IT'S A SPOOKY MONTH!!

▪︎ CHAPTER FIVE ▪︎

'So tiring..' The enby behind the counter thought negatively, because surprise surprise; Kevin's got a common cold just yesterday and Basil has to suffer day shift and night shift for today. Xe really want to close their eyes for a while but doesn't wanna be embarrassed in front of the customers but as they almost doze off, xe heard a bell went ding and looked up, tired.

"....." That's all xe can say, just nothing. But this man gets the message, "Nice to see ya, cotton candy!" Basil just rolled their eyes, 'Out of all people, why him?' Lee was their 'friend', although xe prefer the term frienemies since they don't like him that much, due to his teasing. "So, I heard Kevin's sick. Tell him that I wish him well to get better." Basil just hum a sound, then wrote down on their notepad, 'Do you need anything?' Lee nodded, "Just give me that new candy that just came recently-" Xe did their work and scanned the price then Lee paid them, "Thanks bud!" There's always times where Basil silently scoffed at his presence but it did made them feel not lonely whenever Kevin's not around so they smiled, "You should try smile more if you wanna, you look pretty doing that. See ya!" And with that, the part-time photographer left the store and Basil is alone again.

Basil looks down, thinking about that word; pretty. That one word always made them frowned in disbelief, because xe heard this everyday, even back at their old hometown...

"Basil-San, you look pretty as usual!"

"Basil-San, your skin always look so flawless! How??"

"Basil-San, you got a lot of suitors in school and yet, you rejected them so calmly!"

"Basil-San is the QUEEN of this school!"

Xe clenched their fists, of course, that was BEFORE xe decided to come out as Intersex Panromantic and did their classmates support them? Let's say; only 11, the others just went on dead pronouncing xem like as if it's just a phrase or just a joke..Xe hated that, xe suddenly lost their spark to communicate since their wannabe friends just kept on saying their dead pronouns, and would sometimes cross the line of saying bad things about their older twin sister, who went missing before their parents did the same. They didn't know they were crying until tears dropped on the counter so xe wiped them away, so embarrassing, they thought.

'No, everything is in the past. Do not think of the negativity for now, save it for later at home.' And so, they did saved the problems later and continue their hellish shifts.