Lydia Takes the Leap
Chapter 4

Lydia woke at 5 am the next morning to get ready for her exciting day at school. “The early bird catches the worm,” she muttered, recalling one of her father’s favorite sayings.

She padded down the half-lit hall and into the kitchen to grab a chocolate chip muffin and a glass of milk. Back in her room, she pulled a clean, streamlined outfit from her closet and decided it would be the best choice for the day. As she washed her face and brushed her teeth, she could feel a flutter of excitement about her new adventure. Checking the mirror one last time before heading out, she lifted her head with a confident smile and gave herself a thumbs up. Lydia couldn’t wait to see how many people signed up for her club. She grabbed her neatly packed lunch and hugged her mom goodbye. There was no time to hang around for their normal morning chat, she had work to do!

Lydia decided to ride her bike in order to be more efficient and get to school earlier. She went into the garage, pushing aside boxes and recycling cans to get to the dusty teal beach cruiser which leaned against the back wall. Checking that the chain was still in good shape, she loaded the basket with her backpack, lunch bag and a few rolls of tape. She began her ride to school with great enthusiasm, peddling as fast as her feet would let her while leaning forward into the salty ocean breeze. She closed her eyes for one blissful moment before she had to quickly swerve to the left, barely missed hitting a stray cat who’d been sunning itself on the sidewalk.

When she arrived at her elementary school, she locked her bike up at the school’s bike rack and headed to the library to print out a few club signup flyers. She was shocked to see one of her neighbors already seated with a laptop and headphones on, having thought that she would be the only student in the school at that hour. Lydia gave a tiny wave as she sat at the computer next to the girl. The girl gave a small nod of acknowledgment and went back to watching a video tutorial involving yarn.

“Interesting,” Lydia thought to herself and opened her document to print out three copies. They looked just as wonderful as she remembered.

The girl peeked over, eyebrows raised in curiosity. “Whoa! Are you starting a money club or something?” enquired her neighbor, taking off her headphones to hear the reply.

“It’s more of an entrepreneur club,” Lydia explained trying to come off mature and impressive.

“What kind of club is that?”

Lydia proceeded to give her a brief explanation of what the club was about and about her father’s offer to help. She got up and skipped over to the printer to retrieve the freshly made flyers. Upon turning around too quickly, she almost bumped into the other girl. She gave a small gasp of surprise followed by an awkward sidestepping dance.

Lydia scurried towards the library exit, but the girl called out in complete seriousness, “Hey, wait! I would like to join your club. I want to learn how to make money so I can buy things.”

The Librarian gave her a stern look for shouting in the library, but the girl didn’t care and rushed over to sign up for the club before the flyers were even hanging. Lydia squealed with delight. She already had a member of the club and hadn’t had to wait long. She handed over her newly printed sign-up sheet and the girl signed her name neatly on the top line: Veronica Greyson.

Lydia extended her hand to Veronica, “Welcome to the Little Business Club, Veronica!”

Since Veronica only lived a few blocks down from Lydia, the girls agreed to walk home together after school so they could discuss more details.

After parting ways, Lydia went around her school to hang up the club sign-up sheets. She stuck one by the cafeteria, one by the front office, and one by the auditorium, confident they would be seen by many students in passing.

When she headed to her locker to put the supplies away, the first school bell rang; the kids were about to flood the halls to get to their first classes. She hastily shut her locker and headed to her classroom, thrilled she would have some time to peddle a couple of elephant erasers she had on hand before class officially started.

As the school day dragged on, Lydia found time to wander by her flyers to check if any more students had signed up to join. Disappointment weighed her down as only Veronica’s name was listed as a member. The confidence she’d left her house with in the morning was beginning to dim, her chin starting to lower. After the last bell rang, Lydia ventured by each location to give one more hopeful look before meeting up with Veronica to walk home.