"Okay," Tracy said. She and Charlotte sat on the lower part of the stairs.
"Why don't you guys ever eat anything?" Bob asked.
"Do you think you're fat or something?"
"No," Tracy said.
"Why? Do you think we're fat?" Charlotte said, pretending to be insulted.
"No."
"Guess what?" Tracy said.
"Texas has left the union and re-named itself Naxoclockia," Bob said.
"No........." Tracy said,"Charlie got fired."
"What happened?" Gerard said.
"Well," Charlotte said,"The old lady that lives down the street from you came down and got a can of tuna. I was running the register and I told her that her total was $1.25."
"So... they fired you...." Frank said.
"She hasn't gotten to that part yet," Tracy said.
"Okay," Charlotte said,"So anyway, the lady takes out a gift certificate for the bakery and gives it to me like it's perfectly fine. So I'm like,'We don't accept gift certificates here ma'am.' and she goes,'But it's worth three dollars' and I said,'I know, but it's not for this store so we can't accept it.' And to make it worse the certificate was expired anyway. So even if we did accept them it was no good. So she takes it back and pulls out a gift certificate to the coffee house. And I told her again that we didn't accept gift certificates. So then she starts going on about how in back in her day young people respected their elders, and if you gave someone five dollars for something that was a dollar twenty-five you'd get change and get on with your life. And I was getting really ticked off cause Aunt Flo is coming in a few days and I'm majorly PMSing. So I started yelling at her saying,'Look lady! Just give me a dollar and a quarter and get out of here!' and she tells me she doesn't carry cash on her."
"I still don't understand how you got fired," Mikey said.
"Well if you'd all stop interrupting!" Charlotte snapped. Hadn't she just told them she was PMSing? "Anyway, so then she said that when she used her certificates at the coffee shop that they accepted them so I told her,'Well DUH!! The gift certificates are for the coffee shop!' So I gave her back her certificates and told her to come back when she had cash."
"So they fired you...." Gerard said.
"I'm not done yet!" Charlotte said.
"Then the lady goes to the manager," Tracy said.
"I gave her a bad paper cut with the gift certificates," Charlotte said,"She told him that I was extremely rude and wouldn't accept her method of payment. So he comes and lectures me and I thought that would be it and I'd tell him what happened and he'd explain to her that we didn't accept gift certificates, but then he fired me! So as I was leaving, someone else came and took over my register, and she gives him a dollar twenty-five in cash! She had cash the entire time and I swear she smirked at me."
"So you think she was trying to get you fired?" Ray said.
"I knowshe was trying to get me fired," She said.
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright. Who wants to work at a supermarket anyway? I'll just do what I used to do, it was more fun anyway. Stare at the cieling and listen to music."
"That's so much fun," Frank said.
"I know, people underestimate it."
"Seriously, Mindy will never like you. In her eyes, you're never going to make it."
"How?"
"You like D&D, Audrey Hepburn, Fangoria, Harry Houdini and Croquet. You can't swim, you can't dance, and you don't know karate. Face it. You're never gonna make it."
"I don't want to make it, I just wanna-"
"BARK BARK !" A chocolate Labrador ran over and glomped Gerard before he could finish what he was saying.
"I'm sorry!" Charlotte said, pulling her dog off of Gerard.
"It's fine," Gerard said, scratching the dog behind his ears.
"Buster," Charlotte said to the dog and her turned, sat and faced her. "What did I tell you about jumping on people?"
The dog wagged his tail and jumped up on her, making her fall backwards onto the pavement while he licked her face.
She got out from under Buster and told him to sit.
"I really am sorry, my dad told me to take him for a walk and Buster just loves people."
"That's okay."
"C'mon Buster, let's finish your walk." She had to drag Buster away down the driveway. "Good afternoon Mr. Way," She said as she walked past Donald.
"Same to you Charlotte. Tell your dad I said hi."
"Okay, but he's right there if you want to tell him yourself," She said pointing to their tree that her dad was watering.
Gerard and Ray looked over as Donald went to talk to Charlotte's dad. He was tall, much taller then Donald. He had green eyes like Charlotte's and their hair was also the same color. Charlotte looked a lot like him.
"Did you guys ever get that boat?" Donald asked.
"Yep," he said,"Charlotte hates going on it, I never hear her stop complaining about it."
"Really? I would love having a boat."
"Not her, she's perfectly happy reading and drawing the day away."
"Gerard's the same."
"I hate when they talk about us like we aren't here," Gerard said.
"I'm glad my dad's not out here," Ray said. Of course once he said that his dad came outside and went to talk to them.
"Want to go walk Buster with Charlotte?"
"Yeah."
They ran down the sidewalk and caught up with her.
"Hey," She said.
"We don't want to hear them talk about how disappointed they are in us," Ray said.
"Ah," She said and nodded. "I hate when they talk about us."
Mindy was walking her Chihuahua and walked around the corner towards them.
"Nice dog," She said sarcastically,"What? Were all the cute ones taken? Or were they just too much money?"
Charlotte looked at Mindy's dog and said,"I've never seen anything uglier," she looked back up at Mindy,"And the dog's not that cute either."
Mindy glared and pulled her dog away as she walked down the street.
"I can't believe you like her Gerard," Charlotte said after Mindy wasn't in range to hear.
"What happened to 'It's none of my business'?"
"It's not, I'm just commenting on how I can't believe it."
"She's smart."
"Cause she spends so much money on a tutor. Without it she'd be another Lila."
"She's pretty."
"Whatever, I really hate when people say beauty's only skin-deep and looks don't matter. If someone's not pretty, they don't attract anyone, that's the way it is. I guess no matter what anyone says, looks matter...." Charlotte said as she avoided eye contact with either of them.
"How did you get an F? That quiz was really easy," Gerard said, giving her back her quiz.
"Because math is evil and must die," She said.
"Didn't you get an A in math on our last report cards?"
"Yes, but barely. I got a C on the midterms and I had only barely gotten an A in the class. But right now I've gone from a C to a D."
"That's not good," Gerard said, for lack of anything else to say as he closed his locker and they started walking to art.
"I know. So anyway, I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse.... kinda..."
"Hm?"
"I'll tutor you in Chemistry and you tutor me in Math. That way your dad doesn't kill you for not graduating, and my dad doesn't kill me for failing."
"So, neither of our dads would kill us."
"Exactly."
"I don't know..."
"Come on Gerard, I really need help in math from someone who understands it and won't lecture me every time I don't understand it. And I know you want to graduate and I can help you. Please?"
Gerard remembered how confusingly the words in his Chemistry book swam around the page. "Alright."
"Great," She said.
"But just so you know... you aren't the first one to try and tutor me. Everyone else has failed miserably."
"Maybe I'm up for a challenge," She said. "See if you can drop by my house tomorrow after school. We can study then. Mikey can come too."
"He's going to one his friend's house tomorrow after school anyway."
"Good, it works out. But just so you know, <i>my</i> sister will be home from school within an hour after we get there."
"Right, we get out an hour earlier then the Elementary and Middle school don't we?"
"We start an hour earlier too."
Gerard opened the door to the art classroom and held it open for Charlotte to walk through before they took their seats.
"Do you need a ride tomorrow?"
"Yeah, my dad won't be able to pick me up new tires until Thursday," She said.
"Alright, no problem."
"Trust Me"