You three arrived at Payless Shoes. You spotted a stock person hanging by himself. His hoodie up, sunglasses on. You took a wild guess and pointed towards him and you and Jeremy knew it was the hook-up.
As you got close to the hook-up, Michael raised his hoodie, hands in pockets, and you crossed your arms, you two leaning against the wall the stock boy was on.
Jeremy did the same, crossing his arms as well. You all scooted closer to the man, but kept acting natural as if you weren't about to make a deal with a total stranger.
Jeremy prodded the man, "I like your sideburns" he said. "Wolverine, right?" You slapped Jeremy's arm and he faced the two of you. Michael mouthed 'what was that?' while you mouthed 'that was fucking small talk?'. Jeremy replied back with, 'What else do I say?'.
Before your small argument could go on the man said, "Let's see the money"
"What?" You blurted out. He walked away from the wall and faced you three. "It's from Japan" he did the hand signs.
"It's a grey oblong pill, quantum nanotechnology CPU, the quantum computer in the pill, will travel through your blood until it implants in your brain and it tells you what to do"
"...How did you know why we're here?" you asked skeptically as he was finished. "Just look at you two" The man laughed. Okay, you didn't know if you were supposed to be offended or not.
You and Jeremy pulled out the twelve-hundred dollars. "That's four hundred each?" he asked.
"Four?" Jeremy replied.
"Is that a problem?" The man snapped. "No!" Jeremy denied. "Actually, there's a guy at our school charging-" You slapped his back while Michael coughed loudly, clearly hinting to Jeremy to stop talking.
"OH! Oh, I-I, uh, I mean four hundred each!" Jeremy and you both gave the money to Michael to revert it to eight hundred instead of twelve hundred. "Well, yes! If you insist!" Michael then handed you guys back the money and you two gave it to the man.
He sniffed it at first then bit it before walking away. You looked at the guys with a bizarre expression reading, 'what the fuck did he do?'. "He's probably checking if its real" Michael replied.
You all began quietly whispering about how crazy this was, how crazy you were to waste all that money, just for some dumb might-not-even-be-worth-it pill. The man then came back, stopping your conversation.
Michael reached in for your hand and was about to give it a squeeze until you pulled away, eyeing what the stock boy was holding, "..Ladies' running shoes?" you asked.
He opened the shoe box and you and Jeremy went over to it, Michael peering over your shoulders. Inside were a whole bucket load of gray pills. You were about to reach for one when he pulled the box away.
You stared at him in confusion before he brought it back. Jeremy went over to grab a pill but he pulled it away again. "Shhhhh Shhhhh Shhh" the man kept uttering.
He brought the box back one more time but before you could even go near it he closed it saying, "Just so we're clear: this is untested technology. And it's not exactly legal. Which is why you're paying for it with the cash in the back of a shoe store. I take no responsibility for what you might do with it. Or what it might do with you"
This rose questions and concerns all over "What might it-"
"TO ACTIVATE" The man cut Jeremy off. "take it with Mountain Dew. I don't know why!" he snapped, pointing a finger at Michael, who took a step back.
"Just something about Mountain Dew" the man turned to you both. "And, this is important- WE"RE SOLD OUT!" he yelled as a customer walked in. You instantly knew who it was.
"Of...shoes?" Jenna asked. "Oh.." the man uttered. "You're here for shoes" Jenna nodded. "My bad" he handed over the box to you and looked at you and Jeremy, "Scram, kids"
He was shooing you off but Jeremy stopped him. "W-wait! You were saying something important"
"Oh yeah" The man pulled the three of you closer. There was a pause "All sales final" he went over to Jenna. "Right this way, Ma'am, we just got a lovely pair of pumps" he led her off.
-
"I sure hope this is worth eight hundred dollars" you uttered, looking at the pill in your hands. You all sat on a table in the mall food court, buying some fries in the process. "Eight hundred and two" Michael corrected. "Don't forget the Mountain Dews"
"If this works, our whole lives could change" Jeremy faced you. There was a beat before you looked over at Michael. "We should split it. You helped us get it. We should all benefit, right?"
"I don't think that's how it works" Michael said. "Besides, I like to think when you're both cool, you'll owe me" he flashed you and Jeremy a grin.
"All right" Jeremy eyed his pill, looking at you, "Here goes nothing" You both took the pill in your mouths and you took your sip of the Mountain Dew.
