"Rise and shine, big boy! Ready for your first day?"
"Nigga, back up off me."
Sunday was chill but Monday was my first day at my new job. I didn't need Damario's reminder.
"I'mma give you a ride, just let me get dressed."
"Aiight, thanks," I said before I rolled onto my back.
Damario's couch was comfortable for now but I can feel this shit was about to be getting old real quick.
The day was already starting to get hot, the usual for Shoreview, but...
"Am I losing it or is it hotter in Section 1?" I asked from the passenger side of Damario's car.
The windows were rolled down, a warm breeze slapping me in the face.
Damario shook his head.
"Nah... you not losing it, it is, nigga. Shit's weird."
I was surprised how active the streets were starting to become.
"Gonna be a hot one," D remarked.
Mrs. Davis didn't go over it with me but I figured that I wouldn't start working with the students until around 2:30, since the school year was still going. I started to wonder if I needed to be this early everyday for work.
The first person I saw after D dropped me off was the receptionist. It was the same chick from before. She was a dark skinned girl, a little on the heavy side, with a long, straight black wig on. Today she had on black lipstick. She wasn't a bad looking woman but she did have an air of attitude about her. She was filing her nails when I approached. I cleared my throat.
"I see you," she said without looking at me and kept filing her nails.
I gave a light chuckle, at this point it was just funny to me.
"What's your name? They don't have a name plate for you?" I asked and looked around.
She quickly turned something over and looked up at me.
"Nosey," she replied.
I smiled at her.
"I work here now, got to know your name at some point."
She just eyed me and pointed for me to go on down the hallway. Alright, I'll play this little game with her.
"Mr. Leslie, good to see you again," Mrs. Davis says as I walk into her office.
"Good morning."
She cheesed at me with her eyes closed, she was giving me the impression that something was coming.
"I'm going to drop you in the middle of something," she says.
Uh oh.
"Nothing too serious it's just we're planning on giving the high school students their end of the year field trip. They go on field trips through out the year but at the end of the school year they go on a extravagant one. Can get pretty pricey depending on how many students are attending. I'm going to work with you on scheduling trip dates and paperwork."
"How many students are typically in the program?"
"At the most, approximately 45, 50, in your group alone which isn't a lot for how big the high schools are. There are 3 high schools by the way, staff make their rounds picking them up and bringing them here around 3:30. You will mostly stay here all day.
Group C is what we call the high schoolers. We have 5 staff members in that group. You will get to know them, talk to them, even give them tasks but most importantly manage their work schedules and hours. They don't show up until 1:30-2.
I'll introduce you but there's Stacey, Marcus, Jerome, Brie and Dana'i."
I nodded my head, trying to remember the names.
"There are other staff members for Groups A and B but like I may have mentioned they have their own Coordinator. Now," she turns back to her computer screen. "Let me print out this paperwork."
I worked with her for hours, mainly going over the end of the year field trip. They were taking them down to Disney Land in California, a nice little bus ride. We went over the expenses, made phone calls. It was a lot. It lasted a lot longer than I thought it would.
She showed me where my desk was. I shared an office space with the other Coordinators. She also took me on a tour and showed me the grounds.
It was all one level. In the center of the place was a huge ass gym where students played games and sports and also had dinner. Near the front of the building on the right side was Group A's station. Near the back on the right side was Group C's station. On the other side of the building and gym was Group B's station and the computer room and lounge room. Both were majorly equipped for entertainment purposes. Outside they had a huge ass playground on one side of the building. On the other side they had a half sized football field of just land. In the back they had a nice sized swimming pool and a basketball court.
I was starting to love the place.
By the time we finished it was 1:30.
Mrs. Davis left me alone and I head back into my office to get situated at my desk. I had a computer and everything. I looked down at the paperwork we didn't finish and let out a sigh. Already I was feeling beat. I'm rusty, haven't had a job in almost 5 months.
A knock came at the door.
I looked up and saw a tanned brown skin girl with long dark, chestnut colored hair. She was leaning on the door. It reminded me of the way Tahj leaned on the kitchen/hall wall. But I snapped out from thinking about mystery man.
"Hey new guy," she said.
"Hi," I replied and leaned back in my chair.
She started walking into the office.
"Not what I was expecting," she said, observing me. "I'm Brie."
Brie. Brie. Br—
"Oh yeah! Hey." I stood up and offered my hand for her to shake.
She took it and smiled. She looked Peruvian or something.
"Did they tell you what happened to the last Coordinator?"
"No, should I be worried?"
"I don't know. She pretty much got into it with the other staff and students. You got to be careful with these teenagers."
"No offense but you kind of look like one yourself."
"I'm 27."
I almost choked on my saliva. She didn't look like no damn 27.
"Sheesh! You older than me."
She found that amusing.
"Really?" She chuckled. "How old are you?"
"Twenty-two."
Her eyes bugged out.
"No offense but you don't look that young."
I laughed.
"It's probably the beard."
I started hearing some running and crazy loud talking. Brie rolled her eyes. Then in walked two guys. I could tell they weren't high schoolers.
"Yoooo! We got ourselves a black man!" One of the guys practically screamed.
