Chapter Three

I woke up too early the next morning. There was a cat in the corner, staring at me. It was kind of creepy at first, but then I found it cute.
Since I had woken up early, I decided to spend a little time to check my email, even though I predicted I wouldn’t have anything.
I was right, and closed my laptop without even bothering to log off. I went into the cat-litter smelling bathroom, took a shower, got dressed, brushed my hair and teeth, put on my glasses, and headed downstairs.
This morning I didn’t even bother to look through the kitchen for food. I knew I wasn’t going to find anything I could eat, so I just left the house.
I half expected to see Damien and his rusted down car outside of Aunt Clara’s house, but it wasn’t there. I sighed, and just walked to school.
Due to the fact I didn’t have a vehicle to take me to school, I was almost late for first period. Thankfully I ran as fast as I could (which isn’t very fast) at the last minute, and barley made it on time.
Falling asleep in classes was usually hard for me to do. I loved to learn, so I would want to stay awake. But this Calculus class was too easy. I wasn’t learning anything at all. I ended up falling asleep due to boredom, and didn’t get any work done. I was just glad Mrs. Romander didn’t catch me.
I sat next to Damien in Lit/Writing. We were supposed to be working on our essays, but we talked most of the time.
“Hey, Paige, sorry I wasn’t at your aunt’s this morning,” he said.
“For what?” I asked, pretending I didn’t know.
“To pick you up.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” I said. “I don’t mind walking.”
He smiled sadly… or frowned happily… I couldn’t tell. “Don’t worry, I’ll try to get you more often. I don’t want to have you walk.”
“I told you not to worry about it,” I said.
He looked directly into my eyes. This made the green pop out more from his face. “Paige, I’m worrying about it. Don’t walk to school anymore.”
I smiled. “Fine. Do whatever you want.”
He smiled back. “Good. Now, tell me why the hell these characters are lonely.”
Once brunch started, Damien and I headed over to the library. Alexander was already there.
“Hey, Damien,” I started. “I know how you can make it up to me.”
“Make what up?” he asked, but I could tell by the tone of his voice that he knew what I was talking about.
“The fact you made me walk to school.”
He rolled his eyes, but smiled. “What?”
“Talk to Alexander for me.”
“No,” he answered immediately.
I put my book down, but he didn’t. “Why not?”
“Stop being a coward and just talk to him yourself,” he said, not looking up from his novel.
“No. I shall continue to act like a coward, and you will talk to him for me.”
“Not going to happen, Paige.”
“Damien, please?”
“No.”
“Please?”
“No.”
“Please?”
“Stop that. No.”
“Damien, please?”
He didn’t answer this time.
“Fine,” I said, giving up.
Damien smiled to himself, still not looking up from his book.
“Hey, guys!” called a voice.
It was Jessica. She came by and sat down in between Damien and me.
“Oh, hey, Jess,” Damien said, kissing her on the cheek.
“Did you two hear what happened to Chrissy?” Jessica asked in that type of voice that sounded excited, though it wasn’t at all.
“Something happened to that bitch?” Damien asked. “What, did she die? Should we throw a party?”
Jessica laughed. “No, but close. She broke her wrist this morning during cheerleading practice. She’s at the hospital, and she’s not coming to school today.”
Damien frowned. “I thought you were going to tell me she died by her head exploding because it had gotten so big.”
Jessica laughed again. “Stop being so funny, I’m going to die.”
“I’ll die if you die.”
“Don’t die,” she said, and then they kissed.
“I guess I’ll have to stop being so funny if I want to live,” Damien said after Jessica pulled back.
“I said stop being funny!”
Damien smiled at her. “Did you know you’re amazing?”
“Did you know that you are more amazing?”
“Did you know that you are going to make me hurl?” I cut in.
Damien laughed. “Sorry, Paige. You just have to admit that she’s amazing.”
“Mhm. So Chrissy’s not at school?” I asked, trying to make sure they didn’t forget I was here.
“Nope,” Jessica said.
