“Open it!” Kara shouted, bouncing up and down. She was dressed in pajamas but it was obvious she had put on make-up and fixed her hair. Gwen shook her head.

“We need to wait for the others,” she said.

Kara nodded dejectedly. She then called up the stairs, “Guys, get down here, quick!” Brad shook his head with laughter, sharing a look with Gwen as if to comment on his current loss of hearing. “What?” Kara asked.

“Nothing,” Brad said.

Jacob and Jessi came down the stairs quickly, Jacob jumping down the last two while Jessi merely hopped. “What is it?” Jessi asked, brushing her dark hair out of her face. “I was sleeping and then I heard shouting and-”

“You heard the shouting when you were sleeping?” Kara asked.

“I’m a light sleeper,” Jessi explained and Kara nodded.

“No you’re not,” Brad argued.

“I think I would know a little better than you would,” Jessi said, shaking her head.

“No, you can’t be. I’ve stayed up late playin’ guitar and workin’ on songs the last couple of nights and you’ve been sound asleep.”

Jessi shook her head. “Nope, I heard ‘em. I loved the one on Wednesday, I think it was.”

“They’re like a married couple or something. It’s hilarious to watch. The other day Jess tucked a napkin into his shirt- he was getting taco on it- and I was just waiting for her to do that spit-in-a-tissue thing to clean dirt off his nose or something.”

Derek came down a few minutes later after more shouting from Kara. Gwen and Brad had prepared Jacob so his hands covered his ears when the shouting occurred. Derek walked into the kitchen next to the living room in which they were gathered and began rummaging through the fridge. He couldn’t care less about the contents of the envelope.

“Derek, we’re waiting on you,” Gwen said, poking her head into the kitchen.

“I don’t care,” Derek answered. “Open the frickin’ envelope- I just want to eat my cocoa puffs.”

“This is why Derek annoys me. Here we’re doing a group thing- finding out what job we’ll be doing for the next months- and he’s thinking about FOOD. I mean, I love food and all but I’d much rather know what I’ll be doing to get some cash and to stay living here.”

“You heard the man,” Kara said from behind Gwen, waving the envelope in front of her face. “Open it.”

“That’s the man?” Gwen asked, pointing at Derek who was humming a song and had some milk drooled onto his chin. “I’d hate to see the boy.”

"I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with Gwen. I’ve noticed Derek can be extremely immature and kind of a pig. But he’s still so hot I just can’t help it."

Gwen tore it open, putting out a folded piece of paper first. She unfolded it, reading it aloud to the group that was now standing in the doorway between the kitchen and living room.

“‘Hello housemates. Your job while living in this house will be working for a local magazine, Scene! One of you will be appointed the leader of your group by the others- make sure to choose wisely because this will be the person who gives you directions and helps you out, so the more experience the better. Spend today and tomorrow getting acquainted with the city and the local crowd. Also, you’ll find 3 cameras available at Zeke’s on Main- give him the receipt enclosed and they’re yours. Make sure you’re able to use these. You’ll find out more details on Monday morning. You’re all expected in at 9 a.m., no exceptions.’”

“Awesome,” Jacob said when Gwen finished reading the letter. “So who should the leader be? Does anyone know anything about working on a magazine?”

No one spoke up but Jessi raised her hand timidly. “I know a little,” she said. “I took a few classes in high school and I read a lot of magazines.”

“And she’s all about the photography,” Kara said, agreeing. Everyone’s heads turned at Kara’s comment.

“How do you know that?” Brad asked.

“What, you didn’t know? She was showing me some of her photos she brought with her. The boyfriend’s a hottie, by the way.” Kara paused. “Oh, and the other pictures are amazing.”

Jessi smiled, surprised that Kara remembered something they’d talked about. Her face did turn a bit pink when Kara kept on. “It’s true,” Jessi answered, “But I don’t think I’m that good.”

“Hey, I can’t even load film properly so you’re already better than me,” Gwen said.

“So who says Jessi’s the leader?” Jacob asked, and they all agreed except Derek.

“Derek?” Brad asked, picking a paper towel off the roll and curling it into a ball. He threw it at Derek, the ball hitting him in the forehead. “Wipe your chin and then answer us.”

Derek did as instructed. “Yeah, sure, that’s fine.”

“You know what you agreed to, right?”

“No, but if everyone else says yes then I guess I’ll agree.”

“We should tell him he agreed to something awful, like cleaning the bathroom or buying pizza when we want it. The pizza thing is awful as in gross, just expensive for him. I like lots of pizza.”

“I didn’t care what the question was. I was eating my food and happy- I don’t want to make decisions or anything. But I did catch a few words about the job and it sounds semi-cool. Better than a lot of things.”

“I can’t believe they chose me as the leader. I mean, I know I’m supposedly good at it but photography as always been a personal hobby for me- I rarely show it to anyone, Kara just came in when I was looking through it- so I don’t know. I’m excited and hope I’ll do a good job.”