Toya took a deep breath running her hands over her navy blue button down shirt nervously. She looked over her appearance for the thousandth time that morning.  She ran a hand over her straighten that was pulled back into a neat ponytail.  She spent hours the night before straightening out her curls just for this day. She was starting her new job as an assistant manager at a local wholesale store. It was something she had lined up before her move to Cali and was luckily enough to get it just in time for the move.

She wanted to make a good impression. She adjusted her silver necklace and placed her earrings in her ear. She checked the time on her watch seeing that it was time to definitely head out.

“Damion, you almost ready?!” She called out hurrying around the room gathering her things and placing them into her purse.

“Yeah I’m waiting on you.” He answered.

Toya smiled once headed out of the room turning off to see him standing by the front door dressed in a pair of dark washed pressed fitting jeans, with a red belt, a pair of black and white Jordan’s Michael had bought him and a simple V-neck black tee showing off the little tattoos on his arms he had gotten without her permission for his birthday last year.

She admitted her little brother had grown into a very handsome young man. She wasn’t thrilled at the fact she was going to have to beat off another flock of horny teenage girls. He was definitely a charmer, but genuine. He never had problems with girls until he stumbled upon that girl Quinetta, Quinn for short back in New York.

The little tramp stole her brother’s heart the moment he set eyes on her. She was a junior and he was a sophomore and they dated for a whole year. If his time wasn’t accompanied by basketball, it was her he spent the rest of his time in. He followed her around like a lost puppy, but she always rubbed Toya the wrong way. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she didn’t sit well her. But it wasn’t long until he came to the devastating blow that she had been playing her brother all along. She had been sleeping around with other girls. She used her brother as cover up because she didn’t want anyone to find out that she was gay or at least her parents.

Toya would never forget the ridicule he had gotten from all his friends. It was embarrassing to say the least for him and it pissed her off to a whole new level. It didn’t stop the girls calling the house phone though. It didn’t stop them from getting weak at the knees every time they walked down the street together. It made her gag, she could practically smell the heat of sex coming from them.

She sighed and took a deep breath at the thought. She would have to get through this year as well one horny little bitch at a time.

“How do I look?” She asked him stopping before him.

He looked over her button down shirt tucked neatly into her black belted pants with a pair of black casual dress shoes. She wore light make up from what he could tell if she wore any at all and a little gloss on the lips.

“You good sis, as always.” He smiled at her.

She nodded smoothing over her shirt again a nervous habit she had,” Alright let’s get you to school so I can get there on time. I hear traffic is no joke around here.”

Traffic was definitely heavy on her way to his school, but they made it in good enough time that she was running pretty well on schedule. She pulled up along the sidewalk in the drop-off line and looked over at him as he gathered his bag from the car floor.

“You good?” She asked him as he glanced up at the school watching as other students walked by. He glanced over at her giving her a grin before leaning over kissing her cheek and pushing open the car door getting out.

He threw his backpack on his shoulder and stuck his head back in the door way,” You know I’m Gucci.”

She chuckled shaking her head at her brother use of slang indicating that he was okay,” Have a good day. Love you.”

“Love you too sis.” He winked at her and quickly closed the door turning on his heels and began to follow the crowd of kids into the building.

She watched until he disappeared inside and then slowly pulled off and headed to work. Luckily, her apartment, Damion’s school and her job weren’t too far apart from each other, which made her morning commute a little more tolerable.  She arrived at the store fifteen minute ahead of schedule giving her time to nick pick over her appearance. She never was the self-conscious type unless it came to her job after taking a class preparing her for the interviewing world where they drilled it into the students head first impressions were everything.

She spent a lot of time shopping for clothes that downplayed her assets as much as possible without wearing a burlap sack. Once satisfied she exited her car and headed inside.

Damion sat in the chair in the front office with his leg bouncing up and down nervously as he looked down at his new schedule. His stomach was secretly turning as he waited for his student guide that was supposed to be showing him around to his classes.

He lied when he told Toya he was Gucci, he was anything, but okay. But the last thing his sister needed was to be worried about him stressing about school when she had other things on her plate. It wasn’t that he didn’t think he could hold his own he survived New York he could survive anything. But have to start over in a school during Senior Year, where people already formed their long lasting friendships, groups and cliques.

