James Mandarin

Bookstore

Hollie greets me at the door and hands me a bottle of iced tea, when I walk into the shop. "Welcome back," she says, before heading back to her place at the customer service desk.

Ben beams when he sees me again. He's holding a box full of new books by Emily Rodda. "Hey mate!" he exclaims like one of those men in the Australian outback. "It's good to see you again."

"It's good to be back," I reply.

It is indeed, good to be back. The store hasn't changed much since I left –layout wise that is. There are more books in the store now. Business must be booming. Although, I'm surprised Ben hasn't hired new people. Only Hollie, him, and myself work in the store.

I don't question Ben about it, though.

It doesn't take long for me to fall back into routine. I shelve the books and return the wrongly shelved books, to their rightful place. I also discover new books while I'm at it, such as James Patterson's Confessions of a Murder Suspect, Carole Wilkinson's Dragon Keeper. I make a mental note to buy them once exams are over, and read them.

Two and a half hours into my shift, Hollie taps my shoulder. "Hey, may I please have a word with you?" I nod my head dumbly, wondering what I've done wrong. Hollie must have noticed my worry, because she is quick to add, "Don't worry. You're not in trouble."

"Um... ok," is my dumb reply.

"It's about Zen."

My stiff shoulders unwind and slacken. I haven't talked to Zen in ages. "I don't know if I am the right person you should be asking for relationship advice," I say carefully.

Hollie gives me a faint smile and blurts out, "Zen is worried about you. He thinks he may have done something wrong to offend him, and that's why you haven't been talking to him." Hollie begins throwing her hands in the air, in an over exaggerated motion, and I zone out, halfway through her speech.

I'm quite taken aback by what Hollie has to say. I didn't actually think Zen would still want to be my friend, after what happened. After all, he is popular. Popular people are notorious for dropping their friends, when something goes wrong. That's what always happens in the movies and shows on television.

Anyway, why is Zen so worried about me? I mean, he's only taught me how to skate on a few occasions, and sat with me a couple of times at lunch. Is he worried because I'm friends with Hollie? Is he trying to go even further to win her over? I almost narrow my eyes. But then again, what if he's really worried about me, and truly wants to be my friend? What then? I don't have many friends. Actually, I only have three: Chloe, Hollie and Ben, in some respects. It took me over five months to talk to Hollie, and six months to call her a friend. I guess I'm a bit of a late bloomer, when it comes to friendships.

"So," I begin listening to Hollie's monologue, "Will you please talk to Zen, or at least let him know what's going on. He honestly feels terrible."

"Okay. I'll talk to him."

"Thank you."

* * *

I easily spot Zen by his locker, after the maths exam. We both make eye contact and he gives me a shy smile before walking towards me.

"Hey," he says as he puts both hands in his pockets.

"Hey," I clear my throat. "How's it going?"

"Yeah, it's pretty good. What about you?"

I shrug. "It's bearable."

Zen fixes his bag straps.

"Do you want to hang out?" I ask. "I don't have another exam until Thursday."

Zen puts his hands back in his pockets. "Yeah, that will be good.

Together, we leave the school building and walk to the beach, talking about the maths exam and our plans for the future. Zen says he'd like to be a professional athlete one day. I tell him about leaving town with Chloe and becoming an artist. Zen asks why I haven't asked Chloe out. I change the subject.

When we arrive at the beach, we remove our shoes and socks, and throw our school bags under the tree.

"So, how are you feeling?" Zen inquires as he rolls up his school trousers.

I shrug my shoulders. "I suppose I'm okay. I haven't self harmed in a little while, so I'm just focused on moving forward."

He nods his head. "Good." We begin walking along the shoreline. "I was worried about you, once I found out what happened. I didn't know where you lived and didn't want to pry in on your privacy, so I thought I'd wait until you came back to school. But then you stopped talking to me."

"I'm sorry," I scratch my head and continue, "I was just having a hard time, and wanted to be alone."

"Fair enough." Zen bends down and picks up a large, salmon seashell and puts it in his pocket. "It's for Hollie."

"Salmon, just like her hair."

Zen smiles. "Exactly."