Kimberly Power could feel small beads of sweat starting to form around her forehead, as she taped another box closed and shipped it off onto the crackly old belt. She glanced back at the clock, which seemed like the eighth time. Would this shift never end? She heard shouting from the room next store and cringed as she heard her name being mentioned. It was her supervisor; Greg. Apparently he thought she wasn't going as fast as she should be. She tried to ignore the muffled voices and continued back to her work. She worked at a factory called, AMD. She had only been working there for about three months and she was already wishing she could quit, but as much as she would love that, she knew she couldn't. How would she pay the rent? She lived in Tampa, Florida and it wasn't exactly cheap. Her friend, Laura Longhouse thought it would be a great idea to move to such a warm state. Great barely covered it. She hated it here; she wished she never left her home town in Massachusetts, and as much as her parents didn't appreciate her, she rather be neglected than worked to the bone. And for what? Nothing! To keep a crappy roof over her head?
Kimberly brushed her long light brown hair from her swelled green eyes. She could feel strands of hair starting to stick her to her clammy forehead. Ugh, she felt so disgusting as more sweat began to form around her face; she hated this job more and more. Her last job wasn't nearly as bad. Oh, how she missed it. She worked with the public at a clothing store. She loved the employees and enjoyed helping people look nice. She sighed as she remembered how it ended. She had a fling with her boss, not the best idea. For he ended up turning into the world's biggest ass whip. So for now she was stuck with this job. Laura already reamed her out for losing her last job. Things just didn't seem as glamorous as she thought they would be. She had met Laura through a friend and they hit it off quick, became such fast friends, but Kimberly had no idea what she was truly like, not until they lived together. She barely pulled not even half her weight, Kimberly was struggling to pay the rent, more than her share. It just seemed things had gone from bad to worse all within a short amount of time.
“Kim!” Shouted Greg.
She jumped up; hearing him bark caused her to get startled. She looked up at him; he was much taller than her. Reaching nearly 6'4 and his balding head was glaring from the light. She could see his brown eyes were dark and she knew he was angry, but why? What could she have possibly done now? “Yes?”
“What is this?!?” He sneered, as he examined the boxes on the belt, “Kim, you have been here for months, I would think you would know how to put together a damn box! You don't exactly need a high school diploma for that.”
His words cut her, for in her application she put didn't finish high school, which she hadn't. But he should not use that against her, she left for a valid reason...well not exactly, but it was not right of him to insult her because of it. “What is wrong with the boxes?” She demanded. She honestly thought they were fine, they were square and packaged nearly perfectly and the tape wasn't even pealing.
He grabbed one of the boxes from the belt and shoved it into her face, “Tell me what's wrong with this?!?”
She examined the box and tried to find something that was off, but she saw nothing. It was almost perfect. She just shrugged, “I don't know, you tell me.”
“THERE IS NO STAMP!” He shouted, as he tossed it hard onto the ground, causing the box to split open and the fragile product to shatter onto the concrete floor, “We cannot mail it if there is no fucking stamp! I found three that were stamp-less! You better get your act straight, or you will not have a job, you got that?!?”
“I'm-I'm sorry.” Her voice broke, “I don't know how I could have missed that. I'll fix it, I promise.”
“You have better!” He turned and began to walk away, “Also, the damaged product is coming out of your paycheck.”
Her green eyes blew up, “WHAT?!?” She screeched, “But you're the one that threw it on the ground!”
“Maybe if you learned how to do your job correctly there would have been no need of that.” He then left her area and she could hear him laughing in the back round.
She let out a silent scream as she bent down and picked up the broken particles that flew from the box. As she tossed them into the trashcan, she felt a prick and within moments blood began to ooze from her index finger. She stuck the finger into her mouth, feeling a stinging sensation. The loud bell rang and she looked up, it was six O'clock. Her shift was officially over. Screw the mess; he could clean it up himself!
Kimberly opened the front door of her apartment, seeing Laura was on the phone sitting on the couch, while painting her toe nails. She rolled her eyes in annoyance at her roommate. She was barely wearing anything, just some white booty shorts and a yellow Hello Kitty tank top that showed off her slim stomach. It was almost six-thirty at night. She shouldn't be wearing that around the house. It must be nice to feel comfortable to flaunt your body like that, Kimberly knew she could never wear anything as skimpy as that.
“Hey, Kim!” She called, much louder than needed.
She glanced at her and forced a smile, “Hey.”
Laura then hung up the phone and said, “Damn, you look beat. Rough night?”
“You could say that,” she replied, as she shut the black chipped painted door harder than necessary. “I'm going to take a bath.”
“Ohh, wait, Kim, I have great news!”
“What?” She exhaustedly asked, as she turned to her roommate on the stairs; which led upstairs into the bathroom.
“I got another modeling gig! Isn't that so great?!? So now I can give you the three hundred that I owe for next week's rent.”
