Eve Marsen brought Ludmilya, Anna, Alicia and Ralph into her office. "Everyone, this is Laurie. She'll be starting today as a bagger. On Monday we'll train her on a register and we'll begin rotating staff from register to bagger. All right, get to work."
Everyone left the office and headed to their post within the store. "How is being a bagger?" Laurie asked Ralph.
"Not the funnest job in the store but everyone starts out as a bagger. You'll do fine this weekend."
"I hope so. Did you see that look Alicia gave me?"
"Alicia gives everyone that look. I'm pretty sure her face is frozen like that."
"I guess that's reassuring," Laurie sighed. She took another look at Alicia who still had the same angry look on her face.
Holly talked with Adam on the phone. "Thanks for doing this," she said to him. "It's the only way Dad would even consider letting me go to New York with you."
"I said I'd do anything and I stand by that," he replied.
"Luckily it's just a double date with my brother and his girlfriend so you can actually be yourself more or less," she chuckled.
"I'm sure everything will be fine. I'll see you all tonight at 6:30, okay?"
"I can't wait."
"Double Date"
Rodney, Cat, Holly and Adam sat in Adam's car as he drove them to the only pseudo-fancy restaurant in Wrigley. "So you drive a Hummer?" Rodney asked.
"Of course. It's an awesome vehicle," Adam replied. "My dad offered to get me anything I wanted so I chose the most expensive SUV I could find."
"Our dad offered to pay for the first tank of gas when we get our cars," Holly said.
"Wait, isn't your dad a doctor?" Adam asked.
"Yep," Rodney said. "Doesn't stop him from teaching us about the value of a dollar."
"That sucks. Except for gas, my old man pays for everything."
Rodney and Cat looked at each other and rolled their eyes. "Can we take this off-road and destroy a couple ecosystems before dinner?" Rodney asked.
At the store, no one had really spoken to Laurie except for Ralph. The Russians, Ludmilya and Anna, talked with her about mainly work-related things while Alicia gave her and everybody else the silent treatment.
Alicia and Laurie were working the checkout when Chris Donchin came through the line. Alicia quickly perked up and began talking to him even though he was noticeably uninterested.
As Chris was about to grab his bags, he started talking to Laurie. "Hey," he began. "Don't you go to Wrigley High?"
Laurie looked at Chris like he was was an idiot. "Yes."
"Sorry but you look older. Are you a senior?"
"Yeah," she replied.
"Will you help carry my sacks to the car?" Chris asked, handing a sack to Laurie.
"You only have two sacks..."
"I'll do it!" Alicia said.
"No, I want her to do it. It is her job," Chris said. Laurie shrugged and took the bag. They walked outside to his car. "So what's your name?"
"Laurie," she said quietly.
"Well, Laurie, a bunch of my friends are having a party and I would like to invite you," Chris pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Laurie. "Just bring that with you so no one harasses you."
"I'll think about it," Laurie said and stuffed the paper into her apron. "Thank you."
"And thank you," Chris said as Laurie headed back inside the store.
Dinner with Adam went smoothly although Rodney could've done without all the food sharing between him and Holly. Cat decided to take control and asked Adam bluntly: "So what do you want to do after school?"
Rodney looked at her in amazement. The question caught Adam off guard. He coughed then took a drink of water.
"I would love to continue my football career," he said. "But if I am unable to for some reason then I would like to get into journalism."
"Journalism? Wow," Rodney said. "I thought about being a journalist. I would love to be a foreign correspondent. Traveling the world and writing about other cultures. I would like to travel to third-world countries, war-torn areas and places like that," Rodney explained.
"What?" Cat was stunned. "Why would you want to go to those places? You could be killed!"
"But you'd be contributing to this planet. Giving back to the world," Adam said.
"Rodney, you are crazy!" Cat hollered.
"Calm down. I'm not a huge fan of writing so I could never be a journalist. I actually don't know what I plan on doing after school."
"What? You're a senior in high school. You should at least kind of know what you want," Cat said.
"Well, I don't."
"I'm aiming for some kind of doctor," Holly said. "Follow in dad's footsteps. If, for some reason, I don't become a doctor then I want to start my own company."
"What do you like to do?" Cat asked Rodney, sounding angry.
"What kind of company?" Adam asked Holly.
"A publishing company," she answered.
"I don't know," Rodney shrugged. "Maybe something in television."
"I want to host websites, publish magazines. Maybe publish books," Holly said.
"'Maybe something in television'? You need to figure this out, Rodney!" said Cat.
"What's the big deal? I have plenty of time to decide what I want to do. Can we talk about this later?" Rodney hushed.
"Maybe I could write for one of your magazines," Adam smiled.
The four drove home. Holly rested her head on Adam as he drove as Rodney and Cat sat in the backseat as far away from each other as they could.
When they got to the Barton's house, Cat stormed off back to her house. "Ah, dammit," Rodney sighed and went after her.
"Thanks for the great evening," Holly said, putting her arms around Adam's neck. "I think it went really well. I'll let you know tomorrow when Rodney is actually able to talk to Dad."
"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow," Adam kissed Holly but they stayed in each other's arms.
Laurie was helping Ralph finish cleaning up after the store had closed. "So how was your first night?" he asked.
"It was okay except for Alicia. Oh, and I was asked out."
"What?"
"I was asked out. By Chris Donchin," she handed Ralph the paper Chris had given her.
He looked it over and handed it back. "I don't know if you should go. Chris and his friends have a reputation for doing...awful stuff to girls at their parties."
"I think it'll be fun."
"Are you thinking of going?" Ralph was shocked.
"Yeah. I don't think what people say go on at those parties is true. I'll prove it to you," she said.
Next:
Rodney and Cassandra are assigned to work together; Adam betrays Holly and Ralph, Cat and Lillian try to convince Laurie not to go to the party.
