Just A Dream...
Conflict
Chapter Two: Trapped in Toronto
"God, what time is it?"
Aurora Stapleton rolled over in bed, glancing at the alarm clock that
sat on her dresser with a frown. "Not seven already? Man, I hate early
mornings!"
Pulling herself out of her bed with some reluctance, and grabbing her
towel off the back of the wooden chair in the corner, she headed into the
shower, a frown on her face.
Boy, did she hate this life.
It had been the same ever since she had left home a year ago. Not that
she regretted it, she mused as she ran the shower, idly putting her hand
underneath the shards of water to test the temperature. There was only
so much she could take of that way of living, and she wasn't a child any
more. She was nineteen years old, plenty old enough to be able to choose
for herself.
If she was honest, she had had a happy childhood, with a mother who
had lavished attention and affection on her only daughter. Aurora's father
had died before she had been born, and her mother, who was originally of
Quebecois birth had devoted herself to raising his legacy. For sixteen
years Aurora's world had been secure.
And then there had been Steven.
No matter how much she tried, she could not like her mother's new husband.
She had taken the match as an invasion of her family and had deeply resented
his intrusion on her life. She had been away at a cousin's house in Alaska,
just across the border, when her mother Melissa had first met the man,
and the relationship had been beyond her breaking down by the time she
had returned for the holidays. It had come as a nasty shock. For the first
time in her life she had rowed with her mother, and things had spiralled
from there. Sure that in time Aurora would come round to the match, Melissa
had accepted Steven's proposal, and they had been married.
And then Aurora had come in for her second shock.
Steven had his own children.
His eldest child, Rachel had been twenty-one, away in the world on
her own and unconcerned much by her father's choice of new bride, but his
son Tony, who had been Aurora's age had disliked the match as much as his
new stepsister, and had delighted in taking things out on her, taunting
her refined lifestyle and calling her soft. A girl of fierce pride and
stubborn temper, he had aroused the worst side of her character, and she
had begun to draw herself away from her family, spending more and more
time with friends away from home, and getting involved with more than one
shady boyfriend.
In the end she and her mother had rowed violently and Aurora had let
all her bad feelings come to the fore, telling Melissa in no uncertain
terms what she thought of her stepfamily. They had not parted on the best
of terms, for Aurora had left that very night with little intention of
ever coming back. She felt that she could well survive on her own, since,
in her perception of things, noone else cared for her these days.
She had gone to Toronto, not really knowing what she was looking for,
and, by coincidence she had made the acquantance of one Eric Raymond. The
name had meant little to her, but, attracted by her good looks and obvious
charm, he had offered her a job as a waitress in one of his chain of nightclubs,
and, upon discovering that she could also sing, had convinced her to play
a part in the entertainment also. He had set her up in a seedy apartment
and her wages were only just enough to live on, but she knew that without
this job she would be living on the streets, so she dared not complain.
She had begun to realise just how hard the real world was. What she
wanted from life she wasn't sure. All she knew was that in the previous
year she had broken almost every one of the naive childhood rules she had
set for herself. Her upbringing dictated that she could never be happy
in the impoverished and unpleasant conditions of her present lifestyle,
but she had no will or ambition to raise herself any further.
Although Aurora's working and social life would have most likely given
her mother several fits, had she known of it, she still had a certain number
of determined standards. Though people she knew and worked with used various
types of drugs, Aurora had firmly refused to be coaxed, despite their best
attempts she would not even light up a cigarette with them, conscious of
the need to protect her voice in order to keep her job. However, work had
taken it's toll on her appearance - her hair was no longer so perfectly
and impeccably groomed and her nails no longer immaculately manicured.
Her eyes bore shadows from late night hours and early morning waitressing
shifts in the diner attached to the club, and in short, life stank.
She dressed quickly, eying her reflection in the mirror with a critical
eye and sighing, running her fingers through her golden hair.
"I hate early mornings." she repeated. "And I'm going to be
late if I don't get moving!"
The sound of a car horn alerted her to the fact her ride had arrived
and she left her apartment, hurriedly slipping her purse onto her shoulder
and locking the door behind her. Then she skipped down the flight of stairs
and out to the waiting car. Though she possessed a driver's licence, she
had no vehicle of her own, for her earnings would not stretch to it, and
it was all she could do to provide her share of the gas money that helped
fund her transport there.
"Hey, Rora." Shelley Brooke cast her a grin from behind the steering
wheel. "You look half asleep, as usual! What were you doing last night?"
"Working, as you well know." Aurora replied ruefully, getting into
the front seat of the car. "You're later than usual."
"That's my bad." Jon Mitchell put in from the backseat of the car.
"I misplaced the keys to my apartment and held Shelley up some."
