Stuck in the moment

Chapter one

I entered the SmartAid store to get some medicines for my grandma. She has been rather ill lately, so she needed to take her pills every day. The store was mostly empty, except for some staff stocking the shelves. I walked up to the medicine counter and approached the man behind the register. "Hi, can I get some blood thinners for my grandma?" I asked the man. "Sure, do you have a note from her doctor?" he asked politely. I rummaged through my bag for a bit, looking for the note my gran had given me. After a while I found it and I handed it to the man. He read the paper and grabbed a box from the shelf behind him. "Here you go, miss. Your grandmother must take this twice a day for three weeks." the man said. "I know, the doctor told me." I replied in a slightly awkward voice. "Right, of course he did. Anyways, that will be fourteen dollars." he said, putting the medicine in a SmartAid plastic bag. I took fourteen dollars from my wallet and handed it to the man. He handed me the plastic bag and a receipt. "Have a nice day, miss." he spoke. "You too." I replied, before walking towards the exit.

I nearly bumped into one of the staff members. "Oh, I'm so-Jake?" Before me stood my best friend, Jacob Portman. "Hi there, Amelia..." he muttered awkwardly. "I didn't knew you had to work today." I told him. "It's fine. What brings you here?" he asked. "Well, my gran is ill, so I needed to pick up some blood thinners for her." I replied, holding up the plastic bag. "Is she okay?" Jake asked, rather concerned. "She'll be alright." I said as he continued with his job. "So, when will you be done?" I asked. "With what?" he replied. "Work, of course!" I exclaimed. "Well, I should be done in about ten minutes, why?" "Maybe you can come to my place. We can have pizza?" I proposed. "Yeah, sure!" he replied.

Then, the 'popular gang' entered the store. I walked away, not wanting to face those idiots. In that moment, a package of vitamins B suddenly became very interesting. "Hey look, it's Amelia!" Jayden shouted. "Hi Amelia!" Sarah exclaimed. "Hey guys..." I muttered. "What are you doing here?" Cecilia asked me, twirling her hair. "Oh, you know, just... hanging around." I replied with a fake smile. "Cool, so I see fairy tale-boy is here too." Evan sneered to me. "He has a name, you know." I replied. "Yeah, sure..." he muttered. I saw Amy walking towards Jacob. "Hey Amy, it's Jake. I'm in your math class." he said as Amy picked up a package of adult diapers, staring at Jacob in disgust. "Hey! Don't forget your adult diapers!" Amy yelled, throwing Jayden the package. "Yeah, right." he replied before throwing it at the wall of adult diapers. The other teens laughed and left the store as the wall collapsed. I gasped and began to help Jacob collect the packages. Then, Shelley walked over to us. "Jake, phone for you!" she said, pointing towards the back. "Hello Amelia." she added. "Hi Shelley." I replied. Jake walked towards the back and I began to fix the wall. "Oh, you really don't need to help, dear." Shelley reassured me. "No, it's fine, I know those people who ruined the wall in the first place, besides, it's always good to help people." I explained.

After a short while, Jake returned, a sad look on his face. "I'm sorry, Amelia, but I can't come with you after work." he said. "What? Why not?" I asked surprised. "I need to go to my grandpa." he told me. "Can't I come with you?" I tried. "I mean, your grandpa adores me." "Does your mom approve?" he asked. "Yeah, I mean, she doesn't really care about what I do. I'll just tell her I'm sleeping over at your place." I told him. "But what about your grandma?" "I'll bring the medicines to her real quick and be back within five minutes." I explained. "Well, I can bring you guys if you need a ride. We can even drop those medicines at your grandma along the way." Shelley proposed. "Really?" I asked. "Yeah, no problem. I mean, you kids need someone to bring you and I don't want some freak doing it." she said. "Thanks, Shelley." I told the tanned woman. "It's alright." she replied.

About twenty minutes later, we were on our way to mister Portman's house. We had dropped off the medicines at gran's place and she had given us some sandwiches for the road. I sat in the back seat while Jacob sat next to Shelley. I had finished my sandwich quite a while ago and I was now staring at the road. "Thanks for the ride, Shelley." Jake said, breaking the silence. "So, how come you have to go deal with you grandpa?" she asked him. "My dad couldn't get out of work." Jake explained. "Again?" I groaned. "I didn't think he worked." Shelley said honestly. I tried to stifle my laughter, but I didn't succeed. Jacob glared at me and I shut up. "You know, I'm just gonna call grandpa." he said, taking his phone from his pocket. "Tell him I'm coming!" I exclaimed.

I always liked mister Portman. He used to tell me and Jake stories from his childhood. About how he lived in a home for special children, like Emma. She was lighter than air itself. I always loved those stories and I believe in them, even though Jake doesn't. He did believe them for a while, but then his parents told him about growing up and needing to forget about silly fairy tales. Poor Jake. There's no fun in growing up. You need to be responsible and get a job. It's quite a silly thing if you ask me. If I had the choice, I would never grow up.

I saw Jake hanging up the phone and I bowed over to the passenger's seat. "God bless him." Shelley stated. "What did he say?" I asked. "Something about his gun cabinet and fighting 'them' without a gun." Jake said in a confused tone. "Them?" I asked. "What's his deal, Alzheimer's?" Shelley asked. "Dementia." Jake corrected him. "Terrible thing, if you think about it. I mean, you forget everything you ever were." I muttered in a sad tone. "Luckily he stills remembers you." Jake said in a cheerful tone, hitting my shoulder playfully. "Yeah..." I breathed out.