Trying to Survive (Chapter 7)

I woke to find Daphne safely in my arms, sleeping soundly, her head against my shoulder. Her sleeping face was twisted into a worried and sad expression, sending a pang of pain to my heart. She and I were on our own now and we both knew it.
My father had kicked my out of the house and my mother would never accept the fact that I was trans. Kathy most likely would be shielded and might even be told that I ran away from home.
Daphne's parents I wasn't so sure about, but they had turned her out, so I guessed that she wouldn't be able to go back either.
"Jacob?" I looked down at Daphne's beautiful face, eyes full of so much pain. Instinctively, I pulled her close to me. I never wanted her to be hurt; I wanted to protect her.
"We can never go back, can we?" she said mournfully. My shoulder had become damp and I guessed that she was crying again.
"No, I don't suppose we can." I whispered, kissing her forehead gently.
"We should at least try to get some of our things." Daphne shifted herself out of my embrace and stood up. Her eyes were slightly red, but other than that, you couldn't tell that she had been crying.
"Meet you back here afterwards?" She nodded in consent to my suggestion and we parted ways.
~*~
I didn't even have to go inside. Apparently, my room had already been emptied of its contents. Scavenging around, I found a backpack and filled it with whatever essentials I could find.
They had dumped my safe outside, not knowing how to open it. Thank goodness for that. Sighing with relief (what little relief I could feel), I opened it and took out the $2000 I had saved up over the years. There was also some jewelry that had been presents from Christmases and birthdays past. I could probably sell them for money or perhaps give them to Daphne if she wanted.
I had just barely finished putting all my finding into the backpack when my mother stormed out of the house.
"Get away from my trash." She looked ready to kill someone.
"If it's trash, then you don't want it. So why can't I take it?"
"SHUT UP! LEAVE THIS HOUSE ALONE! DON'T EVER COME BACK!"
"And so a mother abandons her child." I commented dryly before turning away from her.
"YOU'RE NO CHILD OF MINE! GO BURN IN HELL!" I suppressed a snicker, despite the fact that this wasn't the time to be laughing. This was the worst I'd ever heard from my mother.
"I'll say hi to the devil for you!" I shouted to her as I walked away from the house I'd lived in for all my life. I would never return to that house.
~*~
It took Daphne around 10 minutes to arrive after I had made it to our designated waiting spot. She was carrying a filled bag.
"Any luck?" She nodded at my question and put down her bag.
"I got clothes, some money, and a bag of chips. You?"
"Clothes, money, and jewelry. Where'd you get the chips?"
"My dad let me in for a little, giving me the cold shoulder the whole time, but got me out of the house ASAP."
"Lucky you. My stuff was already outside."
"Already ou- Oh Jacob, I'm so sorry."
"There's nothing to be done about it." I replied bitterly.
"Where will we go now?"
"I don't know. How much money did you bring?" I honestly didn't know what we were going to do.
"$4000. Why?"
"First off, we need to find a place to live and secondly, we need money for food. Finally, I don't know if you're interested, but I was considering on getting a gender change as soon as possible."
"If you get a gender change, I'll do mines at the same time."
"We have to get enough money first. Do you know how much it costs?"
"No... But we can find out, right?"
"Yup. I suggest we try to get jobs though."
"Where?"
"I don't know. Where ever we can, I guess." I headed off towards the center of town, where there were stores that could possibly have job openings. Daphne followed behind hesitantly, unsure of what to do. To tell you truth, I didn't really know what to do either, but I tried my best.
It took a long time and a lot of persuading to get Daphne a job at Mario's as a waitress. (Actually, the job description was for a waiter, but I say waitress because I consider Daphne a girl. She applied as Noah though.) I was glad that we were both old enough to have jobs otherwise we would have been in quite a bit of a pickle.
The manager set out to teach Daphne how things worked and I told her I'd be back at 1 (it was around 11). Then I tried to get myself a job. The only job available was selling concessions at the movie theater. I accepted the job (a little reluctantly, for it wasn't a very appealing job) and told the manager I'd begin tomorrow after she had explained how everything operated.
Upon checking my watch, I found it was only a few minutes until it was 1, so I quickly made my way to Mario's. Daphne was already outside waiting for me.
"So everything is all set?" I asked, wanting to make sure things were okay.
"Yeah, I begin tomorrow, from 5 to 11 at night."
"You got the night shift?"
"Unfortunately, yes. It's a good thing I don't usually fall asleep until 12 at night. What about you?"
"Selling snacks at the theater from 6 am to 3 pm."
"Jeez, we only see each other for a couple hours, if at all."
"It'll be hard, but we'll have to make it work. We have no choice."
"I know..." There was a pause.
"We should look for shelter now, shouldn't we?" I looked at Daphne, then nodded in agreement.
"Someone might be renting a room or two if we're lucky." Picking up the town newspaper (someone had left it on a nearby bench), I looked at the ads.
We got lucky. Some lady was renting out the upper level of her house, plus access to the kitchen.