Delinquent For Christmas

Chapter Five

        I woke with a jolt. The light was shining through the curtains, right into my face. It wasn't too bright out, but it was greying. Shit! I slide fast to my feet and run across the room. I don't try to be quiet, just throw on the bedroom light and start digging through the closet.

        "What's going on?"

        I ignore the sleepy, cranky boy and run into the bathroom. I quickly change from my pj's into a pair of jeans and a sweater, and throw my hair into a ponytail.

       "What the hell time is it?"

       "Nearly seven. Get your ass up, or we're both in trouble. I was meant to be at the food bank over an hour ago! That means you, too. Sorry, I really am, but my mother's rules. Now, get up, we need to go!"

       I was frantic. I ignored the fact that I was fueling his amusement and spent twenty minutes "motivating" him. But he finally got himself ready, throwing on jeans, a black T-shirt, his backwards black hat, and a leather jacket. I race down the stairs, pushing him from in front of me the whole time to make him go faster. I move to open the driver's door, but he steps in front of me. "At least let me drive. I don't trust you to not kill us."

        "Meh," I spat childishly, but handed over the keys.

        "Hope, dear, there you are!"

        "Sorry, Ms. Gonzalez. Woke up late this morning. Brought in some extra help, though." I used my thumb to point in the direction of the boy behind me, leaning against the wall beside the door which we came in through. She motions her head for me to come with her and pulls me aside.

        "We can't afford his kind coming in here and disrupting everything we've worked so hard for. You know as well as anyone how fragile this process is."

        "I know, Mam. But my mom made me bring him, and I take full responsibility. Besides, you're always saying we could use all the help we could---"

        "Yeah, yeah, yeah...But I'm watching you two. To your station." She ran off, grumbling to herself. I've never heard her use such a harsh tone before, or act so judgmental. I'm sure she's just anxious, that's all. I mean, it's nearly Christmas...there's so much work to be done.

      I motion for him to follow me, not bothering to check if he was or not. I just went straight to work, throwing myself straight into the action. This job really wasn't hard to get, I knew when the extra pair of hands started taking the cans from the cart and putting them on the shelves, I knew Zachary understood. His arm or fingers would occasionally brush against mine, and it was really annoying. So I elbowed him back. We were smacking and shoving each other, laughing and having a pretty good time. I never noticed how loud we were being loud. Time went by fast. Work got done better when fun was being made out of it. I think we made good time, too, even though we had double my usual work load, because I also had double the help.

        "Goodbye, Ms. Gonzalez. See you Christmas morning!" She waved me off, stalking away. She's not too bad a person, just cranky at times. Everybody has those days.

        "So, you actually work on Christmas?"

       "I do the work, but it's not like I get paid for it or anything. I volunteer. But yes, I do work on Christmas. I don't think many people realize how many people there are who actually don't have very much. I didn't realize how much I even had until I was given what I do now. How, even when I was homeless, I wasn't on the streets. Even though I had no family, I still had someone to care for me. I might of had to fight for food every once in a while, but I never starved. I didn't know until I left, how lucky I really was to be in the foster care system at all."