Chapter 2
CRISSA
“Crissa!” My head spun as my eyes met Tawny’s.
She motioned me over with the telephone tucked against her ear, wrapped in the coiled phone line behind the register.
“Uh-huh. And how many with your party?” She jotted down the details, waving me closer as I approached the counter.
“Singing? Yes, we can sing happy birthday.” She made a face and stuck out her tongue.
I giggled at her reaction. “Yes, I’m here.
” Tawny scribbled a few more notes down.
“Alright, we’ll see you then. Bye-bye.” She slammed the phone down with a loud groan.
“Got another baker’s dozen coming in at the end of the month.
Mom wants us to pull out all the stops too.
” Tawny rubbed her eyes and just groaned. “I need a drink.”
Too bad I won’t be here.
I tucked my green hair behind my ear and adjusted the clown hat. “Anything I can do to help?”
She sat up. “Oh, yes. Can you go check on the Skee-ball machine? A mom was griping about it acting up again and every time I try to step away, the phone rings.” She seemed really frazzled.
“Yeah, I got it, but I’m taking my break right after.” Tawny agreed and thanked me just as the phone rang again.
Alright, time to deal with a pissed off mom and a broken Skee-ball machine.
I made my way through clusters of kids running through the dining area of the pizzeria, past the popcorn machine, and into the makeshift arcade.
Neon lights and black light glowed above as kids shouted and cheered at a new high score.
I was nearly knocked over by a dad juggling two crying toddlers.
“Fuck,” I muttered as I gained my footing and finally made my way to the machine.
An obviously disgruntled mother stood with her arms crossed, tapping her foot as she stared down at her watch while her son whined about the game.
This is going to be fun.
The Skee-ball machine was always breaking.
We never truly fixed the machines…just messed around and got them working long enough to limp them along.
The kids got what they wanted and the staff would survive the night.
It was the best we could do being that none of us were electricians or even knew what to do to fix the machines.
“Excuse me.” The mother’s eyes met mine with furrowed brows. “I’m here to fix the—”
“Well it’s about damn time,” the woman snapped. “I’ve been waiting for almost fifteen minutes for someone with half a brain to show up and do their damn job. Unbelievable.” Her nose rose high and she just stood there tapping her foot. “Hurry up.”
“Okay then.” I took a deep breath and fiddled with the switches at the back of the machine, whacking it a couple times before the lights started flashing.
The machine shot out a row of tickets as the kid cheered and clapped his hands together in excitement.
“There. All fixed!” I forced a smile but the woman just scoffed and looked away.
She mumbled something under her breath about how she hated coming to this neon nightmare, and I couldn’t agree more.
“Have a happy time!” I shouted before walking away.
Ungrateful little—
A little girl ran into me, spilling her popcorn.
She instantly burst into tears and as I frantically tried to clean up the mess and console her, a server tripped over my arm and spilled cherry cola all down the crotch of my costume.
The whole commotion caused a scene between the crying kid, pissed off server, and myself.
“Tawny!” I shouted my boss’s name and her gaze met mine.
“I’m going on my break!” She didn’t say a word as I rushed past her and into the kitchen.
To be fair, it was more of a statement than a request.
“Ugh!” I tugged at my cola-soaked uniform, grabbing a damp towel as I tried to scrub it clean.
The stain came out easier than I expected, but the sticky sweet cherry scent clung to the material and stuck to my body.
“Great…now I’m all wet and sticky and I smell like cough syrup.
” I threw the towel aside and marched through the kitchen, past the storage, and to the back alley door of the pizzeria.
I need a damn cigarette.
I pushed the back door open with a wave of aggression.
The cold evening breeze blew across my face and sent my hair dancing wildly in the wind.
It was an instant relief to breathe anything but the smell of pizza and sweat, even if it was garbage.
And the cold air was crisp compared to the humid temperature inside the pizzeria.
“Ugh.” I ripped the hat from my head and dropped down onto my ass in the doorway.
My hand reached into the pocket of my costume and I pulled out a cigarette and lighter.
My palms trembled as I attempted to light it.
