Playing by Ear (Country Roads #1) - Chapter 8

The next day at lunch, I told Rhonda I needed to sit with Hanna and get some help on my homework at lunch, which was partially true. I was starting to really struggle in math, and I’d made a promise I wouldn’t start blowing my school work off. The real reason, though, was I needed to talk to Jordan.

“Didn’t you just ask my sister out on a date?” Jordan said when I sat down across from her. “Why are you over here?”

“Partially, I was hoping I could talk someone into helping me out on my math, but mostly it was so I could talk to you.”

“Got a date with one sister and already here to pick up the other,” Fatima said. “Ballsy.”

“It’s not like that. This is weird, I know, but I was kinda hoping I could talk you into giving us a ride.”

“You think I want to be the third wheel on my sister’s date? Why not ask Hanna?”

“She can’t, she has her own date.”

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew I’d made a mistake. Hanna turned to glare at me while every conversation at the table stopped while every head at the table snapped around to stare at her.

“You have a date?” Jordan asked, her voice going up an octave in surprise.

She glared daggers at me for another few seconds before turning to Joanne.

“Yes. Marcus Holt asked me out yesterday morning.”

“And you said yes? I mean, I get it, Marcus is a snack, but you’ve turned other cute guys down.”

“Charlie convinced me that I was wasting my senior year. I think he called me a spinster at one point.”

“Really?” Jordan said, looking back at me. “I’m not sure if you realize it or not, but you’ve pulled off a miracle. We’ve all tried to get Hanna to get back out there, and she’s said no to everybody.”

“I guess I just made the right points.”

“Uh-huh. Well, I guess you deserve a reward, so sure, I’ll drive you on your date. You have to promise to not make out with my sister while I’m in the car, though.”

“No promises,” I said with a smirk.

“He’s going to be trouble,” Megan said. “First convincing miss ‘I don’t date’ to go out and now threatening to make out with your sister in front of you. Here we thought you were a straight-laced when Hanna brought you over with your ‘aww shucks, I’m just a homeschool kid’ story.”

“So, where were you planning on taking Rhonda out on your date?”

“I hadn’t figured that part out yet. Dinner and then, I don’t know, somewhere we can talk but is still casual and enough of an activity to keep the pressure off.”

“Growing up, we used to go bowling every weekend, right up until she hit middle school. The sharks she became friends with would have seen it as uncool, so she started finding reasons to not go, but I know she missed it. I guarantee you she’d love the idea.”

“See, I knew it was smart asking you for help, now I’m getting all the inside scoop.”

“Just be careful what you ask. I may not like my sister that much, but if I think you’re just trying to take advantage of her, I will pound the shit out of you.”

“I’m not like that,” I said in all seriousness.

“Which is the only reason I’m helping you out now, but as the older sibling, it’s my job to threaten her dates.”

“Consider me threatened then.”

“Now you,” Jordan said, turning her attention back to Hanna, “need to spill.”

Hanna glared daggers at me once more before telling Jordan about her upcoming date. I never did end up getting help with my math.

“It’s nothing,” she said after giving me one more death glare. “It’s not even a real date. We’re just going to get something to eat and talk for a while. If he doesn’t annoy me too much, then I’ll let him take me on a real date.”

“Still,” Laura, one of the seniors in the group, said. “He’s nice on the eyes, and he has a great ass.”

“Bitch,” Jordan said, “you’ll hop on anything with a pulse. Hanna has more... refined... tastes.”

“Don’t hate me because the boys like me more than you.”

“If that were true,” Megan said, “you’d be sitting somewhere else. The guys you hook up with only want to sleep with you and brag to their friends about how easy you are.”

I think Megan knew as soon as the words were out of her mouth that she’d gone too far. I didn’t know Laura very well, and I was too new to know any of the gossips, but from her reaction, that shot hit a little too close to home.

“Well, I’m glad you get to sit here,” I said. “You’re nice on the eyes, and you have a great ass.”

