The Unfamiliar

Social Sciences and English pass quickly after the lunch hour and soon enough it is three pm and school is done for the day.

Homework is minimal today so sorting my stuff out only takes me a few minutes and then I’m throwing my book bag over my shoulder and heading back toward the gates.

My phone buzzes and I check it, seeing my father sent me a text I ignore it and glance at the time instead. I have about an hour or so to get to Barney’s downtown for my shift. Plenty of time, luckily.

Then I hear some of the girls in front of me gossiping loudly while they head to their vehicles in the parking lot. I don’t usually like to eavesdrop on people’s conversations, but I can’t entirely help it when they aren’t exactly being quiet, or subtle.

“Did you hear about the new transfer students coming this week?”

“Yeah, I did! Weren’t they allegedly related to the Bentley’s?”

“I heard that they were foreign, European or something.”

“Do you know if they are going to be boys or girls?”

“I heard that they’re…”

As they veer off into the parking lot their chatter fades and I frown a little. I feel slightly bad for the new students, the shiny new toys of the school, but it also isn’t really my problem. So, I shrug off the unnecessary thoughts and check my fathers’ text quickly to see whether it was important or not.

Finally leaving the campus, I glance at the tall and almost proud looking gate doors, wondering idly if this was actually a deterrent for the boarders in leaving the campus at night before I make my way down the street, heading back into town.

The walk is peaceful and there is a cool fall breeze that flutters through the trees, bringing with it the soft scents of the multitude of fall flowers and falling leaves. I think my favourite part of the day is always the walk from school to work.

Barney’s is an extremely popular dive in town. It’s run by the Schultz couple, and even though the Schultz family is well known for their restaurant business, Linda and Bryan much prefer to run this store themselves. It was the first of the Schultz restaurants, opened by Bryans's grandfather Barney and his wife before the Schultz’s got into business. Bryan’s brother was running the company, Bryan and his wife Linda happily ran the original dive that started it all, and their younger sister became a chef so that she could support the both of them.

Thankfully, Linda and Bryan were very nice people and they hired me three years ago even though I just turned fourteen and really shouldn’t have been working. As most of the town knows about my home life, most people didn’t question a young teenager working near full time hours to make ends meet. Though people did sometimes question why the daughter of a neurosurgeon would ever need to work to make those ends meet. I didn’t really feel like explaining the situation to them though, so that was the short excuse I came up with to get the Schultz couple to hire me when I was young.

After I turned sixteen my father finally started giving me an allowance on my own card and bank account instead of sending the cash via the mail or giving it to me in person, since it usually disappeared with my mother once she got her hands on it. This also meant that I could drop my hours down from how much they had been, but I liked working at Barney’s. It gave me a place to go after school so that I wouldn’t have to go back to either an empty house or a trashed house. And it gave me money that I could spend on myself. My father had no control over the money I got from my own job.

Now my paycheque serves as my own spending money instead of my making sure I can actually eat money, like it had been in the beginning.

Bryan and Linda were very kind people, and they and the rest of the staff treated me nicely even though they all knew my situation. Even if they only treated me like that out of pity, I wasn’t bothered. I’d take all the pity if it meant that I had a job and a safe haven.

Twenty minutes later I’m finally on main street and I see the nicely painted sign on the storefront. I pull open the door and hear the jingle of the chimes as I enter.

“Welcome to…Oh, Ellie!” Linda calls happily when she sees who it is. “You’re here early!”

“Hey Linda, I just came straight from school. I’m going to do my homework in the breakroom before my shift if that’s okay.”

“Oh, darling you know it is. Take your time, it’s been a fairly slow day today.” I nod my head and walk around back, peeking my head into the kitchen to see Lucas and Tom idly preparing for dinner.

“Hey guys,” I greet them casually and they both turn to see me peeking in.

“Howdy Elle,” Tom grins before turning back to the burger he’s frying on the grill.

“Welcome sweetheart.” Lucas winks at me and jokes. He’s a flirty guy, but everyone knows that he’s happily married to his wife, so no one takes it too seriously.

I wave a little before continuing down the hall and trudging to the basement where the offices and the staff room are located. I’m thrilled that I don’t have a lot of homework to worry about tonight, which means I should be able to get it all done before my shift. And I do, finishing with just enough time to change into my jeans and plain black T-shirt from my school uniform and grab an apron off the shelf.

