A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the wait, you'd think I'd have more time to write with everything that's going on, but I'm still as irresponsible as ever. This chapter jumps around a lot because I'm trying to get the plot rolling. I also got more fanart made! (I do that an awful lot for someone who never updates…) I hope you enjoy the chapter and please review! Don't be shy haha
Chapter 15
3rd POV
As soon as the principal left, Michael stood and beckoned the others to follow him, briskly walking to the student parking lot and waiting for Henrietta to unlock her mom's car. They all piled in; Henrietta in the driver's seat, Michael in the front passenger seat, and the rest in the back with Firkle shoved in the middle seat due to being the smallest. There was a harsh silence after they somehow slammed their doors shut in sync.
"We can't tell her." Michael was gritting his teeth and glaring out the front windshield. Pete looked uncomfortable and Firkle was staring out the window blankly.
"I don't think that guy actually cares about her, he's probably just trying to ease his own filthy conscious." Henrietta rolled down her window as she lit a cigarette.
"We have to make sure he stays away, what if he tries to take her or something? Knowing the bitch Sophia lives with, she'll be glad to have gotten rid of her." Michael's hands were shaking as he angrily tore a cigarette out of its box, bringing one of his knees up to his chest and digging his fingers into his shin.
"Did you see that guy? He probably kisses his boss's hairy ass and has a nice house or something." Henrietta glared. "He's married too, I saw the ring on his finger, his conformist wife won't treat Sophia right, she probably can't stand the thought that he even looked at some other bitch before she met him."
"We have to get rid of him." Michael cranked down his window harder than necessary. "That asshole principal is just going to let him keep coming back and he'll eventually bump into Sophia."
"Hold on," Stan furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the people sitting around him. "We can't just decide something like this for Sophia, she has to at least know what's going on."
"This is what's best for Sophia." Henrietta said calmly. "She's goth, but she's too nice for her own good."
"Yeah, but it's her life. Don't you think she wants to meet her dad or something? She said her mom never told her about him, she has to be at least a little bit curious." Firkle was glaring but Pete seemed like he was listening.
"Stop acting you know everything!" Michael whipped around so fast he flung cigarette ash into the backseats. "Just because you've had one conversation with her doesn't mean you know anything about her! We've been her friends for years and you just met her, so don't pretend you know what she'd want." The taller boy was glaring into Stan's eyes, probably the angriest he's ever been.
"Fine. But don't expect me to keep quiet if something happens." Stan glared back, pretty agitated himself.
"So what, you're a snitch now? Figures, you haven't got a single ounce of loyalty in that conformist jock meat sack you call a body." Michael took a deep drag from his cigarette and blew it upwards.
"Just because I don't conform to what you want doesn't mean I'm not loyal." Stan glared back and the other three raised their eyebrows.
"Woah." They breathed in sync.
- somewhere else -
"I think I just saw Sophia."
Charles stared in shock at his wife. His eyes were blown open as he struggled to form words.
"But, how? I mean, isn't she, uh, supposed to be in-in class or something? Why would she be out here, or walking out? How did you see her? Did she talk to you? What did she say? Are you sure it was her?" Sarah held her hands up calmingly, taking a step closer to her husband.
"We ran into each other actually. She apologized for almost hitting me with the door. I thought she was ditching class but she said she has a job."
"A job." Charles mouthed, staring at the bike rack a few feet away.
"She was very polite, she seemed kind of awkward actually." Sarah said softly. "You were right about her friends, she dresses like that too. She actually has these really long bangs, you can't see much of her face, but it was her." Sarah smiled reassuringly at Charles who was still in shock. "She looks like Christine," Her tone softened and she looked at the bit of snow on the ground. "She has these really long legs and is all willowy and delicate. She's very thin though, I hope she's okay." She added worryingly at the end, her motherly tone showing.
Charles could picture her in his head and the corners of his lips twitched up.
"Did she say where she was going?" He asked hopefully but Sarah shook her head.
"Here's what we'll do," She started once she saw how disappointed he looked. "We'll walk around the main part of town town where all the shops and grocery stores and hope that we bump into her. If we don't, we can always try the school again tomorrow, sounds like a plan?" Charles nodded and kissed her cheek.
