Jasmina stifled a yawn as she flipped through the pages of her planner, trying to decide if she should start with the paper for her Literature and Film class or go over the music for next week's concert. She knew which one she would prefer, but her parents might murder her if she practiced her violin at 8 AM on a Saturday.
Literature and Film, it was.
She hated the class. Her professor was so dry, and his monotone voice lulled her into a trance. If not for it being an online class where the lectures were recorded and she could replay them whenever she wanted, she wouldn't have any idea what was going on. It also didn't help that she couldn't care less about the subject matter.
It will be good for your transfer, Jasmina reminded herself. If she took all the terrible general education courses now and got them out of the way, she could focus solely on music once she got to university.
She opened her laptop and settled onto her bed to work.
But maybe I should check my email first.
The scholarship people might have sent out letters. Yes, it was Saturday, but you never know.
With nervous fingers, Jasmina opened her inbox.
It was empty except for more advertisements from stores she never shopped at. She should really unsubscribe from those. For the next ten minutes, she hunted for all the unsubscribe buttons.
When that was taken care of, she had nothing left to use to procrastinate and got to work.
What felt like hours later, there was a knock on her door, followed by a voice she hadn't heard in person in at least a year. "Anyone in there?"
"Danny!" Jasmina set her laptop to the side and vaulted off the bed. Waiting for her on the other side of the door was her older brother, Daniel.
"What are you doing here? I thought you weren't supposed to be here until next week."
"I don't even get a hug first before you start the questioning?"
She grinned and threw her arms around his neck. He lifted her off the floor and spun her around in the narrow hallway.
"Ahh," she squealed. "Put me down."
He dropped her, and she stumbled back against the wall. Once the dizziness subsided, she pushed off the wall and headed back into her room. Danny trailed after her, perching on the end of her bed.
"So, are you going to tell me why you're here early?" Jasmina asked after she had settled herself back in her spot. She double checked her paper was saved and then closed her laptop, setting it on her nightstand where it wouldn't accidentally get sat on.
"I was able to get a ride early, so I took it. Aren't you excited to spend a whole extra week with me?"
"Thrilled."
And she meant it. She didn't get to see her brother or her older sister very often. Danny lived a state away, and Rachelle and her wife, Claire, had moved to the east coast three years ago to be closer to Claire's parents. Every Christmas though, the Salera siblings were reunited.
Danny got up from her bed and wandered around the room, poking at things. He had never been very good at sitting still. "I'm surprised you're even awake at this hour." He picked up a university catalog from her desk and flipped through the pages.
Jasmina checked the time on her phone. "It's 11 AM. Why wouldn't I be awake?"
"You're twenty years old, and it's a Saturday," he said, looking up from the book. "You should be hungover or something."
"I can't even legally drink yet."
"And? Never stopped me."
She picked up a decorative pillow and threw it at his head. It missed him by a good foot and bounced harmlessly off her bookshelf. "Not all of us are you."
"A tragedy," he deadpanned. "You still thinking about going for music?" He flashed the catalog at her, where she'd marked the page for the music program.
"It's only been my dream for forever. I'm waiting to hear about a scholarship, and then I was planning to apply for a transfer in the spring, so I can start next fall."
He nodded. "Cool. What happens if you don't get the scholarship? Are you still going to apply or look at other schools?"
Jasmina shook her head. "I don't think that's something I need to worry about. There's no reason I wouldn't get it. I fit all the requirements and wrote an amazing essay. I've already scheduled an audition for that program." She lifted her chin, gesturing to the catalog in his hands.
Danny frowned. "Not to rain on your parade or anything, but isn't that like counting your chickens before they've hatched?"
Jasmina snorted. "Any other expressions you want to throw in there? Maybe a 'don't put all your eggs in one basket' to go with those chickens?"
"You know what I mean."
"Don't worry about it." She waved a hand at him. "It will be fine. I should find out any day now."
"If you say so," he glanced down at the catalog again, "but don't forget there's more than one way to skin a cat."
Jasmina made a face. "That's gross."
"Sorry, couldn't resist one more. All I'm saying is don't forget there's more than one way to achieve your dreams."
"Okay mom," she said exaggeratedly, rolling her eyes. "Did you come back early to lecture me?"
"No." He put the catalog back on her desk. "I'm doing my job as your older wiser extremely handsome brother."
"Then, as your little sister, let me do my job and tell you, you should maybe see someone about that ego of yours. It seems to have become over-inflated."