“So you can go talk to Alexander!” Damien said a bit too loudly.
I looked over at the Great. He didn’t seem to notice his name was said, thank God.
“Paige likes him?” Jessica asked Damien.
Damien nodded.
“I completely understand, Paige,” she told me. “I mean, he’s so hot!”
“Excuse me?” Damien asked, smiling.
“You heard me, Damien,” Jessica said, half laughing. “The Great is smokin’ hot!”
“I’m sure you want to bake cookies on his six-pack, eh, Jess?”
She laughed. “You know me so well, Damien. But I’ve got to go now, tons of work to be done.” She stood up, and they kissed quickly, and she left.
Damien smiled at me.
“Why’re you so giddy?” I asked.
“Because Jessica is amazing.”
“Mhm.” And I went back into my book.
“Seriously, though,” Damien said, his voice much quieter. “Talk to the Great today. You’re an awesome person, and there’s no reason for him not to like you.”
“I don’t know.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I have confidence in you,” he said.
I smiled at him. “It doesn’t make me feel any better, but thanks for trying.”
He smiled back. “Anytime, Paige. Anytime.”
The rest of brunch was spent in silence, and I didn’t read much again because of the Great. He could possibly be the one thing I enjoy looking at more than books. He was just so hot!
In world History we got assigned a project. I wasn’t really paying attention, but it was something about making a poster board on one aspect of the Renaissance time. We had to choose a partner, so I sat quietly at my desk.
Whenever we had to pick a partner for a project or anything, I never said anything. I always had the fear that someone would say “I don’t want to be your partner” or something, so I waited for someone to ask me.
I heard several people ask the Great to be partners, but every time it was the same answer. “Sorry, I think I’m going to be Chrissy’s partner.”
I had predicted that, so I didn’t ask the Great. I waited. And waited. And waited.
“Alexander,” the teacher called him. “Who is your partner?”
“Oh, um. Sir, I’m going to be Chrissy’s partner when she gets back.”
“I’m afraid we can’t do that,” he said. “We’re starting the project today, and Chrissy is not here. You’ll have to choose someone else now.”
A sense of regret appeared on his face. He had wished he hadn’t turned down all those people now.
“Paige is sitting right behind you,” the teacher told him. “She’s new, you know. You could be a bit friendly and be her partner.”
Alexander turned around and noticed me for the first time. I smiled at him because I couldn’t say anything.
“Hi, Paige,” he said. I felt my heart would explode because he knew my name now.
“Hi,” was all I could manage out.
The teacher smiled, as if he had managed some great accomplishment. He told us to look through the book and choose a topic by the end of the period with your partner.
“So what do you want to work on?” the Great asked, pushing his long brown locks out of his face.
“Oh, I really have no idea,” I said, stuttering slightly.
“Hm. Well. I was thinking maybe the type of music they had.”
“Music?” I asked.
“Music,” he repeated. “I’m a huge music fan myself. I like pretty much every genre. Except for rap. People think I’m the kind of guy who would like rap, but I’m really not.”
“Yeah, I don’t like rap, either,” I said, smiling. Alexander was so perfect.
“I’m sure the people in the Renaissance didn’t like rap, either.”
I giggled.
“So music?” he asked.
“Sure.”
I could hardly believe it. I was talking to the most popular, handsome, brilliant guy on this planet, and he seemed to be enjoying it as much as I did.
The bell rang too soon. I wanted that period to last forever, but it didn’t.
“I’m glad we got a little work done,” the Great told me. “I mean, if I was Chrissy’s partner, she would’ve made me do all the work.”
“Why did you want her as a partner, then?” I asked kind of stupidly.
He shrugged. “She’s my friend, I guess.”
I stood up. “All right, well, I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess.”
He smiled, and I felt like I was going to fall over. “See ya.”
I was hyperventilating by the time I got to Chem. Damien noticed.
“What’s up? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“A very hot ghost!” I exclaimed. “I was talking to the Great all period!”