He witnessed people do it back home and it was never easy transition for some. He just hoped he could make it through without any problems or any distractions.

“Are you Damion Brown?”

He looked up from his paper and into a set of soft brown eyes attached a beautiful smiling face. Damn, he thought.

“Uh yeah?”

His eyes did a quick scan over her features, she had long brown hair that fell past her shoulders, soft caramel skin with bright smile with dimples. She couldn’t be no taller than 5’1, which he knew he would tower over once he stood up. She was petite sporting a pair of fitted shorts, stripped black and white tank top and her backpack on her shoulders.

The young woman smiled brightly reaching her neatly manicured hand out to him,” Nice to meet you I’m Kerri Gonzales, your student guide today. Welcome to Inglewood High.”

Damion took hold of her hand and shook it gently taking into the softness of her hand and mental praying to the gods for strength.

“Nice to meet you too.”

Oh, yeah definitely nice to meet you. He thought.

“So that is pretty much how the day goes around  here goes, everyone is a very hard worker and of course you have those who’ve been here a long time and feel entitled  to the job, but they don’t cause much trouble.”

Toya stood with the store manager Matthew Burns as they came from walking the store and him   explaining a typical day and duties that she was going to be responsible for. The  job was fairly  easy just a lot of stocking, taking inventory and making sure the internal as well as the  external of the store was well taken care.

“How about we go over and meet some of the employees while we have a slow start to the day.” He suggested as played with the keys in his pocket. Toya nodded following suite behind, personally she didn’t want to meet them right now.

They were a bunch of women and a few men that worked there. The men worked stock and inventory while the women seemed to rule the front of the house. Some older than her that seem to mind their business and go on about their day and the others had to be her age or younger from what she saw from the paperwork she briefly went through.

They made their way to the front of the store by the line of cash registers, their first time was #1. A heavy set woman dark woman with long red talons decked out in rhinestones. She wore a tight fitting green polo shirt and even tighter khaki pants underneath her black company apron.

“Tiwanna, meet Ms. LeToya Brown she is our new assistant store manager she has joined us from all the way from New York.”

Tiwanna smiled, but eyed her openly before holding out her hand,” Nice to meet you. Everyone calls me TiTi or Wanna whatever you want”

Toya shook her head firmly nodding with a smile as genuine as possible for her with the woman eyeing her like she couldn’t believe she was going to be her new boss,” Nice to meet you as well Tiwanna.”

She didn’t know the woman personally to think it would appropriate to call her by her nickname just yet. But she did keep it mind. They moved a register over to a young woman couldn’t be any younger than 20 years old with long black hair with tips dyed in blue, she was another one with long nails but spiked and in black. She chewed loudly on her gum as she threw Tiwanna a look before checking me as well.

“This is Porsche, Porsche meet Ms. LeToya Brown she is the new assistant manager.”

She threw a wave with a tight lipped smile and turned around going back to wiping down her area. They continued down to two more, Lydia and Michelle. They didn’t check her with their eyes, but didn’t seem bothered either way by her.

The last thing she needed was to have to deal with the attitudes of all them before she even got her foot in the door good.

After meeting with the rest of the staff, Toya got started with helping Matthew with the inventory of the store. She clipped her set of keys to the belt loop of her pants and gripped her clipboard as she headed to the opposite end of the store towards the door.

Justin pulled into the driveway of his Mom's house as she was walking out the front door locking the door behind her. She waved towards him as she turned around heading out towards him. He threw the car into park and got out of the car walking around to the passenger door to open it up for her.

She walked around the front of the car greeting him with a gentle pat on his cheek," Hey honey"

He smiled kissing her cheek before she slipped into her seat and he closed the door behind. He walked around the back and hopped in, turning the car back on and pulled out of the driveway and onto the street.

Lynn looked around his car and glanced towards the back seat," Where's Charlie?"

"Sleeping in."  He addressed turning out of the neighborhood and onto the main city street.

She nodded digging into her purse shuffling around for a piece of gum," Oh ok well thank you for taking your old mama to the store."

