I was getting impatient.
"Hurry!" I said. "You're going to be late."
"We're coming, we're coming!" Jordan whined.
"Almost finished, I swear!" Declan promised.
Bennett cursed. "Just give us a second!"
"We don't have a second!" I groaned.
"Yes, we do!" All three of them said in unison.
"No, we don't!" I retorted back. "C'mon you guys! The movie is about to start!"
It was a Sunday afternoon, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and it was almost one o'clock, the time the movie will start. After the "Re-Contract of Starbucks incident" yesterday, we decided to watch a movie the next day. It was as if nothing happened, it was as if the past two weeks have never happened. And I'm a bit grateful of that. I didn't want to spend the next few weeks, maybe months dreading on what happened those two weeks. And I don't want to hold a grudge on the guys on that one, okay, two mistakes. I much rather move on with life and watch a movie. Which is exactly what we are doing.
"It's not my fault this idiot wants to buy everything to eat during the movie," Declan growled as he glared at Jordan.
"I'm not buying everything," Jordan said, feeling the eye roll in his voice. "Bennett is."
"Always a pleasure, Jordan," Bennett told him. "Always a pleasure."
"Well, are you almost done buying everything?" I demanded, before taking a sip of my drink.
"Almost," Jordan assured. "The cashier is adding it all up."
"Your total is going to be $97," someone said cheerfully from the background.
I nearly did a spit take. "What! Jordan, tell me you did not just spent $97 worth of snacks for this movie."
"Well technically, with tax it would be at least- how much is it with the tax?" There was a slight pause until he answered. "It would be actually a total of $102."
"Jordan..." I growled.
"Okay, okay," he confessed. "It may sound like it's too much. But one, everyone knows that movie food is way overpriced." Okay I had to admit, it is. "And two, we are three full-grown boys-"
"Men," Declan corrected.
"Nice catch," Jordan said. "Men who will eat as much as we want."
"You want," Declan corrected again.
"Nice catch," Jordan said again.
"Well," I began, my voice in a deadly whisper. "You three full-grown men won't live to eat as much as you want if you don't get your butts to this movie in time."
Jordan chuckled nervously. "You're serious... aren't you?"
"Very."
"Um miss?" Someone called out to me in a hush whisper.
I looked up and saw an usher, about in his late 30s with a thick mustache under his beaked nose. He wore the classic usher hat over his thinning hair, and he wore a crisp red usher uniform. The movie theater was slightly dark, not as dark as it will be once the movie starts. Yet the usher still flashed light from his flashlight right into my eyes. I instantly looked away, hiding my eyes over my hand.
"Can I help you?" I asked, masking my irritation as best as I could.
"Yes, could you turn off your phone, ma'am?" he asked politely, masking his irritation as best as he could.
"Yes" I said, "But could you also turn of your flashlight, sir?"
Instantly, the both of us didn't like each other. But we did what the other asked. He turned off his flashlight, having the room go back to darkness except for the light on the screen. Then he looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to do my part of the agreement.
I put my phone back next to my ear. "Guys I have to go. The movie is starting. You better be here when the previews are over. And put extra butter in the popcorn."
"Can I get a please?" Jordan asked hopefully.
"You can," I considered. "If you want me to punch you."
"Oh! Well would you look at the time!" Jordan mused. "Guys we gotta go. Now." Then he hung up the phone.
I turned off my phone then shoved it into my back pocket. I looked up at the usher and smiled innocently.
"Better?"
His nose wrinkled. "Better."
Then he turned on his flashlight. The usher went down a step looked at the row, he pointed the flashlight at each person one by one. Looking for another person using their phone as his next victim. I sighed and stared at the huge screen through my thick glasses. Just a couple of minutes ago, I told the guys I would go ahead and find our seats while they get the snacks. Now the movie is starting and they're still not here yet. Typical boy- I'm sorry -men hunger.
We decided to choose our seats at the back where we won't be bothered. If we sat at the front, our necks would ache from the constant craning of our necks to see the screen. The middle row is always the best seat to watch, though it would be crowded with people. But they were already taken, anyway. So the best seats for the four of us would be at the back. Good view of the whole screen besides the middle row, and we're secluded form everyone else, it's total privacy to ourselves. And the back row has no one but me and soon the guys, if they''d make it in time.
