Charlie's POV
After a long time trying to figure out how to get into this outfit, I head outside hoping Stevie and Zander won't laugh at me.
"Does this outfit make me look fat?" I ask causing giggles to erupt from Stevie, but I think I see a frown come from Zander. Is he jealous or something? Haha.
"Well, you look fine. Watch out for Kevin and Nelson though. They can be pretty serious when it comes to their jobs." Stevie says.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Good luck," Zander says, and I notice he also has a ukulele by his side. "Well bro, you go ahead and do your job, but you're not the only one who plays on the streets. Well, the mall to be exact. Just a tip... Unless you're me, never play your uke in the mall. Especially when that fat mall cop is around." he says.
"Dude, I've been playing the uke in the streets ever since I learned how to play when I was eight. A bunch of cops chased me everyday, and you're telling me how to survive a cop chase?" I ask.
"Says the orange."
"I'm a tangerine." I state.
"Fine. Well, I'm gonna be off-"
"Zander, I think you've forgotten about the guys lying here on the floor." Stevie says. As if on cue, a mother and a little girl come in the shop, but freeze once they see the unconscious bodies.
"The smoothies knocked them out in happiness?" Stevie attempts to calm them down.
"Come on sweetie. The smoothies will probably kill you." the mother says.
"But mom! I've been here before! Stevie's really nice." the little girl says.
"You know the girl? Come on. I'm pretty sure Juicy Jamba doesn't have smoothies that poison you." the lady says and the leave the shop.
"Zander, please." Stevie says.
"Fine. But I better get another free smoothie when I get back." he says.
"Promise." she says and he carries two people, arms around his shoulder and he heads to MMK.
"The kids know you?" I ask her.
"Well, yeah. The little girl and her friends come here sometimes. They like to talk to me and stuff." she says nonchalantly.
"What do they talk to you about?" I ask her.
"How's it like working at Danny Mangos, what I want to be when I grow up, Gravity 5, Zander... that sort of chiz." she says.
"Zander?" I ask.
"Since Zander's here most of the time, they're always asking me if I have a crush on Zander or something." she explains.
"Well, do you?" I ask her. She stays silent, until she says an unexpected question.
"Aren't you supposed to be handing out coupons?" she asks me.
"Oh, I totally forgot! See you later Stevie!" I say, grab my coupons, and head out the door of Danny Mangos. "And take care of my uke for me, will you?"
"Sure thing!"
After a while, I don't see what's so bad about handing out coupons dressed as a tangerine. Sure, it's humiliating, but I see a lot of little kids smile at me and they want to take a picture with me. It's sort of nice.
"Well, well, well. Looks like we have another rival in the mall." I hear a voice say. I turn around to find Nelson dressed as a pizza slice, and Kevin is a hamburger.
"Zander?" they say simultaneously with their eyes going wide.
"It's actually Charlie." I state.
"How did you end up working for Danny Mangos? And they brought back fruity weekdays!?" Kevin asks me.
"Well, Stevie got me a job. I just didn't know that I would end up handing out coupons dressed as a tangerine." I explain.
"You lucky ducky. You have different types of costumes!"
"Tomorrow, you'll be an apple."
"I know. So... Stevie warned me about you guys. Anything I should know?" I ask.
"Okay, since you're the new guy, we'll explain." Kevin says.
"We know we're all friends... But when it comes to our jobs, it's war." Nelson says.
"War?" I ask.
"Good luck buddy. You're gonna need it. Plus, you'll have to face that old geezer over there." they say pointing to an old man a few feet away from us who's sporting a hot dog costume. Oh boy...
"Let the Hunger Games begin." Kevin says.
"Kevin, the Hunger Games isn't about-"
"Not the point. Anyways, let the battles begin. Oh by the way, the food court's no man's land."
"No man's land?"
"You'll catch on later." Nelson says as the two walk off into different directions.
So I walk around, and I notice a guy with a boom box. Hmmm... Maybe Stevie might want me to do this.
"Hey man, can I dance for a bit?" I ask the dancer.
"Sure thing. Just hand me a coupon." he says and he heads off into the direction of Danny Mangos.
I change the station until I find cool music to dance to. I do a few dance moves and I get a few cheers. I remember all the moves Kadee taught me. Haha. This is kind of fun. After I'm done dancing, I get an applause.
