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front of the counter, and I nearly fell. Fortunately I caught myself on the edge of the counter, but I upseta basket of beaded bracelets as I did this little acrobatic act.
    “Sorry,” I muttered as I knelt to pick up the bracelets. I took my time to carefully return them to the basket, arranging them like a beaded rainbow and not looking up, although I knew they both were staring at me. All I wanted was to get out of there ASAP. But I simply stood and put the basket back on the counter. Avoiding Vivian’s eyes, I thanked her for her time and began to make my way to the door.
    “Bye,” Em called in a less hopeful voice. Vivian said nothing.
    Well that’s that. I took my time walking home. I felt hopeless. But I was barely in the door of my house when my cell phone rang. Assuming it was Shannon and hoping it wasn’t anything serious, I quickly answered.
    “Maya Stark?” said a sharp-toned female voice.
    “Yes?”
    “This is Vivian Demarco.”
    It was the woman I’d just humiliated myself in front of, and I timidly said, “Yes?” again.
    “I noticed on your application that you say you worked for Nick Stark.”
    “That’s correct.”
    “I also noticed that your last name is Stark…Are you any relation?”
    “He’s my dad.”
    Then it was silent on her end, and I wondered if she thought I was lying. “Look, you probably don’t want—”
    “I’d like to schedule you for an interview tomorrow morning. Around ten thirty?”
    “Sure,” I said quickly. “That’s fine.”
    “See you then.” And she hung up.
    So there you go. One minute you’re ready to give up on something completely, and the next thing you know, you’re getting a second chance. This actually kind of relates to my next green tip.
    Maya’s Green Tip for the Day
    The second green rule is reuse. Most Americans like things that are disposable, meaning you use it once, then toss it. For instance, disposable diapers—they may make a mommy’s life easier, but they really fill up the landfill sites. Unfortunately, most mommies would never consider using cloth diapers. Besides that, do you know how many grocery bags are used once and thrown away each day? Millions! That’s why I take my reusable canvas bag to get groceries. Not only is it “green”; it never tears. But even if you don’t use a canvas bag, you can still recycle grocery sacks by giving them a second go-round (like as a garbage can liner) or simply returning the bags to the store to be used for groceries again. Hey, every little bit helps.

Five
June 7
    S hannon came home late last night. As usual, she didn’t say a word to me, just slipped into her room like all was well. Still feeling slightly stunned that I had a job interview with Vivian in the morning, I didn’t feel as concerned about Shannon as I usually would. Perhaps working would be a good diversion for me.
    When I got up this morning, Shannon was still holed up in her room. No surprises there. But that was fine with me, since I had borrowed a couple more items from her yesterday. Hoping to make a good impression on Vivian, I snatched a paisley blouse with a label called What Comes Around Goes Around (seriously, that’s the name of the designer, and it seems to be appropriate) as well as another pair of shoes, a pair of cork wedge slides by Prada (I’m trying to memorize the names). I put these together with a slim brown skirt with a designer name I can’t even pronounce and gold-toned costume jewelry that seemed like something Vivian might approve of.
    I felt like a complete phony as I sneaked out of the house. Even with the Prada shoes still in my bag, I felt more like my mom than myself as I slunk down the driveway. I hadn’t worn anything made of leather for nearly two years, and here for the second day in a row, I’d compromised myself like this. Truly sickening! As I walked down the hill (wearing my flip-flops to preserve my feet), I felt I was about one step from going out and prostituting myself on