Estrangement
Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious
A/N: Alright, got this chapter taken care of, so here you go. Enjoy.
Chapter 12 (A Vote of Confidence)
Tori walked out into the large area, holding her stomach and trying to keep her tears inside. Trina was gone, the franchise owner went home to his wife and kids, so the only one left was the general store manager. "Ready to work?" She heard Nancy's voice and turned her head to the right. She started to smile as the woman moved over. "Mrs. Van Cleef isn't always that hard on new employees, but she says you're a unique case, and that you've failed every job you had, so we're your last chance..."
"Unique? Probably. I'm her sister…and that's right. She implied that. I'll probably be up a creek without a paddle here, so…I don't know."
"You will be fine, Tori. Stick with me and we'll get you started. You can show Trina that you've got what it takes." It was nice to have someone that believed in her, though she wished it would have been her sister. She bowed her head and crossed her arms over. "What's the matter?"
"My own sister doesn't believe in me. She thinks I won't make it and practically called me a failure. The thing is, she's right. I've never worked hard enough in my life, and every job I got fired at was because I didn't put effort into." Nancy sighed and put a hand to her shoulder, smiling gently as Tori looked up. She didn't feel strong enough to take this crazy world head on. She thought she had what it takes, but that was in high school where it was easy.
"Look, Trina is hard on everyone. Maybe the only people she's soft on are her own family, that is, her husband and children. When you're a CEO you have to be strict. She would not hire or place someone that she didn't see potential in them. The fact that she put you here in the store she started out in says she sees some potential for growth, we just have to tap into that potential. You'll be just fine, Tori. You just need to show that you're not a failure, prove that to yourself first."
"Thanks" Her heart lifted up slightly and she looked over to the exercise equipment in the room. Towels were laying all over the floor. She cupped her hand over her mouth and clamped her fingers over her nose.
"There is a trick to the towel job…" Nancy chuckled softly and Tori's eyes widened. She had to know what this 'trick' was, because Trina mentioned it before! Was there like a vacuum or maybe some other mechanism to where she didn't have to touch these? Maybe a biohazard suit.
"What? Trina said that too."
"It's simple, Tori." Nancy reached into the small pack she had tied around her waist and pulled out a clean pair of leather gloves and an unopened pack of nose plugs. Tori's eyelids fell halfway and a dry chuckle escaped her. "Wear the gloves when you're dealing with this stuff, and use nose clamps or plugs." She smirked at Tori and closed her eyes. "My mom was the store manager when Trina started out here. I was about her age, didn't work here yet but I worked out and was always here when Trina was working. It didn't take long for her to figure out she needed gloves and a clamp either. Trust me. You'll appreciate the tools on the job."
"Thanks…" She grabbed the gloves and immediately tossed them on. Now she felt stupid for throwing a hissy fit over towel duty. The gloves were a bit thick for her, but if they were necessary, she'd wear them. Even though she hated the thought of gloves. She flexed her fingers in front of her face and sighed heavily. "Well. They beat digging through a pile of sweat barehanded."
"Yep." She took the plugs and glanced over at the towels on the ground. Once she put the plugs in, she relished over the lack of odor. Granted, she could still tell it was present, but the smell wasn't as rancid as before. "It didn't take long for Trina to move up to the next position, but at the same time, you might want to work on getting a degree."
"What was her next job?" Because it was Trina, she was interested. Maybe she could rise faster than her sister had, though it was highly unlikely because Trina had an associate's degree to start off with.
"She worked the towels for about a week or two before moving to the smoothie stand and training with Melinda. Melinda is still a part of the staff too, she's a sweet lady and has never stopped working at the smoothie shop." Nancy pointed out of the weight room, and through the doorway Tori could see the open lobby and another doorway on the other side. In the room passed that second doorway was the smoothie stand that sat behind several tables.
The smoothie stand had a woman with curly brown hair that had some streaks of gray. She had a round, cheery face and appeared to be wiping down the countertops. She wanted to work there, but she had to deal with the towels first. "So how long do you think it would take me to start training with Melinda? She sounds like a nice lady."
"She's the nicest. You'll love her! If you can maintain the towel job for a few weeks, maybe even get started at the local community college, you can rise up."
