Their Journey.

T W E L V E.

                                                                                                    Khyra

Today was my first day at work and I was nervous. Since I didn't have to be there until 3 we all decided to stop and get breakfast after check out. We decided on Denny's since their food was pretty decent. Today I rode with Mom since she wanted to spend time with me. The music was playing low and we were just cracking jokes about the previous weekend. "Are you ready to start your senior year?" I honestly was because I was ready to graduate and move out. "I am. I'm honestly ready for all the events. If I wasn't working I would've tried to run for senior president. I want to make the best of my last year." She agreed and felt that I should still try but if not try to get Khya to run and that way I could still have some say. We started talking about prom and told us that in January we would start getting everything together. I wasn't really thinking about prom because it was too much. I would have to find a date, dress, shoes, hair, make up, the whole nine. I found myself lost in my thoughts about senior year and what all I wanted to accomplish until I felt mom tap me. "You okay over there", she said with a light laugh. "Yeah just thinking about what all I want to do for senior year. I want to take a fun trip for Spring Break, I know that for sure." She suggested we go visit one of our cousins out in Cali and I agreed. We pulled up to Denny's before I pulled my phone out to call Khya when she let me know that they were at the Michigan U-turn and would be pulling up in 2 minutes. Me, mom, & Khyler exited the vehicle and went inside to get a table. We let them know that we would have other guest joining, a total of 10 of us. The waitress sitted us quickly and soon Khya and them were heading to the table. Once we were all comfortable we scanned the menu. I knew what I wanted so I decided to busy myself with my phone when a text from an unknown number came in. "Hey beautiful, lock me in. -bestfriend" I knew it was JaMar when he said bestfriend so I locked him in and text back a simple K. He responded asking what I was doing and I told him out getting breakfast. He responded a few seconds later asking if we could hang this upcoming Wednesday and that he wanted to show me something. I agreed and locked my phone before I looked up to see mom and Khya smiling at me. I shrugged it off and drank a little of my water before the waitress came and took our orders.

After waiting almost 10 minutes, all our food was coming out. I said a small grave before I dug in. Every so often I would steal a forkful from Khya's plate since she had a western omelet. After we all ate we got up and mom paid the bill. We headed to the car seeing I had a hour before I had to go in so mom just decided to head that way since she didn't want me late on my first day. The butterflies I had earlier had returned. I don't know if it was because it was my first day or what. We pulled into the strip mall and decided to go inside a clothing store that was 2 stores down. Since school was that next week I decided to start my shopping today and just finish up on Wednesday, figuring I'd have JaMar drive me since I was already going to be with him and I'm sure he had to start as well. I started going through the racks, picking up everything I knew I would like. Once I was done I seen mom coming up with a handful as well saying she needed to grab some things for herself. She was going shopping for us tomorrow, saying she wanted to go alone because she knew how she wanted to shop. We got to the register and was rung up fairlt quick. Since mom paid for everything this weekend I decided to pay for her items. At first she wouldn't allow me to but I kept reminding her that it was my turn to spoil her. When I looked at the time I seen it was 2:40 so I rushed to the car and out my bags in before I hugged mom and told her I would call when it was time for me to leave. I did my special handshake with Khyler before I headed to Kids Footlocker.

I walked in seeing it was slightly slow before I walked to the register and asked for the manager. I had forgotten his name and made a mental note to ask him when he came. He came from the back and told me to follow him. We walked into his office where he handed me a striped shirt and a name time.
"So today you're going to be just learning the basics; shoe coordination, greeting and assisting the customers, thing like that. I'm going to have you back here for the first 30 minutes just getting things memorized and finding the shoe one of your coworkers ask for then I'll put you on the floor for 2 hours. After that I'm going to have you straighten up the clothes and then the last 30 we'll be back getting all your info in. You get off at 6:10 in case you need to notify soneone now." I took everything in and nodded. He asked me if I had any questions which I didn't until I realized I still didn't know his name.
"Sorry for forgetting but what is your name again?" He laughed small and let me know it was okay before he said "Caleb" I nodded and we both stood up and headed to where the shoes were located. He broke everything down and left me there to resolve something in the front. While I was walking around remembering where everything was a girl who looked my age came up and introduced herself. "Hey I'm Lia. I'll be helping you back here since I'm fairly new as well." I introduced myself before she started to go over some tips that helped her out during her first week. It seemed as though business had picked up a little because the employees were coming back it felt like every 3 minutes. Caleb had came to the door and told me to follow him. When I reached him he came up and led me to the front of the store where he said I would be. Since I was new he wanted me to get familiar with everything.
"So up here you'll greet the customers who comes in and then just make your way around asking if they need assistance, fixing up the shoes, and clothes while you have free time. Every so often just step in to see if the customer needs help. Try to stay near the front and near the middle because that's where more customers will be. Every sale you make be sure to write down the total and how many pairs you sold so that you can get your commission. If you need help with anything come get me or the head cashier Torian." I nodded before he told me to follow him again and he introduced me to the head cashier, Torian. She smiled big, showing her braces and told me not to hesitate to ask for help. I nodded and went back towards the front to busy myself.

Customers were coming back to back and I was glad that I was a fast learner. I had sold 13 pairs of shoes within the last hour and a half. I was folding a few shirts when I heard the door ding signaling a customers had walked in. "Hello, welcome to Kids footlocker." They spoke back before they walked to the bigger kids shoes that were close by. After 2 minutes I walked up and introduced myself and asked if they needed help. The lady informed me that she was shopping for her 3 kids and she was going to need assistance. I asked her what kind of shoes she was looking for and she notified me that she wasn't sure. She had a daughter going into her freshmen year, a middle schooler, and a 1st grader, 2 girls and one boy. She wanted some help from a younf person to get something she think her kids would like. Together we picked out 9 pairs of shoes, 3 a piece. She thanked me and kept trying to tip me even though I kept telling her I was just doing my job. I told her instead to come see me whenever she needed shoes and I would gladly help. Once she left out the store Caleb came up to me and took me to the back to fill out the needed paperwork. I was off in 10 minutes so I quickly sent my mom a message informing her. She responded back that she had started dinner and was sending JaMar. She obviously trusted him enough to drive my brand new car. But if there was even a small scratch I was going to fight him.

Soon after I was punching out and grabbed my schedule for the week seeing I was only scheduled for Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. I wasn't going to complain because he still managed to give me some good hours. I waved bye before I walked outside and seen my car parked in the handicap parking. I walked up and got in before speaking softly and got situated. I wanted to stop and grab some snacks since I hadn't eaten since breakfast. While driving to the store near our homes we made small conversation before I told him I needed to go school shopping. Once he pulled up I hopped out and made my way inside. Thankfully the store was empty inside and out so I quickly grabbed what I wanted, paid, and went about my way. Once we pulled up to my house he told me that my mom had invited him over for dinner and he was going to freshen up. I nodded and went inside to do the same.