Zadia grabbed her scrunchie and placed the top part of her dreads into a ponytail. Glancing at the clock on the wall, her eyes widen. She quickly ran to the other side of her room, putting on her black sneakers. Grabbing her small book bag, Zadia took her keys and ran towards the door. Walking out, she made sure to lock the door behind her. On her way down the stairs, she accidentally bumped into one of her neighbors. "Sorry." She said, feeling her cheeks getting hot. She looked at the Spanish woman sadly. "My fault."
"It's fine." The woman said. She had a thick Spanish accent, which made it a little hard for Zadia to understand what she said. They looked at each other awkwardly, not knowing what to say. This was the first time they ever spoke to one another. Zadia didn't know much about the woman, only that she moved in about eight, probably even nine months ago. The woman lived across the hall and had a baby, a baby she never heard cry. The woman was as unproblematic as she could be.
Looking down, Zadia noticed the all-black baby car seat in the woman's hand. The woman caught her sight of vision and quickly cleared her throat. "I should get going, have a good day."
Zadia nodded her head. "You too." She said, continuing her way down the stairs.
"Yo Hamilton." Zadia heard a breathy voice yell from behind her, just as she was about to walk out of the building. Turning around she came face to face with her landlord.
"Yes, Henry?" She asked, lowly. He was a middle-aged white man, that had a hawk-like nose. He was a pretty chill guy, just a lousy landlord. For example, he doesn't fix anything in the building that needs to be fixed.
Zadia was trying her best to avoid him, she already knew what this conversation was going to be about. "You're five days late on rent." He said, looking her in the eyes.
Zadia avoided his gaze and bit down on her lips. "Y...Yeah. I know." She responded, looking down at her shoes. "I'm just waiting on my paycheck to get here, and then I'll pay the rent."
Henry looked at her up and down, before nodding. "Okay, just make sure you pay soon. I'd hate to have to evict you, you're one of my favorite tenants, you never complain."
Zadia mentally rolled her eyes. "Alrighty." She said, giving him a tight lip smile. She slowly backed away, before completely walking out the building.
The scorching air of Phoenix, Arizona moves fiercely throughout the city, causing Zadia to sweat almost instantly. As she walked to her car, the sun blazes down from a cloudless Alice Blue sky. "This fucking heat." She mumbled, getting into her car. It was even more hot in there. Sticking her key into the ignition, she turned it to start the car, but the car struggled to start. "Oh come on, not now! Fuck!" She cursed banging on the steering wheel, which caused her horn to blare. Pinching the bridge of her nose, sighed heavily.
The car most likely wasn't starting because of it's Fouled Plugs. She knew this, because the last time she took her car to the shop, the workers told her. It was a total of nine hundred dollars to get it fixed and seeing as how she didn't have that kind of money, she just got an oil change instead and then left. Taking the keys out of the ignition, Zadia opened the car door before stepping back out into the heat. She decided it would be best to just walk to her job, even though it was a total of ten blocks away.
"You're late!" Her boss commented as soon as she clocked in. She was late, but only by five minutes. It didn't seem much of a problem to her, seeing as some of her coworkers usually come in later. Zadia bit down on her lips and remained quiet, knowing if she said anything she'd most likely get fired. "And you're sweating like a pig for Christ sakes, you think our customers want some sweaty person serving them coffe."
ChApTeR - 1
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