A Book of Beau, Griffin Stagg

05 - Busy Day

North Denver, 1978

After three more class periods, it was time for the best part of the school day, lunch. I got to hang out alone with probably my favorite person on this earth, Griffin Stagg.

     I headed to our spot and saw him unpacking his lunch.

     "Hey Griff! I have an idea for our poster board."
     "Hi N/n. Spill it." (N/n = nickname)
     "Okay! So, what if we run to 99¢ Store after school today and pick up the stuff for our poster. If you're free."
     "Yea. I'm free today. I think. Do you have an idea for the theme?"
     "I do! What if we make it look like a giant book and fill it with all of the stuff."
     "That sounds cool."

     I unpacked my lunch and started eating. We continued brainstorming how we wanted it to look and where we would get the money from. We're both 13 and broke. After we got tired talking about the project, we shit talked the other kids in the school. For an outcast, he sure knows a lot about everyone. (I know that he's 12, but i just thought it would be a little better if I changed it one year.)

Time skip to After School

Griffin and I met at the back of the school and we were off. I have lived in North Denver for a couple years now and never once been to the 99¢ Store. Neither has Griffin. So this was going to be one hell of an adventure. We start going in a direction we think is the right way, but forgot the most important part.

"Oh my gosh! Griffin we forgot about the money." I exclaimed, trying not to laugh.
"Oh yea. That's important." He joked, also trying not to laugh.

We tried to remember where the "correct"way was, but after the first turn, we both forgot.

The walk back to his house wasn't that far and before we knew it, he was ringing his doorbell. A really lovely looking lady opened the door for us and greeted me with a huge smile.

"Oh my goodness! You must be Y/n! Griffin has been talking about you nonstop for the past couple of days! He—"

Griffin ran over to his mom and tried to shush her, "Mom! Not now."

I could help but lightly blush at his mom's comment. Griffin talks about me? I start to get this weird feeling like butterflies are in my stomach. I tried to ignore it and his mom started talking again.

"Anyways, I'm Nina, Griffin's mom." She comes over to me and shakes my hand, "Griffin has said so many nice things about you. And you are so pretty! What brings you here?"
"We have a project due next week and we want to get a head start. We were walking to the 99¢ Store and forgot to get money."

Griffin chimes into the conversation, "I'm going to get the rest of the money from my piggy bank really quickly."

He ran up the stairs to get the money. His mom turns back to me.

"Thank you so much for making Griffin himself again, Y/n. He hasn't looked this alive and happy in months! I hope you guys stay friends for a long time."
"You're very welcome! I love being with Griffin and just enjoy being near him. He is such a kind, funny and smart boy! Who wouldn't want to be near him?"

As soon as I finished, he came back down stairs with what looked like 10ish dollars.

"Okay we're heading out. Bye mom. I'll be back before dinner. Love you."
"Love you too! Bye Y/n! You two have fun."

He closed the door and we were off to my house. My mom wasn't home like usual, so I just dropped in and picked up around 14 dollars. After about a half an hour of just walking around trying to find the store and people watching, we found the store.