No Going Back [sample] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BPQXKQP3 [sample]

Chapter 2 Ebony

I've been here for five hours now, just three more hours to go till four a.m. when I finally clock off work. Luckily the place is reasonably quiet tonight and I'm managing to stay awake on a cocktail of energy drinks and snickers bars. I slathered my face in foundation as per Mr. Connor's request which also has the benefit of covering the dark circles under my eyes. Mr. Connor presented us with new uniforms tonight, a pleated mini skirt in the dark red and gold color scheme of Carters which just about covers my ass, and a tight black crop top with Carters emblazoned in gold across it, plus some schoolgirl inspired over the knee socks. He's never been one for subtlety. I should tell him that if I'd wanted to work at Hooters, I would have applied there but it's no use, I'm powerless if I want to keep my job. Every beat of the loud techno music is an assault to my frazzled nerves, slicing through my brain bringing a fresh wave of throbbing pain. I know when I eventually lay down in my bed that this will be echoing in my ears for hours after. I negotiate my way around the drunken bodies on the dance floor weaving my way around outstretched arms, sweaty bodies and energetic dance moves. When you are as sober and jaded as I am today, drunken and horny gyrating just looks plain ridiculous. I attract leering stares in my new uniform as though the fact I work here gives people the right to think they somehow own me for the evening, if they are not talking down to me, they are trying to stick their hand up my skirt. I manage to survive the next few hours on adrenaline alone but as it gets closer to the end of my shift my body feels like it is slowly starting to shut down. My throat feels tight as a sensation of panic starts to creep over me. I stumble as a bout of dizziness overcomes me compounded by the flickering strobe lights. I console myself with the knowledge that the place is emptying out and I rush through my clean up routine desperate to get away so I can go home and have a few hours of sleep before I go to college. One small mercy is that I have a couple of free periods first thing, so I am going to use those for much needed rest. As soon as the clock hits 4am I'm slinging my jacket on rushing out, reveling in the silence and fresh air outside, a brief respite before the rat race kicks off again in a few hours. Luckily, my colleague Ryan has offered me a lift home as the buses are very infrequent at this time. Ryan is the one saving grace of this place, I would be lost without him. He follows me out lighting up a cigarette taking a long pull on it and blowing out a huge cloud of smoke. "Jeez Ebony you look fucking terrible." Ryan surveys me cigarette hanging between his lips, concern knitting his brow. "Why gee thanks Ryan, you sure know a way to a girl's heart." "But you don't have a heart, Ebony." He offers me a teasing grin shaking his head. "I don't have time to have a heart." I smile at him, nudging him playfully. At the sudden movement I feel lightheaded a rush of nausea bubbling up inside me. As the earth wobbles beneath me, I grab onto Ryan's arm to steady myself bending my head over and holding my head in my other arm. "Woah Ebony, are you ok?" He grabs onto me with both arms, his voice becoming a distant echo. It's as though the blood is being slowly drained out of me. Trying to steady myself is difficult when the world is on full rotate, deathly chills prickling my skin. My last thought before blackness engulfs me is the memory of Zac's intoxicating smile today, almost as though he is laughing at my pathetic life. Then as though someone is blowing out a candle, I collapse in a cloak of darkness. A small sting in my hand is the first sensation that pierces through the abyss. I feel hot and clammy, my eyelids heavy as I open them a fraction taking in my new surroundings. I'm no longer in the car park at Carters and I groan at the realization that I am in a hospital bed and the sting in my hand is an IV drip. Ryan is seated at my bedside quietly snoozing and I figure that he must have bought me here. God knows what would have happened if I hadn't been with him, no doubt Mr. Connor would have left me in the car park. I pray that my basic insurance will cover the cost of this, I'm struggling enough as it is with my college expenses to add anymore financial pressure. I turn my head sideways facing Ryan, he looks so uncomfortable hunched over the chair, his dirty blond hair falling over his face and his mouth slightly agape revealing his tongue piercing. I'm touched that he stayed here with me, I wouldn't have expected him to, and a faint but sad smile lifts the corner of my lips. The IV drip must be working its magic as I feel revitalized, in fact I feel better than I have in a long time. Jolting with surprise when the door swings open, my mouth waters at the sight of my breakfast tray being delivered. I can't even remember the last time I ate something substantial so I