As Ashley rung up a few more customers without incident, she took a seat behind the counter, stretching. 'This job does have its benefits.' she thought as she remembered how relaxing this job was. The store had been closed for a while, and had just reopened the weekend before. Hannah helped work after school, and it was almost her shift. Ashley went to go get her, but bumped into Maria, first.
"Lo siento. No he visto que haya venido." Maria hurriedly said, momentarily forgetting her boss's Spanish wasn't so great.
Ash had to think a bit before sort of understanding what she'd said. "It's alright, no harm done. Todo esta bien."
Maria sighed in relief, mumbling a "Gracias." before returning to her duties. It was so nice to have an employer who didn't constantly demand her to speak English 100% of the time, fluently.
Ashley smiled tiredly. Maria might know about as much about the English language as she did Arab, but she was still a nice, if a bit meek, person who worked hard. Ash remembered all those Spanish courses she'd taken way back when in high school, but almost all of that was forgotten.
"It's a good thing Maria and I are able to communicate so well, otherwise this job would be much more confusing." The ring once again began to do its mystical work the second she finished her sentence aloud.
Alejandra sighed, resting her darker hands on her slightly more generous hips. Having recently dealt with a customer talking about advanced physics, she'd felt a bit tired of having to guess at some of the longer English words. She considered herself pretty fluent in English, but there were definitely times where her heritage showed in conversations, and she felt the customer sort of got that by the end of the conversation. At least he hadn't made any rude comments.
As Alejandra got back to cataloging some books, she once again didn't notice the physical changes that had occurred to her. Her mid section had thinned out just a slight bit, the weight redistributing mainly towards her hips and buttocks. Her skin was a few shades darker, and her hair had gone from a dirty blonde to a dark brown-ish black colored. Her attire hadn't really changed, though she did have a few form fitting dresses for cultural festivals held in town.
She walked by Maria, and had a friendly conversation with the help, both feeling relieved to be speaking the native tongue. The girl reminded her of how she had gotten to America, when she was merely a child of 10. English had been a perra to learn, but she'd still managed to get a good grasp on it.
By the age of nineteen, she was out in the workplace, and had found a comfortable job as a school's librarian. There, she had met a graduating senior by the name of Tony, and after a year of dating, they had accidentally gotten a child. Tony promised to stay, but when little Ana had been born, Tony had gotten into a car crash. Alejandra had been heart broken, but thankfully, her child and her friends helped her get through it.
After a few years, Alejandra realized she had enough money to start up her own place of business, and with her child being an avid reader, and her previous job supplying good skills, she bought the old library and started running it. It had been hers for a good seven years now, and she had just recently hired Maria. Her daughter, Ana, also helped out any time she wasn't at school or hanging out with friends.
"Mamá, ¿esos dos ya están aquí?"
Despite such a different reality, the still nerdy Ana had texted the two new outcasts over to hang out, and just on cue, they arrived through the door. Antonia heard them talking as they meandered the book shelves.
"I can't believe we got kicked off the team." The slightly chubby African American girls said, as she was currently snacking on a snickers bar.
"I guess that's what we get for letting ourselves go." The chubbier of the pair said. "I just can't believe we gained so much over Summer, I can hardly remember it."
"I know, I guess they don't want girls with meat on their bones. Still, it was nice of Ana to invite us over to try and cheer us up. She said we were going to this new romance movie."
"Si, muchacha." Alejandra called up before going over to the two chubby girls.
"Oh, hello. You must be Ana's mom. I'm Jill, and this is Emily. Ana invited us." The blonde former cheerleader said, unaware that she had changed slightly as well due to domino effects of so much of reality altering.
"Si, yes, she said. Don't worry girls, she'll be down in a second."
"Here, hey Jill, hey Em." Ana was a bit different from how she had appeared as Hannah, slightly thinning out a bit, gaining some weight in the chest and rear department, and gaining the same gorgeous hair her mother had. Despite her good looks, her studious and quiet nature had prohibited her from being a part of the it crowd, though Alejandra felt that was a good thing, as most members of said crowd were, what was the word for it... jerks. Alejandra was glad Ana was being nice to these two. She went to go back behind the counter.
However, being a mom, she couldn't help but make comments about her daughter and her friends. She began to speak, blissfully unaware of the power she wielded.