Rush Above Sea Level

Chapter 23: Water under the bridge

I admit, this mission is purely biased. I believe that if Jerry did not personally know Sadie, he would have attacked her and assumed power. For two weeks, Jerry hung out with her. I found a job at a pizza shop, I wanted to earn some money and do something. Twinkle found a farming job and started doing it part time, making it hard to contact him. Jesse worked in the bakery part time. My phone was all juiced up again, most apps weren't usable since everything was shut down. The base had free, fast wifi everywhere so I got the specially made social media the base had. I could text everyone I knew as long as I was in the base.

Bradley spent time with Maddie, I was a little peeved that he was spending most of his time with Maddie but I didn't care that much. If that was how he felt when I was with Cameron then he deserved to be with her.

Perhaps it was for the best, I spent more time in the ice cream shop with CJ and talked with him. I always asked him why he wore shades. He seemed taken aback from the question.

"Because I'm blind." He responded.

"Blind people don't need shades, it's for protecting your eyes." I said.

He hesitated then sighed "I may not be able to see, but I hear what people say about me. I can sense their sympathetic looks, I don't need that. I want to be seen as someone, the only way I can be known without prejudice is as a DJ. I need to prove that I'm useful, but for now, I hide in shame. I can only believe that tomorrow will be better."

I looked at his knuckles, they were white.

"Wow, CJ, I didn't know that." I sat up "In some way, I get how you feel."

"You can't, you're not blind."

"I'm not, but my future was."

"How?"

"My parents forced me to be perfect, I couldn't do anything I loved. I used to have a shield that guarded me from them, but when he went away, I had no defense. My parents tore me to shreds, what's worse is that I-" I faltered, anymore and I'll be talking my sexuality.

"Go on." CJ reached for my hands and squeezed it gently.

I stayed silent.

"It's fine if you don't want to talk about it. Hearing you talk about it, I think you get how I feel. It's just nothing, not black, but nothing. Right?" He smiled.

"Exactly, thanks for understanding."

"You're welcome, that's what friends are for!"

"How's Marc?"

"Selling ice cream."

I laughed and felt my phone buzz, my shift was nearly starting.

"Sorry, I have work soon."

"No problem, go ahead."

I ran to Visia's Pizzeria, put on my uniform and started serving the customers. It was a relatively slow day so I watched all the families and couples enjoy their meal. Everything still reminded me of Cameron, it wasn't that painful now, just thinking how much she would love that. My shift dulled on for two more hours, I didn't put a lot of effort to get to know my co-workers. Most were older than me. Our owner, Visia, was a nice woman but she spent most of her time with her family. My manager, Carter wasn't as nice. He was, to say the least, tolerable.

"You, how long have you been here?" Carter growled.

He doesn't even bother to call me by my name, great.

I forced a smile "Two hours...sir."

"And how long does your shift last?" He shrieked.

"Five." I mumbled.