demolish the food as quickly as I can get it into my mouth, downing the orange juice in one gulp, cramming the food into my overstuffed cheeks. Luckily Ryan isn't awake to witness my desperate hunger. I feel slightly sick and bloated after and I'm now wishing that maybe I'd taken my time with it savoring it. Groaning and with a heavy stomach I lay my head back on the pillow trying and failing to go back to sleep, staring at the patterns of light on the ceiling trying my best to keep the gnawing panic at bay, the fear that I'm one small step from failing and losing everything. Eventually Ryan stretches his body into a big yawn rubbing his neck and fixing his weary eyes on me. "You're alive." He squints his chocolate brown eyes at the harsh sun glaring through the dusty window. "Sorry to disappoint you." "Damn I was hoping I was gonna be able to take on all your shifts at Carters if you were gone but now I'mma have to think of something else." "Hey and there was me thinking all warm thoughts about how you bought me here and slept in that shitty chair." "But seriously you fricking scared me, you just collapsed in my arms all deathly white, I thought you were a goner. What's going on Ebony, have you been taking care of yourself, if Mr. Connor gives you grief about working extra shifts, I will sort him out." "Nah don't worry about it, it's my fault for not eating properly, don't worry about me, I can take care of myself." "Yeah I know that but sometimes it's ok to lean on a friend Ebony." "I know I know, I appreciate it. Anyway, don't you have a day job to get to, I don't want you to get in trouble because of me." "Ok ok I get the message you're kicking me out, but you're right I better head out, call me later to let me know how you are, promise." "Scout's honor." I smile reassuringly at him, and he reluctantly leaves looking back a couple of times before he finally goes out the door. He works in a record store most days and just supplements his income at Carters, he also DJs at Carters from time to time, he's a big-time techno head, I always joke to him that when I get married, I'm hiring him as the DJ at my wedding, I laugh to myself picturing the first dance as some banging techno tune. But for real, I'm never getting married, look what marriage did to my mom and dad, the only aisle I'll be walking down is the ice-cream aisle in my local supermarket. The nurse arrives to inform me that the doctor will be doing his rounds in a couple of hours, so I have to sit tight till then. I send a quick text to Sasha to let her know I've been delayed and can she get any notes for me. Missing class always fills me with anxiety as college is my ticket out, but I've got no choice now, and maybe this was the wakeup call I needed. I omit to tell Sasha that I'm in hospital I don't want to freak her out, she does enough for me, and I just know she will drop everything to come running here and I don't want her to have to feel guilty and like she has to take care of me, I want us to be friends on an equal footing. Thankfully, I'm pleased to see that Ryan had the foresight to bring my backpack with me to the hospital. I pull out my laptop as I may as well catch up with some work while I am here waiting. The audio file from the class yesterday is still open on my desktop and although I am going to try and change the option class, I decide to have a listen to the lecture anyway. I skip through parts of it as there is a lot of waffling and repetition on the part of the teacher. It comes to the end of the file and I can hear people packing away, I'm just about to turn it off when I hear Chloe and Zac talking so I turn the volume right up, trying to make out what they are saying. "I swear Zac this is a guaranteed A grade if we partner up with that chick over there, she's like a straight A scholarship nerd, someone on the cheer squad who does law mentioned how annoying she is." I titter to myself, this is interesting. Now I want to find out who this bitch on the cheer squad is selling me out, bet Chloe thinks her plan is genius, I so hate her. Then I can hear Zac talking but can't quite make out what he is saying so I crank up the volume even more. "Yo, anyone know what her name is." I hear an unidentifiable voice say, "Who?" Chloe chimes in, "you know pizza face, dark black bob, super nerd." I flush with humiliation my anger spiking when I hear a small chorus of sniggers at Chloe's comment. "Oh, that's Ebony." No idea who's voice that is. Zac repeats my name again slowly, "E-b-o-n-y, that's got a nice ring to it, shall we go talk to her now?" My name sounds smooth like butter on his lips and an involuntary shiver of attraction ripples through me. This is why I need to change class, I can do without these intrusive thoughts every time I see his physical perfection. "Ok let me talk to her, if she says no then you're gonna have to sweet talk her somehow Zac." I might be imagining it but I swear I hear him groan, like having to sweet talk me is the worst thing ever and here I was having some naked fantasy of him. I'm officially