Here we are! Chapter two :)

Chapter 2;

McKinley Digits:

"Well, Ms. Ulmer, it seems that you gave no experience in retail?" a greasy man in his late forties ruffed at her. She fiddled with her fingers and looked up at the Osama 'twin'.

"I don't but…" she started.

"Say no more, I see there is potential behind all that makeup. Stop by tomorrow to receive your shift-someone will be there to advise you kiddo." He smiled, closing her file folder.

"Tomorrow?" Erin asked shyly.

"Yup, any problems?" his expression turned skeptical. Quickly, she shook her head.

"No" she rose from her chair in union as he did. "Um, thank you."

He held out a soot covered appendage for her to shake. Reluctantly, she did, inwardly flinching at the contact. "No, thank you we needed an extra night employee. Hopefully this won't affect your school nights-every weekend if I remember correctly." He drawled. She nodded and grinned in response, stiffly exiting his office. Once outside, Erin released a relatively ample exhale to calm her raging nerves. She never really thought how nerve wrecking applying for a job could be. Seriously…

In her jean pocket, her cell phone began to buzz obnoxiously whilst she made her way out of the store and into the parking lot-checking the ID before she answered. "What, mother?" she answered.

"Where the hell are you?" Her mother's voice came from the other line. "It's twelve o'clock."

"On my way home; there were other people interviewing. Not just me." She replied, rolling her eyes. Why would she even care? "Why?"

"Your father and I are going to the bar. If you're not home before we leave, I sure do hope you like sitting outside til 4 in the morning." She heard a chuckle.

Erin paused "Gee, thanks." She retorted sarcastically, her voice tingeing a venomous hiss. "I guess I can go somewhere else."

"HA! Like where Erin?" Her mother snickered. She could practically see the bitches wretched smirk.

"Movies"

"With what fucking money!"

"I have enough to get me in" she replied, seating herself in her car.

"Eh, whatever" and with that, Denise had hung up. Erin leaned back and shut the car door with a few harsh tugs.

"Piece of shit" she cursed loudly, resting her forehead against the leather steering wheel and starting up the vehicle with a sigh. She inhaled, and within the matter of a minute, she was speeding from the Build It! parking lot.

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Much to Erin's demise, the cinema was absolutely packed. The mere presence of her classmates and the complete strangers made her vexatious; she made sure she hadn't brushed any who came near here, keeping her arms packed to her sides. Luckily, she had arrived here before the crowd had formed and had received her ticket beforehand.

She just really hated people.

The chaos around her just made her remaining headache throb increasingly, straining her. It was difficult to even look at the lights heating the popcorn-which wasn't very bright. But what she really needed now, more than advil, was a beverage. She checked her watch as she waited in line; only 8 more minutes until the movie Freaks showed. A movie she had been waiting to see for a while now, but never got a chance. And this was the last day that it was in theaters. Over the commotion however; she barely heard the worker say "Next in line." She stepped up quickly.

"One small coke" she mumbled quickly and rapidly, not wasting any time.

"Excuse me?" The employees leaned toward her, cupping his ear.

"One small coke" she repeated a bit louder, and much slower. He nodded and turn his back on her to prepare her refreshment. While she waited, she impatiently tapped her foot against the tiled terra. The cinema wasn't necessarily the cleanest she has seen, the lobby being absolutely crowded due to small space.

But her thoughts kept drifting to Ian-the only one to actually befriend her beside Ashley and Ashlyns pity

"That'll be 2.75$" the cashier told her, handing her the coke. She took the change she had received from getting her ticket, giving the guy a crumpled three dollars and walking away from him to avoid getting any more change. She snatched a straw from one of the booths nearest to the ticket giver. Once she went to the podium, she rummaged through her pockets for the slip. Each one was empty.

"You have the ticket or not?" a worker asked, someone she recognized from her homeroom class. A senior, to her disappointment.

"Yeah, but I can't find it" she remarked.

"Can't get in without a ticket, ma'am" he explained, tapping a finger against the pale ashen wood. Heh, guess he needed to use manners here?

"I bought the damn ticket, are you kidding me?" Erin glared at him, her frustration rising. "Go ask the guy for all I care, I bought that ticket."