The screen was showing previews of trailers of movies coming soon. Some I've already seen in TV commercials only its a different version of the same movie. Or I've looked up a short summary of the movie, nothing too much to give away the whole movie, because of my curiosity. But because of the last minute decision of going to the movies, I wasn't able to look up the movie plot or even see the trailer. Maybe because the boys forbid me to do it.
"But it ruins the movie!" Jordan cried. "Why would you even do such a thing?"
"It doesn't ruin the movie," I argued. "I'm just trying to get better understanding of it. See where the plot goes, what to expect."
"But it ruins the movie!"
"What's the point watching the movie when you already know what happens?" Bennett asked me.
"That I haven't watched the movie." I retorted back. "I haven't read the whole plot, just some of it, not including the ending."
"But it ruins the movie!"
"When you do that, it's almost as bad as jumping to the end of the book." Declan said.
I gasped. "How dare- No one does that! What kind of sick, twisted person would do that? What's the point? It ruins everything!"
"That's the whole point," all three of them said in unison.
"I'm going to take this," Declan said, plucking my phone out of my hands.
I started to helplessly jump in the air, my arms trying to reach for my phone. But he's way taller than me. All he has to do is stretch his arm and it's to far for me to reach. I threatened to kick him where the sun never shines, knowing the reflex guys do when they get kicked down there. His eyes widened and he tossed it to Bennett, who then tossed it to Jordan, and back to Declan. It was a sick game of monkey in the middle only what they were throwing was a perfectly good phone. Finally, Jordan put it in his back pocket, knowing I wouldn't go as far as to get my phone from there. He told me I'll get it back once we arrived to the movies. He gave it back to me when I went ahead to the theater so I could warn them when the movie is about to start.
As the movie previews played on the screen, my eyes started to wander around the room. There were many couples in the theater. Some putting their arms around the other, sneaking kisses before the movie starts or the usher catches them, or having a full on make out session. I quickly looked away and saw something else. It was a huge group of friends, probably in their freshman year in another school. It was just girls, talking and laughing with each other. They seemed to have fun just being there with each other, about to watch a movie.
I could help but feel a bit jealous. I know I already got three friends. Three friends that are more than enough. But they were guys. Sure, it's fun hanging out with guys, more fun, less drama. Well the drama thing is an exception for us. But even if I'm friends with the guys. I can't help but feel there will always be this boundary between us. They'll talk abut boy stuff, things only boys will understand. And sometimes I would need someone of my own gender, besides my mom, meaning someone my own age. Sometimes I would think what it was like having a friend who's a girl. Shopping, watching movies, eating out, laughing, talking. But I knew it was an impossible dream. All of the girls at my school shunned me, they hate me and my whole existence. They're the main ones who call me insults in the halls or in the girl's locker room, their tall high heels that trip me, and the ones who "accidentally" miss the ball and hit me, with the excuse of being bad at the game, getting away with it. I sighed and slumped even lower in my seat.
The lights began to slowly fade, having the whole theater turn dark. The screen lit up brighter, it being the only thing lighting up in the darkness. An automatic voice asked everyone to turn of their cellphones during the movie. Everyone began to turn of their phones if the rude usher hasn't already for them. People who were talking either went to low whispers or stopped talking altogether. Couples making out continued making out or one of them really wanted to watch the movie while the other really want to kiss so one stared at the screen as the other kissed them. I impatiently tapped my foot, squinting in the darkness as I looked for the guys. Then I saw three shadows coming out of the corridor and my jaw couldn't help but drop.
"No way."
All of three of them walked into the theater. I could barely see them, only their silhouettes. But besides the silhouettes of their bodies, I saw silhouettes of food. A lot of food. I'm not talking about a few popcorn bags and some soft drinks. I'm not talking about that with nachos and few bags of candy. And I'm not even talking about that with chicken wings and hot dogs. I mean the whole menu. And when I mean the whole menu. I'm talking about the whole entire menu.
It was sad watching them struggle. Each of them carried their equal share of the food, except Jordan. Bennett and Declan carried a few things, the drinks, some bags of candy, each their own popcorn and mine. But Jordan carried more than the two of them combined. Though I couldn't see what exactly he was carrying even with my glasses, I knew that is was a lot. He stacked everything, all of the foods, one by one. It was like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, pizza was one of the snacks, or that game called Jenga, where you have to stack blocks and see which one will make the tower fall each time you take a block from the bottom. Only one sudden move will make all of the food fall down. The stupid thing was his bag of popcorn was all at the top, barely standing. Each time he sways, some popped popcorn kernels fell on top of his head, having him shake it out, only making more fall.
