It was 12:41 by the time they arrived at the second closest, local convenience store. Local meaning the one that the residents of Azure Lane and the students of Kalimity High went to the most, and there was one precisely eight minutes away from the Lane, making it the first closest local store.
Colette feared that they would run into someone they knew, someone who would have nothing to lose by spreading some gossip about one of The Jills. So halfway through their walk, Aivie redirected course to the second closest convenience store.
As soon as they stepped inside, their bodies were met with an aggressively cool breeze, that seemed to be emanating from all corners of the store's ceiling. There was an older man, tall with a slightly hunching back and wearing a red vest, standing at the counter. He glanced at the Five once, his eyes quite vacant, then returned to reading a magazine on lifestyle choices.
The Five glanced back briefly in return, then headed to the second last aisle near the back of the store. There, in the center of the wide shelf, was only one brand of pregnancy tests. The rectangular box was small, thin and pink. There was a little yellow price tag sticker stuck to it unevenly in a corner, part of it scratched away. The still readable price tag read: $8:99 plus tax.
Aivie stuffed the banana peel, halfheartedly into one pocket of her sweats, and dug into the other to pull out her wallet. "I'll pay."
"N-no, no way, Vie. This is my mess-" Colette started.
"You don't know yet that this is a mess, and you're lucky you have friends that are too stubborn to let you deal with this potential mess on your own. It would also be bad to let your parents see any purchase on your card bill that was related to this potential mess, don't 'cha think?" Aivie deduced. Colette breathed a short sigh of defeat.
"Hey, don't lump us in with you. You're the only stubborn one here. The rest of us are real flexible," Mace said. Rion bent his hips from side to side in a mocking attempt to prove Mace's adamant claims.
"Don't any of you lump me in with either. I'm actually a healthy balance of both," Sun declared.
Colette laughed, the first time since late last night at the party. It was so loud and bubbly that it made the older man at the counter glance up a second time from his magazine, and look ahead at the second last aisle where the Five loitered.
Aivie swung an arm around Colette, and withdrew her from hiding between the aisles. "Like I said, lucky you got us." She released Colette when they arrived in front of the counter.
Rion had appeared behind them, and informed them that Mace was helping Sun pick out a bag of milk in the back.
Aivie placed the test on the counter, and for the first time in an unspecified amount of time, the older man's vacant look had altered into something of discomposure. He stared between Aivie and Colette, and at one point he even stared at Rion for a lengthy moment, before going back to staring at the girls.
His stupefied behavior was interrupted when Rion waved a colorful paper card in his face. The older man took it, slowly, and he, Aivie and Colette all realized that it was a birthday card.
"For a friend. They were too embarrassed to come in and get it, so we offered to help them out," Rion finally said.
"T-them?" the old man questioned, his voice fragile.
"I assure you, this is for a singular person, and their preferred pronoun is they," Rion concluded.
The older man's eyes went wide, and he scrambled to grab the scanner and pick up the test to scan. "That'll be $9:15, how would you like to pay?"
YOU ARE READING
The High 5
Teen Fiction|Now FULLY PUBLISHED on Amazon Kindle books!| Also Book 1 of the Otherworldy series (EIther Moonhaven or this can be read first, as long as both are read to continue the series)! Since Aivie Mercer was 6 years old, she began having overwhelming feel...
