Going Bananas
"This freaking blows. My parents said if I wanted to go to the senior trip at the end of the year, I have to save up money and pay for it myself," Tai slouched down on the food court table, glaring at the various job applications in front of him.
"It's about time your parents taught you a little something called responsibility," Sora smugly said.
"Shut up Carmen Sandiego, or I'll throw another fruit at your head," Tai grunted.
"I think you mean Carmen Miranda-"
"Matt! Don't help him insult me. I feel bad enough having to wear this dumb goofy Chiquita Banana hat as my uniform, I don't need to be insulted by someone on his level," Sora put her hands on her hips.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Tai gasped.
"But seriously Tai, the rest of us were working for a while now. You have no room to complain, princess," Matt snorted.
"Can you believe this?" Izzy stomped over to the table.
"What happened?" Sora looked concerned.
"Cyber City called back-"
"Congrats buddy!" Matt clapped his hands.
"No! Not congrats! The freaking douchemobile there said I wasn't qualified enough. Are you serious? It's a minimum wage job! And I'm not sure, but I think the manager is actually a lowerclassman too," Izzy said in disbelief.
"Sounds like he's probably intimidated by you," Sora said.
"And on a huge power trip. And if that's the case, do you really want to work there?" Matt said.
"I guess you're right, but I wasn't really interested in working anywhere else in this mall," Izzy sighed.
"Oh my God, Izzy. Please tell me you filled out more applications than just that store," Sora said.
"I'm not dumb, of course I did. Unfortunately, the only store that called me back was that one that sells everything pink...," Izzy groaned.
"Maybe it had to do with this," Tai tugged at the sleeve of Izzy's pink button-down shirt.
"Dammit," Izzy sighed.
"Hey, on the bright side, you'll be surrounded by a bunch of chicks! You'll have it made! Why didn't I think of working there?" Matt tapped the palm of his hand against his forehead.
"Maybe because you were more focused on getting a discount on CDs?" Sora raised an eyebrow.
"Bruh, you ever heard of something called streaming? You can even get stuff for free," Tai said condescendingly. "Right Izzy?"
"Tai, that's totally illegal," Matt shook his head.
"Sucker, throwing away your money," Tai sucked his teeth in disapproval.
"At least I have money to throw away. You just leech off your parents like a spoiled girl," Matt retorted.
"That's it! Watch me have a job by today! With my charming good looks and my winning personality, it'll be a cake walk!" Tai got up from his seat and swiped his job applications from the table.
"Good luck," Sora said.
"Thanks, but I don't need it! Luck is for losers!" Tai stomped away.
"It's for idiots who don't fill out applications too," Matt slurped away at his smoothie.
"Unbelievable. Of course he didn't," Sora shook her head.
*buzz buzz buzz*
"Dammit, who could be calling me?" Izzy looked at his phone.
"Maybe it's another job," Sora said.
"I didn't think of that," Izzy shrugged and answered his phone. "Hullo? Yes, this is he...oh, hi...now? I guess, it's really short notice but I'm nearby...Sure, I'll be there," Izzy sighed and hung up.
"Who was that?" Matt asked.
"The manager at Pinkalicious...," Izzy made a face. "I am officially a sales associate- nay, a key holder there, despite the fact that I have no retail or customer service experience whatsoever," he sighed.
"Hey on the bright side, that means you'll be making more bank!" Matt said.
"I guess...even if it means selling my soul to do so," Izzy groaned.
"Silly rabbit, gingers don't have souls!" Matt cackled.
"Hey!" Sora and Izzy yelled in unison.
"Oh...yeah. I didn't mean you, Sora... I'm gonna head to work now, don't want to be late. Deuces!" Matt flashed them the peace sign and ran off.
"I should head off too," Izzy slowly got up from his seat.
"Good luck," Sora said.
"Thanks. Luck is for losers and I'm gonna need it," Izzy trudged away.
"Would it kill him to be a little more positive sometimes?" Sora shook her head as she wiped down the counters of her smoothie stand. After that, she started to pull out fruit to slice when Kari, TK, and Davis walked up to the standee.
