Star Bright

Maria weaved through the booths and walked to table five, balancing four plates on her arms and hands. Sometimes she wondered why she took this job in the first place. But she didn’t have much of a choice, that and the fact there wasn’t much in the small town of Jacksonville Mississippi to do. There also weren’t many job options for a twenty three year old girl who without a college education, with a five year old son and a dead beat boyfriend. It was a good thing her mother worked as a seamstress, or they would be struggling more than they already were.

“Two burgers with fries, a veggie salad and an omelette with toast,” Maria repeated their order with a smile as she set the plates down on the table.

She placed the veggie salad in front of the girl silently congratulating her on her efforts to lose weight. She was so round and hefty, at first Maria didn’t think she would fit in the booth, but somehow she managed. She placed the omelette and the burgers in front of the three guys sharing her table.

“Would you like anything else?” she asked with a pasted smile that her manager had insisted she needed to have on at all times.

“You got our orders wrong!” the girl barked at Maria with a lethal gaze. Her freckled forehead was creased in three deep Vs and her chubby cheeks looked even bigger with her lips in a scowl.

Maria looked at her with equally hostile eyes. It had been a long day already, with many obnoxious and perverted customers. There was very little polite left in her and chubster was pushing it.

sorry. Which one?” she

was fun to make waitresses run around like hamsters on a wheel under the guise of good customer service. She was about to pull out her notebook from the front pocket of her apron when the girl switched plates with one of the burger guys and pulled the omelette closer

clear in her voice as it probably was on

so?” the girl

tiny and wearing a shirt three sizes too big. He sucked on his straw nosily, looking at her from under his long brown hair. Then she turned to the one with the salad. His clothes fitted tightly on his small frame. He looked like a pubescent girl tossing the salad around on his plate. He needed that burger more than the chubby girl did. The two were thin enough for her to eat with one bite each! At least the third guy had some meat on

turned around and walked away, shaking her

show off more cleavage than necessary. Their green aprons were only an inch longer than their shorts. This was one of the reasons she hated working there—it was a step away from working in

craziest ideas. She lied to her parents and said she was pregnant, and since Maria was close to six months pregnant at the time they didn’t doubt it. They blamed Maria for corrupting their daughter. Maria put up with it though the accusations annoyed her. She wanted her friend to get what she

counter, her hand in her long thick black hair. “Jane, why do we

“Twenty more minutes till our shift ends, suck it up.” She pulled her long blonde hair into a