Ever since I started high school, I never had a moment to be bored. Boredom is great. Every second I was occupied. Whether that was studying, doing chores, eating, sleeping, or sitting around with Wilbur. I do the same thing nowadays, but I'm bored. Getting used to Vincent dragging me along with him, I learned to do my homework in one-fourth of the time I usually take, leaving me many hours to sit around. With not enough food show episodes that I haven't already watched, I had no choice but to occupy myself by other means. Besides, I haven't done anything involved enough to get any scholarships or colleges even. All I have going for me are my grades.

Ally tired to convince me to join the cheerleading team, to which I definitely declined. Not only because I would hate it, but also because I would never make the cut. Unless they wanted me to wear the sweaty mascot costume, which I would still not make.

Instead, I decided to join the cooking club. At first, I thought it was purely for hobby, but we actually have to do fundraising for ingredients, cook, and then bring food to a nearby soup kitchen to donate Friday afternoons. The people there seemed nice. Although, I could do without accidentally eavesdropping on gossip. After half an hour, I decided to put in my earphones, even though I had no music playing. I spent my Wednesday afternoon peeling a bunch of potatoes. Thursday I got to dice carrots and onions. Since I was a newbie, no one trusted me to work the stove, so I just mashed the potatoes.

Next on my agenda is to get a job, which Ally also convinced me to do. She wants to hang out with me more after school, so she urged me to get a job at the mall where she works in a beauty shop. I don't know I single thing about makeup or face scrubs, so I opted for a job opening at the food court ice cream shop instead. I'm even surprised they called me in for an interview. I guess having good grades, perfect attendance, and tutoring was enough to interest them.

"Hi, I'm here for a job interview with Ms. Ann..." I shyly ask the woman at the register.

"Oh, you must be Wendy. Come on back." She opens a small door for me to slip through and takes me to a tiny office behind metal shelves full of sprinkles and chocolate syrups. "Have a seat," she invites in the most uninviting way, pointing me to a tiny chair in the corner of her cramped office.

I do and she squeezes past the arms of my chair to get to her desk that is littered with bunches of a paper that she bundles into jumbled piles, plopping them on the floor beside her.

"I'll be brief. Can you do math?"

"Yes," I answer simply, a little scared and intimidated by the tiny but feisty old lady.

"Okay, good. Because I'm tired of having people give back wiring amounts of change... You better not do that," she wants before even giving me the job.

"I won't," I assure her, trying to sound more confident but it comes out pretty weak.

"You wrote that you have perfect attendance. So you've never been out sick or late?"

"I've never been late. If I'm sick, I still go to school," I explain.

"Who did you tutor?"

"A classmate."

"What subject?"

"Math."

"Hmm, I guess you're smart enough to count money then..." She pauses. "You got the job."

"Really?" I accidentally let slip.

"Do you not want it?" she asks, confused by my response.

"To be honest, I thought I was under qualified. My friend had to join a bunch of clubs and show leadership to get jobs."

"Ugh, I hate how people act so entitled these days. I don't care if you discovered a dinosaur. All I care about is if you can count money and scoop ice cream. I made a mistake of hiring a bunch of those kids who just kiss my ass and can't make a swirl on a cone."

"Thank?"

"Can you start right now?"

"Sure."

She rummages through a filing cabinet and takes out a light blue cap and button up with a black apron.

"Here's your uniform. You can change in here and then start. Tie your hair up in a ponytail too. There's some lockers in the back, so but your stuff there."

I quickly do as told, meeting her in the front. She briefly teaches me how to use the register, which was under ten minutes. Then she starts to walk towards the back.

"I'll be organizing my office. Call me if something goes wrong."

"Um, excuse me?" I hesitantly ask.

"What?"

"Um, I do I need training for making the ice cream?"

"Do you know how to scoop?"

"Yes."

"Do you know how to pull a lever?"

"Yes."

"Do you know how to put on toppings?"

"I guess."

"Then you're set." She leaves me alone in the front just as customers start to come. Frantically, I try to recall what she told me. Luckily, their order is simple and I make less mistakes than I expected.

The shop is slow, being beat out by the trendier smoothie and coffee shop next door. I only get five customers after two hours. I spent most of the time cleaning the counters and reorganizing the various containers of toppings.

By eight, Ms. Ann starts to emerge from the back.

She runs over to the counters, scanning my arrangement.