She looked up at me, trying to see if I was making fun of her since I’d just quoted what she had said about Marcus. I made a point of taking a big bite of the nasty bologna sandwich that had been part of today’s voucher lunch bag and gave her the biggest shit-eating grin I could muster. I chewed nonchalantly, trying very hard to not let my disgust with the food show and ruin my otherwise perfectly moronic expression while she looked at me, evaluating.

She gave in finally and let out a chuckle, which caused several of the other kids around us to laugh, breaking the tension.

Jordan rolled her eyes at me and said, “See, I give you tips on how to win over my sister, and you’re here trying to pick someone else up.”

“I’m just saying facts,” I said, choking down the sandwich. “Doesn’t every girl want to hear how great their ass is?”

“Jesus, you’re hopeless,” Jordan said, throwing down her napkin.

“I don’t know,” Laura said, waggling her eyebrows. “I kind of like him.”

Lunch devolved into more teasing and shit-talking, although this time it was less pointed and hurtful. Hanna caught my eye and gave me a wink, telling me she recognized what I’d done.

All in all, I’d felt pretty pleased with myself.

Although I was starting to fall into a rhythm, the week seemed to drag as I waited for Saturday and my date. School continued to be hit or miss. Hanna continued to breathe down my neck about getting my homework done, so that was at least getting taken care of, but I was spending way too long on math.

We discovered that Hanna didn’t have the patience to help out. While she understood the concepts, she had trouble explaining it in a way that I could understand. Jordan had helped me out a couple of times and was better at answering my questions, but I didn’t see her that much. I continued to each lunch every day with Rhonda and her friends, none of whom seemed to have the slightest interest in school.

To be honest, other than Rhonda, the whole lot of them got on my nerves a bit. While none were as bad as Camille, who continued to be the most shallow human being I’d ever met, they were all way too concerned with others’ looks or social status. I was happy that Rhonda mostly stayed on the sidelines in those conversations, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why she hung out with these people. For whatever reason, though, she liked them, and it wasn’t my place to say who she should be friends with. Since school was really my only opportunity to see her and I still wanted to spend time with her, I just kept my feelings to myself and tried to avoid telling any of them what I actually though.

Friday, I was going through the exercise routine when Chef’s voice called out from behind me.

“If you don’t want to do this, you can stop. I’m only going to do this if you’re willing to give your all.”

I stopped mid-sit-up, hands wrapping around my knees and craning my neck around so I could see him. Chef had taken to giving me a list of what he wanted me to do and then go back into the kitchen, popping out every now and then to correct my form or push me to go harder.

“Chef?”

“You’re going slow, and it’s clear you’re not focused on your form. I’m happy to spend my time getting you physically ready to learn to fight when that boot comes off but only if you give me one-hundred percent. So, what’s going on?”

“Sorry, Chef, I have something on my mind.”

“Either spill it, ignore it, or just go get ready for your shift.”

“I supposed to have a date on Saturday night, and I’m supposed to come in tomorrow night. I know I’ve only been here for a week, and I shouldn’t be asking for any nights off, so I was trying to figure out how to ask without sounding incredibly ungrateful.”

Chef just stared at me for a minute before putting his head inside and shouting.

“Tommy, come out here.”

After a few beats, one of the line cooks came out. With an unruly mob of shaggy brown hair barely contained under a bandanna, I’d met Tommy, but only briefly. I knew he was in his twenties, but that was about it.

“You said you needed to switch your morning shift next week, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Charlie’s offering to take your shift if you take his evening shift tomorrow night.”

“Are you sure, Chef?” Tommy asked, looking down at me.

“You think I’m confused?”

“No, Chef, I’m just surprised. He’s kinda new, but yeah, I’ll switch with him.”

“Good. No better time to learn the ropes. Now get outta here, you’re bothering me.”

Like everyone seemed to do, Tommy reacted to Chef’s gruff nature the opposite way it was presented, giving him a big grin and ducking back inside. I hadn’t been with Chef long enough to put my finger on what it was, but whenever he said something like that, it was clear ‘you’re bothering me’ meant ‘I like you’ or ‘good job.’

