Blue Sky and Other Things That Are Good For You

School gets out at 2:30, giving me enough time to get to the yogurt shop and ready for not only the teens that use this as the hang-out place, but also the little kids who use this as the hang-out place. It’s a cool shop really though. There are four rooms and then the main area. One room is directed to kids under ten. Another is for kids still in middle school and then there’s the high school one. There’s also a ‘romantic’ room that is set up for dates. And then the main area is just for whoever.

“I want Chocolate” a kid in the back of the line yells.

“No, we’re getting Vanilla!” a little girls voice screams back.

“you guys aren’t getting anything if you keep that up.” An older voice says. I recognized that voice, but I couldn’t place it without a face.

“you’re so strict Uncle Ryan. Why can’t you be fun like Aunt Stacey.”

“Because Stacey is your age and I’m not.” Ryan. That was Ryan Richards, Ryan from school. He never came here after school, he was always busy. If it wasn’t sports, it was ASB or dance committee or helping around the office. They finally reach the front and I realize that they were the end of the line. The after school rush was over.

“Hey Sky.” Ryan says with his signature smile.

“hi.” I reply. Then, being an awesome person with kids, I bend down to his niece and nephew, “let me guess. Chocolate for you,” I point to the boy, “and Vanilla for you.” I say.

They nod their heads vigorously, “yes, please.”

I stand back up, “what about me?” Ryan asks.

I laugh, “swirl. With, hmm, pink sprinkles on top.”

“let’s just keep it plain and simple, no sprinkles needed.”

“oh no, you asked me a question today, sprinkles are needed.”

Ryan rolls his eyes, knowing that I wouldn’t actually put sprinkles on his frozen yogurt. We did have them though. Enough kids asked for them over the years that we finally broke down and got sprinkles in every color. The little girl tugs on Ryans pant leg, he looks down at her, “What Sydney?” he asks.

“can I have pink sprinkles on mine?”

I could tell Ryan was about to say no but I broke in before then, “of course sweetie. And would you like pink sprinkles on yours too?” I ask the boy.

“eew! No way! I want blue!” haha, typical. I always like blue when I was younger, which I guess totally goes against being a girl.

“okay, blue it is.” The kids run off to the younger room while Ryan waits for the orders.

“you know, they’re going to think they’ll get sprinkles every time they come here with me now.”

“they never come here with you. you never come here.” I get Sydney’s Vanilla with pink sprinkles done and set it aside in a tray while I did the other two. After the little boys, I make Ryans and add a single pink sprinkle on the top just to mess with him. I put them all in the tray and hand it to him. “there you go.” I say.

“you should come hang out with us.”

“I can’t, I have to work.”

He looks around, “looks pretty dead now. And you get a break, don’t you.”

“I-“ before I could finish saying that I don’t take breaks, my boss, Ted comes out. He owns the place and usually stayed in the back doing paperwork.

“did I hear the word break?” he asks, showing himself, “are you finally taking a break Sky?” He asks me.

“wasn’t planning on it.” I mumble, but he still heard me

“nonsense.” He makes a quick swirl and hands it to me, “go hang out with your boyfriend. Finally someone can get you to take a break.” He pushes me toward the end of the counter and makes sure I follow Ryan.

“you are so dead.” I tell him.

“Hey, that’s for getting my niece and nephew to believe they’ll get sprinkles every time we come here.”

“which is, again, never.” I point out. Ryan shrugs and hands the frozen yogurt cones to his niece and nephew. They run off with it and before you could say “take a napkin,” it was gone. Ryan and I laugh and he grabs his, setting the tray aside. I hadn’t touched my cone yet. Not that it didn’t taste good, but after working here, you finally have had enough of it.

“Here’s to skipping a grade.” He says, holding up his cone for me to clank with mine. Minus the clanking sound. I roll my eyes and follow his lead.

“it’s not that big of a deal.” I say, after taking a few licks of the chocolate side.

“it is a big deal. You’re like super smart and nobody knows it.”

“nobody is going to know it now Ryan. Everybody just assumes I’m a junior because I take junior, if not senior, classes.”

“well I know better.” He then spots the pink sprinkle, “hey! You put a pink sprinkle on my yogurt.”

“I told you I was going to.” I remind him. He takes another lick and somehow ends up with it on the end of his nose.

Before I could say anything, his niece and nephew come running up. They halt when they see Ryan. “you’ve got chocolate on your nose Ryan.” The boy says, like it was totally against the rules to have it on your nose. Ryan dips his finger in the frozen yogurt and then pokes both the little kids on the nose.

“now you two have one too!” he says. It was weird. One minute he was all up-tight with the kids, and now he’s easy-going and fun.

“Gross! There’s chocolate on my nose!!” Sydney freaks.

The boy points to me. Uh-oh. “she doesn’t have any on her nose now.” Again, it sounded like now it was against the rules to not have any.