He glanced over at her with a smirk with one hand steering," You know it's no big deal ma."

She smiled warmly at him and patted his free hand as it rested on the center console," How did I end up with such good son’s?”

Justin scuffed with a chuckle,” I don’t think we are labeled as good ma, compared to others.”

“How can you compare lions to sheep son?”  She questioned with a smirk. He laughed nodding his head in agreement.

Toya sat in the small break room in the back of the store as she ate her lunch while reading over guidelines and policies. She took her thirty minutes while Matthew relived a couple of the ladies up front. As she flipped the page, the door creaked open and in walked Tiwanna. Toya took the liberty of reading up on some of the employee notes.

Tiwanna was the longest member of the particular store. She didn’t have anything worth noting about in her file expect being late a few times out of the year. She scored well on her employee performance cards. Which kind of made her wander why she hadn’t been promoted to supervisor at least if not assistant manager.

They exchanged looks before Tiwanna opened up the fridge and dug out her own lunch. A simple brown bag and a canned coke. She sat down at the table across from Toya, eyeing her once more. Toya, despite doing what she really wanted was to be quiet and continue to eat her food. She decided to strike up small talk.

“So, Tiwanna how are you doing today?”

Tiwanna gave her side eyes as she opened up her bag,” Fine.”

Toya nodded,” That’s good, so um how long have you been working here?”

Tiwanna unwrapped her wheat sandwich from it plastic wrapping,” Going on about ten years.”

“Wow, that’s a long time.”

“Too long.” Tiwanna muttered taking a big bite of her sandwich and taking a long swig of her coke she managed to pop open with her long nails.

Toya remained silent getting the feeling she wasn’t going to get much from her. She decided that this wasn’t a mountain she wanted to climb on her first day. She began to crumble up her wraps into a ball and quickly tossed them into the trash can off to the side.

“I suppose I could have been manager by now. Is that you trying to get at?” Tiwanna didn’t give much a glance towards her direction as she chewed her sandwich.

Toya looked at her and nodded as she continued to gather her things on the table, “Yes, it was.”

Tiwanna let out a chuckle holding her sandwich in between her chubby hands,” They weren’t willing to pay me enough for the shit you have to deal with in here all just because I don’t have a degree. Even then I don’t think management gets paid enough. I suppose that’s why they chose someone from New York thinking they could handle it.”

Toya slowed her pace of stacking her papers,” What do you mean?”

Tiwanna took another bite and tossed her sandwich down on the paper bag getting a couple of chews in before speaking looking up at Toya from her seat.

” This store has been robbed so many times, I can’t even count. After the people stealing are friends of the very people who work here. A bunch of lowlife teenage punks, dating these dumb girls out there thinking the shit is cute. Just a bit of warning and advice the ones you think are the most unlikely to do anything are the most conniving, ruthless bitches as they come. That is why I would never be a manager here. I come and do my job then I go home.”

Toya stood silent blinking a few times trying to take it what was just given to her. She was a bit taken back, but not really surprised at the older woman’s frankness. She probably knew the in’s and out of this place and had seen a lot. So, Toya didn’t intend on taking what she said lightly.

“Well I think you for the advice, Tiwanna.” She grabbed her papers and tucked them underneath her arm and pushed her chair underneath the table and moved around her heading towards the door.

“I really do wish you luck honey. But I’m sure you don’t need it.  I can tell you been through enough shit in your life that I’m sure you can handle this one.” Tiwanna voice softened a bit, but she didn’t bother to turn around and neither did Toya.

She exited through the door letting it close behind her.

“I’m going to go down to get some dog food, I’ll meet back up with you.” Justin walked ahead of his Mom as she pushed her cart half full of food.

“Okay I’m going to go the meats. Get some steaks for Paul, he coming home tomorrow.”

Justin rolled his eyes inwardly at the mention of his stepfather,” Alright I’ll meet you over there in like five minutes.”

She nodded as she turned right and he headed left his boot covered feet thumping hard against the tile flooring.

He waited until he saw her disappearing down the aisle and he quickly disappeared between two swinging doors heading in the back of the store in dry storage. He dug down into his pocket as he pulled out a couple of sacks of weed.

