After yesterday, I desperately needed a break. I wanted to go away from reality, from this world and go to some place where it was only me and nobody else. I had bunked school pretending that I had cramps. Mom was pretty tensed but I sent her to office somehow. So, it was only me in the whole house. I slept for some time, heard music and went to the kitchen to eat. Dam it. No food. It was already five ‘o’ clock. Everyone from school must have been home by now. I did not expect anyone to call, cause I hardly had any true friends. The ones I used to hang out with, just used me for my popularity. Anyway, I had to eat something, I was starving. I took some cash, locked the door and went to Pizza Corner. The pizzas out there were marvellous.
The restaurant was pretty empty, just a gang of men and one couple. I sat down. I was just searching what to eat.
“What would you like to eat, ma’am?” someone said. The voice sounded familiar.
I looked up.
“Oh my god. What are you doing here?” I asked, startled.
It was Blake. What was he doing here?
He looked embarrassed. “Umm. My parents are no more, so I have to earn my own and Jennifer’s living, for that I need to have a part time job. I can’t have a full time job as I have to complete my education.” He said.
“But you aren’t even eighteen!” I said.
“Hush. Fake Id.” He said. “ Now what do you want to eat? Answer fast.”
“Whatever is good out here.” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Okay.” He said and went away.
I was just sitting there, staring at the wall.
A man from the other table, the gang of men came and sat opposite me. I did not even know him, he looked at me and grinned. I raised my eyebrows, giving him the “get the fuck out of here” look.
“Aren’t you the girl whose father is a drug dealer?” He said, still having the grin.
“First of all no, second of all I don’t know you and third of all, I know karate.” I said, gritting my teeth. Obviously I was lying, I didn’t know even a bit of karate. I just knew dangerous words to scare the hell out of people like “kung fu and judo”.
“ Oh you aren’t? That’s weird. Who else could make such an amazing drug?” he said, his grin getting wider.
As soon as he said this, all his other friends burst out laughing.
“I don’t think you heard the other two parts of my statement,” I said, still giving him the “get the fuck out of here” look.
“Oh, then is your name milk?” He said, wondering, ignoring me.
“Well, you’re forcing me to call the security and why are you asking me this?” I said, now getting disgusted.
“Well, you do good to my body.” He said, now laughing.
I wanted to slap him, but I had another plan in my mind. I got up and went to the washroom, pretended to, but instead I went to the kitchen of the restaurant. I saw Blake and ran towards him. I needed his help.
“What are you doing here? You’re not allowed, get out now.” He said, holding my arm.
“Look, I just really need your help, there are these weird guys outside and they are irritating me, I just need to get rid of them somehow, and for that, I need your help.
He looked confused. He took me to a corner.
“Okay, so what’s the plan?” He asked, making sure that nobody was around.
I gleamed.
“ So, they have ordered pizza. Instead of cheese, I want to put fevicol and instead of capsicum, I want to put green chillies, can that be done?” I asked, giving him the puppy dog look.
His facial expression changed totally. His mouth literally hung and his eyes seemed to come out of its sockets. But then, he tried to relax and said, “ You’re kidding, right?” He asked, going a little pink.
“Does my facial expression show that I’m in any mood of jokes right now?” I asked, with a straight face.
“But you can’t be serious! I mean, you are impossible!” He said.
“Can this be done, just answer to the question.” I asked him again.
“Yes, it can, but-” He started off but I hushed him.
“Then I’ll make sure it does.” I said and gave a wicked smile.
________________________________________________________
“Oh, I’m sorry for taking so long, stomach upset you see.” I said, giving a fake smile.
“Don’t worry, babe. Come to me and I’ll make your upset stomach happy” The irritating boy said, winking.
I swear I could have slapped him at that point of time. I reminded myself that he has things that are worse in store for him. At that moment, Blake came with *the* pizza.
I looked at him, he nodded, that meant the work had been done. He kept it on the table and stood there.
“Why don’t you have some pizza?” I said, giving him that fake smile again.
His face changed its expression. It clearly showed that he was delighted by that offer. Little did he know.
I cut a slice for him, and slid the plate towards him.
He took the slice and had one bite. After that, oh boy you should have seen his expression. It changed from pink to red. It looked like his ass was on fire. He stood up and started to dance like a gorilla. He searched for a glass of water and as soon as he got it, he tried to open his mouth and drink it. But, was unsuccessful. He tried hard to tear apart his jaws but nothing seemed to work. I was in hysterics. Then I realised that if anyone got to know, Blake could have lost his job. I held his hand, and when I saw that the man’s friends were not looking at me anymore, I ran along with him.
We ran and ran unless we finally stopped when we realised we are pretty sure from the restaurant. No sooner did we stop than we started to burst out laughing. In the morning, I could have never imagined that my day would go like this. I would laugh! I was laughing after god knows what, three months? I tried to stop, but then I looked at Blake and we started to laugh all over again.
“Did you see his face?” I said, in between my laughter.
Finally, we stopped after five minutes. I was still picturing that boy’s face, and smiling.
“How does it feel?” Blake asked, staring at me.
“How does what feel?” I asked.
“Laughing, smiling, enjoying life?” He said.
“I don’t know. Good, actually. Did not imagine that I would do such shit in my life.” I said.
“Doing shit is fun. And you never know when you won’t be able to do such shit.” He said, going into a depression mode.
I did not know what to say so I just kept shut. He saw me and came back to his own self.
“Well congratulations, Samantha Hayes, you have been recalled to life.” He said, smiling.
At that time, I felt like Dr. Manette from the “Tale of Two Cities.”
__________________________________________________________________
“Just because you don’t want to smile does not mean that you can’t.
Too often you don’t smile for your own sake, but for someone else’s.”
