On his way to school, Lucas passed by Cafe En Gard. It was early in the morning and the cafe had still not opened yet. He dropped off his letter in the mailbox and then went to class.
There were over two hundred students in his ecology lecture, and usually the students were evenly spaced out amongst the limited seats in the lecture hall. However, Lucas noticed there was an abundance of empty space around him. Perhaps many of his classmates decided to skip the early morning class. He looked around and saw that the class attendance was still quite high. When the class finished, he felt a strange energy as made his way to the exit. It was like how designers carefully watch models on a runway. He felt like he was being observed.
His next class was the plant biochemistry lecture. A couple minutes before class, Olivia texted Lucas that she wouldn’t be going to class, not explaining why. He didn’t want to press an explanation out of her. Lucas made his way to his usual area in the front of the lecture hall, and after sitting down, he looked behind him to see the rest of the room. He saw Jonathan sitting with some people who Lucas did not know but recognized as Jonathan’s friends. They seemed to be looking towards Lucas, though Lucas could not be sure if they were looking specifically at him; they were sitting quite far. Lucas could then see one of Jonathan’s friends lean towards the rest of the group and begin moving his mouth. Lucas wondered what he was saying and if they were talking about him.
Lucas remembered what Mr. Smith said in their appointment. The dreaded apology. Never in a million years did Lucas imagine that one day he would find himself in this situation. Rather than paying attention to the lecture and participating in the professor’s online polls, Lucas thought about what he would say and emotionally prepared himself to do it.
When Dr. Lim wrapped up her lecture, Lucas turned to look at where Jonathan and his friends were. They were still in their seats, packing up their bags and talking amongst themselves. Lucas could hear his own heart pounding as he made his way towards them. He got to the row they were in and Jonathan’s friends noticed Lucas’ presence first. They looked at him as if they were expecting him to show up. Jonathan then sees Lucas, and Lucas sees Jonathan’s face turn displeased. Just spit it out.
“I’m sorry,” Lucas blurted out, “for what happened in lab. I’m sorry for slapping you.” There was a pause as Lucas looked at Jonathan. Jonathan and his friends all looked at Lucas with unreadable expressions. It was silent. No one moved. They all just stood there. Do something. Say it back. I don’t care if you don’t mean it.
Jonathan turned the other direction and began to walk away. His friends took a moment before joining him, leaving Lucas to stand there by himself like a fool. All the students left the room, and Lucas saw Dr. Lim walk by him towards the exit door. She looked at him and Lucas tried reading her expression. He couldn’t tell if she saw what just happened. He wondered if she could connect that the student in front of her was the boy that she had to file a school violence report on a couple days ago.
Lucas never gave that much thought to how expensive tuition really was at his school. That is, until he had his appointment with the financial office and found out he needed to make payments of three thousand dollars every month of the school year. The math was the math and there was nothing that could be done to make the yearly tuition seem any lower or less daunting. The financial advisor told him everything in a very forthright manner; she had a very unforgiving attitude and no empathy for Lucas’ situation.
After a long day, Lucas thought about the job search he was going to have to do once he got back to his apartment. When he got back, he noticed a letter in his mailbox. There was nothing on the envelope. No name, no address, completely blank. Lucas thought it might have been a mistake, but he took it in anyway. He figured that if it made its way to his apartment without any name on it, it must be for him. There was a letter inside.
Lucas
Come to Cafe En Gard and meet me when you can. We can negotiate something.
When Lucas got to the cafe, it was late in the afternoon and the cafe was not that busy. The flooring, walls, and furniture were all black. The space was dimly lit. The windows made no difference to the cafe’s lighting and the tables by the window casted no shadows on the floor.
“Welcome,” a boy from behind the counter called out. He was wearing a black dress shirt, a black apron, black pants, and a white neck tie. His hair was brown and looked neatly combed with no stray strands or cowlicks. Lucas thought he looked roughly his age.
Lucas started walking further into the cafe, looking at the menu. There were two large chalkboards hanging up high on the wall above the counter. The chalkboard on the right had typical cafe menu items like coffee, tea, specialty drinks, and pastries written in white chalk. The chalkboard on the left had nothing on it. As Lucas gazed over the menu, a woman came out from one of the doors behind the counter. She looked a bit older than the boy, and she was wearing the same uniform as him. Her hair was a few shades darker than the boy’s and was tied back into a bun. Lucas watched her as she came out of the door, and when she noticed Lucas’ presence, she looked at him back with a neutral expression.
“Hi. You’re here to see me, correct?” Her forwardness threw off Lucas. There was a type of “I already know” confidence in the way she posed the question.
“Um, I guess,” Lucas muttered. He didn’t know who this woman was, but if she was anticipating him, then she must have been the one who sent him the letter. She let out a warm smile. The boy next to her also smiled, though he looked like he smiled out of surprise. It seemed that he was not expecting Lucas to be in the cafe for the purpose of meeting the lady.
