Babe.

3.

Blanca. 

I groaned as Benny, his friends and Denise walked into the cafe. I didn't mind the rest of the Sandlot boys but Benny and Denise pissed me off to no extent. For different reasons. Benny, well we had just never gotten along, call it destiny. But Denise, no, she had gone out of her way to be an ass to me. She was new when we came to middle school, and I was told to tour her around. I usually made friends with people quickly, even if we weren't super close I could go up to them and talk if I saw them around without it being awkward. 

But Denise from the moment we'd met had been nothing but rude despite the fact that I had tried to hard to be nice to her. I remember she'd looked me up and down and the first thing she said to me was, "has anyone ever told you that dress makes you look fat?" 

Let me tell you I was taken aback because usually people weren't that outright horrible to me, at least not for no reason, but she'd insisted she hadn't meant it ina mean way. Being a bitch and ownning up to it was one thing, that I could respect at least you knew that you weren't nice, but being a bitch and pretending to be a sweet angel? That got on my nerves. 

"Bye Blanca! See you tomorrow honey!" Lucy called as she walked out of the cafe. 

I waved back, "bye Luce!"

I had made friends quickly at the cafe, the main ones being Maggie and Goldie Kings, twin sisters. They were a year older than me. My cousin Caspar had also bee sentenced to workig with me by his father who had thought it was a brilliant idea and wanted his son to start working too. 

"You're going to have to go up to them eventually Blanca." Caspar told me amused as he banged the coffee machine to get it going again. 

I scowled, "if you say so." At least that way I'd be able to tell Benny what times I was free to work on our project. I was pretty relaxed about most things but my grades were not one of them, if I wanted to go to one of the best law schools in the country I also had to be one of the best candidates in the country and that meant a 4.0 GPA. 

I walked over to them pen and pad ready, they stared at me surprised, "what the hell are you doing here?" Yeah-yeah asked me confused. 

I sighed, "learning the value of the dollar. What can I get you?"

"How about another server?" Denise asked snappily. 

"How about no." I replied resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I knew my manager was watching my every move since I was still on probation. "Have you had a chance to look over the menus yet?" 

Yeah-yeah thankfully started ordering before Benny or Denise could say anything else to set me off, I jotted them down quickly, "oh and Benny, I'm free from elven to one tomorrow and on from six to seven on wednesday and thurday next week." I told him. 

Denise shot me an outraged look but I interrupted her before she could yell at me, "it's for a school project, trust me I wouldn't be saying if it if I didn't have to." 

Benny frowned, "are you deaf or something Blanca? I already told you I'm not meeting you out of school for this bullshit." 

I narrowed my eyes, "yes, you are. I'm not doing this all on my own and you have the great fortune of being my lab partner. Every other group is meeting outside of school even Nika and Yeah-yeah so maybe take a lesson from your friend. I'll be waiting for you tomorrow at the library at eleven. Be there."

With that I walked back to the kitchen to get their orders ready, "how did it go?" Maggie asked amused. 

I shrugged, "it could have gone worse. But I swear if he doesn't show up tomorrow I will rip his head off Mags." 

"As you should." Goldie agreed walking past, "oh, and you have new customers B." 

I turned to see the Smalls sitting down in one of the booths in my area, now that was a welcome surprise. I walked out from behind the counter smiling as I went over to them, "Mr and Mrs Scott, it's so nice to see you! How are you settling in?" 

Mrs Scott siled at me, "so great thanks honey. I like it here already, and please tell your Dad thanks again for that barbecue, it was a really great way to meet everyone." 

I grinned, "of course. He'll be thrilled you liked it, bringing everyone together is very important him. What about you how've you been?" 

He shrugged, "pretty good so far. The kids in my class are really nice." 

He was a grade or two younger than me but he was a sweet kid, a bit shy though. "That's great! I'm glad you like it, if you ever need anything at school feel free to find me and ask. Can I get you anything other than some menus? Some water?" 

They wanted some still water and I went off to get it as the doorbell of the cafe rang and two kids, Halley and Isabella walked in. I babysitted them occasionally when their parents went out of dinner. They were sweet kids. "Hey guys." I greeted after having brought the smalls their water. 

Halley hugged me around the waist, she was only seven so she wasn't very tall yet, Isabella was ten. "Hi Blanca." Her big brown eyes stared up at me as she grinned.

"Hi Hal, how's your rabbit?" I asked her as I broughtthem to one of the smaller booths in my section. 

She beamed, "he's all better now. The vet cured him!" 

"That's awesom! And what about you Isa? How are things with Teddy?" I continued pulling my notepad and out. 

She blushed crimson, "good. He asked me to be his girlfriend yesterday." 

I winked at her, "aren't you lucky. What can I get you?"

"Can we have the strawberry milkshakes please?" They asked with matching smiles. Isa handed me a five dollar note, in advance. It wasn't techincally enough but I could pay for the rest with my own money. For them i didn't mind, besides I wasn't about to send them back out. 

I grabbed the food Benny's table had ordered and started bringing itover to them, I had figured the whole multiple plates thing out pretty quickly which I was quite proud of. Benny frowned, "I ordered a banana milkshake genius." 

"No you didn't." I replied shaking my head. 

"Yes I did, this is strawberry, I'm allergic to strawberry, so why would I order this?" He asked me pointedly. 

That only made me want to shove it down his throat. "You're not very good at this are you?" Denise asked me in hre fake little voice, "maybe I should have persisted with getting that other waiter." 

"I told you she wouldn't last." Benny replied amused.

I grabbed the milkshake, "I'll get you a new one right away." I ground out. 

I handed the strawberryy one to Maggie who was on break, "it was returned so it's all yours." 

She grinned, "perfect, I was craving one anyways." 

Caspar who had seen me annoyed expression bit back a laugh as I glared at the banana milkshake. "What are you going to do? Spit in it?" 

"There's a thought." I replied, that would actually be funny, only it wouldn't do much since he didn't actually know.

"I was kidding, now get back out there I can see Terry shooting you looks." he told me pushing my forwards lightly. Our manager was in fact shooting me looks, I left the safe haven of behind the counter and brought Benny his milkshake. 

"I hope you choke on it." I told him a in a low voice so that Terry woldn't hear me. 

"And make life easy for you? Dream on." Benny replied rolling his eyes.