Chapter 4
The next day wasn’t any better. My teacher had called my parents and told them about my grade and of course mom blew a casket. She told me I’d work at dad’s store everyday as punishment. I didn’t really mind, the store wasn’t half bad. But I never would get anytime to look up maps and stuff of other countries.
After school I walked to the store and put on my apron. It was the same as yesterday. Quiet and boring. A kid walked in and tried to steal a pack of gummy worms, but I caught him and chased him out, right after I heard a loud crash in the front of the store, I told dad putting the pecans there was a bad idea.
I started to quickly pick them up, again. I was almost done with the little bell dinged. I looked up from my knees and saw Mrs. Jenkins standing there with a bag of flour. She cleared her throat and I smiled, while knelt down on my knees, “Hi, Mrs. Jenkins. What can I do for you this fine afternoon?”
“You can start by getting off the floor and stand behind the counter like you work here and not like a beggar”, she said as she stuck her nose high up in the air.
I made a face and pushed off my knees, Mrs. Jenkins was a bitter woman, kinda like the other one that just walked out…
I hadn’t even reached behind the counter when she slammed her bag of flour on the wood and made dust of it fly everywhere, “I found a worm in my flour this morning.”
I smiled, “Well I can give you a very generous offer. How about I let you keep the bag of flour, free. And you can keep the worm.”
Mrs. Jenkins huffed and stuck her nose in the air again, “Funny like your father, huh?”
I smiled, Mrs. Jenkins huffed again, “I hate funny. Get me a new bag of flour, now.”
I jumped and ran back. It didn’t take long for me to find the bag and hang it to her, “There you go, no charge.”
“Thank goodness”, Mrs. Jenkins said as she slid the flour my way. She turned around quickly and stormed out, I really didn’t know how her husband put up with her. Mr. Jenkins was such a nice man.
I opened up the flour and looked in, sitting right there on top was a huge pink worm. I picked it out and stuck out my tongue, “I wish she had bitten into you anyway.”
The worm wiggled around between my fingers and I tossed it into my pocket, promising myself I’d let it go when I closed down the store. I pulled out some of my homework and worked on the front counter. No one was going to come in for a while anyways. I was halfway through with history homework when I noticed someone was watching me from outside. I looked up, it was Joe. He was pretending not to notice me, walking around the front of the store, looking at the sign, and had his hands in his pockets. He looked down and saw me watching him and made a face like he was surprised to see me. I giggled and I could see he was giggling too.
I looked down at my work and tried to stay focused, but when Joe walked from one end to the other, making me lose my concentration with his faces and shrinking act, like he was walking down stairs. I giggled.
He held his finger up to say “wait a minute” and jogged to the other side. I watched as he came walking again, bobbing his head back and forth. I laughed as he kept walking and then ran into… Natashia!
He accidentally bumped her and knocked himself over and Natashia’s first reaction was to swing her purse down at him. He held a hand up and she stopped, her eyes were wide and her mouth was dropped open. She began to curl her hair with her finger and put on a flirty face, making me gag. Joe picked himself up and nodded his head. He back up and opened the door to the store, which Natashia stepped through, thinking he was holding it open for her. Joe looked at me and scrunched one side of his face, making me giggle again.
Natashia walked to the front of counter and slapped a piece of paper down, “Told you I’d have it.”
I looked it over, it was a fake. I could tell, because we only had one doctor and this was not his handwriting. Dr. Kirk’s handwriting wasn’t as neat in cursive and normally the ink smeared because he was left handed.
I shook my head, “We don’t take fakes.”
Natashia’s mouth dropped, “It’s not a fake! I watched as Dr. Kirk wrote it down himself. You just don’t want to sell me anything.”
“I’m not being rude, but I know this is a fake, because Dr. Kirk’s handwriting isn’t as neat. This is your hand writing.”
I tried to give it back to her, but she just crumbled it up and pointed a finger at me, “You’re just jealous because I’m popular and you’re not.”
I looked at her and rolled my eyes, “Why would I want to be caught up in some stupid monkey contest? They only talk about you because that’s not you’re really face. So do us all a favor and take off the mask, because Halloween is over.”
I heard Joe snicker and then cover his mouth as if he was coughing. Natashia didn’t even turn and look at him, only stormed out of the store. Joe walked up to me and laughed, “Nice comeback, I’m gonna have to use that one.”
I shrugged, “It always come in handy.”
Joe and I talked a little as he told me about himself. Him and his brothers were in a band and quiet popular. I was going to have to look them up one day. I asked if they had been around the world and Joe shrugged, “Not the whole world, but we have been to Germany, England…”
“Oh I don’t want to hear it”, I said as I cupped my hands over my ears. Joe looked at me and raised an eyebrow, “But you asked.”
“Its official”, I said as I slapped my hands on the counter, “You’re living my life. I’ve always wanted to travel, see other countries. I want to bust out of this small town one day.”
“Why not now?” Joe asked as he leaned his elbows on the counter. I shrugged, “As much as I would love too, I can’t. I’d have to wait after high school and maybe go to a college somewhere else. I don’t want to stay here for the rest of my life.”
Joe nodded, “I know what you mean.”
Joe’s brown eyes locked onto mine and we held them there for a while. He smiled and I blushed a little bit. Joe looked at the clock hanging on the wall, “I got to get going, they’re going to need me back any minute.”
I watched as he turned and headed for the door. I leaned over the counter and called out, “You’re gonna stick around for the block party tomorrow, right?”
Joe turned around quickly and smiled, “If you’re gonna be there, I will definitely be there.”
