History Must Repeat Itself

Chapter 2

         Before the school year started, I handed out minimum thirty resumes around Hawkins. I had to get a job. My mother's "great new jobs" only paid enough to cover bills and groceries. Mainly bills actually. The rest was my responsibility. I needed my own job if Madison and I wanted to do anything or needed to buy anything. I won't let Madison get a job until she was sixteen. I wanted her to be a kid. 

On the drive to Palace Arcade, my sister and Max didn't stop talking. When their conversation shifted to a boy who went missing the school year before, I was finally included. Madison told me about the mysterious drama of Hawkins Middle School. This kid named Will Byers was thought to be dead, but he was found alive after a week. He was lost in the local woods. Barbara Holloway, a high school student, had died from toxins from the Hawkins Lab. Before Barbara's cause of death was announced, it freaked people out. They were thinking a serial killer was active in Hawkins. Of course there was no evidence, but it was a small town. That tended to be the first answer when people died. 

"That's a lot for a small town," I commented, parking the car. I faced the girls, "my shift is three hours. Do you two need money?"

Max shook her head, but Madison looked at me with a guilty smile.

"Can I have five dollars? I'll pay you back when we get home. I forgot my wallet."

I rolled my eyes at my sister, handing her spare change out of the center console.

"How about adding it to the tab you've got open at the Bank of Jess?" I asked, winking. Max chuckled from the backseat. I wasn't stressing. I knew Madison would pay me back. Though the change I gave her was 'car change', which I hadn't counted in my regular finances.

Exiting the car, I looked up at the fluorescent sign, my insides knotting. My previous jobs were almost entirely in bookstores. It was a very different environment to what I was about to face. Opening the front door as it closed behind the girls, an overwhelming stench of sweat hit me. I paused, my hand squeezing the handle.

I wanted to leave. 

Actually, I wanted to run out the door. The screaming was annoying me already, and I knew I'd have a headache by the end of a shift.

I approached the counter, a tall teenager stood behind it with his hand in a bag of popcorn. He looked out at the large arcade machines with a blank expression. I stopped in front of him, and his gaze snapped to me, not realizing I'd approached.

"I'm here for training," I told him, awkwardly, "I'm Jess."

The boy stuck his hand out, "I'm Keith, manager."

I wearily glanced at his butter-covered fingers, before quickly shaking his hand. Discreetly, I wiped my hand against my back pocket. Keith stuck his tongue against his back teeth, giving me a once over. I tapped the toe of my Chucks against the tiled floor, uncomfortable under his gaze. Keith nodded, reaching under the counter and pulled out a form.

"Fill this out. What shirt size are you? X-Large?"

My jaw tightened, "I prefer a medium, actually."

Keith looked at me again and snorted, "alright."

I definitely wasn't making it to a second shift if this is who I was working for. I was curvy, having a larger than average chest. Like the one I wore under my flannel currently, my oversized shirts hid the thinner waist I had. I pushed the sleeves up, annoyed a random stranger pointed out my size to me.

Keith came out of the 'Employees Only' room and tossed the shirt onto the counter, "you can change in the washroom. We'll do your training after that."

Letting the door to the washroom shut behind me, I closed my eyes taking a deep breath. After accepting this job, I was asked to interview at a bookstore closer to home. I'd thought this might be a fun job, somewhere Madison could hang out with her friends.