I'm not quite sure how long I was just sitting there. Trying to build up the theme to my blog took forever. Nothing ever seemed quite right. I'm still not quite sure I was satisfied, but at least I had something now.
I find there's nothing quite as frustrating as a blinking curser. I was supposed to write about something to improve in the school? I hadn't even been going here for very long. Sure, I had my complaints, but really...
"Would you like a refill on your coffee?"
The waitress appeared at my table. The coffee left in my mug had gone cold. I sighed. Maybe another boost of caffeine would help.
"Yeah, sure," I said.
She took my mug away. I glanced to my plate of pancakes. There was about a fifth of the stack left. I lifted my fork and brought another bite to my mouth. I held my fork in my mouth and moved my hand away. I crossed my arms on the table and laid my head on them. Just what did he expect me to say? Just some generic complaint about parking spaces?
"Is something wrong?"
I looked up to find Matt sliding into the booth in front of me. I perked up immediately. I pulled the fork from mouth and grinned.
"Sorry, but you look like you need help. Anything I can do?" Matt said with a small smile on his face.
"Matt! Perfect! You can be my inspiration!" I said.
"Inspiration? You weren't waiting here for me this whole time, were you?" he asked.
"Meh, not really. I didn't think it was going to take so long," I explained.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"I have to make a blog for this uppity TA in my English class," I explained. "He gave me this whacked out grade, so I'm doing this so everything will be fixed."
Matt's eyebrows furrowed together. "That is a little bit unusual."
"Matt! Good to see you!" My waitress came back with my coffee mug in hand. She was smiling brightly at Matt. I was just a little bit irritated that she hadn't given me my coffee yet. "How's the school year starting off for you?"
"Pretty good. How did that audition work out for you?" Matt asked her.
"Ah, well." She pushed her brown hair behind her ear. "I guess I'll just have to try again some other time."
Matt gave her an understanding smile. "Keep it at it! They'll see how amazing you are eventually."
The waitress looked shyly away. I paid a little bit more attention to her now. She wasn't nearly as old as the other waitresses here. She actually looked around our age, maybe just a little bit older than Matt. She caught my glance. "Oh right, your coffee's right here!" She placed the hot dark drink in front of me.
She backed away slowly. "Let me know if you need anything else!"
"Thanks Lisa!" Matt said.
He turned his attention back to me. "A blog, huh? That seems like something you'd like to do."
I lifted the coffee slowly to my lips and took a small cautionary sip. "Yeah, but it's this first post I have to make. It requires a bit more effort than I anticipated. I mean, there's lots of things I could write about technically, but they're all seem so boring and unawesome. Nothing really stands out, you know what I mean?"
"That does seem like a bit of a problem," Matt agreed with a nod.
I froze. There was something in that statement. "Say that again."
"What? It sounds like a problem. I wish I could help..."
"Matt, you're absolutely brilliant!" I exclaimed. "Seriously! You're the best, most awesomest person ever!" I typed hurriedly on my laptop. I had to get this brilliance down.
"Um, thanks? What exactly did I do?"
"Don't you see? THAT's the problem! And I'm just the person to fix it!"
"I'm still not quite following..."
"That's the problem with the place. Can you even name anything undeniably awesome about here?"
"Uh, well..." Matt muttered as he thought.
"Exactly! This school has a dangerously low degree of awesome. Someone seriously needs to find it!"
"So, you're going to find the 'awesome?'" Matt was beginning to understand.
"If there is any, I'm going to find it. I'm going to find it, and I'm going to broadcast it."
I turned my laptop around so Matt could look at the screen. He squinted behind his glasses. "Anything and Everything Awesome as seen by expert of awesome, the Great and Awesome Jules," he read.
"Yep!" I said proudly. "For the good of the world as well as this school, I'm going to find the awesome things no one knows about yet."
"That's quite a title. You could probably just keep it at 'Anything and Everything Awesome' though," Matt said.
"Fine, fine. Just 'Anything and Everything Awesome' then, but what do you think?" I asked eagerly.
Matt smiled. "Sounds pretty awesome."
"I know, right?! This is going to be amazing!"
I shoved the rest of my pancakes into my mouth. I typed the first post to my awesome blog with enthusiasm. I looked up from my work temporarily. That Lisa waitress was a few tables over. I snapped my fingers and pointed at her. I swallowed before I said, "Yo, Lisa! Another round of pancakes for Matt and me!"
She nodded. "Sure thing! I'll get it right out for you."
"This time it's on me. You deserve it," I said to Matt.
Matt gave me another one of his killer cutie smiles. "How generous of you, Jules."
"At least you know I'm not mooching off you all the time."
Matt laughed at that. He went to his backpack and pulled out a notebook and a giant text book. They went to the table with a heavy thunk.
"Yeesh," I said out loud.
"Tell me about it," Matt said wearily. He opened the book and studied a sentence carefully. He went to the notebook and wrote out his work.
"I guess there's really nothing I can do to help you out, huh?" I said.
"You've already done more than enough," Matt said. He didn't look up from his work. "Pancakes are the best motivator a man can get."
"Better than pretty girls?" I teased.
That's when Lisa came back with the pancakes. She set them down for Matt and me along with a cup of coffee for Matt.
"Enjoy!" she said with a smile and then went away.
"Thanks," Matt said.
He took a long sip of his scalding hot coffee. His face looked like it was turning warm.
"Well, that helps too," he muttered quietly.
"Well, I must say the concept is...original. It's quite a different angle than what I was expecting from you. I never really intended for you to actually solve the "problem" if that is actually considered to be one. Your solution should be interesting to say the least. Since you technically upheld your end of the bargain, I shall do the same. If you stay with this level of commitment in your school work, hopefully we won't have to make compromises like this anymore."
-AKirkland
"Well that was sort of a backwards compliment," Olive said.
"Maybe I should pay that guy another visit. I don't think he learned his lesson," Chessie said, a sly smile on her pink lips.
Both Chessie and Olive were reading over my shoulder. I went to tell them about my awesome blog, and Arthur had already left me a comment on my post.
"It really does look good, chica!" Olive said. "I can't wait to see what you've got planned next."
"And you know we'll help you in whatever way we can," Chessie promised. "Especially if it's seducing your TA," she said with a wink.
"Ew, Chessie! You can count me out of that!" Olive complained.
"What? You didn't find his eyebrows sexy?" Chessie wriggled her perfectly plucked ones up and down suggestively. "You know what they say about men with big eyebrows..."
Olive burst out laughing. "Chessie, seriously stop!"
"Thanks guys. Trust me. If Arthur thought that was interesting, just wait." I smiled and looked back to my friends who were in a laughing heap in the middle of their dorm room floor. "The awesomeness is just getting started."