Bionic Chaos [Leo Dooley]

Chapter Seven

For some reason, everyone in Mission Creek wants to spend their weekend shopping at Tech Town. Caitlin, Bree, and I all have been working registers nonstop while Scott and Chase are in the break room, chatting away together like the two worthless pieces of garbage they are. They haven't come out in an hour, leaving the three of us to our own devices with this high influx of customers. Since I am the only one who has worked here the longest, I have to keep helping Bree and Caitlin with everything. Hopefully, Scott won't get mad at us for messing things up because I don't know everything there is to know about the registers and prices yet. Wishful thinking won't get me anywhere, though, so I just try to do my best.

"Have a great day!" I say brightly to the customer in front of me. He just grumbles something before forcefully grabbing his bag of phone chargers and screen protectors off of the counter and turning away from me. As he walks away, I face Bree and Caitlin, whispering, "How come I always get the rude customers?"

"Because I've been sending them your way," Caitlin says simply. The look on her face makes me want to strangle her. Unfortunately, I hold myself back. "You deserve them."

"Wow, Caitlin," Bree says, glancing between the two of us. I have a fake smile plastered on my face, but I can tell that Bree senses the anger that is rolling off me in furious waves. "That's a little harsh."

"It's not the worst thing she's done to me," I tell Bree with a quick roll of my eyes. Thankfully, all the customers are gone for right now, leaving us alone for the time being. "If you couldn't tell, she hates me."

"It's mutual, really," Caitlin continues before Bree can even get a word in. Her eyes are hard as she glares at me, the smile slipping off in a flash. "I hate you, and you hate me. It's as simple as that."

"Okay," Bree says, holding out the word for longer than she needed to. Her eyes dart between me and Caitlin like we're two crazy people. We're not crazy, though; she is the crazy one between the three of us. "Maybe we should take lunch now that the morning rush is over."

"Good idea," I say, nodding. I pull my gaze away from Caitlin and actually smile a real smile at Bree. "Could you go shut the doors?"

"Sure."

I watch as she walks over to doors at a normal speed, not her super speed. I wish she would've used her super speed, but I doubt that she would use it in front of me and Caitlin, especially since we have nothing else to do besides watch her close the doors for lunch.

When I first started working here, I was confused as to why Scott wanted us to shut the doors for lunch, but he quickly dismissed my confusion by telling me that he wouldn't let any of his workers out into the mall because he didn't want them to waste their money on the other useless stores here. We all have to bring our own lunch here because Scott won't provide anything for us, either. And, we all have to take lunch together, no matter what. He's a great boss.

"Have you gotten any closer to Leo?" Cailtin hisses at me, stepping closer to me so no one else would hear us talking.

"No. I've been busy, Caitlin."

"You do want to get evidence for the three bionic kids, don't you?"

I sigh, glancing at Bree over near the doors. She's still shutting them, which is good for us. We would probably be dead if she finds out what we're doing. "Yes, but I've been busy. But don't worry, I get to work on a school project with Leo, so I'll try to get evidence when I go over to his house. I just have to lay on my charm to get him to talk, which won't be hard."

"Good. We need this evidence to tell the whole world that there are freaks living among them."

"Yeah, I know."

She opens her mouth to say something else, but Bree suddenly appears next to me, silencing Caitlin. I don't dare look at her because then Bree will know somethings up between the two of us. We can't have that happening since she is one of the three freaks that we are trying to get evidence against.

"I shut the doors and flipped the sign," Bree tells us. I try to listen for anything in her voice to tell me if she heard me and Caitlin talking or not. I can't tell. "It's lunchtime now."

"Good job," I say with a quick nod. "You two can go to the back room now. I'll lock up the registers."

I don't wait for them to answer me; I turn to the register in front of me and lock it up. It doesn't take me long at all to lock up the registers, giving me time to be alone for a second. I haven't been alone since my brother came home from college a week or so ago. He's been spending literally all his time with me when I'm home, and I hate it. I've never been close with any of my siblings since they're so much older than me, and that's not going to change with Kian being home now.

Leaning against the counter, I let out a sigh. My nights are spent awake, listening to my mother and father yell at each other and Kian as they try to get him motivated to either go back to college or get a job instead of staying home and doing nothing all day, everyday. It's been such a fun time lately that I picked up more shifts at Tech Town to try to get away from the awesome situation at home.

I can hear Caitlin and Chase and Scott talking in the breakroom, making me smile. Since they're occupied, I'll just slip out of the store and go get food from the pretzel cart. It won't take me longer than five minutes at the latest, and if Scott and Chase are talking about anything technology related, they won't even notice that I'm gone.

Hurrying through the doors, I slowly shut them as quietly as I can so that they won't hear me leaving. I lock them again with my keys, and I quickly turn the corner toward the pretzel cart. A smile appears on my face the farther I get away from Tech Town. I hate that place, just like I hate my home. I can't wait to get away from this place when I get older.

Suddenly, a cold hand grabs onto my elbow, forcing me to stop. I nearly let out a scream, but when I see Bree standing next to me, I stifle it. "What are you doing, Bree?" I ask her, sucking in a breath. "You scared me."

"You're a terrible person, you know that?"

I blink hard. It feels like my breath gets stuck in my chest as I stare at her. Anger fills her whole face, telling me that she knows. "And you're a freak -- a bionic," I say truthfully. "Did you know that?"

For a second there, I think she's going to slap me. Thankfully, she doesn't. No, she goes still and quiet. I'm afraid that she's planning ways to kill me or something like that, so I take a step away from her. Her arm falls to her side.

"You're going to use Leo to try to get closer to us," she accuses me.

"It's the only way."

"I know what you are, and you know what I am," she continues like she didn't hear me at all. Maybe she didn't; there's a strange look on her face as she stares at the ground. "We're at a stalemate here. If I tell Leo that you're using him, you will tell the police or whoever you want to tell about me and my brothers. If you tell, I will tell Leo."

"What are you saying, Bree?"

"If you don't tell anyone about us, I won't tell Leo," she says simply. Bree finally looks me in the eyes, and I see a mischievous look in them. "We could have a truce together."

"What would we get out of it?"

"You're my way into this world," she says quickly like she knew exactly what she wanted from me already. "Whenever I want to go out, you're going to come with me. I want to be normal, and you can get that for me."

"Okay." I nod even though I hate what we're doing. Caitlin will be so angry with me, but I won't tell her about what Bree and I are doing. "Your father has a lot of money, right?"

"Yeah."

"Get me some so I can get to Hollywood by myself."

"Deal."

We don't shake on it or anything. We don't really do anything together; instead, we go our separate ways. I don't really know why I agreed to that truce with her or why I even asked her for money to get to Hollywood. There is no way I'm going to go through with it, but I can always dream, right?