talesfromasnarkylisa

[talesfromasnarkylisa]

The Girl In The Red Sweater (Chapter 1)

It was an ordinary Tuesday. For the most part, anyways. I got some break time as a reward, so instead of working until 4 PM I got to work until 3. As I was handing a few nickels to a blond male customer as change, I felt something vibrate.

BZZZZ! BZZZZ!

I realized that was the lunch break alarm from my phone. It’s always on vibrate, since I don’t want to annoy the customers. After I finished handing a small box of fries to a little girl, I switched positions with a teenage coworker and walked out. 

If there’s any perks at working for Goldilocks’ Fries, it’s the fact that you get actual lunch breaks. For me, that’s from 11:30 PM to 12:30 PM.  Not only that, but you won’t get in trouble for coming back to work up to 5 minutes late.

Normally during lunch breaks, I hang out with my best friend Hailey. Hailey is 21 with blonde curls and a deep voice. Like me, she also writes. Unlike me, her main job is at the local newspaper: The Nightly Newspaper. The gist of it is that it only reports on events that occur at night. Hailey is very much not a night owl, though. She’s too bubbly to be one.

This lunch break, we shopped for cards at a dollar store. I forgot if it was Dollar Tree or Dollarama, but all the stuff was cheap.

“You know the funny thing about dollar stores, Valeria?” Hailey quipped.

“What?” I responded.

I filed through the many folded papers and envelopes, my fingers gracing the edges.

“Almost nothing at those places cost a dollar,” she answered. “You’re lucky if you can find something under two bucks.”

“Like I didn’t know that,” I sighed.

We continued shopping. It was about 12:00 PM, so we went to the checkout. After waiting 13 long minutes in line, we finally walked out into the autumn breeze.

“How’s the newspaper going?” I asked Hailey.

“Great!” she exclaimed. “And guess what?”

“What?” I wondered.

Hailey rubbed the pink-and-light-blue horizontal striped flag pin on her handbag.

“They’re accepting guest submissions! This could be a great opportunity for you!”

“How much money am I getting for it?” I responded. “I already have a lot on my schedule, and I’m not doing this if I won’t make any bucks.”

“Depends. If you only submit, you get anywhere from $69-$420. But if you get hired…you’ll be making thousands!”

I gasped.

“I could get hired? What are the requirements? When is it due?”

“You have to finish your article by November 10th,” Hailey answered. “No political opinion pieces, must be at least 20 sentences long, and no foreign language pieces. Oh, and also a high school diploma or certificate at the absolute minimum, but you already have that.”

We approached the parking lot of the fast food diner I worked at.

“I might make something after work,” I said, taking a deep breath.

“Is that a yes???” Hailey responded. “We could be co-workers if it is.”

“You know what?” I said. “Hell yes it is!”

Hailey smiled, giddy with wonder and joy.

“Yay!” she exclaimed. “You’re the best! I can’t wait for all the memories we’ll make!”

“And if I don’t win,” I snarked, “at least I’ll have some more money to bring home. Maybe I can finally get a better data plan.”

Hailey pulled me into a hug, which I gladly accepted. Pulling back, I checked my watch. It was 12:25 PM.

“I really need to go back to work now,” I stated.

“True,” Hailey responded. “Good luck, V!”

“Thanks. See you soon, Hailey!”

But as Hailey left into the distance, I saw what might have been a brief look of worry on her face.

#writing #creative writing #the girl in the red sweater #tumblr #tumblr stuff #storytelling #story

[talesfromasnarkylisa]

The Girl In The Red Sweater (Prologue)

Gap years are overrated. Sure, you don’t have to do homework or relentlessly memorize for exams. But if your family won’t lend you any money and your friends are broke, you have to find low paying work at the bottom of the barrel. I certainly did. 

In high school, I was a straight A student for most of it. Key words: most of it. Once I hit Grade 12, I was in complete burnout mode. Dad lost his job because he drank too much, so I started working more. Odd jobs every weekend (sometimes weekdays as well), exhausting editing gigs - anything to both pay the bills and keep me in school. Little by little, I lost my sanity and my concentration. My top 6 had Bs instead of As. University applications being as competitive as they are, I couldn’t get into any. So my mom kicked me out of the house.

Currently, I’m a part time cashier at a small diner in Hamilton. This means I spend my weekdays dealing with hungry customers from 9 AM to 4 PM. I do earn money, and have a fellow friend on the job. $25 000 per year isn’t enough for me to buy a decent apartment, but at least I can buy food and gas. It also isn’t enough for everything.

I have another job - if you can really call it a job. I spend free weekends writing articles for my 2,000 Medium and 4,000 Tumblr followers. These profiles have existed since I was 15 years old. Occasionally, I find an online magazine willing to pay guest submissions. I submit an article to them and hope they get accepted. They usually do - with multiple edits here and there. Thanks to this, my $25 000 a year gets bumped up by about ten thousand. 

Sometimes, I wonder if things will change one day. If I’ll get accepted into a university with the marks I have. Perhaps I’ll get noticed more on the Internet and make consistent money there. But maybe this is just wishful thinking.

#writing #creative writing #prologue #tumblr #tumblr stuff #the girl in the red sweater #storytelling #story #fiction #original fic