Chapter
two:
#Millia;
My back
ached from all the walking, we’ve probably crossed three blocks and he was
walking without showing any signs of stopping. I was starving, too. I was about
to call out for him, but he made a sudden turn into a boutique and started
talking with the clerk.
What is he
thinking?
“Hey, Rage,
come over here.” He called in a gruff voice.
I made my
way in, feeling a bit more than embarrassed at being in tidy clean place with
my bloodied face and ripped clothes. “What?”
He pointed
a thumb towards me and I saw the clerk smile before she took my hand. “Come
here, dear.”
What the
hell?
~*~*~*~*~
I walked
out of the dressing room with a scowl. “I don’t like this ma’am.” I’m not
really a denim person.
“Oh buck
up, it’s better than showing off your panties!” she commented whole heartedly, admiring
the white denim pants she just made me try. “Would you like to see our
collection of makeup? You could do with a little red on your lips.”
“No thank
you, I’ll just talk to my…” I paused, “Partner.” Hell if I call him that again
I’m definitely going to break somebody’s nose. I’m starving for goodness sake…
I walked
over to the absent-minded Sol, who was staring at a plastic model. “Do you mind
explaining this to me?” I crossed my arms over the white t-shirt I had on.
He looked
at me and blinked for an annoyingly long period of time before he started to
speak, “Better look, better appeal, Krudberry’s hard
to please.” He motioned with his hands before he pulled up his walled and paid
some to the clerk who went wide-eyed and grinned when he told her to keep the
change.
A woman
with a name tag gave me my old torn dress in a plastic bag with a smile before
she bid us farewell. I think I heard squealing after the door closed, but I can’t
be sure…
How much
did Badguy give them?
“Why are
you doing this?”
He smacked
his lips before shoving his gloved hands in his pockets, “More money, shorter time to find an apartment.”
I don’t
blame him, actually, I never thought he’d be nice
enough to help me find a job. He is softer than what I heard in the tournament.
“Thank
you.”
“No…” he
shook his head with a smirk, “You owe me.”
I knew I
couldn’t be that lucky. “What can I do?” I crossed my arms, I’m staaaarving…
“I’ll be
thinking about that.” He pushed a door open and I realized that we were already
there. Inside the restaurant were a lot of tables, only a few occupied, and an
energetic-looking Jam balancing three trays on her hands and arms passed
between the tables.
“Eee! Badguy! You jerk! What took you so long?”
she screeched in her annoying voice and scurried to scold Sol who looked accustomed
to her ear-piercing voice. “You promised you’d bring one last week!”
“Can it.”
He ordered quietly, “Here she is.”
Jam blinked
a few times. “Y-yeah, right!”
Sol
shrugged and turned around to leave, “I’d hate to think of how many trays her
hair could balance, and not use it, though.”
Hearing
that, Jam was in front of him in a second, “Millia Rage?” I think she whispered
something to him after saying my name, and she kept glancing at me like I was a
bomb about to explode any minute.
“Gah! Fine! I’ll try her for a day or two!”
“A week.” Sol negotiated, quietly.
“Three
days!”
“A whole week.”
“Four days!
That’s it!” she crossed her arms, brows joined.
“Seven days
or she works at Johnny’s!” What?
“A-a…” Jam
blinked, her cheeks reddening, in anger, I think. “Fine!” she shrieked,
alarming everyone. “Seven days! If I like her she works here, if I don’t you
can take her to Johnny’s!”
“Works for me.” Sol smirked before he turned around to look at me and
nodded. “Good luck, Rage.” With that he went out the door.
The minute
the door shut Jam turned to me, a menacing look on her face. “So, transforming
hair, huh?”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I tossed
hair out of my face before I pushed through the kitchen doors, “Three Misu
soups on the double.” I heard Jam shriek something as the doors closed, I think
something about bending somebody’s arm, but I didn’t care.
“Hi there, Honey!”
a blonde man with dark sunglasses grinned down at me from where he stood in my
way. “Never seen ya ‘round b’fore,
What’s yer name?”
I frowned
at him and tried to move around, but he side-stepped in front of me. Damn,
my very first day on the job and I’m already having trouble. “Millia.”
“Wow, a
pretty name for a pretty young lady, you’ve been’ workin’
here long?”
“No.” I
shifted my weight to the other leg and heard Jam call me from behind. Saved
by the Krudberry “Excuse me.”
I balanced
one tray on my hair while holding the other two in my hands, just as I turned
around I found that the blonde man was still grinning at me.
“Name’s Johnny, darlin’.” He lowered
the glasses and winked.
“I’m busy,
Johnny.” I made my way through and set the plates down to three young women.
“Hello miss
waitress!” one of them smiled at me, her red eye glowing, “Can I ask you
something, please?”
I tried not
to gawk at her blue hair, “Sure thing, what can I do for you?”
“Can I have
chop sticks?” she lowered her head down shyly, “I always wanted to try them.”
I smiled
lightly before the other two on the table squealed.
“Me too,
then!” the one in front of me, she wore a head band, clasped her hands together
in plea.
“Me three
me three!” is this May?
“May? Is
that you?” I questioned with a smile, I just noticed her, she
was quieter than usual. “Been a while.”
