The Spellbounds - Discovering Your Potential

Chapter 32 - Shopping

     It had been three weeks since I had been working at the mall. Kristen had become a really good friend of mine who accompanied me at all times. Another good friend of mine was Arnold. He had the power to devour anything he wanted to and keep it inside him. He was like a moving life sized sack bag. I always wondered where did all those things go once the person had devoured them.

Weird right? But it is true. You needed something and he was beside you he would just put his hand in his mouth, remove the item you required and put it in your hands.  The amazing thing was that there was no saliva or any other disgusting thing stuck to it. I don't know what's inside the stomach in a lot of detail because I was never good at Spellbound Biology. I couldn't distinguish the stomach from the intestines.

Well it's a long procedure and very confusing so let's just forget about it. So, moving on, I had made two good friends and I enjoyed doing my job. Arnold handled the licorice department and those creatures were not less troublesome in any way. I came home a little tired but I was getting used to it. I didn't mind being weary because I just slept more peacefully on those weary days.

      Most of the nights were dreamless. I had weird dreams once in awhile which made absolutely no sense to me. I even forgot what the dream was about once I woke up. It might happen with almost everyone that we remember only those dreams which have stirred up from deep within our minds. Mostly nightmares but I didn't remember experiencing any in my sleep.

      No matter how difficult my job was I never gave up on it partly because I enjoyed it to an extent. The spring break was over and it had been two days since I had been managing both, school and work. It was not easy. I stayed tired at times but happy. I was about to get my first payment in three days. Yay! I just couldn't wait. Ashley had also stopped worrying about that stupid curse since I always came home safe and sound. However, Shaun insisted that I call him everyday after work as soon as I reached home.

      He was too overprotective as a friend but I didn't mind calling him and telling him the occurrences happening at the mall everyday. We always had something or the other to talk about. The three of us didn't meet much after school. We all had busy schedules ahead of us. Ashley had joined fashion designing classes and was making great progress. I was busy with my job and Shaun...well I don't know what Shaun did in all of his free time but I'm guessing that he must have been busy doing boy stuff. I had not heard from Jeff after that incident nor did I meet him at school.

      I didn't meet Carl much either. He had a tough job as a Head Counselor and a manager. Many people needed counseling and we couldn't hang out much. Carl had promised to show me around the mall but he was always too busy. I had anyway managed to see some parts of the mall with Arnold and Kristen when we were free. They were just amazing. I always felt comfortable around them and they never made fun of me for being a freak.
   
       I sat with the chocolate department group and all of them were really kind and fun to be with. We had to take our plates to a counter at the far end of the staff room which I had not noticed on the day of my arrival. We could choose whatever we wished to eat. We just had to name it and it was put on our plate. The lady who served us had the power to create delicious food, munchies and drinks in less than 5 minutes. Her name was Mrs. Bellows. She always had the utensils spread out at the back of the counter.

        I never worried about lunch at home. I just had to prepare something for Dad when he came back from work. I had taught myself how to cook over the years. I had made the first supper for Dad when I was 9 and I always felt I was good at it. But seeing Mrs. Bellows serve all of us and cook so well made me jealous all the time. I would crave to have a power as such which I could put in use instead of lumbering about as a freak.

       Mrs Bellows was a widow and everybody said that something horrible had happened to her but nobody wished to discuss it and I never pushed them to do so. I liked minding my own business. Once when we were all comfortably seated at our table and devouring the delicacies on our plate Arnold gave me a playful shove on the shoulder which went unnoticed by the others.

       I just stared at him with my mouth full of spaghetti. Thank the good Lords we didn't have to pay for any of the food we ate or else I would have been a pauper. I nodded my head as a sign to ask, ' What is it?'. He just grinned at me. I gave him a perplexed look and then he leaned forward to face Kristen who was sitting at the chair beside mine. He raised his eyebrows at her and asked, " Should I tell her and can I ask her about that?".
      
Arnold was redheaded and kind of handsome with that slender face and perfect nose. He had a fair amount of muscles at his biceps which could be distinguished since they always seemed to be bulging out of his uniform. He was not fat nor too skinny, you could say he was..... healthy. He was a fun loving guy and could never keep a straight face nor sit in one place for a long time.

It seemed as though he got all that energy due to the amount of caffeine he gulped down. He always had a can of coke or any other soft drink in his hand. I wondered how he managed consuming so much of caffeine. Kristen slapped her forehead and just glared angrily at Arnold. She spoke through gritted teeth, " You idiot! You are not supposed to ask if you can say something which you are not supposed to in front of the person you have been forbidden to say that thing to! Ugh! You are so frustrating."

I gloomily asked her in a soft voice, " You have a secret which you are hiding and you believe that you can't share it with me because you don't trust me." I stared down at my plate and mumbled loud enough for them to hear, " Wow. And I thought we were friends."
     
       Kristen looked taken aback and Arnold mouthed and ' Uh oh '. This was totally unexpected. I mean my friends had a secret which they didn't wish to share. I thought there were supposed to be no secrets among friends. It would have been fine if it was something way too personal like me hiding that my Dad was going to lose his job as it was very personal but the way Arnold said it, well it didn't sound personal to me. Kristen let out a deep breath and began massaging her templates with both hands. I looked up and she was staring right into my eyes.

      She confidently said, " We are not hiding anything. It's just that I was being a bit hesitant because I've never asked anyone anything as such." I just gave her a confused look and then Arnold chimed in, " Allow me to explain. Kristen's very extravagant cousin is throwing a party and the theme is formal dresses.....Ouch!".

      Arnold scared me by suddenly shrieking like that but I noticed that he had been kicked by Kristen. I glared at her. I tried to look as angry as she had when she was glaring at Arnold but I am sure I looked weird. Kristen gave me a huge fake smile. We sat still in that position, me glaring at her and she grinning at me. She finally gave up and put her head in her hands. She looked up after sometime and calmly said, " I don't own auch an outfit and I have never been shopping for clothes. I just..you know... thought that we could pick some outfits together at the clothes store. If it's fine with you."

     I just sat there looking utterly dumbfounded. Was this a kind of joke or something? They sounded so serious about such a small problem which was not even a problem! It's common going shopping with your friends right? I mean we all do. And coming to think of it, I had thought that they were keeping secrets from me. My imagination was running wild but hey! Your imagination is supposed to run away with you in my world. It's just normal you know. Moving on, I said as politely as I could, " You know there's no need to be formal with me dude. We're friends and shopping is never a problem."

      Arnold was grinning from ear to ear and I could see that Kristen was trying to hide her smile but she failed in doing that and burst out laughing. Oh my good Lords! You should see that girl laugh. She was howling like a wolf. I could see that Kristen had noticed that everyone was staring at her but she simply continued laughing in her hysterical manner. It wouldn't matter if the joke was funny or not just seeing her laugh could make you roll with laughter. She didn't care what the others were thinking, she was just...well laughing. The others just kept staring at her for some time.

      After a few minutes everyone began laughing too. I joined in. Nobody knew why they were laughing but they just joined in. I must tell you no matter how weird  Kristen's laugh appeared to the others but to me it was one of the most beautiful and melodious laugh I had ever heard because it had come from the heart.