I walked into my room and grabbed my photography camera from my desk drawer. The bulky black camera weighed down my hand as I tried to find the perfect spot to put the canvas to start my project. My walls were bare compared to most kids my age. I had a few awards hanging from my walls and three band posters. Other than that there really wasn’t much but the teal colored paint coating it—my mother’s idea, of course, because she was a stickler for home décor. I was positioning the canvas perfectly when my phone started to ring again. I groaned while tossing my camera onto my plush pillows and fishing out my phone from my pocket.

“Hello?” I asked not even checking the caller ID.

“Tony asked me for your number!” Callie announced with a slight squealing sound in her voice.

“What?!” I asked angrily. “Tell me you didn’t give it to him.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Callie asked innocently.

“For reasons.” I replied vaguely.

“Reasons like?” She asked, elongating the ‘i’ in like.

“One, he didn’t ask me personally so that’s just plain rude. Two, I don’t want Tony to contact me. And three, he’s an idiot.” I scowled.

“I think you like him.” Callie mused.

I scoffed. “Hardly.”

“V, this gorgeous guy is going through a lot just to speak to you and you keep brushing him off.” Callie sighed.

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t care if you think he’s gorgeous and I don’t care if he wants to talk to me.”

“Geez, you sound very defensive. That only means one thing.” I could hear the smile in her voice which made me narrow my eyes at the crooked blank canvas on my wall.

“He can call me Cal’s, but I won’t answer.” I said adamantly.

“Why not, V? What did this poor guy do to make you write him off?” She asked boldly.

I sighed. “It’s just dumb rumors.”

“What rumors?”

“I forgot you weren’t in school.” I said before launching into the cringe worthy story that encompassed my life for today.

I heard Callie gasp. “That jerk!” She nearly yelled.

For the record I did believe that Tony didn’t start it. “I don’t think he started it though.” I admitted truthfully.

“I bet it was Tara what’s-her-face!” Callie remarked. “That preppy, snotty, jerk face always does stuff like this.”

I laughed. “I don’t think I ever heard you speak badly about anyone.”

“That’s because no one ever started a rumor about my best friend.” Callie replied. “At least not that I’ve heard.” She added through a puff of air.

“Well don’t worry. The longer I ignore this rumor, the faster it’ll die down.” I assured her.

“Well, that makes sense I guess.” Callie offered. “I figured I’d give you a heads up just in case Tony calls.”

I sighed. “No promises that I’ll pick up.”

“I won’t force you.” Callie said before we hung up on each other.

I stared at the blank canvas and wondered if Tony would call me. I figured after hearing an earful of what I said at lunch, he’d just ignore me and go back to what we both were—which was nothing more than strangers.

I began my project, setting up the tripod that held my camera at a perfect angle. Grabbing my left over paints from my storage closet, I placed them on the scattered newspaper on my floor and did my best at creating something both unique and creative for my art class. I had twenty frames, which only encompassed two maybe three seconds tops, and all I had on the canvas was a fraction of the background. I glanced at my phone which was being unsurprisingly quiet before doing another ten frames of my project. With a cramping hand and a lack of motivation, I stopped what I was doing and decided to pick it up tomorrow after work.

---

Wednesdays were my work days. At Caliremont High we are given—mainly Seniors, but anyone who achieves 4.0’s have leeway in the matter—what they like to call ‘Independent Growth Days’. These particular days are for the students who have jobs or internships, so we are given a day out of the week to focus on life as an adult. Since my junior year I’ve been participating in Independent Growth Days only because it gave me a reason to sleep in—that is until 8:30 since my shift at Urban Wreck started 9 on the dot. I chose to do my IGD’s on Wednesday’s because it was the official WTF of the week. (Pun intended.)

Urban Wreck is what most people would call a grunge store; however, unlike Forever 21 their stuff isn’t meant to please any of the fashion police with scrutinizing eyes. Urban Wreck stocked heavy combat boots and anything with the color black in them, and also spikes and studs. I made my way through the well stocked boutique before spotting Charlie—my manager. She was in her early twenties and was attending SDSU to obtain her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science.

“Verity, nice to see you.” She greeted with a smile on her dark maroon lips.

Work was the only place I actually wore makeup since I had to keep up appearances here. I wore my torn up Thrasher shirt with black ripped jeans and my black combat boots which I got from here. I tried my best to perfect the winged tip eyeliner, but the wings looked a little off. My lips were stained with red lipstick while I dusted some foundation on my face.

“Hey Char.” I smiled back. “Your lipstick is totes perfect.” I teased. Charlie hated the word ‘totes’.

Cringing,Charlie jokingly said “Like, thanks. I totally decided to just try it out.”

I walked into the back room to stow away my bag, which held nothing but textbooks since I decided during my lunch break I was going to conquer some well needed studying.

“Today’s been slow.” Charlie commented as I decided to grab out a box of our new shipment and put them on display.

I smiled. “It’s the morning, of course it’s slow.”

“I was just hinting to you that maybe doing a coffee run wouldn’t be such a bad idea.” Charlie shrugged with a grin on her face.

“Hint taken.” I laughed. “Your usual?” I asked while grabbing out my wallet from my bag.

“Yeah, here let me give you some money.” She offered, reaching for her purse.

I waved her off. “My treat. Next time you can buy.” I smiled before slipping out the door.

Fortunately, California offered coffee shops at pretty much every corner on every block. To say that Californians needed their coffee fix was an understatement. I entered the Java Hut to the smell of roasting coffee and freshly baked cookie wafting through the air. I stood in line which wrapped around a few line polls before ending next to a shelf filled with different flavors of coffee beans.

“Verity?” I heard his voice from behind me.

Notes

Yup, I'm leaving it like this until tomorrow :3

Let me know what y'all think!

Enjoy <3