The Casanova's Class Clown

Chap. 18: 7 Eleven

SEVEN ELEVEN...

The store was lovely of all shapes and sizes, complete with all fathomable shades of hue personified in either ice, metal, or plastic. Each ball point pen, every brand of bond paper, every level of shelf, rack of stickers, collection of binders, hangers of educational posters, she studied.

A child came and passed earlier, merely plucking a pen out of the holder and away from the rest of its company. The cherub looked like he was in a hurry, enough to not even give her a glance, and once out of the aisle, Kat could hear his voice in the distance calling for his mother.

She sighed, before returning to the magazine rack where his brother had asked her to buy him the latest issue of Rockz n' Roll, an indie magazine that was starting to catch wind lately, as her brother had explained to her without her asking earlier. She studied the girl on the cover, who posed like one of those anime pop idols she would sometimes catch Emma watching, with her hands forming a peace sign over a winked eye.

She stepped forward, treading carefully, methodically calculating each step.

Kat flipped the page over and read a news article. Her eyes lit up when she saw DDA's top rock band inside. It was a snippet, but they were there.

She placed her hand in her pocket, thumbing the metallic object inside. Just a little closer... Just a little closer...

"Kat?"

The wallflower jerked her head to the side just as a figure passed by her, bumping into her arm, but aside for which kept going. She looked up to see Emma at the end of the aisle.

"Hi!" The class clown greeted as she walked toward her. "What are you doing here?"

Kat smiled her small smile, before plucking her left earphone out of her ear. "I was picking up a few groceries." Raising the magazine, she continued, "This is for my bro."

Emma frowned at the reading material before sliding up to her friend, hanging her arm over her shoulders. "This is a great step you took, wallflower."

She blushed. "Well, it's nothing that big, really. I mean, my house is just on the other block."

"Tsk, tsk." Emma silenced. "It's a step nonetheless, and you know what they say about steps:"

"The first one is always the hardest?"

Emma let go and walked toward the pens. "Nope. It's an extensive, treeless plain."

Kat pouted, which Emma raised a peace sign over, then sighed. "You know, for a second there, I thought it wasn't you coming toward me."

Emma cocked a brow at the statement, whilst placing a pen between her nose and puckered lips. "You don't shay?" She said in awkward attempt to keep the pen balanced.

Kat chuckled before going toward her and taking the pen out of her face. "I do say!" The exclamation was a whisper.

Emma grinned, then immediately looked serious. "I was just walking down the aisle. No way could you have heard me already, even with your anxiety."

Kat looked defensive, but said nothing of it. "I know someone was coming toward me, but I wasn't sure it was you, so I didn't bother looking up."

"Why didn't you bother looking up?"

"I was reading a very informative page on this magazine here." She raised the reading material with both hands to show to Emma.

Her eyes lit up. "Ooh! It's Sabitha Night!"

Kat cocked a brow, an indication she was asking: "You know her?"

She took the magazine. "Duh! She's like, really popular in Europe right now, but she isn't well-known yet here in America. Angelena told me about her once, but she didn't seem that much into it. The girl's got a goth thing going on, see?" She showed Kat and pointed at the girl's ensemble. With black robes of the sexy nature, contrasted by very light make-up and an innocent, cheery look.