Thrash Read Free Page B

silence.
    Leaning over the counter with a rag in
hand, Mindy nods her head full of strawberry blonde curls toward
the back room. She knows exactly why I’m here because she’s the one
who was cool enough to cover for me this morning when the principal
of Jeremy’s high school called to ask me to come pick him up.
Mindy’s cool and totally anti-Forsaken, so I’m thinking we might be
able to be friends which is totally up my alley at this point. But
then she’s also kind of a prude, so I don’t know what we’d even do
if we did hang out.
    “ Thanks, Min,” I say,
crossing the shop and squeezing behind the counter on my way to the
office that’s in the back. I blow out a few heavy breaths and
psyche myself up for the conversation, but don’t have much time. As
I round the corner, I see the door to the office is open. Universal
Ground’s owner, Eileen, is at her computer, typing furiously. I
give a soft knock on the door frame before stepping into the small
office. It’s more of a broom closet, really, but it serves its
purpose.
    Eileen looks up, her natural gray hair
is pulled back in a low ponytail and she wears a sad smile on her
face. She waves me in and I close the door behind me. I don’t even
have to ask. We’ve been here before.
    “ Nicole,” she says as
pleasantly as her mood will allow. “I assume you’re here to talk
about why you left your shift early?”
    Inwardly, I cringe. Setting myself in
the chair across the desk from her, I nod my head and say, “Yes.”
She waits as I collect my thoughts to present the most compelling
argument for not writing me up.
    “ Principal Beck called,
asking me for an immediate meeting and to pick Jeremy up for the
day,” I say, figuring she’ll find out eventually. It’s near
impossible to keep anything a secret in this town, and it really
doesn’t help that Eileen’s youngest son is in the same grade as
Jeremy. She’d likely find out by dinnertime even if I didn’t tell
her.
    Thoughtfully, she nods her head and
leans back in her chair. She’s dressed in her usual attire— clean
cut khakis and a colorful polo shirt. My eyes dip down to my ripped
jeans and tight blank tank for only a moment before I stop myself
from comparing us any further. She’s the epitome of class in a
soccer mom uniform, while I’m… not. She’s always been good to me
which is one of the reasons I hate ditching out on her so
often.
    “ I’m sympathetic to your
family situation, Nicole. I understand that occasionally things
will come up when you care for a child. I’m not interested in
making you feel any worse than you already do, but we need to
figure out a way to limit the number of times you have to run off
for a family emergency.”
    “ It won’t happen again,” I
blurt out, knowing it’s a lie. Eileen knows it, too. I always tell
her it won’t happen again, but then it does. Jeremy hits some kid
in the hallway, or he’s been caught cheating on a test, or even
worse, he’s at the police station for truancy. It’s one thing after
another and no matter how hard I try to keep him in check, it’s
useless.
    “ Okay. Let’s let Mindy
finish out this shift. You can resume the rest of the week as
scheduled,” she says in a kind voice. I mumble an incoherent
“thanks” and stand from my chair and slink out the door. I’d
thought I would ask if I could finish my hours this afternoon, but
it doesn’t seem like a good idea to push it now, especially since
she’s made up her mind about it already. Sympathetic or not, she
kept the conversation short and to the point. Plus, I’m not in any
position to be asking for favors right now.
    Heading out of the backroom, I run into
Mindy as she’s turning the corner. With a perky smile on her face,
her eyes widen, and she gives a giggle-laugh. Between my boss, the
soccer mom, and Mindy, our resident Barbie doll, I’m ready to just
throw in the towel. Mindy ducks around me, mumbling something that
has the words “silly” and