He Mona-Lisa-smiled. “See, I knew you could do it.”
I smiled back. “Yeah. But it was thanks to the teacher. We got assigned a project, you see, and he forced Alexander to be my partner because Chrissy wasn’t there.”
“Thank God for Chrissy dying, then.”
I laughed. “I really enjoyed his company. And he seemed to enjoy mine.”
“That’s great. Now ask him out.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “I can’t just ask him out, I barely know him.”
“You seem to be in love with him, though.”
“Give it some time. Also, I bet that after this project we won’t even talk to each other.”
Damien shrugged. “Well, good luck with that.”
Only at lunch every day did I realize how hungry I was. I hadn’t eaten breakfast or dinner for days now. Thankfully Damien was kind enough to buy me something again.
“I swear to you, I’ll pay you back once I start working today,” I told him.
“It’s really no problem.”
Jessica came and sat next to Damien. “Hey!”
“Hello, Jess,” he greeted, kissing her again.
I rolled my eyes, and tried to keep my food down in my stomach.
“Damien, d’you think you can come by my house and help me study tonight?”
“I don’t know, love, I’ve got work,” Damien answered.
“Oh,” she said, disappointed. “I’ll just see you tomorrow, then.”
“Bye, Jess,” he said, and then she left.
“That’s all you get to see her in a day?” I asked, slightly surprised.
“Unfortunately,” he answered. “But what can you do? I’ve got work and she’s got school, and we’ve both got our own lives. We’re barely a part of each other’s.”
I frowned. I felt bad for him. If I ever started dating the Great, I would want to spend every second with him, with our without school or work.
Speaking of the Great, I noticed him. He usually wasn’t in this part of the school, but he started walking towards me.
“Damien,” I whispered. “Is that who I think that is?”
The Great smiled at me, and Damien looked at who I was talking about.
“If you mean that’s the Great,” he said. “Then yeah, that’s who you think it is.”
Alexander came up to me and surprisingly spoke with me. “Hey, Paige, you know that History project?”
I nodded since I couldn’t speak.
“Can I get your email or your screen name or something just so we can stay in contact to work on it?”
I nodded again, still speechless.
There was a slight awkward moment.
“Now would be a good time,” the Great said, laughing lightly.
“Oh! Right.” I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down my email and my screen name.
“Paige_Turner?” the Great asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s a play on words. Because I like books.”
He smiled at me. “Clever.” Carelessly, he stuffed the piece of paper into his backpack. “I’ll send you a couple of links tonight for some information we could use.”
“All right,” I said. “Talk to you later, then.”
“Bye,” he said.
“Bye?” Damien repeated once the Great was out of view. “Ugh. I hate it when people say ‘bye.’”
“Why is that?”
“I feel that you should only say ‘bye’ when you’re actually leaving something or someone. ‘Bye’ seems like one of those permanent words where you’re never going to see the person again. I like things like ‘talk to you later’ or ‘see you’ or anything that doesn’t seem like you’re going away forever.”
I guess I understood. But I had nothing against the word “bye.”
Damien and I went back to the library. We didn’t read any books. He was telling me about work and Wal-mart and things like that. He told me not to get excited, since he didn’t particularly enjoy the job.
“But the money will be nice,” I said.
“I guess.”
“And I’ll finally get to pay you back for everything you’ve done.”
“You don’t have to.”
“And it’s good to have something to do so you’re not wasting your life watching YouTube videos.”
“Fair point.”
Silence.
“Are you even listening to me?” I finally asked.
“Yes.”
“Oh. Well, the short answers are bothering me.”
“It’s not good to get bothered by little things like that.”
“I guess.”
“It’s the little things that make the people. I could tell you everything about myself in the stupidest things.”
“You don’t have to.”
He smiled at me. “You’re mocking me, aren’t you?”
I smiled back. “Fair point.”
Drama was extremely fun. We started to form groups where we would be assigned a short skit that we needed to perform. I was obviously assigned with people I didn’t even know. Nonetheless, it was a fun project because so far I participated the most in the group.
