Chapter 19 Getting fired
Naomi
"Please, be careful, Naomi. You should let me know if you encounter anything."
Mom told me on Wednesday morning when I was preparing to go to school. She knew she couldn't talk me out of this one. Once my mind was made up, there was no going back.
And to be honest, I hadn't thought much about the things that had been happening to me, even what happened with Mr. Rex. Going out of the house was actually helping me, which I so much appreciated.
I woke up the next morning with a healed hand, just like the others. The wound I had sustained during the werewolf attack was completely healed. Not even a scar could be spotted.
"Thank you for letting me do this, Mom. I promise to be careful... from whatever you are trying to keep me away from."
I rounded the table after I finished my dinner. I wrapped my hands around her neck since she was still sitting down. I pressed a kiss behind her head.
"I'm still not comfortable with it. Don't get too excited." She grumbled, placing her hands on top of mine.
"Thank you!" I shouted as I stepped out. I didn't want to hear any more warnings from her.
I had finished the math assignment that was based on some quadratic equations that had been given to us last week.
While in class, I took out my book to go through it. I knew there were no mistakes, but I wanted to just cross-check. The other reason was that I just wanted to distract myself from the class noise and not talk to anyone as well.
Benita wasn't in school. Not like I cared, but it was unusual for her not to be in school at this time. It was almost past 9:00 a.m.
"I heard you now work at Dean's Diner."
I didn't have to lift my head to know who was there. Calix. I glanced down; her legs were still wrapped in bandages, and she was still walking with a crutch.
She was still healing.
I didn't respond to her. I had no idea who told her that and why she wanted to know.
She looked at me like she was looking for something. "I can see that you are completely healed. Remember what I told you?"
Whatever she told me, I couldn't remember. She was about to proceed with whatever she was telling me when the English teacher walked into the class.
And the rest of the day went by with teachers entering and leaving the class without a break.
The end of the school day finally came to an end. Benita didn't come to school. I shouldn't be bothered, but she had been checking up on me, and it was only fair if I did the same for her.
If she didn't show up tomorrow, I was going to find a way to see if I could get to her.
I changed out of my school clothes and went in for a nap. My alarm woke me up at 5:00 p.m. I took a quick bath and got ready for work.
Mandy was the first to welcome me with a straight face.
"Don't you ever try what you did yesterday. You leave just like you came here. You left the customers unattended to."
I knew I was not going to hear the end of this, and none of them would be able to understand me even if I told them. Though I was not planning to tell anyone about it.
"The boss wants to see you." She rolled her eyes and continued to work. Alice wasn't present today. But I saw two new faces.
"I was told of what happened yesterday." Dean leaned into his chair, a pen and paper in his hands. A look of focus in his eyes as he studied what was in front of him.
"Do you have any reason or explanation to give for that?" He kept the pen and paper on the table and fixed his eyes on me, waiting for my explanation.
I took a deep breath, not knowing exactly what to tell him. Was he going to believe me when I said it?
"I don't know what happened. I thought I heard someone calling me from outside, and I went there to check."
"Your boyfriend called you, and you left the customer waiting to go see him. Make sure that doesn't happen again. And tell him that this place is not a boyfriend and girlfriend rendezvous. You can do that after you leave this place."
I closed my eyes and opened them up. "You can resume back to work."
I left the office, planning to tell the next person who asked me that he was not my friend.
I entered the storage room and grabbed my apron and my chef cap.
Once I entered the reception area, I came to a standstill with three pairs of eyes staring down at me. The one in the middle had a sinister smile on her face, like this was exactly where she wanted to be at this time.
Calix and her bodyguards. I didn't know if they were her friends or people who just walked with her.
"Hey, come over. They..." Mandy pointed a finger at where Calix was. "...said they want you to serve them. So you will carry this food to them."
I nodded without hesitation. This was a restaurant, and they wouldn't pull any foolish stunts here.
"I wouldn't tell you to do this hard work." The other friend whom I always forget her name looked up at me, pulling her own plate of food in front of her.
"Exactly why I like her." Calix nodded as she took a big bite of her meat pie.
"Water," Archer mumbled between bites.
Of course, I knew I was going to bring that one.
I left and brought them a jar of water with three glasses.
I went back to serve the customers. Then I heard my name. I turned to see Calix waving at me to come to their table.
"Don't you have wine, juice...?"
"I prefer wine."
"I will just get another glass of water."
Calix had a glass in her hand. I didn't know if she did it intentionally or accidentally, but the glass left her hand to the floor. It shattered. And all she said was, "Oops," with a big smile on her face. Of course, she knew what she did.
"Oh my... see what you did. You..."
"What happened?" Dean came to stand next to us.
"She pushed the glass off my hands," Calix pouted. "Isn't that right, girls?"
"Of course, Naomi did. She has never really liked Calix."
Quinox the other friend whom I just remembered her name, confirmed with a bit of her own information.
I wasn't shocked, though. Only someone who didn't know them would be.
"Clean it and replace the glass." Dean turned and walked away.
I bent over to clean the glass when I felt a cold liquid down my back.
"I'm sorry. It was an accident." I continued picking the shards of glass until Calix was done pouring the water on me. And one thing I knew was that she was never going to get away with this. She had her Karma coming.
I had taken more than I could chew from them. It was like they had no idea of what happened last time as they continued to push my limits.
"It's okay. I will just pick it up."
I left and came back with a dirt carrier and a dustbin. I turned to leave after sweeping when I saw Calix with another glass in her hands, actually lifted like she was about to throw it to the floor.
"Break that, and you will have to pay for it." Money wasn't actually a problem. She wouldn't mind paying if she broke everything here. However, she was not going to do that while I watched. If that went on, she was going to pin it on me. I didn't have money for that.
"And what would happen if I told them you broke it?" And without waiting for a response on my end, I let the glass go, and it crashed down to the floor. The noise was so loud that the other customers had to turn in our direction. Not only that, Mandy was right behind me.
When I turned around, she had fire in her eyes, and I immediately knew that this was not going to end well for me.
"You take care of that. We will get going." Calix winked at me after dropping a couple of bills on the table and left with her friends tailing behind her.
"You know you have to lie for that, right?"
I lifted my eyes to Mandy like she was crazy. Was she going to act like she didn't see what happened here?
"She threw that glass on the floor, and you saw that. I did not break it." I was not going to pay for it.
"Well, tell Dean that. I did not ask you to bring your clumsy friends to this place to cause trouble."
With that, she turned and left me standing, wondering if I was going to pay for what I didn't break. And if I didn't, Dean was likely going to fire me.