Ex-Best Friend

Seriously Are Those Skechers?

After a long lecture and unloading all the boxes into the house, my mom sent me to the store to get some paper plates since I broke all of our dishes. With five bucks in my pocket I rode my bike through the town. Mom refuses to get me a car, she believes I'm not responsible enough to drive on the roads, so I guess I'll just have to settle with good old Ruby.

Yes I named my ten year old bike Ruby. It was that or Road Runner, but after a couple times almost getting hit by cars I decided to be the ruler of the sidewalk instead.

The dusky sun light reflected on the store windows as people closed up shop, the bars just starting to open to the public. From what I could tell this was a small town. Some of the buildings seemed a bit dated based on their structure, but kept up with heavy donations.

Ruby's wheels squealed like a pig when I pressed on the breaks. 'Sebastian's Pharmacy and Convenience Store' the sign glowed in large white text. Placing the old gal in one of the bike racks, I headed into the store covered in sweat and dust.

The store had pale tile flooring with matching colored shelves and walls. Jesus this is depressing, at least put up a poster of a cat saying 'hang in there'.

A group of guys around my age were hanging near the alcoholic beverages as they snickered to one another. Staying clear of them I continued my search for my fine china. After a few cosmetic aisles I found what I was looking for.

Other than me there was a girl in a red vest restocking the shelves. She had dark frizzy hair that was tied back into a messy bun, I wondered how many hairbrushes she had to break in order to get it up like that. Looking up at me with her teardrop-shaped eyes she chuckled. "Oh please Farmer Zuckerman don't kill Wilbur, he's the best pig in the world!"

I arched a brow, my hand slowly settling on the plates to make a run for it. "What?"

She continued as she stood up. "Seriously what's with the overalls?"

I looked down at my outfit. A pair of rundown sketchers, my favorite overalls dressed over a black T-shirt, and a flannel tied around my waist. This is literally me dressed up! That's also ignoring all the holes in my outfit and the fact it was drenched in sweat. How dare she compare me to that murderous bastard from Charlotte's Web!

"I don't know, I could ask the same about the costumer service," I retorted with a hiss.

She put her hands up in defense, a cheeky smile across her face. "Right my bad," she corrected. "Is there anything I can help you with Farmer?"

I rolled my eyes and quickly grabbed the plates. "No I'm checking out anyway."

I assumed she shrugged off my final response because she didn't say anything further. Heading to the cashier, I passed over my items. Eyeing at the KitKat bar, I prayed to god that I would have enough money to get one of those babies. The girl had returned to restocking, shortly being interrupted by the group of boys who had found their way into her aisle.

One of them had branched off from the others to go to the bathroom. The girl seemed to completely change her attitude when the group inched closer, as if she was trying to focus just on her work. The guys were too busy joking around to notice her, before one tripped over her foot. Stumbling a bit he looked back at her with disgust.

I looked away, I couldn't be apart of another problem. I've tried to be the hero of the story before, it never worked out for me in the end. But that didn't make the pit in my stomach feel any better. The cashier murmured. "That will be $3.40."

"Huh? Y-yeah, right," I said as I shuffled around for the five bucks my mom gave me, unable to resist in overhearing the conversation that was happening a couple feet away from me.