"Hey best friend, what's up?" Davis grinned.
"Hi, Davis? What do you want?" Sora raised an eyebrow.
"He wants the 'friends-and-family' treatment, if you know what I mean," TK smirked.
"We tried to tell him several times even we don't get a discount, but he thinks we're lying," Kari shook her head.
"It's true. I can't give anyone a discount. Even I can't get a discount. My boss is so cheap, he makes me keep a tally of all of the fruits and cups we have at the beginning and end of my shift...just to make sure I'm not using too much," Sora pulled a composition notebook from under the counter.
"Yikes, why do you work here then? You have to wear the stupid fruit turban, you count stuff like you're on Sesame Street, what else? Does stuff come out of your paycheck?" Davis scoffed.
"Please don't joke about that... I wouldn't put it past him," Sora shuddered.
"You know what you should do? You should check out the Sandlot! They're hiring right now! I tried applying, but they want people 18 and over," Davis pouted.
"What?! You're kidding! Watch my stand! I'll be back in five!" Sora tossed her hat and apron to the side and sprinted away.
"Hey, now that she's gone...," Davis tilted his head towards the smoothie stand.
"Don't even think about it. You heard the girl. Boss will find out, and so will Sora," Kari gave Davis a disapproving look.
"I was just kidding," Davis nervously giggled.
"Sure you were," TK smirked.
"Seriously? Come on, I totally have credentials! Ask my little sister! I babysat her a thousand times, and she only ended up in the hospital once!" Tai protested.
"Uh...thank you for your time. Don't call us, we'll call you," a woman in a dress suit winced.
"Yeah yeah yeah, I know that's professional speak for I ain't getting the job," Tai rolled his eyes.
"Congratulations, you finally said the right answer for something. Wrong delivery, but correct answer. Please leave," the woman shook her head in exasperation.
"I was! But only because I wanted to!" Tai said.
"Hey, you with the big hair!" a college-aged boy yelled after Tai.
"Me?" Tai pointed at himself.
"What other doofus has big hair?" the boy scoffed.
"You got me there. What do you want?" Tai asked.
"Sounds like you're having problems finding a job," the boy said.
"How is that any of your business?" Tai made a face.
"What if I told you I could help you out? You could start off at $500 just by working part-time," the boy said.
"I'm listening," Tai rubbed his chin.
"I know that this is your first job, but you seem like a smart guy. I think you'll catch on pretty quickly!" a girl with purple hair and glasses smiled at Izzy. "By the way, my name's Yolei. Oh, and another thing, dress code is pretty lax here. Just wear a pink shirt, as long as it's not a hoodie or sweatshirt. What you have on is the perfect example of what to wear."
"That's the first time someone's ever said that about anything I've worn," Izzy blinked in surprise.
"There's a first time for everything! You know what? I was a little hesitant to hire you at first, only cause you were a guy, but we needed to be more 'diverse'. Even so, I don't regret my choice. I think you'll do just fine here!" Yolei rested her arm around Izzy's shoulders.
"Thanks, I guess...," Izzy raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, look! We have customers at the cash wrap right now! It's perfect timing to get some hands-on experience with the register. Let's get a move on," Yolei rubbed her hands together.
"Sure," Izzy shrugged and followed Yolei to the cashier. "Hi, did you find everything okay?" he grabbed the first item on the counter and scanned it.
"Great opener, but you gotta do some eye contact with the customer! It makes them feel like they're special," Yolei whispered in Izzy's ear.
"Right," Izzy mumbled. "So, how did you-" he looked up at the girl in front of him and turned red. The girl had long brown hair and warm brown eyes to match, and was pretty attractive, it made Izzy a bit uncomfortable to be in such close proximity.
"Everything was good! Oh my god, I love this store. You can never go wrong with anything here," the girl beamed, which made her even prettier to Izzy, and hence made him more uncomfortable. He wasn't used to pretty girls smiling this close in his direction, or even talking to him.
"Good...," Izzy slowly nodded. He continued to scan her items, silently praying that she didn't notice his nervousness.
