The cool early morning breeze ruffles her hair as the young officer rushes through the streets of the crowded city. Her braided hair which was in an updo is now flailing all around her face. But she did not mind it one bit. Officer Jayla Glasgow has an important mission to accomplish and it is right around the corner. Jayla picks up speed as she came closer to accomplishing her daily task. A few locals watch her as she dashes pass on the pavement. Her mission is to buy eight coffees, 12 donuts, and 6 cupcakes for the cops back in the department. They don't have a coffee machine there, so she is assigned to the task, the cops would tease her and call it her 'mission'. She looks on the worn-out leather watch on her hands and checks the time, 7:04 am, she has six more minutes to complete it.
Her face is drenched in sweat and a few braids from her hair is plastered to her forehead, she starts to slow down her pace when the familiar scent of baked pastries fills the air. She limps around the corner as 'Miss Birdies Pastry Palace' comes in her vision. It is the breakfast parlor she has been using to complete all her daily missions for the last three years.
She enters the small coffee shop, the small bells over the doors went off signaling the arrival of a new customer, a few heads glances in her direction.
Jayla inhales the nutty scent of freshly brewed coffee. The small wooden clock over the bar reads 7 am, It is very early so the coffee shop only has a few customers. The line is empty so she hurries her way to the bar as she approaches the counter, she stubs her toe on a nearby chair. A few snickers went off in the room, she groans at the pain and uses a braid to cover her face, embarrassed, she glances over to the group of snickering teenagers sitting in the far end corner of the shop. They have their phones out, recording another episode of the infamous 'klutzy cop'. She rolls her eyes.
''Hey! Rookie!'' Landon calls out to Jayla from behind the machine. Landon is the closest to a friend Jayla has, he is the barista for the coffee shop and tends to memorizes her orders, so she is always on time. She spots the grinning boy wiping his glasses as he walks towards the counter wearing a cute pink apron on. She approaches him with the same grin and pops up on the wooden stool in front of the counter.
''Hey four-eyes, it is Officer to you, and I'll like the regular package please, but add eight coffees this time,'' she says while pulling back her braids into a ponytail.
''Already here,'' he replies proudly taking a small brown box from under the counter, then turns to the coffee machine to the eight coffees.
''Aww, you are way too sweet,'' Jayla coos, reaching over to pinch his cheeks. He moves out of the way before she could reach his face. He despises the way she always treats him like a child. Jayla quickly started to empty out her pocket on the counter then grabs the box and made a beeline for the door. Because she wants to avoid the question he always asks. Everyday.
''Hey Jayla, wait up are you free for a baseball game, it's on Monday?''
She internally groans, she finds Landon attractive, but he is just not the one she is looking for. She turns to face the tall red-cheeked boy who is adjusting his glasses on his face. One of her crazy excuses pops up in her head. She bent her head so it would look like she is speaking in her police scanner.
''What's that Captain? a drowning fish!?'' she gasps dramatically, ''okay I'll be there as soon as possible.''
She rushes out of the shop carefully balancing the box leaving the poor heart crushed Landon calling out her name. She starts to plan her escape for tomorrow, yesterday it was 'the sky is falling'.
[*]^.^[*]
A few minutes later Jayla arrived at the department and starts to hand out the donuts and cupcakes.
''What took you so long Officer Glasgow?'' The Captain's voice follows her as she hands out the pastries to the officers, not only she has to buy them but hand them out as well.
''The coffee shop is just 2 minutes from here? Were you being clumsy again? Or was there a guy that looked suspicious, so you chased him?'' She looks up into the angry dark blue eyes of the beast of a man. Captain Hodder is a huge man with a very intimidating physique standing at 6'3. His short hair is almost as grey as his ridiculous mustache that she just wants to wax and rip off.
''I am sorry Captain Hodder, it will not happen again,'' she replies through gritted teeth. A few chuckles pass over the room. It did not bother her; she is used to it by now. They never show her any respect. She is known to be the little girl who just wants to be a great cop like her late dad. The captain just sighs and motions to her to follow him. She took up the box of coffees and starts to follow him.
Jayla starts to get confused when they passed the Captain's office door and through a door that leads onto a very unfamiliar passageway. The passage has poor lighting and no sign of windows, only large doors on each side, she did not even know that the passageway even exists in the department. the unfamiliar doors on either side of the passage make her feel extremely uncomfortable. She did not dare to ask any questions, the captain is a very scary man when annoyed. They finally stop at a large wooden door and her ears perks up when she hears loud voices arguing on the other side of the door. With a grunt, the captain opens the door.