↷ FIFTY SIX
''Nope, come on.''
''But, Devs-''
She points a finger at him, giving him a stern look. ''No, but's. This is going to happen sooner or later, we might as well get it over with now.''
Devin Greene pulls Jeffery Atkins with her firm hold on his wrist into the busy gymnasium that afternoon. Liberty High was hosting a college fair, and as frightening as the topic felt at the age of sixteen, it was a necessity change that can either make or break a young adults career.
Devin let's go of his wrist and threw her arms out from her sides. ''Pick a city, pick a state.'' She turns at the heel of her foot and smiles at him. ''Pick anywhere you wanna go, and we'll go.''
He snickers.
''New York?''
Devin points at a banner. ''NYU.''
''Massachusetts?''
She points at another banner. ''MCLA.'' She wraps both of her arms around one of his and clings to him tight. ''See? We could go anywhere you want. Doesn't that sound nice?''
While she was wondering about all sorts of stands filled with different interest and information, the only sight he admired was Devin Greene standing by his side. There were gears churning in his head, a thought slowly brewing.
''Do you want to look around together or are you fine by yourself?''
He shakes her head. ''Go ahead, have fun. I'll be fine.''
She furrows her brows at him, slowly inching away from him. ''Are you sure? If you really want some company we can-''
''Go,'' He chuckles, shooing her away.
''Okay,'' She grins. She rushes up to him and pressed her lips against his cheek for a chaste kiss. ''Text me if you need me.''
''Okay.''
It was endearing, really. It was like setting your kid off to Kindergarten on their first day and they're so eager to meet new people and make friends, that they constantly turn back around to wave their goodbye to their parents. The parents who would stand there, grinning like a goof and watch them until they safely get inside. That's exactly how Devin was, until she got lost in the mix of Juniors surfing for a future.
And for some reason, Devin was really interested in American International College. It sounded almost promising.
''Hi,'' She shyly greets.
''Hi,'' The lady running the stand eagerly greets. ''Like what you see?''
''Sort of,'' She cringed slightly. ''What is it exactly, that you offer?''
She shrugs her shoulders. ''What is that you're looking for, exactly?''
''Psychology.''
She smirks. ''You're in luck.'' She reaches over for one of the pamphlets and hands it to her. ''We have a variety of Psychology subjects, narrowing it down to specifics. We have clinical psychology, counseling psychology, educational psychology, forensic psychology, general psychology and psychology.''
''Wow,'' She blinks rapidly. She looks through the pamphlet and saw that there were other careers to choose from. ''Talk about a tongue twister.''
She chuckles at her humor. ''As you can see, we have a variety of programs to choose from.''
She looks up and smiles. ''Which is very helpful.''
She tilts her head to the side. ''Have you taken your SAT's?''
''No,'' Devin tucks a strand of hair behind her ear before she quickly remembers. ''But I did take the PSAT's.''
''Oh really?'' She hums in response. ''What did you score in the math section?''
''Around 420,'' Devin estimated from memory. It was a whole year ago when she took the exam.
''And the reading portion?''
''432,'' She spot on answers.
She smiles again. ''With scores like that, take the real SAT and AIC will definitely look you over.''
Devin gasps. ''Really?'' It was still hard to believe, even when the AIC representative nodded her head. ''That's amazing.''
With one final smile, Devin walked off and began another search. Though her search was cut short when Jeff Atkins appeared with more than several pamphlets in his hands.
She folds her arms across her chest and taunts, ''Weren't you the one who didn't want to come to this thing?''
He breathes out a dreamy grin. It was if he was caught up in his own bubble, dreaming of all the possibilities to come into his future. ''Who knew college could make you feel it feel like anything is possible?''
She giggles at him.
''Hey,'' He juts his chin at her. ''Are we still on for tomorrow night?''
''Uh, no,'' Her head falls to the side. ''Manager from Rosie's called. Said I go through training first week and if that turns out well, the job is all mine.''
He grins. ''That's amazing.''
''What's amazing is that you're into MIT,'' She laughs, grabbing the pamphlet from his grasp.
He furrows his brows. ''What's an MIT?''
× × ×
''How are we doin- Oh, for fuck sake,'' Devin cursed under breath once she approached a table she hadn't realize was filled with egotistical air headed jocks from Liberty High. It was her practice shift the following night at Rosie's diner and to say her first costumers were predicting the rest of her experience to be a disaster was acceptable.
''Damn,'' Bryce Walker. ''Is it just me, or did you get even sexier by just putting on an apron?''
''Haha-'' She mocks her laughter before flicking him her middle finger.
''Hey,'' Justin points a finger at her. ''That's no way to earn a tip.''
Zach Dempsey shakes his head. ''What are you doing here, Devs?''
''Working,'' She spat. ''Are you gonna order or just keep cat calling me?''
Marcus shrugs his shoulders. ''Both could work.''
She tilts her head to the side. ''If I didn't work here, I would spit on that oversize mushroom on your face, also known as your nose.''
''Babygirl, if you wanted to play dirty,'' He licks his lips. ''All you had to do was say.''
She cringed in disgust. ''Just when I thought you guys couldn't get anymore pathetic.''
''We'll just have a couple of milkshakes,'' Zach kindly requests.
She whips out a small wooden pencil from within the small pocket of her apron. ''What flavors?''
''Two chocolates, two vanillas, and one strawberry.''
She nods her once she's got it all written down.
''Yo Devs,'' Justin Foley begins to look around the restaurant. ''Where's Atkins?''
''At home,'' She breathes out. She rip the piece of paper filled with their order out from her notepad and sighs. ''I'll have your shakes in a few.''
''You can always give me a shake right now!'' Bryce calls out for her.
''Ugh,'' She mumbles under her breath while all the guys around him only laughed at his nonetheless pervy remark.
× × ×
It's been a couple of days since working at Rosie's Diner. She had two days left to her trial run. She just needed to make it through two more shifts and she'll get full pay from the week she's accomplished.
It was a Friday morning and Devin sat through most of third period with her head down, half asleep with her music playing through her ear buds.
Suddenly, the piece of wiring was pulled out from her ear and her name was called. ''Devin.''
She only opens her eyes and looks up at the culprit that was ruining her nap. Jeff Atkins barely hovered over her, holding onto her ear piece as he stared down at her, expecting her to move.
''What, you peasant?''
She giggles when he slaps her piece of her headphones back down at her face.
''Are you okay?'' He questions with concern laced in his features as she sits up.
''Mhm,'' She hums. She then yawns. ''It's just, I'm not used to working both day and night. It's something I need to adjust to.''
''If it gets too much,'' He raised a brow at her. ''You know you can always quite.''
She cranes her neck forward. ''Quite? I haven't had a job for a whole sixteen years. Besides, it's kind of fun being a waitress. It's kind of like what I thought it would be, like I see in 2 Broke Girls.''
He shakes his head at her.
Her eyes travel down to the copy of a magazine article resting in front of him.
''Is that the 'Zine?''
The 'Zine, Ryan Shavers oppressing article that makes sure to capture any and every rumor highlighted throughout the halls of Liberty High. There's always someone getting exposed in his writing.
And Devin's had her fair share of the spotlight. Been there, done that.
''Yeah,'' He nods. ''There's this really deep poem, something about black lace underwear.''
She furrows her brows. ''What?'' She snickers. She reaches over and grabs the magazine, turning it towards her to read the words of the page he was on. Her features fell in realization. ''Shit, Jeff, this is Hannah's handwriting.''
''Uh oh.''
She looks up from the magazine and asks, ''Do you think anybody would know?''
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top