"If I step on the gas we'll do it." Shelley replied.
"Hey, Rora, I meant to ask you yesterday, what's the deal with you
and Cliff?" Shelley asked as they pulled out of the layby and onto the
main road. "I heard you split with him - what's the story?"
"Well, I kinda figured that he was playing life a few levels faster
than me." Aurora looked rueful. "To be honest, Shel, I didn't break up
with him as much as we were broken up by police intervention."
"Police?" Jon demanded.
"Yeah." Aurora nodded. "He finally got busted for possession." She
grimaced. "Turned out that he was also selling the stuff - which I didn't
know, incidentally - and I spent a few unhappy hours in interrogation rooms
undergoing question after question. Luckily they believed me in the end,
or rather they had nothing they could pin on me. I wasn't involved, after
all - you guys know I draw the line at that stuff. But I figured it was
time I let go of this relationship and looked for a guy who didn't put
me second to his dope."
"Makes sense." Jon observed. Shelley looked horrified.
"You were arrested too? You must've been freaked!" She exclaimed. Aurora
shook her head.
"Irritated, but not freaked. I knew I hadn't done anything so I knew
I'd get off." She replied, grinning. "It was a novelty, anyway, spending
a night in a police cell. Anything to stop the boredom!"
"Speaking of boredom, here we are." Shelley grimaced, pulling into
the parking lot at the diner-cum-nightclub. "Man, I hope Eric's not checking
us out today. We're three minutes late after all, and you know how stingy
he is on docking wages."
"He's a jerk." Aurora pulled a face. "Come on. If we sneak in the back
he'll never know."
"That's what I like!" Jon laughed. "You're quick thinking, Rora!"
"Have to be." Aurora grinned. "Coming?"
"We're right behind you." Shelley nodded.
"You know, you shouldn't be working this place." Jon dropped his teasing
tone for a moment, eying Aurora thoughtfully. "You're too good to be stuck
in a dump like this and I'm damn sure that Eric knows it too. You sing
way too well to be performing for drunks and dopeheads."
"They're not all drunks and dopeheads." Aurora replied. "It's only
when it gets late that things get real bad. And I appreciate the thought,
Jon, but what choice do I have? I need this job and I need the money. Guess
that means that I'm not too good for any of it." She smiled sheepishly.
"In any case, I'm kinda resigned to it now. It's more than some people
got, anyway, and it's a lot better than going home."
She slipped on your apron." I'm going to see if we got any custom yet.
Catch you later!"
Jon watched her go, then he frowned.
"It's such a waste." He remarked.
"I know." Shelley nodded. "Rora's pretty, talented, clever and friendly...somewhere
she's gonna get hurt. She's too much a kid to be working this kind of job."
She sighed. "Nineteen's too young, Jon. All that's going to happen is she'll
get involved with the wrong guy and she'll either turn up dead in a dumpster
the next morning or she'll be pregnant and Eric will kick her out of her
job. I don't want her to end up like that."
"Me either." Jon agreed. "To give her credit, though, she doesn't act
like she's six years younger than we are. She does have her head screwed
on pretty good."
"Not where guys are concerned." Shelley frowned. "I do my best to protect
her from the worst when we're waiting tables out there, if I see them hitting
on her, but I can't control what she does after hours, more's the pity."
"No." Jon agreed. "I suppose we ought to get to work, you know. She's
putting us to shame."
"Guess she is." Shelley nodded. "Okay. There's not a lot more we can
do, especially not where Rora's concerned."
"Perhaps one day she'll realise how good she is...and find something
better to do with her life." Jon decided. "In the meantime, we have a job
to do."
PART THREE: CONFLICT
Prologue: The Reason For It
Chapter One: Jewel On Tour
Chapter Two: Trapped in Toronto
Chapter Three: Nancy...and Blade
Chapter Four: The Singer
Chapter Five: Rows
Chapter Six: Defection
Chapter Seven: Topaz
Chapter Eight: Sirena Reveals
Chapter Nine: Confrontations
Chapter Ten: A Broken Heart
Chapter Eleven: Jewel Forever
JEWELFIC MAIN PAGE:
Copper, Nancy, Sylvie, Anna, Blade, Sirena, Topaz, Aaron, Sophie,
Justin, Elliot, Rosita, Luis and any other characters in this fiction which
do not appear in the animated Jem series are copyrighted to me (E.A Woolley)
as of January 2002 <unless otherwise specified> and are not to be reproduced
without permission ANYWHERE. Jetta, Pizzazz, Stormer, Roxy, Raya and all
other original Jem characters are the copyright of Hasbro Inc, Sunbow,
Christy Marx and the other writers of the Jem series.