I had this huge urge to slowly sink into my seat and watch the movie in peace. I didn't want anyone in this theater to know these three idiots who bought the whole menu are with me. But one, I couldn't help but feel sad for them because after all they were my friends. And two, I was hungry. I waved at them who were scanning the theater row by row. Finally they found my waving hand and started to walk up the stairs. Bennett and Declan arrived first, placing the snacks on the chairs next to us and the drinks into the cup holders. Jordan was lumbering up the stairs, taking one step at a time.
Then he tripped.
It was as if time was slowing down. Imagine it was as if a mountain of snacks was falling on you, well maybe it was because it was. I could see it coming, smell it coming. And I knew I only had a little time to act. There were three things I could have done. One, jump away as the snacks get wasted on the ground. Two, watch in horror as this happens, probably wrecking my outfit. Or three, try to catch them all. And one thing's for sure, I like food and I like my outfit. I jumped out of my seat and grabbed as many of the snacks as I could in the air. First I grabbed the drink, then simultaneously got the boxes of cooked food as I placed the drink into the cup holder. I tossed the boxes towards Bennett and Declan who stood there dumbfounded as this whole thing happened, but caught the boxes. Then I grabbed the bags and boxes of candy stacked up on by one until I got all of them. I was frozen in place as I held the candy I caught. The boys stared at me with eyes wide and jaws dropped. And everyone else was watching the start of the movie.
Then a bag of popcorn landed on Jordan's head, having popcorn spill all over the floor. Jordan slowly lifted the bag over his eyes, his face still dumbfounded.
"H-how did you do that?" Bennett asked me in disbelief.
Declan asked. "Did you just go Spiderman on us?" Referring to the first movie when Toby Maguire catch the school lunch trays with his Spiderman reflexes.
"They were like that, and we were like that, and you were like that!" Jordan said, his hands waving all over the place, popcorn flying everywhere.
I smiled weakly. "Reflexes?"
There was a long pause between us. Then we all just burst out laughing. Until someone told us to shut up.
"Let's just watch the movie," Jordan said.
We all agreed and took our seats. Jordan climbed the rest of the steps and sat next to me. Declan and Bennett took the other side. I got my soda and my popcorn that I ordered and began to eat. Bennett got nachos, popcorn and a soda. Declan got a bag of candy, a hot dog, popcorn and soda. Jordan got the rest.
"What did you get?" I asked Jordan, since I wasn't able to see what exactly he, well Bennett bought, in the dark.
He cleared his throat and began. "I got popcorn- well I used to, but I have another bag. I got some soda, two bags of candy, nachos, a pretzel, a chili hot dog, chicken wings, a taco, some french fries, some onion rings, a vanilla milkshake, a cheeseburger, chicken tenders, jalapeno poppers, mozzarella sticks, and last but not least, a pepperoni pizza." When he was done, he smiled at me like he accomplished something.
"It's not humanly possible to eat any of this. It's not."
"Well, then I'm guess I'm not human," Jordan joked.
"That explains a lot," Declan piped up.
I shuffled in my seat, looking away from Jordan. I played with the hem of my shirt, looking down instead of up to the movie. Jordan was swallowing his snacks one by one. But he paused and looked at me, noticing m sudden mood change.
"Hey Naomi, is there something wrong?"
"Well, no, I mean," I flustered. "I just- no I can't, I don't want to-"
"C'mon," he said, taking a sip of his milkshake. "Ask me."
"Can I have some?" I asked hopefully.
He laughed, making my face fall. I should have asked for some more snacks instead of some measly popcorn and soda. But then he stopped laughing.
"Of course you can," he told me. "I was starting to think I won't be able to eat all of it like I thought I would. My eyes are bigger than my stomach."
I lit up at this. He offered me a chili hot dog which I gladly accepted. I took a bite of my hot dog when I noticed the drools of Bennett and Declan. Soon we were all sharing the food. Bennett started with the mozzarella sticks while Declan ate the cheeseburger. Declan was about to reach for Jordan's milkshake when he paused.
"Hey, is that strawberry?"
Jordan snorted. "Of course it isn't. It's vanilla."
