I Never Second Guess Myself
Chapter One
Empty Shelves
Sadie stood at her register in Willy Wonka's candy store. She smiled to herself, once again thinking of how lucky she was to get such a job at the best candy store of all time and so quickly too. She looked around at all the different and wonderfully tasty-looking candies, all unique, looking like none that she had seen before. And they had the taste to match.
As she continued to look around the store, she noticed movement at the base of her counter. With a glance downward, she saw a wisp of light blonde hair: a little girl. Sadie leaned over the counter to see her newest customer.
Indeed it was a little girl. She was looking up at her with big blue eyes, holding something that Sadie suspected was money, tightly in her fists.
"Hello there, hun!" Sadie said cheerfully, absently wondering how long the child had been waiting there without her noticing. The poor thing looked so nervous. Sadie smiled, trying to silently reassure her that she didn't bite. "What would you like today?"
"I-I, uhm," she little girl began with a stutter, eyes downcast. She gulped. "Can I have some of your chocolate birds? Please?"
"Birds?" Sadie repeated quizzically. She didn't remember anything about chocolate birds… "Okay..."
Sadie spun around, flipping her light brown pony tail over her shoulder. She tightened her red bandana, which held her hair up high, as she searched the shelves before her with her eyes. Just as she thought: no birds. She turned back to the girl. "Where exactly do you see, uh, those birds of yours?"
The girl clutched her quarter tighter in her fist and held it against her chest as she looked around. "Well… when I was here yesterday, an old man brought me some. I think he took it from the shelf up there," the girl pointed up high, above Sadie's head, "behind you."
Following the gesture, Sadie soon found the shelf she was pointing to and looked up at it incredulously. She turned back to the girl, careful to wipe the look of her face before she did so.
"You mean the empty one?"
The little girl nodded vigorously. "Yeah."
Sadie nodded, with a light frown, unnoticeable to the child. "No problem, kid," she replied, "Just hold on a sec." She turned away from the girl again and toward the depths of the candy store. "Mr. Bucket!" she called. "Oh, Mr. Bucket!" The young girl watched as a kind, older-looking man came into view and briskly walked over toward them. "Would you mind telling Mr. Wonka we are out of those, well, chocolate birds. He always seems to start inventing things and selling them before I even know about them. Thank you Mr. Bucket." The older man – Mr. Bucket – nodded and scurried off to the back room, disappearing behind the door he had come from.
The little girl looked up at the teenager behind the counter, timidly. She saw a white name tag against her red apron and read the name.
"Sadie?" the girl tried in a shy whisper.
Sadie directed her attention, once again, downward. "Yeah, kiddo?"
"H-how old are you?" she asked with a light blush.
"Seventeen," Sadie replied with a grin. "But I'm going to turn eighteen next month. Why do you ask? How old are you?"
The little girl responded with a sudden burst enthusiasm. "I wanna work here when I'm seventeen! But I'm only eight so I have to wait a while."
"Well, keep a good attitude about it then, stay confident, kiddo."
After barely a moment's pause, the girl began again with another question. "Have you ever seen Mr. Willy Wonka?"
Sadie opened her mouth to answer but paused half way in thought. No, actually, she had never seen Mr. Wonka himself though she worked in his candy store. She was hired by someone else, another higher-up worker of this store. Sadie pursed her lips about to answer when another, unfamiliar voice interrupted her before she had a chance to say anything.
"Well, little girl, no, I do not believe she has seen me, and I don't think I've seen her, and I know that youhaven't seen me, but there's a first for everything, now isn't there?"
Sadie turned her head abruptly to face the cheery sounding voice. There, right next to her, was Mr. Wonka, just as the other workers described him: tall, with dark brown straight hair down to about his chin, and a top hat to top it off. He looked so much younger than the old man she had suspected him to be. He couldn't have been older than twenty-five, maybe thirty, but that seemed to be a stretch.
She stared at Mr. Wonka, dumbfounded, as his mouth turned to a crooked grin. He handed a rectangular box to the girl. "Here, little girl, it was nice to meet you, yes it was, and I hope to see you again, I really do." Once the girl grasped the new box of chocolate birds in her hands, he pulled back, spun on his heel and headed back to where he had come from.
Sadie smiled down at the girl, frazzled by the odd happenings of just seconds before. She took the girl's quarter and waved as she skipped out of the store, holding onto the box of chocolates like it was the dearest thing in the world to her. The moment the door swung shut, Sadie looked to the entrance of the back room, only to jump back in surprise to see that Mr. Wonka was not only still here, but once again, right next to her.
"Every time you see me you look surprised." Mr. Wonka said in a pondering way.
"Well, if you could make up your mind of where you're going then I wouldn't be surprised," Sadie snapped, trying to cover up her embarrassment. "And this is only the, what, second time I've seen you?"
