Chapter Five: The New Normal

The job listing at Rosetti’s Italian Restaurant feels like a lifeline when I find it tucked on a community board at the public library. Part-time server wanted, flexible hours and no experience necessary.

I take a photo of the number before anyone else can see it.

I apply that same afternoon, and by the end of the week, I’m standing in front of Tony Rosetti himself; a broad-shouldered man with flour dusting his apron and laugh lines around his eyes,learning how to balance three plates at once without dropping them.

“You’re a natural,” he says after I nail it on the second try. 

“When can you start?”

“Tomorrow?”

He laughs. “I like the enthusiasm. Friday night. Six o’clock. Don’t be late.”

My plan is simple; work and save every penny, and the second I turn eighteen, I’m gone. No more depending on my father’s guilt-driven attempts to make up for a lifetime of absence. 

I know the money isn’t exactly great, but it’s mine and right now, that’s all that matters.

Weeks  into school and I’m barely surviving. Annabel remains my only real friend, a bright spot in an otherwise hostile environment and Adam? Since that night in Julian’s room, we haven’t spoken. It’s like he’s built a wall between us, and I’m too exhausted to try to scale it. He acts like I don’t exist unless we’re alone in the estate, and even then, he just glares at me like my presence offends. Mrs. Vivian, on the other hand, makes her feelings abundantly clear.

“Thomas, your daughter looks so… tired,” her voice dripping with false concern. “Is the scholarship too much for her? Perhaps the school isn’t the right fit.”

“June is doing just  fine,” Dad says quietly. “She’s adjusting.”

“Hmm.” Mrs. Vivian’s gaze slides over me like I’m something she found on the bottom of her shoe. “Well, I do hope she remembers to always keep her cool. It would be such a shame if this… arrangement… didn’t work out.”

That's her way of making unspoken threat and I get it. What choice do I have?

Friday night at Rosetti’s starts normally enough. The dinner rush is in full swing, and I’m juggling four tables when my manager, Tony, waves me over.

“Got a group in section three for you,” he says, jerking his thumb toward the back corner.

I grab menus and head over, running through my usual greeting in my head. Hi, welcome to Rosetti’s, can I start you off with…..

Adam and his friends are sliding into the booth, laughing about something on Carter’s phone. Carter is loud, the kind of guy who thinks being obnoxious is a personality trait. 

Carter sees me first and his grin widens. “Well, well. The scholarship girl has a side hustle.” He snickers, elbowing Lucas . “Dude, what is this?” Lucas shifts uncomfortably but says nothing.

And Adam?  His  face is unreadable. He meets my eyes for half a second, then looks away like I’m not even worth acknowledging.

I force myself to stay professional. “Hi. Can I get you started with some drinks?”

“Can we get another server?” Adam asked loudly, cutting me off. I wish I could to throw the menus at him but instead, I smile sweetly. “Of course. Let me get someone else.”

I turn away, my hands shaking.

“Wait.” Carter’s voice stops me. “Actually, don’t you think this will be entertaining if we keep her?”

For the next hour, they make my life a living hell; Carter demands constant refill of his water, snapping his fingers every time his glass drops below half-full. Adam orders the most complicated dish on the menu, then barely touches it.

Other customers start to notice and begin to give me a sympathetic look.

When they finally leave, I find a crisp fifty-dollar bill on the table, tucked under Adam’s empty glass with a note written;for the entertainment.

I grab the money and run. The parking lot is dark, lit only by scattered streetlights. I spot them near Adam’s car; Lucas leaning against the hood, Carter scrolling through his phone, Adam trying to climb into the driver’s seat.

“Here!” I throw the money at him and I watch it flutters through the air and lands at his feet. “I don’t want your pity and don’t treat me like your servant!”

“Really? Because your father is and that makes you….”

“That’s enough.” Lucas cuts him off, pushing away from the car. He turns to me, and his voice is surprisingly soothing . “Look, I’m sorry. He’s been in a mood all day . It’s not about you.”

“Isn’t it?” I’m shaking now, weeks of anger and humiliation boiling over. “You people have everything. Money, power, privilege. But it’s still not enough. You have to make sure everyone else knows they’re beneath you.”

“You think you know me? “You think living in my house for how many weeks makes you an expert on my life?”

“I know you’re a bully.” The words pour out of me. “I know you’re cruel for no reason. And I know your brother would be ashamed of who you’ve become.”

The moment the last word leaves my lips, I feel the shift in the air, the wrongness of what I’ve just said settles over me like ice water.

Carter’s head snaps up from his phone with his eyes going wide.Lucas inhales sharply beside him, the sound cutting through the silence like a gasp underwater.Then Adam’s jaw tightens, just slightly and he smiles without a word, turns and walks to his car and doesn’t look back.Lucas turns to me,opens his mouth like he wants to say something, then he  just shakes his head and follows Adam to the car.

Carter lingers by the driver’s side door, one hand on the handle. He looks at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable.

“You shouldn’t have said that,” he says quietly. Not angry. Just… sad. “You really shouldn’t have said that.”

Then he’s gone too, sliding into the car and starting the engine.

I stand alone in the parking lot as their taillights fade into the dusk, my chest tight, my hands trembling. The weight of what I’ve done crashes over me in waves.

What have I done?