The Old Tuck Shop

TWENTY-ONE

"Cheers. If I held it in for one more minute, my bladder would've exploded. So are we doing anything today?-" Josh practically burst through the bathroom door, drying his hands on his hoodie, and looked at Poppy suspiciously.

"Sorry, dude, but I've made plans with Poppy Starr." She smiled at him and gave an awkward wave. He gave me a weird look.

"Are you sure you want to go out with her?" Josh asked, following me around Cal's as I grabbed my backpack.

"Yes," I replied bluntly. "It's not like we were going to do anything interesting anyway," I chuckled.

"Sure, I'll just wander around lost for the rest of the day," he said, sarcastically.

"You've lasted years without me. Don't be a dick," I rolled my eyes, making my bed. Ignoring his pointless chatter behind me.

"But you don't know her. I barely know her, and I know everyone."

"Oh really?-" I scoffed. "Wait. How do you know her?" I asked, intrigued.

"Oh, now you want my attention?" he smirked, inspecting the photographs on the chest of drawers.

I grabbed one of the photos off of him and put it back. "I am merely asking whether or not this girl is a serial killer," I joked.

"Finn, I wouldn't be letting you talk to her if she was a serial killer." He grabbed another photograph.

"Jesus Christ, stop touching everything. And I don't even think you want me to talk to her! All you've done is whine! I just want to know what you know about her," I said, sternly.

"As I said, I barely know the girl. She's just in my class, and she's really smart. Like stupidly smart. Like gets As on basically every test. She's best friends with Izzy and Bronwyn, who are super cool-"

"Jeez, for barely knowing her, you know quite a lot, don't you," I snickered. "Why don't you tell where she was born whilst you're at it!" I grabbed the set hung up in the hallway.

"Pembrokeshire," he replied, bluntly.

"You know I was kidding, right?"

He smirked. "I mean, she seems nice. She gave me chewing gum, once."

"Oh yeah, that's kind of her." I rolled my eyes and locked up the till.

"Oh, and there's one tiny little detail," he said, slowly.

"Oh, yeah. What's that? Are you going to tell me what her favourite cereal is?" I joked, locking up the storeroom.

"She may or may not fancy Ben."

"Ben? Ben Smith?" I gulped, turning around slowly.

"I don't know. Maybe. Izzy told me ages ago."

Long story short; Ben Smith was an absolute dickhead. And probably still is. It's not like I was bullied or anything by him, he was just an unpleasant person in general. And in some ways, I could thank him. After all, it was him that made me and Josh friends. One day in year 5 I was at the park reading a book (I was honestly such a sad kid) and Ben came over and knocked the book out of my hands, and before he could rip the pages, Josh came over and snatched it from him. At the time, Josh was part of Ben's gang, but he was different. He would never beat up kids like the rest of them would and just follow them around. He was very shy at the time, and I guess he only wanted protection or something. I was a very isolated kid too, so we made a good team.

"It doesn't matter anyway. It's not like I like her or anything," I laughed awkwardly, shaking my head.

"Like her? You only saw her 10 minutes ago. You know I don't believe in that 'love at first sight' crap."

I shook my head.

"Look. At the end of the day, she seems like a good person. And Ben's changed since then, so don't look so worried." He put me in a headlock and rubbed my hair.

"Oi!" I kicked him.

"No, but honestly, have a nice time," he let go, and we walked outside.

I locked the front door, put the keys in my pocket, and saw her from the other side of the street.

He smacked my back for good luck, and I walked towards her.

"Hi," I said awkwardly, fidgeting with my fingers. She smiled.

"So...do you want to get a smoothie or something? There's a good place to get one...just over there." I pointed down the street.

"I was wondering if I could take you somewhere..." she said, shyly.

"Oh, okay. I mean I guess that's okay...wait...are you trying to take me somewhere for you to kill me?" I joked.

"Oh, yes! Of course! Gosh, darn it! You figured out my plan!" she giggled. Her eyes squinted, and her dimples appeared.

"Are you sure?" I asked suspiciously, playing along.

"There's always the possibility," she winked. I knew she was only doing an act, but that wink made my heart beat a mile a minute.

"I'm just saying. I only met you a few minutes ago - I don't know - a white transit van could pull up any minute and kidnap me." I flung my arms up in the air.

"That was oddly specific," she replied, lowering her eyebrows.

"Oh, please just come with me. I'm not going to kill you."

"You sure...you might be hiding a knife in your bag." I pointed at her black backpack and she laughed. "Show me. Just for reassurance."

"Seriously?" she said. I looked sternly at her.

She pulled out the contents of her bag: a packet of gum, her purse, her phone, a bus pass, and a bottle of water.

"You know this is a total invasion of privacy," she said. She looked at me, sternly. "Is that enough reassurance?" she asked, placing the items back into her bag.

"For now. Yes." I grinned, and she shook her head, giggling.

"You are unbelievable. Can we go now? Or do you have to do a full-body check?" she sighed.

"I'm just unbelievably cautious."

She rolled her eyes, puffed, and dragged me behind her.