She tried to act happy for her friend. Must have been a nice feeling that people would pay her for a few photos. She tried to support her, she tried to act like a good friend, but it was so difficult when that person threw it into your face....especially knowing your self esteem wasn't sky high like hers, “Three hundred?” Questioned Kimberly, “Laura, you owe five fifty. I can't swing that again. I barely have enough to cover my half as it is.”
Laura shrugged, “We'll manage, we always do.”
She groaned, she didn't have the energy to argue, “I'm going to be upstairs.”
The phone rang again, “Ooh, that's Ronny!”
She picked up the phone and started babbling on it. Kimberly rolled her eyes and dragged her feet up the stairs. She entered the bathroom and set the bath, as she stripped out of her ugly yellow puke uniform, she could feel the dirt fall down off her skin. This job wasn't just horrible it was disgusting as well. Her feet were starting to feel like pancakes, for the blisters were starting to take their toll. She sat down into the hot tub and grabbed the sponge and began to wash her filthy body. As she did so, she could feel tears slowly making their way down her face. She grabbed a handful of water and splashed it onto her face; she was hating everything about Florida lately. She hated the muggy weather, she hated the jobs and she was hating the people. She laid back into the tub and let the water soak her skin and tilted her head back so her hair could get drenched as well, she just rested her head on the back of the tub and closed her eyes. She didn't know how much longer she would be able to handle this, to take this. She jumped as her phone went off. She reached over and grabbed it, seeing it was a text from one of her best friends, Ashley Nicole. She could feel a smile form around her lips as she read the text.
Love you, call me when you're not too busy with your oh-so fantastic job. *Mwah*
Kimberly smirked; Ashley knew that she had a shitty job and would often tell her to go out there and try to get a career into writing. But she didn't even finish high school; she knew her jobs would be limited to the fact that she didn't have that one little piece of paper. She sighed. She hated how Ashley lived so far away, she had moved to California a little after college had ended. Cali was defiantly meant for Ashley, she was a beautiful girl and a lot of people took notice in that as well. For she was a model-plus size, but she still got a lot of men's attention. Oh how she loved that girl, missed her so much. She would call her in a little bit; she just needed time to relax. She grabbed the remote and turned on the stereo and allowed the music to calm her down a bit; it was her healer. A small curve formed around her lips as she heard the Backstreet Boys hit her eardrums. An oldie, I'll Never Break Your Heart, but none less a goodie.
Kimberly nearly had a heart attack as she heard pounding on the door and within moments Laura came charging in, “Guess what?!?”
She shrugged, “I don't know, what?”
“Ronny is having a party and invited me!!!” She squealed, “I have to go to the mall and find something sexy to wear. I think I might actually fuck him tonight,” she said, with a giggle.
Kimberly raised an eyebrow, “Laura, you just met the guy!”
“Yeah, like a week ago! God, it's no wonder why you're single, girl. You gotta give it up once in a while. So anyway, I'm gonna need advice on clothes, so come on, help me find something to wear!”
“You have a ton of clothes in your closet; you don't need to buy more. Plus, aren't you allowed to keep the clothes you model in?”
“Come on, Kim,” she complained, “I really wanna wear something new. Please, please, please come with me.”
She groaned, “Fine, give me twenty minutes; I want to at least wash my hair.”
“Yay!!! Okay, hurry up, I'm gonna get dressed.” Laura then danced out of the bathroom, like a little school girl.
Kimberly let out a loud sigh and grabbed the bottle of shampoo, she just got home and all she wanted to do was relax. She was starting to dislike Laura more and more. They had only been living together for about six months and all she wanted to do was ring her neck most of the time. She rinsed her hair quickly and stood up, draining the tub and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around her somewhat average body. She looked herself in the mirror and felt like a blob. Compared to Laura she was a blob anyway. She was perfect, had the long dark brown perfect hair, the amazing body. Hell, she was a model for crying out loud! And what was Kimberly? A nobody. Her stomach wasn't exactly flat, she tried wearing a bikini once and she swore to never again, not after the way Laura and her friends were staring at her. Florida was the place where the best beaches were and Laura always dragged her out with her posse. Her friends were pretty shallow....and since Kimberly wasn't a stick thin chick, she felt she wasn't accepted into their little circle. It seemed as though she would get nowhere because she had some weight to her. The only notice she really got was on her full C cup. Laura even told her if she wore less she might actually fit in, but when she tried to wear less, she would hear gasps. She felt like she had no real friends here....moving in with Laura was a defiant mistake. Kimberly could feel depression take over her, she tried to shrug it off, but it was so difficult, especially lately. She sighed and walked out of the bathroom and into her bedroom, going through some clothes to wear to the mall. She decided to try to wear something a little less and maybe look somewhat attractive...was that even possible? No it wasn't...not with Laura around. She wasn't jealous of her roommate, she just felt whenever she was around her, she sucked all the confidence out of her. She would see all the men around Laura and wonder who really would ever want a girl like her?
