Chapter 12
The alarm went off for the second time, and Caitlin reached to switch it off. Half a second later a knock sounded at her door.
Jessie poked her head in. “Time to get up,” she said cheerfully.
“Go away,” she muttered.
Her friend walked into the room. “I would go away except I made a promise last night to wake you for your morning class.”
“I don’t get it.” Caitlin flipped to her stomach. “How can you be so cheerful in the mornings?”
“It’s a start to a fantastic day, that’s how,” Jessie said, pulling the drapes open. “Now get up before I have to do something drastic like yank away your covers and put a hairdryer to your face.” She grinned. “You know how annoying I can get.”
“All right, all right,” she groaned and forced herself to a sitting position. “I’m up.”
It was already two and a half weeks into the program. Midterms were coming up, and things were getting tougher and tougher. But it wasn’t because the recipes were becoming more difficult. The real reason was the sheer amount of information that she had to retain. Coupled with the long hours in class, she was exhausted. She had enlisted her roommates to drag her out of bed because she could no longer trust herself to do it on her own. Likely if she were left to her own devices, she would sleep in for a week. Still, it was apparent that her foresight was paying off because today was an especially difficult day to get out of bed. Her mind kept returning to the events that occurred on Saturday. Things were going so well with Jason, and she had to open her big mouth and ruin everything. She wondered what he thought of her now. He had helped her so much during the last few days, and she repaid him with rudeness. She was ashamed to even know herself.
But her callousness wasn’t the only thing that kept her up last night. Fear of the unknown had also gripped her, and she was starting to become worried about her finals. That portion of the course would amount to fifty percent of her marks. Each instructor kept hinting of things that might be on the test. Then suddenly everything that came out of their mouths seemed important and needed to be recorded.
After Caitlin dressed and had breakfast, she managed to make it to her first class a couple of hours later. She took her usual seat, and sipped her Kona coffee as she watched her classmates stream into the room. Exhaustion was also etched on their faces, and she wondered whether she wore the same expression on her own face.
The phone in the classroom sounded, and the instructor went to answer it. When he finished his call, he looked over at her direction and beckoned. She glanced over her shoulder just to make sure he wasn’t indicating someone else. When there was no one sitting behind her, she slowly got up from her seat.
“Ms. Aarons wants to speak with you,” he said.
“She does?” she asked. “What would the Director of Finance want with me?”
“I don’t know. You’re going to have to take it up with her yourself.”
Caitlin could feel the other students watching her as she gathered her belongings. She didn’t think she had done anything wrong, and as far as she knew, her tuition installments were automatically charged to her credit card. But as she walked to the administrative office, she somehow felt as if she was heading toward the gallows.
When she entered the office, a secretary told her to take a seat until she was called. The request was simple enough except her chair faced the round clock on the wall and she was very conscious of the minutes that ticked by. Her frustration only increased when she observed two students leaving while she remained in her chair.
Finally, the secretary came over to her. “Ms. Aarons can see you now.”
Then as she followed the office worker to the finance director’s office, the dread she felt earlier returned with full force.
A middle-aged woman looked up when she stood at the door. “Take a seat, dear,” she said.
Holding her bag to her chest, Caitlin sat at the edge of her chair. “I don’t understand why I’m here,” she said.
The woman flipped through a stack of papers and pulled out a page. She set the sheet down in front of her.
“Your payment was declined.” She pointed to the highlighted amount with a well-manicured finger. “And until we receive the fee in full, you will be unable to continue your studies.”
“What?” Caitlin said, blinking at the woman, unsure that she had heard correctly. “Are you saying that I can’t go to any more classes until I pay?”
“That’s right,” the woman said, sympathy reflecting in her eyes.
Caitlin sat back in her chair as the realization sunk in. She had maxed out all three of her credit cards. She had been paying the minimum amount on the cards, but the money that she recently transferred to her grandparents had almost cleaned out her account. As a result, she had insufficient funds to pay down the minimum. And while the credit card company continued to charge interest on the money she borrowed, she was barred from putting further tuition payments on her cards.
