Run Chas!... Run!!
You can do it!
Just a few metres more.
Almost there!
Geez! Why the frappe is the hallway always crowded?
"Excuse me!" "Excuse me!"
"Side please!!"
Dodging here. Ducking down. Dodging left.
"Sag somewhere else, you dimwittle!" Squeeze and slide.
"Freak!!"
"Yo mama is freak!" I yelled back at the guy who I peeled off from a girl.
No time for chit-chatting Chas. Run...Run!
I speed-brake right in front of my class. Leaning on the door frame I tried catching my breath after the marathon I just had. I definitely need to do some exercise. "Excuse..." Breathe. "me..." Breathe. "Professor...." Breathe. "May... I... come... in?"
Prof. Geller pulled his glassed down and looked straight at me with his beady eyes. Checking his watch, he said, "You are late."
And you are quite observant, my dear professor, was what I wanted to say. But saying that would not have helped me get in the classroom. So, I put on my good studious student demure and straightened up. "I got stuck in the traffic, Sir."
Giving away nothing from his expression, he bored his eyes into me further. "That's what you said last time, Ms Taylor." Last time? No. I swear I said something else. I mean lied.
"Oh, no. Last time, I do remember I said my cat died." Changing my expression to hopelessly upset, I swiped a finger under my glasses. "My poor little Olly." Poor little imaginary Olly.
I knew Prof. Gellar had a soft spot for cats. He actually has six cats in his home. Sadly, for him, he has only six cats in his home. I found out his softness from a reliable but secret source and it came handy from time to time. Like last time and right now.
"Oh, how I miss him. My sweet Olly!!" I removed my glasses and dabbed my eyes with the sleeves of my shirt and added the special effects of sniffling. Prof. Gellar was already buying it. I know, I'm a great actress. The whole class was snickering silently watching the scene unfold in front of them. They knew I was messing with the Prof. You may think that I'm really bad and what I'm doing is wrong but let Prof. Gellar take few of your classes and then you'll understand. First he will make you feel pity for yourself by asking questions that you have no freaking clue, make you want to kill yourself for ever opting for his subject and then he will bury you under a huge heap of assignments and won't even give a eulogy when you are dead.
I heard Prof. Gellar clearing his throat and looked up after putting my glasses back. "Dear, your Olly is in a good place. Don't feel bad about it." Prof. Gellar was looking somewhere in the distance, maybe thinking of one of his own dead cats. Poor him. He cleared his throat again. "You should take a seat, Ms Taylor. I'm about to explain the Lami's Theorem."
I fist pumped mentally and gave him a small smile with a nod hiding the joy of victory bubbling inside me. Lily and Keith were already in their seats at the back of the class, so I took a seat next to them.
"That was one hell of a drama you put up. He bought it right away as usual," Keith whispered to me while chuckling.
I mischievously smiled and winked back. Hearing interrupting cough from the front, I sniffled again continuing my act and looked back at professor with a sad face. He nodded with understanding and then continued with the lecture. Such a gullible person he is.
~~~~~~
"What is this?"
Slapping the sandwich on the counter top, I glared at the boy, wearing a pink apron, standing behind it. "This freaking sandwich has mayonnaise in it!" Boring my eyes further into him, I said in a bone-chilling voice, well, so I thought, "What did I tell you about no mayonnaise in my sandwich..." I glanced at his name plate stuck to his apron. "Freddy?"
"Yeah! There is no mayo in your sandwich." He didn't look bothered with what I said, at all. Well, Freddy boy, you are about to feel the wrath of Chas.
"Oh yeah?" I removed the top bread of the sandwich and pointed at the gooey white stuff splashed inside. "Then what is this white shit?"
He bended over the counter and regarded the sandwich with disinterest. Taking a bit of the white shit on his finger, he tasted it. "Hmm... Tastes like mayo."
"Because it is mayo!!" I yelled at his face. "The million dollar question here is... Why the hell is this in my sandwich when I had clearly specified that I don't want mayo in my sandwich?"
Now, he looked a tiny bit scared because of my yelling and the growing redness on my face. "Ah...It must have been a mistake." He carefully moved his hand towards the plate to take it. "Give me a minute, I'll get another sandwich with no mayo." Oh! Now he is talking. But I was over it.
Slamming a hand over the counter, I said, "NO! I want to see the manager of this Café. Right Now!"
Freddy's eyes popped out hearing that. "That won't be needed, ma'am. I'll get this sandwich changed right away. It was a mistake for which I'm really sorry on behalf of Darling's Café."
"No, Freddy boy. That won't do. Call your manager. Now!" I placed a hand on my hip and started tapping the floor with one foot.
By now, he was pale with fear. Ha! Take that. "I'm extremely sorry, ma'am. This won't happen again. Please don't talk with the manager. I already have got two strikes. You know what... You can have anything for free. It's on the cafe. I swear but please don't ask for the manager." Seeing him literally begging, I felt pity for him and thought of letting go. Getting stuff for free has nothing to do with it. Okay? I swear.
After ten minutes, I returned back to our table where Lily and Keith were going all lovey-dovey with each other. Ew! "Get a room! You guys! You are corrupting my innocent eyes."
Lily turned towards me after wiping a lipstick mark from Keith's cheek. "Get a boyfriend Chas," she sang.
Rolling my eyes, I scoffed. "No thanks. I'm fine without a living and breathing headache."
"Hey!" Keith looks at me offended. "I'm not a headache." He looked back at Lily with pouty lips. "Am not, right babe?"