“Thanks, Chef.”

“Ohh, it’s not going to be that easy. Tommy normally goes with me to the market on Saturdays and then helps me prep the special. I’ll be at your place at six next Saturday morning to pick you up. You’ll go with me to the market, work morning prep, do your exercises, work lunch, and, after your date, work dinner. It’ll be a long day for you, so I hope she’s worth it.”

“I think she is.”

He looked at me for several beats and said, “Good. Now, get your head out of your ass and do these right, or I’ll make you do them again.”

“Yes, Chef,” I said, pushing through the rest of my set, paying attention to my form.

I was smiling the whole time.

Dinner service was also an experience. The shifts I’d worked so far I’d been assisting Vincent at the fryer, which basically had him explaining what he was doing while I watched, and occasionally giving me a try to do it with him over my shoulder.

Tonight, he informed me I was on my own. He’d shown me everything and thought I had a handle on what needed to be done. I was a little anxious until I realized he was working at the station next to me, and I caught him keeping an eye on me.

My worry only lasted about five minutes into the dinner rush, however. Watching and occasionally assisting Vincent had seemed tough, but I had no idea what the job actually was. I was basically in charge of making anything that needed to be fried. To be fair, it wasn’t all that much, actually. Chef kept the menu down to a manageable size, and he preferred sides that were baked or sautéed, rather than fried; but there were some things on the menu, the most popular being french fries.

The largest portion of non-french fry items were appetizers, which meant I needed to get them in and on the plate in under five minutes, doing them in the order they came in. That might sound like plenty of time, but once Chef started to call out for fries and chicken strips for the kid’s meal, I was struggling to keep everything going.

The printer near my station would spit out an item each time it came in, and Chef would call it out as he read out the ticket, to make sure nothing was missed. I put the ticket up in the holder in front of me and had to say ‘Yes, Chef’ back to confirm I’d heard him.

The one good part about the appetizers was that often my item was the only thing needed, so I didn’t have to work on timing. For anything that had appetizers from other stations, or side items like french fries, I had to time it with the main dish, so everything was hot and out at the same time.

Chef didn’t actually cook, at least I hadn’t seen him do it often. He’d stand in front of the window, which was basically a metal shelf that separated the various cooking stations from the front half of the kitchen where servers could get cold items or pick up plates.

He’d call out ‘Two minutes on table thirty-two,’ and I’d look at my board and find that table. If it had fries or something, I’d say ‘two minutes’ back, along with everyone else who had a part of it, and we’d get our part done.

Several times I was the very last one to put up their part of a meal, and once Chef called me by name, twice, to let me know I was falling behind. Vincent almost stepped over to help, but I got it up in the window just before he did.

I was drenched and felt like a wet noodle afterward, but I made it through. I knew I spent too much time looking back at tickets and got lost on what I was doing far too many times, so I was surprised when Chef came around as the dinner rush slowed down.

“Good job tonight, Charlie. Vincent can handle it now, you go see Willie.”

Between being able to get off tomorrow night and making it through my first somewhat solo service, I was pumped. Willie laughed at me as I bounced, as much as I could with only one good leg, out of the kitchen and joined him.

I told him about my upcoming date and my plans and how things had gone in the kitchen until I realized I’d wasted most of my lesson time just rambling on.

“It’s okay to stop and smell the roses sometimes,” he said when I apologized. “I’ve always believed that, since you never know when that other shoe’s gonna drop, you celebrate what you can.”

We did eventually get some practicing in despite my mood. On the way out, Chef pulled me aside and handed me an envelope.

“Normally, you don’t get paid until your first full cycle, just to make the accounting easier, but here’s your check so you can have spending money tomorrow night.”

“Chef, I…”

“Don’t mention it. You did a good job tonight. You can say thank you by working hard and doing a good job.”

“I can do that.”

“I know you can. Now get out of here, you’re bothering me.”

I gave him the same stupid grin Tommy had earlier and went to catch up to Hanna, who was getting ready to head out to her car.

