Money Maker
An alarm rings in a tidy room, the sun not even up before the girl with wavy hair in two braids, her glasses still on from an all nighter of school work and scheduling her week. She stands and heads off the bathroom which was almost always taken by the time she would've gotten up if she actually slept in for once. Rochelle began going through her morning routine of shower, dressing for the day, brushing teeth, brushing hair, grabbing her bag and rushing out the door. She had always walked to school, she had a license but she couldn't drive without parental supervision as of now, and her mom had her work at Hiveline while Frank was still teaching Middle School, he got to sleep a little bit of an hour more than Rochelle would of, so their schedules sometimes collided. However today, Rochelle was busy, she had no time to dilly dally, after all her day was packed, from school, to babysitting to hunting down a more permanent job if any places nearby would bother having a freshman as an employee.
She still kept fit, and honestly she missed when she actually got to hangout at Softball, but that was Middle School, this was real life and they needed to grow up about it. Yes she would miss the fun of playing the sport but now money came first, not because her family was struggling with money much, mainly from having that desire to be self-sufficient.
××××
As expected, being early meant she got to sit around and wait for the bell to ring in the lunch hall, the only others so far was Rochelle herself, and other kids at other tables. Awaiting familiar faces she sat and scrolled on her phone, looking for something funny or maybe just playing a mindless game. It didn't take too long to recognize the happy rants of Kai followed by nervous Laurie whispers, they seemed up to something, they didn't even sit down yet, just went to the office and didn't come back until the bell rang. They seemed excited, well as excited as Laurie could get with how nerve wracking her anxiety was to her. Taylor was already here anyways so she had someone to chat to about what was going on or if they should be hanging out this weekend if they're free to. Yuwen as usual didn't arrive until halfway through the first period. Predictable.
At lunch she was doing homework, getting things done earlier than they ever would need to be. Of course there was the usual chatter, from Taylor talking about Yuwen to asking Laurie about “Goldilocs” whatever that was, and then Laurie would dodge it and bring up a petition for softball- wait.
“Petition for softball?” Rochelle had to echo it back, she wasn't expecting it, let alone from the blonde who quit softball.
“Yeah, me and Kai were talking about how fun Softball was, minus all the..uh..bad I did at it. And then we came up with this idea about bringing softball to uh.. highschool, all we need is a few names signed and a coach, plus the funds and we should be good to bring it back!”
Laurie actually sounded pretty excited, for someone who never got a hit in softball. That's when Taylor brought that up.
“Girl, why are you willing to play it? You never got a hit! No offense.”
The comment did make Laurie sweat, but at this point what didn't make her sweat out stress anymore? Rochelle really only made that one comment and now was honed more into her homework, at least that's what she wanted to look like she was doing. Then she overheard Laurie talk about being a co-coach… It actually made sense. The girl was bad at playing but after their state championship a couple years ago she had proven to be a great coach when the time was necessary. That made her start thinking how this whole thing would work. Coach Dan or maybe Kai’s Dad (hopefully not) would coach them, so coaching was solved, umpire could probably be Frank even if he was still umpire in middle school softball he wouldn't miss a chance to take the job. The only issue was funding, and when it came to that it likely meant covering the whole bases, which is why Taylor mentioned a fundraiser and flyers they could hand out for name signs and money donations. Rochelle was wondering if she could be a good pitcher yet again, or if it would mess up her life even more, then again, she'd give anything to be somewhere to unwind. That's what Frank and her mom want from her anyway, she got lectured about it last weekend when she was still doing homework and missed out on hanging with Tom because she had to babysit for someone. She knew it was true, that toppling a job and tutoring middle schoolers became a hassle if she put them on top of actually doing her own school. Though she couldn't shake the feel of needing to be responsible for her own work.
“Rochelle? Earth to Rochelle, you signing it or not?”
Taylor’s voice snapped her from her thoughts and from her homework, she looked between Laurie and Taylor, the freshly printed paper slip to sign the petition in front of her, likely Laurie got to keep it for the day and Kai would as well at least a copy of it for anyone interested in signing. Though she wouldn't know for sure since they had different lunch periods. In the heat of the moment she had to think yet again about the funding, she knew only her and Yuwen really worked at all, so no one here would get cash unless it was from a fundraiser.
Against a few fibers of her being she signed it, her name in perfect cursive that Laurie couldn't read because she didn't know cursive all too well. Then she had to ask the question, harming her brain if it's work ethic and focus. Her fingers tapped against the linoleum table, her eyes squinted as she looked down at her untouched tray, not that she was trying not to eat, but this school sometimes made the most repulsive things so she had to pass today.
“How much money are we needing to make it real though Laur?”
That's when Laurie really got nervous about the topic, the big ouch that came with the fun. A shy, almost afraid smile on her face before she could get the number out of her throat. By the time she did the table went pale faced.
“Around seven thousand..?”
SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR THE COMPLETE FUNDING?! Rochelle couldn't even make that in a week! How were they supposed to make that much from a whole school and only a few interested kids with a fundraiser?!
“Well…how much time do we have to make that much?”
“Two months, even then we won't get to actually play officially until next year…”
Well, that's not exactly a lot. But Rochelle could do the math, scribbling on her homework even if she rarely did that she needed the space to think. Umpire was a volunteer who plays umpire in the middle school, same with the Coach except he's a parent. Seven thousand, for the costs of all the goods and the field time, they'd probably just used the bare bones field behind the highschool. Get it done in two months, that's around twelve weeks… Rochelle slid her paper more into the view of the other two.
“Boom, we would need to make at least $583.33 dollars a week, but we could round it to $600. All we need is a fundraiser, me and Yuwen could pitch in, maybe we could do something like a bake sale or something over spring break? Maybe even an online fundraiser?”
There was another wave of quiet, but from there it became a brainstorming session, the real rest of it would be the sleepover Stay or brought up, yet Rochelle couldn't give a sure answer she would be there. Which left her thinking the rest of the day even as she got home.
××××
Walking into her cushy room she swiped through her phone to her calendar and looked through her schedule, her weekend was booked. So in a solemn moment of emotion she got ready for her next take off to babysit in an hour or so. A text broke her from her routine, the woman she was sitting for had cancelled for the weekend it seemed, and for tonight. She had gotten sick so she had to be out for a few days meaning no money for Rochelle. At least she could hang out this weekend. All she needed to do now was fill out some job spots online with her resume and then she would be fine.