After you and Jeremy swallowed Michael asked, "How does it taste?" You licked your lips and replied, "Minty"
"How do you guys feel?" he asked. "Like..." Jeremy paused. You tried to sense a little bit of the pill's work but you felt nothing. "Chumps!" You and Jeremy both said in sync unexpectedly.
"Nothing? At all?" Michael's eyes widen in disbelief. "Uh, try to say something cool" he suggested.
"I think we just blew our money on a Wintergreen Tic tac" You grumbled.
"Yeah, not cool" Michael shook his head.
Jeremy looked down at his fries and rested his head on his fist, "Can you guys please leave me alone to mourn in my chill fries, forever" You and Michael both sat up.
"Five minutes" Michael said. "But then I'm meeting you guys right back here" He went to walk away but you ran after him.
"Where are you going?" You asked him. He turned back around to face you. "This guy at Spencer's Gifts is hooking me up with a case of Crystal Pepsi!" You looked at him, puzzled. "It's like regular Pepsi! Just clear!" he squealed.
"Wasn't that discounted in the 90's" You questioned. Michael clapped his hands together excitedly, startling you. "That's what makes it so awesome!" He then ran off.
You rolled your eyes at the dork and headed off around the mall. You checked your phone and saw three new messages from your mom:
'Hey, honey!'
'Working late!'
'Gonna be back around 11:00, love you!'
You sighed, placing your phone away. Well, guess some time for yourself wouldn't hurt. You walked around when you spotted three people talking. You squinted your eyes, they looked familiar.
You slowly went closer to them, but you were far away so they wouldn't notice you. You're eyes widen once you got to see their faces. Chloe, Brooke, and- Manny?
Your heart shattered when you watched them laugh. "Okay, so where to next?" Manny asked cheerfully.
You quietly went over to them to hear Chloe cut off Brooke and say with a giggle, "Well, I was hoping to bring you to the best shopping place in the whole world-!" You came up from behind Chloe, pretending to not notice her. "Hollister-"
You bumped into Chloe on purpose, "Oh sorry!" you interrupted her loudly, before looking at the boy, "Oh, hey, Manny!" You said.
"Oh Y/n!" Manny chuckled, "I didn't see you there"
"Yeah, sorry" Brooke apologized. "Yeah, you're kinda hard to notice" Chloe crosses her arms, trying to act nice, but she quickly gave you the stink eye before turning back to Manny sweetly, "The best part, they let you buy whatever you want-"
"W-wait! Manny! There's-" You stammered as the three of them turned back to face you. "There's something I need to, tell you" You began. "Y/-" Brooke spoke but Chloe cut her off. "Now?!"
You gulped, turning to face him, "Manny I-" you paused, breathing in deeply, not believing you were about to do this. "I-"
"OW!" A sharp pain sliced through your head. "Target Male: Inaccessible" a male voice rang through your head. "UGH!" You yelled in pain, clutching your head, dropping to the ground. "WHAT THE HELL?!"
"Y/n?" Manny squatted down before you, his face struck with worry. "Calibration in process. Please excuse some mild discomfort" the voice spoke.
"MILD?!?" You cried in agony. You got a quick glance up to see a crowd beginning to form around you. You shut your eyes tight, the pain increasing.
"Y/n, what's wrong?" Manny looked at you wide eyed. "The freak's freaking out!" Chloe yelped, pointing at you. Brooke only hid behind the two as they watched you.
You tried to stand up, clutching your head. Your heart was pounding, and the ringing in your ears grew stronger. "Calibration complete. Access procedure initiated" the voice said.
It was all to much. You let out a small shriek and placed your arms in front of you, telling the crowd to not come any closer. "Woah-woah-woah-woah-wait-wait-wait-wait-wait-wait-wait-wait-wait"
You slowly opened your eyes as the pain stopped. You looked around nervously as you actually saw how many people were looking at you. Manny and the girls were looking at you with wide eyes.
You gave them a nervous smile, "I'm fine" you told them, "I just needed to-"
"Discomfort level may increase"
You yelled, bolting. Everyone backed away from you, frightened as you held your head, your body spasming in pain. You cried in agony, moving around trying to clutch on to the little sense of calm you have.
Your world was spinning and you fell to the ground as the voice continued, "Accessing neural memory. Accessing muscle memory. Access procedure complete"
You opened up your eyes and you gasped as a tall, built, man stood in front of you, "Y/n L/n, welcome to your Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor"
"...Your SQUIP"