You Found Me - Chapter Two: It's a Small World
My first shift at 'Junk N Stuff' was as horrible as expected.
Not because I didn't make any sales. A surprising amount of people actually bought stuff.
Not because Ray was a horrible boss. He was a great boss - a little strange, but a great boss all in all.
It was no one other than my co-worker who was the source of my problems; sucking the life out of me, as I tried to get through four hours of being in his presence.
Good for nothing Henry Hart.
He didn't really do anything to help make any sales at all. It seemed like driving customers away was his specialty instead. All he'd managed to do was glare and/or insult anyone who'd tried to speak to him, and to make sure they didn't leave with a horrible opinion of the place, I had to save the day with what I consider to be my amazing people skills.
With a middle-aged woman smiling at me and briefly side-eying Henry before she left the store, my shift was finally over. I sighed with relief, turning to face the idiot of the hour (or should I say four hours) only to see that he was now nonchalantly checking for what was probably notifications on his phone without a care in the world. I could feel the incredulous stare on my face as I crossed my arms over my chest.
"What was that?" I asked him, still in disbelief over the way he'd interacted with others.
"What was what?" He didn't even look up from his phone as he answered my question with another question.
"Uh, the past four hours?!" I exclaimed, and from the tone of my voice he rolled his eyes before finally paying me full attention.
"What's got your panties in a twist, Bolton?" He seemed annoyed now, which was amazing considering that exact emotion should have belonged to me!
"You, Henry, that's what." I walked over to the counter - where he'd stood pretty much the whole time since I'd walked in - and stopped once I was directly in front of it.
"I had to save like 70% of the sales today, as you decided that being an ass was the way to go." I slammed a hand down on the counter but he didn't flinch. Instead he glanced at my hand like I'd merely leaned on it before meeting my eyes again.
"What's your point?"
"My point?" I laughed with disbelief, "My point is that you need to stop this..." I gestured a hand in his direction "Whatever this attitude problem is, and get it together."
He let out a scoff like sound before replying with a disinterested "Whatever." And putting his attention back to his phone again.
I rolled my eyes and turned around.
"How's it going guys?" Ray said with a warm smile as he strolled back into the room. What he'd been doing for the past four hours I would never know...and would probably never want to know either.
"I would like to say good Ray but..." I jerked my thumb behind me in Henry's direction without even bothering to turn around. "Henry didn't want to play nice with the customers."
"So, you're not just uptight but you're a snitch too?" I could hear Henry say from behind me, a sarcastic chuckle in his voice as he spoke.
"A snitch or just honest, you decide." I told him with a shrug and a mock smile. His expression was suddenly unamused and I felt a great sense of satisfaction.
"I'm sorry about that Charlotte," Ray said with a sigh. He turned his attention to Henry and pointed an accusing finger in his direction.
"I'll be dealing with you later."
"Can't wait," Henry deadpanned, staring ahead at the space in front of him. I patted Ray's arm in sympathy and made to leave.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Ray." Glancing at Henry I nodded at him but couldn't stop the thought in my head. Hope to see you never.
Ten minutes later I was waiting for Bianca to make a reappearance with her car so we could go to the mall together. Standing outside Junk 'N' Stuff, I switched back and forth between tapping my foot impatiently and looking at the watch on my wrist (only to see my wrist bare every time and quickly remembering I no longer had one thanks' to Jasper testing out one of his so called 'life hack's' on it.)
"You're still here?" A disinterested voice came from behind me, and two seconds later my new co-worker was standing next to me with a cigarette and a lighter in his hands.
"Not by choice," I replied, wrinkling my noise at the smell of smoke once he lit the one in his fingers and proceeded to inhale. After two minutes of silence, Henry stubbed the last of cigarette out with the bottom of his shoe and it was only then I realised I'd been staring at him the whole time.
And as much as I wanted to deny it...he looked cool.
Hot, even.
But he was of course never going to know such a compliment was roaming around in my head. I quickly looked away feeling stupid for even thinking it in the first place.
"Nice to know you have a mute button," He suddenly stated, bringing me out of my thoughts. Looking up into his light brown eyes, it seemed he'd been staring at me for a while. I glared at him and crossed my arms over my chest.
"Or maybe I just can't be bothered to waste my breath on you right now. Have you thought about that?" Why was he even talking to me? He'd ignored me plenty during our shift.
"Never mind. That was nice while it lasted." He countered with an amused smirk.
Just as I was about to reply with something incredibly witty, I noticed Bianca's car coming towards us.
"Thank God," I muttered under my breath before glancing at Henry. "Later." I said before rushing to my best friend's car.