Even though Drama was one of the most fun times of the day, I couldn’t wait until school was over. I was extremely excited to go with Damien to Wal-mart however weird that sounds. It felt nice to be accepted somewhere.
Jessica was with him in the parking lot after school. I greeted them both.
“Hi, Paige,” Jessica said. “Just thought I’d say hi to Damien before I go off to the Math Club.”
“Math Club,” I repeated. “Fun.”
“Sometimes, Paige,” Damien started, “you are so sarcastic.”
“I haven’t noticed.”
“Like right there.”
I laughed.
“Well, I better get going,” Jessica said, cutting us off. “Bye, Damien!”
“See you later, Jess,” Damien told her. “This isn’t goodbye.”
She smiled at him, and then went back onto the campus.
“Ready for work?” he asked.
“If you mean ‘are you super duper excited that you can no longer hold it inside of you to go to work?’ then yes, I am ready.”
He did his signature Mona-Lisa smile again. “You know, it really isn’t a great job.”
“I know, but I’m excited to be there. And it’s nice to have money for your own so you can pay back your friends.”
“You don’t have to pay me back,” Damien reiterated.
“I want to pay you back.”
“Fine. I expect a hundred dollars by tomorrow.”
I laughed. “Sure thing.”
“All right, let’s go before we’re late.”
So we got into his car, and drove off towards the Wal-mart.
“I hope this doesn’t interfere with your homework,” Damien said. “I don’t want you to do this for me.”
“Damien, I don’t start my homework until, like, nine o’clock each night. I am literally doing nothing on the computer or reading some book until then. This is not going to interfere. And I am doing it for you whether you like it or not.”
He rolled his eyes, but smiled at me.
After about a minute of silence, we arrived in the Wal-mart parking lot.
“Hello, son,” David said. “Mornin’ to you, too, Paige.”
“Hi, David,” I said, still feeling awkward at calling a full grown adult by his first name.”
“I’m really glad you’re here. We’ve got a lot of work to be done around here. But we’ve got to go over the basics, first.”
So Damien went out and started doing his job with his spiffy Wal-mart vest on, and I went into David’s office, and sat down in one of the small chairs.
“All right, Paige. You new to the business?”
“Yes, sir,” I said.
“Now what’d I say about this ‘sir’ business?”
I smiled at myself, feeling stupid. “Sorry, David.”
We went right on into rules and regulations and how the places runs and what I was supposed to do and all the boring stuff like that.
“D’you think you’re ready, Paige?”
I was about to crack the same joke that I did to Damien, but held it back and nodded.
David handed me one of those bright blue vests with a nametag on it. My grin grew wide, and I took it in my hand like a little child.
“You’re going to be a sales associate,” he told me.
“A what who?” I asked, confused because I was extremely inexperienced with these kinds of things.
“Sales associate,” he repeated. “You just need to stock shelves and zone them in your department.”
“Zone them?” I asked, still so confused.
He smiled. “Zoning is just making sure everything is neat and stuff.”
“Oh. All right.”
“You also need to do claims. It’s just logging broken, lost, or stolen items.”
“Do claims. Got it.”
“And every now and then you’ll be called up to register.”
He took me up to the rows or registers, and brought me to one that was unoccupied by a Wal-mart employee. He showed me how to work the register if I ever needed to come here. I picked up everything pretty quickly. I usually did.
“Now, Paige, I’m assigning you to Electronics. Damien’s over there, he’ll fill ya in.”
“Thanks, David,” I said.
“Paige!” Damien called. “Looks like you’re in Electronics, too.”
I nodded.
He smiled. “That’s great. I’ll give you a tour. I’m sure you won’t forget anything I say.”
So he gave me the tour. Showed me the isles, what goes in what isle, what’s locked up what’s not. And if anyone was to ask me a question, I should be able to answer it.
“You got all that?” he asked. “Might be a bit overwhelming, but—”
“Yeah, I got all that,” I cut him off.
He smiled his half-smile. “Good. Now get to work!”
