= Sarah POV =

  My day went smoothly, however I was getting a little worried as the “requests” were so few, and the strikes were adding up. Since Monday I had only been requested one time, and that was to get Chris a gss of water. I dutifully applied for jobs and sent her the screenshots, but she had stopped responding to them, making me think I was wasting my time even showing her that I had done them.

  Anyway, that evening, I was determined to wait up and ask her about re-designing the room, so I curled up in her bed with my phone and de-strolled on MikMock until it was about 12 am.

  I woke up with a jolt at 3 am as I hadn’t realized I had dozed off. I heard the familiar soft snore of Chris next to me and groaned as I realized I had missed my chance.

  Still, I really needed to ask her first. I couldn’t just bring people in here to completely change her guest room without permission, and she would be the one paying for it.

  I reached over and shook her shoulder.

  “Umm…Chris, can I ask you something?” I asked softly.

  “Hmmm?” I heard a mumbled response.

  I pulled back my hand and sighed, I think I’ll just try again tomorrow.

  To my surprise, Chris rolled back her shoulder and stretched, then slowly sat up in bed. Rubbing her eyes, she turned on the light on her side of the bed and turned to me, blurry eyes and barely awake.

  “Sorry, did you ask me something?” she asked as she yawned.

  “Yeah umm, I was talking to Ms Takahashi, and she said that they offer….interior decorating options? I wanted to ask if I could decorate my- I mean the guest room…” I asked sheepishly.

  “Oh…yeah, do whatever you want,” Chris said and turned away, lying back down.

  “Oh and um! The request…you haven’t as “ I started.

  “Yeah, umm, don’t talk to me after 12 am,” she said, and within minutes was snoring again.

  I sat there kind of shell-shocked. Don’t talk to her after 12 am? But……she only came in after 12 am. When was I supposed to talk to her face-to-face?

  I bite my lip, that kind of hurt. Like I get that I am burdening her with all of this, but how is completely shutting me out, making any sense? She literally asked me to sleep in her bed, next to her, every night, and yet she won’t look at me, talk to me…

  Tears started rolling down my cheek and I angrily wiped them away. Never mind, I can deal with this. I’ll make my room look so amazing, and it’ll motivate me to work harder, and then maybe, I can finally pay for the storage unit at the very least and be able to move out of this horrible bed of neglect and into my own room where if she doesn’t want to see me, I don’t have to see her either!

  I rolled over angrily and pulled the covers over my head. I was trying to be brave, but it really hurt. Chris was the worst.