Caught In The Middle

the beggining of my life

SABINA’S POV

“Sabina am home”

“Take a seat mom, I cooked today” I said smiling nervously and she looked at me with suspicion dancing in her eyes

“Why?” she asked, “what do you want?” she asked again and I walked out of the room to get the food. I ignored her question and dished up for us while her eyes never even left me as she scrutinised every move I was making. After I was done eating we ate in silence while she watched me, the suspicion still in her eyes and I couldn’t lift my head to look at her in the eye.

“Ok mum I got a job” I said when I finished serving us the chocolate cake I had baked for dessert

“WHAT!” SHE exclaimed and stopped eating and I gulped

“Why would you think you need a job honey?” she asked

‘Mom you are clearly struggling and I want to help; I saw the bills in the mail. We are behind on everything and soon we might be homeless, please let me help” I begged.

“But honey you are still in school, it’s my job as your mother to provide and care for you. I just feel like am failing you” she sobbed and that just broke my heart, this wasn’t her fault dad was the one with a gambling problem or whatever it was, he was the one who died and left us in debt.

“Mom it’s not your fault, dad is the one who failed me and you. He lied to you constantly and fed his addictions. And it’s not like we have family that can help us out of this mess dad left us in, he made sure to isolate us from everyone” i said with sadness, i had never understood why I didn’t have an aunt or even grandparents, what was in my parent’s past that they tried so hard to hide from me?

“No don’t speak ill of him he was your father and the only thing he ever wanted was to protect you, us...from danger” she said in his defence

“what kind of danger mum, the only danger there ever was were the people he owed, I mean he died 2 years ago and you are still paying his debt” I shouted my anger rising.

“Calm down, your father was very depressed in his last days but he still tied his best to help us. You are judging because you know everything” she said, she really loved him and refused to see anything evil that he ever did.

“What is everything mum? What secrets were you and dad keeping? What aren’t you telling me?” I demanded

“I will make you understand one day I promise, for now just take my word for it” she said with sadness in her eyes, clearly there was more to the story

“Whatever mum, I already accepted the job so it’s done” I said

“Ok honey but what kind of a job and what about school, school is your job remember?”

“Arianna’s uncle employed me and Arianna in his restaurant we are meeting him tomorrow, don’t worry about school mom I promise I am very focused this is my last and very important year” I assured her

“But Sabina...” I cut her off

“Mom it’s either you allow me to help you or I will quit school and get a full time job” I threatened

 “What? That is not fair young lady but fine. Have it your way, but on condition that you pass each and every class with flying colours if you fail even a single test or assignment I will personally go and quit your so called job on your behalf.” she said and I was just relieved that she had agreed

“And its better it’s someone I know, so I know you will be in good hands” she said taking a sip of her orange juice and getting up.

“Thanks for dinner, I have a long day tomorrow” she said kissing my forehead and heading off to her bedroom and I was left to clear the dining and the kitchen on my own.

I was so excited that my mum had allowed me to get the job, and best of all I was going to be working with Arianna, my best friend. After I was done clearing up the kitchen I went and took a long bath then rang Arianna to inform her that my mum had not objected to me working. Her excitement was just a mirror of mine, we were both very ecstatic.

Of course Arianna didn’t know that my main reason for getting a job was because we were struggling at home, I had made sure to keep that part a secret. We lived in a big house that my dad had bought while things were still good and they were planning to have more kids with my mum.

One day he came home different, he seemed to be running from something or someone. He spent more and more time away from home, my mum kept saying that it was because he was gambling a lot but I knew it was deeper than that and now I was convinced that there was more to the story than I was being told. At some point I heard him argue with my mum that my life was in danger and that we had to move, my mum responded by telling him she was tired of running and that whoever wanted to come had to be told she was ready. Now of the day my father died, he died in a horrible car crash, or so I was told. I couldn’t even see his body my mum had him cremated she said it was too painful and she thought I wouldn’t handle seeing him in that state. I knew my mum was hiding a lot from me especially when after my father’s death we had to move a street away to a house that was still under construction at the time. Don’t get me wrong the house was beautiful but I couldn’t help asking questions, like who were these man that we had to always be on the lookout for and who did my father owe so much and how did he die ?

Anyway, that was the sad and hidden part of my life. Now I had a new purpose and that was to help my mother pay the balance of whatever she owed to whomever. I also wanted the job as destruction and Uncle Phil, as we called him, was more than willing to help us out. Arianna didn’t even need the job she only wanted to do it because I wanted to; ever since we were little we had been inseparable.

