Chapter 1

Astrid Jones walked into the hallway, feeling all tired and drained. She checked her watch and it was almost one thirty five. She'd at about twenty to twenty five minutes before her afternoon shift at the restaurant begins and she couldn't afford to be late for work.

Knowing how difficult it'd been for her before she was able to get that job, it was very important to her, as much as her education was to her.

She pushed the door to her room open and was surprised her roommate, Sandra was still at home. She was lying on her bed, still in her pajamas and was scrolling through her laptop.

"Hey roomie, ya back so quick.

How was lecture?" She asked her,

"Exhaustedly fine." She mouthed tiredly, dropping her bag on her bed.

She needed to freshen up and change into her work uniform.

"That's bad." The girl mumbled absentmindedly and Astrid sighed.

She took off her clothes and sauntered into their small bathroom to freshen up as fast as she could.

When she came out few minutes later, Sandra wasn't inside the room again, so she guessed she must've gone to join her friends in the room.

Lucky them.

She hastily prepared for work, wearing her work uniform and after she'd finished, she brushed her golden blond hair, packed them in a ponytail and she scurried out of the room, closing the door behind her.

She'd less than ten minutes left to be at work and she can't afford to get on her boss's bad side.

Getting outside their apartment building, she flagged down a cab and got in, giving the driver her destination address.

   Ever since Astrid was a little girl, she'd always dreamt to be a writer and work in a publishing house and that was why she'd doubled her effort in English and literature classes, had joined her high school editorial board and had also worked hard to lead the school's writing leagues for two years straight.

After high school and she was accepted to UCSC, her parents had accepted her admission with mixed emotions, putting the family's financial status, but Blaire proved her worth.

Two weeks into her freshman year, she got herself a part time job at the prominent and expensive Queens Restaurant that was just five minutes drive from the school about ten minutes walk from her apartment building and she couldn't be any less fulfilled.

The manager, an unfriendly and overweight older woman named Lillian White gave her a cute work outfit; a white shirt and a short, solid blue cotton skirt. Her work outfit made her look more like a school girl than a waitress and it was super cute.

Sandra and her friends had told her that.

The payment at Queens was good, the customers tipped well and it her work hours rarely collide into her lectures periods.

Her first week, she'd worked three nights and with a salary of two bucks per hour and a tips that made her about eighty bucks. The second week, she made about a hundred bucks; the third week, she worked an extra two hours every night and she made a whooping one hundred and fifty bucks. Now, she's earning from one fifty to two hundred and fifty bucks every week, which is the most money she'd ever made for herself.

The cab stopped across the restaurant and she paid the driver, alighting the cab as fast as she could. She waited for the cab to drive away and immediately it did, she ran across the street, clutching her purse against her.

She pushed the double door open and greeted a few customers, before going across the counter to begin her shift.

"You're five minutes late." A deep female voice accused from behind her and she closed her eyes, tightening her brows.

She turned to the owner of the voice, opening her eyes.

There she was, staring at her like she was some errant child.

"I'm sorry, Mrs White, but lectures...."

"I don't want to hear it Astrid, I'm cutting off one hour salary from your pay." She stated authoritatively.

"I'm sorry and this won't happen again." Astrid pleaded with the woman, 

"We'd a pop quiz and it took more than the allotted time, but I promise this won't repeat itself again." She assured the woman, sounding as convincing as ever.

She couldn't afford to have even the tiniest deduction in her salary. She has budget and of course, need to get herself some books too. She needed the money more than anything.

The older woman stared at her for awhile, then she sighed,

"Okay, but the next time you're this late to work, I'll take off an entire day's payment from your salary." She threatened,

"Yes ma. Thanks a lot ma." Astrid thanked the woman profusely,

"You'd better be, cause I won't be lenient the next time." She mouthed acidly and turned, leaving Astrid relieved.

"You'd better get to work, young lady. We've gotten quite an order inflow and I'm not paying you to stand there and do nothing about them." She reminded her, before disappearing through the connecting door that led to the kitchen.

"Yes ma." Astrid mouthed, before going to join the rest of her colleagues in taking the customer's orders.

    Working an extra hour, Astrid left work quite late that evening.

She bade goodnight to Mrs White and left the restaurant. She was too exhausted to walk home and still had to study for an assignment before going to bed. Standing outside the restaurant, she waited for a cab to drive by, but non was coming through. After waiting for a few minutes, she decided to walk it down to their apartment building.

Clutching her purse protectively against her, she began the walk home.

It took her over ten minutes to get to their apartment building and she went inside, ignoring the call from Daniel, the boy from the next building.

Daniel has been asking her out for the past few weeks and she'd been giving him her stock answer, which was no.

But then, he wouldn't still let her be.

He'd even gotten Sandra a few times to talk to her, but her answer was stock. No means no, what doesn't he understand in that?

She outrightly ignored his calls and disappeared into the stairs, going as fast as her legs could take her.

   Getting to their room, she slumped on the bed dogged tiredly and kicked off her shoes from her feet.

Sandra wasn't around, so she guessed she was her friends must be over at some frat party or the other, partying away.

Lucky them.

She's never had time to socialize properly since she joined the school. She'd been on the late admission list, so she'd a lot of catching up to do, plus her work wasn't giving her the time to.

 She pretty much liked it that way though. She'd never been the party type and practically hates loud noise. So she'd rather be in her room, reading a book or working extra hours at work than to hurl up in some party, to drink booze and get high.

Unlike her, Sandra is a party freak and nothing like her, or her best friend Olivia, who's currently at Cal U, a freshman business major. Sandra and her friends, the twins, Sasha and Tasha from the next room and then, Alexis and Nomi, the girls from the second floor, are a clique. They do almost everything together. From clubbing to frat parties to dating each other exes and going shopping spree. Astrid doesn't feel most comfortable around them, so she kept her pace from them. Not that they were bad influence...nah. Of course, they are bad girls, but are very nice to her and she gets to learn a few things from their various experiences, but then, she gave them an arm length equivalent because she's a social nerd and can never fit into their clique.

What's the need of joining even when you know you would never fit?

Absolutely, no need.

After lying on her bed for countless minutes, she was almost dozing off when she recalled she'd an assignment to complete and sprang up from the bed.

Dinner was the five minutes stir fried noodles and she multitasked eating dinner and doing her assignment.

She'd to read five chapters of A Room With A View by E. M. Forsters and then, make a one page summary of what she'd read. 

Also, she'd to read Tess of the D’Urbervilles in preparation for the next class lectures.

When she finally finished, it was two forty am in the morning. Sandra wasn't yet back and she wasn't surprised.

It's typical of her not to return home after partying.

She packed her books away and went to bed after locking the door and pushing the drapes open for fresh air.

Tomorrow's another day.