The lady opened up the gate at the counter and gestured for Lucas to come in. Lucas hesitated for a moment before walking towards the counter. Once he got to the gate, the lady let go of it and pushed open the door leading to another room. Shelves with notebooks and boxes lined the walls of the room, and there was a large wooden table in the center. The lady sat down and Lucas sat a few chairs away from her. He was close enough to see her name tag.
“I’m Valerie. I’m the owner of this cafe. What’s your name?
“Lucas.”
“What made you interested in working here? We’re not really hiring right now.” Lucas thought for a bit. Rather than feign any interest in the cafe specifically, he decided to just say the truth.
“I saw that this place is new, and I figured you would be looking for new workers. I’m in a bit of trouble right now, and I need money.”
“Trouble?” Valerie was intrigued. Her voice began to worry Lucas. “You’re in trouble and you need money to get out of it?” Her tone implied she knew a thing or two about what that’s like.
“Something happened at school and…well…” Lucas was embarrassed to be talking about this to a complete stranger. “I need to pay for my school tuition.”
“Don’t you have to do that every year? Why is this suddenly a problem now?”
“Well, like I said, something happened and now I have to pay for it myself,” Lucas said, voice beginning to slightly tremble. He began to look uncomfortable and it was obvious he wanted the conversation to end. Valerie and her curiosity did not care.
“How much are they demanding from you?”
“Well, I need to pay three thousand dollars to the school every month for the rest of the school year to cover the tuition. I know I’ll have to get other jobs, I just started figuring this all out, so…”
“Alright then,” Valerie interrupted. Lucas thought he was about to be kicked out. “Let’s make it happen.”
“What?” Lucas was in shock. Valerie got up and went through a box on the shelf, pulling out a piece of paper. She got a pen out of her apron pocket and began writing on the paper.
“We can make sure you get the money. I’m confident of it.” Lucas thought Valerie sounded untrustworthy, but he kept listening. “You would only have to take orders at the cash register. Emilio can handle all the food and drinks.” So the boy’s name is Emilio, Lucas thought. Taking orders shouldn’t be too hard. “You’d have to work a lot, though.” Lucas knew that was a given. “We’d need you to come from five P.M. to twelve A.M. on the weekdays.”
“WHAT?” Lucas was in disbelief.
“Sorry, but you are in need of a lot of money. You’d also have to come in from one to six P.M. on weekends.”
Lucas thought hard about it. It was already unrealistic in the first place to think that he could manage his way out of his situation through just taking up jobs. The schedule Valerie proposed gave him the realization of how much working his plan would actually entail. Though it sounded brutal, he thought that this was a golden opportunity. A lifeline out of his situation with the school.
“Think about it over the next coming days. Working here would be a tough job for…”
“I’ll work here! I mean… if you’re really willing to let me…” Lucas decided to quickly accept the deal before he had any chance of changing his mind later. Valerie looked at him for a bit before beginning to write.
“Alright then,” she said as her pen rapidly scribbled on the paper. “This will be your contract, with all the terms of your agreement to work here.” After she finished writing, she slid the paper over to Lucas, and handed him the pen. “Sign at the bottom when you’re ready.”
Lucas looked over the contract, with all the details of the job written in Valerie’s handwriting. The black ink appeared strikingly bold against the soft green of the paper. He signed his name at the bottom, the pen making scratchy sounds against the paper’s texture. When Lucas lifted the pen up from the paper, he thought that for a split second, he saw his signature flash a different color.
“Congratulations! You’re part of the team now. What day can you start?” Valerie took the contract and filed it away in one of the boxes.
“Can I start coming in next week?” Lucas wanted to give himself some time to enjoy a somewhat normal life just a bit longer before the insanity began.
“That’s fine.” Valerie checked the watch on her right hand. “You better get going now.”
Valerie walked Lucas out of the room and past the counter. After he left, Emilio turned to her.
“Who was that?” Emilio asked.
“He’s going to work here now. His name is Lucas.”
“We’re just going to take in some random human? How did you even find him?”
“He left a letter in the mailbox. He needs our help. And more importantly, we need his help.”
“Did you tell him that? Did you tell him about who we are?” Emilio was a bit worried.
“No, there was no need. He might figure it out.” Emilio didn’t like the sound of that. He pressed his lips together nervously. “Oh my goodness, relax! He’s not going to get us into any trouble. He can’t afford to do so anyways. He needs so much money, and he also signed a contract.” Valerie looked out the windows of the cafe. “He’s coming in starting next week. He’ll only be taking orders. Be nice to him, he’ll probably have the shock of his life when he comes.” Valerie grinned, and Emilio let out a chuckle of disbelief. “Maybe we can all be friends. He’ll be with us for a while, you know.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Emilio’s mood lifted a bit.
The two began wiping down the tables and rearranging the pastry case, though they weren’t closing any time soon. The day ended, but not necessarily for them. In fact, the work day was far from over.
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