I got inspired for this story because of the things some of my friends have told me they're done to figure out who they are and deal with the pressure of the world. I'm going to use the characters of 6teen to tell their stories. Enjoy! (R&R!)
I do not own 6teen or any of it's characters.
***
"I'll have a lemon whip, please," said Talon.
"Coming right up!" Caitlin grabbed two lemons from the bowl and began preparing his drink.
"So, Caitlin, I've been thinking." Talon ran his hand through his hair. "What if we started hanging out again? We could get back together."
Caitlin struggled with the blender. "Um, sorry, but I already have a boyfriend and I'm pretty into him."
"Who? That Jude guy? He's barely there. He acts like he's half stoned all the time."
"Jude's a great guy." The blender kicked into high gear. "No! Stop!" Caitlin struggled to get it back under control. "He's really sweet and he acts just fine."
"Whatever. You'll be missing me soon enough." Talon stretched his arms.
The blender had begun to shake violently. "If I don't miss you by now-ah-I never-grr!-will!" The top exploded off the blender coating them both in sweet, sticky lemon goop. "Arg! This job sucks!"
Talon shook some of the lemon sludge out of his hair. "Don't worry about the lemon whip. I'll just swing by Grind Me. I'll catch you later, Caitlin. Let me know when you come to your senses."
"I already have!" Caitlin called after him. "What a jerk..." She noticed that some of the ruined lemon whip had landed in her shirt. "Ew..." She felt it slide down her stomach sending a disgusted shiver down her spine.
"Hey beautiful!"
Caitlin looked up to see Jude smiling at her, his eyes sparkling. "I don't know how you can say that when I'm all covered in this gross lemon stuff."
"It's kinda hot..."
"Ew! Jude!" She playfully punched his arm. "Don't say that sort of creepy stuff."
"Fine, fine, but I won't stop thinking it." Jude winked.
"Fair enough. What are you doing here anyway? Aren't you supposed to be at Underground right now? You know, working?"
Jude shrugged. "Wayne's been really lax the past few days. I figured I could get a away for a little while and chill with you for a bit."
"Cool! Go Wayne."
"Yeah, besides, I, uh, I got something for ya."
Caitlin raised her eyebrows. "Really? What is it?"
"Well, I know that anniversaries really mean a lot to girls and I really like you and stuff and so I wanted to give you something for our four months that I know you really wanted so that it would make you think of me and stuff and it's okay if you don't like it because I can always take it back or get something else or something and even if-" Jude was silenced as she kissed him gently on the lips.
"Jude, you're rambling. What is it?"
"Uh, well, here. I hope you like it." Jude set a small box on the Big Squeeze counter top.
"Ooh!" Caitlin untied the small bow and opened the box. "Aw... Jude!" She held up a silver butterfly pendant with a diamond on the corner of each of it's wings. "I love it!"
"I saw you checking it out the other day when we went with Wyatt to pick out his mom's birthday present. The chain thing that it goes on is under the cotton thingy they stuck in there."
Caitlin slipped the butterfly on it's chain and tried to fasten it around her neck. "Ugh, I'm so bad at this."
"Here, lemme try." Jude stepped into the lemon, slipped behind her and clipped the chain closed. Caitlin could feel his warm breath on her collarbones as he kissed her gently on the neck. "Kinda tastes like lemons."
"It's the lemon whip that exploded." Caitlin turned around to face him. "Thank you, Jude. I really love it. I'll wear it everyday. I have something for you too, actually."
"Seriously? You didn't have to get me anything, dudette."
"I know, but I wanted too. It was fun picking something out for you." She handed him a red gift bag. Jude reached in and pulled out a new pair of skateboard trucks.
"Duu-ude! Awesome! I really needed some new ones. Mine are about to kick the bucket."
"I know it isn't very romantic, but I thought you'd like some new ones. I had to have Jonesy help me get them though. I didn't know which ones were the right ones for your skateboard..."
"No way, this is awesome."
"I'm glad you like it." She kissed him. "I guess you need to get to work, huh?"
"Yeah, I don't want to press my luck with Wayne. I'll see you when I get off." Jude jumped over the lemon counter.
"What's this about getting off?" Jonesy asked as he and Nikki approached the lemon.
"Jonesy!" Nikki protested.
"I'm just joking." Jonesy replied.
"I'm off bros and bras. Later!" Jude skated in the direction of Underground Video.
"Bye Jude!" they all called.
"So, what's up?" asked Caitlin.
Nikki clapped Jonesy on the shoulder. "Casanova here just got himself fired from another job."
"You mean the art modeling thing? What did you do?" Caitlin asked.
"He didn't realize it wasn't nude modeling." Nikki said as she pulled up a chair at the gang's favorite table.
"They just couldn't handle the Jonesmeister" Jonesy gloated as Wyatt walked up behind him, coffee in hand. "I barely had my pants off before they started calling security."
"Woah! Bad part of the conversation to walk up on. What happened exactly?" Wyatt asked, disconcerted.
"I got fired from the Art Cellar because I thought they wanted me to model nude," explained Jonesy.
"Wow. So how many jobs have you lost so far because you got naked?" Wyatt asked.
"If you count the mooning thing at Albatross and Finch, then six."
"You're almost a public menace." Caitlin mused.
"Hey, as long as I stay under the Ron the Rent-A-Cop's radar I should be fine," said Jonesy.
"Hey, maggot!" Ron strode up to the table. "I heard about the little stunt you pulled at the Art Cellar. You try that again and I'll have you doing community service for a year! I've got my eye on you..." Ron took a final look at the crowd of teens. "On all of you for that matter."
Jonesy slammed his face onto the table as Ron strode off. "Aw, man!!" The others laughed.
