The Original Bad Boy

6| One Call Away

"The original bad boy treats his old friends and enemies alike."

6| One Call Away

"Are you for real?" Danie asks in shock.

Likewise, Isa stands agape after hearing the news about VIP tickets to Nightmare. All thoughts of finishing their lunch before the end of block leaves their minds replaced with the breaking news.

With a smug expression, I steal the French fries from their plates.

"So, you're in or not with helping arrange the diner for Mom's birthday?" I ask in a nonchalant manner.

"Of course!" They reply simultaneously.

"I'm willing to break every sweat and blood I need for those tickets!" Isa announces dramatically.

Danie and I shake our heads in disgust.

By the end of lunch, we conclude driving to the location in Danie's car after school. Heading to my last period class, I accidentally bump into a girl with her back towards me. Frankly, manuevering through the lunch crowd to class isn't an easy task. Nudges and bumping sometimes happens.

Unfortunately, the girl didn't understand that.

She spits a colorful word at me before turning back to face another figure. Gaining a glimpse of her make out buddy, I cringe and resume my journey. Arsen has more girls to change than I have clothes. Believe me, my wardrobe is pretty hefty.

The day progresses as slowly as possible until the last class is over.

Excitedly, Danie, Isa, and I arrive at the diner located hardly two blocks from my house and one from my parents' restaurant. Yesterday evening, my dad gave me the keys to the place, therefore we unlock and step inside easily. Expecting a high-class environment, we genuinely receive a surprise discovering dust, fallen over chairs, smell of smoke and something dying, and darkness.

"Ew," Danie complains.

All of cover our mouths and noses, searching for the light switch.

"Here." Isa uses her phone's flashlight to let us move around easily. Who knows what we may step on? On the walls, historic paintings hang creepily. "Dude, this place looks like it hasn't seen light since the Declaration of Independence."

"Alright Val, why didn't you tell us how screwed up this place was before we agreed to help?" Danie stops and inquires.

"I thought he bought a place that was just recently closed, not during WWII."

I sigh at the painting of Hitler and his Nazis.

"Did they do weed back in those days?" Isa asks, standing by the window in the back. "It stinks of weed back here."

"How do you know what weed smells like?" I question. Nevertheless, Danie and I scurry towards the direction and are hit with a nasty odor which makes our noses wrinkle.

"My gym partner, Sean, smells exactly like this," Isa replies, "and upon asking, he told me it was weed. He's gross."

And I thought I had it worse.

At least, Arsen smells clean.

"Well, let's move and fetch a deodorant for weed," I suggest.

The girls roll their eyes before we shuffle around to find the light switch (finally!). Thankfully, we don't come across any illegal plants or drugs in our diner, thus blaming the smell on people who may do pot in the back alley. Most our time is spent searching for unavailable air fresheners in the place. At the end, we handle the odor and pick up all fallen furniture.