The Lost Soldier

The Perks Of Being Suspended

Archer and I were in the office waiting for the receptionist to call us. "Areum and Archer Mr. Hayes can see you now" she said pushing her lens less glasses back up her nose, she was too young to be working as a secretary anyway. I stood and pulled Archer up with me "we're only here because of your little stunt dearest brother" I stage whispered through gritted teeth. We entered the office and were greeted by the profusely sweating little bald man who was our principal. Don't let his appearance mislead you Mr. Hayes was the worst, he didn't understand kids and he didn't take any bullshit, he should've been an army drill Sargent rather than a principal. "Hello Mr. and Miss. Xavier how are you this fine morning?" Archer and I sat in the twin plastic chairs in front of his desk. "Could be going better, right Archer?" I said with a tiny bit of contempt in my voice. "So you two burned Jensen's eyebrows off huh? I never thought I'd say that before" Hayes said chuckling to himself. "So how did this all happen?" He asked leaning back in his chair and lacing his fingers out in front of him. "Well, sulfuric acid wasn't supposed to be in the mixture but someone" i gave Archer the side eye "decided to pull a really stupid stunt" I explained. Hayes was quiet for a moment "so you weren't involved at all?" He asked looking surprised. "All I'm guilty of is trying to save the evil broad" I groaned but slapped my hand over my mouth as I realized what was just said. Hayes shrugged "everyone has their opinions, but you know I'm going to have to suspend you both" he said. "You for playing with dangerous chemicals" he said pointing to Archer "and you as an example" he pointed to me and my mouth fell open. Archer was now sitting on the farthest side of the office from me, I wouldn't blame him I probably looked like I was ready to commit murder. Beckett pushed open the door to the office and jogged to crouch in front of me "hey are you okay?" He asked checking to see if I was injured anywhere. "Yeah, why are you here?" I asked. "Your mom's in a meeting so she sent me in stead, because apparently I'm the next closest parental figure you two have" he joked rolling his eyes. "Ahem" the secretary cleared her throat "do either of you know this man?" The elder behind the desk looked wary and her hand was poised above the phone like she was going to call security. "Oh Mrs. Waller this is Beckett Stark you probably know him from the previous year." She blinked and recognition registered in her eyes "oh, hello dear" she said smiling over the counter. "Hi Mrs. Waller I have a note from Mrs. Xavier that gives me permission to pick the twins up." Rowan said handing said note to the woman. She took a minute to scan the note and then she checked to see if my mother's signatures were the same "go ahead and sign yourselves out kids" She said typing away on her computer. I signed myself and Archer out and then followed Beckett outside. Archer and I followed behind Beckett like lost little ducklings we walked past Lanie and she sent me a not so subtle thumbs up. Beckett unlocked Edna and we all piled inside. "So what'd you two do Areum?" He asked as he started up Edna

"Well" I said "it's more like what did Archer do, I somehow got thrown in as an accomplice to a crime I didn't commit." I huffed crossing my arms over my chest I looked over my shoulder and made eye contact with the culprit "dearest brother would you like to shine a light on this situation?" Archer didn't respond for a moment as he found the ceiling of Edna's cab interesting. "IburntMs.Jensen'seyebrowsoff" he said quickly, I'm pretty sure if Beckett had been taking a drink he would've done a spit take. He abruptly put Edna in park making me body slam into the seatbelt "ow?" I grumbled. Beckett whipped around in his seat and faced my delinquent of a twin "YOU DID WHAT?" Beckett yelled.
"I burnt Ms. Jensen's eyebrows off- it wasn't on purpose" Archer shrugged and Beckett burst into a deep laughter holding his stomach and wiping tears from his cheeks. I pouted at him and he looked at me slightly ashamed "don't encourage him Beckett, he's done enough" I grumbled. "Well... you can't say it wasn't deserved!" He chuckled "she's always had a stick up her ass in class, serves her right for bringing her crappy attitude to school." He said matter of factly he threw Edna back into drive and began driving home. "Have you eaten anything yet Areum?" Beckett asked eyes on the road as rain hit the windshield. "Not yet I didn't even get to think about food before Archer got us kicked out" I grumbled sending him the side eye.
"I'm sorry okay! I didn't think that was going to happen!" He cried defensively. I turned in my seat and gave him a look "you knew something would happen." He opened his mouth and the closed it confirming my accusations. Beckett ignored our conversation and spoke over our bickering "Archer are you hungry?" Archer seemed to think about this for a minute "nah if you two are going somewhere just drop me off at home." And so we did, even though I wanted to dump the kid on the side of the road. Archer turned and waved at us as he trudged up the driveway towards our house. "Okay" Beckett said throwing Edna into gear "where too?" I fiddled with my insulin pump while I waited, I then checked my blood sugar levels via a prick to my index finger. "How about Gary's?" I asked and Beckett scrunched his nose "you really want to go back to the place that fired you?" I nodded. I grinned as he muttered under his breath that I was crazy.
Beckett pulled into Gary's parking lot and shut off Edna's ignition. I pushed Edna's door open as Beckett ran to my side with his jacket hovered over his head as a makeshift umbrella. I dropped down onto the wet ground and hustled with him up to the diner's awning. Beckett shook his jacket out and groaned with regret, he was only a little wet by the way, I was drenched because trying to keep up with him was like an Oompa Loompa chasing a Sasquatch. I rolled my eyes pushed open the door causing a little bell over the door to ring. 