"Is everything okay?" the girl asked.
"Yeah! It's just his first day on the job! And you know guys, they're not used to being surrounded by so much pink! But I like him, I think he has potential," Yolei grinned.
"I'll have to take your word for it," the girl smiled back. "Like I said before, you can never go wrong with anything in this store," the girl winked.
"Uh, so your total comes out to $286.48," Izzy nervously smiled.
"Charge it," the girl pulled out a credit card.
"Sure," Izzy took the card and swiped it on the register. "Huh. Let me try that again...hmm, it's not going through. Do you have another form of payment?"
"What do you mean it's not going through? It should work! I used it just fine yesterday," the girl looked at him with frightened eyes.
"Girl, your card is declined!" Yolei snatched the card from Izzy's hands and cut it up.
"Yolei...," Izzy looked at her in shock.
"Are you kidding me?! What is wrong with you?!" the girl gasped.
"Sorry, but he doesn't know what he's doing with the register. If he kept swiping your card, our register would freeze. I suggest you call your bank to get this straightened out since your card is useless now," Yolei said.
"Yeah, because you cut it up!" the girl said.
"I'm so sorry," Izzy stammered.
"Oh my god, this is so embarrassing!" the girl cried and ran out of the store.
"Yolei, was that really necessary?" Izzy asked.
"Yeah... I could have probably handled that better. I have a problem of acting before I think. It's a really good thing I hired you after all, I think we can learn a lot from each other," Yolei proudly said.
"Right...," Izzy pressed his lips together as he picked up the scraps of the cut-up credit card. He had to find another job soon, there was no way he could work side by side with a basket case like that.
"Matt, you really proved yourself this summer. I think it's time we talk promotion," a gruff-looking guy said. He wore a red short sleeve shirt that he left unbuttoned and kept his shoulder-length hair in a half-ponytail.
"Seriously?!" Matt gasped.
"Yep! We're switching you over from country to Soundtracks! Way to go! Keep up the good work and you could be in the EDM section in a couple of months. Heck, if you're really good, you could even be in Rap," the guy patted Matt on the back and walked off.
"But I don't want to be in Rap... I want to be Rock," Matt whined.
"That's gonna take a while. You have to work your way up to the ranks," a girl with shaggy green hair said. She wore tight black bike shorts and a tight black hoodie to match, which she left open to show off a bikini top.
"Rina!" Matt blushed. "You heard that?"
"Of course I did. I can hear everything," the girl teased.
"It's just so annoying. I've been at the country section for 6 months now, how long is it going to be until I get to pick which section I want to be in?" Matt huffed.
"Hey, we all have to earn our stripes here. Do you know how long it took Marcus to become store manager? Two years, and he's probably the best one we've had," Rina nodded.
"Wait, how long have you been working here?" Matt asked.
"Oh, only a year. But we change managers like people change boyfriends here. Let's just face it, people don't buy music anymore like they used to. In fact, how much longer until we either have to close up shop or reinvent ourselves into a new image?" Rina asked.
"What do you mean?" Matt asked.
"I'm thinking if the top dogs at headquarters are still invested in this company, they might try to salvage the business by selling actual band merch like tees, koozies, hoodies, stuff you'd buy at concerts and online stores. Eventually, that might not be enough and we'd probably have to expand our market a bit and maybe sell some pop culture stuff too, like superhero merch or kawaii stuff for the girls. But then how much is going to be too much change until we lose identity of the store? I'm thinking if it gets too out of hand, it'll be time to jump ship," Rina nodded her head.
"Wow, I never thought of it that way. You're so smart," Matt gasped.
"Why so surprised? Do I really look like a doofus to you?" Rina smirked.
"No, it's not that! It's that you're pretty, and cool, and smart, and...uh...can you tell Marcus I'm going on my break? Bye?" Matt nervously smiled and ran off.
"Sure," Rina shrugged.
"Dammit, dammit, dammit, so stupid!" Matt muttered to himself as he made his way to the smoothie stand.
"Is everything okay?" Sora looked at him.
