The Hidden Alpha

Chapter 8: The Bully

THE next day, I woke up early as usual and helped my mom prepare breakfast. After eating, I got ready for work. I will be walking to the diner today since my bike is still in the shop and it won’t be fixed until this afternoon. I will probably pick it up during my break so I won’t have to walk home.

When I arrived at the diner, I greeted Martin, Pearl, and their kids. The kids were on their designated table eating their breakfast. I headed to the locker room, took off my hoodie, and left it with my bag in the locker. I fixed my hair up into a bun and put my apron on before heading to the dining floor.

I picked up the coffee carafe and approached the diners who I thought needed coffee refills. When I got back to the counter, Pearl said that Sherry, the other waitress scheduled to work today, called in sick again so I will be alone the entire day. She apologized profusely and promised that she will be posting the temporary job opening later so I won’t have to work double shifts much longer.

I smiled and said it’s okay and that it’s not her fault as I went to assist another diner who wanted to order breakfast.

By 11 am, the lunch crowd started coming in and I hustled to serve all of them. Thankfully, most of the patrons today are very nice and understanding when I apologized for the delay. They could see that I was the only one working today. With Pearl’s help, we were able to get through lunch.

At 1:30 pm, I took a 15 minute break to have lunch since there weren’t a lot of people in the diner anymore. As I was sitting and looking around the diner, I just realized that Leon wasn’t in today. I also realized that for the first time in the past few days, I haven’t seen Jared around. I wonder if they’re at home.

The crowd picked up again around 5 pm. I was holding a tray of food, when I heard my name being called by someone in the diner. I turned around and saw Mariah sitting on one of the tables with her friends. Mariah is the most popular girl in school, and for some reason, she made it her life’s mission to always bother and bully me.

I served the food I was holding before heading to their table. If Sherry was here, I would have asked her to take their table. Since I’m by myself, I had no choice but to put a smile on my face as I headed to their table and said “Hi, can I take your orders?”

Mariah: “Yeah. Can you get a new face? The one you have now is so ugly.”

They laughed after Mariah’s ‘witty’ (I mean this sarcastically) remark. I just kept smiling and said “I’m sorry. We only serve food here. Can I take your food orders?”

They then started rambling their orders at the same time. I did my best to write them and when they were done, I repeated it to them. They seemed surprised as I actually got their orders correctly and completely. I took their menus and said “Your order will be ready in 15-20 minutes. Just call me if you need anything.”

I didn’t wait for them to say anything anymore and left their table. I placed the order with Martin, and he raised his eyebrows as he acknowledged the order. I pointed at their table and when he used the scantily clad teens in the table, he said “Makes sense.” He’s been working in the restaurant business for so long that he can tell what kinds of people order which types of food.

As I serviced the other tables, Mariah kept calling me to theirs asking for things as trivial as new napkins, water, cleaner glasses, and more water, among others. They are making my solo shift much harder by being unreasonably demanding.

When I served their food, they immediately found things to complain about. The food that I served was exactly what they asked for, but they complained about things like the egg was too runny, or that the pasta was not al dente. I returned the food they complained about to Martin, and he remade them. When I served them, they had a new set of complaints and I had to return them to Martin once more. I could tell that the big guy was getting frustrated, but he remade the food, and I served them to Mariah’s table once more.

Mariah was about to complain once more when Martin appeared behind me and said “What’s wrong with the food now? The eggs are too white? The salt is too salty? The vinegar is too sour?”

Mariah and the rest of the girls looked terrified as the big guy addressed them. Mariah has always been very proud of herself so she refused to be intimidated.

Mariah: “I am the customer. Whatever I say is right. I am not satisfied with the food, and you should fire your waitress for being incompetent!”

Martin: “Well, I cooked the food. If you’re not satisfied with the food, then you should be complaining about me. Since I am the owner of this diner, I could ask you to leave for being spoiled brats!”

Mariah was stunned and wasn’t able to respond. Their entire table seemed to freeze as the other girls couldn’t respond as well.

Martin: “So what will it be? Are you going to leave my diner, or are you going to eat the food that I cooked.”

Collectively, the girls all said the food’s actually good and that they’re going to eat them. I could hear light chuckles from the other table as Martin and I left the bratty girls’ tables.

Kara: “Thank you for handling that for me.”

Martin: “It’s not a problem. Let’s keep this between us, okay? If Pearl finds out, she might kick me out of the house.”

Kara: “Of course. Those girls have always been the bane of my existence in school. One thing I like about school breaks is I don’t get to see them everyday. I really hope they don’t come back to the diner anymore.”

Martin: “I’m sorry. Don’t worry about it. Things will get better. Someday, those girls will be working for you or will be the one serving you. You’re bound to do great things, Kara.”

Kara: “Thanks, Martin.”

After the mean girls settled their bill and left the diner, everything calmed down and I had the chance to take a 15 minute break to have dinner. As expected, they didn’t even leave a tip. I don’t really care. I wouldn’t be comfortable taking their money anyway.

One of the things I like about working in the diner is that the customers are always so generous. Martin and Pearl always give all the tips to the servers, and I am actually making more on tips than on my salary. This works out perfectly, and all the tips I earned have gone into my college fund. Meanwhile, I use my salary for spending money and to help out with some of the expenses at home. I’m not a big spender, so most of my salary also goes to my savings account.

When the last customer left the diner, I started cleaning and putting the chairs up on the tables. I bussed and wiped all the tables clean before I swept and mopped the floors. I wiped the counters too and put away the condiments and napkin holders on the tables.

When I was done, I took a seat to rest while drinking some water. I suddenly remembered that I forgot to get my bike from the shop because I was so busy working. I was contemplating whether I should ask Martin for a ride home when I heard the bell on the door ringing indicating that someone opened the door to the diner.

When I looked up, I saw that it was Jared making his way in. I looked at him and said “We’re closed.”

Jared: “I know.”

Kara: “What are you doing here?”

Jared: “I came for you.”

Kara: “What?”

My heart started beating fast as I heard what Jared said.

Jared: “You don’t have your bike yet, right?”

Kara: “Uhm, no. It’s still in the shop.”

Jared: “I came to give you a ride home. I’ll wait for you outside.”

Jared left before I got the chance to say anything. I stood up and went to the bathroom to wash my face and fix my hair, and then headed to the locker room to get my bag and put my hoodie back on. The entire time, I was nervous and didn’t know what was happening.

I said goodbye to Martin and made my way out of the diner. I found Jared leaning against his pickup. I slowly walked towards him as my heart couldn’t stop beating faster and faster. I might get a heart attack soon if this keeps up.