Between Two Girls

Chapter 6

Paige wakes up to the sound of arguing. She groans in annoyance. “Can’t you two just shut up?” she asks.

    Juli huffs. “Emery started it.”

    “I haven’t,” he replies calmly.

    “Yeah, you have!”

    “I was merely pointing out a mistake you’ve made,” Emery states.

    The redhead silences the voices with a low growl. “It’s Saturday. You should’ve at least waited until I woke up before you start fighting.”

   Juli gasps in realization. “Yay! It’s the weekend!” she shouts out. “Now we can break the law. Actually, several. There are a few places I want to go to.”

    Paige winces at the volume. “Keep it down,” she says.

    She stretches and gets dressed before heading downstairs. Paige sees her mom sitting at the kitchen table, just staring at her reflection. Strands of gray and auburn hair hang around her sunken face while the rest is wrapped into a messy bun. A large and faded blue robe hangs off of Mrs. Sery’s skeletal body. A cup of coffee sits beside her.

    Eyeing the bones that could be seen through the skin, Paige clears her throat. “Morning, mom,” she says. She walks to the pantry and gets out a box of Pop-Tarts. She holds them up to her mom. “Want one?” she asks.

    Mrs. Sery finally looks up at her oldest daughter. “She takes a second, then shakes her head slowly. “I’m not hungry,” she murmurs.

    “I’m not even sure she’d notice if she was starving to death,” Emery says, his voice low.

    Paige nods in agreement, then grabs a Pop-Tart and puts it in the toaster. Within a few minutes, the redhead is leaning against the counter eating her breakfast while loud footsteps can be heard upstairs. Before she knows it, Paige is almost knocked over by a wave of hyperness.

    “Paigey, Paigey!” Anika shrieks. “Can we go to the bookstore today?”

   “Whoa there, Anika!” Paige picks her sister up off of her and puts her down on the floor. Paige straightens herself.

    “Can we please?” Anika doesn’t seem fazed from being picked up, and starts jumping up and down in excitement. “There’s a new book coming in at Barnes’ and Noble’s that I wanna get, an’ I have my money save up, an’--”

    Paige holds up her hands in surrender. “Okay, okay,” she says. “We’ll go. Just let me get ready.”

    “Yay!”

 

As soon as Paige parks her car in the lot, Anika rushes out and runs to the store. She turns to Paige, who’s dragging her feet up. “You’re so slow, Paigey,” Anika complains.

    Paige can’t help but smirk. She doesn’t say anything as she and her sister enter Barnes’ and Noble’s.

    The inside is just as big as Paige remembers from the times she’s been here when she was little. She can smell the papery scent from new books and not-so-new books. Along with the voices, who are both betting on which books Paige might get, the old building comforts her in a way.

    Anika rushes off to the children’s section, and Paige to the young adult’s. She selects the first book that catches her eyes, and reads the summary on the cover.

    “Do you really think you need more of them?” Juli asks loudly.

    Paige shrugs as she tucks the book under her arm. “It sounds interesting,” she says,  quiet as ever.

    She takes a few more books and adds them to the first. She’s about to go to the checkout line when a girl about her age sighs as she holds a book in each hand. She looks as if she’s trying to decide which one is worth getting. Paige looks at her with curiosity.

    The girl looks up. “Hi,” she says nervously. “Would you mind helping me?”

   Surprised, Paige doesn’t move. At her hesitation, the girl holds up the books. “Do you know if these are in a series?” she asks.

    The redhead squints as she reads the titles. She points at each of them as she answers, “This is the second in its series, and the other one is a stand-alone.”

    The girl looks relieved. “Great, thanks,” she says. She looks back at the bookshelves. “Now, if I can find the first. . . “

    Paige thinks for a minute, then goes to the other side of the aisle. She picks up a book and gives it to the girl. “This is the first,” she says. “There are also the third, fourth, and fifth books if you want to get those, too.”

    The stranger smiles at Paige. “Thanks again. I didn’t think I’d be able to find them on my own.” She gets the other books and leaves to the checkout line.

    Satisfied, Paige receives her pile and sees an elderly woman bending down and trying to read the titles on the bottom shelf. The redhead walks over to the customer. “Would you like some help with something?”

    The woman replies without looking up, “Yes. Would you be a dear and read those book titles out loud for me?”

    So Paige does, and after ten minutes, the old woman leaves with a couple books and thanks Paige for the help. A few other customers who have noticed the redhead comes up to her and asks for her assistance. There’s a man who couldn’t find a book on engineering, another girl trying to balance the pros and cons between three romances, and a little boy who wants a “weally big pictuwe book” on dinosaurs. Each and every one has Paige help them, and they all thank her for the time.

    It’s to the point Paige doesn’t realize how late it’s been getting until she feels a tugon her jeans. She looks down at Anika. “Are you done yet?” her little sister asks.

    “Um, yeah.” Paige grabs her books and follows Anika to the checkout line.

    Anika pays for her books quickly before going to the big doors leading to the outside.

   Paige puts her pile on the counter. The man behind it looks at her for a moment. “Were you the one helping the other customers?” he asks.

    Paige looks confused, and nods slowly.

    The cashier goes on, “And you do realize there are employees who do that?”

    Paige feels uncomfortable at what he’s getting at. “I take it you don’t want me doing that anymore,” she says.

    The man snorts. “That’s not what I’m getting at.” He turns to get something from the other side. He hands it to Paige.

    She looks at it. “This is a job application,” she says, dumbly.

   "Well, yeah. Fill it out and turn it in, and the job’s yours,” the man says. “If you’re going to help people find their books, you might as well get paid for it.

    “Now, are you just buying these books today?” the cashier finishes.

    “No, Paige’s just screwing with you--she really wants a unicorn and ride off to the rainbows,” Juli snarks. Emery bursts out laughing as Paige nods and hands the man her debit card.

    A few minutes later, Paige walks outside with Anika, with the application in her plastic bag, and a plan forming in her mind.