Living in Disguise

Chapter 3: A kiss of repulsion...or not?

I was only about ten feet away from the "win-a-gimmick" booth as I call it, when a boy with short brown curly hair quickened his pace following after me, leaving his group of loud, unruly friends behind.

"Hey, umm are you new ar-around here? I can show you around-d if you'd like", the nervous boy stuttered as he stuck his palmy hands in his pocket.

Well, at least he has the guts to actually talk to me, I think to myself as I smirk.

"Sure! And yes, actually I'm very new around here, you see back in Kansas, my granpop, when he passed away back in July, my daddy was so sad, he couldn't stay there, so he moved in with our great great aunt who had..." I continued in my very southern voice, rambling on and on about how the orchards were just so darn beautiful in the fall.

Not only was this boy completely oblivious to the fact that my southern accent was a hoax, he also failed to acknowledge that we had been in the same school since kindergarten. Some beings are just a disappointment to life. On closer inspection, he had braces that would certainly leave white spots, was short, and definitely had quite a few confidence issues. The way he would wring his hands while talking told me that he was self conscience of those, not only that, but his feet too, he was always moving them, even while having a conversation.

"Hey wait, what's your name?" He suddenly asks, looking up.

"Oh, pardon me! I'm... Dorothy Ozcar! What about you?"I respond, thinking quickly.

"Nice to meet you Dorothy, I'm Nick Jones." He answers with a grin.

After some utterly boring conversation with Nick about Kansas and how I lived on a farm, we finally got moving. At first I was afraid I might actually have to put plan B into action and be more straight forward but, after nearly falling asleep while he gave me a history lesson, he finally asked if I wanted a huge bear from the "win-a-gimmick" booth. And that, is how my plan went into action.

He had thrown three times and was looking rather disappointed for wasting five dollars when his group of rowdy, loud, obnoxious friends came running up. They all paid for three shots while staring at me and whispering amongst each other. Finally, one guy stepped forward, looking older than the rest.

"So I see you've met my stupid brother Nick. I'm Thomas, the better looking and more intelligent brother. Well, since he couldn't throw for his life, I will get you a prize." He said rather arrogantly, with his chest puffed out.

Thomas smiled, wound his arm up and threw the baseball, completely missing. His smile faltered but he just got in position for his next ball. Again, he missed by about three feet. On his last ball, the group of boys around started snickering and his face was turning red. This was his last shot, and as the leader of his group, if he didn't hit at all, he would be degraded to a lower level status. The brains of teenagers today are truly rotten. He wound up his arm, threw, and actually was about to hit a can, but missed. His face turned red and just walked away.

The other boys had already paid, so they all took there shots, but all lost. I took on step 2 of my plan. I asked Nick for $5 as I batted my eyes at him smiling.

"Ah-umm yeah sure..." He fumbled digging around in his pocket, retrieving a crumbled five dollar bill.

"Thank you sweetie!" I squealed leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. As repulsive as this seemed, seeing as he had countless facial oils and bacterial just gathering on his face, it was needed for future action. I had this odd feeling though... as if I had somehow liked kissing him.

He was dumbstruck, with a frozen expression that simply portrayed amazement. I smiled sweetly and picked up a ball.

I looked at the vendor in the eye and whispered loudly to Nick, "you know, this game is a fraud, it is impossible to win. The vendor stands on a cord attached to the cans so that they can't be knocked over. Ask him to step outside of the booth and you'll win."

He won. This is me making friends. I'm just a girl with a plan 😏.