"Thank you! Use a coupon and get fifty-percent off your smoothie!" I say as everyone comes to me and they take the coupons out of my hands. Well that was successful.
As I'm about to go meet up with Kevin and Nelson, I hear someone clap slowly and I hear a voice.
"Well done Zander. Or is it Charlie?" I hear. I turn around to see Molly. I think she's the queen Perf.
"It's Charlie. Now what do you want?" I ask her.
"Just wanted to say that you're moves are cool, but no one does the moon walk anymore." she says slyly.
"Take that back!"
"Sorry about Molly. She's a little grumpy today." the blond next to her says.
"A little?" I ask.
"Do you know Nelson?" she asks me.
"Grace! We've discussed this already. No Perf shall have a crush on a member of Gravity 5."
"But-"
"Yeah. I know Nelson. He's right over there handing out coupons to Slico Pizza. You should go talk to him. I'll put in a good word for you." I say and she beams. She runs over to Nelson, which just leaves me Molly and me.
"You stay out of Grace's love life." she snaps.
"Oh... The queen Perf is feisty. Well, you can't hurt me. This tangerine suit is pretty indestructible." I say patting my belly. Well, at least I think it's my belly. I can't feel anything at all under this suit.
"Stop ruining my image! If Grace starts dating Nelson, I'm putting you on the Perf shame wall."
"So? I don't go to your school."
"True, but Zander does. I don't put names, you know." she says.
Oh no she didn't.
"If you were truly 'perfect' you would see that letting your friend Grace do what she wants would be the best thing for her."
"Not if she's dating some guy that looks like a hobo."
"Well, she fell for him anyways. I got to go. I gotta go check on Nelson and Kevin."
"THIS IS NOT OVER!" she yells as I head to the food court.
I see Nelson and Kevin, but they aren't acting like themselves. Nelson's being attacked by a chicken leg, and Kevin's wrestling an ice cream cone.
What is going on?
"Hey! The tangerine is here!" someone yells. The two boys looks at me, and I think they say the most obvious thing.
"RUN!" they yell. The chicken leg and the ice cream cone chase me, and I run away. Lucky for me, I had some practice running in the streets as a little kid. The ice cream cone and the chicken leg are so slow. As I run, I bump into someone.
"Hey! Watch where you're- YOU!?" the mall cop asks me.
"Help me!"
"Last time I checked, you didn't work for the man." Something tells me this is about Zander.
"Help me! There's this chicken leg and ice cream cone chasing me." I say. The cop just rolls his eyes.
"I thought I told all of the food that food fights will not be tolerated... They never listen..." he says bluntly and takes out his whistle. As if on cue, the two catch up and the cop blows the whistle. The ice cream cone and the chicken leg stop trying to chase me. "How many times have I told you all that food fights are not allowed around here?" the cop asks them.
"Eighty two times..." the ice cream cone mumbles.
"Be easy on the guy. He's finally doing some work." the cop says.
"Yes sir." they say bluntly as they are about to go away.
"Hold on." the cop says.
"What? they ask him.
"I'm gonna need about two coupons from each of you, and your bosses won't have to know a thing." he says as they take out their coupons and hand him three each. After that, they head off to other parts of the mall.
"I thought you said two." I ask him.
"When I say two, they know I mean three."
"Thanks sir." I say.
"Stop with the sir nonsense. Call me Kirby." he says.
"Okay Kirby."
"So what are you doing suddenly working?" he asks me.
"My brother's actually the one who doesn't work."
"So you're a twin?"
"Yup. Just started my job today." I say.
"Watch out for the food. They can be pretty competitive," he says. "Well, I'm gonna go get me a grilled cheese sandwich. And could you hand me a coupon?" he asks me. I just roll my eyes as I hand him two coupons and a smile appears on his face.
"Great to meet you..."
"Charlie."
"Okay then Charlie. Be careful. Being one of the foods is a dangerous job." he says as he heads to Cheezers.
A/N: This was a pretty random chapter. I like how fun it is. I'm kind of proud of it. Now I'm hungry. In the next chapter, you might see that I kind of like to make parodies of restaurants. It's much more fun than using real businesses. Tell me what you think in the reviews darling!