Haylee
-
"Yes! Yes. Thank you for your time. Tomorrow? 4:30? That works! Thank you, thank you! Yes. Ok. Bye!" I said, just as my bedroom door opened and Felicity walked in.
"Guess who just got a job!" I squealed, tackling her onto the bed.
"Hmm? Maybe someone who doesn't have rich parents?" Felicity joked, rolling off of me.
I laughed. "C'mon! The faster I show our parents how responsible I am, the faster we can leave this hell hole."
"And that means staying out of trouble...." Felicity muttered, and I nodded.
She twirled a strand of brown hair around her finger. "Not possible. Have you seen all the hot guys here?"
I giggled and propped myself up.
"Speaking of hot guys, have you come across a Rachel Cockgrew?" I asked.
"Rachel Cockgrew? Senior cheerleader? Total bitch? FEMALE?" Felicity laughed.
"No, idiot, her boyfriend. Tall, brunette, hot!"
"Ahhhh. Calum Hood. Total stud. Every girl ever loves him. He's from Australia, moved here freshman year and Rachel snagged him a week later. They've been dating since. Total badass. Looks like a fuckboy, with his Raybans and cigs, but he's totally sweet. That's all I've heard."
•••
I eyed the walls on walls of candy. A whole rack of millions of jellybean and m&m flavors. Assorted candies in glass cases. Lollipops lining the cash register. A glass case of dippin dots.
I heard the bell on the front door chime and instinctively chanted "Welcome to Fuzziwigs candy bar. Plastic bags are on your right" without even looking up.
The customer clanged around and stopped in front of the counter for a few seconds. Finally, I looked up, surprised.
"Calum Hood." I muttered, a half smile on my face. Suddenly, I was embarrassed about my appearance. Thankfully, my blonde hair was tamed into a braid that fell out of the back of my ugly Fuzziwigs hat, and there was no uniform besides the hat.
He held up a mini plastic bottle filled with draft beer flavored jellybeans from the packaged candy section.
He tossed it on the counter and threw a five. Just as I opened my mouth to speak, he cut me off. "Keep the change."
I rolled my eyes and focused back on The 1975 album on my phone, plugging and earbud back in my ear. I heard Calum crack the plastic wrapping and pop a jellybean in his mouth. Seconds later, he gagged and spit it into a garbage can.
"Gross!" he laughed at himself, before holding out a hand with a jellybean on it.
"You want?" He asked. I rolled my eyes again and shook my head.
"I insist." he said, shoving the jellybean into my hand.
We met eyes for a second and finally I smiled and put it into my mouth. "Hmm. Really does taste like beer." I said thoughtfully, swallowing the lump of foul-tasting jelly.
"So you know what beer tastes like?" he asked, eyeing me with a soft smile.
I blushed and glanced back down at my phone.
Calum laughed. "Kidding. Me, too. But I hear you were quite the partier back in Cali." Hearing those words come out of gorgeous mouth covered in thick, raspy Australian make me blush.
I nodded. "That's how I ended up here."
"Oh, tell me more, you bad girl." Calum fake scolded.