Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Ethan

I stare down at the tuition bill that’s due in a few months. It’s more than I can possibly scrape together by January. Three months isn’t enough time to save six thousand dollars on top of paying for food and transportation.

Hell, six months wouldn’t be enough time to save six thousand dollars.

“Fuck,” I mutter as I toss the letter onto my desk. I look at the other side of the room, thankful that Shane hasn’t come back yet. I don’t know where he is right now, but I’m grateful for time alone to try and figure out how I’m going to pay my bills.

As much as I wish I could magically pull thousands of dollars out of thin air at will, it’s impossible.

If I could pull thousands of dollars out of thin air, my family would never have to worry about money again.

Mom and Dad wouldn’t have spent months desperately poring over their finances, trying to see what they could help pay for when I left for college. I wouldn’t have seen my mom cry over not being able to send me to school without debt. My dad wouldn’t have spent a drunken night telling me how much he wished he’d started saving when I was born.

If I could make money appear at will, I wouldn’t be trying to balance all my expenses between two credit cards and a sad savings account. Mind you, that savings account will be completely empty once I pay this month’s bills.

No matter how much I try to save, there’s no getting ahead.

I’m fucked. I’m really fucked.

After a few minutes, I get up and get ready for work. Sitting around and thinking about how to get more money isn’t going to do any good if I don’t go to my job. It’s the third one I’ve had since the end of August, and I can’t afford to lose this one too.

When I get to the restaurant, my boss is standing by the kitchen door and tapping his foot. I can’t stand him. He’s barely older than I am, but he acts as if he’s ten years older. He’s the kind of man that makes you consider leaving a well-paid job.

Not that the money is that good, but I’ve worked for less.

“You’re late,” Howie says as I grab a tray and start picking up food from the window. “Two and a half minutes.”

“Sorry. The bus sat at a stop longer than it usually does,” I say, swallowing down the urge to tell him to fuck off. “It won’t happen again.”

Next time I’ll get out and sprint here, I think as I bite my tongue and hold back what I really want to say to him. Even if I ran here, you wouldn’t be happy.

“See that it doesn’t,” Howie says before walking away.

I glare at his back before taking a deep breath. Out on the floor, I take over my section from the server ending her shift. Plastering on a bright smile, I set plates down on tables and ask people how their meals are going and if they need anything else.

More people are seated in my section, and I take their orders, not once flinching when they request overcooked steaks and fish. As nice as the restaurant is, the people who frequent it have no clue how to order a proper steak.

Another group is put in my section, and I can already tell they’re going to be difficult. The kids are grabbing at each other while the parents pretend their children aren’t feral. I try not to judge, but my mom would have hauled us out of the restaurant in the blink of an eye if we behaved like that.

The children only get rowdier as they grab the menus from the hostess and start hitting each other with them. Other people in the restaurant are starting to whisper and stare but the parents don’t seem to notice. Or, if they do, they don’t care.

“How’s it going tonight, folks?” I ask, my smile wide and tablet in hand to start taking orders as I approach their table. “I’ll be your server tonight. My name’s Ethan. Can I get you started with some drinks?”

“Water for us and chocolate milk for the children,” the man says as he picks up his menu and starts browsing.

“Not chocolate milk,” the wife says, her upper lip curling. “Something better for them. A clear soda or something.”

“Milk is better than soda,” the husband says, jerking his chin at the children. “Look at them. Do you really think they need more sugar?”

I smother my smile before it breaks the surface, but the wife’s glare is already on me. Soda and chocolate milk are both loaded with sugar. No matter what drink they settle on, those kids are going to turn into even bigger problems than they already are.

“Excellent, folks, I’ll bring along the water and the chocolate milk.” I tap in their drink order before I give them a bright smile. “Would you like a few moments to decide on your entrees?”

“Of course,” the wife says, her nose turning upward. “We only just sat down. You have to give us time to look over our menus.”

The smile is getting harder to hold in place, but I need that money. There’s only ten dollars in my bank account. Not nearly enough to cover meals this week and tuition. I can’t ask my parents for help because they still have my younger brother and sister to take care of.

I don’t want to ask them for money because if I do, that takes away anything they might be able to save for my siblings’ education.

I have to do this on my own and that means putting up with attitudes from assholes.

I make the rounds in my section, bringing people their bills and dropping off the drinks to the rude table before I’m called into Howie’s office.

