A Former Karen
“I always thought she was a karen,” Caroline remarks, pointing towards you. She’s surprised now that you’re working at McDonalds as a server yourself.
As a brash, obnoxious kid in middle school, Mcdonalds was your favorite place to go. You got to yell at the servers, scream when your order came a minute late, purposely spill your drink and watch a server wipe it. It was an intense thrill, leaving you feeling both superior and satisfied.
“She was. Don’t know what changed,” the blonde next to Caroline sipped her iced tea. “I don’t really care anyway.”
You knew Caroline from high school. Her straight brown hair has now been trimmed to shoulder-length and dyed green. She carries around her own guitar now, a player from a young age. Caroline was a gossip queen, one of the girls in your wide friend group. There was Stella, who owns a bookstore now, and Andy, who’s gone at University, among a dozen others.
You all barely knew each other. You were more busy bullying service workers. By this time, you had moved on from McDonalds to Chick-Fil-A, KFC, and Starbucks- a wide range of stores to unleash your karenness. It’s what made your long, dull high school days less monotonous.
You avoid Caroline’s table and head towards a young family sitting on the corner, with two little toddlers. Both the boys were wearing matching shirts and shoes.
“Is there anything I can get you?” you ask, watching the kids banter on about something insignificant. Their sticky fingers keep skimming the windows. You hope they won’t stain them.
“Can we get two happy meals and one mcflurry?”
“Alright. Your order will be ready in about 10 minutes.” You scrawl their order in a small notepad and head towards the counter. On the way, you can’t help but swarve around Caroline’s table, hoping to hear some more from their conversation.
“She was always such a brat,” it seems like Caroline was still talking about you. The blonde rolls her eyes, clearly annoyed. “Once I saw her cheat on a math test."
You remember that math test. Your grades were flailing, and you were close to failing the class. You have had bad grades for years now, but the thought of failing caused a new kind of panic to surface. That week before the test, you promised yourself you’d study. You had set a schedule, wrote it out on your planner, and were even considering inviting some friends for a study group.
As you were telling the girls at lunch about your study group, they got really quiet and looked at one another.
We have the answers. Coraline had whispered to you. It turned out that they were all going to fail as well, and turned to desperate measures. You were happy then.
What a hypocrite, you think now. Caroline, the one who had initiated the cheating, is now flippantly passing the blame like a piece of gossip. Unfortunately, your loathing shows on your face before you can sneak past the table. Caroline and the blonde turn and glare.
“Excuse me?” The blonde flips her straight blonde hair. Now that she’s looking straight at you, the blue eyes and sharp jaw strike familiarity. You remember her: Scarlet. Back in high school, she used to be the annoying outlier, obsessed with her phone and bright red lipstick. Looks like she’s had a major glow up now.
“Nothing,” you murmur, head down, and quickly scramble away. Just a few years ago, you would’ve snapped back at them, biting and stabbing each other with words. It was a common game you all used to play. Now it’s best not to escalate the situation, you know these girls have a temper and a thirst for blood. And you could lose your only job.
I really have changed so much.
“What a weirdo,” you hear Caroline mutter after you.
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Thank you for reading! This is just a stupid little story I had in mind. Maybe I'll continue it.