"You think I should start college? At thirty-four?"
"Maybe. You can take night classes or something like that, but age is not a factor when going to college. You don't even have an associate's degree, and I looked on your file, it says you don't have a high school diploma?"
"No-I have a diploma. From-"
"Hollywood Arts. Right. They closed their doors about five years ago, didn't they?" It was true that they did, but did it matter? She never thought Hollywood Arts was a problem. Nancy rubbed her chin and raised an eyebrow. "Tell you what, you need to do what Trina said she had done when she graduated from that school."
"I think she was taking classes from another high school, online, had to go down to a local school and take some sort of test…"
"Yes. Go down to the local school after work, maybe not today since you may want to study, take a test to show that you know your basic stuff that you should know from most high schools, and they'll give you a second diploma."
"Can I ask what's wrong with Hollywood Arts? Every boss I've worked for says they're an issue, but no one's told me why they're an issue." Nancy gestured and the two began to pick up the towels and talk at the same time. She could still feel the towels through the gloves, but none of the sweat or any slimy fluid penetrated to make her sick to her stomach.
"It's because they don't teach a lot of normal classes. While they teach a little, they don't have enough. To attain a high school diploma you have to have gone through a certain amount of classes in each field. Math, Sciences, English, etc. Fine Arts? Not so much. Don't get me wrong, they're a great school, and even Trina's boasted about the programs they had, and they helped many people…but their degree is worthless unless you can take a test at a local school to prove that you know enough material to move on."
"So you're required to have two diplomas if you went to HA?"
"In some cases yes. But even in today's world, Tori, a high school diploma doesn't even help you get a job." Wasn't that the truth? Even in 2013 you almost had to have an associate's degree to get hired anywhere, now it was almost like you had to have a Master's. "See Hollywood Arts is one of those transition high schools, I know because both Mom and Trina talked about it when your sister was working here, Mom had to call them up and do her research on the subject while Trina explained in detail about it. By then it really wasn't a big issue because she already had her Associate's degree, but we still wanted to know about the school."
"Right…" Tori grabbed another towel from the ground and moved it into the hand holding about seven or eight other towels. She opted not to look at them, for fear of fainting on the spot. "I still remember a lot from back then, but you may be right, I probably should study some before I try any local school tests."
"I agree."
"If I were to start up a college, would it be a problem?"
"I don't think it would be a hindrance or anything. I mean the college can't call up the school or anything, and they'd have to request high school transcripts from the school district's office since the school itself is closed down now, but I don't think it'd be a big deal. They might have you take a bunch of basic-basic classes though before moving you to college level."
"I guess that's why Trina was always studying other classes…I always thought it was strange that I never saw her practicing for any theatre or singing, except for a few rare occasions…" Trina had always been in her bedroom. Tori and her friends thought she was just hiding out and avoiding them, when the reality was that she wasn't.
They tossed the towels into the bin and looked around the now spotless floor. Tori was almost proud, her stomach didn't act up and she was extremely happy with having completed this job. Nancy wiped her brow and motioned for her to follow her. "Trina asked that you shadow me today. Tomorrow, you do all this on your own. For now, let's take a break and I'll introduce you to Melinda."
"Thanks!"
"Here's another thing. You don't have to follow the patrons around and pick up towels every time one hits the floor." Tori raised an eyebrow and looked back at the room. "You need to make sure the room looks clean, maintain it throughout the day to make it look neat, but towels will not pile up the minute you turn your back."
"So what do you recommend?"
"Maintain the towels in the place, and there are other rooms, but you're not the only towel person here. So every hour or every other hour you might want to run through a thorough cleanup."
"Any floor mopping?"
"No." Nancy laughed as they made it into the café. There was a Subway beside the smoothie stand, which Tori was extremely happy about. Nancy saw her excitement, then shook her head. "Subway may have a place positioned here, but you would have to apply for a job through Subway in order to work at that shop. Unfortunately we cannot place you there."
"Oh…"
"Anyway, back to your question. You're a towel dispenser, not the janitor. You do not need to worry about all the stuff that the janitors have to deal with, and you're about a rung higher than they are. You can't become anything like a personal trainer without a degree, though. However, you could maybe get into the management area, but even still I recommend taking classes. Gold's Gym does offer management classes."
