Prompted Fiction

#17 - I'm not Jealous, I Swear (Week 6 No. 2)

I could hear the ruckus even from the back of the store.

A teenage girl's nasal voice drawled, "These wreaths are way too small, Jake! Find bigger ones!"

"Aw, come on, Ems, bigger ones cost more money," a boy's voice replied.

I knew the voices. Knew them well, in fact. Emily Tremblay was in Mrs Murphy's second period English class with me. She was taller than me, skinnier than me, and prettier than me. She was more popular than me, too. I couldn't be Student Council President if my life depended on it. I swear I'm not jealous. Honest.

As for Jacob Lam, we'd been in and out of each other's classes since kindergarten. Back when we were ten or so, Jake and I had actually been good friends - the one and only set of boy-girl best friends in our class. We bonded over a shared love of the original Star Wars trilogy and everything Harry Potter. At some point, though, we grew up enough that we grew apart. The only time I saw him these days was to wave at across a sea of people making their way between classes.

"I don't care if they cost more money, Jake!" Emily complained. "Find some big ones." After a pause, she added, "Doesn't this place have any employees?"

Figuring this was my cue, I set down the last box of candy and brushed my hands off on the bright blue apron. Our uniforms at the store are noticeable, to say the least - blue apron, yellow shirt, red cardigan.

Emily was fond of pointing this out. "God, Sarah, you poor thing. Does that uniform have to make you look like a clown?"

I rolled my eyes. "It isn't like I picked it," I whined in futile protest. I should have pointed out that she was still wearing her school uniform, which is far from fashionable. Also, the pullover is wool and itchy.

Jake held up his hands in supplication. "We're just here for some wreaths. You got any bigger than these?"

"No," I replied. "You bought them all yesterday, remember?"

"And you haven't gotten any more in?" Emily said.

"No. We haven't gotten any in since the first time you came in here, on Tuesday. What do you want them for, anyhow? You've been here three days in a row."

"It's a surprise," Emily said grandly. Then she tapped Jake's arm. "Buy all those ones for me, would you?"

I swear, she practically purred at him, but he did as she asked, loading himself with as many of the little wreathes as he could carry - which turned out to be exactly as many as I could stuff into five large, plastic bags.

Of course, if you come into a store three days in a row, and each day buy nothing but cheap, fake pine Christmas wreaths, you've got to expect that people are going to get curious.

Case in point, me. I became curious. Of course I did! You would, too, if you were in my position. Which you weren't - so stop judging me, okay? I only broke into the Student Council room twice. It isn't my fault that they leave the key in the teacher's lounge and that none of the teachers are there during homeroom. The key was just looking at me, practically begging me to take it. So I did.