“oh, that’s because I,” come on, think of an excuse, “uh work here and it’s against the rules for me to have it on any external body part without having a glove on.” I show him my hands, “and see, I don’t have a glove on.”

All three of them look at me like I’m crazy. Ryan shakes his head, getting out of the trance. “yeah, so not going to buy that one.” He pokes my nose with the cold substances and then wipes his finger on the napkin next to him.

I could have wiped it off with a napkin or the back of my sleeve. That’s actually what I should’ve done. But it was chocolate, and I liked chocolate, so I just reach up with my tongue and lick it off. Another stare of bewilderment comes for the three surrounding me.

“did she?” the boy says.

“no way.” Sydney comments.

“that was awesome!” Ryan says loudly.

I raise my eyebrows, “awesome? I licked my nose, how is that awesome? More like disgusting.”

“it was awesome.”

“it really wasn’t.”

“it really was.”

“no.”

“yes.”

“no.”

“yes.”

“no.”

“yes.”

“I’ve gotta get back to work.” I say, giving up.

“I so won that.” Ryan says. His phone vibrates then and he opens it up to read the text. He frowns a little before turning that frown upside down and back into his smile.

“okay you two, I’ve gotta go pick up Amanda.” I stood up, trying to sneak away at that moment. Amanda was his girlfriend and not exactly the nicest person alive. No one gets why he dates her. And I mean NO ONE.

“I don’t want to go pick her up. She says ‘like’ to many times.” The boy says and I couldn’t help but laugh a little to that.

“Charlie, be nice.” Ryan says.

“What are you going to do if I’m not?” Charlie counters. I was back behind the counter before I heard Ryans answer to that. They pass by the counter and Ryan drops a bill into the tip jar, smiles at me, and then leaves. It wasn’t until I was counting the tips that night that I realized he put in a twenty. I slipped the twenty into my back pocket and put the rest of the tips into our food fund. I’d deal with his tomorrow.

Suzy was a now six year old I babysat from five to ten on weeknights. Since she went to bed at 8:30, I was able to get most of my work done while there. After getting home, I get ready for bed. That’s when I heard the door open and my parents voices, “Blue Sky?!” they called. My parents were the only two people on the planet that called me by my full first name.

I spit out the toothpaste and walk out of the bathroom, “yeah?” I ask while putting my hair up into a messy bun.

“did you remember to pay the bills?” my mom asks.

“they were due last week mom, and yes, as you can see we still have power and a home, so I did pay the bills.”

“no need to get smart with me.”

“I’m not. But I’m going to bed, it’s been a long day.” I walk to my room and pause at the doorway, “by the way, I officially skipped a grade, I’m a junior now.” They weren’t quite drunk, but they had defiantly had some alcohol in the last hour.

“that’s great dear.” My father says in his ‘I really don’t give a shit’ tone.

“yeah. It is. Good night! Don’t stay up too late.” I tell them and then hit the bed myself. It was getting harder and harder for me to sleep at night. My life had gotten so busy and hectic that I rarely had a second for myself. All the anger and resentment I have towards my parents is building up inside, and I know someday it’s going to explode out of me. I just don’t know when that day is.

The next morning I had to admit I was looking pretty shitty. My eyes had bags under them and my hair was a mess. Quickly I grab the cucumber from the fridge and cut a slice, rubbing it under my eyes to freshen them up. After a short shower, my hair was tamed enough to style and ta-da! I was done. For now. When I got home I had to remember to make some more eye-cream since mine was now out. I grab my bag and slip the twenty from Ryan in my pocket before heading out the door.

“Morning Stan.” I say to our neighbor who always sat out in the front of the apartment building, reading the daily paper.

“Morning Sky. Have a good day at school now.” I nod and continue my walk to the Ridgefield High.

Ryan was already at his desk when I walked in, making it easier to just slip him the money. Which is what I did. I walked by and just set the twenty dollar bill on his desk.

He looks at me like I’m crazy. “I didn’t think a tip was refundable.” He says.

“I didn’t think twenty dollars was 15% of $6.25.” I reply.

Ryan bites his bottom lip, looking for an excuse. After a long pause, I realized that he didn’t have any. “will you just take the money?” he asks.

“Ryan, I don’t need your pity money.” I say.

“it’s not pity money.”

“oh, well then what would you call it?”

“congratulations on skipping a year money?”

“I told you it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

“and I told you it was.” He replies, “Sky, you skipped a whole year of high school. You’ll be going to college when you’re barely 17. It is a big deal.” He puts the money back on my desk and I just stare at it.

I wasn’t used to people caring. It’s not like family was jumping up and down celebrating. Even Cathy wasn’t that excited. Ryan made it seem like I just graduated from high school. I guess I just wasn’t used to people reacting to stuff that happens to me. “I guess I can put it in my college fund.” I mumble.

Luckily before Ryan could say anything back, the teacher starts class.