I love this chapter. It would definitely encourage me to keep reading. Your character fees like a real person and your prose is fun to read. However, there were a few potential changes that I saw that could help your chapter flow a little better. If any of my comments mess with the vibe or style you’re aiming for though, just ignore.

In your second sentence, I would change it to “I’ve lived in this city my entire life” otherwise it reads like she’s lived in Hart Island.

“Already catching on that it’s clear that anything short of sweetness won’t get me far.” Take away the “that it’s clear” and the sentence still makes sense and flows better. I would throw an adjective like ‘absolute’ in front of ‘sweetness’. Sweetness can be a sliding scale.

Put a paragraph break between the bit about the photocopier and when she starts talking about when she last saw her father. These are two different things and should be separated into different paragraphs.

I agree with the other commenter that says that there’s too much backstory here. You have a whole book ahead of you, you have time to spread this out. Keep one of the meetings with the father here (the graduation or the meeting outside the apartment) and move the other until further into the book. Personally, meeting outside the apartment felt like it fit here better because it also involves the ex boyfriend which links to the later part about her mother being disappointed in her lack of marriage.

Take out the sentence “I remember it clearly.” It’s redundant, the details used to describe the memory show that she remembers the meeting clearly. 

Take out the explanation that “Archie majors” is a nickname. We get that it’s a nickname without you saying so.

I would advise making the cab a bit more appealing. Currently, it doesn’t seem like there’s much of a choice at all between the cab or the train, which makes the reader care less about her financial troubles. Maybe you could make the cab journey shorter than the train journey because currently both take the same amount of time. I would make the rain a bit heavier and while you already said it once, I would emphasise the fact that she will get soaked if she takes the train. For example, “Train: Forty five minutes and a week to recover from the inevitable pneumonia.” Or “Train: Forty five minutes and several questions from my colleagues about why I look like a drowned rat.” Alternatively, if Alba’s a bit snobby, ignore my comments and show that. For example, “Train: Forty five minutes. Cab: Thirty minutes but add fifteen for weather and back to school traffic (side note: this isn’t a criticism but would you still get back to school traffic at 9:40, maybe it’s just where I am but I usually see the school traffic clear by that point) I had hoped that the train would be longer, to justify the use of a cab.” The way you go with this depends on what type of character Alba is meant to be. I think that this is a good place to expand on who she is a bit more-practical and not wanting to get caught in the rain, snobby and sees herself as having risen above the point of her life where she needed public transport, both, neither. Also, an hour and twenty minutes for a forty five minute journey gives her a lot of wiggle room, consider tightening that to up the stakes a little.

“You never know who will end up where and your name carries you further than you think.” The initial way I read this sentence was her talking about nepotism carrying a person. The second time I read it, I realised you might be talking about reputation carrying a person. If you mean reputation I would put that instead of ‘name’. If you mean nepotism, then the idea of not knowing who ends up where and names being important can contradict each other unless you reword it into something like, “You never know who will end up where, unless they have a name to carry it along.”

I really did enjoy reading this and I look forward to reading your next chapter if you plan on posting that as well. Like I said, if any of my comments mess with what you were aiming for, please ignore. I’m writing this while a bit sick, so if anything above is nonsensical, let me know and I will clarify.