Aru Shah fanfic and stuff

Shopping Trip

Timeskip back to when Aiden and Aru were at the store, because the last chapter got really long, so I decided to do a cool timeskip thing and make it into two chapters:

Aru's POV:

Once Aru and Aiden were at the store, Aru immediately dragged him to the candy isle. She loaded the cart with Reece's, Twix, Kit Kat, Hershey's, and of course, Swedish Fish.

"Do we really need all this junk food, Shah?" Aiden groaned as Aru pushed the cart towards the frozen foods isle. She tossed a box of pizza flavored (not pizza, but pizza flavored) Hot Pockets into the cart and Aiden immediately scooped it up and put it back. "Nope."

"But I need something to eeeeeeat!!" She whined, putting it back in the cart.

Aiden snatched it back up and held it out of reach from Aru as she tried to make a grab for it. "No. You are not eating radiation for lunch!"

Aru made another desperate swipe, but, with Aiden being like, a head taller, she couldn't reach. He got a rare sort of teasing twinkle in his eye as he backed up with his arm raised, holding out his other hand to stop her frantic snatch attempts.

Five minutes later, Aru finally gave up and they headed to the check out. They were just about to start placing their items on the conveyor belt, when Aru suddenly gasped. "I forgot Brynne's butter! Be right back."

Without another word to Aiden, she dashed off towards the back of the store. He immediately began putting back the chocolate she had snuck into the cart, but decided to leave the Reece's and Twix since they were his favorite too.

Meanwhile, in the dairy section, Aru scanned the rows of cheese and yogurts for to "right brand of butter". Whatever that meant.

"Isn't all butter the same?" she had asked Brynne before on the phone.

"No." Said Brynne. "There are all different kinds of butter. I need the best kind for baking. So remember: Land of Lakes Unsalted Butter." Aru had only rolled her eyes.

Aru found the box and grabbed it, then turned to go back to the checkout, where she knew Aiden was not-so-patiently waiting. But then her heart stopped.

It was among the worst of her nightmares. She saw someone she knew at the store.

Arielle stood a few steps down from her, examining a can of organic (wOW, oRgAnIc!) kombucha. She didn't seem to have noticed Aru yet.

Maybe I can just- Aru inched slowly away, hoping to reach the corner, but then Arielle looked directly at her. Never mind, then.

A scowl immediately grew on Arielle's face. "What are you doing here?" she asked setting down the can and propping a hand on her hip.

"Ummm... this is a Target..." Said Aru, determined to not let Arielle get to her.

The girl rolled her eyes. "No duh, genius. I meant, why are you here? Isn't your lousy excuse for a mom supposed to be out of town or something?"

Aru bit her lip, keeping her mouth from spitting out a few choice words. Instead, she simply said, "I was just getting some butter. And I didn't come alone. I... I came with a friend."

"Really?" Arielle said. "You have friends now?"

"Of course I have friends." Said Aru, trying to sound unscathed, but her voice wobbled a bit as the vision of all her sisters glaring at her in hatred flashed across her mind.

"Oh, sure. Like who?" Arielle scoffed.

Aru opened her mouth to answer, but then shut it, realizing how it might sound, and what Arielle's reaction might be if she said that she was there with Aiden. Besides walking to school together on most days, they had never really made their friendship public.