The Secret

Chapter 11: Set Path

"You have to be kidding me Shadow! I tell you one thing for you not to do and you beat a teacher's helper! This is a new low for even you!" Kayton yells. I look over to the left so I don't start yelling back. Not in public at least. Jason and his dad are walking towards there car. Jason looks over and Kayton keeps going. "Like come on Shadow! For once in your life can you not... not be dramatic you?!"
"Can we not do this here?" I ask quietly.
"You're in no position to ask that. You need to stop being a self absorbed bit..."
"I did it for you!" I argue.
"Don't you dare think you can pin this on me!"
"When do I ever pin things on you?! Kayton, that guy I beat was Bryan! He attacked us! He put me up against the same damn locker and was going to do the same thing to me! He hurt Jason and I froze! You really think I would just randomly attack someone?! I had to do something and I did. I don't care whatever you say, I was not in the wrong," I yell. Looking back over at Jason, I feel sick from embarrassment so I push past Kayton and hurry home. I hear Kayton start to hurry after me but I change the direction I'm going and go to the home he doesn't know much about.

I go straight to the cash out and Bobby pulls me into a hug. He gestures to the back room so that's where I go. The back room is different from the employee lounge. The few employees are students that work here part time after school. They have lockers and a cushioned bench. The back room is for Bobby. After a week of me working here, he told me to put my bag in the back room and said I can take my breaks in there. It has two big chairs that are cushioned with shaggy cushions, a coffee table in front of them, and then his desk at the back. Right behind his desk, there's a bunch of storage. Part is paperwork for the store, part is empty, and part is just stuff to do. I sit down in one of the chairs in a curling position. Bobby has known me since I was just a little girl. He was friends with my dad but their friendship fell apart when I was about five. He has always been more of a dad to me and he did everything he could to protect me. Once he even brought me here to insure my safety. I basically grew up in this store and with Bobby. It use to be called Bobby's Market but he asked me one day what I would name it. Bobbing Apples because it mixes his name with something to show ins a grocery store like he wanted. Plus it's a fun twist. The door opens and he plops down in the other chair. We both sit there quietly looking at each other. Then, the laughing starts.
"Your smile is something special and I knew I could make it come out of hiding," Bobby laughs. "So are you going to spill or what?"
"You know that guy who I was showing around?"
"Is this boy trouble? Okay let's see how I do at this. Umm..."
"No, not exactly. Well I guess a little. Look I like him right and we keep having moments where I really think he likes me but then he hurries away from them. Then today I lost my friends because I didn't go to the party they wanted me to go to. Well Kayla, she never forced me and she has some sort of plan. Then Jason, the guy I'm talking about, he pulled me into a hallway but it was that hall and Bryan came and was going to do the same thing to me and I think Genevieve had something to do with it and..."
"Hey, relax. Your okay. First off, did he hurt you?" Bobby asks.
"No I moved in time and both Jason and I pinned him."
"Okay now what about this party?" He asks. I explain the situation I was in and what happened. Every time I would start going out on a rant, he brought me back to a calm perspective. "Well," he says, "I'm proud of you with making the discussion you made. I know it's hard for you due to how you need to fit in somewhere, even though you really don't have to. Your perfect the way you are and shouldn't change for anyone. Just remember that. And Kayla is still there for you like always, and this Jason seems to be too. So you do fit in somewhere, and where you fit in doesn't make you change yourself. You have a voice and there's a reason for that. You are you and there's a reason for that. Understand?"
"Thanks Bobby," I nod with a small smile. He pulls me into a hug and before I know it, he has two books in front of me. Harry Potter and Divergent. I look at him and he starts reading Harry Potter.
"Why are you reading without even opening the book?" I ask.
"You have made me read this book so many times I know the first paragraph off by heart."

Bobby, fast asleep, drops the book and snores loudly. I grab a blanket to cover him and write him a note:
Bobby,
I locked up the shop and cleared the cash from the registers like you do each night. It's in the locked jerore in your desk and I put the key on a string around your neck. I will see you in the morning sleepy head!
~Shade
And I do what I said I would do.