Lead me to Heaven

Overworked

The cafeteria was full as ever and the line to buy food went on forever, but Sandra was comfortably sitting on a table she had all to herself and was eating an umeboshi nigiri. Valerie and Shoshana appeared a few minutes later and Sandra waved at them as soon as she saw her friends come down the stairs.

“Hey Val, Shan, over here!” Both girls walked straight to her and sat on two of the three empty spots, grinning widely. “Hi Sandy,” Shoshana greeted her with a warm smile that typical of her. “Hey Shanna,” She replied.  “You got us a great spot, girl. Well done!” Val chimed in still grinning.

“We got out early,” Sandy explained with a shrug. “but I did have to fight for it. People didn’t like me sitting here all by myself in this big table,” she confessed with a proud smile. “Good job!” Val congratulated her.

At that moment, Sandra noticed that Shoshana was trying not to stare at her food. Her mother didn’t like her spending money in what she considered worthless things, so she never had spare money to buy food after class. Knowing that, Valerie and Sandra usually took turns to buy extra food and pretend to have bought too much so they could offer Shoshana some of it. Being the extremely naïve girl that she was, Shoshana usually fell for it and they were all happy.

That day it was Sandra’s turn and she had bought two extra tuna nigiri, as she knew Shoshana was a picky eater and didn’t like umeboshi. “Unfortunately, I was just saving you two the spot,” Sandra announced. “Danny is picking me up any moment now. He wants me to be at the convention.”

“But I thought you didn’t perform until the afternoon,” Shoshana said innocently. She might not have been beautiful, but when she had that innocent look in her face that was almost child-like, she became attractive in her very own way. It was like watching a young doe with big brown eyes and long curvy eyelashes. “I don’t. He’s just very obsessive and needs to have everything under control. He usually freaks out if I’m not around to calm him down a couple of hours before we play,” Sandra explained. “I see,” Shoshana replied half lost in her thoughts.

“Your band leader has stage-fright? That’s a good one!” Val said very amused. “Hey, you guys wanna come along? I’m sure Danny won’t mind...” Sandra offered. “Thanks, but we all know he does mind,” Val said laughing. “I couldn’t go anyway,” Shoshana said looking down for a moment. “My mom wants me to help her with some chores this afternoon.” Valerie clicked her tongue disapprovingly and Sandra bit her lower lip angrily. They both loathed Shoshana’s mom and sister.

“But I hope I can go to one of your concerts soon,” Shoshana added excitedly. It was like her to have tremendous mood swings that made her look even more childish but, in her, they looked kinda cute.  She looked more attractive when she was smiling and she had confessed that boys often told her she had a smile that could lit a room. “I’ve never been able to watch you perform yet,” she complained with a furrow.

Overacting was another thing she did all the time as well and most people found it adorable. Valerie had once described her like a fluffy pet who was overly cute whenever she performed her little tricks and Shoshana had found that description flattering.

“I’m sorry,” Sandra apologized unnecessarily. “I’m sure there will be a chance soon enough considering the way Danny has been exploiting us lately,” she half-joked half promised seriously. Shoshana smiled and nodded.