The next morning I got ready for school because Arianna was picking me up, my car didn’t have much gas and I was saving for any errand I would have to run. I got dressed in my short miniskirt and a shirt and some heels, although I dressed like a popular cheerleader captain I wasn’t even close to that. I was just a plain nerd at heart and I couldn’t stand the cheerleading squad they were all fakes obsessed with their looks. I did wear makeup though and it was always on point, Arianna even relied on me to do hers whenever she had a date.

After a few minute Arianna was honking on my driveway and I looked out the window.

“Am coming, are you trying to wake the neighbours?” I yelled and she laughed, I grabbed my backpack and ran to her car.

“They shouldn’t be asleep at this time” she said laughing and I shook my head.

“So how did you sleep?” she asked

“I slept like the queen I am” I said with a smirk

“And your mum?” she asked as she sped past a green light, Arianna was sort of a rebel. She never followed any rules and she already had a boyfriend and he wasn’t her first. The number of boyfriends she had had always seemed to change each time I asked. But in a way she kept me alive and entertained, her life was much more exciting than mine and her parents were not very strict unlike my mum and my late dad who had shut down everybody who ever showed interest in me.

“My mum slept like a queen too” I said and she turned and looked at me raising her eyebrow

‘you know what I mean, smart ass” she said and I laughed

“She is cool with me working” I said and she screaming and took her hands off the steering wheel for a second and raising them.

“Are you trying to kill us before we actually start working” I yelled and she put them down at once

“You are so uptight, you need to loosen up. This is our senior year it should be our most fun year especially because YOU have refused to have any fun leading to this point. Let’s just take this opportunity to do all the things you never did ok?’ she said and I nodded nervously

“But hold on to your V card” she said and we both laughed.

“Oh am holding on tight to that one” I said and she laughed harder as we pulled into the school parking lot and as usual we were one of the first people in.

Today was especially boring at school for some reason, I usually loved Fridays they were like a reason for my whole existence at school but today was so boring. I floated through classes as usual. Lately I had seemed to be paying less and less attention in class but I made up for it by studying extra hours at home.

After school was over Arianna and I raced each other to the car in excitement for our day of training at the restaurant. Uncle Phil had asked us to come after school so that we could get a run through before officially starting that weekend. He said that they had a huge function that they were hosting for some important guy and that it was a function that they hosted each year.

When we got there it was very busy with preparations, it was clear that whatever event they had going on the next day was huge. The whole restaurant looked like a ball room and I wondered what the type of party that was going to take place and the type of guests they would have.

“Sabina...Ari..., glad you guys are committed” Uncle Phil said as he pulled us both into a tight hug

“We are very committed” I said

“That’s very good because this party is for a very special friend of mine” he said and then turned to walk away “Antonio will get you acquainted with your duties, he is the manager” he said pulling Antonio toward us and then leaving us with him.

“Welcome guys, so you will be our runners, you won’t be taking orders you will just be clearing tables and assisting the waitresses. Do you guys have any questions or queries?” he asked and Arianna shook her head, however I did have a question

“Can I just ask if it’s the president that’s coming here tomorrow?” I asked and he laughed and shook his head

“No but it might as well be because this man is someone you don’t want complaining about you either to your face or behind your back” he said and for some reason that left me shaken me

“Ok so here are your uniforms, you are expected to be in full uniform all the time. You are allowed to wear the uniform with any type of flat shoes except flip flops and sneakers. Tomorrow however you will be expected to wear heels since we have a special event” he said as he handed us the uniforms in black bags.

The uniform was a short black pleated skirt and a black shirt and also a tiny apron that probably only fit the order book and pen and maybe a phone. I was already a little tall and the skirt was short and I knew that short skirts and heels meant a lot of leg exposure; my mother was not going to be happy.

“So are you going to tell us who the special guest is?” Arianna asked, i didn’t really care who he was because even if this guy told us I probably would even know him because I had been living under a rock.

“He is Marcus Pressler” just those two words made Arianna’s eyes widen and she squeezed my arm, I was clueless who he was,

“Don’t you know him?” she exclaimed as Antonio walked away

“No, should I” I asked rolling my eyes

“Yes everybody knows Marcus he is like the hottest most dangerous Mafia in America not to mention super young” she said

“What is a young man doing being in the Mafia?” I asked as I rolled my eyes and walked away

“Well his parents died and stuff and he inherited everything including his father’s evil heart” she said as she ran to catch up with me

“Oh ok whatever, all I know is my life begins tomorrow. I don’t care about the rest and I don’t care who Marcus Pressler is” I said as we got into her car and drove home.

If only I had known how true those words were....