Narrative
[Esmeralda went straight from school to dance classes and directly after, although she'd much rather sleep or do her homework, she had to reapply her makeup and head to the local fast food chain, McWendalls King. She puts on her uniform in the bathroom and starts working her shift. Her stomach ties up in knots when she sees some of her friends walk up to the counter and place their orders. She smiles at them and teases them playfully about their orders and sits with them as if she's not on the clock. At the table, they all talk about the bullshit test that's coming up on Friday, all insisting that they're not ready for it. When someone else walks up to the counter, Esmeralda excuses herself to put on her big phony smile and put in their order.
Her friends hang around until her shift is over to drive her home because she doesn't have a car and the walk home to her part of town is, as Kiki says, "suss as fuck." The downside of having her friends drop her off is that she can't bring home the leftover food that McWendalls King would otherwise throw away because she doesn't want anyone talking about how she can't afford food at school. It's bad enough she has to work after school in the first place in their eyes.
Esmeralda makes her way inside and greets her parents. Their small apartment is overcrowded even with just the three of them, but somehow, it's immaculate. Her mother, although a working woman, comes from a long line of homemakers and would rather die than have a spec of dust found on her counters. Esmeralda admires that about her. Another thing her mother does is without hesitation, when she sees her daughter come home empty-handed, she cooks dinner out of thin air. Their refrigerator and cupboards might be empty, but her mother will always find a way to keep her family fed. She does her homework at the table as her parents talk about their days, then after dinner, she heads up to her bed which is in the corner of their living room and studies until 2am. She'll keep her spot as number one in the class as sure as her parents will keep the roof over their heads.
The next day she comes to school dressed in her uniform, but she rolls up the skirt on the bus and uses her friend's lip gloss as if they have anybody to impress at the school. She struts through the hallways as if she owns the school and sits down in her homeroom class on the desk she usually pulls up a chair to and starts telling her classmates a crazy story about an upperclassman from another school who was totally hitting on her who she rejected. It's true, but she embellishes greatly for the wow factor. It takes work to stay on top, but Esmeralda is definitely always on top.]