Chapter two: The New Girl
Getting up early was never Claudia's forte. She was sure that the bags under her eyes had doubled in size within the last minute, and her half-done hair certainly wouldn't pass as 'messy-chic.' Nevertheless, when Chester hobbled past and said "Good morning," she made sure to plaster a large smile on her face and appear awake.
Walking into the shed, she saw a girl talking with the head manager and co-owner, Barry. Her back was to Claudia, but from her long, bayalage hair running down her back and clean sneakers, she could tell that the girl was new. She was probably a new cherry picker come to fill in for one of the back-packers, and with that in mind, Claudia walked into the staffroom.
"Good morning," Lee said, a cup of coffee in his hand and a wide grin on his tanned face.
Claudia gave him a half wave, ignoring Tiffany who patted Lee on the back, praising him for his use of English.
She began to get ready, taking as much time as she needed. There were only a few minutes before she had to be up on the platform ready to work, yet, even so, she'd be more ready than anyone else. Taking out her sandwich, she placed it into the small bar fridge. She had to move a few containers of frozen pasta packed with carbs out of the way, but it wasn't long before she managed to put her sandwich in the prime position, where it wouldn't get too cold, but wouldn't go soggy, either. Then, taking her milk bottle out of her bag, she placed it in the door of the fridge. The bosses had provided milk, of course, but Claudia had never been a fan of the so-called 'lite milk' that tasted like nothing more than watered-down milk and preferred bringing her own.
Pulling on her gloves, she pushed open the door and walked out to the platform. Lee was still in the staffroom, Tiffany yelling at him over something new. She smiled at Sean as she walked past and picked up a few empty buckets to take up with her. Emily usually told them to only take up three at a time, but Claudia knew she would need more, and took up twelve just to be safe.
Walking up the steps to the platform, she almost regretted taking up as many. Claudia dropped the buckets, surprised to see the new picker sitting on one of the stools, or more specifically, the stool opposite Emily. No one was supposed to sit on that stool. No one. The stool directly opposite Emily was always reserved, left to gather up spider webs and dust. From the very first day, Emily had insisted their group spread out down the platform, where Claudia knew, the most competent people were closest to the start of the line.
So what right did this girl have to take that seat?
Claudia gave her a wary look as she bent down and set the buckets upright. She prised one out slowly, watching Emily beside her. Her mini-boss didn't seem to care that his new girl was sitting on the stool, too busy focused on putting on her own gloves.
"Um, hi," Claudia said, deciding to take matters into her own hands.
Perhaps she could point out to the girl the rules of the platform, subtly indicate that she should use one of the stools further down the track. Claudia was sure the girl had a few more brains than her fellow 'workers', but starting at the end would give her a bit more experience.
The girl barely glanced up, a small smile on her painted lips. Claudia's heart dropped when she saw that the girl's makeup was perfectly done—in fact, she wouldn't have been surprised if the girl did makeup tutorials online with thousands of followers. Her cheekbones were higher, her nose smaller, her eyes wider, than Claudia could ever hope to achieve on her own features. It wasn't that she was jealous, necessarily—Claudia rarely had anything to be jealous of—but more that, until that moment, she had been the prettiest one there. It had been a small comfort, particularly when Sean paid attention to her, rather than Leah, Emily, Tiffany or Josie.
Emily looked up then and said, "Oh, sorry Claudia, this is Simone. Simone is Barry's niece, and will be working with us for the last week or so."
Niece? Simone was the boss' niece?
"Simone like the type of cherries?" Claudia asked, sticking out her hand for Simone to shake.
Simone held up her hands, indicating that she hadn't yet put on her own gloves. The girl didn't laugh at her joke, either, but Claudia simply shrugged, assuming she hadn't been around cherries enough to understand it.
"I think everyone is like cherries," Leah said, walking up the staircase with a single seconds bucket in her hand. "I mean, we're all made of flesh, and some of us can be sweet."
Claudia sat down, not bothering to comment on that analogy. Simone finished putting on her gloves and did the same, her posture perfect.
Emily pressed the button, starting up the machine, and turned to Simone. "Ok, so, we'll take it slow to begin with. Now, with that green bucket you have, you'll need to put in the cherries that have—"
"—like this one?"
Claudia looked up to see that Simone was holding a cherry with a small, brown line across its surface. It was, indeed, a second.
"Yes, good work," Emily said.
"And, this is a third, right?" Simone asked, holding up a cherry. It looked perfect from what Claudia could see, but then the girl pointed to a tiny, hairline-thin split. "It has a wet-split."
"So it is! Good spot! I don't anyone has picked them out so quickly!" Emily gushed, beaming at Simone. "How did you know?"
"Oh, it was nothing really, my father made me learn all the different things about fruit growing up, so I suppose this bit of information just stuck."
Well. Claudia straightened her back and turned to the pile of cherries travelling past her. Emily had never praised her so much when Claudia had picked out wet splits, and she had found hundreds in the past few weeks. Emily was probably only doing it because Simone was the boss' niece, but even so, there was no need to carry on.
