The Mail Boy

Chapter 9

"Call me if anything goes wrong," Maya said as she pulled up to the parking lot of Belleza.

"You mean like me walking through that door?" I asked, nodding at the glass doors of the tall building.

We were in the middle of New York City right now. Cars zoomed by us and people walked busily up and down the streets on either side, wearing expensive designer suits and talking on their smartphones.

"This will only go bad if you want it to," Maya told me.

"This will go bad regardless," I replied.

"Look, just think of it as a learning experience," she said.

"And what exactly would I be learning?" I asked her.

"How to deal with bitches," she replied, smirking.

I couldn't help but laugh.

"See? This won't be that bad. I guarantee that you'll walk in there, meet a nice designer who will help to dress you like a fabulous fashionista and in the process, you'll find the man of your dreams who will love you for your quirkiness," Maya said.

"Maya," I said, pulling a serious face. She blinked and looked at me.

"What?" she asked.

"This isn't The Devil Wears Prada," I snapped. "This is The Devil is My Fu*king Aunt."

She gave me a look and I rolled my eyes, opening the door and stepping out of the car and onto the busy streets of Manhattan.

"Remember, think positively!" she called out to me.

"Yeah, yeah. Noise, noise," I mumbled, slamming the door shut. I waved to her and then she drove off, leaving me to walk to my doom alone.

I sighed loudly, ducked my head and walked into the crowd of pedestrians on the sidewalk. I made my way through the thick crowd of expensive and shiny black and navy pant-suits and chattering voices. I stood at the steps of Belleza, gazing up at the tall building.

The first thing I noticed about the building was that it had a lot of windows in it. I guess this was expected, since it was a typical New York City building. The sign above the spotless double glass doors read, Belleza in italicized cursive letters made out of a shiny silver metal. The handles on the glass doors were made from the same metal and were shaped like fleur de lis's.

I sighed again and then took a deep breath.

All right, Tori. It's time to do this.

I started to push open the door, but then I stopped.

No! I can't do this! It's going to be hell!

Well too bad! Suck it up!

I can't!

You can't wimp out now! It'll show that you're weak and then she'll think she'll have power over you!

Agh! Shut up brain! Why am I arguing with myself?

I don't know. You must be crazy or something.

I mumbled obcenities under my breath at my own brain.

"UGH! Get out of the way! Stupid hobos," I heard a shrill voice shriek.

Before I could even think of something, I was being shoved aside by a young woman who looked like she was only a few years older than I was. She had blonde hair that was unnaturally curled and a ton of make-up on. She was holding a large, expensive looking red leather bag and stilettos that were so high, they added a whole foot onto the girl's height.