"The movie is going to be here until tomorrow."

"Oh yeah?" She snorted "Well I have work tomorrow"

"Looks like you're out of luck" he shrugged. Just when she was about to give him a piece of her mind, a hand slipped out in front of her.

"I guess I forgot to give this to her when I bought it. She was busy getting me that drink." The male gave the man the ticket, snatching the drink from her hands to take a sip. His voice was all too familiar; but Erin barely paid attention to that. She was frozen in her place, her breath hitching in her throat.

His arm was around her shoulders.

"Heh, theater 3 to your left, enjoy the show." Expeditiously, she paced forward and turned to face the teen-none other than Ian McKinley.

"Why'd you do that?" she asked cautiously, her eyes averting to her drink and back to his pale face.

"You looked like you were going to go throw him into a well or something" he simply responded. When she turned away from him, still pulsing with anger, she felt him walking beside her. "That's what friend are for, right?" he asked.

"I wouldn't know…"

"Come to think of it, neither would I" he drawled, handing her the drink. "My apologies, I'm always fucking forgetting about the simplest things." He was grinning when she looked up at him, not responding to his previous statements. "Ten bucks this movie is gonna rock" he added after a vast silence, and by then, they were already in the dark abyss of the theater. He jogged up the stairs ahead of her while she was busy searching for available seats; promptly thinking that, that was the last of their conversation. When her gaze caught his form, he was seated at the very top row with four empty seats around him, a hand on the one next to it. He patted it, signaling her to sit next to him. She did.

Once seated, she took a quick swig of her coke-forgetting that he took a sip of it earlier- and put her hand on her lap. Her azure pools were fixated upon the movie previews, obviously not interested. Beside her, Ian finally spoke: "You still don't talk much, eh?" he turned to face her, his shiny hair and dark clothing almost acting as camouflage gear against the walls and seats-chocolate optics glimmering. She imagined she appeared the same.

She contemplated on what to say, almost going with "Wasn't planning on it" but instead settled with: "I guess not—after seven hours…"

"I thought we talked about this." He grimaced, his handsome face twisted.

…Wait

…What?

"We did. In homeroom, physics, Italian and lunch" she explained, her tone sounding rather flat in which her previous thoughts were rattling within the unorganized clusters of her mind. He looked pleasingly shocked.

"Hmm, that's improvement! Almost a full sentence, I must be rubbing off on you already" he said.

"I doubt it."

And then the movie started.

.

Erin arose from the seat stiffly, her back aching like mad. That shockingly brilliant movie was two and a half hours long, and a struggle to sit through. She stretched her arm muscles feebly, and alongside Ian, stepped down the series of steps and pushing passed the people in her way and receiving many rude shoulder bumps-one making her nearly topple over. From corner glance, Ian looked like he was having the same problem. "That movie had to be the longest movie I've ever seen" she snorted as soon as they were reunited; surprising herself.

"Woah, was that ANOTHER full sentence I heard? Are you feeling well Ulmer?" Ian chuckled. She released one of her own, catching his contagious smile.

"Oh piss off" she spat jokingly.

Ian shrugged his eyebrows, putting his hands in his heavy coat pockets "Ouch. I'm shocked." He said.

"You're shocked?" she mumbled as they walked through the corridors and into the lobby. They were near the cafeteria area, where coffee and other products were sold.

"Do you have to ask? That was the most I've heard you process" He looked at her; though she kept her gaze towards her feet. "Hey, are you hungry?"

"Are you?" she asked.

"I asked you first" he raised an eyebrow. She shrugged, and apparently he took the motion as a yes. "iight, save me a seat at one of these tables and I'll go get us something."

"…Okay" she whispered, though he was already off to get in line. She ran her fingers through her hair-something inside of her jolting. Had she finally found a friend? Or was he just another fraud? Her lips curved into a frown, a rather unpleasant display, at the thought. No, Ian was too friendly with her, and he was going through the same thing she was. Loneliness. Yet it still was overall shocking to believe. Maybe having a friend wouldn't be so bad.

