BLACK CAT.✔

Chapter Fourteen

Rob quickly got changed and headed to the paint section. What the hell was he going to do about Becky Bridgestone? It was a bit late to apologise now. The words had already been spoken and too many days had passed.

She and Trin sat with Drew's group at lunch times so his only real contact with her was at the café after hockey trainings but, only if she did that every week. The chances of sitting in the same booth with her were slim so he couldn't work towards slowly showing her he wasn't a bad guy.

He'd noticed she always tried to sit in a seat by herself in physics and chemistry. Probably because none of her friends did those classes. Should he try to approach her then? Sit with her. The problem was she hated that he'd been made to sit with her in Maths B so if he sat with her in the other classes that would probably piss her off even more.

Maybe proving he cared about Linc's progress at training would be enough to get her to stop hating him but, to be able to help Linc meant having to talk to her about his condition.

Rob chuckled as he fitted a paint can with its lid. That was never going to happen.

"Hi."

Rob, still smiling, looked up to see the girl Becky had bitched to on Sunday standing at the counter. "Hi."

"I'm Jan. I work on the checkouts." She grinned.

Rob hit the lid with the rubber mallet, put the can in the shaker, and hit the on button. "Rob." He jerked his head and smirked. "Paint."

"I just wanted to say hi." She twinkled her fingers as she spoke and beamed at him.

"Hi," Rob said. What else could he say? Awkward...

Becky came into the aisle with a handful of paintbrushes. She glanced at Jan but didn't give him a look. She headed to where the paintbrushes were on display and started to sort them into their correct boxes.

The shaker stopped so Rob grabbed the tin out and looked at Jan. "Gotta get on with it."

"Okay. Maybe we'll catch up later." She wriggled her eyebrows and flounced away waving her hand.

What the hell? Rob ignored the comment and put the tin on the counter in front of the customer. He opened it so she could see the colour and once she was happy he put the lid back on. As he taped it down, he looked at where Becky was still sorting brushes. Maybe he could call a truce through work and things would be better at school.

When the customer left, he headed towards Becky and said, "I can do that."

She glared at him, lifted the brushes above her head, and then dropped them so they scattered on the floor at his feet. Becky spun around and walked away.

"Can we not do this?" Rob called after her with his palms held out in frustration.

She held up her middle finger but didn't give him the courtesy of looking over her shoulder.

Rob sighed and picked up the brushes. What hope was he going to have if she continued to do this sort of shit?

When he sat in the staffroom for his ten-minute break Jan sat opposite him. "So how do you like it? Paint sucks."

"I don't mind it." Rob really wished she had left him alone. He didn't feel like being social. "I've worked it for the last two years in Brisbane so it's not new."

"Oh...that's good." Jan gave him a thoughtful look. "Becky said you were new so I thought she meant to Bunnings."

"I'm new to Kalara."

"So you go to the same school?"

"Yep." Rob didn't want to get into it. He stood up. "Gotta go." He didn't give her a chance to say anything. Becky had already told her he was up himself. Let her believe it because he didn't want to be stuck in the middle of anything with her and Becky.

Rob finished his shift and headed home. He had a shower and lay on his bed with his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling, thinking about Becky Bridgestone. His mother always said worrying over something wasn't going to change it and change came with time. Rob rolled on his side and closed his eyes. Forget about Becky.

Copyright © 2017 by Donna Fieldhouse. All rights reserved.

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