The director picked up the sheet of paper and placed it back on the pile. “I’m afraid that you’re going to have to clear out your locker until this matter is resolved.”
“Can’t an exception be made for me?” she pleaded. “Please, I have to attend classes. I promise to find the money —”
“I’m sorry,” the woman said, shaking her head. “We have to follow school protocol. Unfortunately, if we make an exception for you, then we’ll have to make exceptions for every student.”
“But what if I can come up with the money?”
“Then we can reinstate your enrollment,” she paused. “But you’ll have to pay the entire fees owing since this is the second time we’ve had problems with your credit card. Unfortunately, it takes an incredible amount of man-hours to figure out payment problems, so we can no longer have this issue reoccurring.”
Caitlin nodded, her movement wooden. She had received her last paycheck from the hotel but she had already spent that money on groceries and rent. Where else was she going to get money to cover tuition? She had no idea. Feeling numb, she made her way out of the office and went to gather her things from her locker. Luckily classes were in session, and there was no one in the change room to witness her humiliation.
She pulled out her phone and punched in Jessie’s number. “Hi, Jessie,” she said when her friend answered.
“What’s wrong, Caitlin?” Alarm and concern sounded in Jessie’s voice all at once. Even though Caitlin hadn’t revealed anything, it was clear Jessie already knew that something was wrong. Next to her grandparents, Jessie and her sister, Maya were the closest Caitlin had to family.
At hearing the genuine concern in her friend’s voice, something inside of Caitlin broke. Then unable to stop them, the tears began to roll down her cheeks.
“I maxed out my credit cards, and the school can’t get any more payments,” she said. “So until I pay the full amount owing, they’ve decided to kick me out.”
“That’s crazy!” Jessie said, getting mad on her behalf.
“What’s crazy is that they’ve already taken half of my tuition,” Caitlin said bitterly.
“What if you sell your Jeep?”
“How am I going to sell it in time?” she sniffed. “Midterms are almost here, and those exams are worth ten percent of our grades. If I miss that, I might as well kiss the job placement and my certificate goodbye.”
“Doesn’t your old coworker have a brother who owns a car dealership?”
“Yes,” she said, the word stretching out slowly.
“Well, call her, and see if she can hook you up. It’s worth a shot, right? At the moment you have nothing to lose.”
Jessie made a lot of sense. As soon as Caitlin hung up on her, she found Quinn in her contact list and dialed her number. When she got her friend’s voicemail, she let out a curse. She had forgotten that the kitchen workers weren’t allowed to use electronic devices while on their shifts. Her best option was to go to the hotel and speak to Quinn in person.
Glancing down at her watch, she discovered that it was almost lunch. The workers would be slammed right now. If Caitlin could somehow sneak into the kitchen, she could get the contact information for Quinn’s brother. And then she could skedaddle out of there without anyone knowing that she had visited.
She drove to the employee entrance located at the back of the hotel and waited in her car. Someone was bound to come out for a smoke break. And when they did, she could follow them into the building.
After fifteen minutes of waiting, Caitlin found it was getting too hot to stay in the car so she got out and moved closer to the back entrance. A cold sweat ran down her back when she finally stood by the door. If Chef Dan saw her, he would no doubt attack her, and he wouldn’t care who witnessed the assault. Likely all the workers would avert their eyes like before and pretend that nothing had happened. So she knew full well that she was taking a serious risk by returning to this hellhole. But though she was mindful of the danger, desperation spurred her forward.
Fortunately, Caitlin didn’t have to wait long when the door opened and two workers came out. They were obviously new employees since she didn’t recognize any of them. One of the guys picked up a rock and wedged it at the door to keep it ajar. When he turned back to his friend, Caitlin had already slipped inside.
