Untitled

The Start

"He did what?" Her mouth hung open like a clown in the sideshow alley as she stared at the bracelet that I was pointing to. "No way. I've known him for like FOREVER and have never got something from him! What did you do to get that?" She looked at me suspiciously before trailing her eyes back to my wrist.

"Nothing." I said, slightly confused over the whole situation. "I didn't know I had to do anything to get it. Well, in my defence, I didn't even know that I was going to get it." My tone was thoughtful and almost a whole octave below hers.

I found myself glancing down at my wrist frowning slightly as I remembered receiving the bracelet unexpectedly from our boss.

"Do you think..." Sara's eyes were weird as she paused and looked up at me. "No!" She shook her head numerous times.

"What? What is it?" I questioned her but soon regretted it as her eyes lit up and a weird smile appeared on her face.

"Oh, I am so going to enjoy testing this out!" She rubbed her hands together in front of herself as she smiled at me showing off her very white and perfectly positioned teeth.

I covered my forehead and eyes with my hands. "What have I got myself into..." I moaned like a small child who didn't get her way.

"No, no Nat, this is going to be fun! You've got to work with me on this!"

I didn't get a chance to question her, or object any further, as Rick was heading our direction. Sara squeezed my arm excitedly and then started talking about our plans to decorate our classrooms to match the current units.

We were still standing just outside the local material and clothing store  when Rick eventually caught up with us.

"Hello ladies. Working hard on a Saturday I see?" I kept my eyes trained on the rack of clothes in front of me as I smiled politely and waited for whatever horrible 'plan' Sara had in store.

"Sure are. Nat was actually just commenting about this shirt and how it would tie in with our 'Oceans' unit for this term." She paused to look at me but didn't wait long enough for me to comment. "Actually Nat said that you are good at buying gifts, so maybe you could just buy it for me? After all, it is work related..." I stood there as red as a beetroot, as Sara, seemingly oblivious, smiled directly up at Rick after posing the question.

"Ah..." Rick stammered, obviously not at all expecting the question.

I could sense his eyes searching my face, willing me to meet his gaze, but suddenly the pink, flowery blouse at the back of the rack looked extremely interesting.

"Yeah...sure." Rick eventually answered causing Sara to thump me on the arm and my eyes to jump to his in surprise.

He took the garment off of Sara and headed to the counter.

"I can't believe it... no way!" Sara whispered at me, not so softly, all the while still thumping my arm.

"What are you doing?" I whispered at her, voice dripping with venom. If there was one thing I hated, it was being embarrassed and right now, I wanted to be anywhere but right here.

It took Rick only a moment to return so I didn't get a response out of Sara.

"Yay!" She screeched like a small child in a candy store when he handed her the bag with her shirt. "Now I got a present too, Nat!" Again with the arm thumping...

"Well I'm actually headed down the road a bit so I will see you both on Monday." Rick said, cleverly removing himself from the very awkward situation.

"I'll wear my shirt!" Sara added with a wave as she turned to head into the store to see what else she could buy.