"I acted like a babbling idiot in front of Rina again!" Matt said. "I need the usual, stat!"
"Isn't she that hottie you work with?" Tai grinned.
"I find it ironic that you think she's hot when I used to wear the same outfit- minus the bikini top and you call me goofy for it," TK smirked.
"Here's the thing...if you're a hot chick, you can get away with anything! It's science!" Davis said.
"Unbelievable," Sora said.
"But true. Sora, how did your interview at the Sandlot go?" Davis asked.
"The manager liked me! If I can find someone to take over the smoothie stand job by the end of the week, the Sandlot is mine," Sora said.
"See? Hot chick magic," Davis said.
"I highly doubt that. The manager is a woman," Sora said.
"She could be a lesbian," Kari mischievously said.
"Maybe that's why they were insistent on having people 18 and up. They want you to be legal," Tai teased.
"Stop trying to ruin a good thing before I even have it! What about you Tai? Any luck?" Sora crossed her arms.
"As a matter of fact, I did get a job!" Tai smugly said.
"Well, don't hold your breath. Where?" Matt asked.
"I don't want to jinx it...let me see how it goes first," Tai averted his gaze.
"Something tells me that it's either something embarrassing or borderline illegal," TK raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing could be more embarrassing than what I had to go through just now," Izzy loosened up the buttons of his shirt and sat down on a chair.
"Oh no...what?" Kari asked.
"So I have this manager. She seems eccentric, nothing too alarming per se. Anyways, we go to ring up this really attractive girl, and when I mean attractive, I mean attractive-"
"Whoa Izzy, finally taking an interest in girls?" Matt smirked.
"Don't be a dick. I'm seriously not in the mood right now. So I can barely function right then, considering that she's actually smiling- granted, she was probably just being polite, but still. And then it was my first day doing retail and using a register, it was a mess. Anyways, I have my manager Yolei by my side to 'help', when I go to swipe the girl's card, it ends up being declined. I try to ask her if she had another way to pay, but Yolei took the card and cut it up and was basically like 'Bitch, your card declined!' Who does that?! And that girl probably hates me, not that it matters. It'll probably be the only time I'll see her, but she'll probably tell all her friends and I'll be the stupid jerk who works there," Izzy groaned.
"Hey, you didn't cut up the card. Yolei did," Sora said.
"Hold up- did you say Yolei?" TK asked.
"Yeah, why?" Izzy asked.
"Does she have purple hair and glasses?" Kari asked.
"And huge boob-"
"Yes, yes, and I don't know, I didn't look. Not important. Why?" Izzy cut Davis off.
"Yep, she's that loudmouth girl in our class. How the hell did she get a job?" Davis said.
"Especially as a manager?" TK raised an eyebrow.
"I did not know she was your age. I would have thought she in college," Izzy frowned.
"Yeah, she does look very mature for her age," Kari said.
"Sorry you guys are having a rough day. Kinda makes me feel rough about scoring the job at the Sandlot," Sora said.
"Don't feel bad about that. You deserve it. Congrats," Izzy said.
"Thanks," Sora meekly smiled. "Hold on guys, I think I have a customer coming this way."
"Dammit, it's that girl from the store," Izzy groaned and put his head down on the table.
"That's her?" Tai raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, she's cute."
"Really? I think she looks like a hot mess," Davis whispered.
"Dude, what do you expect? She was crying," TK shook his head.
"Yeah, whose fault was that?" Davis asked.
"I hate my life, I hate my life, I hate my life," Izzy pounded his head on the table.
"Can you guys act normal? She's coming this way," Sora hissed.
"Yeah, that means shut your pieholes," Kari smirked.
"Hi...," the girl walked over to the smoothie stand.
"Hey, what can I get you?" Sora smiled.
"Uh...can I get a small Going Bananas smoothie? Thanks," the girl sniffled.
"Sure. Coming right up," Sora nodded and began to prepare the smoothie. She poured it in a cup and handed it to the girl.
"How much?" the girl asked.
"Don't worry about it. It's his treat, the one with the red hair over there. You can thank him," Sora pointed to Izzy.