Glancing quickly over her shoulder to ensure that no one followed her, she walked rapidly toward the kitchen. As she got closer, the familiar rattle of pots and pans, the banging and scraping of metal spatulas, and the hollering between workstations became distinct. Like always, the entire kitchen was a whirlwind of activity. Chef Dan was barking orders, making everyone scrambled as usual. At the moment, he was inspecting the work of the line chefs and had his back toward her. Just like clockwork, Chef took ten seconds to make his judgments for each dish, and she had enough time to run across to the prep area. But before she reached the area, a server entered the kitchen and placed a plate on the pass.
“What the hell is this?” Chef yelled.
Caitlin ducked behind a storage shelf, her heart racing so fast she was afraid that it would pop from her chest. She remembered being the brunt of Chef’s anger, and she didn’t envy the server’s position at this moment.
“The customer didn’t want sesame seeds in his octopus ceviche,” the waiter said.
“Did he request no sesame seeds in his order?”
“Yeah, he did,” the server said. “The customer’s allergic to the seeds.”
When the front worker left, Chef let out a string of curses and screamed, “Who screwed up here?”
Caitlin heard a hesitant voice speak up, and as expected, the poor worker received a verbal beating. For the time being, she thought it was best to stay hidden. When everything became quiet again, she looked through an opening between the shelves. Chef had returned to manning the pass, acting as if nothing dramatic had happened. As more and more plates lined up for inspection, she knew that the kitchen was at its peak busyness. This was the perfect time to make her move.
“Quinn!” she hissed.
At the sound of her name, Quinn jerked her head up and looked behind her, a confused expression on her face. When she saw Caitlin crouched behind the shelf, her eyes widened like saucers.
“I need to talk with you.”
Looking cautiously at Chef, Quinn put her knife down and hurried over to her. “What do you need to talk about?” she asked, her tone rushed. “Chef’s gonna throw a hissy fit if he sees you here.”
“I need your help,” Caitlin said, not wanting to discuss the possibilities of getting caught. “I want to sell my Jeep fast, and I want to know whether your brother can hook me up.”
“I don’t think I’d be doing you any favors by calling him.” A doubtful glint appeared in her eyes. “No matter how new your car is, he’s not going to give you the market value.”
“I don’t care,” Caitlin said. “Unless I find money for my tuition, the culinary school will kick me out.”
The expression on Quinn’s face changed. “You’re crazy, you know.” But then she leaned to the side of the shelf to look into the heart of the kitchen. When she returned her attention to Caitlin, she rattled off the address. Caitlin punched the information into her phone.
“I’ll text him at break,” Quinn said. “But if you get to him before I contact him, tell him that I sent you.” Her brows drew together suddenly and she added, “Just make sure you drive a hard bargain. That way, he’ll give you more money, which I’m sure he can afford.” A plate crashed at the front of the kitchen and was followed by screams. “Now get the heck out of here before you get me fired, okay?”
Caitlin didn’t have to be told twice. When she was sure both the head chef and his right-hand man were occupied, she dashed out of the kitchen.
A few minutes later, she was in her Jeep and on her way to the dealership. Quinn had often spoken about her brother. She hoped that because of her connections to her friend, the brother would offer her a cash deal. If Caitlin went through another dealer, there would likely be a lot of paperwork and delays. And right now she couldn’t afford to encounter any delays. She needed to clean up this financial mess, return to school and get back into the game.
An hour later she sat facing Quinn’s brother. “I can give you five thousand dollars for it,” he said.
“The Jeep is only a year old,” she said, remembering the advice that Quinn told her. “It’s got to be worth more than that. Maybe I should go to another car dealer, and see what they say.”
From the gleam in his eyes, she could tell that he desired her car. She was certain that if he displayed the Jeep in his lot, it would be the newest model there.
“Okay, fine. I’ll give you seven grand, and that’s it.”
Caitlin put out a hand. “You have a deal.”
With an envelope filled with cash, she walked out of the dealership, a smile on her face. She had received an additional two thousand dollars from Quinn’s brother. While the amount she got for the Jeep wasn’t its true value, it was enough to sustain her for the rest of the program. She felt relieved because finally, she could go on with her studies and not worry about getting kicked out of school. Now it was just a matter of maintaining her marks and gunning for the coveted position at Signatures.