BOYTOY

~ Chapter 4 ~

*Okay yall this chapter is extra long enjoy :))

Going shopping for new school supplies always excited me.

I couldn't explain it. Just the feeling of buying something I was going to use, something I would need, made me anxious. Whether it was a new bag or a new pencil case or new pens; however small, I was excited to buy it. But it seemed the thought of returning to school and the actual preparation for the return was much better than the return itself.

Because I knew by opening period on the first day back, I'd be counting down to the holidays once again.

With a wallet full of cash and an iPod full of tunes, I browsed the aisles of the department store. Keeping an eye out for the perfect accessories needed for the new school year, I used my superb motor skills to manoeuvre through the shoppers. Dodge old woman there, step-aside little boy here, duck under out-stretched arm of harassed woman reaching for the last packet of Post-It notes. It was all a matter of watch-and-see, as well as anticipating the movements of the other people. If you guessed right, you were rewarded with a clear path to the next aisle. But if you chose wrong, you were blocked. Or worse...caught behind a slow person with a trolley, who thought the maximum speed was negative-twenty kilometres per aisle.

Luckily, as it was a few weeks before school started back up, the department store was empty save for the other people who had the same idea as me. I spent most of my time in the stationary section, picking out the best-of-the-best blue, red and black biros as well as different density lead pencils and erasers, and all the other fun stuff that you liked buying but had no time to use. The pencil case I chose was the classic clear Batman with spaces for the name on the front. All my goodies were in the red basket hanging from my arm, which also contained my wallet, phone and keys. My iPod was shoved in the pocket of my jacket, for easy access by my hand to change the awful songs that popped up with Shuffle.

Although the aisles had been empty, the line for the registers was almost ten-people long. I joined one that I figured was the faster moving; the overly-tall boy with glasses and freckles sure knew how to pack bags. He was shoving all sorts of stuff together with no care in the world. I figured he hated his job like most other people; not including me. Strange for a teenager, I knew. But I actually liked looking after the little tykes at Brumby's, unless of course the three P's were involved.

Those three P's being: 'Piss', 'Puke' and 'Poo'—using the more polite terms.

So, unless those were involved, the child care centre was great.

When a good, catchy song came on through my earphones, I started humming along to it low in my throat. My foot tapped and my finger joined in, moving out the beats against the side of the basket. Slowly the line moved forward. I continued with my impromptu bust-out session. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap-tap. Tappity-tap-tap. Hum. Hum. It was all very coordinated; at least it was in my head. Over my music I could hear the lady behind my complaining about slow service and glancing up I realised my Fast Freckled Boy had been stopped by a non-scanning pair of pants. He was speaking quickly to who I figured was his superior, and she started talking into a microphone.

While I waited, I let my eyes slide over the heads of the other waiting shoppers. To pass the time, I pointed out simple facts to myself: he had a bald spot at the crown of his head, she had a faint line of hair above her lip, he had a lazy eye, she had a scar across her cheek, he was wearing a black knitted beanie, she was inconspicuously picking at her nose, he was waving at me, she was—

Hang on.

I realised Emery was a few lines over, waiting with his own red basket, grinning. When he saw that I had noticed him, he lifted a hand in greeting and motioned around him, as if saying 'Fancy seeing you here'. I grinned in return and nodded, rolling my eyes as I made as if I was sleeping: eyes half-closed, mouth-agape, head tilted to the side. His lips parted in a laugh and he nodded energetically. He then pointed forward, where a lady was standing with a pillow under her arm ready to be bought. He pretended to steal it and prop it under his head, nestling against the shelf of chocolates and candy beside him. Laughing, I mouthed, "I dare you."