"Ugh, let's get out of here, B," I said, trying to quickly put my seat belt on.
"Whoa, Char. What's the rush?" She looked startled at my rapid movements.
"I need to get away from my new co-worker. He's an absolute nightmare." Bianca's startled stare suddenly switched to a smirk.
"Is he hot?" I rolled my eyes and scoffed.
"That is beside the point, Bianca. He's a jerk." Still smirking, she turned to her side of the window.
"I don't see anybody."
"He's probably gone back inside. Good riddance." I let out a breath and then smiled.
"Let's get out of here. I need some fries or something."
-X-
The rest of the weekend passed by rather quickly. I read some 'Captain Man and Kid Danger' comics and hung out with Jasper and Bianca. I also spent an odd amount of time thinking about ways of dealing with a certain unpleasant blond that I would be working with for the next...well until I quit.
Monday reared its ugly head all too soon, and I found myself blinking back sleep as I stepped in through the doors of Swellview High so early in the morning.
As much as I loved school and learning, I wasn't the fondest of walking up early. Sighing, I opened my locker and stuffed some books in there that I wouldn't need until later. Just as I was shutting it closed, I turned to see Bianca speed walking towards me with an excited expression on her face. Oh boy.
"OH-EM-GEE, CHARLOTTE!" She stopped in front of me and I watched astonished as she started jumping up and down and squealing. If this was anybody else I would've pretended I didn't know them and walked away. But because this was my best friend I was unfortunately obligated to let it slide.
"Bianca, how could you possibly be this cheery so early in the morning." At this point she had stilled her jumping but she was still grinning at me like a Cheshire cat. It was starting to creep me out if I'm honest.
"Apparently there's a new guy transferring into our grade and Chloe said he's like...beyond hot. Like model hot." I quirked an eyebrow at this description. Model hot? Please. Chloe needed to chill with the exaggeration.
"Hotter than Blake Middleton?" Bianca rolled her eyes and snorted at the mention of the name.
"Way hotter. Besides, that's your man, I never thought Blake was that hot anyway." Offended, I audibly gasped and brought a hand to my chest. Blake Middleton was the hottest guy at Swellview. Well, at least I thought so. He was on the football team, got good grades and had the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen. You could say I was kind of crazy about him...that is, if you count three years of wishing he was mine and doing nothing about it to be crazy, at least.
"Not that hot? Bianca he's perfect! How can you not see it?"
"Because I'm not obsessed like you." I gasped again and she ignored me and continued, "You've had like the biggest crush on him since freshman year. Just ask him out already!" I spluttered like she was crazy.
"Yeah, like he would even say yes. And besides, I can barely say a word to him without choking on air, you know this."
"True, it's very amusing." She snickered, and I glared at her.
"Moving on...who is this new guy anyway? If model hot is being used to describe him I'm expecting a celebrity or something."
"I haven't seen him yet, but I'm totally ready to drool over him once I do." And it looked like she was getting her wish. As if on cue, we overheard someone not too far away from us whisper rather loudly? "Who is that?! He's so hot."
Simultaneously, Bianca and I turned our heads in the direction that all the girls around us seemed to be forming heart eyes in.
And the anticipation dulled in my eyes immediately when they just so happened to land on the last person I would've expected to see.
"Henry Hart?!" I shrieked horrified. In ripped jeans, a black long sleeved shirt and a beanie on top of his blond head, he cruised down the hallway with his hands in his pockets and a bag strap on one shoulder, an emotionless expression on his face.
"Ugh, B! That's the asshole co-worker I was telling you about! And putting that fact aside he's not even that hot anyway – Bianca?" I stopped talking when I looked over at my best friend and her expression was as if she'd seen a ghost. She didn't respond as she continue to look at Henry strolling in our direction.
"Henry..." She whispered, her tone sounding as if she was distraught. And that's when it hit me.
"Wait, wait...do you know him?!" At this question, Bianca turned to face me with a look of disdain on her face. Then she began to speak.
"I-"
"Bolton. I should've figured you'd be here," Henry's annoying voice intervened. I turned to shoot him a look of disgust and he seemed to have a similar look of unhappiness on his face. Then he turned his direction to Bianca and once he took in who he was looking at he raised his eyebrows and smirked.
"Shit and Bianca White? What a small world this is. Long time no see." Bianca didn't reply; instead she bit her lip, looking very uncomfortable.
Okay, what the hell had happened between these two?
Author's Note: So that's chapter two. I hope you all enjoyed :) if you were wondering yes Blake is the same Blake that Henry called 'blarf' in that episode in season 2 lmao. There are like...well not many guys on the show and I prefer someone who is cannon than to make up some OC. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favourited and alerted so far!