He’s sitting behind his desk and grease stains from the burger in front of him dot his collar. His beady little eyes are staring at me as I walk into the office.

Howie motions for me to close the door and take a seat. Though I close the door, I don’t bother sitting. If he’s about to start in on me about being two minutes late, I’ll walk out.

“I’ve had a complaint from one of the tables in your section regarding your attitude,” Howie says, not bothering to ask for my side of things.

“I don’t know why,” I say, stuffing my hands in my pockets as sweat beads on my forehead. “To my knowledge, I haven’t had any problems with any of my tables. If–”

“I’ve had enough of your incompetence!” Howie shouts, cutting me off from trying to say anything in my defense. “I shouldn’t have a family calling me over and complaining about your service. Especially when all you’ve brought them are their drinks!”

My mind flashes to the smug smile the wife gave me when I dropped off drinks to their table. I thought at that point I’d seen Howie near them, but I hadn’t been sure. Now I know she called him over just to make a complaint about me.

“I didn’t do anything to warrant a complaint. I was polite and welcoming to them. I brought them their drinks and even when the wife was rude to me, I continued to be courteous.”

Howie shakes his head, clasping his hands together. “This is not the first time that I have seen your inability to do this job.”

I cross my arms over my chest and fix him with a glare. “I would like to know what exactly these inabilities are since I‘ve been working as a server since I was sixteen. Two years of experience is more than most of the wait staff here have.”

“The inability to do your job is in serving customers!”

“Please stop yelling at me. We can have this conversation like adults. If there have been complaints about the quality of my customer service, I haven’t been spoken to about it.”

“It doesn’t matter. There has been a complaint made against you!”

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” I say calmly as I set my tablet on his desk. “And I asked you once to stop yelling at me. Are you going to listen to what I have to say or should I quit now?”

“You are going to go back out there and apologize to that family!” Howie’s face is turning a bright red as he stands up, his chair screeching against the floor.

“I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I can replace you easily. If you don’t go out there and apologize to those customers, I will have no choice but to fire you.”

“You don’t need to do that,” I say, turning on my heel and walking to the door. “I quit.”

My heart is hammering in my chest as I walk out of the restaurant. I can feel the eyes glued to my back and know that people are wondering what happened. It’s not the first time Howie has been an ass to his staff, but I’m not going to let him treat me like that.

As I walk to the bus stop, I’m hit with the overwhelming sense that I’m a failure. I’m the first of my family to go to college and it’s my mom’s dream school, Tennessee U, at that. I got as many scholarships and loans as I could, but it was only enough to cover the first semester and part of the second.

There are still thousands of dollars I have to earn to pay the rest of my tuition and now I have no job.

It starts to pour as I wait for the bus, rain soaking through my clothes.

As if this day could get any better.

* * *

When I get back to my dorm, Shane is still gone. I’m happy to have the place to myself. He isn’t the worst roommate, but he’s inquisitive. It comes from a well-meaning place, I think, but I’m not prepared to deal with that right now.

There are a thousand different thoughts racing through my head and I’m already getting a headache trying to work through it all.

With a groan, I open my top dresser drawer and take out a bottle of painkillers. After popping two pills, I run my hand through my dark hair, looking at the ends. It’s starting to brush my shoulders now.

Mom would tell me I need to get a haircut.

Thinking about my mom sends an ache through my heart. All she ever wanted was for me to get an education. Now, even with my partial scholarship, that dream might be about to end.

I need some time to think about what I’m going to do now. Spending the rest of the night scouring the online job boards is a given.

“Fuck this,” I mutter as I grab the tuition bill off my desk and crumple it up. The little ball soars through the air as I throw it to Shane’s side of the room.

After a moment of glaring at the piece of paper, I pick it up and smooth it out, tucking it into my desk drawer. Nobody needs to know about the debt looming over my head except me.

I can handle this on my own. I don’t need anybody’s help.

All I need to do is find another job that pays enough to set money aside for tuition and still pay my phone bill, groceries, and any other expenses that happen to come up.

A few more minutes of standing in the middle of my room and looking lost pass before I change into dry clothing and fall into bed with my laptop.

I’m still scanning through the job boards hours later when the sun starts rising.

With a groan, I turn off my laptop and pull myself out of bed, ready to start another day of wondering what the hell I’m going to do?

* * *

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