The Moonwalkers

Coffee Delivery

Mom looked at me in surprise when she spotted the necklace I was wearing as I sat down for breakfast. "You're wearing it to school?"
I nodded, a smile on my face. "Yep! It's really pretty, so why not?"
Mom shrugged as she helped herself to some eggs and sausages. "You guys better eat up, the moon is waxing real good."
"And then comes the meat craving," Chris added with a sigh. "I guess it's a good thing that a grilled chicken shop opened up in my school canteen."
"Mmm... grilled chicken..." I said, my mouth watering at the thought. "Should we have some for dinner?"
Charlene laughed. "Sure, why not."
This was a good way to release some tension, with the divorce and all. But I feel like we're a lot more relaxed now, especially since all of us have come to accept that Charles won't accept us anymore.
The doorbell suddenly rang, interrupting our meal. Mom was almost done, so she just stuffed whatever that was left of her sausages into her mouth and got up to go answer it, munching as she went. I got up too since I just downed the last of my breakfast as well.
"Why are you here again?" I heard Mom say.
I went over to see and saw that it was Charles who called on us, standing before Mom with a nervous look on his face while Mom wore a stern one.
"Christie, I just came to thank you for rescuing me the other day," Charles replied. "I actually came in the day before yesterday, but the kids said you weren't home. I decided to come thank you personally again."
Mom stared at him for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. I appreciate you coming down here to thank me. You're welcome."
Charles spotted me in the living room and locked eyes with me for a moment, making Mom turn around to see me as well. She turned back to Charles and nodded at him.
"They told me that you brought a burnt cheesecake, it was really good," Mom said. "Thanks for the cake."
Charles hesitated for a moment before holding up the paper bag he was holding. "I got you guys some Posiden on the way here."
Mom stared at the bag before taking the bag. "Thank you." Her gaze turned to the clock behind the TV before turning back to Charles. "It's almost seven, shouldn't you be on your way to work now?"
"Oh," Charles straightened himself. "Right, I'll get going."
He gave each of us a nod and turned to leave, but turned back to us just a few steps down the driveway. "Christie, be careful. The hearing is in a few days."
"I know," Mom just closed the door and turned to me, holding up the Posiden Coffee bag with a shrug. "He got us drinks." She put the bag down on the coffee table and pulled out each cup. "And they're all our favourites too."
It was true. There was a cup of Caramel Macchiato for Charlene, a Cappuccino for Mom, a Hazelnut Latte for Chris, and an extra chocolatey mocha for me. It isn't really a surprise since he did live with us for years. Of course, he knew our favourite coffee flavours.

I showed up in class with the mocha in my hand. I hope I'm not violating anything but whatever. If a kid is allowed to bring coffee in a flask, she should definitely be allowed to bring it in a paper cup.
"Oh! You went to Posiden?" Barbara excitedly said as soon as she spotted the cup in my hand. "What did you get?"
"Mocha," I chuckled before taking a sip. "Credits to my dad."
It wasn't a lie, it really was Charles who got it for me.
Barbara nodded. "Ah, I saw him the other day when I came to see you that day. By the way, you take after him, like the way you carry yourself, your facial features."
I used to be proud of this, but not anymore, nope. I just gave her a nod and turned back to my coffee, lifting the tab to take a sip before fishing my phone out to look at something.
"Also, I'm glad you liked that necklace," Barbara said, gesturing towards her neck. "Nice, right? I'm the one who selected it."
"You have good taste, I really like it," I smiled. "Thanks."
Our teacher for the first period arrived and lessons began. It was soon recess and my coffee was long gone. I threw it away into the rubbish bin outside my class corridor and made my way down. Barbara caught up with me as I was passing the school cooperative shop.
"Charlotte!" Barbara exclaimed as she grabbed my arm from behind to stop me. "Gosh, you walk really fast!"
I smiled as turned to face her. "Yeah..."
"Wanna go to the cooperative shop?" Barbara said, pointing towards the shop beside us.
I turned to look at it. I'm not sure if I have much money on me...
But I still followed her inside, taking my purse out to see how much I had. A five-dollar note greeted me, much to my delight, and I gladly followed her in.
"What do they have?" I asked. "The last I came here was before my first day here."
"They have lots of things," Barbara cheerfully said. She gasped when she spotted a row of things packed in colourful bottled-shaped aluminium packets. "Oh! New flavours!" Barbara grabbed a few and handed them to me, grinning, before grabbing some for herself. "They are really good! You've gotta try them!"
"What are these?" I asked as I scanned the packaging. "Sugar-free breath mints?"
Barbara nodded gleefully. "Yeah! They taste sooo good. And it's only eighty cents a pack!"
"Eighty cents?" I said in surprise, examining the pack of grape-flavoured mints in my hands. "You're kidding, right?"
"Nope!" Barbara shook her head, her smile not faltering the slightest. "Come on, let's go pay."
I decided to grab a chocolate bar as I followed Barbara to the counter. The student cashier handled the payments and we left the shop, making a beeline for the canteen.
"You should come here more often," Barbara said as we went over to our favourite table. "They have lots of stuff! Even drinks!"
I nodded to myself. "I'll keep that in mind if I ever need a drink."
"Yeah, they have bottled water too," Barbara added. "It's cheap, just a dollar for a bottle."
Now, why would I want to pay a dollar for water when there's a water cooler in literally every corner of the school and I have my refillable bottle? I have free access to water so why would I pay? I seriously don't understand some people.
But of course, I'm not telling Barbara about what I think.
Priscilla eventually arrived and slipped beside me. "Hi! You like the necklace?"
I smiled as I touched the pink heart. "I do."
Priscilla smiled and took her lunch out. "Anyway, sorry about the weirdness the last few days, lots of stuff had been happening."
"Yeah..." I agreed, remembering the Posiden Coffee delivery this morning and the last of the burnt cheesecake sitting in our fridge, with a slice now resting in my lunchbox. "Lots of weirdness has been happening..."
Kayla and Lydia arrived, both smiling at me as they sat down at our round table.
Kayla reached a hand at Priscilla. "Pris, did Luna come to school today?"
Priscilla adjusted her glasses and nodded. "Yep! She isn't here yet because she went to the toilet."
"Ah," Kayla nodded. "Anyway, Imma go buy something. Anyone else wants to follow?"
Luna came up and placed her bottle beside Barbara, who smiled at her as soon as her gaze fell on her. She followed Kayla over to the counter to get something.
"Don't mind her, okay?" Lydia suddenly said, touching my arm. "She can be difficult sometimes."
I nodded. Difficult indeed...
"I tried to tell her countless times that there was literally nothing wrong with reading mangas," Priscilla added. "In fact, most K-Dramas actually come from webcomics!"
"They do?" I turned to her in surprise.
Priscilla nodded excitedly. "Yep!"
"You heard about the new drama called Marry My Friend?" Barbara piped up. "It's actually a webcomic originally."
That was news to me. I've seen the drama floating around the streaming platform we subscribed to, but I didn't know that it was actually a webcomic.
"What's the name of the manga?" I asked.
"Same name," Priscilla said. "You can find it on the platform I told you about. You can unlock free chapters the more you read."
That sounds like a plan. I think I'll read the manga first, then watch the drama. But is that a good idea? Like seriously, I have a brother who'd tease me to no end if he finds out I like watching Korean romance dramas. They're all cheesy in his eyes.
But whatever. I'm watching it anyway.