"Pick any table you want! I'll be right with you!" a woman called from the kitchen, I looked at Beckett and shrugged I led him to a booth in the back. It was secluded enough that it made my social anxiety and inner introvert sigh in contentment. "Is this okay?" I asked Beckett, "whatever makes you happy princess" he replied smiling at me. I smiled back and fell into the booth and rested my elbows on the table, soon enough a perky blonde skated over to our table holding menu's. "Hello and welcome to Gary's diner, I'm Danni I'll be your server tonight. Can I get you any drinks to start?" She asked popping her bright pink bubble gum, her whole demeanor seemed robotic. But she perked up when she took a look at the people she was serving "oh hey clam chowder! And Beckett Stark! Last time I saw you, you were headed off to the military!" She chirped. She was totally fine, but then she gave him a once over and winked "looks like you filled out, handsome." I cut her off before she could say anything else "could I get a lemon water and a Cesar salad Danni? What do you want Beckett?" I asked feeling very uncomfortable at the way Danni was sizing up Beckett, but he didn't seem to mind or notice. He took a peek at his menu and replied "lemon water and a burger please, Dusty" I bit my lip to stifle an evil grin that was slowly crawling up my face. "It's Danni by the way, and coming right up sugar" she quipped apparently the name switch did not deter her, darn. "Areumie don't do that" Beckett grumbled from the other side of the table, I frowned at him "why not?" I asked defensively letting my lip pop out of my mouth. "Just don't" he mumbled and I swear to god I saw a soft blush, but it was gone the moment I blinked. He and I bantered for a little while, when we received our food, he told me stories about some trouble he and his SEAL buddies got into, and I told him about Lanie's horrible 18th birthday party that the police crashed. He threw his head back like a little kid and laughed as I told him about the grumpy old lady that had called the police because she swore we were doing drugs. There were only five people at the birthday party and we were all clean, I'm pretty sure she just has a grudge against Lanie for telling her off about letting the lady's dog shit on her parent's lawn. "That's hila-mhf" Beckett was cut off I looked up to see what happened only to see Sarah Jones and Beckett in a lip lock, Beckett's eyes were wide in shock. One of Sarah's cronies Bethany plopped down on my side of the booth, I gave her a once over and concluded that they were carbon copies of each other, bleach blonde hair, and hot pink lips to match. Sarah finally stropped trying to eat Beckett's face and looked at me with a content smile "is that clam chowder?" Sarah giggled to Bethany. Bethany leaned over the table and stage whispered "I think so it smells like her "they laughed their highly annoying laugh and my hands balled into fists. My bottom lip wobbled and I'm pretty sure Beckett saw it because next thing I knew he had pushed Sarah out of the his booth, and pulled Bethany out of mine. Beckett took my hand and pulled me out of the booth, we walked towards the exit, as we passed the cash register he dropped a wad of cash on the counter and told them to keep the change. Beckett opened the door for me and we left the establishment, it had finally stopped raining as we made our way out to Edna. Neither of us spoke until we got in the truck "listen Areum" he started and I put my hand up to stop him "it's okay" I said "don't worry about it Beck." But as we continued to sit in silence we both knew something was indeed wrong.