Lazer Tag Life

1

"I'm sorry guys, but you really are the core four people who work here, you can't have off tomorrow." Our boss, Rocky chewed her bubblegum painfully slow, as she chewed us out for wanting a day off, after working for two whole weeks, excluding weekends. All four of us dared not to speak out against her, but I, Paul Thomson, was about to change that.

"You do know that finals are coming up? It's almost January. Plus, it's getting snowy, and it's hard to see the roads at night."

"Then hire an Uber, or call your parents!" She snapped, making Nick, the smallest one out of all of us, flinch as she throws her arms out.

"Come on, you know my mom," I retorted. "She doesn't want to drive all the way out here!"

"Again, Uber..." There she goes again with the slow chewing.

"Paul's right," Nick spoke, but not loud enough for Rocky.

"Eh?" She leaned in closely, until their noses were an inch away from each other, making Nick slouch even more.

"I-I said...He's right. My parents have to pick up my little sisters from boxing at 6, so they can't come. That's why they got me a car for my birthday last month. They were excited about me getting my permit, and they wanted me to go on my own adventures, and I want to, too. And you can't really do that when the snow is up to your thighs."

"That's because you're, like, 3 feet tall."

"That's not nice!" Bob, who was more interested in whatever was happening in Pokémon Black to invest in what was happening just now, stood up and rested a hand in Nick's shoulder.

"Whatever. I'm the same height. I know your pain."

"Still, can we have off Friday, at least?" Alex, a tall, lanky guy who happened to be my closest pal, suggested.

"I guess you can leave at noon, or something."

"Yes!" All four of us jumped up and did a little celebratory dance.

"But," Rocky halted us, putting one finger in the air. "I have to take $5 out of your paycheck."

Alex was shocked. Bob looked like he was about to cry. I turned to her. "You're kidding, right? We need the money so badly. We have to pay for lunch, I have to pay for my own tutoring, and I have to save up for the cheapest MacBook so I can stop using my sister's crappy work laptop!"

"Look guys, I can't control it. It's my boss. Yep, there is a higher power than me in this small, crappy, lazer tag facility."

"Email him or something!" Bob blurted out. "I need to eat, I'm tired of making grape jelly sandwiches for lunch everyday!"

"...I'm not even gonna ask. And I will email him. Hopefully, he understands and remembers how though and expensive Senior year is."

"Thanks so much, Rocky," I tried to go in for a hug, but she dodged it.

"There will be plenty of time to thank me after work. Now, there's a line of sweaty, prepubescent sixth graders outside waiting for the best darn lazer tag game of their lives, so go and give it to them!"

The four of us shuffled outside of her cramped cubicle, outside into the open space of the building. There was one long, wide path facing us, and we had to go all the way to the back to get to the Lazer Tag Area. We passed the main lobby first, then our trademark snack store, that took up half the building and sold everything from Starbucks Frapps to full dinner meals, and the Paintball Area. While we were passing the lobby, I saw a familiar face sitting on our couch, petting her cat, face buried in a new Young Adult novel.

"Hey, Paigey!" I called out, waving obnoxiously to get her attention from 30 feet away.

She looked up from her book, and her face lit up when she saw us. "Hey, Paulie! Nicky, LexLex, Bobbo! How's my girlfriend treating you?"

"She won't let us take a day off!" Alex sneered.

"Oh, that's Rocky for you," Paige shrugged. "She just wants you to work hard, that's all. Now, don't you guys have a lazer tag game to ref?"

"I know, I know, we're going."

"Have fun! Make sure you don't get slapped with pizza like you did last week!"

"I'll try, but it's gonna be hard."