Tales of the Bittersweet

Greetings

     "Hey," I respond, shoving my phone back into my pocket. He stares at me, well, more like my head, to be quite honest.

    "Have you always had that on?" the communications guy snorts, pointing at the hat on top of my head.

    "I got it as a gift from a friend," I answer coolly, as usual, not giving anyone the pleasure of seeing me crack. The communication guy smirks a little, before his smile droops, looking behind me.

     "Who's that? Is that the other guy you were talking about?" he asks as Benny approaches. They focus onto each other for moment, their eyes narrow. Wow, they already hate each other and it's only been 30 seconds.

     "Benny, this is...." I begin, before adding, "sorry, what's your name, you never told me."

     "CJ, nice to meet you, BENNY," he mutters through gritted teeth, extending his hand.

     "No need for introductions, I already know who this is," Benny sneers, his tone full of acerbity, grasping his hand, and attempting to crush it.

     "Next time, try not to drop my EyeCEE again," CJ orders.

     "Ditto," he mutters, and they both release their grip on each others limbs, and Benny walks off. I see in clutching his hand, screaming swear words in both English and Spanish, from what I could understand. CJ just smirks in response, ending that mini-battle between Benny and CJ with CJ as the victor.

    "So, King?" CJ says, before pointing at scowling-guy from the gas station. "Honestly, i don't think my friend, Roe, likes you that much. Ever since we bumped into you, he's been in a bad mood. Well, normally, he's like that when something bothers him, but today, it's a little odd, since he normally vents about it." He grasps my shoulder out of nowhere, and says, "I think he's a litttlee jealous."

     "Why is that?" I ask, putting my hand to my chin, a habit I developed when I started to think about certain things for long periods of time. CJ slaps his head in response and says, "You'll find out," before the rest of his group call him back.

    "Meet me inside!" he calls, before leaving.

    "Alright, I guess I will," I say to no one in particular. I turn around, and walk over to my small group. They seemed to have moved while I was talking to CJ. Seeing me coming, Benny sprints over to me. When he finally makes it, he's panting.

     "Y'know, I can see why you do boxing instead of track," I joke. Benny attempts to playful punch me, and I dodge. He tries again, and I dodge. We both repeat this until he finally regains his breath.

     "Mr. Williby is talking with the school right now on how to pay using the schools funds. I heard something about him wanting to burn it up on souvenirs."

     "YO, TELL HIM TO USE THE SCHOOL FUNDS TO BUY ME A USB DRIVE. MY PUBLISHER NEEDS MY NEW BOOK DONE BY NEXT WEEK, AND I RAN OUT OF SPACE ON GOGGLE DRIVE AND MY USB." If you didn't know, I have a job, even though I'm only 14. Back when i was 13, I submitted my book to a publisher, who actually liked it, and wanted me to continue under his wing. Since then, i've strive to continue writing, but I have no space to continue writing, which sucks, because I won't be paid, and I might be fired.

     "You do that, I don't feel like it," he groans, rolling his eyes. I sigh and scratch my head. "Aren't we going to eat yet?" I ask.

     "Nah, he's still talking, from the way it looks from here. Oh wait, he just hung up." he sqints, staring at Mr. Williby from a distance.

     Soon after Mr. Williby told us to go inside ahead of him, since he was going to run over to his car to grab something, we meet a tall man dressed in simple waiter clothing. A white shirt, rolled up sleeves, jeans, and short hair. I think he shaved recently too, since his face looks clean.