DOIN' TIME→ n. archibald [1] ✔️

0.2 prologue ✔️

prologue
"never stand begging for that which you have the power to earn."
- miguel de cervantes

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WITH a spring to her step, Amelia Hopper practically skipped down the streets of New York City. Her sneakers carried her across the dirty pavement of Brooklyn as she headed towards the direction of her friend's home. The brunette wore a toothy grin and she hurried up the stairs to the Humphrey loft, not bothering to knock as she instead opted for throwing the door open.

"Dan, Jenny, you're back!" Amelia squealed, skipping on over to the pair of siblings. The Hopper girl threw her arms around the two Humphreys, wrapping them into a tight embrace. They had merely been away for a few days, but seeing as Amelia wasn't the biggest social butterfly out there, she didn't really have that many other friends to hang around.

"You're choking us." Dan croaked, breaking from the embrace. Jenny and himself had been spending the last few days in Hudson where their mother had relocated for the summer. Alison Humphrey had sworn up and down to return, but alas summer had ended and the Humphrey loft was still only hosting the two teens and their father, Rufus Humphrey. "We haven't been gone that long, Bunny."

     Amelia Hopper had been haunted by the nickname 'Bunny' her whole life. It stemmed from her last name, Hopper. In truth, it had never occurred for her to mind the nickname. A part of her actually preferred the name over her birth given name.

     "Dan, give the girl a break. She doesn't have any friends besides us." Jenny teased. Amelia snorted, finding the painful truth in the joke humorous. Amelia didn't mind not having many friends. Actually, she hugely preferred it. The girl wasn't the most extroverted person to roam the New York streets, and she was extremely picky with her friends. Which is why her entire circle of friends consisted of Dan, Jenny and her boyfriend Devon.

     Devon and herself had been together for a little over seven months though they had known each other for years. Devon was an aspiring sculptor who had dropped out of high school to pursue his dreams. His parents were what Amelia would consider hipsters, so they never really minded the fact that their son abandoned the conventional ways of society to pursue his artistic and creative talent.

     Devon was a year older than Amelia. They met when they were around the age of ten. Their parents had a lot in common and bonded when their mothers went to the same vegan cooking class in the city. Amelia wouldn't consider her own parents to be hip, but she did consider them to be unconventional. Which is why she was currently living in an small apartment on her own in Brooklyn. Growing up her parents would always move her around, never really finding a place to settle. Her grandparents on her father's side were located in Rhode Island since birth, which is the primary reason Amelia's parents had moved to New York the year she turned ten. But after they decided to move soon after, Amelia moved in with her grandparents who believed private school was her key to a successful future. Luckily for them, the girl was smart enough to receive a partial scholarship at the school in the city. But they weren't exactly to be considered wealthy, they couldn't afford the third mouth to feed along with transportation into the city every day. So they came to the solution when Amelia turned sixteen she would move to a small apartment in Brooklyn within walking distance of the Humphrey's. The Humphrey's had been a family friend of the Hopper's for quite some time, which is why Dan and Jenny befriended Amalie at a very early age.

At the start, Amelia's grandparents had been very unsure of the whole move. But with Amelia's constant persuading and Rufus' reassurance that he would watch over the teen, they finally gave into the idea. Besides, Amelia was used to earning her own money and looking after herself from an early age. Moving out was really something that was in the book for the young girl. Still, living on your own at the mere age of seventeen ( Amelia had turned seventeen at the beginning of July ) was proving to be difficult. She had to juggle work and school. Whenever she had time really she worked at a nursing home a few blocks away. Her passion wasn't exactly taking care of old people, but she liked her job. Listening to stories from the elderly was proving to be fun, even if they were slightly demented.

Of course it would be impossible for the girl to do it all on her own. Each month her parents would send her a certain amount of money they saw fit, which really wasn't all that much, but enough to keep the wheel running. As well as that, her grandparents chipped in as much as they possible could manage. Amelia was eternally grateful.

"Why would I need more friends? Dan has like five different personalities, and with your mood swings? I basically have ten friends already! Plus I do consider Rufus my friend." Amelia said, patting Dan's buzzcut head as she spoke. He rolled his eyes, quickly swatting her hand away.

Rufus grinned ear to ear, giving the girl a high five as he passed her. The Humphrey dad definitely viewed the girl as a daughter of some sort. Whenever Dan or Jenny was too busy for her and she had time to kill, she would keep the former band member company. And his skills in the kitchen beat hers by far.

"So, what's for dinner?" The Hopper girl queried as she flopped onto their couch. Rufus smiled knowingly at the girl, happy that she was house warm.

"Oh just wait and see. I've really outdone myself this time." Rufus bragged as he walked into the kitchen.

Amelia Hopper smiled to herself as Dan and Jenny joined her on the couch to watch some crappy tv show. She was happy with her current situation, at peace even. All she could hope was that things stayed like this for a while. Amelia wasn't ready for any change, and was determined to keep anything from happening.

But oddly enough her life had a way of defying her peace, and this time was no different.

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