Status: Back home, back to work!
How Cliche to Have My Heart Stolen
Chapter 1 - The Job
I, Brodie Lee James, being of sound mind and having the worst spring break job ever, do solemnly swear I will get revenge on my parents for making me pay my own rent. If only they knew the kind of child I've been. What suffering I'd bring them.
That can be saved for another adventure, when I really want to get back at them. Right now, I'll just keep playing the perfect kid. Just like always.
I looked down at the tiger on my apron. Now how did I get roped into this? I thought. Well, it was the only place hiring that would hire someone for only two weeks. Not much choice.
I was officially on shift when a boy came in. It wasn't a boy from my school, thank God. I made sure no one would see me. Instead of working in the town I went to school, I worked at the next town over. It was fairly close to my apartment building and no one I knew or cared about would see me there.
Coming to the counter, he said, "$20 on pump three," and unfolded two ten dollar bills from his pocket.
"Thanks," I said. "You can start pumping when you're ready." I pressed keys on the cash register, it beeped, opened and I put the money in and rammed it shut.
My first customer and it wasn't a robber. So far, so good. Another customer came in, this one wasn't holding a gun either. Who knows, maybe I'd make it out of this spring job alive?
Customers came and went without incident for the first few hours of my shift. With just an hour to go, who would come in but my alternative life friend. I say "alternative life" because it's the life I have when I'm not around parents, family or at school. The friends I'm truly myself with.
I wasn't able to do anything about it except act like it was no big deal, not that that would stop her.
"Brodie!" Kenna exclaimed. "Imagine seeing you here..." She glided around, dragging her feet.
"Hey, Kenna." I told myself I wouldn't give her the pleasure.
"What's with the job? I always figured you to be the last person to work at a gas station." Giggling, she tried to mask how much she loved my misery.
I bit at my lip. "My parents are refusing to pay my rent," I explained. I flipped back the blond hair of the wig I wore so my parents wouldn't know of the black nest of hair it sat on. Hair dye was forbidden in the James household. "This is the only place that will hire me for two weeks that isn't close to school." Resting my elbows on the counter, I put my chin in my hands.
"That's a bum deal, girl," she said.
Crunch, crunch, crunch
"Hey!" I yell at her. "Just because I work here doesn't mean you get free food. That comes out of my pay check, you know!"
"Sorry," she said sincerely. "I'm used to shoplifting here and not caring."
I twirled someone else's hair around my fingers, acting like I didn't see a customer eating food without paying for it.
"I don't suppose you heard..." she trailed off, knowing I was going to ask what she was talking about.
Of course, I fell for it. Curiosity killed the me, you could say. "I haven't heard anything interesting lately, so shoot."
"Remember how there was a spree of robberies and murders," she paused. "Particularly at gas stations?" She crunched the last chip and threw the bag away at the store entrance. "They caught him last week, but he escaped a few days ago. His partners got him out or something. The police think he has at least two accomplices, and they have no idea who they could be!" Kenna came and stood in front of the counter.
"You know I don't scare easy," trying to hide the fear I had all along. "Besides," I said pulling out a pocket knife, "I have Jared's gift."
Jared, my brother, was diagnosed with cancer when I was twelve. When I was five, he gave me a knife. "To protect yourself," he told me. Jared was the closest to me of my three brothers. I held onto the pocket knife ever since he was diagnosed, not to protect myself so much as to just keep him with me in case I lost him to the next life. Though he's gotten better, I keep it with me always to remind myself to never take him for granted.
That can be saved for another adventure, when I really want to get back at them. Right now, I'll just keep playing the perfect kid. Just like always.
I looked down at the tiger on my apron. Now how did I get roped into this? I thought. Well, it was the only place hiring that would hire someone for only two weeks. Not much choice.
I was officially on shift when a boy came in. It wasn't a boy from my school, thank God. I made sure no one would see me. Instead of working in the town I went to school, I worked at the next town over. It was fairly close to my apartment building and no one I knew or cared about would see me there.
Coming to the counter, he said, "$20 on pump three," and unfolded two ten dollar bills from his pocket.
"Thanks," I said. "You can start pumping when you're ready." I pressed keys on the cash register, it beeped, opened and I put the money in and rammed it shut.
My first customer and it wasn't a robber. So far, so good. Another customer came in, this one wasn't holding a gun either. Who knows, maybe I'd make it out of this spring job alive?
Customers came and went without incident for the first few hours of my shift. With just an hour to go, who would come in but my alternative life friend. I say "alternative life" because it's the life I have when I'm not around parents, family or at school. The friends I'm truly myself with.
I wasn't able to do anything about it except act like it was no big deal, not that that would stop her.
"Brodie!" Kenna exclaimed. "Imagine seeing you here..." She glided around, dragging her feet.
"Hey, Kenna." I told myself I wouldn't give her the pleasure.
"What's with the job? I always figured you to be the last person to work at a gas station." Giggling, she tried to mask how much she loved my misery.
I bit at my lip. "My parents are refusing to pay my rent," I explained. I flipped back the blond hair of the wig I wore so my parents wouldn't know of the black nest of hair it sat on. Hair dye was forbidden in the James household. "This is the only place that will hire me for two weeks that isn't close to school." Resting my elbows on the counter, I put my chin in my hands.
"That's a bum deal, girl," she said.
Crunch, crunch, crunch
"Hey!" I yell at her. "Just because I work here doesn't mean you get free food. That comes out of my pay check, you know!"
"Sorry," she said sincerely. "I'm used to shoplifting here and not caring."
I twirled someone else's hair around my fingers, acting like I didn't see a customer eating food without paying for it.
"I don't suppose you heard..." she trailed off, knowing I was going to ask what she was talking about.
Of course, I fell for it. Curiosity killed the me, you could say. "I haven't heard anything interesting lately, so shoot."
"Remember how there was a spree of robberies and murders," she paused. "Particularly at gas stations?" She crunched the last chip and threw the bag away at the store entrance. "They caught him last week, but he escaped a few days ago. His partners got him out or something. The police think he has at least two accomplices, and they have no idea who they could be!" Kenna came and stood in front of the counter.
"You know I don't scare easy," trying to hide the fear I had all along. "Besides," I said pulling out a pocket knife, "I have Jared's gift."
Jared, my brother, was diagnosed with cancer when I was twelve. When I was five, he gave me a knife. "To protect yourself," he told me. Jared was the closest to me of my three brothers. I held onto the pocket knife ever since he was diagnosed, not to protect myself so much as to just keep him with me in case I lost him to the next life. Though he's gotten better, I keep it with me always to remind myself to never take him for granted.