1 Chapter 1: Unexpected News

(Reagan's POV)

They say that if a black cat crosses your path, bad luck is coming your way. I have never been one to believe in things like good luck or bad luck, in my eyes you make your own luck. But even so, when I was making my way back to my dorm after my last class, a black cat had crossed my path, which I thought was weird only because it's pretty rare to see cats just wandering around a college campus.

Now as I swept up pieces of broken glass off the floor of Poppy’s, the diner where I worked, the encounter seemed to run perilously through my mind. I didn't understand why I felt so uneasy, especially since I didn't believe in superstitions, and yet I couldn't seem to get rid of this feeling of uncertainty and uneasiness. Deep down, I felt as if the encounter was going to come back to bite me, and honestly, that thought itself seemed to make me even more uneasy.

"Something on your mind?" I turned around to see Mary, another waitress that worked here at Poppy's standing behind me.

I plastered a smile onto my face and shook my head, "No, it's nothing, honestly I've just had a lot of things on my mind lately."

"Is school getting you down?"

"Yeah, it is," I said, nodding.

Mary was giving me that look, that look she gave everyone when she didn’t believe them, but I knew she wouldn’t pry if I didn’t want to tell her. Mary was someone that I knew that I could always go to when I needed to talk but I didn’t want to burden her with unnecessary worries.

Giving Mary a smile and a nod, I finished sweeping up the glass into the dustpan while Mary went back to serving other customers. I looked around Poppy's, noticing that the number of customers in the diner was dwindling since the restaurant would be closing soon. Poppy's was a popular diner here in LA, mainly because the style was 1950s retro and that appealed to the customers.

I had started working here at Poppy's this summer when I had moved here to attend Lakeside University. I knew that I needed a job to help pay my tuition, and Poppy's had appealed to me. The boss, Sal, had sympathized with my situation, and immediately offered me the job on the spot. In the summer, he had allowed me to work as many days as he thought I could handle and when school started he had allowed me to work after my classes were finished for the day. I loved working here at Poppy's, even if the pay wasn't that much, the family-like atmosphere made up for that.

"Hey, he's back." I heard one of the waitresses near me whisper to another waitress.

I looked up to the seat where I knew he would be sitting, he never sat anywhere else except for in that one booth. He wore a dark suit that looked like it cost a couple of grand, his golden blonde hair was combed over and his grey eyes were focused on a book that he was reading in his hand. I didn't know his name but I knew what he looked like probably because he had come into Poppy's hundreds of times. I wondered why someone like him, someone who looked like he made a lot of money came into Poppy's almost every day, reading a book and ordering the same thing, a waffle, two chicken wings, and a glass of champagne.

One of the other waitresses, Annabelle, served him his classic meals, looking like she was going to trip over her own feet on the way over there. The guy was gorgeous, I was going to give him that, no wonder Annabelle had trouble walking normally when she was serving him. But the guy never once looked up when Annabelle was at his table, even when she set down his order in front of him, he continued to keep his attention on his book. It was something that I also noticed that he did every time he came here, he never once ever looked up from his book and when he finished up his meal he would just get up and leave. Not once when he was in here did he ever utter a word, not even a thank you when he got his order.

I broke myself out of my thoughts of the mystery man and turned to one of the tables to wipe them down. I could hear some of the other waitresses whispering about him and giggling as if they had never seen a gorgeous man before. As I continued to wipe down the table I heard Sal come from the back and tell them to get back to work. I smiled to myself, Sal may be friendly but when it came to work he did not play around.

I didn't notice when the mystery man had left until after I had finished cleaning a few more tables and swept out a couple of booths. By then, Poppy's was approaching closing time and the diner was empty except for us waitresses.

I felt a hand on my shoulder as I was mopping and turned around to see Sal behind me, "You can go back to your dorm now Reagan if you want I know you've got class in the morning so I don't want to keep you here too late."

"No, it's ok Sal I don't want the other girls to think that you're favoring me just because I'm a college student."

Sal shook his head, "That's not why I'm letting you get off early, you're a hard worker Reagan, sometimes I feel like one day you might even work yourself to death. Just take the rest of the night off, consider it a reward for working so hard and helping to make this place function."

I smiled at Sal, “I really shouldn’t, but I know you won’t let it go unless I say yes.”

Sal chuckled, “You got that right kid, now finish up and get going, be safe getting home.”

“I will, thanks again, Sal.” Sal just waved his hand, before heading back behind the kitchen doors.

I finished mopping the rest of the area I had been working on before bidding goodnight to the other girls, clocking out and getting in my car to drive back to the dormitory. By the time that I got back, Blake, my roommate, was resting on her bed, her head propped up with her pillow, watching Law and Order on our shared TV.

"Hey you're finally back," she said sitting up completely, "there's a letter for you on your bed, I got it from our mailbox."

"Thanks." I sat down my backpack on the chair for my desk and picked up the letter from my bed.

The letter was addressed to me from the university with the word urgent on the front of the envelope, printed in bold, all uppercase, red letters. I opened the back of the envelope and when I pulled out the letter and began to scan it, my heart felt as if it were going to stop. The university told me that I had an outstanding balance of $20,000 from the first semester and that I was required to pay the amount in full if I wanted to continue to attend.

I collapsed on the bed, the letter falling from my hand, staring blankly at the wall in front of me. Blake came to my side and placed her hand on my arm, talking to me and asking if I was okay. I couldn't answer because I wasn't okay, nothing about my situation was okay. The main thought that was going through my mind right now was how was I going to come up with $20,000 to pay my past-due bill.

I guess it is true what they say, if you cross the path of a black cat, you've got yourself bad luck.