But the one Trisha got me a job at so happened to be the busiest one for students. It had twelve stations, all making different foods: American, Japanese, deli-style, soul food, Caribbean, Italian, French, desserts, fondue, ice cream, Cinnabon, Chinese, Pizza Hut—even a B-Way Burger station that tasted like the real deal. I worked the American, which was the biggest counter.
BSU put loads of detail into the place. Each station was outfitted to represent the food it served. The tables included real plants next to them. Even at the BBQ station, a few tables in front were picnic style with the checkered pattern tablecloths. Thankfully, the set of tables I was responsible for cleaning today were pretty easy. There were used plates, cups, napkins, and such left behind by adult children who still thought they were eating from their momma’s kitchen. Ignoring my bad mood brought on by my period, I worked to get the tables cleared so I could move on to cleaning them.
Humming while picking up a ball of chewed gum from the table, something across from me caught my attention. I glanced up to find my worst nightmare. The mean cheer girl Aivery, her awful human boyfriend, Ashton, and their goof crew were staring and snickering. I glared at them from left to right; the girl with long box braids, Andrea, was the only name I kind of knew from sharing the same dorm building. But the Ashton guy’s arm was over his petite girlfriend’s shoulder as she leaned into him giggling. Ashton’s hyena friends, who I’d seen around the athletic compound all annoyed me. I believed one played basketball, the light skinned one who thought he could dress. One of the other girls lived in my dorm, and the other I couldn’t recall seeing at all. But collectively, I knew the bad humans clique.
If I were stupid, I’d wonder what they were laughing at. But I wasn’t. The moment I decided to continue with work, one of the girls made hand gestures around her head. Then Ashton mouthed something looking directly at me. I pulled out my earbuds to hear him, immediately regretting it.
“Arrrrr-arrrrr! Arr-ru-ruuuuuu! Arrrrr-arrrrr! Arr-ru-ruuuuuu!” he continued to bark while his corny crew laughed.
Aivery had tears rolling from her eyes, she laughed so hard. And Ashton kept going, bringing unneeded attention to me…on my job. A group of people walking my way caught on to the joke and began to snicker, too. A couple had the decency to cover their mouths and scatter on. Others didn’t.
It was my hair. It looked a hot mess. I still hadn’t taken the tracks out. On most days, I wore a hat. But in instances like this one, I had to wear a sun visor. It was standard uniform for my job. My natural, unblended hair must have come through the opening.
“Dog for sure!” a tall—extremely tall—light skinned guy with a curly fade shot from across the room. Dude had to be, at least, 6 feet and 6 inches. He was sure to pay homage—I mean, eye contact—to Ashton while stalking my way. “Hey, pooch, fetch this!” he shouted, then tossed his cup my way.
I’d be damned if it didn’t miss the trash can right in front of me. It hit my chest on a dud, the lid separated from the cup, and milkshake spilled on my uniform shirt and pants, dripping down to my sneakers. When my head shot up, it seemed like the laughing volume grew to infuriating degrees.
My body jerked and I was gliding over the table, target on this fuck boy’s head. In the backdrop of my fury was the laughing happening theater-style at a glaring level. I landed on my feet just as I saw the smile fade from his golden bumpy face. Then my fist jammed—actually, my arm. I yanked to cock it again, suddenly smelling something masculine that didn’t make me nauseous.
“Don’t touch her, babe!” A feminine voice shouted hysterically. “She’s a fucking disease!”
When I tried to turn to investigate why I couldn’t punch the shit out of the goofball, big arms gathered around me, lifting me in the air with a bear hug until I landed in a 180-degree angle.
“Panthers don’t do that shit,” was muttered smooth like butter in my ear. Between the hard, throaty sounds and earthy smell, I was temporarily hypnotized. “Kill it.”
My eyes widened and I pulled in the deepest breath to kill the trance trying to overtake me. I was able to gain my senses, and I snatched away from the thick grip with a few yanks of my torso.
“Get the fuck off of me!” I broke loose and jumped to see who I had to knock the hell out to find the guy, Ashton.
The glare in his eyes did nothing to the fury boiling in my belly. With wide nostrils and hard lips, he shot me a look I wanted to challenge. This guy was big…tall and thick, but I couldn’t give a shit. I’d fought all size boys before. Even the ones I lost to didn’t walk away without signs of my wrath. I was ready. The only problem was his energy wasn’t right. He wasn’t raging like me. Even the light-skinned, bumpy-faced, tree-height dude stayed at a distance with fear in his eyes. Ashton didn’t have fear, but the calm in his aura was non-negotiable.
“Tori.”
“WHAT?” I leaped in the air, doing a 90-degree turn this time. It was my supervisor, Rich.
His fists pushed into his doughy waist as he postured himself to speak from authority. “You wanna keep your job, young lady?”
The threat was loud and clear. And so was my answer. “Fuck no!” I tossed my visor to the ground and stomped off before I fractured a facial bone.
I hated rich, Black Beverly Hills 90120 humans.
With a fucking passion.
For real.
“I need shoes and stuff. I still ain’t got my cell phone,” I tried explaining in plain terms.
“Well, whatchu do with ya check, Tori?”
I rolled my eyes, blindly seeing the disorganization of Trisha’s office. “Ma, I only worked there for two weeks and a day, and you know I ain’t work every day or eight-hour shifts. If I’m lucky, the check I do get next week’ll be forty dollars. That ain’t gone help much.”
“It ain’t like you gotta worry about food, Tori. They paying for everything. You ain’t got rent or gym dues. Shit.” Here we go. The fighting I was doing for my money. “You still act like the world revolves around you and boxing. But anyway, I’ll send it.”
“When?” I barely let the last syllable drop from her mouth.
“Damn, Tori! As soon as I can get a ride. You know I work.”
“I know.” My eyes closed and I dropped my head into my hand over Trisha’s desk. “But, Ma, the money came the day after I left for school. It’s been four weeks. The next one’s coming soon, and I still ain’t got what I need for school.”
I didn’t raise my voice, didn’t want to. Trisha was in the corner, watching videos of a Lady Panthers soccer match. She coached them and was in the middle of her workday when I asked if I could call home. I couldn’t make long distance calls from my room unless I paid and had nothing but worry to do that with.
Even though Trisha was occupied, I didn’t want her to know just how little support I had in life. It was embarrassing. I knew my mother had her own shit to deal with. The trailer we lived in had a hole in the floor, and had it for so long, it was beginning to rot the flooring inside. The windows barely survived last winter, and the trifling park people still hadn’t cut down the tree growing so wild, it pushed into the trailer. And those were the issues I knew; I couldn’t imagine the ones I didn’t, like how she struggled with loneliness. But that wasn’t my fault or problem.