“You didn’t have to rush sweetie,” Linda chides me gently once she sees me come out from the back and I just shake my head.

“Got it all done, so what else am I supposed to do?” I shrug and smile at her as I go behind the counter and wave through the kitchen window at the two chefs.

“Welcome back, you were missed.” Lucas grins, leaning onto the window so that we could chat easier.

“I doubt you missed me too much,” I laugh lightly, playing along.

“So how was your day, dear?” Linda asks as she comes up beside me with an order and types it into the system, situated to my right, for the kitchen.

“Same old,” I wave it off and Linda smiles, though I can see the look of pity in her eyes. It always surprised me how fast word got through town about what my mother and her crowd were up to. It wasn’t a small town by any means, yet somehow word of mouth traveled fast. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Linda owned the most popular dive in town, regulars gossiping and all that.

Or maybe my life was just an interesting topic of discussion.

She hands me a pad and pen from beside the computer and grins at me.

“You’re going to work the tables tonight. Ashley should be here to help with dinner in an hour.” Before she pats my shoulder gently and walks to the back before I can even get a word in edgewise. Probably to head to the office.

My other coworker Miranda comes back behind the counter from cleaning tables and smiles in greeting.

“I’ll take right, you take left for now, okay? We can change it up once Ash gets here for the dinner rush.”

“Alright, that works for me.” I agree easily and she smiles back.

“Just let me know if you have any alcohol tables and I’ll take care of those too,” she adds, before sauntering off to one of her already seated tables to wait on the few regulars that were in for now.

Time passes slowly, but soon enough Ash, and Linda and Bryan's son Eddie, who is here to work in the kitchen over dinner, join the rest of us and we start to get a little busier as dinner creeps closer.

I hear the telltale jingle of the door while I’m refilling some drinks and I glance back, producing a bubbly service welcome as I do.

I see a large group of ten people walk into the store, more than half their faces are unfamiliar to me. Though I recognise the Bentley’s, specifically Tristan Bentley, one of the star athletes from my grade at school, I have a hunch that the unfamiliar faces are the rumoured transfers. I guess they really are related to the Bentley’s somehow.

“You can seat yourself anywhere that’s free, Though, our larger tables are situated in the corners over there and there,” I point to both the left and right side of the dining room. They head over to the left side, which unfortunately is my side, and I sigh.

After finishing the drink refills for my other customers, I grab the menus and some of our special’s cards and walk over to the Bentley’s table.

“Welcome to Barney’s, my name is Elle and I’ll be your server for this evening,” I plaster on my best customer service smile as I hand out the menus to the group. I can see the not even subtle looks of pity on Mr. and Mrs. Bentley’s faces as they see me. Tristan avoids looking at me as he stares very hard at the menu I just gave him, and his younger brother Albert is too busy chatting with one of the boys I don’t recognize to even notice what’s going on around him.

“Is there anything I can get you to start off with? Drinks perhaps?” I pull out my pad and pen as they order a breadbasket and their drinks. This also gives me a chance to study the six new faces.

The man and the woman seem to be well put together and sophisticated. Their accents are distinctly foreign, though they don’t sound French or British so I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. They both seem to be a little overdressed for this place, but they don’t seem to mind it at all, not looking like they were uncomfortable in the slightest. Both also have beautiful blue eyes, though the man has the beginnings of salt and pepper hair and the woman is luxuriously blonde.

The four kids with them, one girl and three guys who all look to be about my age, are a little less put together than who I assume are their parents. Though that doesn’t mean they aren’t still impeccably dressed. You can definitely tell that they were blue bloods through and through, everyone around the whole table.

Once I’m done taking their drink orders I smile again and tell them that I’ll be back in a few minutes with the drinks and to take their food orders. I feel the eyes burning my back as I walk away, and I try my best not to hunch over and fold into myself for protection. I wish they would have chosen Ashley’s side of the dining room. She’s much more comfortable talking to the blue bloods of the town than I am. Especially when they are people that I know.

Once I’m behind the counter and done putting their drink orders into the system to keep track, I try my best not to spy on them. Though it’s hard to do since they seem to be the most eye-catching thing in the store currently.

I go around to my couple of tables before going back to grab their drinks and head over.

