artemis ; pjo

Cliff Bars and Confusion

   When Dan quietly shook me awake, I wanted to curse at him. It felt like I had just closed my eyes.

With one eye half open, I groaned.
"What?"

"You've slept for almost a day and a half. We're stopping to restock on supplies, but we'll be in the air in a half hour" he explained.

   It took me almost a minute for my groggy mind to comprehend what he said. After a quick moment of silence I sat up more. Rubbing my eyes, I clarified,
"Huh? A day and a half?"

"Yeah, I wish I could have slept that long"

After a few more minuets of me silently waking up, I turned towards Dan with more alertness.
"Where are we, exactly?"

"Uh, somewhere in Missouri, I think. Gabby, Mary-Kate, and Eric went to a tourist shop for maps and things like that. James and Ben went to the convenience store on the corner for food, water, and like items"

I started at Dan in disbelief.
"James and Ben? Together? Who's idea was that?"

"Gabby said that it would be good for James to show Ben what the OverWorld is like" Dan said.

I chuckled to myself. I'm glad Gabby saw the boys' little dispute too.
"Got it. Is there anything I can do to help get us de done faster?"

"Um, well James and Ben might need help. I think Gabby, Mary-Kate, and Eric have it covered in the tourist shop"

"Uh, well, tourist shops can be confusing, they might need help there"

"Why don't you want to go with James and Ben?" Dan asked.

"Because... I, um, I don't want to be the only girl there. Yep, that's why I, uh don't want to go"

"Amanda, what's up? I know you don't care about that"

   As I reluctantly gave him a quick overview of their competition, Dan began walking and I struggled to keep up. Why he was walking, that was a mystery to me. He stopped and I finished the mini story.

"Welp," Dan said, popping the 'p', "Good luck with that!" And he pushed me through a set of doors.

   A bell tingled as the door shut and a few heads popped out of the long rows of boxes food.  Including James. Dan's weird rainbows couldn't do anything to stop me from hurting him now.

"He's worse than dead" I muttered.

"Huh?" James asked walking up to me.

"Nothing. I woke up and Dan said you guys might need help in here so, yeah, I'm here to help. Where's Ben?"

"He's trying to figure out which pack of cereal costs less. For someone who is part of the most intelligent race on the planet, he's not a very fast learner" James said while peering around the corner. I looked with him to see a very confused Ben sitting on the ground with cereal boxes and American money laying in front of him.

"Well, cut him some slack. This transition must be hard" I said, surprising myself. Why was I defending him?

"Yeah, but still. Anyways, can you go get some protein bars and water?I'm gonna explain the concept of percentage with Ben again"

   I nodded and walked through the freshly stocked shelves. I slid a few boxes of Cliff bars into a shopping bag and walked towards the mini fridge. On my way up there, I saw James talking to Ben, who was still on the floor.

"Uh, James, anything else?" I asked, startling Ben who had his to me.

"Amanda? Oh, um, hi" Ben stuttered, but I ignored him.

"James?"

"Granola, then can you come back here. We can check out together to save money" James told me.

"But how does that help us save money?! Ugh, this is confusing, explain again Poseidon boy" Ben demands, sounding like a child who didn't get his ice cream.

"Don't call me 'Poseidon Boy' and I've told you how simple this is before..."
James explained again as I walked away.

I shook my head and smiled. They never do learn, do they?