The rest of the session went similarly, with Simone showing off all that she supposedly knew, and Emily bestowing unnecessary praise upon her. Lee and Tiffany spent most of the time arguing about how a single cherry and whether it belonged in the bin or the seconds bucket, whilst Jared and Josie sat side by side, holding hands under the conveyor belt. A line of cherries that resembled hearts were placed on the edge of the conveyor belt between them, collected by Jared for Josie as tokens of his love.
Claudia was sure that Jared hadn't even noticed that they had a new co-worker, and sure enough, when Emily called time for a lunch break, he peered over at Simone and asked, "Woah… how'd you get here?"
Still, at least Claudia had managed to fill up just under seven seconds buckets. Lifting off the bucket from the metal holder, she proudly put it down on the platform ready for collection.
"Wow, that must be your ninth bucket this morning," Emily said.
Claudia turned to her and smiled as modestly as she could manage. "Oh, no it was only—"
"Tenth, actually," Simone said, putting down a full bucket of her own.
Claudia's head snapped up, realising too late that Emily was once again referring to Simone. The girl stood up, daintily placing her gloves upon her stool and then climbing down the ladder on her side of the platform. The girl smiled at Trevor, who hurried over to collect her bucket. Emily followed suit, walking down the stairs without so much as a glance at Claudia's own seconds buckets lined up.
Gritting her teeth, Claudia stalked down the stairs. Unlike most days when she would stay back to help Tiffany and Lee sort the cherries going past them, she headed off straight to the staffroom before Simone could take the best chair in there.
Pushing open the door, she realised that it wouldn't have mattered if she did, anyway. Simone was already surrounded by several colleagues. Emily was sitting on her left, Trevor on her right, and a few pickers who should've been back in the orchard by now standing in front of her.
"How are you finding Tasmania?"
"It must be a big change of pace from Melbourne."
"What's Melbourne like? I've always wanted to go there. Could you recommend some places to visit for me?"
Claudia gave a little cough, but no one seemed to notice she had entered the room—not that they did anyway. She had made sure to tell people she had not long moved to Tasmania when she first started, yet not once did anyone ask her about what living in Sydney was like or what tourist attractions they should visit. They hadn't even wanted to see the cute pictures she had taken of the possums, pademelons and wallabies that came to visit her.
Here they were, however, fawning over Simone.
Stomping over to the fridge, her annoyance only increasing when the small crowd ignored her requests to "excuse her" and she had to push her way through, she took out her sandwich. The taste of curried egg and mayonnaise usually made things better, and when she bit into it, she did feel a little happier.
"Simone, where should I go first?" Leah said as soon as she walked in the door.
Claudia swallowed a mouthful of egg and wrapped her sandwich back up in its plastic wrap. She no longer felt like eating. No one noticed, their questions and comments endless.
Putting the half-eaten sandwich in her bag, she sidled up to Simone. If she couldn't fight them, then she would join them.
"So Simone, how are you finding the work? Are your arms hurting? Mine are killing me," Claudia said.
Simone took a large from the sushi she had brought in. Chewing with her lips closed—which was more than could be said of many of the workers—she swallowed before finally answering. "Actually, I find it good exercise. My arms might ache, but at least they won't be flabby." She said this without looking at anyone in particular, turning back to her sushi.
Claudia crossed her arms, suddenly aware that the t-shirt she wore wasn't so upper-arm friendly. When Sean and Caleb walked in, laughing about something that had happened only they could find funny, Claudia covered her arms with her hands. Thankfully, there were only a few minutes until the break was over.
"Time to get back to it, I suppose," Emily said, stretching out her legs. She glanced at the clock wistfully, more likely than not wishing there was another hour of breaks, before she got up and left the room. "I'll see you all in two minutes."
Simone, having popped her box away on a table, stood up and followed Emily out. Claudia scoffed at such a blatant act of sucking-up and took her time getting up herself.
She wished she hadn't, however, when she heard Sean say, "Damn, that new chick is hot."
Caleb clapped him on the back and fist-bumped him, as though it had been some statement about how to stop famine or cure a deadly disease.
"As if!" Claudia stormed out of the room and up to the platform. Emily and Simone were already on their stools, ready to start the next session. She grabbed extra buckets and stomped up the stairs, plonking them down with more force than necessary.
Simone frowned as though it had offended her somehow, and flipped her hair back. Turning back to Emily, she said, "As I was saying, I had a good chat with my uncle. I know it's not a competition, but since so many seconds and thirds are slipping through into the boxes, he suggested an incentive. Whoever fills up the most seconds buckets this week will get a special surprise from him."
It took all of her energy not to lift her head up and gawk at Simone or pretend that she was interested. The sneaky little witch probably wouldn't have told anyone about her uncle's incentive, using her position at the front of the conveyor belt to her advantage to collect all the seconds first.
Well, if the new girl wanted a competition, then a competition she would get.