"I never second guess myself," was Wonka's confident response before continuing. He looked down at Sadie's name tag, "Sadie, is it? What a cute name. I like it!" Wonka reached out a red gloved hand and Sadie took it weakly, in comparison to his firm grip.
Wonka laughed, and pulled his hand back, "I hope you'll enjoy your time working here Sadie. How long have you been with us?"
"I've only been here for a week," Sadie told him. She watched as an odd smile spread across his face, and he, again, turned on his heel without saying another word. This time she watched him disappear through the back door.
"Mr. Wonka, you're really weird," Sadie muttered under her breath, shaking her head before turning back to look at the next customer in line who happened to be holding a large lollipop, bigger than their head. They had been waiting patiently while Wonka and Sadie had their short-lived conversation.
Once she had taken care of the customer, Sadie looked at the clock behind her to distract herself from the odd first impression Mr. Wonka had left. It was only 3:30, and the shop closed at 6:30. She worked from three o'clock to closing every day, except for Sundays. With high school, she had to get as many hours in as she could without dying from working too hard or getting overwhelmed. Unfortunately, she might also have to work Sundays as well. She had said good-bye to her social life long ago.
With a long sigh, Sadie looked around and noticed a teenager, a few years younger than her, standing next to the exit. He ripped open a package of chocolate birds, popping a candy egg, then laughed, opening his mouth to reveal none other than a chocolate bird.
Sadie eyed the candy with envy, wringing her hands together under the counter. She loved Wonka's candies so much, but she was rarely able to have them for love of her teeth. Apparently, her teeth had an unfortunate problem with sugary treats, so she couldn't have as many as she would have wanted. Her teeth hadto be perfect.
Her aunt was a dental hygienist, so out of the blue, she would command her to smile and check her teeth and point out any imperfection she saw and tell her how to fix it. The number one solution was to stop eating candy.
Sadie lived with her Aunt Linda and Uncle *insert uncle's name here* and her younger cousin. She had been sent to live with them since her parents, who lived in California, didn't have enough money to support themselves, let alone her. As said, she had gotten this job at the candy shop, hoping to make enough money to have a small place of her own by the time she got out of high school.
"Sadie! Sadie? Hello??" the sound of her name being called repeatedly pulled her from her thoughts. She had been day dreaming of the future for well over five minutes and all the shop activity had died down quite a bit. It was a slow day, for normally, the later the day, the more people there were.
Sadie turned her head to see another worker with bright blonde hair tied back in a bun peering out at her from the back room door. "You have a call," she said and withdrew, her deed done.
The brunette teenager slowly walked to the door. She had never been in the back room before. As she went, she felt as if all eyes were on her, though there was hardly anyone in the store.
"Who would be calling me here?" thought aloud as she pushed past the door. "I mean, I only live down the street, why can't-" Sadie stopped and was instantly hit by a strong aroma of mint. She almost melted; *spearmint* was by far her favorite flavor, and scent. A black corded phone was shoved into her face, preventing her from basking further in her delight.
"H-hello, Sadie Todd here… How may I help you?" Sadie turned around slightly to find the woman with the bun gone, and instead her gaze found Mr. Wonka's. Funny, she hadn't noticed him when she was walking into the room. He was standing before a complex looking candy machine, but he turned to face her, a strange expression taking over his features as he slowly made his way over to her.
"Sadie. Remember your goal. Remember your reward," a sinister sounding voice came from the other end of the line.
Sadie realized she must have let a shocked look come to her face, for Wonka walked toward her faster. She began to panic, remembering the deal she made and how she now regretted it. But before she could say anything else, Wonka was within range and began to reach for the phone. Sadie slammed the phone down onto the receiver, then tried to look as casual as she could.
It didn't fool Wonka.
"And just who might that have been?" Wonka asked, suspicion creeping into his tone as he stared intently at the phone, then to Sadie. Sadie loved her job too much to want to even think about jeopardizing it or her future.
"No one, sir," she replied. "I believe that my personal life is of none of yourconcern."
"I should believe that because…? It must have been pretty important for them to call you her, whoever it might have been. And it is my telephone, in my shop, so really, it's as much my business as it is yours."
"Well… the call was for me, so it isn'tso much your business, but if you must know," Sadie paused quickly, looking for an excuse, "it was just my aunt. She was reminding me she wouldn't be home tonight," she lied.
Mr. Wonka looked her over once more, not looking quite convinced. He backed up slowly. "Just remember that contract you signed."
Sadie nodded curtly and turned around, feeling some of the workers giving her weird looks. She now wished that she had hung up the phone the moment she answered it. But, oh, did she remember that contract clear as the sun shining on a cloudless day. When she reached the door she glanced back. Wonka was standing where she had left him, staring off into space, a worried look across his face. She couldn't help but feel guilty for agreeing to give away someone's secrets, when they had done nothing to earn such betrayal.
All for something as petty and common as money.
Chapter Two coming soon!
I hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it.
I'd like to give a big thanks to my Beta! Without her I'd be nothing.