a loser. "Hey how about you ask her out for a meal, almost like a date and then you can spring it on her then." When she gets no response she adds, "just think of it as one meal for an A grade, how easy it that." She snickers to herself and after a moment of silence Zac agrees as though he is chewing cardboard, "Yeah I could manage that." I don't realize till now that I've been holding my breath through this whole exchange, and I release a breath so sharp it feels like it's piercing a hole through my lungs. I quickly swallow down any hurt I may feel about his willingness to use me so readily. I expected as much from Chloe, but I had a small glimmer of hope that he may not be the douche I imagined but surprise surprise life never fails to kick you in the teeth. Seething with fury, I close my laptop abruptly as though I'm trying to force the hurtful words away. Pouting, I sulk for a few moments tapping my fingers on the laptop, until a vengeful smile creeps over my face. It's only fair that I have some fun with a healthy dose of revenge. Why do people with everything always underestimate people with nothing and I can't wait to teach them a life lesson albeit a painful one. I sit for a few quiet moments racking my brain trying to concoct some grand Machiavellian plan, all I know at this point is I'm sure as hell going out for the meal even if it's to have the best meal I've had in ages. Then I'll come up with a plan. The sound of muffled conversation outside the door alerts me to the arrival of the doctor bringing an end to my scheming. I can make out my nurse's voice filling him in on my situation. "Yes she is fine now, we gave her an IV and she has eaten, I think the cause of the collapse was malnutrition and exhaustion." "Ok thank you, I'll go and check her now." The doctor's voice is kind and I quickly run my fingers through my disheveled hair just as the door swings open. The doctor picks up my chart from the end of the bed, scanning his eyes over it before bringing his attention to mine. He's quite young and attractive which further compounds my embarrassment at my unkempt appearance. "Ebony Seyers, I'm Doctor Jamieson. I understand you collapsed at work. I can see from your data that your blood sugar and iron levels are very low, we believe this must be the cause of your collapse, thankfully it's nothing serious. I understand you are young and probably have a busy life, but you must make sure you are taking care of yourself." He smiles sympathetically at me and his kindness sparks and unexpected rush of emotion as my eyes well with quickly suppressed tears. From a very young age, I learnt that crying is for babies, and it gets you no-where. "So as soon as you are feeling up to it Ebony, you are free to go. Do you have any questions before I leave?" I figure I'm already paying for this so I may as well get my money's worth. Therefore, I use the opportunity to pick his brains. "Erm this is slightly unrelated, but I can't seem to get rid of this acne, do you have any suggestions?" Thankfully he doesn't try to dodge the question like most doctor's aware of their pay check, he looks thoughtful for a second and adds, "Well diet and rest will obviously help with that, but it can also hormonal which I believe could be in your case. If you wish, I can write you a prescription for the contraceptive pill which you would get for no cost on your insurance. It has been proven to be very useful in dealing with acne." "Yes, thank you Doctor it's definitely worth a try." "But you also need to make sure you are eating well and trying to live as healthy as possible." "Thank you, Doctor, I appreciate it." His pager bleeps and he stands up taking that as he cue to leave. I decide to take the opportunity to rest as I wait for the IV drip to finish, and I fire off a quick text to Ryan letting him know that all is well and that I will be leaving the hospital soon. He sends me back the dancing emoji which brings a smile to my face, and I feel thankful to have him in my life, no point living my life like one big pity party. Once the IV has finished I buzz for the nurse, desperate to get out of here now. After it's removed, the only clothes I have to change into much to my embarrassment are last night's uniform. I snap a quick selfie in my uniform and send it to Ryan, he will take great delight in my humiliation. This time I just get the hot faced thirsty emoji, like most men he obviously appreciates the 'uniform'. The worst part of it is I need to get to college to meet Sasha to get my notes and attend my final lecture of the day and yes, I don't have time to go home first, so I'm going to have to continue my walk of shame at college. I fill my prescription before I leave the hospital, I'll try anything to be pimple free and not have the likes of Chloe looking disgusted by me. The thought of her judgmental face strengthens my resolve to find a way to ruin her bitchy attempt in enlisting me to deliver her an A grade, I want her to regret the day she even thought for one second, she would be able to play me.