In Search of Tomorrow ✓

Two

I rolled my eyes, more in acknowledgement of her teasing than anything, and switched tasks. As long as I was earning my paycheck, the job I was doing was irrelevant.

The bell on top of the glass door jingled, and I glanced up to see Cameron walking inside with his soccer posse, his uniform still on. I tucked my hair behind my ear absentmindedly and bent over the cash register.

Cameron's friends got in line, but he went straight up to me and asked, "So this is where you work after school?"

His blue eyes seemed almost too probing. I dropped my gaze and began straightening the money in the cash register. "Soccer practice done already?" I countered.

"It was cancelled; it's storming." I glanced up just long enough to see that Cameron had crossed his arms and was studying me carefully. "That's a nice outfit you've got there," he observed.

I could feel my cheeks heating up as a imagined how I must look in my apron with the animated cow on it that Katie required all of her employees to wear. "Are you going to order?" I asked. "You're holding up the line."

Holding up his hands in an "I'm sorry" gesture, he backed away and rejoined his friends in line, where they immediately resumed the joking and shoving they'd been partaking in when they'd first entered the store.

I took the money the next costumer handed me and pulled out a few coins from the cash register. "Your change is forty-four cents," I said brightly, passing over the money and pasting on a smile. "Thank you!"

The costumer tipped the coins in the tip jar and I smiled I myself, trying to visually estimate how much was in the tip jar. Katie always let me keep whatever change was in there--I told her I was saving up for college.

Since it was getting full and there weren't any costumers immediately requiring my attention, I emptied the few dollars inside into my change purse, trying to count it up as it poured out. I estimated ten or so dollars.

"I didn't know I signed up to tutor a thief."

I whirled around and saw Cameron standing in front of the cash register, holding a dripping cone of chocolate ice cream in one hand and a five-dollar bill in the other. I immediately turned bright pink again.

"I'm not stealing," I stammered, taking the five dollars and counting out his change. "Katie lets me keep the tips, for college."

Cameron took his change and counted it out. "You gave me an extra quarter," he said, passing it back.

I tucked my hair behind my ear again and returned the quarter to the cash register.

"For college, huh?" he asked as he licked the tip of his ice cream, surveying the now-empty tip jar carefully.

I nodded a little too vigorously.

With a shrug, Cameron dropped a twenty-dollar bill into the jar, then turned and strode out of the shop, lifting his hand in a wave. My eyes were wide as the door jangled, shutting behind him.

"Can I pay or what?"

I shook my head and glanced up to see one of Cameron's friends standing in front of me, his eyebrows wrinkled. "I'm happy to get free ice cream, but I figured I'd ask," he said.

Rolling my eyes, I took his money (which was exact change, luckily), and said dryly, "Have a nice day."

The guy nodded in my direction and took off the way Cameron had gone. "I'll be sure to," he said.

Biting my lip, I quickly collected money as the rest of the soccer posse paid and left with their ice cream, their jeers and shouts audible even through the thick glass door leading out onto the street.