True Intentions

One

"Carlandra Boodoo..." Fast typing noises. "You started with the late August group, correct?"

I nodded as I stood before the dark-haired receptionist at the front desk. "Mm-hm."

Staring at the computer screen in front of her, she said, "It says here that, out of the school fee payments required for full enrollment, there are two whose deadlines you've missed." I knew they'd call me down after school about unpaid school fees – again. The receptionist looked at me. "Do you have the payment ready now?" I shook my head. The receptionist leaned forward. "I think I may have spoken to your mother about this, but despite the semi-reasonable pay dates the school has given, we also offer other flexible payment plans to adjust to different needs. If you wanted to consider..."

I knew Mom wouldn't want to. She had too much pride. "That's okay. An inconvenience just made us a little late. We'll get it to you."

"Do you know when perhaps?"

"Um... My mom gets her paycheck at the end of this week."

"Okay, so maybe around that time?" I nodded. The receptionist wrote something down on a pad before ripping the page off and setting it aside. "You know your balance?"

Yes. "Um, remind me again?"

She turned the computer screen towards me so I could see, before writing it down on the pad and ripping out the paper, handing it to me with a smile. "When you're ready for your payment, you can bring it up to the main office in cash. They'll give you a receipt for it, okay?"

I took the paper and put on a smile. "Okay, thank you."

"My pleasure. Have a nice day."

"You too." I left the building and went to catch my waiting ride.

***

"Oh my God, I just got another follower on Wattpad," I said, while scrolling through my list of thirty-one followers on my phone. I knew that, on Wattpad, thirty-one followers was almost-slash-basically equivalent to zero, but it certainly meant a lot to me that people were taking interest in my short stories.

Mom - who was entering the living room, holding a tray that carried three large lemonade glasses – said in her Trinidadian accent, "Followers is nice, but when does revenue come in? Don't you get paid on that app Carlandra?"

"Only if I get a certain amount of views for each story," I explained. But it's not about the money, I wanted to add. It's about doing something I love and sharing it with people. I put my phone down and sat back.

Mom set the tray down and handed a lemonade glass to Benito - who was sitting beside me – before handing one to me. Sighing, she said, "Honestly, I can't wait till you and your brother find a job." She shook her head. "The landlord's coming by in a few days for the rent, which is already two weeks behind, but I don't even have all of it. And I honestly don't even know what I'm gonna tell her." She sighed again and took a sip of lemonade.

I sipped my own drink silently. The struggle with money in my family had always been a problem since before the day I was born. It also didn't help that Mom wasn't very close with other relatives - the ones she did talk to were in Trinidad or just as broke - and after my father impregnated her twice, he bounced and went to his hometown in Jamaica. We weren't so poor to the point where we were gonna get evicted. But then again, that was also probably due to the fact that we had such an understanding landlord. If that hadn't been the case, I knew Mom's hair would be turning greyer than it already was from stress.

Minutes later, after finishing my lemonade, I looked at Benito. Reading my eyes, he nodded. We got up from the little couch. "Where're you guys going?" Mom asked.