"You always know what to say." He smiled and held her hand. "Let's get going."
-somewhere else -
Sophia POV
This shift blows.
For some reason, some lady wanted to have her stupid kid's birthday party at Benny's of all places -on a Monday afternoon?-, and I had to deal with them for their entire stay, not to mention cleaning up after those demons. Some old man sitting next to them was bitching and whining so much that I offered to move him to another table, but he then proceeded to go off on me about how he's sat at the same table for the last hundred or so years and he wasn't going to move just because of a few snot nosed brats.
"Very good sir." I told him in my most monotone voice before refilling his one dollar cup of coffee that he's been drinking for the past hour.
"No respect for your elders! Don't you know that if it wasn't for my generation, you wouldn't even be here!" His saggy jaw jiggled with his effort to look tough.
"Ah, so I finally have someone to blame then." I rolled my eyes under my fringe as I dropped a few sugar packets and creamers into his table before turning around to check on the birthday party again.
"Is everything okay, can I get you anything else?" The mom in charge turned to me with a smile.
"Yes, we'd like our cake now." I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Did you order a cake ma'am?"
"No, but you give cakes to birthday parties held in your restaurant." Well shit.
"Usually we do, but only if you make a reservation with us first."
"I did make a reservation." She put her hands on her hips and spoke to me in some stupid baby voice, as if I was retarded or something.
"Uh, no you didn't, you called twenty minutes in advance to tell us to clear a table for you. A reservation is made two or more days in advance and is payed ahead of time." She suddenly went red in the face and leaned toward me so fast I had to stumble back a step.
"Listen here, you're going to get my son a cake for his birthday party. You wouldn't want to ruin his party would you? I've been coming here for years, so I'm sure Benny's wouldn't want to lose my business, especially in such a small town like this." She grinned as if she won and straightened up expectantly.
"Sorry ma'am, there's nothing I can do." I shrugged and put my notepad in my pocket. 'And for the record, I've actually worked here for a long time, and you come here maybe once a year, so it's not like you're contributing much business anyway.' Is what I wished I could say. I flinched hard when her hand latched on too tightly to my upper arm and shoved me toward the counter.
"Manager! I need to speak to a manager!" Debbie, the other waitress who my friends always complain about, came out from the kitchen and furrowed her eyebrows.
"Ma'am, let go of my employee." She shoved me away and I almost crashed into a counter chair. "What's the problem?"
"This girl won't give me a cake for my son's birthday party." She crossed her arms angrily and I gingerly rubbed my arm.
"Did you make a reservation?"
"Yes I did."
"Well, under what name did you make it?" She pulled out a notebook up receipts. "We write down all our reservations here." If anything, the lady looked angrier.
"This is ridiculous! I called in advance! Give me the number of your supervisor, I'm calling to complain."
"Go ahead." Debbie pulled out a business card and handed it to her. "The most I could do is give you a discount on our cake and pie if you'd like that instead."
"Give me two pies." She snatched the business card and bumped my shoulder. "I'm not tipping, your customer service is atrocious." She hissed at me and I rolled my eyes, turning away from her.
"If something like that happens again, you come and tell me right away, okay kid?" Debbie put her hands on her hips and I nodded. "Go take a break, I'll finish up for you."
"Thanks Debbie." I walked to the back and grabbed my phone and a napkin I had carefully wrapped a few cigarettes in. One hand lifted a cigarette to my lips while the other angrily flicked open my silver lighter. "Fucking bitch." I mumbled through an angry exhale of smoke. My foot was tapping on the pavement anxiously and the risk of crushing my cigarette was very real. But it's fine, I'll be fine, just a few more hours until my shift is over.
"Woah, that was like totally not cool of that lady over there!" A bubbly voice suddenly exclaimed next to me. Porsche used to work at Raisins and was there for couple of years before she was fired by corporate for fucking the manager in the back room. From the way she's told the story, I was one hundred percent sure the sleazy guy took advantage of her, but her parents didn't see it that way and never pressed charges. She was only a little bit sad when she came to work here, claiming that the tips weren't as good, but eventually warmed up to the job saying it was a much calmer environment than Raisins and that people actually listened when she wanted to make conversation. I didn't work with Porsche very often, but when our shifts did overlap, I was never sure of what to think.
