*Longshot*
She dragged me into the building. "Wasn't that refreshing?" she asked, grinning.
She was up to something. I glared. (You just made me walk two miles. In the middle of winter.)
She nodded, still grinning. "I figured you wouldn't mind, seeing as you're starting to like the cold so much."
And there it was. I just rolled my eyes.
She groaned. "Seriously, Longshot. Something's up, and you won't tell me what, and it's killing me here!"
(I already told you. I just have a lot on my mind.) A lot you wouldn't get.
I looked around and finally realized where she'd dragged me. (The mall? Why the mall? You hate the mall.)
She flushed. "It's got the only bookstore in a ten-mile radius. Come on." She grabbed my wrist and started dragging me along. Again.
When we finally got there, she ran straight to the teen section. "Vampires, vampires, vampires," she muttered, skimming.
I raised a eyebrow. (You love vampires.)
"No, I used to love vampires," she said, not looking up. "Ever since Twilight came out, every girl is obsessed with them. I'm just kinda sick of them. Vampires, vampires, romance, vampires, read it, read it, vampires…" She straightened up and swept her hair behind her ear. "Should I give up yet?"
(What about that manga you're always talking about? Night something.)
"It's called Nightschool. And they're eleven bucks each. I only have nine." She went back to skimming.
I rolled my eyes and pulled three dollars out of my pocket. I held it out to her.
"No," she said, again without looking up. "I'm not taking your money."
(Either you take it or I pick what book you get.)
"Thank you," she said, grabbing the money and running off to go find the book.
I watched her. I've kinda had a crush on her for… a while. We used to live in the same neighborhood. Before the accident. It'd killed both of our families. I was eight, she was only six. After that, we were inseparable.
For a year or so, we lived at the same orphanage. And then someone wanted to adopt me, but not her. I did everything I could to try to get them to take her, but it didn't work.
So I did everything I could to try to get them to not take me.
That worked.
Another year, no one wanted to adopt either of us. Then I took this college test thing in class, and got the highest score out of the entire grade.
The program it was for cost over a thousand dollars. There was no way I could do that. But over the summer, I got this offer for a full scholarship to a boarding school. It was tempting, but there was no way I was going without Bee.
They were so impressed with my scores, they actually let her take the test two years early.
She did better than me.
So we both wound up at FNH. Then we met everyone else. Pipsqueak and the Duke were there on the same thing; Jet was there because he'd been kicked out of every other school in the state.
Somewhere along the line, I'd started to like her. I honestly can't remember when. I'll admit it, I was kinda jealous of Jet.
Okay, forget the kinda.
But he was my best friend – other than her. I couldn't really be mad at him.
"Hey, Longshot," a voice said behind me. I turned.
The Duke was standing there, clutching six books to his chest, and grinning like an idiot.
(Hey, the Duke. How are gonna afford all those?) He could understand me well enough for me to not talk, but not as well as Jet, and definitely not as well as Bee.
"Oh, you know, another invention."
Of course. (What'd you invent this time?)
"Hold these," he said, shoving his pile of books into my arms.
He held out his wrist. It had a black watch on it. He pressed a button and it started glowing green, a holographic computer screen popping up. "Ta da!" he said, way too loud.
(This feels like a spy movie.)
"Exactly!" he said, taking the books back. "They use stuff like this a lot in the movies, but it's all special effects. No one's ever actually built one before!"
"Have I ever told you you're a freak?" Bee said, coming up behind me.
The Duke stuck his tongue out at her.
"I meant it in a good way," she said, walking around me and punching his shoulder. I winced. I'd learned the hard way that, even when she wasn't trying to hurt you, she did.
"How much did you get for it?" she asked.
"A lot." He set his books on the ground and pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket. He handed us each a few bills.
"How much is this?" Bee asked.
"Three hundred bucks."
"What!" we yelled at the same time.
Everyone turned and stared at us. "How much did you get?" Bee asked, lowering her voice.
"Twenty-five grand."
We just stared a moment.
"What are you gonna do with all that?" Bee asked.
"Well, I have a couple loans to pay off, then there've been a few books I've been meaning to get," he pointed at the stack, still on the floor, "then I want to invest in another experiment I'm working on."
"Okay, then," Bee said, edging away, obviously knowing what was gonna happen next.
"You wanna know what it is?" the Duke asked, eyes bright.
"No, thank you," Bee said, still edging away.
He ignored her. "It's an–"
Bee grabbed my wrist and ran to the checkout counter. The was one person in front of us.
The Duke followed us. "It's an anti-gravity chamber. All I–"
The woman in front of us stepped out of line. Bee ran up and slammed the book and money on the counter.
"Want it in a bag?" the cashier asked.
"No thanks!" she said.
"All I have to do is–" the Duke continued.
The cashier pushed the book and the change back to her. She grabbed the book. "Keep the change!" she yelled, running out of the store.
I followed her.
"Man," she said when I caught up. "Once that kid starts talking about science, he never stops."
I nodded.
She turned to me. "Waddaya wanna do now?"
I shrugged. (Lunch?)
She raised an eyebrow, then looked at her watch. "Huh. 12:30 already. Time's flying today. Sure, why not?"
