“I’m sorry, Ms. Zimmerman. I do not understand. Are you saying that you want to have online classes from now on?”

I nodded, then stopped, remembering that the administrator can’t see me on a phone call.

“Um, yes, that’s correct.” I said. “You see, I’m going to be moving out of the city soon, and it will be too far to commute.”

Okay, okay, okay, I know what you’re going to say. I want to move to New York, yes, and I haven’t even started looking at places to live, so why am I already talking to the University about it?

Well, my idea was to just get school out of the way, so I could take it off of my back, one thing at a time.

“I’m sorry, that isn’t a question that we get asked very often.” The person on the phone said. “Let me check with my managers and I will get back to you via email.”

“All right, thank you so much.” I said without much confidence. I started to see the many flaws in my plan. First, what if the school said no? What would I do then? It wasn’t like I could magically leave the school and join a random one in New York. Maybe I could just finish my degree here, in Avis, and then go and explore the world. Yu had said, once you graduate, anyway. If I went to New York with no job, no degree, I would be the same as I am here, maybe worse, even.

Shoot, my job! I hung up and grabbed my bag. I hurried out of my apartment and locked the door.

I work at Starbucks. I take the orders, make the drinks, etc, etc, etc. And I’ve been late way too many times.

“Jaclyn, you’re late.” Said my boss; everyone calls him Bubble, because he is always chewing bubble gum.

“Yes sir.” I said. “It won’t happen again.”

“You said that the last time you were late.” Bubble said. “And the time before that.”

“Ye- yes, sir.” I said. “I really mean it this time.”

One of my co-workers, Mike Zhang, raised his eyebrows, trying to hide his smile. My friend Lace Tanaka elbowed Mike. He let out a little grunt, more frustrated than hurt.

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Bubble turned. “Michael Zhang,” He said, “You are in big trouble too. Don’t you think I will ever forget what you did to the bathroom.”

Mike’s face turned red. “Yes sir,” He said. “I will never forget it either.”

Bubble popped a bubble. “Good.” He said. “Now, everyone back to work.

I went into the back room and grabbed my green apron. Michael and Lace followed behind me.

“You’re so in trouble,” Mike said. “Like, Bubble’s never gotten this mad at someone before. And you know why? Because no one’s ever been late this many times!”

“I’m sorry!” I said. “But I don’t care about what Bubble thinks of me anyway.”

“Are you sure?” Mike said. “Because one more day with you being tardy could end up with you losing your job.”

“Michael!” Lace said. She always called people by their first name, no matter what. Rumor had it that someone had called her Lacey as a joke, and she got really mad. That guy was never seen afterwards, either.

“I’m sorry!” Mike said. “But it’s true!”

Bea, my fellow cashier register, looked our way and put her finger to her lips frantically.

I mouthed, sorry, and went up to the register.

I looked at the walls around the store. I had helped decorate it when we last had our remodeling. It was all about traveling, going to different places for beans. I saw the Ethiopian beans, there was a dotted line going from there to Peru. I took care of our customers, and since it was a slow day today (it always was), we all got hour-long breaks. When mine and Mike’s started at the same time, we decided to go to the bookstore.

Mike loved books. He reads them before work in the morning, before he goes to bed, even when he is making the drinks at Starbucks. He was also working on a book of his own, titled, SOS: Stranded on Scene, I’m not entirely sure what it’s about though, he refuses to tell anybody about it.

Me and Michael enjoy going to the bookstore because Michael can plot where his book would be there, and so I can look at the vinyl.

Yes, I said vinyl. And don’t say that I’m old-school, this whole town is. The only thing that is slightly modern is the AGB train (yikes). But, anyway, I like to look at the vinyl. And, that day, I had saved just enough money to buy a record.

Michael and I walked into the bookstore, and decided that we would meet back up again at the coffee shop inside. I went straight to the Arts & Entertainment section of the store. I picked up one by one of my favorite artists.

After I bought it, I slid the disk carefully into my backpack. Michael was already at the coffee shop, with two books in his hand.

“Hey,” Mike said. He handed me the top book. “Apparently, this book is good for people our age; y’know, to help us invest, and stuff.”

I looked at the cover. The Road to Greatness. I nodded. “Thanks,” I said. “I’ll check it out tonight.”