Begin

EMILY’S POV

“WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?”

The room went silent as Mr. Fredric takes in the scene. And when he sees me about to blow up and my finger pointing to one of his customers, I know by then that I am in big trouble. He has this thing about employees must treat customer well, he’s like Mr Crab from spongebob; except for the greedy part. Mr. Fredric tries to keep his anger down and, thank god for his grown up manner, he decides to not blow up at me in public. Probably later on, in his office or something.

“There was an accident, sir, nothing bad” one of the workers behind the cashier shouted to answer.

When Mr. Fredric finally composed himself, he apologized to everyone for his sudden outburst and damages done. After that, people sat down in their own tables again and continued doing what they were doing before. Some people already requested us to play some more songs.

I look to my side to see that the guy disappeared. What a jerk.

I look to see if Mr. Fredric would allow us to. He gives a nod to me but still giving me ‘the look.’ He usually gives ‘the look’ as a warning.

When Kevin and Trevor sees Mr. Fredric’s nod, they instantly walked to me.

“Do you want to continue? Or do you want to rest first?” Trevor asked pointing to the tissue on
my face.

Trevor and Kevin also knows about my sickness, that’s why they’re so concerned about everything mattered about me. As I said earlier, I didn’t want anyone to worry about me, so I kinda hate it when they ask stuff like this.

“I’m fine, really, let’s just do this” I said and throws away the tissue in my face.

“Alright, you sure?” Kevin asks.

“Yes, I’m sure, so what’s the next song request?”

“Talking to the Moon by Bruno Mars”

“Let’s do this then” I took Kevin’s and Trevor’s arms and lead them to the performance area and made them sit in they’re stools.

As soon as I sit in my stool, Kevin starts playing his version of Talking to the Moon in his guitar. After he finishes his intro, he pauses his strumming as a signal for both me and Trevor to start singing.

During the song, my eyes search again for the guy wearing the green shirt. The one who was pushing my buttons earlier.

When I finally figured that he wasn’t in the café anymore, I stopped looking for him.

Just by the conversation we had earlier, I know that I won’t ever want to run into him again. I can take a joke now and then but he find things funny when sees someone else getting tortured. I can’t stand people like him. The ones who find happiness out of another’s misery. Everyone gets a first impression and his was a disaster.

Soon we were singing the next song request which was Stereo Hearts by Gym Class Heroes, one of the well-known upbeat cheesy love songs.

“I only pray you’ll never leave me behind”

“Because good music can be so hard to find”

“I take your hand and hold it closer to mine”

“Thought love was dead but now you’re changing my mind”

As I sing the lyrics, I see Mr. Fredric talking to the middle-aged woman who tripped earlier. He had a nervous smile on his face. I see him apologizing to her and saying other things. When he finished talking to her, he faced to me and boy, was his face look deadly.

---

“I don’t understand what happened! How could an accident cause this much money?” Kevin asks Mr. Fredric.

Me, Trevor and Kevin sat down in Mr. Fredric’s office room. Why? Because the guy in green ran off and we were suspected as a victim.

“Let’s see, shall we? Some furniture and kitchen utensil damages aren’t a big of deal, but the thing is, the women who tripped and fell just had her back stitched up from a very deadly operation, and just because of that fall, her damages got worst.. That’s why she doesn’t want to pay for the hospital bills and treatment anymore because she said that it was our fault she got tripped in the first place” Mr. Fredric explained.

“But, $13,000! This is absurd and you know it!” Kevin complains.

“Don’t get me wrong, Kevin! I do know it! But this is how much her treatments and hospital bills costs!” Mr. Fredric agrees.

“How is it our fault anyways?! Emily fell and knocked the mike down!” Trevor stands up for me.

I can’t seem to utter a single word. I keep looking at the numbers of money that is shown in the paper Mr. Fredric gave us. How could this accident cost so much?

“And how did Emily fell down?”

“I bumped her..” Kevin looks down.

“And why did you bumped her?”

“Because I was poured by a hot drink and it was freshly made! It’s very hot! I was in shock, I had to stand up!” Kevin defends himself.

“Yeah! It’s not like Kevin poured a hot drink to himself! Someone else did it! It wasn’t our fault!” Trevor helps defend his friend.

“And did you see the person who ‘accidentally’ poured a hot beverage to Kevin’s shoulders?” Mr. Fredric continues to ask.

Finally, Trevor and Kevin stay silent because they didn’t know what to say. They didn’t see who did it. They were too busy helping the women. The same woman who wants us to pay her bills. And I decided to speak up,

“I did”

Mr. Fredric raises his brow to the fact that I’ve finally decided to say something, and asks once again,

“Who is it then? Who did this? If so, he or she will be the one to pay for all of this!”

“He ran off when you showed up sir, I talked to him, I knew it was him! He even admitted to me that it was him! But he was too much of a coward to admit to anyone else! He should be the one to pay these bills! Not us!”