"I don't know. I mean, I don't know if Gold's Gym is going to be my final result." Nancy raised an eyebrow as Tori ran her hand through her hair. It wasn't that she was still planning on becoming a famous singer, as nice as that would be, but something else had recently been sparked in her. An old love came back to haunt her. "When I saw Trina again for the first time, I saw her three dogs, and well…they reminded me of my love for animals, and that one thing I wanted to do so much before I ever went into Hollywood Arts. I-um…I lost sight of that dream when I started wanting to chase the whole singer thing."
"What did you want?"
"Well I wanted to become a Veterinarian. Either that, or open a rescue shelter with my best friend at the time. Then Trina pushed for me to go to Hollywood Arts and I stopped chasing that dream…became someone I'm not, blew off a friend and a family, and lo-and-behold here I am. At the last place I ever thought I'd work, working for the last person I thought I'd be working for, and with my last chance."
"Well Tori, you know what that means, then?"
"What?"
"You're at the lowest point. You only have uphill to go." Nancy started to smile as they reached the smoothie booth. She looked to Melinda, and was instantly calmed by the elder woman's peaceful smile. "You can't possibly go down any farther. So climb up. Find your motivation and get moving. Maybe you won't be here forever, but Trina's giving you an opportunity you don't know."
"Such as?"
"If you can stay with Gold's Gym for an extended period of time, hired on by the CEO herself, and you can rise up through promotions, then that puts on your work history a very good thing. It shows potential employers that you have what it takes to take a chance and rise up. She's giving you the opportunity to prove yourself not just to you, or to her, but to potential future employers."
Tori's heart jumped up and her eyes lit up, she was being fueled with determination now. Though, she didn't know if she could succeed, it was hard for her to believe in herself after so many failures, but if Trina was really giving her that kind of opportunity, how could she possibly shove it into her face?
She heard Melinda ask what they'd like. The woman's voice was soft, calm, and very peaceful to listen to, almost like a harmonious melody. She ordered her usual while Nancy ordered a blue raspberry. "This is the new employee?" Melinda looked over to Tori and reached out to shake her hand. Tori returned the handshake and smiled back at the woman. "I'm Melinda, it's good to have you on the Gold team."
"Thanks. Nancy's showing me the ropes today. I guess my first official day is tomorrow…"
"That's good to hear. I'm glad that you'll be working here." She badly wanted to ask about Trina, but knew it might only cause awkward tensions if she knew Trina was her sister. Not to mention, Trina probably would have already told them not to give her special treatment, so there wasn't really any big issue there, but people still had a tendency to show respect to CEOs and their families regardless. "I'll get your smoothies right out for you."
Nancy and Tori sat down at a table with their smoothies in hand. Tori sipped hers and closed her eyes, delighting in the taste. Perhaps working here, she'd expand and try the other smoothies on the menu. Of course, she had to keep the job first, otherwise everyone would be done with her, including Trina herself. If Trina valued hard work, then Tori was going to work as hard as she could for her approval.
"We will see you here tomorrow, correct?" Nancy sipped through the straw and started to raise an eyebrow. "You start at nine."
"Yeah, why would there be any reason for me not to be here? Beside the oh-so-wonderful smells?" She rolled her eyes and Nancy chuckled at the statement. The woman breathed in softly and closed her eyes.
"Because tomorrow a popular Broadway actress, and daughter of a former movie star, will be visiting a shop down the street for a few hours, and we really need you to be here because it is your first official day."
"Don't worry, Nancy." As tempting as it was, she understood that it was that particular fight that caused her all this grief and pain in the first place. Even if she did blow off a job to go there, there was not much chance of her getting anything. Also, she had the oddest feeling that if she did run into said actress, Trina would know right away. "I'll be here first thing tomorrow. Just…need to be sure I can find a place. Trina said she was getting a place for me and I'd be paying rent to her."
"All right. Well, hopefully you won't let us down here. We can see you tomorrow and give you a bit of a better welcoming to the team."
Hope you enjoyed the chapter. It's good Tori's boss has faith in her, she's just got to rise to the challenge.