• "Bye, Mom! I'm off to work!" The Hugger called from the front door as she grabbed her bag.

    "Have a good day, Jessie!" Her mother called back from the living room. Jessie ran down the sidewalk and hitched a ride on the bus at the stop. The Hugger stood in the bus aisle and scanned the bus for a place to sit. The bus was somewhat crowded. She then noticed a young woman, whom was facing the window,sitting by herself near the back. The Hugger smiled sadily and went to the woman as the bus jolted forward.

    "E-excuse me, miss." Jessie stuttered. The woman looked up at the girl with bloodshot eyes.

    "What do you want?" the woman asked coldly.

    "I-is this seat t-taken?"

    "No."

    "May I s-sit here?"

    "Whatever," the woman said and turned back to the window.

    "Thank you," Jessie said and sat down beside the woman and placed her bag on her lap. The bus quietly chatter of voices of the passagers, but the silence between the girl and the woman grew.The bus stopped at the next stop and the woman to Jessie to move, and she let her through. The woman was at the bus steps when she suddenly felt a pair of thin, warm arms wrap around her.

    "Have a good day, miss." The Hugger smiled at the woman and went back to her seat. The woman stared at the girl in shock."Hey, lady! You gettin' off?" The bus driver yelled at the stunned woman.

    "You're blocking the traffic." he said refuring to the people waiting to get on the bus.

    "Ah . . . yeah." the woman climbed off the bus and stood on the sidewalk. As the bus pulled out, the woman looked back at The Hugger and a smile grew on her face.

    After a two more stops, Jessie got off the bus and ran down the busy street and had finally arrived at the little shop. The 'Lots 'O Hugs' sign hung over the door and the slogan always made Jessie smile.

    "The Face's Embrase is a Smile."

    "Jessie!" someone shouted suddenly making the girl jump.

    "Ca-Cammie! Y-you made me jump!" Jessie said grasping her pounding heart.

    "I wouldn't have to scare ya, if ya had been on time!" the dark skinned girl said. She wore tight fitting blue jeans and a shirt with a biggrin smiley on it. Today she had her long dark hair braided into a ponytail that was tied with panda hair ties. Everyday she had came to work, Cammie had worn her hair in a different way.

    "S-sorry, the bus was a little slow," Jessie stuttered, fiddleing with her bag's strap.

    "You hugged a random person again," Cammie saiid. It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

    "Y-yeah," Jessie mummbled as her face turned red from embarassment.

    "God, I swear! You're going to hug the wrong person, and end up in trouble. " Cammie groaned.

    "Cammie, is that Jessie? Let her in!" the manager's voice rang out from somewhere from inside the shop. "She let's enough as it is!"

    Cammie shook her head went inside the shop and Jessie came in after. A girl of Jessie's age with long dark red hair came up to Cammie."You still have a teddy bear that needs finishing. It's still missing it's guts."She enphasized the word 'guts' as in the stuffing.

    "Yeah, yeah. I got it." Cammie went to the back room of the shop, where the merchandise is made. The red head turned to Jessie.

    "You should clock in now, We already have some new requests in. " she said and wandered off toward a shelf of stuffed animals that were made by Cammie, and rearranged them. The shop was some-what small. The walls were filled with shelves and bins full with stuffed animals, hand-made crafts, such as neckless and beaded dream catchers, and various kinds of clothes hung on hangers on the clothes racks that were scattered around the store. Maddie the store mangaer and owner, stood behind the counter, was checking the computer to check if the inventory was correct. Maddie looked up from the computer and saw Jessie just standing beside the clothes racks.

    "Jessie, hurry up and clock in. Then get to those requests!" Maddie ordered.

    "Y-yes, ma'am!" Jessie ran over to the computer and it took her three tries to type in her employee number.

    "Good, now those requests." Maddie shooed Jessie to the back room. Jessie hand only one little desk to work at, and it was currently covered in requests that needed sorting. Jessie was the head of the Request Department because the teddy bear on her desk. The gray teddy bear's eye was loose and hanging by a thread, stuffing was coming out of one arm and the other arm hung limp. The neckless it wore was made of rainbow string with random clashing color beads and charms, and the shirt was too big and was sewn unevenly and the stitches were a mess. That poor teddy bear was the perfect example of why Jessie just handled the requests. She sat down and scanned through the papers, and into piles arranged by department: Crafts, Plush, and Clothes. Every minute or so, Jessie had to pick up papers that she had accidently knocked to the floor. She had only two papers to go when her co-worker, Cammie came to her desk.

    "Never thought I'd see the color of that desk again." she said. Jessie smiled nerviously, and handed Cammie the 'Plush' requests, which as usually is the larger pile.

    "This is your's" Jessie also handed the dark-skinned girl one of the papers in her hand. Cammie had just turned to tend to her requests when she heard Jessie gasp in surprise.

    "What is it, Jessie?" she asked, pretending not to be as interested as she was. Jessie didn't answer her, but read the paper in her hand over and over again as if she didn't understand. "Yo, Jessie!" Cammie yelled and waved her hand infront of the girl's face. Jessie blinked several times as if recovering from a trance and looked at Cammie.

    "Huh?"

    "What is your problem?" Cammie said. "What is it?"

    "It's a request . . . "Jessie said as she shook her head as if in disbelief.

    "Well, duh! I knew that!" Cammie yelled.

    "What's going on back here?" Maddie said. Jessie had just noticed that her boss and her other two co-workers, Sadie and Amy, were staring at Cammie and her. They had heard Cammie yelling and came to investigate.

    "I-I have a r-request," Jessie stammered, spazing at the paper in her hand.

    "Well, gee. That never happened before!" Cammie said with sarcasim in her voice. Sadie went over and read over Jessie's shoulder.

    "Oh, wow!" She exclaimed and took the paper from the still stunned girl's hand. "It's a request that is directed to Jessie." She said in disbelief.

    "Who could possiblly want to send a request to a useless girl like her!? I mean, she can't even make a decient teddy bear!" Cammie pointed to the epic fail of a teddy bear that sat on Jessie's desk. "What could someone want from her?"

    "A hug," Sadie said matter-o-factly.

    "A . . . a hug?" Cammie repeated, unsure she heard right.

    "Yes," Sadie replied.

    "Interesting. . ." Maddie muttered to herself. A small almost invisible upward curve of the corners of her lips signified she was having thoughts that usually ment trouble for other people.

    "Here, listen. 'Jessie, I wish to request a hug for a Luke J. Bonwater. A photograph and information will be sent soon. Thank you.'" Sadies looked at their boss. "Do you think this is a joke?" The woman didn't answer right away, she just though about it for a moment with the invisible smile on her face.

    "I say Jessie should wait for that photograph and info to come, if it does, and find out from there." She finally said. "But untill then, you three need to situate the current requests for pick up. 'Lots 'O Hugs' opens soon. Amy, the half japanese girl, half bowed and gently took her crafts request stack, then went to her table.

    (will continue as I write more. ^^)