Aw man. He hated kid’s parties so much, with those snotty little grubby brats screeching throughout his entire performance and always ruining it. Alec sighed as he looked down on the sheet of paper that his boss had given him.

“Is this really the only job available for me?”

plus the pay is rather low… he thought.

Sheila glared at him, her pale, withered face contorted in seething disgust, “What do you think?” she growled.

“I..”

“It was a rhetorical question.” She interrupted. Her dark-eyed glower saying all that she needed to say.

He sighed again, at mercy to her jurisdiction, “Alright, fine, I’ll take it,”

That old hag.

“Good,” She replied, “You’ll perform at Stawford Town Hall 2pm sharp tomorrow, the party lasts for around 3 hours. Get ready.”

“Yes, boss.” He made to leave the office.

“Oh, and Alec?”

“Yes, boss?”

“Don’t traumatise any kids again,” Sheila made a cutting gesture with her thumb, “Or you’re out.”

“It’s not my fault that one kid chose to cry on me,”

“Alec, I’m warning you, you’re on thin ice here, if you make one more mistake, you’ll endanger this entire company’s reputation,”

“I’ve worked here for five years… does that mean nothing to you?”

“I’m your employer, not your mother. Now get out.”

Alec mentally rolled his eyes at that statement. “Yes boss,” he muttered irritably.

He couldn’t believe this.

God, could this day get any worse?

Alec walked out of the office, letting the door close behind him with a resounding clunk. He stalked into the corridor before he was suddenly ambushed by an arm grabbing at his shoulders.

Yes, it could.

“What do you want now Brian?” Alec asked tiredly.

“Aw has poor Alec gotten another kid’s party to go to?” the assaulter mocked.

“Oh, shut up Brian,”

The lanky brown bushy-haired kid grinned, “Seems like your reputation has gone to smoke, whilst I’m performing for the big boys, before you know it, I’ll have my own show!”

“Good for you Brian,”

“And I’ll be…”

“No, really Brian, I’m so pleased for you,” Alec gave a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a party to prepare for,”

“I,”

Alec shoved the kid away from him, “Bye Brian,”

But the dude was still grinning, “Have fun playing with the kiddie widdies!”

Alec’s face grew extremely dark as he walked off.

Oh my god. How could a man be so irritating!?  Why was he so obsessed with being better than him!? Since that dweeb had joined their private entertainment company, he had constantly picked a fight with Alec. Thinking of himself as some high and mighty rival since they both happened to have the same occupation. The boss had even considered putting them together as some kind of double-act until she found out how poorly they worked together. He hated Brian’s guts more than he hated children, and that was saying something since he REALLY hated children.

It was something that a lot of people remarked on, the fact that he hated children. It was an especially unfortunate hatred to have since he was an entertainer, one of the magical sort.

Alec was a magician and Alec Smoke was his stage name.

He had once been extremely popular when he was younger, lots of women would watch his shows as he had a certain mysterious sex appeal, with his pretty pale face, dark hair and long legs.

But due to some certain circumstances, he had to stop doing big shows and do smaller gigs. 

Oh well, at least he still had something to pay the bills.

Alec begrudgingly went into his practise room to prepare for the next day.