"Oh, okay. Thanks," the girl flashed her a small smile.
"What is she doing?" Izzy whispered.
"Sounds like she's trying to help you out, bro," Matt smirked.
"Hi...," the girl walked up to Izzy.
"Hi...," Izzy stammered.
"Thanks for the smoothie. I appreciate it," the girl said.
"You're welcome," Izzy nervously said. "I'm sorry about what happened at the store. I hope you don't hate me."
"No, it's not your fault! It turns out my daddy cut me off and didn't tell me. Still, I wish your manager didn't cut my card up," the girl said.
"I really didn't know what I signed up for when I got the job. She seemed sort of normal...sort of. By the way, I'm Izzy," Izzy said.
"Nice to meet you, Izzy. I'm Mimi," the girl smiled.
"Hi Mimi, I'm Sora," Sora said. "Do you go to school around this area? I don't think we've seen you around."
"No, we'd definitely remember a pretty face like yours," Tai grinned. "I'm Tai by the way."
"Hi Tai, hi Sora," Mimi giggled. "No, I just moved here recently so I don't know anyone."
"Excellent! It's a good thing you're here now because you can get to know a whole group of people. This is Matt, TK, Davis, and Kari. We've all known each other for a long time," Sora said.
"Yeah, me, Matt, Sora, and Izzy were the real OGs though. We've known each other since like practically kindergarten!" Tai nodded.
"Wow, that's such a long time. I can't imagine that. My family's always moving," Mimi said.
"But look, you're one of us now! What grade are you in?" Matt asked.
"Eleventh," Mimi said.
"What do you know? Same as Izzy," Sora nodded.
"Speaking of Izzy, you're a pretty quiet guy, aren't you?" Mimi asked.
"I don't really have much to say, I guess," Izzy shrugged.
"I'm glad I met you. You're definitely different from a lot of guys," Mimi said.
"I am?" Izzy turned red.
"Don't worry, it's a good thing," Mimi smiled.
"Oh, thanks," Izzy nodded.
"So Mimi, I don't mean to be a damper, but what are you going to do about your shopping?" Kari asked.
"I don't know... I guess if my daddy won't give me money, I'll have to...get a job," Mimi frowned.
"Tell me about it. It sucks," Tai sighed.
"It's fine. It's really a fact of life, everyone has to do it eventually. And then, maybe if your dad sees you take initiative, he might actually give you your card back sooner," Sora said.
"Wow, that's a good idea!" Mimi gasped.
"Say, I need someone to take over the smoothie stand. Do you think you could do it?" Sora asked.
"Really?" Mimi asked.
"Definitely! How soon can you start?" Sora asked.
"I could start now!" Mimi said.
"I like your enthusiasm! Okay, TK, Kari, can another one of you train beside her? Please? I would train her myself, but I can't," Sora said.
"I can do it," TK volunteered.
"Hmm," Kari smirked.
"Excellent! Okay Mimi! Here's the uniform! Sora took off the fruit hat and placed it on Mimi's head and handed her an apron.
"Oooh, dress up! I love it!" Mimi said.
"Huh, she actually looks pretty cute," Matt said.
"She does," Tai nodded.
"Seriously? You guys made fun of me," Sora gasped.
"But you don't count. You're like one of the guys. And you did look like a doofus," Matt said.
"Good luck Mimi. Thanks TK! I'm out of here," Sora said.
"I should head back too. Good luck, Mimi," Izzy shyly smiled at her.
"Ditto," Matt got up from his seat and stretched.
"Same, don't want to be late for my new, interesting job! See ya!" Tai loudly said and walked off.
"Psst, Kari!" Davis grabbed Kari by the wrist.
"No Davis, how many times have I told you that I don't want to make out with you?" Kari sighed.
"No, not that! Don't you wanna know where your brother's working? He's acting really suspicious about it," Davis raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah...but we should probably be looking for jobs before all the good ones are taken," Kari said.
"That can wait! This will only be a thirty-minute job, tops! Come on!" Davis said.
"Can't argue with you there," Kari shrugged.