He had made a call out to his local customers that he was in the area and one was sitting on the job. He moved through the dimly light area until he made a quick left as he let out a quick whistle to announce his arrival.

“Down here Jay.”

He followed the voice until he met the face of customer,” I got to make this quick man, I just got my new assistant in here today. She should be coming back from her lunch break any second now.”

Justin held out  his head as he looked over at Matt one of his long term offenders as he fetched his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled out a couple of twenties and exchanging them with Justin.”

“I thought they weren’t coming in for a couple of weeks.” Justin asked as he continued his moment holding the twenties up to the light. Even though he had been selling to Matthew for a few years he didn’t take anything for granted. He made that mistake once and ended up a year in the county.

Matthew quickly shifted the bunch and then stuffed them in his pocket,” I thought so too.  But I’m not complaining she is hot and with an accent. Sexy New York Bitch man. You should see her.”

Justin rolled his eyes as he folded his money and tuck it into his pocket,” You see one bitch, you seen them all.”

Matthew laughed as they both headed out of the storage,” You better get out of here before Porsche sees you.”

They both walked out of the swinging door into the main store area,” I’m not worried about her man plus I got mom’s shopping around in here.”

“Oh yeah, tell her I said hello oh wait a minute man there she is over there my assistant.” Matthew motioned to the left of him. Justin turned his head to see the woman coming out of a hall way where he knew the break room to be.

He squinted his eyes a bit as he looked over her features and he instantly recognized her. The woman that had been out running the other day. She held a clipboard underneath her arm as she spoke to one of the stock boys as he stood in the aisle stocking what looked like soup cans.

His eyes wander over her body in her work uniform even those clothes hugged her in the right spot. He couldn’t help but let his eyes wander down her backside as she turned to start counting the shelves. She had a round apple bottom it was firm, but he bet had a bit of a juggle to it.

She had thick hair straighten and pulled back as it dangled down the middle of her back,” I won’t mind spending late nights in the store staring at that all day every day. Instead hard-on.”

Matthew spoke in a hush tone with a bite of his fist. Justin had to agree with him, but he didn’t verbally. He just shook his head and held out to shake Matthew’s hand before heading towards her direction on the hunt for his mom, but not without getting her attention.

He made his way over clearing his throat a little before speaking,” I guess it’s always going to be the first time everything a lot more often huh?”

Toya frowned and turned to look over her shoulder at a pair of dark blue eyes staring at her.  She turned around to see the familiar face smirking at her cockily with a hand tucked into one of his pockets. She remembered him from the other day when she went out for a run.

The little sarcastic prick she meant after running into his brother. She suppressed her recurring urge to roll her eyes at him.

“I guess so.” She stated plainly before turning back around and recounting the cans of beans on the shelf.

Justin moved to her peripheral view,” I knew my hunch was right. You are new here. As many times I’ve been in this store, I never seen. Now if I can put a name to a strange face.”

He glanced quickly down at her name tag before she quickly moved her clipboard to block his view of her name tag,” LeToya.”

She shifted her eyes to catch a quick glimpse of him then refocused her attention her task,” Yeah that’s me.”

  Justin smiled as he stared at the side of her face intensely which usually made other girls squirm under his glare. But the more he stared the more frustration drew across her face until she turned sharply towards him and cocked a perfectly arch eyebrow.

“Can I help you with something????” She motioned towards him searching for his name.

“Justin.”

“Okay your Justin and I’m LeToya, is there something I can help you with if not I would like to continue working here.” She tried her best to keep her customer service voice on and not give him her New York attitude.

It didn’t bother him nor phase him which only made her even more frustrated, but didn’t let it show as he didn’t let his shocked reaction to her not being phased by him.

“I’ll see you around.” He stated coolly.

“Have a nice day Justin.” She threw him a tightlipped smile as he began to walk away. He turned on his heels and motioned toward her male employee who was kneeled on the floor beside her unloading boxes.

“I won’t talking to you. I was talking to DaMarcus.”

DaMarcus held back his chuckle and threw his hand up towards Justin,” Aight.”

Leaving Toya baffled.