As I pass them out, I notice that one of the boys I don’t recognise keeps staring at me, a strange look in his eyes. I do my best to not frown, keeping my customer service smile plastered in place no matter how difficult it gets.

As I’m observing them while handing the drinks out, I also notice that the mother helps lead the boy who is sitting next to her hand to his drink. Though I don’t dwell on it for too long, it’s really none of my business.

“Are you ready to order or do you still need a minute?” I ask once I’ve finished dishing out the drinks. I hold the tray in front of me carefully, almost as if I could use it as a shield.

“We’re ready to order,” Mrs. Bentley says kindly, so I tuck the tray up under my arm and grab my pad and pen again.

“Alright, what can I get for you?”

We make our way around the table, and once I have everyone’s orders, I smile at them and head back behind the counter to get the order into the kitchen.

While I wait for the orders to come out, I take care of the rest of my tables, and clean up after those who have left. Just as I’m wiping down the counter, I hear Eddie call out.

“Table 12, order up.” I glance over and see the plates being placed at the window.

“Need some help with that?” Miranda asks me as she comes over while I’m putting the food on the trays.

“Please,” I answer, grateful that she bothered to come help me.

We march the plates over and I start putting them on the table in front of the respective person who ordered each one.

“Alright, are you all set then?” I ask once I’ve finished dishing the plates out and Miranda has gone back to serve her part of the dining room.

“Can we get some vinegar?” Mr. Bentley asks, and I nod.

“Most definitely,” I go and grab it, bringing it back immediately. “There you are, all set?”

“Yes, thank you, dear.” Mrs. Bentley says politely, and I nod.

“If you need anything else just holler, otherwise, enjoy your food.” I turn on my heel and trot off.

Though I may be quick about it, I’m not quick enough before I hear the dreadful beginnings of the gossip.

“Isn’t that the Hattoway girl?” I hear Mr. Bentley ask, and I suppress a groan. They were doing so well at not bringing it up, until now that is.

“Yes. Eleanora.” Mrs. Bentley replies, and I hear the inflection of her voice become even more pitying. “What a sweet, sweet girl. Such a sad story.” She bemoans and I move even faster to get myself behind the counter. I don’t need to hear my own life story told from the eyes of others. It was bad enough living it on my own.

“Wait, what about her?” I hear a male accented voice ask and then I get out of earshot. I breathe a sigh of relief when I can no longer hear the conversation. I know exactly what they’re going to say, introducing the new people to the bad side of town early by telling the sad, sad story of one little Eleanora Hattoway.

I wonder which way the new family will lean in this. People either pity me or dislike me due to my association with my mother and her crowd. Not that I am a part of that crowd specifically, nor have I ever tried any drug stronger than Ibuprofen, but most people don’t care to know about that.

I prefer pity to displeasure, at least if they pity me, they’re less likely to belittle and harass me. I sigh again and shake my head. It doesn’t matter how they think. It’s just six more eyes that will be following me from now on.

I finish my shift quickly after the Bentley brood leaves. Autopilot makes it easy to do what needs to be done.

When the doors are finally locked, and the store is almost completely cleaned it is almost midnight.

“Hon, Miranda and I can finish up here.” Linda comes up to me and gently places a hand on my shoulder. “You have school tomorrow, and you still have to change and walk home.” She frowns a little as she thinks about me walking home alone this late at night.

“Alright Linda, thanks for today.” I smile at her, though she seems to notice that my fake cheer doesn’t reach my eyes.

“Rest well hon. Be safe.” She pats me again a few times before wandering off to clean the last few tables.

I sigh and restlessly throw on my jacket and check to make sure my uniform and homework are both in my bag before I leave the dive.

When I exit the door, I can feel the light drizzle coming down and I frown. I pull up the hood on my jacket, but if it starts raining any harder, I know that this old and less than waterproof cover won’t do me much good.

“Right, well. I just need to get home.” I sigh and trudge off through the dark streets. The streetlamps illuminating my path for me.

After a few minutes of walking the rain starts to pick up and I can’t help but curse the sky. Of course, it couldn’t wait ten more minutes until I got home.

Suddenly, I hear a rock being kicked from down an alley off to my right, and I faintly hear voices coming from behind me.

Well, it is almost midnight now after all, what else should I expect?