one night → jb

one night; chapter seventeen.

"Watch your step, ladies!" An officer standing outside the bus semi-shouted.

Amber and Estefania were the last people to get off the bus. They followed the line into the prison.

Estefania imagined that there would be girls behind bars jeering at them, but that was only in the TV shows.

As they walked through the hallway, other inmates were watching them. Instead of jeers, there were whoops and hollers.

They continued in a single file line, stopping occasionally once they'd reached someone's cell. They had gotten to one cell block in particular, it happened to be Amber and Estefania's.

"Inmates 7839 and 7840, in this cell." It took a minute for Estefania to realize those were her numbers. She just so happened to look down at her jumpsuit. She hurried after Amber into the medium-sized space. There were two sets of bunk beds, one set had two other ladies in it. The other two she assumed were for her and Amber.

"Aha ha ha," the lady on the top bunk hit the bottom of the bunk, trying to get the other's attention, "fresh meat, Loren. Wake up."

Estefania stood back, and waited for Amber's next move.

"You want the top, or tha bottom?" She asked Estefania, intentionally ignoring the other women.

"I'll take the top." She said.

"Don't be pissin' on me, either." She smiled putting her things atop the bare mattress. Estefania laughed as well and climbed to the top.

"You lot need help?" The newly woken lady asked. Her british accent seethed through her voice.

"With what exactly?" Estefania questioned.

"Making up that mattress? I'll do it for a snickers." She explained. Estefania furrowed her eyebrows, and was about to protest until she started again.

"I'm kidding, loosen up."

"You didn't need that snickers, anyways." The lady at the top bunk laughed. Estefania joined her. "You girls better go ahead and get your things from the commissary. You can make that up later" Amber nodded.

"Thassa good idea. Les' go ahead, Este." She trailed off, and began walking. Estefania smiled at the ladies before walking off, thanking them for the help and advice.

As they were walking out, a guard stopped them. "Where do you girls think you're going?"

"We were going to go get some things from commissary." Estefania spoke up.

The male guard looked between the two, "both of you new here?" They nodded simultaneously.

"You girls really aren't supposed to leave your cells at all unless it's an authorized time, but I know how it is when new girls come in. You've got fifteen minutes. The line is sort of long already." Amber walked past him, but Estefania nodded and smiled.

They didn't exactly know where they were going so they just continued going forward. Amber approached a white, short lady and asked here where the commissary was, she pointed over, and they followed her finger.

The line had at most 9 people in it. They went to the back and waited.

Once Amber had gotten everything she needed to get, she stood aside and waited on Estefania.

"Name?" A black girl in a tan jumpsuit asked her.

"Estefania Preciado."

"You have five hundred dollars in your books. Would you like to spend them?" She widened her eyes. Couldn't have been anyone but Justin.

"Is there like a list?" She asked in hopes of some kind of menu or something.

"You new?" She asked. Estefania nodded. "There's a little care package that all the new women have to buy." She turned around and grabbed it, putting it aside. "Any snacks or anything? Needs some headphones, or some games? The list is right outside the window."

She turned her head and saw what she was talking about.

"Actually," she started, "give me some ten cups of instant chicken ramen noodles, hot cheetos if you have them, and some bottled water." The lady nodded, and went to complete the order.

She gave her the snacks, little basket, and water, and looked behind her. "Next!" She called out. Estefania took that as her cue to move and go about her business.

They laid all of their things on their beds, and Amber sat on her bunk in the process. "When can we take a shower?" Estefania asked.

"Shower time for this hall is after lunch and that's ten minutes away." The lady with the british accent spoke. She nodded and looked around. She didn't know what to do at all.

"Is this where we will permanently be?" She asked.

"No, there are blocks. It's almost exactly like that TV show Orange is the new Black. Once you get assigned a block you'll get a different color jumpsuit as well."

"When can we have visits?" She spoke up again after a couple of minutes of silence.

"You'd have to check with an officer to let you check with a receptionist." Estefania walked out of their cell as soon as she said that.

She saw the same guard in the hallway and approached him. "Excuse me," she said in a sweet tone, "can I go to the receptionist and ask them about scheduled visits?"

"Sure, but that's it. No more favors unless you have to pee." She thanked him, and rushed to the office, she knew where it was located because she'd seen it when she walked in.

"Hi, um, when are we allowed visits from outsiders?" She asked slowly.

"The person has to schedule a time between 8 AM-5PM on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The maximum amount of days they can come are two a week." She told her.

"My boyfriend doesn't know that, is there any kind of way you could send like a telegram or something to him so he'd know." The receptionist did a light chuckle and sort of shook her head.

"We don't send those. I'll let you call the person really quickly. You have thirty seconds." Estefania's eye widened.

The receptionist motioned for her to come behind the desk. She made her squat under it.

"I'm not supposed to do this, so you need to stay quiet and unseen." Estefania nodded.

The day passed Estefania the entire phone, and Estefania began dialing. She obviously wasn't kidding because she started a timer.

After two rings, Justin answered. "Hello?" He asked.

"Justin!" She quietly exclaimed. "I literally have thirty seconds to talk to you, I need to tell you that you can make an appointment to see me on the weekends between 8 AM and 5 PM. I have to go Justin. Please set a date and please come see me. I love you, bye." She hung up, not letting him get a word in.

"Twenty seconds, nice." She nodded.

"I have one more question, when do we get calls?" She stood and walked back around to the front part of the desk.

"You get two calls each week. One on Tuesdays and one on Wednesdays." Her phone rang. The receptionist shoo'ed her off and Estefania turned to leave. She stayed at a corner to hear what was happening.

"What's the inmate's name?" She asked. "When would you like to visit?" She paused again. "You have a scheduled visit for Estefania Preciado on February 8, 2019."

Estefania smiled and went back down the hallway to her bunk.