BRANDI

Imposter Sadie soon left, leaving half her tuna sandwich untouched. As I watched her leave, I did nothing to stop her.

Part of me I wondered if I was angry or relieve to see her go. Angry, I decided when I realized that I had been left with the bill.

Yes, I had offered to pay for lunch, but I had seriously overestimated how much this twenty dollar bill would get me. I glanced at the three plates on the table and winced. How was I going to get out of this one?

The waitress came by the table and refilled my water, so I dug out my bill from my pocket. I did the math in my head, and once I discovered the verdict, I clenched my teeth tight.

I was seven dollars short.

"Shit," I mumbled.

"What was that?" the waitress asked.

"Oh, I said I'm done," I said, too embarrassed to look up at her.

"Three sandwiches is twenty-seven dollars," she told me.

Any satisfaction I could have gotten from learning that my math was correct was counteracted by the reassurance that I didn't have the money to pay for it.

"Do you do discounts?" I asked hopefully. It was a long shot, but it was also buying time for me to figure something out. Could I complain that Imposter Sadie only ate half her sandwich and therefore I should pay half the price of it?

"Yes," she said. "For students. With student ID, you get fifteen percent off your meal."

I let out a deep exhale. "Wow, that sounds great."

More than just that, it sounded amazing, impeccable. This would be one of the few things to turn up in my favor today.

But then, little old me had to do the math. Fifteen percent off my grand total still wouldn't be enough to cover the bill, but at least it was something.

Yet all that spontaneous optimism could not last. When I reached for my nonpresent wallet, it faded away into nothing.

Oh right, though in a familiar setting, I wasn't in my body. It was Imposter Sadie who kept my wallet and student ID.

And so whoever I was today had nothing.

"Do you need a minute?" the waitress asked, drumming her fingers on the table.

Part of me was ready to explode, exclaiming "Yes! I need all the minutes!" but I managed to keep my cool for a little while longer. Certainly I could worm my way out of this one, right?

I plastered on a smile for the waitress and tried to encompass the puppy-dog eyes of Tegan and her mind tricks galore, but when I got a good look at my waitress's face, my smile ditched my face.

"Brandi?" I asked way too loudly.

She jumped before giving me a suspicious nod. "Yes?"

Wasn't this just rich? My one-sided nemesis was standing right in front of me. Better yet, she was my waitress and I was in no place of power.

"Since we go to school together, you don't need my ID to prove I'm a student," I said, waving my hand around.

"Wait a minute. Slow down," she said.

I held my breath.

"I don't recall going to school with you. Perhaps you've mistaken me for someone else?"

I bit my lip. "It's me, Sadie. I sit next to you in History."

Huh, my one-sided nemesis didn't even recognize me. At least it lessened the sting of the embarrassment of not being able to pay for lunch.

She chuckled. "Sadie as in...Sadie Arlo, the girl who just left?"

My chest felt tight. "I don't even know anymore," I said, launching us into a moment of silence.

"Oh, how funny," Brandi said a few moments later.

Though I gave her a weak smile, I knew that 'funny' wasn't how I'd describe any situation of mine in the past few wakes. Not at all.

I let the truth fall out of me, accompanied by a deep breath. "Okay, here's the deal. I don't have enough money to pay, and I also don't have a student ID on me."

Brandi leaned over on one leg. "Huh. Sounds like you're in a pickle."

"A total pickle," I mumbled.

"Well, maybe I can help you out of this pickle."

My eyes popped out of my skull. "You can?"

She cheesed at me. "Yeah, why not? How much do you need?"

"Just seven dollars," I said. "Thank you so much. You're really helping me out, you have no idea."

"No worries," Brandi said. "After all, you're the one working for it."

"Huh?" I could hear the record scratch now.

"I can't just give you money, but I know that you can work for it. How does that sound?"

"That sounds...okay, I guess."

"Great. Follow me."

• • • •

Minimum wage in Iowa was seven dollars an hour, so guess who spent an an hour washing dishes in the back in order to pay for the meal?

I frowned the entire time. More dirty dishes kept piling up in the sink, and my only silver lining was that Brandi would burst through the kitchen doors every so often to keep me company.

Never before had I taken solace in her company.

Right as I scrubbed what felt like my four millionth plate, Brandi came in through the kitchen doors. "Lunch rush is over, so I decided to check in on my favorite co-worker," she said.

Sticking my tongue out, I scrubbed harder to get dried ketchup off of a plate. "I'm doing just fine. Hunky dory."

She leaned against the wall near the sink.
"I also realized something."

I glanced at her from the corner of my eye. "What?"

"You didn't drive here by yourself, you arrived with Sadie and Nell, but didn't leave with them."

"You got that right."

"Oh dear," Brandi said, smacking her hand to her face. "Are you stranded here?"

"Right again."

"So what's the situation? Did they have somewhere super important to be?"

"Well, no. They're assholes, that's why they left me. But...I guess that I'm just as bad. I didn't realize that until now, unfortunately."

"Now that is simply untrue," Brandi said, pushing up from the wall, propping herself back on to her feet. "I don't know you that well, but I can say that you've been one of the better customers who realized they couldn't pay."

"I am?"

"Uh-huh. I've had a few issues with people who've dined and dashed."

I scrubbed harder on a bowl of an unidentifiable soup. "What do you do when that happens?"

"The servers usually have to pay. Comes out of our tips."

"So, that's why you wouldn't just pay for the rest of my meal."

"Right." Brandi nodded. "You have to work for things. You can't expect things to be given to you on a silver platter."

I dried a plate. "You are so right."

She smiled, moving closer to me and the sink. "That's satisfying to hear. And since you are one of my nicer customers, what do you say about catching a ride with me?"

The plate nearly escaped my arms and smashed into the floor. "Are you being serious?"

"Completely. My shift ended ten minutes ago. Once you're done cleaning, we can get going."

I smiled and said something I'd never anticipated I'd say: "Thank you, Brandi."