Making it to the end// Joey Birlem

The greeting

It had already been six months and I was definitely miserable. School was horrible, Black Bow has been sick for four months with infections and heart problems, Mom was always gone to work and I still had no friends. The only good part about the move was the people. They all did their best to help and were always friendly. 

 Shortly after we moved, I was walking and I got lost because my phone died and I couldn't find where mom worked. A nice man whose name was Henry, walked me all the way there and got to know me better. I always go visit him at about 4:30 to have tea. He was like the only real friend I had. Down by the docks, I knew everyone who worked in each little shop.

One day, mom came home from work, and we had dinner. Afterward, I told her I was going down to the docks to hang out. She gave me the usual, "Be safe and don't talk to strangers" lecture before I set off. I made sure I had my phone and a jacket. They sun was setting; perfect.

 The orange-pink sky glowed on the horizon. When I got down to the docks, all of the shops were closed except a local drug store that also sold sea maps and souvenirs. Mr. Hansel owned the store, and was as nice as Henry was. I would sometimes help him restock shelves when he didn't have any help.

 I climbed up on the dock rails that separated the boats from the shops and watched the sun set. I thought about what I was going to do tomorrow since it was a Saturday. A seagull landed on the rail next to me. I looked at it for a moment before it flew off.

Suddenly, I heard Mr. Hansel's shop door open. I looked behind me to see a woman, a man, two girls, and a boy who looked around my age. The boy looked at me and we made eye contact. We both looked away and they walked inside the store. After about five minutes, I heard the door open again.

"Oh there she is," I heard Mr. Hansel's voice say. "Briella, could I see you for a second?"

 I hopped off the fence and walked over to Mr. Hansel.

"Of course, what can I help you with?"

 Mr. Hansel smiled kindly at me and held out a hand toward the boy who was still looking at me.

 "This is Joey Birlem. He's going to help me this summer in the shop. I was wondering if you could show him around the town sometime?"

I looked at Joey, who suddenly had a disgusted look on his face. I was taken aback for a second.

"Yes, I believe I can do that."

Mr. Hansel had never looked more grateful. "I'm going to talk to his parents, would you mind showing him a little now?"

"Of course." I smiled. Joey rolled his eyes and followed me.

I didn't really know what to say. He didn't appear to be in the mood for a friendly walk. He had brown hair with blonde streaks that was cut to fall down on the right side of his head. His lips were wide and heart shaped and he had extremely long eye lashes that rested on top of his bright brown-green eyes. His height was about 5'5", just a little bit taller than me. Joey wore a black tee shirt with black skinny jeans and some white high-tops.

"I'm Briella," I introduced myself as we came to a stop at the end of a dock. Joey looked out over the water before looking at me.

 "The old man already introduced us," he said rather rudely.

"He's spoiled," I thought to myself. It was quiet for a moment before I decided to sit down and take off my shoes. Joey also sat down but didn't take off his shoes.

 "What are you doing?" he asked me as I set my shoes behind me. I looked at him. "Dipping my feet in the water. Why do you ask?" I questioned, placing my feet in the warm water. Joey shook his head.

"How long have you lived here?" I counted the months just to make sure it was six. "Six months." He looked surprised. It was silent again for a while. The sun was going down faster than I had thought it was. I took my feet out after a while and let them dry before putting my shoes back on.

"How about I tell you some things about me and then you return the favor throughout the summer?" I asked as I looked behind us. His parents and Mr. Hansel had gone inside.  

"Fine," Joey replied after a few seconds of deciding. "You start."

"Okay. Well, first, I moved here from Wallace, Idaho six months ago. I have the cutest black cat named Black Bow. My parents are divorced and my dad and other siblings are back in Idaho. My younger siblings are twins and I have an older sister. I know almost everyone in this town, except for you."

"That's quite a lot of information," Joey said. I let him take some of that in before asking him one question.

"Are you stuck up and spoiled?"

 Joey looked offended. "No," he snapped.

 I rolled my eyes. I wasn't going to show around a fourteen-year-old brat if he was going to treat me like trash.

"You're going to have to prove that to me," I told him as I stood up. I held out a hand for Joey to take but he rejected it and stood up on his own.

He stepped closer to me with a death glare in his eyes. "I wouldn't take up that attitude with me if I were you."

 I smiled. "I'm not afraid of you. Also, that's a horrible way to start proving to me that you are a decent boy and that I can rely on you to help Mr. Hansel with anything and everything that he asks you to help with."

 Joey stepped back with an irritated look on his face. I asked him give me his number so that I could contact him. "I'm not going to contact you," he said, snatching his phone back.

     "Yes you are. You're coming to my house in the morning and we're going sightseeing," I said, smiling at an even more irritated Joey.

"Fine," he said again. We began walking back to Mr. Hansel's shop when I pulled out my phone only to see that it had died.

I groaned, "No."

Joey looked at me like I was weird.

"What?" I put my dead phone back in my pocket as we walked to the door. I shook my head just as Mr. Hansel came out of his store.

"Briella," Mr. Hansel said with a worried and flustered look on his face. We looked at him with confused looks.

"What is it?" I inquired.

Joey looked between me and Mr. Hansel.

 "Your mother just called. Some little one by the name of Black Bow is in need of immediate care," he replied. Suddenly it hit me.

"No!"

"Thank you," I said, quickly before giving him a hug. I looked at Joey. "8:00!"

He nodded.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed! If you did please vote, comment, and share this story to make it more discoverable. Tomorrow I will hit you with 2 new updates right after each other so be ready for that. Ok baii!