Porsche was stereotypically air headed and spacey, with a super peppy outlook in life. She practically glowed everywhere she went and the most she would probably accomplish in life is being some middle class guy's mistress. But at the same time, I couldn't completely write her off as an annoyance; she was very sweet. Ignoring my monotone responses and blank looks, she always greets me happily and often has one sided conversations with me where she always asks for my opinion on things but has learned to not wait for a response.
"Yeah, what a cunt." I blew out the cigarette smoke.
"It'll be okay Sophia, she probably won't come back for a while." She patted my shoulder comfortingly. "I've gotten her a few times, and she always waits a few months before coming back to complain so she can get something else for free." And on that light note, she pranced back to continue her shift. A deep sigh came from far down in my diaphragm, I crouched down and leaned my arms on my knees, frowning at a small ant that happened to be crawling next to me.
"You good kid?" Joe peeked his head out from the kitchen.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I flicked the cigarette ash anxiously.
"Here," he handed me a disposable plate full of mashed potatoes and gravy. "Cheer up, that lady will be leaving in a little while." He winked and I slowly took the plate of food.
"Thanks." My lips twitched up as he handed me a plastic spoon.
- somewhere else –
3rd POV
The day had turned to afternoon with Charles and Sarah still seeing no sign of Sophia. They've checked all the grocery stores, shops, and even the mall, with no sign of the willowy girl anywhere.
"It's alright, at least we know she'll for sure be at school." Sarah tried comforting her downtrodden husband. "She probably just went home for the day."
"Yeah, I know." He sighed a bit disappointed. "The anticipation is just getting to me a bit." Sarah wrapped her arm around his waist and pressed a sweet kiss against his cheek.
"Come on, let's go get some dinner and we can go back to rest at the hotel room." Charles nodded tiredly.
"That sounds pretty good right now." He checked his phone for anything nearby. "There's a Benny's just down the street, sounds good?" She nodded and smiled as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. The small diner had just a few people; there was an older waitress at the register, an old man sitting in a booth, two teenagers in a booth eating some pancakes, and a few older women sitting together and chortling.
"Hi welcome to Benny's, my name is Porsche, table for two?" A perky, teenage girl greeted them enthusiastically.
"Yes please." She led them to a booth near the kids eating pancakes, the younger of the two was enthusiastically scooping a fruit topping from a small bowl onto the fluffy treat and pouring sweet sticky syrup all over them.
"Can I start you off with anything to drink?" She smiled sweetly and laid down some menus for them.
"I'll just have coffee." Sarah smiled.
"Same for me." Charles opened up his menu and looked over the dinner options.
"Cool, your server will be right with you." She pranced away, her wavy shoulder length hair bounced as she walked. He gave a deep sigh, looking out the window towards the setting sun.
"What's wrong?" Sarah asked softly.
"I'm just wondering if we're doing the right thing..." Her hand immediately clasped his.
"Charles! You've been working so hard to get to this point for so long, why are you doubting yourself now?"
"I just can't help but wondering if we keep missing her for a reason, you know? And then there was all that stuff her friends said... If we think about it logically, she most likely hates me." He gripped her hand tightly, shutting his eyes just as tightly.
"Now you listen to me," Sarah said in an unexpectedly hard voice. "We should be grateful to be here at all! Some people never get this sort of chance. I don't know how she'll react, but you'll never know if you don't try." He slowly opened his lids and they locked eyes. The waitress was setting down their coffee along with some cream and sugar.
"You're right. Besides, it's not like she's going to fall out of the sky and land right in front of me, I just have to try harder." Charles chuckled and in sync both him and his wife turned to smile at the waitress, then immediately froze in shock.
"Hello, my name is Sophia and I'll be your server for today." The tall girl with bangs obscuring the top half of her face pulled out a notepad and clicked her pen. "Would you like to hear our specials?"