“You’re not the boss of me!” I laughed.
“Actually, I am. I’m head of this department. Now get to work!”
I laughed again. “Fine, Mr. Bossy Pants.”
He smirked at me, and I went off into the isles.
I was checking to see if everything was in order. “Zoning” it was called. It got a bit boring a little too quickly, but then someone approached me.
“Excuse me,” a woman said. She was old, but she had a lot of make up on as if she tried to look young. “I’m looking for the video game consoles? It’s my son’s birthday, and I need to get him something.”
If Damien hadn’t given me that tour, I would’ve looked like a total idiot at this moment. “Sure, ma’am. It’s just down that isle over there,” I said, pointing.
“Thank you!” she squealed, which annoyed me a bit.
“Sure thing.”
I continued to roam down the isles. Every now and then I’d pass Damien and he’d smile at me.
Finally, after I had made sure everything was in pristine condition, Damien came up to me. “Everything’s looking good, Paige.”
“Thanks.”
“You go to the back and take your break. I’m going to do some claims.”
“Sure.”
I was a bit nervous that in the break room I’d get bored extremely easily. I mean, working at Wal-mart wasn’t the most exciting job, but it was better than doing nothing or being on YouTube 24/7.
Finally, I reached the break room. But I wasn’t alone. There were two other girls and one other guy there.
“Hello,” one of the girls said. “I don’t know you.”
“Y-yeah,” I stuttered. “You don’t know me.”
“New girl?” the other girl asked me.
“I nodded.”
“Hey,” she said, pushing one stray mahogany curl behind her ear. “I’m Katie.”
I shook her hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“So you’re new?” the first girl asked. Her expression didn’t change, but I could tell in her deep blue eyes that she was smiling. “I’m Angela.”
“And I’m Charlie,” the blond boy in the corner said quietly.
“It’s really nice to meet you guys,” I said. “I just started working here today.”
“Yeah, Paige,” Angela said. At first I wondered how she knew my name, but then remembered that I was wearing a nametag.
“Here, grab something to eat,” Katie said, throwing me a Nutrigrain bar.
“Thanks,” I said, laughing lightly and unwrapping it.
They were nice people. I mean, I didn’t spend that much time with them, and I didn’t really know them all too well, but they were nice people. We enjoyed each other’s company in the break room.
“All right,” Katie finally said. “I think I gotta go out and start my next shift.”
“Same,” Angela said. “You guys should start some time soon, too.”
“I’ll go in five minutes,” Charlie said, sitting down on one of the chairs.
“I’ll just go with him since I came in a bit later than you guys,” I answered.
Katie smiled. “See you guys!”
Charlie stayed quiet, sitting in his seat. I wanted to say something, but couldn’t think of anything to say. So we sat in silence, waiting for the other one to talk.
“Maybe I should just go,” he finally said.
“Oh. All right. I’ll see you later.”
I smiled at him, and I could tell he tried to smile back before he left.
After about waiting five more minute in completely silence, Damien walked into the break room.
“Hey, Paige, you ready to come out?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
The two of us were now roaming the isles together, answering customer’s questions and making sure everything was in order. It was hard to describe how much more fun the whole experience was with Damien at my side.
“So what were you doing back there with Angela Katie and Charlie?” Damien asked.
“They’re really nice,” I said, even though “nice” wasn’t the best word to describe people. “I got along well with them only because Katie or Angela would say something to get the conversation rolling.”
“That’s Angela and Katie for you,” he laughed.
“Charlie seems nice, too,” I said.
“Mhm.”
Silence.
“I think we’re about done,” Damien said. “Let’s check if the other employees are coming in for their shifts.”
And they were. They signed in, and the two of us signed out.
“Need a ride home?” Damien asked.
“Sure,” I said.
We went through the twisting roads, left turns and right turns, going straight until we reached Aunt Clara’s house.
“Bye, Damien,” I said.
“This isn’t ‘bye,’” he reminded me. “I’ll see you later.”