Twice The Trouble

Special Chapter: Before It All began

Lucas

May 20, 2016. Friday afternoon.

I just finished eating lunch at one of the mall's restaurants and started to take a leisurely stroll around the mall, which was hustling and bustling with teenagers and children, the latter of which was accompanied by their parents or guardians.

Practically everyone was doing last-minute shopping for school supplies. All classes, from grade school to college, would resume in two weeks--On June 6, 2016.

In two weeks, I will officially be attending Orion University as a business major even though a part of me desired to take up Fine Arts.

Growing up, I spent a good chunk of my childhood in my makeshift studio in the mansion, doing nothing but sketching and painting until the wee hours of the morning. Perhaps it was simply a hobby. Maybe a temporary passion. But all I knew was I started dabbling in art when I was at the tender age of seven and haven't stopped since.

I'm now eighteen years old and an incoming college freshman at the university of my choice.

For the next hour, I quietly roamed the mall, wounding through my routine whenever I went to any mall: I rode the elevator to the music store and browsed some new albums. Afterward, I climbed inside an escalator heading to the movie cinema to scan the list of movies showing. Next, I faintly craved a sugary treat, so I strode on the route towards my favorite doughnut shop.

Strangely coincidental, but wherever I went--the music store, the movie house, and now, as I stood in the short line at Krispy Kreme, my brown eyes caught a glimpse of a young girl standing at the front of the queue.

I wasn't the only person looking at her. Most of the guys inside the doughnut cafe were not very subtle in stealing glances at the girl. She didn't even seem to comprehend that people were boldly raking their stares over her.

The girl wore her long, coffee-colored hair in a high ponytail held back by a green scrunchie, exposing her bare neck. She had dark brown eyes behind a pair of oval eyeglasses, her lips full and pink, her cheeks soft and rosy red, and her eyelashes were long and mesmerizing. I was tempted to think she had makeup on, but as I squinted for a closer inspection, her face was completely bare of cosmetics.She looked beautiful without even trying.

And she was modest--the stranger, most likely sixteen or seventeen years old--was dressed in a practical taupe, round-necked blouse with butterfly sleeves and a hemline that accentuated her small waist. Her pants were a simple blue and her sneakers were green and white.

"Sir?"

"Sir,a re you ready to order?"

I blinked repeatedly. "Excuse me?" I turned left and right before realizing I was the next customer at the counter and the cashier was snapping her fingers to catch my attention.

With patience in her tone, the girl behind the counter repeated her earlier question. I cleared my throat out of sheer mortification and gave her my order of two doughnuts and one iced coffee.

After I paid for my snacks, I spun on my heel and exited the pastry-scented cafe.

My feet took me to the mall's Food-Court which was located underground.

The Food-Court was teeming with noisy children and most of the tables were occupied by small groups of teenagers eating junk food while taking unending snapshots of themselves.

Fortunately, there were a couple of empty square tables and I was idly pondering on which table to vacate when all of a sudden, my phone rang inside my pocket.

"Hello?" I said upon answering the call.

"Did you buy the crap yet?" Bryce replied without preamble.