"Ok?" He asks. "Just... ok? Most kids hate school."
"Not me, Da-James-Mr. Pheo- ummmm..." I awkwardly don't know what to call him.
"James is fine for now." He says, reading my mind.
"Ok." I reply.
"Anyways, Verena, school starts tomorrow. It's September, so everyone is starting new. No need to worry."
"It's September?" I ask, disappointed. This means that I already passed my 17th birthday, which was July 30.
"Yes. Why?" He asks.
"I never knew the date for all those years. I didn't realize I was already seventeen."
"Oh. Sorry. You turned seventeen on July 30, 12:13 am. Did you know that?" He asks.
"Not when I was born." I smile.
"Ok. Well, we need to get you ready for school. Where do kids these days shop?" He asks.
"Why in the world would you ask me that?" I raise my right eyebrow at him.
"Right, sorry, sorry." He squeezes his eyes shut. "I'll look it up." He pulls out a flat, long device. It lights up.
I gasp. "Is... is that a smartphone?" I ask.
"Oh..." he sighs. "Yes, we'll probably have to get you one of those as well. My phone says that Target has a lot of stuff for school, and they also sell iphones."
"Ok." I reply. I don't know what he wants me to say next.
"Well, let's get in the car." He says. He takes my hand and leads me up a spiral staircase until we are in a small, crusty kitchen. He takes me out the door, down a hallway and into an elevator. He presses floor zero and we wait for the elevator to reach the bottom floor. We step out, walk out of a lobby, and suddenly we're in a busy street with a lake in front.
"James, is this Lake Michigan?" I ask, in awe.
"Yup." He leads us to a parking garage and nods towards a white sedan.
I open the door and slide in the front seat. It smells like spoiled milk. I grimace at the smell.
"Sorry, my bad..." He says, reading my mind once again. "I forgot the milk I bought from the store..."
He reaches to the backseat and pulls out a glass bottle of clumpy, discolored milk.
"Ick." I say.
He gets out of the car and I watch as he throws away the spoiled milk. He gets back in, buckles his seat belt and steps on the gas.
We drive for not even five minutes when we get to a Target downtown.
I've never really been to a store like this before, so I'm confused when the doors slide open for me. I turn back to James, very confused, and he snickers.
"They're automatic, Verena." He says. He hands me a folded up piece of paper. It looks like this: (There was a school shopping list)
"Wait, but, James..." I turn around and he's gone. I have a bill in my hands, with instructions to buy what's on the list and an iphone. That his number is 859-9089-872.
"Okay..." I don't know what half of this is, but I grab a cart and start looking around. There's so much to see! Clothes, makeup, books, electronics, toys. I decide to start in electronics. I can get a laptop and a phone.
I browse the aisle and a man comes up to me.
"May I help you with anything, miss?" He politely asks.
"I..." I stutter. I haven't talked to anyone like this in a very long time. "Um... yes, I need a new phone, and, um, a computer."
"Ok, and do you have a brand in mind?" He asks.
"No, just... whatever the best one is." I confirm.
"Well, we have several androids and samsungs, but the iphone is probably the best brand. We have iphone 14s as well, the latest model."
"Ok, that sounds good, I guess." I reply.
"Alrighty, we only have white. Is that ok?"
"Yup."
"And here is a MacBook Pro, as well." He leads me to the checkout.
"Cash or card?" He asks.
"Cash."
"1,399.99"
I hand him 14 100s. He helps me set up the phone and computer, which takes almost an hour. I then take the bag and walk back into the store. I still need school supplies. I make my way to the back, looking around. I finally find where the school supplies are.
I grab several notebooks and put them in my cart. I see someone in the corner of my eyes.
She looks like she's 16 or 17, and has long, wavy auburn hair. My face heats up, and I swivel back around. Why did that happen? She looked familiar... Where have I seen her?!
Suddenly someone taps on my shoulder. I jump and turn around. It's that girl I was just looking at. My face feels warm again. Her eyes are crystal green, and she has long eyelashes. Her lips are pink and form a slight frown, while her nose is thin and curves up near the end.
"You look lost," She points out. "Need help finding anything?" She raises an eyebrow.
"I, um..." Why can't I talk? I feel sick. "Um, do you, um, work here?" I gulp.
"No, I'm just a decent human?"
"Right, of course, um, cool." A bead of sweat trickles down my forehead.
"So, do you need anything?"
"Er, no. I'm, uh, okay." I say. "Almost finished."
"Okay... so do you want to go to my house?" She offers. Why would someone randomly invite me to her house? Is she trying to kidnap me? Is this one of those romance novels where the guy walks up to the girl and invites her over for dinner? Certainly not.
"Um, I-"
She cuts me off. "Since you lack the capability to speak, I'm going to take that as a yes." She grabs my wrist and starts pulling me towards the exit. I swear I can feel sparks going off where she's touching me. I stare at the back of her head. Long, tangly hair falls down her back. There's auburns, oranges, and browns. Her head reminds me of autumn.
"So, what's your name?" She asks, turning around in the middle of the chip aisle.
I take a second to study her features more closely. Her eyes are so deep. At first, they just look solid light green. Then you see blue radiating out from her pupils, and golden flecks within. A small, light blue patch is in her right iris.
"Verena." I say. "It means 'true.'"
"Okay." She turns back around.
She's the girl from my dream!
YOU ARE READING
Another Place, Another Time DISCONTINUED
Ficção GeralI'm Verena. My name means "true," but nothing in this book is real or true. Everything is a lie. If you think like a decent human about the topic of trust, you'll find that everything is perjury, and that everything can be counteracted by more evide...