I stood up from the chair I was sitting on because of my anger. I couldn’t handle this. Mr. Fredric knows that our income isn’t much and he very well knows that we won’t be able to pay for this with the job we do at the moment.

All three of them looked at me in surprise. They didn’t expect that from me. Trevor took my hand as sign to ask me to sit back down again. I let out a sigh and sit back down again.

“Well, did you know his name, Emily? I will contact the person immediately and ask him to pay for all this” Mr. Fredric holds out his phone.

Mr. Fredric has his ways of knowing everyone in the city. He has his sources.

That’s when I realized that I didn’t know his name. I only knew what he looked like. I didn’t know anything about him because I just walked up to him and shouted to his face. This could be a problem.

“No.. I don’t know his name.. But I know what he looks like?” It came out more of a question than a statement.

Mr. Fredric lets out a sigh as he looks at the three of us with sadness in his eyes.

“I’m sorry guys.. I really don’t want this happening to you, I swear.. But I’m letting Dark Claws go, I want you guys to search for a better job, a job that you can save money for yourselves and pay for these bills, once you already pay for all of this, maybe Dark Claws would perform here again, or maybe a better place, but for now, I’m letting you go”

This information struck the three of us. Getting another job?! When you’re in college, snatching an interview for an internship could be quite hard, let alone a job that could pay for $13,000!

I don’t know what I’m going to do. My family is in crisis right now and this bill isn’t going to pay for itself. Either I’ll be having 3 jobs a day or a super high paid job. But, a super high paid job is very unlikely.

All of us remain silent until Trevor speaks up,

“Thank you, Mr. Fredric, we understand.. Thanks for the opportunity”

Once Trevor stands up, both me and Kevin stands up as well. We walk out of Mr. Fredric’s office with nothing else to say. All three of us sat down in one of the tables that were being cleaned up by the other employees since it was closing time.

None of us said anything to each other. Even though we were just some band playing by the corner of a café, it somehow means a lot to us. The band practices and everything. At first, Kevin and I refused to play in a band but somehow Trevor manages to drag us in.

We never practice actually. I don’t mean to boast here. But, we really never did practice. Every time we had time to practice, we’d always ended playing some game or just talking the hours away. I know we sound lazy, but trust me, we aren’t.

Since the day Kevin and Trevor knows about my sickness, they treat me as if I’m a baby or as if I had the stamina of a snail. They didn’t want me to get exhausted, when I actually don’t. But, I
get that they care, it’s just sometimes, they overreact.

“So, what job are you guys planning on getting?” Kevin breaks the silent.

“I think I’ll go for theater, the arts have kinda gotten attached to me, so, I’ll probably be auditioning for roles in Broadway, I may not get lead or anything but I heard anyone who takes
part in Broadway gets paid well, so.. Yeahh..”

Both, Kevin and I smiled in Trevor’s option. Trevor always has a backup plan, the one who usually have things organized. I have things organized as well but not as much as he does.

“Yeah, I think you’ll do great in acting and I’m sure you won’t have a problem singing ballads, you’ll knock them down in the first day!” Kevin says, giving support to one of his best friends.

“I agree, just don’t forget to get us tickets for your show” I joked him.

Kevin adds, “And make them free!”

Which sends all three of us to laugh. You’d probably be wondering, ‘why would Trevor play in a regular café band when he can make it in the big time?’ Well, here’s the answer to that question.

At first, he didn’t have any interest in theater stuff but his sudden interest came when we started the band. Once, me and Kevin dragged Trevor to a Broadway audition, and he got a part. But he said and I quote,

‘I’d rather not play if I just got a small part’

He’s crazy! Just getting a part in a Broadway musical is like a once of lifetime gift.

“Thanks guys, I promise I won’t forget about the bills, and I will contribute” Trevor says.

“Of course you’re gonna have to contribute, doofus!” Kevin smacks the back of Trevor’s head which make them both laugh.

I let out a chuckle and somehow it got both of they’re attention.

“What about you, Emily? What do you have in mind?” Kevin asks.

“Man, someone’s being nosey today” Trevor rolls his eyes, which earns him another slap in his head from Kevin.

“I don’t know, really, guys.. I don’t know if anyone would want me to work for them, I’m still in college and I’m not able to do something too…energetic.. The closest I’ll get is probably an internship and a barney costume..”

Both of the guys sitting opposite of me frowns. I really am going to miss them.

“I’m not gonna let you drown yourself in a pity party, young lady!” Kevin says and drags his chair closer to me.

“Oh please, Kev, I’m 2 months older than you are!” I stick my tongue out at him.

“Well, I am older than you both, that means I get to boss you guys around!” Trevor lets out an evil laugh.

Me and Kevin looked at each other and smirked. Somehow we communicate in our heads counting from one to three. And by three, we both jumped at Trevor and tickled him to death.

Notes

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