“Fuck,” I breathed with the butt between my lips.
My hand steadied for a brief moment and I finally lit the cigarette, taking a long, deep breath as the warm smoke filled my lungs and throat.
Finally.
I chain smoked a few cigarettes, sitting in the doorway for a good twenty minutes before two rats scuttled to my side and squeaked.
“Hello friends.” My fingertip tapped the tops of their heads, stroking them softly.
“I’m afraid I don’t have any snacks at the moment.
” The rats crawled into my lap, making me giggle.
I continued to pet them as my thoughts immediately drifted to the old book.
After spending a couple days just staring at the blank pages, I decided to start using it as a journal.
The empty pages served as a blank canvas for all of my thoughts and emotional vomit I accumulated during my days here at work, and I found myself more and more excited to add them to the book whenever I could.
I used any excuse to write in that old book, and the strangest thing was the more I wrote, the less anxiety I felt being apart from it.
As if my written words somehow bound it to me as my property and therefore I wasn’t afraid of losing it, but rather appreciated it as a daily part of my routine…
a habit I needed to continue as if my life depended on it.
“What a strange thought,” I whispered aloud, looking down at my cigarette as one of the rats climbed up to my shoulder.
“I used to spend my free time daydreaming about my life outside this town, and now, I’m daydreaming of what I’m going to put in that old book.
” I scoffed and grinned. “Strange.” I smoked the cigarette and sighed.
“Welp, at least I’ll have an interesting entry for today.
” The rat on my shoulder nestled close to my cheek.
With my pointer finger, I scratched his little chin and carefully sat him and the other rat down on the floor.
“You two better go hide, it’s too busy for you to be sneaking about.
I’ll try to score some crumbs for you guys later, okay? ” The two chittered and scuttled away.
Such sweet little friends.
“Crissa! I need you back on the floor, kid! We got an early dinner rush!” Tawny shouted from behind me.
With a loud groan, I put the cigarette out on the concrete at my feet and returned the hat to my head. “Just put on a smile and get the job done.”
As I stepped back into the pizzeria and made my way through the kitchen and to the dining area, I immediately regretted coming back inside.
Tawny wasn’t kidding when she said we had an early dinner rush.
Large groups and at least two packed birthday parties had flooded in.
There were bodies all over the place filling nearly every table and chair.
“Hey kid!” Tawny shouted as she approached me with a large pizza. “I need you to take this over to that party seated outside the arcade. Go!” She handed the pizza off to me and rushed into the kitchen. “Where’s my next order?” Tawny shouted to the staff.
Oh, it’s going to be one of those nights. Great. It’s fine, you can do this, Crissa. Just put on that smile and focus.
The corners of my lips raised high as I stepped out into the dining area.
Groups of kids and parents flooded Big Top as I carefully slithered my way through and carried the pizza to the party Tawny had mentioned.
The kids shouted and cheered as they ravaged the pizza, barely letting me pass them. It was absolute chaos.
Fucking kids…they’re like animals when it comes to pizza.
I decided to check on a few tables on my way back to the kitchen when I caught a glimpse of split-dyed black and white hair.
Wait…is that—
Token walked right by without even a glance in my direction.
What is he doing here again? Is he with the others? Fuck…hopefully he didn’t notice me.
I carried on and checked in on the rest of the tables in my section. It was the weekend dinner rush and we were busy as usual. I tried to keep myself preoccupied but caught sight of Token again. Sure enough, he wasn’t alone.
Great.
My smile fell into a droopy frown as I watched him join the rest of that damned friend group at one of the back corner tables.
Everyone was there…Token, his brother Ryder, Lavender, Montey, and of course Sybil.
They were all pigging out on their usual, except for the redheaded queen bee who seemed miserable to even be setting foot in the pizzeria.
For someone who claims to hate this place so much, she and the rest seem to be coming in a lot. Discounted pizza is nice, yeah, but there are so many other places they could go.
Honestly, I felt like Sybil kept choosing this place to personally torture me. And the worst part was that it was working.
Just ignore them and focus on your tables.