Chapter 1.4 - New Friends & A Bigger Home

**I apologize, i forgot to take a few pictures for this chapter**

  I was so excited about starting my new job that I barely slept. I stayed up most of the night furthering my skills and then I decided to go to the gym and spend a few hours there before work started. Working out at the gym was nice but aggravating at the same time. Even though I am in good shape, I barely ever work out and today proved that since I slipped while running on the treadmill at least a dozen times.

  After I got cleaned up, I looked at the clock and noticed that I had 40 minutes before my first day. I was so nervous that I accidentally went through a stop sign...or two, and I got to work with 20 minutes to spare.

*6 hours later*

After work was over I looked at my check and couldn't believe it was only §125. What a let down. I decided that it was time to just go home.

"Isabella, wait a second!"

I turned around and saw my boss running towards me.

"Oh, hello Mr. Ashton."

"You did an amazing job today."

"Thank you but all I did was sit in a "coffee shop" and pretend to be busy."

"You still did great. I wanted to tell you that I am promoting you up one more level. It's not a great job, pretty much just helping everyone out, but you will be one step closer to becoming a big time actress!"

"Wow, thank you! I really appreciate it."

  I was promoted to Best Girl, I got a bonus of §252, my new pay was §25/hr, and I had the same work times. Even though I had just got a promotion I still needed to make some extra money. I was starting to get the hang of mixology so I decided to go to the Prosper Room and moonlight there. There was quite a few people there and before I could get in I saw Jeffrey Cook. I greeted him and after impressing him with wealth and my job he decided that it was ok for me to socialize with him.

  When I turned around to greet the bouncer so i could get in, I realized that it was the same jerk that kept my money. I immediately thought about a way to get back at him but it needed to be planned out first.



"So, I see you are back again. I told you before that bribing me is not going to work, so just get outta here."

"I bet that if you check that list you will see that I am on it, Mr. Know It All."

"I highly doubt that YOU are....," He started "Wait a minute! You are on here. Well, I guess I have to let you go in now."

With my head held high and a smile on my face i walked in. I went to the mixologist and asked her if I could moonlight for a couple hours.

"I like your attitude! Go ahead, mix like there is no tomorrow!"

  During those two hours, it seemed like everyone in town came in. I finally decided to stop a couple hours in and I made §258. Before going home I decided to chat with Martin, the bouncer, for a little bit. Just to see what he was all about. We chatted until closing time and I noticed that we had a lot in common and he was actually a really nice guy. I had to forget about getting even with him, partially because I didn't want that part of my old life coming back. We parted ways and I went home to finally get some sleep.

I woke up at 4:15 the next morning, got dressed, and walked down to the bigger part of the lake on my property. I loved the view of Bridgeport from here. It was extremely peaceful and quiet all the way up here.

I stood there for a little bit longer and then took out my fishing pole. I use to fish with my Grandad but that was a long time ago.

  I fished for a couple of hours and didn't catch anything so I decided to go back inside and finish reading my skill books so I could take them back to the bookstore. Get some money back for them. I didn't get all of my money back but I did get §6,402 back so I bought the recipe books they had that were under §1,000 but it was still going to cost me §3,155. I took my books to the counter and set them down.

"No way! Isabella Abruzzi! Welcome, welcome!," the clerk said "No, no, you wont be paying full price today. Normally it would cost §3,155 but you'll only have to pay §1,633!"

  I could not believe I actually got recognized! I thanked the clerk, took my bag and headed home. The first recipe book I read, before going to work, was Eggs Machiavellian and I couldn't wait to try it. They looked delish!

  The first thing I had to do when I got to work was go pick up food for the shoot. That was easy enough since Hogan's Deep-Fried Diner was just down the street. When I got back to the set I put the food out and then met all of our cast members. After getting off work that night I went back to The Prosper Room to moonlight again. It was a great night to be moonlighting and I brought in §518!

  Finally after a long week at work and moonlighting to make extra money it was finally the weekend! I was promoted to Key Grip, bonus of §300, making §36/hour and working from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Even though I wanted to relax I knew I needed to get some more work done on my house. As soon as I got home I made a few phone calls and an hour later my workers were back. We worked until late Saturday night and by the time we were done I only had §4,059.

Around 9 pm. Saturday night I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do and I heard some people walking down the sidewalk by my house talking about a private party at Hyacinth Atkins apartment. It was time to crash my first party! When I got upstairs I greeted Aria Trill and Johanna King.

"Sorry, but this party is invitation only!" Said Hyacinth," I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
I didn't care that I had to leave, I still got to meet two more celebrities.

On Sunday I went to LlamaCo. Stadium and competed in the Amateur Olympics. Even though I didn't win, it was still a rush and I was pumped.

As I walked out of the stadium I saw Emmy Starr, a 4 star celebrity, so I took a picture of her and then I greeted her.

  Naturally I had to impress her, so i did with wealth, film, athletic, and I name dropped Reuben Littler and Matthew Hamming.  After becoming an acquaintance with her, I greeted Morrigan Hemlock and Elvira Slayer. They both had the same look as Kai and I had to get to know one of them so i could figure out what was so different about these people. After chatting with Elvira for a long time we became friends and I was also bumped to a B-List celebrity. We chatted for awhile longer and i finally decided to ask her about herself and some of the other people I have met.

"I hope you don't mind me asking," I said "But there is something different about you and some of the other people I have met. What are you?"

"I'm a vampire," Elvira said.

"A...wait, a vampire," I said a little shocked and a little queasy "that's...nice. Well, i need to be getting home."

  After I said goodbye I got a call from Matthew Hamming. He was inviting me to his party. I was super excited, mostly because he was a 5 star celebrity and now was my chance to become friends with him.

  I arrived at his penthouse and I could not believe how many celebrities were here! We partied all night and none of us left until 3:30 in the morning.