"Bad luck today, huh Jonesy?" Wyatt said as he sipped his coffee. Jonesy only covered his head with his hands.
"Not as bad as Jen, apparently. Check her out!" Nikki observed as Jen walked up. She looked ragged, like she'd had no sleep, no makeup, no shower. Jen slammed her face onto the table next to Jonesy's.
"What happened to you?" Jen asked, her voice muffled under her hair.
"I got fired for stripping in an art class which then got me onto Ron the Rent-A-Cop's hit list. You?"
"Coach is having his annual mid-season crisis. He's expecting everyone to stay after hours to help with inventory, stack hockey gear, and do whatever else he pulls out of the air."
"That's not so bad." Caitlin, the ever optimistic one, corrected.
"Not unless you're me: The Assistant Coach. He's got me running ragged trying to get everything done! I can't take it anymore! I haven't come home before 11 o'clock at night a single day this week!" Jen exclaimed.
"She's got a point there. I've never seen anyone go through an entire refrigerator of leftovers at midnight before. Not even Jude!" said Jonesy.
"I beg to differ," replied Caitlin.
"Hey, where is Jude, anyway?" asked Jen.
"You just missed him. He took off for Underground," Caitlin answered.
"I should probably go too, McFlipster's is coming out with a new burger: The Total Pounder. It's a burger with an entire pound of meat in it and yours truly has to write a song about it for the customers." said Wyatt.
"Good luck Burger Boy!" Nikki said.
"I'll need it. One more thing: if you guys see Serena, tell her I'm off sick... for the entire week." Wyatt added.
"What's the deal with Serena?" asked Jen.
"Ever since Marlowe told her about how I'm such a great guy, she's been hounding me about getting back together. She's almost acting like a stalker. It's weirding me out. Yesterday, she sat outside McFlipster's for six hours waiting for me to get off work!" Wyatt exclaimed.
"What did you do?" wondered Caitlin.
"I slipped out the back... and she caught me. Don't ask me happened after that, because I don't want to talk about it. See you guys on my break!"
"I'm off too. Todays' the day I finally get Wayne to give me a second-er- that is, third chance!" Jonesy proclained.
"Go get 'em, tiger." Nikki said. After Jonesy was gone, she turned back to Jen and Caitlin. "He's not getting that job."
"Nope!" Jen and Caitlin said in unison.
"Hey! Cool necklace Caitlin!" Jen noted.
Caitlin touched the butterfly around her neck. "Tee-hee. Thanks. Jude gave it to me. Today's our four months."
"Aw! That's so sweet. Who knew Jude had it in him?" Jen remarked.
"He just keeps surprising me." Caitlin said, smiling to herself.
"Hmm..." Jen looked knowingly over at Nikki.
"What's that look for?" Nikki worried.
"It looks like Caitlin isn't the only one who has some new jewelry on." Jen glanced down at Nikki's hand where an amethyst ring glittered in the sunshine coming in through the mall's windowed ceiling.
"It's not what you think it is! It doesn't mean anything." Nikki tried to explain.
"It's a promise ring, isn't it?" Caitlin asked. She loved this sort of thing. It was so romantic. She touched Jude's neckalce again. Maybe somday...
"It's just a ring. It's not an engagement ring. It's not a promise ring. It's just a ring to say 'I Love You'. It's an 'I Love You' ring. Jonesy and I are only 17! Well, I'm nearly 18, but still, we're really young. Too young to get engaged or promised or anything." Nikki explained. "All we're doing right now is figuring ourselves out. He is and I am. Neither of us are sure who we are exactly and we can't just commit to each other for the rest of our lives if we might change our personalities or feelings."
"That's actually really sensible. I've come to expect that from you, but not Jonesy. He's still such a kid." Jen approved.
"Jonesy's a lot more responsible than we give him credit for. Bad judgement skills, but a responsible outlook on life... really really bad judgement skills." Nikki said. The girls laughed.
"I'm glad you guys are happy together." Caitlin said.
"Me too. I've gotta get back to the Tacky Barn. Wish me luck, it's sale day." Nikki stood up.
"It is!? I'm coming by later. I just got paid on Monday and there are these really cute slides that I've had my eye on." Caitlin said. No matter how much she had mellowed out in the past year, no matter how much she had shed her shallowness, Caitlin had never lost her will to shop.
"Only if you can beat the Clones to them."
"No worries. I'm a trained shopper."
"MASTERSON!!" Coach Halder stormed up to the table. "You're supposed to be reorganizing the badmitton gear, not lolly gagging with your friends."
"But Coach-"
"But nothing Masterson! Ten minutes in the penalty box!" Halder grabbed her arm and pulled her back the sports store.
"Bye guys!" Jen called to her friends.
"She wasn't kidding about Mid-Season Crisis." Nikki remarked. "Later Caitlin!"
"Bye Nikki!" Caitlin pulled out a rag and began to wipe the sticky lemon gunk off of the counter. Everything was so wonderful these days. She had Jude, who she really really cared about. He was the only guy she'd dated longer than a few days. Nikki and Jonesy were still happy and in love, despite the occasional argument. And even though Wyatt acted like he hated writing jingles for , she knew he secretly loved being paid to play his beloved music. Even Jen had her dream job, despite the fact Coach Halder was having a power trip right now. Everything was perfect. Caitlin glanced at one of the quotes that Starr had taped to the lemon when she and Jude were still together. 'When it all going good, expect something bad.' Caitlin tossed the dirty rag over the quote so that only 'Good Something' remained visible. Whatever.
***
This chapter was mainly to explain all the different character's relations to one another. Sorry there wasn't much action... and if a few people were OOC. Anyway, the story will pick up a bit more next chapter. Thanks for reading! :)