It's here! Sorry it's taken so long... it's been hard finding the time to write, now that I'm in school. And I did two plays simultaneously for a while (what was I thinking?!?!) so that was full of wonderfulness. BTW... in case you're unaware, this is a sequel to my other story, Aspen. More of a part two, actually... but w/e. So if you're reading this and haven't read Aspen, then I suggest you stop reading this and go to Aspen instead.
I'm Deji and wrote both parts of Aspen. (OOH! That sounds SO COOL!) But I did not write any of the Maximum Ride books. (If I had, I prolly wouldn't be writing a fanfic thereof, would I?)
Chapter 24: Groceries
"Oww," I groaned, yawning as I rubbed my side where Robin had just kicked me. "A gentle shake of the shoulder would suffice," I noted, sitting up. I didn't particularly care for her new wake-up tactic. Robin didn't answer, not that I had expected her to. For the past week since Conner was captured, she'd avoided acknowledging my presence as much as absolutely possible.
I stretched, ignoring as much as possible the nasty bruise in my left side. Robin dug through our backpacks, continually casting angry looks over her shoulder back at me. I ignored her, trying not to be annoyed. I couldn't blame her for despising me; I'd done pretty much everything possible to make her hate me. Most of the time it was unintentional, and sometimes I would just stand by, wondering exactly what I'd done wrong to send her into a furious rage.
Yesterday's onslaught was completely understandable, though. When we saw a sign saying "Welcome to Tennessee," she got pretty mad. (I guess Tennessee isn't exactly en route when travelling from the forests around the Great Lakes to the Institute in New York City.) I'd gotten a few more bruises for my lack of a sense of direction, as well as an earful of what an idiot I was, and how I'd probably done it on purpose, just to delay the rescuing of Conner. Thus I was relieved of my leadership duties.
I felt pretty useless, now. All I ever did was clean up camp and take my watch every night. Robin did these too, as well as cooking and leading the way.
"Breakfast's ready," muttered Robin menacingly. I looked up again and almost dropped the half-empty box of granola bars that she'd thrown at my head. Unfortunately, when I did catch it, it was upside-down. The granola bars cascaded to the ground with the crinkling of plastic wrappers. I scooped them up, slightly embarrassed at my own clumsiness. I unwrapped one, and began eating it pensively. Robin ate, silent as well.
After a few minutes, Robin spoke up. "The food's all gone." Her tone made it perfectly clear that she would rather have licked a doorknob to a public restroom than talk to me. I looked up, shocked that she was even bothering to talk to me at all. She looked at me impatiently as if waiting for me to say something.
"Umm… what should we do?" I asked, slightly uncomfortable.
Robin sighed in a way that said, Well, of course you don't know what to do. What more could I have expected from an Eraser? "We need to get more," she said slowly, as if explaining something difficult to someone with limited mental capacity.
I growled to myself. "Well, obviously," I snarled. "But how are we going to do so?"
She glared at me. "I found a wallet on the ground after the Erasers left with… after they were gone. It's got a wad of cash in it that we can use at some grocery store or whatever." I growled internally. Why didn't I get any of that kind of stuff? Robin was quiet, appraising me. "And you could use some new clothes," she added, sneering.
I glanced down, looking at my ragged sweatshirt and jeans. I did look pretty bad. I looked back at her. She didn't look any better. "You, too, beauty queen," I said.
Her eyes narrowed, but she didn't say anything. She just handed me my now-empty backpack, and put hers on. I slid my arms through the straps, and then followed her into the sky. I followed for a while before asking, "So, where're we stopping to shop?"
Robin shrugged. "I dunno. Whatever place we see first with somewhere to land."
---
After flying for some time, we saw a little town sprawling across the ground ahead of us. Robin went down into a grove of trees, and I shadowed her. We walked nonchalantly out of them, as if we were just two normal girls that hadn't fallen out of the sky, our wings tucked tightly into our beat-up sweatshirts.
We got some strange looks as we walked down the street to a promising-looking store. The bell tinkled like a fairy's laughter when we opened the door, and echoed itself when it swung shut behind us. A teen-aged girl behind one of the counters stared at us from behind her glasses for a moment, and then went back to reading her magazine.
Robin grabbed my arm and dragged me in her wake as she made her way through the store, snatching an empty shopping cart as she passed. I felt it would be wise to keep my thoughts to myself and just let her do the shopping where food was concerned. I watched absent-mindedly as she pulled boxes and packages off the shelves and into the shopping cart.
I looked around at the totally foreign world around me, full of shelves and shelves of brightly labelled packages of food. I'd never seen so much food in one place… not even the time that I helped unpack a truckload of canned meat at the Institute. (That stuff isn't as nasty as it's made out to be, actually. Still not delightful, though.)
There was a whole set of shelves dedicated to different kinds of peanut butter. There was chunky, smooth, extra crunchy, super smooth, and peanut butter marbled together with the jelly… in the same jar! I laughed. I'd only ever known two kinds in my life; the kind that had been sitting somewhere hot for too long with the lid off, and the kind that hadn't. Robin grabbed two jars and dragged me away before I had a chance to delve into the mystery of finding the difference between "Jif" and "Skippy."
Apparently satisfied with her loot, she went back to the freckled girl who'd seen us come in. Robin unloaded the cart while I stayed out of the way and looked at the different candy bars. Who knew there were so many different ways to eat a hunk of chocolate?
I snapped out of it when Robin shoved a couple of plastic bags towards me. I followed her out of the glass door. She was smirking. "What's up?" I asked.
She looked back at me, smiling for the first time since before she knew what I was. "Apparently, Erasers carry credit cards, too," she said smugly. "Well," she amended, "most Erasers. Of course, I got stuck with the only one who doesn't."
I sighed, choosing to ignore it.
We walked down the street, carrying plastic bags full of food. One of the shops we walked by caught Robin's eye and she stopped abruptly, staring at it, deliberating. Before I could ask her anything, she walked right in.
Surprised, I followed her. The first thing I noticed about the place was that it smelled funny… like some kind of soap or something. Then my eyes caught up with my nose. I gasped, shocked.
I was in a hair salon.
WOOT! So, I'd like at least five reviews before I post again. We can handle that, right? If I take a little longer than that, it's cuz I'm muy muy busy, and not because I hate you. Because I don't. I LUUURRVE you. (That's not creepy...)
Thanks for hanging in there and waiting for me! I know it's been a LONG time. Sorry x infinity.
