MY SHOOTING STAR

Chapter Two

"Hey, Dork." The guy spoke first as he slid into my booth unannounced. Bubbles, who I found out was Sofia, mimicked his movements, chewing her gum wildly. Her pink mini skirt was smoothed out over her buttocks to prevent skin burn.

My eyes detered from their gaze but did not refuse their forced greeting. I gave them a single nod.

"Awe! Look, babe! He's shy!" Sofia heaved in laughter. For a moment, I thought she was choking off her gum, but it was a false alarm.

Kaleb, the insulter, snatched a napkin off my side of the table and balled it up. Assuming, out of courtesy, he would provide Sofia one to dispose of the gum. However, he threw it at me and chuckled. The other two at the next table over joined in with laughter.

Kaleb continued to hound me. "I saw you looking at my girl. You got eyes for what's mine, Freak?"

Nervously and instinctively, I repositioned myself in my seat and shook my head. "No, never!"

"Good, because I don't want to have to do what's necessary to keep you in your place, dog!" He hissed.

Bile touched the back of my throat as it tried to escape from my mouth, but I rejected the intrusion. My eyes peirced into his, but said nothing. Luckily, I didn't have to because Tanya read my body language and scurried over at my table immediately.

"Is there anything going on here?" Tanya asked, her voice forced. The bun she once had neatly tied on her head loosened during her shift. She fastened it with no time at all, and as she did so, she smiled to reassure me that she had this commotion handled. Thank goodness because I didn't have the strength.

They all shook their heads in synchronization.

The curly haired girl, Ingrid, sat next to Sofia and added, "No, Ma'am. We're actually here on school business."

Tanya sent a bewildered look my way to get my opinion. That was when I waved my hand to send her away. She received the message and left.

I squinted at Ingrid in annoyance. "What school business?" The pleasure in exposing her in her farce was imminent. She deceived people regardless of what her innocent face expressed, so I had to be cautious of the lies that spewed out of her mouth.

The second guy, named Raphael, strolled into our conversation. He towered over Ingrid when there was no room left on the opposite side of the booth--there was no way in hell he was sitting next to me. "Luca, chill, man. We just have a question."

Sofia pulled a string of gum out of her dirty mouth and twirled it enough so it wouldn't tear. She sucked it back into her mouth before speaking. "We know that you draw real good. We've seen it."

Ingrid nodded in agreement. "We wanted to know if you could help us paint our banners before the big game!"

I examined each of them closely; Kaleb silently watched my every move as if I would do anything else to irritate him. Raphael slung his lanky arm around Ingrid's shoulders, but she cringed at his sudden gesture, which confirmed that they weren't together. His Adam's apple moved abruptly when he noticed her reaction, so he withdrew his arm. Sofia hinted at Kaleb to smooch on her, but he was too busy focusing on me.

The details at school about needing help with the arrangements for the big game wasn't a secret, and there was a limit to getting everything done in a timely manner, but I doubted they needed my help specifically. So, I answered honestly and quickly to get this over with.

"Sorry. I don't paint well, and since I'm not getting paid for my labor, I'm not interested."

Kaleb was the first to react. He reached for my hooded sweater out of anger, ready to rip it off me with all his strength. If I leaned in just a tad, he might have had that chance, but Ingrid blocked his target. "We'll pay you. How much do you want?"