He scooped up the pillow from the floor and tossed it back at her. Unlike her, his aim was decent, and she had to put her hands up to keep from being hit in the face.
Jasmina stuck her tongue out at him. "That's no way to treat your favorite sister."
He smirked. "I never said you were my favorite."
"We all know I am, but anyway," she said, "back to you worrying about me. In case you forgot, I'm the responsible sibling. I have a plan, remember? Live at home to save money while going to community college for my first two years, and then transfer with a scholarship to minimize my debt when I graduate. I have no reason to believe it won't work out exactly as planned."
"Hey now, I tried to save money, too. I lived with roommates my whole four years and now have a job thanks to them."
"And we're all so proud of you," she said.
Danny worked at a start-up run by one of said roommates, which she still had a hard time believing. The one and only time she'd visited him while he was in school, their place had been disgusting. The smell was something she never forgot—old pizza and sweaty gym clothes. The sink had been overflowing with moldy dishes and piles of laundry sat around because they were too lazy to walk to the shared laundry room down the hall. As much as Jasmina wanted her own place, she couldn't afford it, and there was no way she was going to get stuck with terrible roommates like Danny had, even if they were the reason he had a job.
"You should be," he said, settling back onto her bed. "Now tell me about your friends. Are you dating anyone? Still hanging out with Alyssa?"
Jasmina groaned and flopped back on her pillows. "You're such a gossip."
"If you don't tell me, I'll just ask Mom."
"Go ahead," Jasmina said. She rolled over and grabbed her laptop off her nightstand. "You two can have fun talking about my worrying lack of social life. I have a paper to write."
"Fine. I'll take a hint." He got to his feet and headed for the door. "Dinner tonight?" he asked, pausing in the doorway.
"I have to work, but I've got tomorrow off. We could do something then."
"Sounds good."
He shut the door behind him, and she got back to work.
Her peace didn't last long though because half an hour later, her phone vibrated. Alyssa's name flashed on the screen, and Jasmina suddenly remembered she'd never texted her back last night.
"Oh, you are alive," Alyssa said when she answered.
"I'm sorry. I know. I'm a bad friend. I was at work, and I forgot. I promise it won't happen again." While Jasmina talked, she pulled up her inbox and refreshed it. Still nothing.
"Uh-huh. Sure. You didn't want to hang out with me. Don't lie."
"Did you have fun without me?" she teased, ignoring the jab. There was no point in denying she hadn't wanted to go out.
"It was alright. You didn't miss anything," Alyssa admitted. "But next time I better see you there."
"We'll see. I've got a lot going on with school stuff and work and family coming into town for the holidays. Danny showed up this morning, and he wasn't supposed to be here until next week."
"Is that so?" Alyssa's voice had taken on a sly tone. It was a tone she knew very well.
"No. No. Nope. Absolutely not. Please tell me you're not going to try to get with my brother."
"I do still have his number," Alyssa mused.
"Ugh. I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."
Alyssa cackled. "Well, I gotta go. I'm clocking in at work. I just called to make sure you weren't dead or something since you can't seem to text me back."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry. Won't happen again."
"Good." Then, in typical Alyssa fashion, she hung up without a goodbye.
The parking lot was packed when Jasmina arrived at Ebblees that night. As far as she knew, they weren't having a special sale, but she ended up circling the lot for five minutes, waiting for a parking spot to open.
Finally, an SUV pulled out.
She always arrived fifteen minutes before her shift was supposed to start, so at least she wasn't late.
When Jasmina entered the store, the place looked like it had been ransacked. A display for women's sweaters didn't appear to have a single folded item on it. There were some laying on the ground and others draped over the shelving. It reminded her of Danny's living room.
From here, she could already see a line snaking out from the service desk.
Jasmina ducked her head as she hurried past the line and tried not to make eye contact with anyone. Even though she wasn't wearing her name tag yet, customers always seemed to sense when an employee was around. She still had a few minutes until she had to deal with them and their problems, and she wasn't giving up a second of it.
In the break room, two of her coworkers were slouched over the table looking like they'd come out of a war.
"You should have called in sick," one of them said. She thought his name was Jeremy, but she wasn't sure. He was one of the new seasonal hires.
"It's not too late. She hasn't clocked in yet. Go. Run while you still can," Brandon said.
Both of them worked in the home furniture department.
"That bad?"
