Promise

Chapter 3

"Hey watch it!" I shouted.

The kid who had just stepped onto my toes continued to run away followed by several other kids chasing him. Music played but the squealing and screaming from kids overpowered it. This was my third day here at Golf N' Games Castle and I was already ready to quit.

Two weeks had passed since that car ride from the party and Jay had convinced his sister to talk to her manager to see if I could get an interview. Years of cheerleading created a bubbly personality in me that made it easy for me to score this job. It didn't however prepare me for the amount of crying troublemaking kids I had to deal with. I had hoped to get put somewhere cooler like the bumper cars station or one of the golfing courses, but instead I was put in charge of the party squad dealing with parties of all age groups. Today it was a group of first graders.

Managing this job while attending school and practice was going to be tough but the pay would be good enough for me to save up for a car and buy my own clothes without having to ask my dad.

It was currently eight thirty at night and kids' parties could only go on until nine. This group had rented the playroom for all day use and I was ready for them to get out of there. One of the mom's spotted the misery on my face and gave me a knowing look before yelling for the kids to start putting their shoes on it was time to leave.

I let out a sigh of relief and started doing my cleanup routine. First had to get rid of the various pizza boxes and spilled juice stains on the table, then wipe everything down, vacuum. Tonight would be a long night and my manager never allowed me to go home until the playroom was spotless. Thankfully I had a helping hand my coworker Lawrence.

"How you are liking it so far?" He asked me as I scrubbed away at a mixture of juice and barbecue sauce one of the kids had concocted on one of the chairs.

I stopped scrubbing and took a deep breath.

"I mean it's okay I'm not used to kids," I said. "I'm slowly getting the hang of things."

"Yeah it's pretty easy all you got to do is watch a bunch of kids all day and serve food. Time goes by fast and the pay is good."

I nodded in agreement. Lawrence was twenty-four with a kid himself, so it was easy for him to recognize this job as easy.

"I'll go get the vacuum," I said.

Lawrence gave a thumbs up and put in his earphones. I walked out and headed to the stock room for the vacuum. The golf and bumper car courses were still open up until midnight, so it was still busy. I maneuvered my way through friend groups and families as they walked around, teasing each other's golfing skills. I opened the door of the stock room and was startled by Naomi who was grabbing a broom.

"You scared me," I said, chuckling softly.

"My bad," she said. She walked past me and carried on with her activities.

I didn't get Naomi. She said hi to me and barely talked to me in chemistry, but when she was around other people she was cheerful, outgoing and carefree. Jay asking her to get me a job here didn't really help any type of way to building friendship either.

I grabbed the vacuum and speed walked to catch up to Naomi. She was sweeping up spilled popcorn.

"How long have you been working here?" I asked her.

"About a year," she replied. "I'm trying to become a shift leader though, so I don't have to sweep up popcorn every hour."

I was surprised with her answer normally she just gave one worded replies but this time she gave me some detail. Something to converse with.