Part 1: Eleven

TOP FIVE WINNER for The Heart Goes Last Fiction Contest with Margaret Atwood, where we imagine what the lives of three characters were like before the great economic collapse.
I've written about Veronica: A nineteen-year-old hooker at the Pixel Dust Bar, where Charmaine works as a waitress. Before the economy tanked and everyone lost money, she was a college student hoping to be a nurse. How did she meet her friend, Sandi? And how did their paths lead to the bar?

In the novel, Veronica declares, "I work my ass off!" And yes - yes, she does. But that's no surprise, really, because in her life before the collapse, she did as well.