Chapter Seven.
"Zee, I'm hungry. Can we get McDonald's?" Harmony asked as they walked hand in hand. Zealand had just picked her up from school, and they were headed home.
"You got McDonald's money?" He retorted, looking down at her.
"No." She mumbled, swinging her ponytails back and forth.
Zealand felt bad. He couldn't even get his sister something simple as fast food, which happened to be cheap. The dollar menu was always their go to, but at the moment, simply sparing a couple of dollars was too much.
He sighed. "Look, I'll see if I can get you a happy meal this weekend, okay?"
Harmony's face instantly lit up. "Okay!"
He would try to collect the loose change that might've been floating around his room or around the house in general, and take it to the Coin Star to trade in for dollars.
"Pops said he's cooking today." Zealand said, making her furrow her eyebrows. Eddie wasn't much of a cooker, and usually left all the cooking up to Zealand. He only did it every now and then.
"That's...interesting." Harmony said, making her big brother chuckle.
As they crossed the street, Zealand could feel his phone vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out, seeing that it was his father. He slid his finger over the screen, then held it up to his ear. "Hello?"
"Zealand, I need you to stop at the store and get a few things."
"What do you need me to get?"
"Some shredded cheese, five packs of Kool-Aid, sugar, garlic powder, pancake mix, cereal, milk, two yellow onions, and bananas. Oh, and you and Harmony can pick one snack each."
"Okay Pops, I'm headed in the direction of the store as we speak."
"You got the food stamp card?" He asked.
"Yes sir."
"Alright, don't buy nothing other than what I said. You know they cut us down to only $120 a month."
"Yeah, unfortunately.." Zealand sighed, shaking his head. "But, I won't. I'm only getting the stuff you told me to get."
"Okay, see you when you get home."
"Alright.." Zealand trailed off, before hanging up. His father wasn't acting like his usual self. He seemed more..chill. Eddie had his days where he wasn't acting like a total dick, but those days were rare.
As they walked towards the neighborhood mini market, Zealand caught glimpse of a homeless guy sitting by the door. He held a bottle of beer in his hand, and a cigarette in the other.
"Excuse me young brother, can you-"
He shook his head, "I can't help you man." Zee said, pulling Harmony closer to him. They entered the store, seeing that there wasn't many people inside.
He grabbed a red shopping basket, and headed down a random aisle. It just so happened to be the aisle with the seasoning, so he grabbed a bottle of garlic powder like his father had instructed.
As Zealand and Harmony gathered everything that Eddie said to get, Harmony proceeded to tell him about her day and what she had learned at school. She expressed to him that they were learning a new way to do division, and it was a bit difficult. Zealand knew that feeling all too well. He sucked at math.
"Alright pops said we can each get one snack, so what snack do you want?" He asked her, resting his foot on the metal rack that was under the basket for holding boxes of sodas. Harmony placed her finger on her chin, tilting her head up as she took a second to think.
All of a sudden, she gasped and snapped her fingers. "Chips Ahoy cookies, the red velvet kind!" She exclaimed. Zealand scrunched his face up in disgust.
"Those are so nasty." He said, making his little sister narrow her eyes at him. "They're good Zee."
He shook his head, "If you say so." Zealand went over to the cookie aisle, grabbing the pack of cookies that she wanted.
"What snack are you gonna get?" Harmony asked, moving a ponytail out of her face.
"Probably some flaming hot Cheeto puffs."
"All the kids at my school eat those, are they super hot?"
Zealand shrugged, "They aren't that hot to me. I'll let you taste some later on." He told her & she nodded.
Harmony had never eaten any type of hot chips. They didn't really spark her interest until the kids at her school started bringing them for lunch.
He pushed the basket down the aisle that held all of the chips, crackers, and other dry snacks. Zealand grabbed a bag of the hot puffs, then tossed them in the basket with the rest of the items. "Alright, I think we're ready to check out now." He said.
They went to an open lane, and Harmony began helping Zealand place all of the items on the conveyor belt. As the items moved on the belt, the cashier began scanning them. Once everything had gotten scanned, Zealand waited to see what the total would come out to be.
"Alright, that'll be $26.03."
He pulled out the card, handing it to the cashier to swipe. The man swiped it, and it began processing the payment. A beep came from the card machine, and the cashier shook his head. "I'm sorry but it didn't go through. There's only $15 on here."
Zealand furrowed his brows. "Are you sure? There should be more than-.." he paused. "Wait, what's today's date?"
The guy looked at him with a blank expression. "It's the 10th." He said dryly.
"Shit." Zee whispered to himself. The money on the food stamp card didn't get re-loaded until the 13th of every month. He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh. "Um, can you just give me a second to-"
"I got their stuff covered." A familiar female voice said from behind him. Zealand whipped his head around, his eyes landing on Xavia. He was confused as hell. Where did she even come from? Had she been in the store the whole time?
"What? Oh no, you don't have to-"
"Here you go sir." Xavia handed the man a crisp fifty dollar bill to pay for Zealand's things, as well as her own. In all, the total was $41, so he handed her back $9 for change.
"Hey, I remember you from Saturday!" Harmony exclaimed, smiling at Xavi.
"I remember you too, pretty. How you doing?"
"I'm doing fine, thank you. How are you doing?"
"That's great! I'm doing fine as well." Xavia smiled, pinching her cheek.
Zealand grabbed his bags of items, and Xavi grabbed hers. As they headed towards the exit door, he looked over at her. "You really didn't have to pay for our stuff, Xavia." He said.
Xavia rolled her eyes. "I wanted to Zealand."
It was in her nature to help people out. Her grandmother and mother had always taught her that if you bless other people, it will bring blessings upon you in return. It was called sowing a seed.
"Why are you so nice to me?" He blurted, catching her off guard.
Xavia stopped walking, pausing to look over at him.
"Am I supposed to be rude or something?" She asked with a raised brow.
"Nah, but I mean..I wouldn't blame you if you were. Technically I was rude to you on the first week of school."
She sighed, "I told you, I'm not mad about that. I've put that in the back of my mind and haven't even been thinking about it. It's cool."
Zealand said nothing. He looked down at his feet as he walked.
"Look, I'm just a naturally generous person. I like doing things for people. Don't take it the wrong way."
He nodded, "Thank you. I promise, I'll pay you back when I get the-"
"No." Xavia held her hand up.
"But-"
"Aht!"
Zealand smacked his lips. "Are you always this stubborn?" He asked.
"Me? Stubborn? Not at all. You're definitely the stubborn one here." She chuckled.
He cracked a small smile, before sighing. "Well, once again I thank you. Me & Harmony gotta head home. My pops is waiting on us."
Xavia nodded, "You're welcome. See you tomorrow."
"Fasho'. Harmony, tell Xavia bye."
"Bye Xavia!"
Xavi waved, "Bye pretty." She said, watching as they headed down the sidewalk. Zealand held three bags in one hand, and held his sister's hand with the other.
Xavia headed to her car, placing her bags in the backseat. Once she got in the car and strapped herself in, she called Arnecia on speaker phone. The phone rung for a while, before her cousin finally answered.
"Hello?"
"Niecey, you'll never guess what I just did."
TBC...
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Thoughts?
Excuse any mistakes.