"Did you do this?" She asks.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to mess up your-"

"Good job. It's about time someone organizes around here," she surprisingly nods in approval. "I'll see you tomorrow at six, Wendy."

"Thanks," I reply, relieved from having secured a job.

I go back to retrieve my things and I find the locker is already labeled with my name. Yes!

Afterwards, I go to meet up with Ally, who is stacking a shelf with lotion.

"Hey, ready to go?" I ask.

"Yeah, just give me a few minutes. I have to finish stacking these bottles of lotions."

"Here, let me help you," I offer as I start to help her line them up on the white shelves.

"Thanks, just don't let my boss see you helping me since you're technically a customer," she whispers.

"We should hurry then," I agree.

"Wait, were you waiting for my shift to be over this whole time?"

"Nope, I was working."

"You got the job?" Ally asks excitedly.

"Yep," I nod.

"Congrats! This is so cool. We can totally try to line up our breaks so we can hang out around the mall together."

"I hope so. I didn't see a single other worker there. Looks like they got fired or quit."

"Yeah, one of my friends tired working there. That lady is mean."

"She didn't seem to bad to me."

"You say that about everyone, Wendy," Ally sighs.

Ally promptly grabs her things after we finish stacking the lotions and pulls me in the opposite direction of where we parked.

"Ally, didn't we park over there?" I ask, pointing to the doors behind me.

"We have to hurry before it closes," Ally giggles.

"What closes?"

"The sporting goods store," Ally explains while continuing to pull me along.

"Did you need to buy something?"

"Nope."

I give her a confused look, which she doesn't acknowledge as she's too busy dragging me into the store. Once inside, she yanks me down with her and we duck behind a rack of drawstring backpacks.

"What are we doing here?"

"Shush," Ally hushes me, motioning with her hands to indicate that I had to lower my voice.

"What are we doing here?" I repeat in a whisper this time.

"Okay, I wanted you to peek over at the counter. Don't let him see you though," she instructs.

"Who?"

"You'll see," she tried to suppress her excited giggles.

"Okay, fine," I sigh. Peering to the side, I see a tall figure in a black and white striped collared shirt. His dark hair is fixed back with a gray baseball cap. After placing merchandise into the plastic bag, he smiles and hands it over to the customer.

"Doesn't he look cute in that uniform?"

"What if he saw us," I playfully scold Ally.

"I was doing you a favor. Someone told me he just started working here recently. You have dibs on seeing him in his uniform before any other girls at school find out."

I blush, leaning over to steal another glance at Vincent, who has disappeared from behind the counter.

"Where did he go?" I ask.

"I don't know," Ally shrugs, looking around to try to help me relocate him.

"What are you guys doing?"

We nearly fall back, turning to see Vincent standing behind us with his arms crossed across his chest.

The sleeves are way too small. His biceps are practically bulging out. What are you thinking, Wendy? Focus!

"Looking at backpacks," Ally tries to casually smile.

"Siting on the ground?" Vincent doesn't buy it.

"Wendy's tired after working all day," Ally stresses the end of her statement.

"You have a job?" Vincent asks.

"Yeah."

Vincent has gone back to talking to me, but no more than he talks to any other classmate. Maybe even less. But it's enough for me, so his direct questions makes my heart flutter and my mind blanks.

"Earth to Wendy," Ally waves her hand in front of my face.

"Huh, what?" I try to refocus.

"Vincent asked where," she whispers into my ear.

"Oh, the ice cream shop at the food court," I answer.

"You should totally go there sometime. Wendy might even hook you up with her employee discount," Ally suggests, nudging me.

"Actually, I don't think I have an employee discount," I counter.

"Jeez, I'm trying to help you out here," Ally sighs in a whisper.

"Okay, I'll see you guys around," Vincent casually replies, going back to the counter.

Ally turns to me, grabbing onto my knees.

"What happened between you two? He seems so... Indifferent."

"What do you mean?" I ask, confused,

"I mean, he's not chasing after you like crazy anymore," Ally frowns.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm talking about how he was crushing on you like crazy!"

"Not really."

"You're happy with this situation?" Ally points to the grin growing on my face, genuinely confused.

"What? He said he'll see us around... I have permission to run into him during work," I gush.

"You're helpless, Wendy." Ally sighs. "Everyone can tell how you guys feel about each other except you guys."

"What?"

"Nothing. I just realized I know the two most oblivious people on this universe."

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