Chapter 14
After leaving the classroom Sofia didn’t go towards the school gate.
She went straight to the girls’ bathroom.
The hallway was empty now the sounds of the school day replaced by a heavy silence.
Once inside she locked herself in a stall. She sank to the cold tile floor and began to cry pulling her knees to her chest. The sobs she had been holding back tore from her throat.
Her family’s financial situation was not good. It had once been stable.
Her father had a good job at a small manufacturing plant.
But then he got sick a lingering illness that drained their savings and left him unable to work.
Her mother took on extra shifts at the hospital. But it was not enough.
As the eldest daughter Sofia felt the weight of responsibility. She attended her classes.
Then she immediately went to a part-time job at a local café.
The school didn’t allow students to work. It was a strict rule. But she worked secretly.
Not just at the café but also at a convenience store late at night. She was trying to hold her family together one paycheck at a time.