Isabella lived in the hotel because she didn't make enough money to get an apartment of her own. As an employee of the Sagebrush Hotel, she got the room for only a tenth of the normal price charged to the public.

Isabella was 19 now, finally more independent. She had been an orphan until the age of 3. Amy DeLuca had found her one night in the alley behind the hotel and brought her inside the hotel, which she owned. Isabella was immediately put to work. Eventually Amy became Isabella's legal foster mother, which meant Isabella sort of had two sisters. Amy's daughters were Tess and Maria. They had never gotten along very well with Isabella and Isabella resented them because they got to keep all their wages, but she had to pay for her room. They were treated better by Amy, and had less work to do.

Her only real friends were Liz Parker and Max Evans. Liz also worked as a maid at the Sagebrush Hotel, and Max was going out with Liz. They were really nice to Isabella and included her in a lot of activities and parties.

But it wasn't enough for Isabella. She was sick of living with Amy, Tess, and Maria. She was saving all of the money that she could so that, maybe in a year, she and Liz could rent an apartment together. Now, Liz lived with her parents.

Isabella tried to push all these thoughts and memories out of her head and flopped down onto the bed. She flipped on the TV and thanked God for cable. She flipped to MTV and turned up the volume, they were actually playing a Linkin Park song for once!

She closed her eyes and got lost in the slamming rhythms and pulsating instrumentals.

Tess came through the door that connected their rooms, grabbed the remote, and turned the TV off.

Isabel opened her eyes and groaned. "Look who it is," she said. "Wanna-be-cool Tess! Welcome to my room! How may I help you?"

"You're such a dork, Isabella. Mom told me to tell you go down to the kitchen and do the dishes."

"But that's Maria's job! Why can't she do it?"

"She's getting a manicure now, duh. So, go do the dishes, Isabella."

Isabella stood up and grabbed the remote from Tess. "Ok, ok, I'm going. But haven't you ever heard of knocking before you enter a room?"

"No," said Tess, smirking and going back to her own room.

Isabella walked down to the kitchen and got her apron off of the hook by the door. She put it on and walked over to the sink.

"Damn!" she said, seeing the dishes she was supposed to wash for Maria. There was dried and gunky food all over them! These dishes should have been washed yesterday!

Amy walked into the kitchen and saw Isabella staring at the dishes. "Isabella!" she yelled, hitting her in the shins with a broom. "Staring at the dishes won't make them any cleaner! Hurry up, girl! We haven't got all day!"

"Amy…I mean, Mother, wasn't Maria supposed to wash these, like, yesterday?"

"Maybe she was, but she didn't. Just do the dishes, Isabella! Don't argue with me!"

Isabella turned towards the sink again and rolled her eyes. She started running hot water into the sink, and added some liquid dish soap. She started scrubbing the dishes. When she was about halfway done, Maria came running into the kitchen. "Where's Tess?"

"I'm not her baby-sitter…how should I know? What's the big deal?"