"Aw! No babe. You are my Pooh bear," she answered assuring him while pecking him on his pouty lips. Arg! Kill me now! I groaned loudly, capturing their attention back to me.
With their eyes back on me, Keith asked, "Anyways, what took you so long? You just had to replace mayo sandwich."
Answering his question, I placed my food tray down on the table. "Tada!!"
"Holy shit! This much food!" Keith's eyes bulged out seeing the sheer amount of food piled up on my tray. That boy did said that I could take anything for free. I just did what he said.
"Why the hell did you buy this much?" Lily asked giving me a crazed look.
"Who wouldn't get food when it's free?" I shrugged and slide into the booth opposite to them.
"Free?" They both asked at the same time with disbelief written all over their face.
"Yup." I smiled cheekily pushing my glasses up my nose.
"But how?" Keith asked while moving his hand closer to the French fries. I slapped his hand which was approaching my food.
"Chas doesn't share food!" Yeah! I just quoted Joey. And now don't ask, Joey who? I'll hit you.
"How did you get this much food? For Free?"
"How are you going eat this much food? All by yourself?" They both asked at the same time. I narrowed my eyes on them.
"First, stop talking at the same time. It creeps me out." Flipping my hair back, I said, "I used my charms."
"Huh! Your charms. Right." Lily snorted sarcastically. I stuck my tongue out at her.
I turned towards Keith and zeroed my eyes on him. "And to answer your question, I'm a growing girl and I have a big appetite. So, yes, I'm going to eat all of this all by myself," I said while pulling my tray closer towards my end of the table.
Huffing moodily, he said, "For a girl you sure have a large appetite." He later mumbled thinking I won't hear. "And you definitely need all the nutrition for growing up, for we know for sure that you haven't hit puberty yet." I kicked him hard under the table.
"Ow!!" His face contorted in pain that meant my kick had landed right where I wanted it to. "You heard?"
"Oh, I heard it fine." I scowled at him. Popping a fry into my mouth, I asked, "What's today's plan?"
They looked at each other grimly. My eyebrows scrunched up in suspicion. "What?"
Lily turned towards me with a tight-lipped smile. "Chas?"
"Yeah?"
"We kind of... made our own plans for today." She gave me a puppy face. "We are sorry." My mood deflated like a punctured balloon. I was upset but didn't show it on my face, instead, I shrugged nonchalantly.
"Nah! It's okay. You guys have fun. I have stuff to do today anyways."
Keith looked at me with concern. "You sure, you're okay with... it?"
Swatting my hand in the air. "Yeah, definitely." I pushed my tray towards them. "Why don't you two help me out with the food? I don't think I'll be able to eat all this." I said few more things to side-track them to avoid asking questions.
~~~~~~
Opening the door to my apartment, I stepped inside and dropped my bag on the couch. I kicked shoes off my feet and wandered into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water. Getting Lily and Keith off my back wasn't easy. If they were really worried about me then they wouldn't have planned their date for today or yesterday or day before yesterday or the day before that and all the other days they had ditched me. I understand they are a couple now and they need privacy and all the crap but forgetting about a friend they had for a long time, long before they started going out together wasn't fair too. They don't even get it that I'm left alone all the freaking time. Going out with them is also not pleasant as I always become the third wheel and trust me, being the third wheel is not a good feeling.
I pushed the depressing thoughts out of my mind and plopped down on the burgundy coloured couch next to my bag. The living room cum dining room wasn't big just like the rest of my apartment. Ten feet by eight feet room homing a moderate size T.V. set attached to the wall, a couch and a coffee table on which, right now, my feet were resting. Searching for the remote controller between the dips of the couch, I pressed the on button directing it to the T.V. and the screen came alive.
Ha! Supernatural was running. Now everything's gonna be okay. Watching Winchester brothers killing demons always lifted my mood. I took a gulp of water from the bottle. Before I could remove the rim of the bottle off my lips, I heard some sound. Dismissing the sound for something random, I screwed the cap back on the bottle.
I concentrated on the Winchester brothers. They were crying blood tears and groaning in pain as the Bloody Mary was approaching them in her distorted form with a thick curtain of black hair hiding her face. Spooky! I gripped the armrest of the couch in anticipation of something worse about to happen and suddenly I heard a crashing sound. Breaking of glasses, I guess. My ears perked up at that. That is not normal. Our neighbourhood was a quiet and sober place.
Muting the T.V. I stood up and tried listening to the sound. Again something crashed. I walked into my bedroom and the sound became clearer. I could hear someone talking now. Arguing? Another crash!
This is not right. The noises were definitely coming from Ian's apartment and as much I knew him, he was never home at this time and also although he was a devil and cruel and rude and... okay...okay... I'll stop. Right now it's not the time to bitch about him... he never created any sort of trouble. At least, not like this. Thinking of it as a burglary, I dialled 911 and reported the same quickly.
The ruckus was still going on and I was quite sure that there were two men in there. The cops were still on their way. Being a curious cat I couldn't help it and creaked open the window that opens to Ian's apartment. Sure as hell, his room looked like a hurricane went through it. The table was overturned, papers and clothes were scattered all over. His stuff was all over the place and there were two bulky men screening through it.
Trying to get a closer peak, I leant over the window panes and with my bad luck they swung wide open bringing me in the bulky men's clear view. My eyes popped out and jaw came unhinged when their eyes fell on me. Oh my freaking frappe fudging god! I'm so dead!
******
Ola! Readers
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-- Jags