinking that YOU are supporting me and encouraging me in my dream, but you just want me to get a fucking job. Another source of income, thats it! I get it, we're struggling right now. But does that mean I can't be happy for once?"
Aunt Kass clutched her head, closing her eyes and nodded.
"Okay. Okay fine. You know what Carmela? Do whatever you want. You want to dance? Go dance. And then come back home to NO dinner and NO water and NO power and probably NO house soon. My job at the station will dissapear too, when they find a more "suitable looking" office secretary. But you do what you want. So go and dance, Carmela. I support you."
Aunt Kass lowered her eyes and stomped off, out of the small kitchen. What just happened? Did they just... fight? Carmela felt terrible. But only because of the guilt of her lost account. She just couldn't get why Aunt Kass didn't understand her. Didnt she know Carmela would've been dead if she hadn't channelled her emotions into creating dances? Wasn't it obvious how much she loved it? Then why, why does money have to come first? She'd rather starve than dance... maybe not.
She raked her tangled hair and stalked back to her room. It had been 8 days. 8 days and no call. More than a week. The job was gone. That Aaron guy probably got it. Success wasn't in her blood. What a life. What a pathetic life.
She groaned miserably and picked up her phone, peeling the baggy t-shirt off herself. Maybe Jules wanted to hang out. She clicked it open and opened the messages, sending a quick 'wanna go out'.
A vibration pulsed through her hand as a call came in. It wasn't a number she knew. Ugh, those stupid phone advertisements. She ignored it and grinned at Jules reply: 'thought we were already a couple babe'.
The same number sounded again, and this time Carmela made up her mind to show them a piece of her tongue. She swiped the call open, preparing herself. But her lungs stopped working when she heard the deep voice on the other end.
It was... Taehyung? What the fuc-
"Hello, you got the job, goodbye."
Her heart beat out of her chest. Wait a smokin sec. What just... The... job? You mean THE JOB?! She got the... HOWTHEHELLDIDTHATJUSTHAPPEN!!! She squealed loudly, jumping up and down and ran out the room in her bra.
"AUNT KAASSSSS!! AUNT KAASSSSS! I GOT IT! I GOT THE JOB AT GREATKICK!! I'M OFFICIALLY A DANCE CHOREOGRAPHER! I GOT THE- OW!!"
She crashed to the floor. Maybe running in socks wasn't a good idea. But the pain in her knee felt numb compared to her current state of joy. Aunt Kass came running around the corner with her hands in the air.
"AY, MY PRINCESS! MY DARLING PRINCESS! MY BONITA CARMELITTA! MY UNSTOPPABLE DAUGHTER! AYY!"
Carmela scampered up from the ground, smiling widely as Aunt Kass pulled her into a tight hug, rocking her back and forth.
Carmela couldn't believe it. She had gotten it. She had gotten the career she wanted. It was hers now. She was finally employed in her dream career... Her nose tickled as she felt tears rim her eyes, but this time she didnt hide them and stuffed her face into Aunt Kass's plump shoulder, sobbing.
"Mija! Mija why are you crying my love? One shouldn't cry during happy times. It might curse you!"
Carmela laughed through her tears and sniffed as Aunt Kass rubbed her back. She had finally done it. She was a fucking choreographer!
"So when do you go? What time do you start? Whats the salary?" Her aunt's voice was thick with emotion, thicker than her Mexican Spanish accent.
Shit. Carmela didnt ask any of that. The asshole had hung up pretty fast too. Maybe there was something in her email.
"I don't know, I was just-" Carmela stepped back from Aunt Kass, wiping her face, "-just so surprised, I forgot to ask! Lemme go check m-my email." Her voice was jittery and her jaw trembled with unusual excitment as adrenaline surged through her.
"Okay love, go and check. Congratulations my wonderful daughter! There's really nothing you can't do!"
Aunt Kass laughed and wiped her glossy eyes. Carmela quickly gave her another hug and ran back to her room. Her face hurt from smiling, but she kept doing it anyway. She jumped into her desk chair and unfolded her laptop with trembling hands. Her stomach felt light, and a loud laugh escaped her.
"I did it! They chose me! Now I'm gonna go and choreograph the shit out of everything!" She sang to herself.
When she opened her email, there was nothing from GreatKick Entertainment. Strange. How's she gonna know what to do or where to go? She decided to call back the number Taehyung had called her from. She held the phone to her ear, listening to it dialing.
"What do you want?" He answered in a bored tone. Carmela ignored his shit. I'm not gonna let him ruin my damn moment.
"Where's the job description and stuff? Shouldn't I get some sort of certificate or agreement or something?"
"Yeah, wait, I'll email the job expectations to you right now. When you come in on the first day, you'll sign a couple of final applications and terms of agreement. Goodbye."
"Wait, bu-" Did he legit just hang up again?
Whatever. He was just a stupid drama queen. But seriously though, I mean was he fucking five years old? Who keeps such pointless grudges anyway? Maybe I should've pulled his hair harder.
A document popped up in her inbox, and Carmela clicked it open. Yes, finally!
**¡Felicidades Carmela Lee! Usted ha sido contratado para trabajar para GreatKick Entertainment como coreógrafo. Comenzará a trabajar exactamente a las 8 am los lunes, martes, jueves y viernes...**
Wait just a smokin second... why is it in Spanish?? Carmela's... dad... and Aunt Kass were both Mexican born, but Carmela didn't know a word of the language except for a couple of greetings! What the actual fuck though. Why would the company send her the document in Spanish? This was definitely Taehyung's doing. When Aunt Kass forced her to text him before their blind date, Carmela had told him that she wasn't fluent in Spanish but she sometimes told people she was 'cause she liked the idea of being bilingual. WHY, why does he have to be such an asshole? But more importantly, why did she tell him that? Crazy bitch.
Carmela punched in his number again, her happiness slowly disappearing.
"What now?" He sighed.
"Dude, why is the document in Spanish?"
"Um, maybe because you are Spanish? Is there a problem?"
"Taehyung, I can't understand it! Remember, I'm not really fluent!" And I'm Mexican dumbass.
"Well then maybe you shouldn't of said you are in your application papers."
"UGH. Please change it! To English, please." She hated pleading him, but she also felt pretty embarrassed. What the hell was going on through her mind when she put Spanish as an additional spoken language? Why am I so damn weird?
"If you have a problem, you can contact the manager. I specifically told him to convert all of your documents into Spanish ones, since you clearly wrote you're fluent, of course."
"WHAT? Why did you do that?! I literally told you- WHY ARE YOU SUCH AN ASSHOLE?"
"Oh, so you aren't fluent? I should probably tell Mr. Jung you lied on your application papers then..."
"No! Whatever, I'll figure it out when I get there. What the fuck am I supposed to now though, I can't understand a word, except for fucking congratulations."
"Mind your language. I'm a co-worker now."
Carmela scoffed. Great. The realization finally hit her. She would have to put up with this guy now. Nothing's perfect. Not even the happiest moment of her life.
"And there's something called Google Translate, you know." With that, he hung up.
"You little- I'M GONNA KILL YOU FOR THIS!" She screamed into the beeping phone.
She threw her phone onto her bed behind her, and highlighted the whole document. She pasted it into Google Translate, but the English was so fucked up. Even the computer doesn't know Spanish. She did pick out a few words though. $30 000 annual salary. Hours: 8 am--end of practice. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.
Hmm. Tomorrow was Tuesday. Shit.