Declan made a face. "Ugh, never mind."
He glared at Declan. "What do you mean 'never mind'?"
"When I meant never mind, I mean never mind." Declan growled. "Vanilla is nothing like strawberry is all I'm saying."
Jordan laughed then went all serious. "You're kidding right? How can you say that strawberry is better than vanilla?"
Bennett smiled. "Yeah, how could you say that?"
"Thank you," Jordan said in exasperation.
"When obviously chocolate is better than the both of them." Bennett finished.
"What?" Declan and Jordan demanded.
Now all three of them were starting to argue which flavor was better: vanilla, strawberry, or chocolate. All three of them had pretty good arguments. But none of them would budge, saying their flavor isn't the best. And it wasn't long until they turned to me to settle the argument.
"We've been having this argument for months," Declan said.
I raised an eyebrow. "Months? You've been arguing this for months?"
"Yeah," Bennett said. "None of these two would admit that chocolate is the best flavor."
"Well it's because I think vanilla is the best flavor." Jordan stated proudly.
"I think chocolate is." Bennett told me.
"And I think strawberry is," Declan said.
"What flavor do you think is best?" The all asked me in unison.
"Sorry, but I won't be able to make the tie-breaker," I admitted sheepishly.
"What? Why?" Declan asked. "You don't like sweets?"
"I love sweets."
"Is it because you don't want to make the other two mad?" Jordan asked me. "If it is, it's fine, as long as you choose vanilla."
"No, it's not that either."
"Then what is it?" Bennett asked.
"My favorite flavor is..." I paused, knowing they were leaning towards me in expectation. "Neapolitan."
"What?" All three of them said in unison.
I gave a pathetic shrug. "I've always liked strawberry, vanilla and chocolate. So the obvious thing I would like is Neapolitan. Why like one thing when you can like all three?"
"Do you have to like Napoleon?" Jordan whined.
"It's pronounced Neapolitan," I corrected him. "Napoleon is a French Bonaparte is the first French emperor."
"Isn't he that short guy?" Jordan asked.
I sighed. "I can't believe out of all the things you could have asked about his, you chose his height."
He shrugged innocently. "The dude's short, who wouldn't forget that?"
"Well there's a lot of things-"
A sudden light flashed into my eyes. I did a double take and shielded my eyes from it. I knew just from the rude light in the eyes that it was that usher. The usher then shined the light at the others into their eyes one by one. Each now wearing the same irritated look as I am.
"Can we help you with anything?" We all asked asked him simultaneously.
"Yes," the usher said. "Could you please quiet down? A few people are complaining."
I looked up and saw a few annoyed glances from some people sitting at the rows below us.
"Yeah sure, whatever."
"Thank you."
He shined the flashlight at us one more time then walked down the rows.
"I wish he would trip," Jordan muttered under his breath.
"I wish he would get blinded by his stupid flashlight." Declan growled.
"I wish his mustache would fall off." Bennett said in annoyance.
"I wish you guys wouldn't be so mean to him," I said, glaring at them. "He's just doing his job."
"Yeah, but he doesn't have to be so rude about it," Jordan huffed.
"I know. But don't mind him. Let's just go back to the movie."
It was barely half way into the movie and I was starting to get bored. And so were the others. I've seen the trailer for this once and thought it would be good. At school, kids who already watched it said it was good too. But honestly, it's a bit boring. The characters are too predictable, what they'll say, what they'll do. The plot is just as predictable, no twists, you can tell from the start what will happen, the hero wins, he gets the girl. And the special effects are just sad, it's as if they were barely trying to make any of this real. I let out a yawn and slumped in my seat.
"This movie is boring." I told them.
"Yeah," Jordan agreed. "It's as boring as Declan's love life. Oh wait, he doesn't have one."
I let out a giggle. Jordan smiled but it vanished when something hit him at the side of his head. The things dropped on my lap. I picked it up and could tell from the smell that it was a popped popcorn kernel. Jordan looked over at Declan and another popcorn bounced off his forehead.
"That," Jordan said, "is a waste of popcorn."
Declan chucked another popcorn at Jordan with perfect aim, right at his nose. "No it isn't."
"Yes," Jordan said, throwing a popcorn at Declan too, hitting his cheek," it is."
"No," Declan said, throwing a kernel at Jordan back, "it isn't."
