Chapter 3

BPOV

Monday morning came around quickly and as sad as it sounded, Alice and I were sitting at our respective computers refreshing the page to our emails constantly.

Over the weekend we had spoken long and hard about what we would do to get out of this town and away from our parents. We had both got to the point that it didn't matter what our parents thought, we would have to get away, with each other, and leave everything else behind us.

If we didn't get the jobs with the agency that we had emailed, we had decided we were still planning to leave the town, it was as simple as that. It wouldn't be hard for me, I would just have to pack the few things that I wanted to take and at least leave a note for mom, not that she would care, but it was the least I could do.

Alice on the other hand had to be very careful.

If her father got wind of her doing anything that would be against his rules or put his reputation into question, she would be put through hell.

The plan to 'escape' this small town was pretty simple.

Over the course of the next week or two, Alice would start bringing over some stuff that she would need with her. If her father caught her, she would just explain that I needed to borrow the stuff for interviews. When she had everything she needed at my place, we would just get the hell out of here and make do with what we had.

I had a small truck that should have gone to the scrap yard years ago, but it was still running, thankfully, so we were just going to load her up with our stuff and drive.

We had no idea where we were going to go, but that was a small detail really.

We had enough money together to get by and each town we passed we would see if there was any work going.

It was a basic plan, but a plan nonetheless and it kept us going over the weekend.

Just as I got lunch, my email pinged again and I was a bundle of nerves. I tried to calm myself down a little by telling myself that it could have been a spam email, or something trivial that I didn't even need to look at, but as I sat down at my desk and saw the subject line of the email, my hands started to tremble slightly. Was it so strange to pray that this would be an email to say I had an interview?

I clicked on the email and waited as the stupid computer loaded it up.

Dear Miss, Swan,

Thank-you for your recent inquiry for the position advertised within our agency. For it to be possible to offer you an interview, we would require further information from yourself. Please find a short form attached to this email. Please be as descriptive and forthcoming as possible and return it to us via this email.

If you should have any further queries, do not hesitate to contact me further.

Yours Thankfully,

Ms. A Weber.

I nervously read and re-read the email before clicking on the file to download the PDF form that she had sent me.

Before I could even look at the questions, my phone buzzed from the desk next to me, signaling that Alice was calling.

I hoped to God she got the same email that I did, because I wouldn't know what to do if she hadn't.

"Did you get it?" she squealed down the phone and straight away I calmed down. She got the email.

I smiled widely as I thought about us both getting the hell away from this place together.

"I did," I giggled as we both squealed.

When we had calmed down and stopped acting like little girls, Alice said that she was on her way over. We hung up and I sat there nervously again, bouncing my knees, until she turned up.

Ten minutes later she came bounding into my room and launched herself at me. I collapsed back on the bed as she fell on top of me and we continued to laugh for a while before the enormity of it all sunk in.

"This doesn't mean that we have been accepted, Alice, just that they want more information," I stressed.

I really didn't want to get our hopes up, but it was so hard not to think about finally breaking free and making it on our own.

"I know, but think positive, babe, it has to be good if they're asking for more information. What does the form even ask? I didn't even get that far," she giggled again as she pulled out our private stash of sodas and snacks.

"I haven't had a chance to look at it either," I mumbled round an Oreo that she'd passed me as I got up from the bed and sat down at the shitty office chair.

"Well, how about we do your form, and then mine. If we work on them together, we can make them better and our chances would surely improve." She grinned slyly as I spun on my office chair and opened up the file that I was sent.

Full Name:

Date of Birth:

Full Address:

Telephone Number (Including area code)

Mobile Number:

Occupation:

Marital Status:

Education Qualifications:

Height:

Weight:

Any health Concerns:

Any operations/Blood Transfusions or Transmittable diseases:

Are there any restrictions regarding your employment?

E.g. do you require a Work Permit?

Do you have any criminal convictions?

All of the first bit looked normal, standard questions, but the following ones were a little strange. Alice thought that it was to cover their asses, but I didn't. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something didn't add up. Not in a bad way, it just wasn't what I was expecting.

Sexual orientation? And if hetero, have you ever shown interest in bi-curiosity?

Do you give permission for the agency and its subsidiaries to contact your current doctor for a copy of your medical records?

Do you consent to undergo a full examination if the job were offered to you? (Full costs would be paid for by the employer)

Please fill this form out to the best of your knowledge and return it, with a current full color picture of yourself.

"I can understand most of the questions, by why on earth would they want to know about our medical records or our sexual preferences?" I asked as I started to fill in the basics of the form.

As I typed away, I thought about the 'bi curiosity' question. I would never class myself as bi, but did it count that Alice and I had done stuff together?

"I don't know, maybe it's because of their insurance or something. You know we've turned into a suing nation. 'Ooops, I didn't see that crack, now my back is broken and I want to sue so I can go on a nice sunny vacation'," Alice giggled as she started snapping pictures of me with her phone.

"Alice, there has to be a better way to take our pictures other than with our shitty phones," I laughed as she kept saying 'pose' and 'say cheese'.

"Yeah, but we don't have the money to go and buy a decent camera, so they'll have to make do with this," she smiled and then said "Perfect," before showing a snap shot of me smiling. I looked coy, nervous even.

For the first time in a long time, I was nervous. I felt like I was signing my life away and I didn't even know what the job was yet.

When I had finished with the form, I uploaded it back to the email, attached the picture of me that Alice took and sent the email, almost cringing as I clicked the mouse to send it.

There was nothing I could do about it now, it was all in the hands of the agency and I actually felt pretty good about it now, despite telling a complete stranger that I would be open to 'bi' things.

"Your turn," I said happily as I jumped out of the chair and took over taking pictures of Alice.

I managed to get some great ones and we had fun trying to work out which one to send.

When that was done, all we could do was send the email and hope for the best.

An hour later we had both received a short reply thanking us for submitting the form and that they would get back in contact with us if we got into the next round.

I turned back into a nervous wreck.