I was a little shocked by how lucky I was. Hanna was still going massively out of her way every day to drive me, and I had both Chef and Willie going way above what any two other would for someone they met a week and a half ago.

I felt amazingly lucky.

“I don’t have work today,” I said to Mom as we sat eating breakfast the next morning.

“Ohh?”

“I switched shifts with someone. Next Saturday, I have to work his morning shift and my night shift, and tonight he’ll work my shift so I can go out with Rhonda.”

“Your boss was okay with that?”

“Yes, he was the one who arranged the swap. I told him about my date and asked if there was any way I could get out of work.”

“You know it’s not a good idea to ask days off when you’ve worked somewhere for only a week. Some employers would take that as an example of poor planning and dedication.”

“I know, I was worried about that, but I work every weekend, so there’s literally no other chances for me to have a date.”

“I understand and I know waiting a few months to have your first date with this girl would have been difficult, I’m just saying that isn’t usually a good idea. How’d he take it?”

“Pretty well. He actually gave me my paycheck for my first week, so I could have money to go out, even though I normally wouldn’t get my first paycheck till next payday.”

“You should know how lucky you are. I can’t think of many employers who would be that generous.”

“I know. I thought I could just sign it over to you.”

“Why?”

“To help with bills and stuff. I know things have been really tight, and I want to help out.”

“No. You keep your paychecks, let me worry about the bills.”

“Mom, I started working specifically to help pay bills. You are killing yourself working two jobs. I probably won’t make enough to let you quit one, but I can make things a little less stressful each month. I want to do this. We’re a family, and family supports each other. Don’t take this away from me.”

She looked at me for a long while, and I held her gaze, trying to silently communicate how important it was for me to be able to contribute to the family.

“Fine,” she said but held up a hand when I started to grin, “but, only half of each paycheck and you keep all of this one.”

“Deal,” I said, sticking out my hand.

She shook her head with a grin as she shook it.

“You’re a good boy, Charlie. This morning before I go to work, we’ll go down to the bank and open a bank account for your paychecks.”

“Good idea, I hadn’t thought about that.”

Things were going well until we actually got to the bank and opened the account. The actual account itself wasn’t a problem, but when it was time to make the initial deposit, Mom insisted on putting two-hundred more dollars into the account above my paycheck.

I tried to fight her on it, enough so that the bank lady made an excuse to step away and let us argue. It the end, I was forced to agree since my check wasn’t very large and didn’t meet the minimums needed to open a new account, but I wasn’t happy.

Two-hundred was a lot of money, enough that we’d have trouble meeting bills this much. Mom tried to argue that with my next check, we’d balance back out, but I didn’t think my checks would be big enough. In the end, she pulled the parent card and refused to discuss it anymore, which just pissed me off.

While I understood she was trying to support me, the whole point of this entire exercise was me to make things a little easier for us as a family, and this was going to do the exact opposite. One of the downsides of being a minor is that sometimes you can’t win with your parents, no matter how good your arguments are.

We took out some of the money from the account right away so I could use it on my date, and then mom dropped me off at home. The bank had taken long enough that she was going to be cutting it close on getting to work.

I pushed through the exercises that Chef would have assigned me if I’d gone to the Blue Ridge, today. I was trying to use exercise to get over my annoyance at what happened at the bank. Oddly, it actually worked, and I was in a better mood afterward. Plus, Chef had expectations for me getting in the physical shape needed to really take advantage of the self-defense stuff once my foot was better. For everything he’d done for me, the least I could do was maintain what he expected of me even when I didn’t have to. Also, I’d started to weirdly enjoy the physical activity.

The rest of the day, I puttered around the trailer, practicing my guitar, and just being a lay-about teenager. It was kind of weird, actually. All summer, I’d just hung around doing nothing, which felt unusual. Since school started, I’d been busier than any other point in my life. Besides school, I’d gone to the Blue Ridge every single day to train with Chef, learn from Willie, or work. It had only been two weeks, but life before it seemed like a different world.

Thinking about it, I was also happier than I could remember being, despite how busy I’d been.