get 1 cart through. So, he was able to block me off more easily and try to cop a feel.
I plodded toward him. Any hopes of dieting, that I had had earlier in the week, had vanished. I had been stuffing myself all day and was more bloated than ever.
I got back to Kenny and he pointed his long, thin, index finger toward a single six pack (out of probably 100) that had only 5 beers in it. “What’s this?”
“I didn’t sell any single beers tonight, Kenny,” I said.
“I thought you understood the store policy.”
“I do,” I sighed, “I didn’t sell any single beers tonight.”
“Oh, April,” Kenny mocked my sigh, “what am I gonna do with you?”
“Let me go back up front and finish my shift?” I suggested.
He pounced, sticking his chest in my face, looking down at me, and saying, “I’m tired of being made a joke of, April.”
“What?” I said, backing up, “I’m not making a joke.”
He was on me. He hadn’t touched me, yet, but he was inches from me. It was horrible. His breath was horrible. One of his claws grabbed me by the chin roughly, “Here’s what you’re gonna do…” but he was cut off by the sound of laughing and loud talking at the front of the store. I was saved again. He dropped his hand from my face, turned and walked toward the back of the store.
How was I going to keep this job?
I caught a glimpse of a couple of young guys, and 3 girls as they went through the store picking things up. They looked good. They looked like they had money. They looked like they had lives. They were my age exactly. I knew this because they had all been in my high school class.
It was like going out of Kenny’s frying pan and into the fire. The fire was 5 of the most popular kid’s in my graduating class. It came flooding toward me, this weekend was our 5 year reunion. Oh my god it was Leo and Jessie and 3 of their friends. They all came to the front of the store together and tossed their items carelessly down on my conveyor belt. Starbuck’s espresso shots, organic gluten free crackers, goat cheese.
All five of them had their own precious items. I held my breath hoping that they wouldn’t engage me. They were not my friends, none of them had been anything but condescending to me for 4 long years at Eldorado High. No wonder I hadn’t wanted to go to college despite the fact that I had scored very high on my SAT’s.
Jessie was the worst of them. Beautiful, sexy, smart, and evil. She could have been or done just about anything, but what she did was make life miserable for people like me. It wasn’t just her degrading comments, and hurtful jokes, she was also physically threatening.
She walked around the halls of El Dorado in these badass outfits. For instance she would wear a pair of black Doc Marten boots, a short plaid skirt, and a tank top that showed off her big boobs. If someone didn’t like the way she treated them, she would go after them and get in their face. If she even sensed that someone was disrespecting her , she would go crazy on them.
I remember one little freshman girl, Paula Klein. She was sweet, but she dared to stand up for herself during one of Jesse’s “jokes.” I didn’t see it, but everyone said this is how it happened. Jessie waited until the girl had turned away, grabbed her by the hair, and slammed her head into the locker. As the girl ran away crying, Jessie just laughed.
Jessie and Leo were last in line and their items were together. Jessie swiped her debit card, pressed in her code, and then looked at me hard. She looked at my name tag. “April.” she stated flatly. Weren’t you at El Dorado?”
“Yes,” I said, scanning her and Leo’s items as fast as I could and dropping them into a plastic bag.
“Well,” she said, devoid of friendliness, “I guess you’ll be at the reunion Saturday night?”
“Yes,” I said. No, I wouldn’t.
“I guess we