How Bad Could It Be

Chapter 1

A/N: The purge is working. I just dreamt of a truly original story idea. I also plan to add an interlogue to the story, which is a short pause to explain what's going on with Theresa. Problem is, I don't know how many chapters this story will be. Therefore, I'll put it in the middle of the story when I'm finished. The only characters I own are the ones that were never in The Lorax movie.

In Greenville, there was a small place called Dan's Diner where Katrina Johnson worked.  The exterior of it was little more than a white wall with a couple of windows and two joined glass doors surrounded by wooden frames.  The interior was that of a typical greasy spoon.  There were checkered patterned floors and walls, booths with red comfortable chairs, wooden tables with wooden chairs and a bar with wooden stools.  The place smelled of fried food and everyone talked all at once.  Two joined metal doors led to the kitchen while two separate wooden doors led to the restroom, one for boys and the other for girls.

Kat walked to a booth with a tray in hand that held a white cup of coffee.  When she got there, a woman bumped into her and caused her to drop the tray, spilling hot coffee all over the customer's pants.

"Ow!" the customer shrieked.

"Ma'am, I am so sorry," Kat said, hoping she was an understanding customer.

"How dare you serve coffee this hot!" the woman practically screamed.

Just as Kat thought, she had no such luck.

"Ma'am, the coffee's supposed to be hot," Kat explained, clutching the tray in her hands as tightly as she could.

"That's no excuse!" the woman exclaimed, getting up from the booth.

"Why don't I get you a towel and another cup of coffee?" Kat suggested, trying to disguise the impatience in her voice.

"You'll be hearing from my lawyer!" the woman shrieked as she exited the diner.

Kat was fuming to the point that she practically slammed the tray on the table.  To make a bad situation worse, her boss had to show up.

"Kitty, what was that?" Dan asked.

Kat held back her disgust over that nickname.

"Sir, it was an accident.  I just-," Katrina tried to explain.

"--Cost this diner a lot of money," Dan finished for her with that same condescending look.  "Now, what did I tell you about pissing off paying customers?"

"If it costs the diner money it will come out of my paycheck."

"Exactly, now get back to work," Dan said.

Kat grabbed the tray and went to the kitchen.  She practically threw the white cup in the sink and then placed the tray on the rack.  That's when her best friend, Maria Gonzalez, walked in.

"Careful, Kat, you don't want to break another dish," Maria said, noticing the fuming look on Kat's face.  "Otherwise Dan will make you pay for it."

"Don't remind me."

"We'll go to the ladies room and you can tell me all about it," Maria told her.

The restroom had the same wall and floor decoration as the diner, black and white checkered spots all over.  It had the typical stalls with toilets inside, white sinks, a brown paper towel dispenser and a huge mirror over the sink.  As soon as they got there, Kat told her everything.

"Once again, Dan acted like an asshole," Maria said while looking in the huge mirror and fixing her creamy rose blush.  "Does that really shock you?"

"No, but preparing for it doesn't make me want to rip his head off any less," Kat remarked, getting her hairbrush out of her purse.
 
"You and everyone else who works under him," Maria said, putting her blush in her purse and retrieving her brown eye shadow.