"What's up, Brie?" The other guy asked her.
She shrugged and walked out.
"See you in a bit, um..." Brie said while walking out.
"Leslie."
She smiled and nodded. The other two guys gave me funny looks.
"Your name Leslie?"
I simply nodded.
They were two young looking black guys, probably about my age, maybe 19 or 20. The one that was the loudest had on joggers and a T-shirt. The one beside him who said 'hi' to Brie was wearing basically the same thing only he had on a gray zip up hoodie.
"I'm Marcus," the guy in the gray hoodie said.
"Damn, nigga, you young. How you get this job?" Jerome asked.
Mrs. Davis had me come into Group C's room as the students were coming into the center at 3:30.
"Quiet, guys," I overheard Brie's voice down the hall talking to the rowdy high schoolers.
The room had carpeting and three long tables were in the middle. Two round tables were in the corners in the back and one round table was in the corner near the front. There were long windows in the back with a bookshelf against the wall. There was a long desk at the front of the room which I stood by.
As soon as the students started to walk in they all stared at me and started talking about me.
"Who that dude?"
"Keisha there go your new man."
"Girl, where he come from?"
"So this our new babysitter?"
"He is fine."
"Not every student is here today."
I snapped my eyes away from the students when I heard the familiar voice. Brie stood beside me.
"There's only 12 today."
I shrugged. I noticed Mrs. Davis was gone. Brie must of seen that I noticed because she said, "She had some business to take care of. We can introduce you to the students."
"Okay," I said.
"Sit down and quiet that noise," Marcus said over the students.
Slowly the noise started to die down.
"Okay guys," Brie took the stage. "We officially have a new Coordinator. I'll let him introduce hisself."
I was used to being around students, not too much high schoolers but I was still comfortable enough to stand before them.
"Good afternoon, my name's Leslie Thompson."
Sure enough as if right on cue the snickering started.
"I'll be your new coordinator. I'm originally from Section 3 and I'm really liking Section 1 so far."
"I knew it." I heard Jerome whisper from behind me.
"I'll answer any questions y'all have for me," I threw out there.
They actually started raising their hands. Maybe this won't be so bad. I pointed to a light skinned girl.
"What's Section 3 like? I heard they be hanging niggas out there."
"What you care for, Ashley? Don't you live with your white daddy?" Some random guy said and almost everybody started cracking up laughing.
Ashley shot up in her seat and turned to face him.
"Don't be talking shit about me and my dad! You don't know nothing about me, Raheem!"
"Okay! Quiet, sit back down! Raheem that was inappropriate," Brie said.
Raheem stayed quiet.
"Um, no," I finally got a chance to answer the question. "There is no lynching in Section 3. I grew up near the north end and it was cool. Nice place to grow up in. Next question?"
"You got a girl?"
"How old are you?"
"One question at a time," Marcus input.
He sounded annoyed. I noticed Jerome was on his phone. I might need to talk to him about that since I am "in charge".
"No, I'm single and I'm 22."
"Only 22?"
"Did you go to college?"
"Yes but only for two years," I answered.
"One more question," Brie stated.
I pointed to a black girl near the back who, I noticed, has been smiling ever since she got here. She just looked really friendly.
"What's your sign?"
"That's a dumbass question," the Raheem kid comments and throws his head back.
"Libra."
"No wonder he's so fine." I overheard near the back.
"Okay, one by one I want everyone to stand up and introduce themselves to Mr. Leslie. Just say your name and grade." Brie points out to the guy closest to her to begin. He stands up.
"Drew, junior."
"Kasey, sophomore."
"Trinae, senior."
"Keisha, senior."
"Kat, junior."
"Ashley, junior."
"Brittany, freshman," says the girl who asked me my zodiac sign. She was still smiling.
"Shawn, senior."
"Raheem, senior."
"Jordan, senior."
"Mike, freshman."
"Terry, freshman."
"Okay then, did anyone want to hand in their permission slips?" Brie asked.
I later noticed that Dana'i and Stacey wasn't here. I asked Brie about them. She let me know that Dana'i had texted for the both of them and said they wouldn't be in. I informed Brie to let them know to let me know for now on.
As the evening started to come around the students mainly spent time in the gym or lounge room, no special activity for today, then they had baked chicken, Mac and Cheese and green beans for dinner. I had spent most of the day at my desk, organizing permission slips and arranging hotel rooms and on and on. Plus I figured there were going to be more permission slips coming in tomorrow.
This was a day. But my shift was coming to a close, I didn't see much of the students after introduction.
"I'm about to head out," Brie told me around 6:30.
"Okay and thank you, Brie, you were really helpful today."
She smiled.
"Not a problem, see you tomorrow, boss."
I chuckled.
My day ended at 7 and Damario was outside waiting. I noticed there was a different receptionist at the desk. That was no fun.
"How was the new job? Shift long as shit."
"Tell me about it." I realized that too but surprisingly the day didn't go by slow. "But it wasn't bad, pretty good."
The sun was blinding. It still looked as if it was 3 o'clock.
"Well, we off to the beach now. I need to give you a proper Section 1 tour."
I grinned at him as he drove off.