The Immortal Innocence

Chapter 3

Sneaking out of school on the last day was definitely easier than I thought it would be. Thanks to everyone being preoccupied all I had to do was walk off the campus and go straight to the one thing I had noticed as soon as I was outside: My Bike.

Seriously? Did I sleep ride to school or something?

            Shaking the ridiculous question from my head, I placed my book into the basket I usually placed my lunch bag in. I was thankful that it was still connected to my bike even after the amount of times I managed to run the poor thing into walls. I took a moment to curiously pat myself down and see if I had my bike lock key. Thankfully, I did.

Whoever brought me to school must have predicted this…Creepy.

“They are so going to freak.” I sighed, unlocking my bike and placing the crappy, black U-lock my mom bought me in the basket with the book.

 A big part of me wanted to just run away so I didn’t have to deal with questions, but I knew then only more questions would be asked. Throwing one leg over the side, I pulled myself onto the dark green bike and straddled it, before kicking the kick stand up with the heel of my foot and peddling away from the school. I needed to get to the café which was just a few blocks away before the others if I wanted even the tiniest of breaks.

“Ezzy bear!”

            As I walked into the beautiful café decorated in pink, blue, and green my eyes focused on Alice, the owner of the shop. She was a little taller than me and full of energy as always. Between her energy and her love for the Powerpuff girls, the café always had a certain specialness to it.

“Hey Alice,” I greeted her, giving her a quick hug before walking over to what was considered my ‘usual’ booth. “How are ya?”

“I’m doin’ good. Got a new piercing.”

Sliding into the booth, I watched as the natural born redhead walked over to me. Taking a moment, I looked the thirty-five year old over. She had the body of a teenager and acted like a biker.

“Where’d you get it this time?”

            I knew of twelve piercings on the Powerpuff addict. She had four piercings in each ear, one in her left eyebrow, a small one in her right nostril, and snake bites (she kept talking about getting rid of those, but it was still up for debate). On anyone else I would have ripped them out entirely, but Alice was able to carry the look well.

“My navel! Some guy I met at BK did it for me.” She said as if she met the man of her dreams.

“Well, that’s…Different.” I forced myself to say, my mind wondering how that conversation went.

            Alice nodded her head before hearing the door open. I watched as she turned to face the group of girls that I often saw walking to Boston University and give them a silent welcome.

“Want a smoothie while you’re waiting for the gang?”

            Taking my gaze off the group that had walked in, I smiled brightly. She was like a gift from god. She asked the right questions and she never tried minding anyone’s business outside of the café.

“If you were a guy I’d kiss you.” I told her honestly, moving to give the woman another hug.

“If you were eighteen, I’d let ya.” She commented, pulling away from the hug after a brief moment and sending me a wink.

            As she turned and walked behind the counter where she made her famous smoothies, I thought for a moment and wondered if anyone saw me walk into school earlier that day. It was possible that the potheads or book worms saw me, but tracking them down on the last day of school was going to be tricky. Just because they were geeks or stoners in school didn’t mean they were outside of school.