Sammie Langston was a girl of wealth. Her mothers mothers mothers mother had helped found one of the biggest college in their town. She was the first woman to graduate college in their town. She became a business woman who became president of a boarding school outside town. Then she opened the college. Sammie’s family gained much wealth from the college.

Sammie’s great grandmother was a dean at the college. Sammies grandmother oversaw the advisors. Sammies mother had been on every major committee. Then there was Sammie. She had graduated high school and was going to said college. She was getting her degree in biology as it was her best subject.

Sammie was a very bright girl. She was also quite spoiled. Her mother and father lived in a huge house only a few miles from the campus. They had housekeepers and chefs and drivers. Sammie had a wardrobe full of designer clothes. Her father was a lawyer for the college and had gotten Sammie a Mercedes for her sixteenth birthday.

It was expected that she graduated college. Everyone in her family had. She was no exception as the oldest child of her parents. She also had a younger sister who spent her days downtown with her friends and boyfriend. Sammie did her schoolwork and did things she considered hard work. In the afternoons, she did tennis. On Sunday mornings she did yoga. She occasionally dropped in on committee meetings with her mother. She ran a charity to help poor people get access to clothes for jobs. It was a lot of work.

Despite all this work, Sammie had never actually had a job before. The college was free, her parents bought her everything she needed. A job would just add unnecessary stress. She was a very pretty girl, she couldn’t ruin her looks with stress. She saw the college kids her age who were stressed. Dark bags, frown lines, acne, unkempt hair, hunched backs?! No thank you.

Sammie looked in her floor length mirror after her shower one day. Her brown eyes were sparkling. Her brown hair was shiny and starting to curl. Her mocha skin was blemish free. She chose an outfit, mini skirt and long sleeve top, to wear for dinner and studying with her best friend. Her best friend was Alice Coolly. She went to college with her and she was an oil heiress. Once a week the two of them ordered dinner and studied at Alice’s apartment. Sammie lived at home and Alice’s family lived in Dubai, so Alice had a huge penthouse downtown. Obviously they were going to drink champagne and eat take out Mediterranean food while Alice worked on marketing research and Sammie read her biology textbook.

That day, Sammie got home from Alice’s house and threw her belongings on the ground. She would go up to her room that night with everything neatly put back. Thania, their housekeeper, had been with them since Sammie was in middle school. She knew how all the Langston’s liked their things. Sammie plopped herself into a chair and scrolled through her phone. She makes sure to turn her phone off during studying so she has to catch up. Her English professor sent the book they were going to write for the midterm. The social committee was planning a winter dance. Her study group for math was trying to get together. Her tennis buddies were talking about competing in a tennis tournament in a few weeks.

She spent the next hour of her time texting people back. Then her father came home from work and told the family to meet in the kitchen. Sammie sighed and sat at her usual seat at the table. Her little sister, Ellie, sat across from her. Her hair was cut in a cute long bob and her nails looked freshly manicured. Their mother sat at the foot of the table and their father at the head. That’s when he dropped a bomb on the girls.

He wanted them to start working. He pulled up a picture he had recieved on his phone. Ellie and her friends at high end stores, putting small trinkets in their pockets. Small gems and rings and pens. Sammie glared at her sister. Stealing? Really? Ellie started to cry at the thought of working while her friends got to lounge around. Their father said he would not raise menaces. He would not have to see them in court, being accused of crimes.

He said he had gotten them both jobs at the country club. Ellie would be working at the smoothie bar. Sammie would be a hostess at the bistro. He said it was to keep them out of trouble and learn to be responsible. He also said that the money they earned would be all they were allowed to use to buy things like new clothes and food.

The next Monday, Sammie was driven to the country club. She was to work on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from noon until four. She had to wear a white shirt and black slacks. Her hair also had to be tied up.

The first day felt like a disaster. She filled a section with no server. She threw a whole bin of sodas away on accident. She even closed the door on an older ladys finger. She had never been so exhausted in her life. Ellie worked weekends and came home on her first day covered in green smoothie. She had forgotten the top to the blender. Their dad sat with them every evening with a smug look on his face. Their mother drank more wine but let this absurdity go on.

As the days passed, Sammie got better at her job. She spent mornings in class and afternoons at work. She did her homework in the evenings and made new tennis buddies on the weekend. She felt she related more with the other kids that had to work than with her rich friends. She tried attending committee meetings, but realized she’d rather spend her time at work. She liked her coworkers and liked seeing a healthy paycheck every other week.

Ellie ended up getting fired from the smoothie stand after a few months for giving away free smoothies. Her dad had given up and she went back to her friends.

Sammie graduated with her biology degree and ended up working at a research lab at the college. She ended up finding a drug that slowed down Parkinsons disease. She got married to a man from her college bistro job and had two girls.

Ellie went to college for a bit, but was kicked out after an arrest for grand theft auto. She was cut off from the family but married an older man from the country club. She had a son with him and when the man died, she moved to London and married a pop star.

The college ended up getting run by another founder’s descendant. Sammie still donated a lot of time and money to the college, so her family still had stock in it, but they weren’t required to make any decisions about it. Unfortunately, as Sammie reached middle age, the college shut down. The new owners ran it dry. It was a great piece of history and ended up becoming a community college owned by the state. Sammie learned to work and found herself in the process.