“Yeah! Millia! I noticed you the moment we walked in!” she
grinned, and then pouted, “Its getting cold! I wanna try it out like on TV!”
“Sure thing.” I turned around and found the blonde man still
looking at me. “Can I help you?”
Johnny
stared dumbly at me before he made his way to May. I shrugged and went to get
the chop sticks.
-------
“Rage!” Jam shrieked behind me when I was cleaning a table, the
crossed her arms and pouted. “Have you worked as a waitress before today?”
“No.” I faced
her and tossed strands of hair out of my face. “Why?”
“Well…” she
averted her gaze and looked around the empty restaurant, “I was kinda wondering…” she wrung her hands, “If you would tell
Sol that…”
“Spit it
out.” I frowned. I don’t have time for this.
“I want you
to work here this month.” she smiled. “Tell Sol that I said this!”
“Fine.” She bounced back into the kitchen humming while I
worried about how I’m going to go home.
I sighed
and sat down on a chair. I haven’t had anything but leftovers for three days
straight -since my grand escape- having to deal with the smells and sounds of
food whole day made my hungrier, too.
The bell on
the door rang when it opened and I sighed. More customers?
Its
“Badguy?” I walked over to him and leaned my hip over the table
that he seated himself in. “What do you want?”
He didn’t
look at me, just lightened a cigarette and leaned back. “The
usual.”
“I don’t
know the usual.” I tossed back my hair which –for some unknown reason- keeps
crawling to his.
“Hey!
Sol-Sol! I’ll get you your usual right away!” Jam shrieked from behind and
waved before she turned around, knocking a few glasses in her hurry.
“Make that
a double order,
I stared at
Sol for a moment before I heard jam giggle and enter the kitchen.
“Had
anything?” he questioned and put the cigarette out on the table, next to
the ashtray.
“A bad hair day.” I sat down in front of him and hung my head. “And a
stubbed toe.”
“In your
belly, I meant.” He snickered and lit another cigarette.
“Yeah,
bile…” I rubbed my eyes and breathed. “Am I going to stay with you tonight?” I
corked an eyebrow.
He shrugged
a shoulder before standing up to grab a bag from Jam who seemed to be fond of
something on my face.
“What?” I
took off the offending pink apron and followed Sol to the door, “I’d better get
paid enough.”
“Hehe, You gotta
ask Sol-Sol about that!” she grinned and pranced back into the kitchen.
“Sol-Sol?” I wondered and crossed my arms when the cold air hit
me.
“Be quiet.”
He made his way confidently, not minding the raging wind around.
My hair
defied the simple laws of nature again and it crawled towards him.
“You know.”
I fell into step with him, “If you have a spare room, I’d be glad. Please tell
me you have a spare room.”
“I don’t.”
“Damn…” I
bit my lips and hugged my disturbed hair. This isn’t good…
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Atmosphere temperature
decreasing, moisture increasing. Wind running 2%
faster every 5,3 seconds.
Error
Foreign human touch. Location: scalp.
I sighed
and rubbed my scalp. “You need to call somebody?”
“Huh?” the
blonde turned to me with a confused face. “Why?”
“Get some
damn hair control.” I frowned and pulled my keys out of my pockets.
“Sorry.”
I thought I
didn’t hear her, her voice was so quiet I had to strain out to hear it. Damn missing
files.
I kicked
the door open and set down our dinner on the coffee table. She walked in after
me and I had to kick the door again for it to close.
“Not so
loud.” She winced and made herself comfortable on the couch.
I need to
restore those files… its getting annoying.
“Eat up.” I
ordered before going into my bedroom.
Why the
hell am I helping her? Hell if I know. Her hair keeps crawling down my spine
and it’s annoying, it should be hacked off.
I sat down
on the bed and sighed. Badguy, you are loosing it. You are getting old, too.
How much
would I pay to get a single white hair in this cursed young head of mine?
“Sol?” a
quiet knock on the door woke me up from my reverie. What the hell does she
want? Can’t she see I’m busy?
“What?”
“Can I talk
to you?”
Damn… “Yeah.”
She opened
the door slowly and tried to find me in the dark. “Can I turn the lights on?”
“You said talk
not chat.” I sat up from the bed and glared.
“I wanted
to ask.” She walked closer, and I could hear the analysis in my head working
the more she came closer. “Do you have a spare blanket? The couch seems
comfortable enough.”
“No.” I
sighed. “Listen, I’m taking the couch, but don’t you start drooling all over my
pillow lady.”
“I don’t
drool.” She said in what appeared to be boredom. “I don’t want to sleep on your
bed.” With that she grabbed the blanket
that was crumpled on the bed and dragged it all the way out.
Damn… how
am I supposed to sleep now? I lay down and unbuckled my shirt, focusing more on
the inner actions than the physical.
Sleep.exe is
about to activate, allow?
I stifled a
groan and tossed my shirt into some neglected corner before allowing the
program to activate.
System is
now restoring missing files.
Time remaining: 1 hour 32 minutes 20 seconds.
System is
preparing to shut down in 5 seconds.
Finally, I
can sleep.
End of
chapter Two.