LIFE AS I KNOW IT
Prologue
And I thought the food smelled gross. The over-roasted meat covered in thick gluey gravy. The potatoes that were supposed to be mashed, but looked more pureed. Mushy canned peas that were more gray than green.
But then the people came in and some of them smelled worse. Way worse.
And then some of them seemed normal. Too normal, like single moms wearing business outfits, kids in tow—not the kind of people you’d expect to see at a soup kitchen. And maybe that was even worse than the dirty people who you would expect to show up for a free hot meal.
I turned to Kylie. “I think we should have picked a different assignment.”
“I know. This is fucking heinous.” She looked down at herself. “And tell me what is with these plastic aprons?”
“It’s better than getting the food on you. Think about it.”
She nodded. “Good point. Hey, look. There are TV people here.”
I craned my neck to see where she was looking. Sure enough there was a cameraman and a woman in a business suit with a mic in the corner, looking like they were setting up to film.
“Maybe we’ll get on TV,” I said.
Kylie clucked her tongue. “It’s not going to get you famous if you do.”
“I don’t want to be famous; I want to be an actress.” But yeah, I wanted to be famous.
Someone cleared their throat in front of me. I looked. It was a guy with his plate out, waiting for me to scoop him some potatoes. Even though he was young, he was probably the grossest and dirtiest person yet, looking like he hadn’t bathed in…well, ever.
God, it is disgusting and embarrassing to be serving these people, I thought.
And he smelled worse than anything. I forced myself not to gag by holding my breath.
I dished out a big spoonful of the white mush and dumped it on his plate while still keeping my eyes on the tray of food in front of me.
The guy shuffled down the line. “You’re welcome,” I said, rolling my eyes. How appalling that the guy couldn’t even grunt a thank you.
His head snapped back and he glared at me, looking right into my eyes, scaring me a little. I hadn’t really meant for him to hear me. Apparently his ears were clean enough.
“Fuck you, princess,” he said, so quietly I almost didn’t hear it above the din in the hall.
“Ungrateful asshole,” Kylie said to me, but really softly, just in case.
Fighting tears, I turned back to the huge tray of potatoes in front of me, burying the spoon in the mountain of slop. “No kidding. What a douche.”
Chapter 1
“I’m going to take it,” Kylie whispers.
I am checking myself out in the mirror at the Clinique counter.
“What?” I ask, reaching for a tissue to wipe off Perfectly Persimmon, the heinous lipstick that looked a whole lot better on the back of my hand than it does on my mouth. The lighting in here is shit, making it hard to pick a color that’s not totally atrocious. Is it too much to ask for decent lighting at a fucking makeup counter?
It is imperative that I find a lipstick that goes far beyond being ‘not totally atrocious’; I have a date with Danny tonight.
“I’m going to take this lipstick, Tash. You know, steal it.”
I look over at my best friend. She’s got that look on her face and her eyes keep darting over to the pair of bored salesladies who are chatting, but who are keeping an eye on us.
“What the hell for, Kylie? Just buy it if you want it.”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
“Give me a break,” I say, reaching for the tester of Ravishing Red to try on. “Stealing isn’t fun. And it’s not like you can’t afford it.”
She clucks at me and I know if I look back over at her, she’d be totally rolling her eyes.
“And by the way, Kylie?” I say.
“Yeah?”
“If you’re going to lift something, don’t do it right beside me, I have no desire to go to jail.”
“I wouldn’t go to jail. I’m not dumb enough to get caught, Tasha.”
I glanced up at the myriad black globes hanging from the ceiling. “Oh you sure? This place has cameras all over. Oh and if you got caught, your dad would freak.”
She clucks again. “You’re such a goody goody, Tasha.”
“Yeah well I’m a goody goody without a criminal record. And you know they won’t let us go to
She puts the lipstick back, although reluctantly.
“I swear, Tasha, you’re getting boring,” she whines.
“And you, Kylie, are getting scary. I’m not risking my summer so you can get the thrill of stealing a stupid twenty dollar lipstick. Give me a break.”
I glance over at the salesladies who seem are now staring at us.
“And anyway, they’re watching us. You’d get busted for sure.” I turn and pucker my lips at her. “What do you think?”
She nods. “It’s good.”
“Kissable?”
She rolls her eyes. “Like Danny needs an excuse to kiss you?”
I giggle. She’s right. In the three weeks since Danny and I had become official, there has been a lot of kissing. “No, but still?”
“Yeah, it’s definitely kissable. Nice and moist.”
Kissable is important. I look over at the salesladies and wave. “I’ll take two of this one, please,” I say.
One of the ladies comes over and takes the tube from me so she can check the number. She bends down, finds two boxes of Ravishing Red under the counter and rings it up.
I hand her my mom’s Visa just as my phone rings.
Digging it out of my purse, I see it’s my mom. She’s probably pissed that I took her Visa, but I answer it anyway.
“Tashy?” my mother’s frantic voice is on the other end.
“Yeah, Mom, what’s up?” I cradle the phone against my shoulder so I can sign the Visa slip.
“You need to come
“Mom, I’m busy, I’ll be
“Tashy. Please…”
She’s crying. I cluck my tongue and roll my eyes at Kylie. “Mom, what’s going on?” I mouth the words drama queen to my friend. Kylie smiles and rolls her own eyes.
“Please, honey, just come
“What is it, Mom?” I take the Visa card back from the saleswoman and slip it into my purse. I give her a nod and turn to leave the store with my bag.
“Tashy. It’s Daddy.”
“What do you mean?”
“Tashy, Daddy’s gone.”
“Gone where?”
“Your daddy’s dead. He’s gone, honey.” She starts wailing into the phone and I can’t understand her anymore, but it doesn’t matter because my ears start ringing as I realize what she said.
My knees give way and hit the floor the same time as my phone.