Jordan's eyes narrowed at Declan, Declan met back his stare. You could almost hear the Old West dueling music with two cowboys about to do a shooting duel. The both of them slowly reached their hands into their popcorn bags simultaneously. Bennett was ignoring this whole thing, his eyes still on the screen as he ate his popcorn. Suddenly Bennett looked at me and said one word.
"Duck."
I obeyed and duck on the ground with Bennett. The both of us got off our seats and squatted on the ground. Then we watched as the duel began.
Jordan started it first. He threw three popcorn kernels at Declan. But he ducked just in time and returned fire. He threw kernels at separate times. So Jordan has to swerve around them, dodging them as if he was in the Matrix. Jordan's hand dug into the bag and got a handful of popcorn. Declan's eyes hardened, knowing what was going to happen. A bunch of popcorn was thrown into the air. He knew he couldn't dodge is, so he brought back his fist and punched it, having popcorn fly everywhere into the air. Some kernels fell on Bennett and I. And from the groans of other people, it must have hit them too as if it was raining popcorn.
I looked at Bennett with a smile, and he returned a smile back. We stood up, clutching our bags of popcorn. Then we threw popcorn at the boys as an ambushed attack. Jordan and Declan were dazed for a second, then processed what happened and threw popcorn kernels back. All four of us were in an all out popcorn war. Some popcorn kernels missed Bennett and I, getting bounced at other people in the theater.
Then we all paused, clutching our popcorn bags tightly. The bags crumpled under our fists. Our eyes glared at each other, giving each other the stare down. Beads of sweat rolled down our foreheads. We were edging each other on, seeing who would do it first. Suddenly Jordan's foot must have slipped on some popcorn, making him jerk forward, but he caught himself in time. Declan though thought he tried to make a move and brought the bag back. Jordan thought the same and brought the bag as well. Then Bennett and I did just the same. Then all of us each threw the contents of our half-empty bags (or to the optimistic, half-full bags) at each other. The popcorn flew into the air, and crashed into each other. We were at the top row, all the way at the back. At the angle of the throw, the popcorn clashed and rained at almost everyone a few rows below us. There were curses, yells, and complaints from the others, as popcorn fell from the ceiling.
But then it was like as if there was a record scratch. All four of us froze when a bright light shone at us. We slowly turned towards the source as saw a beet-red usher, shining the flashlight right at us. He was trembling in anger, his teeth bared at us, his eyes boring holes into us. A few popcorn kernels on his hat fell and bounced off his beaked nose.
"Out!" He roared. "Out! Out! Out! Out! Out!"
All four of us awkwardly dropped our now empty bags of popcorn on the ground. We silently left the row and walked down the stairs. Even though my eyes were on the ground, I could feel the icy glares from the other people. We ruined the movie for them. I looked back at the usher who was fixing his hat then shone the light at us then towards the door. We followed the light and left the theater without another word.
"So what now?" I asked, kicking a rock on the sidewalk as we walked towards the car.
The three of them shrugged.
"We're sorry, Naomi." Jordan said, his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah, we ruined the movie for you." Declan agreed, scratching the back of his neck.
I shooked my head. "No, it's alright. The movie was getting boring anyway."
"But still..."
I smiled at them. "Actually it was a bit thrilling for a second anyway. I've never been kicked out a movie theater. So it was fun, another thing to check out of my bucket list."
Declan and Jordan hesitated, but they smiled back at me.
"But really," I said. "What now? It's almost two o'clock. We have six hours on our side. How are we going to spend it?"
"How about we head over to the mall?" Bennett offered.
"Yeah, the mall." Jordan said. "Let's go to the mall."
Declan shrugged. "I'm up for it."
I couldn't but raise an eyebrow. "The mall? You three boys-"
"Men," Declan corrected.
I held back an eye roll. "Fine, you three men are actually willing to go to the mall?"
All three of them shrugged. "Sure, why not?"
"Okay then," I pointed forward as if I was leading a charge. "Let's go to the mall!"
"The mall's that way," Jordan said, pointing behind us.
I turned around and pointed forward as if I was leading a charge. "Let's go to the mall!"
Well, here's the next chapter of The Good Girl's Bad Boys. A bit of a filler chapter, sorry about that. But the next one would be key to the plot, don't worry. Hope you all enjoyed it. Leave your comments below and your votes above. And I'll see you next time.
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