New World

Chapter 3

Damn. Shopping was so exciting! Paelen adored the human world, even if he didn't understand half the stuff. Everything was much more busy and disorganised than on Olympus, and Paelen loved it. Every shop had different styles of clothes, it was so much more unique than on Olympus, where all the Olympians wore tunics. After dragging Katy into every single shop he could find, she was visibly bored.

"Please, just choose you clothes." She said.

Paelen sighed, "Fine." And went to choose his clothes.

When he had chosen faded black jeans, a blue t-shirt and trainers, Katy took them and went to the till. Her eyes widened slightly as she saw the bill, but payed for it anyway.

"Thank you, Katy." Paelen said with a smile.

"No problem!" Katy ginned. "Now, um, where do you wanna go?"

As Paelen was about to answer, a policeman came up to them. Paelen had past experiences with the police, none of which had been good. "Shouldn't you be in school?" He asked.

Katy paled and looked at Paelen. "Uhhh" She gulped and looked at the policeman. "My little brother was ill and I had to take him to the doctors before I went to school." Paelen tried to look trembly and sick. He looked at the policeman with wide eyes.

"Hmph. Fine, don't let me catch you by the shops again." He walked away.

"Little brother?!" Paelen glared at Katy.

She laughed. "You are kinda small. You did a good job at looking innocent by the way."

"I have had the experience." Paelen muttered.

Katy started walking up the road, "You hungry?" Paelen nodded and she gestured at a cafe at the corner of the street. It was small and cute, with a light blue sign above it. "We can have something to eat here."

They went inside and a sweet smell of cakes and chocolate filled Paelen's nostrils. Immediatelty, his mouth started to water. Katy sat down at a table by the window, Paelen sat down opposite her. They both opened a menu, and Paelen, not knowing how to read English looked up at Katy.

"Uhhh, Katy, what does this say?" He asked slightly embarassed.

She raised her eyebrows, "Do they not teach you to read on Olympus?"

"They do, but not these jumbled up letters!"

Katy rolled her eyes. "You can have tea, coffee, hot chocolate-"

"Chocolate?!" Paelen interupted, "I shall have that!"

"O-kay" Katy repied. "Do you want something to eat?"

Paelen was about to say a long list of things he wanted to eat, but realised how much of Katy's money he was spending, so stopped himself. Plus, he had a stash of fresh ambrosia cakes in his bag. "I am okay, thank you."

Katy nodded and went to order at the till. Paelen looked outside. The sky was beginning to cover up with dark clouds, and a few drops of rain fell from the sky. It never rained on Olympus, and even since the last times he came to earth, he had still not gotten used to the sight. Seeing the poeple run to get out of the rain amused Paelen. Mortals had such a dramatic lifestyle compared to the Olympians, apart from the recent events, of course. At the thought of this, his mind drifted back to Emily and Joel. Would they have noticed his absence? Would they care? Paelen caught himself. Of course they would. He was their friend. 

Hearing Katy's chair brought him back to the real world. Paelen sat forwards. "So, tell me about yourself seeing as you know to much about me."

"Well I'm Katy, I'm 16 years old, in my last year of secondary school. Um, I live with my mum and little brother, who's 6. Uh, yeah, is this what you wanted to know?"

Paelen nodded. After an awkward silence, Katy said, "Hey, do you have anywhere to stay?"

"I do not, but do not worry about me, I shall find somewhere."

Katy laughed. "You have no money, no spare clothes and about the chance of navigating around this town as a snail does. You can stay with me for a while. I'm sure my mum won't mind if you sleep on the sofa for a few weeks."

 Paelen stared at her. "I would not want to be a problem-"

"Shut up. My life is boring and I need a bit of fun. Please say yes."

Paelen bit his lip. Katy had been far to generous already, but the hope on her face was too strong for him to say no. "Okay, but only for a few weeks. I do not want to cause any trouble."

Katy clapped her hands excitedly, almost making the waitress almost drop the mugs of hot chocolate everywhere. "Sorry!" Katy apologised. 

The hot chocolate was creamy and sweet. The rich chocolate filled his mouth with warmth, and he wondered if this was the taste of ambrosia, necar and chocolate rolled into one. Once he had finished, he licked his chocolate mustache off his top lip. "Thank you." He said to Katy. She smiled as she drained her cup. 

They got up and left the cafe, into the cold drizzle outside. Katy got out a little device from her pocket, which Paelen recognised as a mobile phone. Ske tapped the phone and held it to her ear. She had a short conversation on the person on the other end, and turned it off.

"Come, I'll introduce you to my mother."