It wasn't long until she found a seat, given that the majority of the pupils in the lobby had cleared out to see the movies, or had gone home. She reclined on the cold metal chair, staring down at her black glossed nails-they needed another coat applied. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw more assholes staring at her pathetic and lonesome figure.

Erin obviously knew she wasn't like teenagers-she didn't enjoy life like most did, absolutely despised pop music, and liked to be alone most of the time. But honestly, even though the words of others hit her pretty hard-why should she care what they have to say and think of her? She was her own, lonesome outside in McKinley, always left alone just how she likes it.

Not…

Rubbing the corner of her eyes, she expired a soft sigh and spread her forearms on the stone table, her fingers intertwining. Lowly, her stomach gurgled: no breakfast and no lunch-which was nasty clumps of mush that usually made her confined-was beginning to take its toll on her. Luckily, Ian had returned rather quickly with a plate of nachos and melted cheese dip. He sat down across from her.

"Since you don't like to tell me anything, I didn't know what you liked and didn't. Hopefully you like nachos." He rubbed his hands together and began to chow down, adding "I know I do."

Erin swiped up a Tostitos chip "Nachos are good" she huffed, delicately chewing upon the chip.

"Great, there's not disappointment here" he smiled genuinely at her, and for some reason, she had to smile back at him.

"You could have asked me though" she drawled.

"And you would have said…?" She shrugged. His smile twisted into a beautiful smirk, head tilted sideways as he gnawed on another nacho. "That's what I thought, Pip"

Erin blinked, displaying a fairly confused expression "Pip?"

"Yeah, Pip-ya know, from Freaks" Ian shrugged. She smirked and stole another nacho.

"Alright then, Zip" she retaliated with a giggled.

In front of her, she spotted Ian creeping out a small crumbled piece of paper from his jacket pocket and scribbling something down-a series of numbers and words. He handed it to her afterwards "My number and address." He informed her once she caught glance. Erin bit her lip and stole his pen right from his fingers, ripping a small piece from the bottom and jotting down her own cell phone number.

"That's mine" she said, slipping it over to his side of the table.

"Rightio" he chewed on another nacho, the crunching of the chip faint though it appeared he meant to gnaw rather obnoxiously. "This is the start of something, Pip, it's getting somewhere" he added. She nodded and glanced at her watch.

"Yeah, I should get going." Once more, he masked the frown that was familiar in her Calculus class. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Definitely. Do you need a ride home? I have my van" he asked. She shook h head and stood from her spot, wiping the corner of her mouth with her fingers. "Cool." He rose as well tossing the leftover meal into the garbage a little ways off from where they were at the moment. Once more she bit her lip and gave him a tiny wave before her palm smacked against her thigh, whisking from the cinema and towards her car. As she stepped outside, the nights chilly air barreled into her like a billion bricks. Apparently, her jeans, long sleeved shirt and jacket weren't enough to keep her warm. She found her hands clutching her biceps, arms tucked tightly to her chest.

It was September-it wasn't supposed to be cold out.

She hit the gas as soon as she got into her parked vehicle to port to the busy roads, the flashing of headlights blaring in every direction on the ashen pigmented domain. Faintly scoffing at the unnecessary traffic at three in the morning (which was odd in her opinion) she turned on the radio and switched through the channels until she found a good station. Unfortunately, she ended up turning the radio off altogether as there were no music genres that suited her well enough. Just her luck…

.

Once she arrived to her small two, story home, she observed the familiar surroundings and huffed. No lights were on in the house, save for the outside ones which automatically flicked their dim light at the mere presence of her car pulling up in the driveway. She grumbled, for the van was still gone "Ugh…" she groaned, pulling a bobby pin from her jacket and hacking the lock to the door. Her curly sun kissed hair delicately flowed with the frequent breeze as she worked; sending another chill down her spine.

Soon after, she found herself welcomed by the unsettling aroma of cigarettes and alcohol.

Peeling her jacket from her shoulders, she stumbled over to the bathroom for a quick, much needed shower. While looking at her horrid reflection over the counter, she couldn't help but smirk. You may still look like shit…but hey-you finally got a friend.

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This one wasn't all that great, but it's something…I hope you liked it anyways! Please review-remember, as said, constructive criticism is always welcomed!