Zack sat at the cash register, where he worked, looking over his spanish notes. It was an exceptionally non-busy day, and he figured if he didn't have much to do he might as well study... wow, that was a first.
The bell above the door rang, indicating the arrival of a customer. Zack chose not to look up, intent on figuring out what day of the week 'lunes' was.
Brittany broused the aisles, not realizing Zack was the one at the cash register. Not finding what she was looking for, she headed to the only worker in the store and cleared her throat, "Excuse me..."
Zack turned around, "Oh! Hi... Sorry, I was doing spanish."
"How's that going?" she laughed.
"I dunno," Zack shrugged. "'lunes' means...?"
"Monday," Britt smiled at him. "And you made fun of me for my test grade? Psh, whatever," she joked.
He laughed, "Was there something you needed help with?"
"Yeah. Do you guys have 4x6 index cards?"
"Ummm... we might only have 5x8..." Zack stood up from his stool and lead Brittany to the aisle. "Oh, here's 4x6," he handed her the package and she smiled.
"Thank you very much."
"You are very welcome."
They walked back towards the front of the store.
"Alright, well you have fun studying today," Brittany smiled, just as another guy walked into the store.
"Hey, Matt," Zack exchanged a handshake with the guy. "Matt, you've seen Brittany around school, right?"
"Of course," Matt smiled. "Sup, Brittany?"
"Nothin' much!"
Zack grabbed his book bag and jacket, "Matt works here too. He's come to relieve me for the day," he smiled, explaining to Britt.
"Ahh, I see."
"Yeah... Do you wanna go grab a Coke or something?"
Brittany's eyes lit up, "Sure!"
~ * ~
"Hey, girlie," Brittany tugged on Aubrey's hair lightly, before sitting down inbetween her and Audrey at lunch, the next day.
"Hey, sup!"
She laughed, "Nada."
Brittany turned around when she heard whispering at the table behind her. It was the popular table. The whispering stopped, and she made eye contact with Zack, but he merely looked down, ashamed. Brittany sighed and turned back around... that's when the whispering and laughing started again. Brittany's breathing got ragged as she began to get pissed off. She was about to go over there and not only scream at all the jocks and cheerleaders, but at Zack most of all - for hanging out with her the previous day, and not sticking up for her and her friends the next.
But before she had the chance to get up and walk over there, Zack had already stood up and slammed his hands down on the table to get his friends' attention.
"Shut the f*ck up."
They all looked up at him in shock, their eyes wide. Why was he mad at them?? Each of them could name more than two occassions when Zack had been the one making fun of the 'studiers'.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Zack?" Mike asked with a weird look on his face.
Zack glared at them, not knowing how to respond. It's not that he really knew the 'studiers' very well, but he was beginning to know Brittany - and she wasn't a walking dictionary who would correct you on your grammar mistakes as you talked - and if Brittany wasn't bad, her friends couldn't be all that bad either, could they?
Zack grabbed his backpack, not answering Mike's question, and headed over to Brittany's table, sitting down next to her. He looked over at her to see her looking down, playing with the cap on her water bottle. Zack nudged her shoulder with his own and when she looked up at him he sighed in relief at the smile on her face.
