Bluegreen Summer

Chapter 01

"Alexander!" Ms. Smith shouts as we enter the convenience store and we hear only a soft grunt in response. Then, she turns back to me. "Let me introduce you to someone."

I step into Smile already feeling refreshed from the air conditioning, the weather is hell during summer in this frickin' town. I follow as she walks towards the checkouts and I meet the source of that grunt a second ago; a guy around my age that was also working there. He quickly closes the sketchbook he was scribbling on before lifting his head to greet us.

"This is Edgar. He's going to work here during summer." Ms. Smith introduces me.

"I thought you were looking for a permanent worker." Alexander doesn't shift his glance towards me for even a second. Gosh, so cold.

"I am. But since I don't have anyone yet, let's give this guy a chance." Ms. Smith replies him impatiently. "He's a college student."

"Oh." And then Alexander finally turns his glance to me, softly removing his bangs that blocked his eyes. "What is a college student doing here?"

"Probably needing some extra bucks. Am I right?" Ms. Smith turns her attention back to me, nudging me softly with her elbow.

"Y-Yeah, something like that." I stutter. I didn't feel like explaining the whole thing right now.

"Well, so teach him how things work here, okay?" She turns back to Alexander.

"Okay." Alexander sighs.

Not a minute later and Ms. Smith was gone, leaving us alone. I stand awkwardly on my spot, not sure about what I should do, until I realize I'm still holding the uniform shirt she gave me and decide to dress it.

"Where's the toilet?"

"Back door, and then the first door on the left." Alexander points to a door behind the checkouts.

I head straight there and quickly change into my new shirt, which looks slightly bigger than it should. When I come back, I find Alexander bringing a wheel chair to the computer beside him. He didn't look this small while sitting.

"Do you know how to turn on a computer?" He asks, eyeing me. I gulp.

"Yeah."

"Great, that's all you need."

He walks back to his computer and sits again, so I slowly step closer to the other computer and sit down on the chair.

"Sees that program on the desktop? Just open it and that's it."

I do as he says and a registry program pops open. It seemed simple at first sight, so I wouldn't have trouble with it.

"Why are you here, anyway?" Alexander suddenly asks.

I still didn't know how to put it into words. I haven't told anyone yet, and the explanation I had in mind didn't seem like one people would enjoy listening to.

Maybe I could give it a try with him.

"Have you ever felt so desperate to leave a situation that you started jumping to any opportunity that appeared?"

Alexander turns to me, eyeing me with a nonchalant expression. "Maybe."

"Well, uh, that's pretty much it." I sit back in my chair. "I just hope I won't end falling."

"You need to jump correctly." He says, tilting his head.

"And how do we know we jumped correctly?"

"Guess we just wait and see."