monochopsis - byler

soda pop diner

(wills pov)

I am excited to go to the mall to shop for clothes, autumn is coming up so I need things like sweaters and pants to keep me warm. 

The mall was crowded, as always. Gap was extra crowded and so were a lot of other clothing stores. The other stores were not as crowded. There's also a sort of new diner, which I'm hoping I can get hired for while I'm here too. It was one of those cool 50's ones where the waiters and waitresses got to use roller skates. At the time it was mainly only waitresses but now they hire anybody, mainly younger people like teens. I really wanted to be a roller skate server. Doesn't that sound fun? It's a good thing I'm good at roller skating, I learned that the day we went to Rink-o-Mania in California for my mom's work party, then again except at a Hawkins roller rink when I had to third wheel with Mike and El on my own fucking birthday. I'm still mad about that. 

Going in to try and get hired then going shopping for clothes wouldn't hurt right? It shouldn't, because the other stores are packed. Fuck it. I'm going in.

"Hello welcome to Soda Pop Diner, we have games, shakes, and other various foods." the server, who I know like the back of my hand greets me in a not exactly stale but not exactly enthused voice. Max Mayfield had a sort of smirk you barely saw ever when she saw me. "Oh hey Will! Nice to see you here. Here for food?"

"Nope! I was actually trying to get hired." I explain.

"I hope you get the job! It's lonely here, but pretty fun to work." Max gestures for me to follow her. I do of course.

"Well uh here's the room you will be interviewed in. Sadly I can't interview you, because you'd be hired straight fucking away. I've seen your skating skills man." Max laughs.

"Thanks Max bye!" I say while I wave to her.

...

I wasn't expecting Robin Buckley to be the person who came in afterwards with skates my size. She had skates in one hand and a clipboard in the other. Her outfit was the "male version" of the diner outfit, which was a nice light pink color and like a traditional skirted uniform but with shorts. 

"Hi! I'm Robin, and I will be interviewing you today! What position are you looking to get hired for?" Robin asks.

"Oh uh, the waiter position" I reply.

"Today's hopefully gonna be your lucky day then! You see, me and my best friend Steve are going to college next month and we need people to take over our positions. I assume you can skate, so put these on" She says while handing me the skates. I put them on and stand up. "Cool. So first of tell me your name and do a little bit of a skill showcase."

"Okay, my name is Will Byers" I answer while skating around the room. 

"I've heard a bit about you Will Byers. Steve and Max know you a little bit I think?" she ponders for a sec before asking me another question. "What's your schedule like?"

"Just school really." I answer. "I'm really not that much of a partier or sportsy kid. You could call me a bit of a wallflower when it comes to going out around crazy people I don't know"

Robin laughed at my little joke and then we continued with the interview. 

...

I left the diner, they told me to come back at around 2 hours from now or they could send me the information via mail, but I still need to buy some back to school clothing.

Gap had some amazing choices, and I ended up getting a grey zip up hoodie, two autumny sweaters, a flannel, and a pair of corduroys. This ended me up with 20 dollars left of the allowance from mom and Johnathan's gift. I also planned on hitting a thrift store because they had cool band tee-shirts. I had gotten shirts from bands I liked a lot already, but a few more wouldn't hurt.

The shopping took about an hour and a half, then I decided to get ice cream. I walked in and decided to try something new. Instead of strawberry or vanilla, I got brownie batter (a/n this is my favorite) and it was very good, still not my favorite, but maybe top 10 for me. The cashier was very sweet and reminded me of El too. I like El, don't get me wrong. I just wish Mike spent time with me too. Sometimes it feels like he just forgets about me or something. I wish I could just tell him what I feel about him. I wish that I could think that if he hated me, I didn't need him. That wouldn't ever happen though, because I do need Mike. I needed him before we met that day on the swing sets. I needed him before El did.

I then noticed that I only had five minutes until I had to arrive at the Soda Pop Diner. "Shit!" I yelled before running the hell out of that place. Punctuality is key if you want to get hired. This could be me putting my potential job at risk. I almost ran into a group of three people when I was running through the much more empty mall now. I did a bit of parkour, which either looked really cool or really weird. I'll never know. 

Luckily I got there with about a minute to spare. I did get one of the fastest miles in my class in middle school. When Robin walked out I beamed.

"Well Byers, I'm sorry but-" my smile faded just a little bit. 

"You got the job!" Max cheered and gave me a high five. My smile growing even wider than it was before.

"She's right. Congrats Will, here's your uniform. You start Tuesday next week.

991 words total.