The Daughter of the Nursery Owner

“Why aren’t you working?” Annabelle Hauser said coldly.

Despite being Becca’s age, Annabelle had an ego through the roof on account of her father owning the nursery. She strutted around with her pair of sycophant friends, Kendall and Amy, acting like she was the boss.

Needless to say, Becca and her did not get along.

“Hey Annabelle, come over here, we found something kind of cool,” Marcy said.

No matter what **** Annabelle threw Marcy’s way, the woman simply gathered it all up, turned it to kindness and shot it back. Becca never knew whether to be impressed or annoyed.

Annabelle marched over to the pair, her lackeys trailing behind her. Kendall, the shrewder of the pair, eyes Becca and Marcy with vague condescension. Amy just scratched her head and eyed the different plants.

“Were you trying to damage my father’s property?” Annabelle asked.

“Not at all!” Marcy said. “Becca found this box in the greenhouse and we didn’t recognize it. Inside, we found these!”

She held up the packet for Annabelle to see. The girl snatched it away from her and ran her fingers along the surface before passing it to Kendall.

“Thoughts?” She asked.

Kendall opened the packet carefully and peeked inside.

“It’s just seeds.”

“God, everything is just seeds and plants at this dump,” Annabelle said.

“Um if you don’t mind, Annabelle, I would love to try and plant those seeds and see what grows. They’re clearly special.”

Annabelle’s eyes narrowed.

“Why the hell would I let you do that, chubby?”

“Hey!” Becca shouted. “Don’t fucking call her that.”

“Watch your mouth, Spiky.”

Chubby was the nickname Annabelle came up for Marcy the day she met her. _Spiky _was Becca’s nickname. For her all her arrogance, Annabelle wasn’t a particularly imaginative character.

“Like hell I will! You need to apologize to her!”

“It’s fine! Relax, Becca. It’s okay if you don’t want me to use the seeds. They are your father’s property after all.”

Annabelle took the seed packet from Kendall and held it up to the light.

“I’ve never trusted you, chubby. You know why?”

Marcy looked down at the ground and said nothing.

“You’re too nice. It makes me think you’re up to something. Spiky’s a bitch, but I know what she’s about.”

“I’m sorry if I ever offended you,” Marcy said. She was turning bright red.

“Don’t apologize to her!” Becca said, resting her hand on Marcy’s back.

Annabelle continued.

“Take these seeds for instance? Just an innocent experiment? Or are you planning on stealing a precious valuable of my father and selling it to a competitor. These things are what us Hausers have to consider, but that’s above your pay grade, chubby.”

She dumped out the seeds on the ground and started to stomp to pieces with her designer shoes.

“There. Have fun with your seeds now, chubby.”

“I think she’s gotten a little bit more than chubby recently,” Kendall said.

“Ha! I think you’re right. Maybe I should call you oink instead!”

“Oink oink,” Kendall added.

“You both are going to pay for that,” Becca screamed.

“Is that a threat?”

Becca stopped in her tracks. If she lost this job, her mom was going to straight up kill her.

“No, it’s not. Sorry.”

“Good! Well, toodles!” Annabelle jeered. She snapped her fingers and her lackeys followed her out the door of the greenhouse.

“That bitch!” Becca growled.

She looked and saw that Marcy’s eyes were wet with tears. With Annabelle gone, her composed mask was shattered, revealing the raw hurt bubbling underneath.

“Just a few more months,” Marcy said, forcing herself to smile.

“Then you’re done grad school, right?”

Marcy nodded.

“Yeah. I’ll miss a lot of things about this place, but not her.”

“God she’s a bitch,” Becca said.

“She’s something,” Marcy said. “Thanks for standing up for me. It meant a lot.”

“Of course! You’re the only thing making this job bearable! Hey, I bet that bitch did a shit job at killing your seeds, let’s check.”

Both girls kneeled down and started to pick up little black seeds on the ground. To their surprise, most of the tiny little pods were intact.

“Are these enough for your experiment?”

Marcy looked over the batch and nodded. She was still crying a little, but her smile was genuine now.

“More than enough! Thank you, Becca!”

“Of course! What’s next?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m gonna help you grow these things and shove it right in Annabelle’s face!”

“We should probably get back to work, honestly,” Marcy said, her eyes darting around to make sure the girls hadn’t returned.

Becca punched March in the arm playfully.

“Come on! Like you said, it’s almost lunch time!”

“Well that’s true,” Marcy said. “Okay!”