Jeremy nodded. "Possibly worse than Black Friday. At least we got free food then."
"Nah, man," Brandon said. "Even free food couldn't make today better."
With a sense of dread, Jasmina left her things in her locker and clocked in.
She let herself into the service desk to hear none other than Alex talking to a customer.
Great. Him again.
She fixed a smile on her face and stepped up to the register next to him. "I can help the next customer over here."
It was almost two hours of non-stop people, even with both of them working. The bins under the desk were overflowing, and items had to be stacked up against the wall. Neither of them had a chance to move it to the back.
Finally, dinner time hit, and the traffic died down.
Jasmina started gathering up the clothes when Alex asked, "Did you hear what happened?"
"No? When I clocked in, the guys in the break room warned me it was a bad day, but that was it." She walked past him with her armload of clothes, adding them to an already overflowing bin of stuff waiting to be hung up.
"That's one word for it," Alex said.
"What, did we get robbed or something?"
Last year, a guy had run in, grabbed an entire rack of clothes positioned next to the front doors and run out again. The year before that, someone had pulled a knife at the jewelry counter right before closing. Jasmina hadn't been working either of those times, but she'd heard plenty about it.
"Not yet," Alex said, wheeling a vacuum cleaner over to the damages pile, which Jasmina noted still hadn't been dealt with.
"Are you going to tell me whatever it is, or are you going to make me keep guessing all night?" She hated that she was curious. If she waited long enough, someone else would tell her about it. Word traveled fast around here.
He gestured for her to come closer.
Jasmina double checked to make sure no customers were coming before she joined him in the back corner. She gave the leaning tower of damages a wide berth.
Then Alex said the last thing she expected, "Remember how yesterday I said something was off with Marissa?"
Jasmina folded her arms over her chest. "Yeah, and I told you to mind your own business."
"Well, jokes on you. I was right. Marissa quit."
Her mouth fell open. "You're kidding. Like she put in her two weeks or . . ."
Marissa had been the one to hire her three years ago. Since then, she'd become Jasmina's favorite manager. She was kind to the employees and didn't let anyone push her around.
"Nope," Alex shook his head, "she straight-up quit. Walked out in the middle of her shift from what I heard."
"That doesn't sound like her. Do you know what happened? Did a customer do something?"
"I wasn't on yet, but my bet is that she finally had enough between yesterday and whatever happened today. People have been ridiculous lately. Anyway, since it's the holiday season, they'll be looking to replace her right away. I heard Jon saying her job could be posted as soon as tomorrow."
"Wow." It was the only thing Jasmina could think to say. It wasn't the first time someone had walked out in the middle of their shift thanks to something happening with a customer, but she'd never suspected Marissa would do it.
She thought back to yesterday with the guy and his shoes. He had purposefully shoved that box at Marissa, intending to hit her because she refused to give him what he wanted. Maybe she was finally done with being unable to defend herself against terrible people.
"Hello?" a customer called out front.
"I'll get it," Alex said, stepping past her.
Jasmina heard Alex talking to the lady in his usual easy manner while she stood there, struggling to process the news. She couldn't believe Alex had been right. She often dreamed of walking out of Ebblees and not looking back, but she couldn't wrap her brain around Marissa actually doing it.
Alex finished with the customer and went back to sorting the returns. On autopilot, Jasmina joined him. They worked in silence for a few minutes before Alex said, "I think I'm going to go for it."
"Go for what?"
"The manager job," he said, hanging up a pair of khaki dress pants. Today he had speckles of red and white paint on his fingers. "There can't be too many people applying for it. Maybe I have a chance."
She snorted.
"What? You don't think I do?"
Jasmina shrugged. "You haven't worked here long enough. There will probably be some kind of experience requirement."
"Like they're going to find someone who meets all their requirements on such short notice. I'm still going to go for it. No harm in trying, and the raise would be nice."
Jasmina scowled. She couldn't imagine Alex as her boss. No, scratch that. She didn't want to imagine him as her boss, not when she was more qualified for the job than he was.
"You're thinking about it too, aren't you?" he asked when she was quiet for too long.
"No," she said. "I'm not going to be around much longer. This time next year I'll probably be in another city."
"Good. Otherwise, we couldn't be friends anymore," he joked.
She didn't bother to point out they weren't friends to begin with. They were co-workers who were sometimes forced to work together. That was it. And soon both Alex and Ebblees were going to be nothing but a nightmare in her past.
All she needed was that scholarship.