TV in Black and White (A Justin Timberlake Fanfiction)

Chapter Two

The next day, I am sitting with my friends at lunch. 

"Are you sure you can't come to my party?" Brooke asks in almost a whine.

I huff and shake my head unhappily.

"They're not going to budge. I know them. They just want to keep me from doing anything for reasons unknown to me."

My best friend, Lea, sighs and frowns. Since the 7th grade, we have done basically everything together. This will be the first party that she can go to and I can't. 

"It's not going to be as fun without you," she tells me, sending me sad eyes.

"Yeah, well, tell that to my parents," I sigh, taking a bite out of my food.

"I'm surprised they even let you go to work," Morgan laughs.

Morgan and I haven't been friends for too long and we're certainly not close by any means, but we get along great.

"Me too. They make Alex drive me! What do they think I'm going to do?" I roll my eyes. "Go get high in between shifts."

Alex is my sister and also a senior, who constantly labels me as a burden. Sometimes, we get along great, but her emotions are so wavering that she'll turn on me in an instant.

"Well, we've got to go study for a chem test. Wee you guys later," says Brooke, picking up her bag and walking off with Morgan.

"I really wish you'd go to the party," Lea says.

"Yeah, so I can keep Mark away from you?" I laugh as she rolls her eyes in disgust.

"Last night, he texted me four times in a row before I responded!" she exclaims. "He's crazy!"

Lea mostly exclaims everything. Unlike me, she's very excitable and emotional, a dangerous combination for when I have to listen to her midnight calls. Mark Jones, on the other hand, is a main subject of those calls. He is best friends with Danny Parker, a popular guy at the school that majority of the girls in our grade are obsessed with. All of my friends tried to convince me that he likes me by the way he flirts with me, but he flirts will all girls. Honestly, I did have a time when I had a crush on him, but that's over. He's too annoying with his constant flirting, and our conversations never have any real substance. 

"I think you're in love with him," I say with a nod, as if I am diagnosing a disease.

"Shut up!" she exclaims, her face red. "It's embarrassing."

Her spazzy attitude makes me laugh as the bell rings. We part ways and not before long, school is out. I meet Alex at her car, and we head to Target.

"I don't know why you can't just drive yourself," she says in a huff. "You're making Hunter wait at Aubrey's."

I don't even respond. She knows it isn't my fault so there is no point in telling her. Hunter is her boyfriend of seven months who she's completely mad about, even though she pretends she's too cool to be. He's popular as well, making her more popular by association. Everyone always tells me how cute they are and I just nod and smile, but hearing her endless praises at school has started to get to me. 

We arrive shortly, and I get out of the car door in a rush without saying a word, shutting the door behind me. As she drives off, I can hear the boom of the bass fading away. 

I walk in and after a few words with coworkers, I start my shift at register twelve. About two hours go by of checking people out while exchanging credit cards, receipts, and courteous smiles. One thing I love about strangers is that you don't have to fake smile at them, since there is nothing to hate about them yet.

Another customer arrives with a dark jacket and the hood up. He sets down his The Godfather DVD and popcorn box to be scanned. 

"Hi, did you find everything oka-" I stop myself mid-sentence once I catch sight of my customer. 

If I wasn't stunned by who the person was, I would have been stunned by his blue eyes and gorgeous skin. But I didn't have time to think about something as insignificant as physical attributes when Justin Timberlake was standing in front of me.