When Trouble Meets Trouble

Chapter 5

I was scrolling through his pictures, feeling super creepy. I looked back to make sure my door was closed. "No thank you. I thought she seemed a bit...easy, but now that you've said it, my thoughts are confirmed."

"I speak the truth and nothing but the truth," I replied, clicking on the 'Profile Pictures' box. "Jonah, where'd you move from?"

"California. Why do you ask?" he was amused; did he know what I was doing?

"No reason, just curious. Why'd you move?" I asked. It just occurred to me that I could seem pushy. His parents could've died or something and here I am, pushing into his personal life like a bulldozer, or a human train. Someone say Jeffrey Shaw?

"My parents travel so much that my aunt and uncle decided to take us in. It wasn't much of a change seeing as I'm with my cousins and sisters, but I don't have any of my friends here." I felt a tinge of guilt for being so mean to him, but I wasn't going to apologize. Odds are I'm going to do it again if he stays around me.

"You have sisters?" I asked him. My eyes scanned the screen. It was pictures of him and a few guys hanging out around a bonfire; his hair soaking wet and a towel was draped around his shoulders. He stuck his tongue out at the camera. The weather must have been a big change for him.

"Yes, two actually." When he said those words, I landed on a picture of two girls who looked exactly the same. "They're twins, Sabrina and Sierra. They're fourteen." That explains it.

"Are they in high school?" I asked him.

"Yeah, they start tomorrow. They were too scared this morning. They weren't ready either," he snorted and I rolled my eyes. "They wanted to see how I took it." I smiled at that. He seems like a good older brother. "So I told them that it was terrible and that the food was disgusting and that all the freshman guys were ugly and stupid," he laughed maniacally.

I let out a loud laugh. That was unexpected. I continued laughing the more I thought about it; the look of horror on the girl's faces must've been worth it. "That was funny," I told him.

"But then I told them that it was pretty okay. I left out the part about people already hating me and chasing us down a hallway," he laughed.

"WHAT?" A girl screeched in the background and I let out another stomach aching laugh.

"I was only joking, Sabrina!" he shouted when I heard a door slam and he sighed. "Whatever, I'm not getting up to comfort her. She has a twin for that." I was still laughing; I just laughed harder and it interrupted my stalking.

"Anyway, the weather must have changed a lot from California, right?" I asked once I caught my breath. He was laughing just as hard as I was and he finally calmed down.

"Yes, that's for sure. That's another reason why my sister's couldn't make it to school. They'd yet to go shopping for appropriate attire," he informed me.

"Have you ever sees snow?" I asked him, clicking through his pictures. A picture of him in a large pool with one eye squinted closed and his hair over his face as he smiled up at the camera greeted me and I wrinkled my nose.

"Not before last week, no," he informed me and I let out a sigh. "It was hot where I lived; it wasn't cold enough for snow."

"It must've been nice in California," I rested my head on my pillow. "Are you completing this year? Or are you leaving before it's over?" I asked him, staring up at the ceiling for a moment before turning back to the computer.

"I'm staying here; I'm not going back to California. My parents didn't like it there, anyway. They had to travel too often. So you can get as attached to me as you want," he joked and I rolled my eyes.

"I didn't mean it like that, you i***t," I snorted, clicking through his pictures. I exited them after a moment when a shirtless picture of him came up. Talk about awkward.

"Sure you didn't. What are you doing?" he asked me and I coughed awkwardly. "I can hear the clicking of your computer."

"I'm just on f*******:," I admitted. I was lying by omission. I didn't include the part about me stalking him.

"Send me a friend request," he told me and I waited a moment before clicking the 'Add Friend' button. He laughed loudly.

"I didn't hear you typing in my name. Were you stalking me?" I felt my face warm up, meaning it was red with embarrassment.

"No," I replied, looking and noticing that he had one mutual friend. I wonder who it is.

Jeremiah Harp. I stared at the name for a moment before groaning in frustration. "You have my brother as a friend?" I asked, annoyed. Jeremiah is such a liar; I thought he didn't know Jonah's name.

"Yes, yes I do," he admitted and I exited his profile page. I'd done enough creeping for now. "We had a pretty long conversation last night."

"Then he did know your name," I said that more to myself but Jonah made a noise of agreement.

"I have a question." Before letting me reply, he continued. "If you're 16 and 9 months, then how did you have a job for a year and a half?"

"I had a job at an after school program for middle school students during sophomore year and I got paid $200 a week so I gladly dealt with their problems. I was a counselor; I know, terrible job choice. You only needed to be a sophomore to have that job, so I took it," I replied, chewing on my lip as I logged out of f*******:.

"Was that the job you got fired from?" he asked.

"Yes," I told him, turning off my computer.

"How?" he asked and I let out a hiss of air.

"One day, I was really annoyed and some 14 year old seventh grade girl went in there complaining about her boyfriend, mind you; I'm only 15 at the time and the only boyfriend I had was some jerk. I was already agitated and she just made it worse. She was complaining about how he didn't love her back and when I asked how long they'd been dating, she said a week."

Jonah was laughing. "I got so angry and I told her that she can't really love a guy she's only been dating for a week. She then told me that I knew nothing about love because I was just some ugly female dog. So I hit her," I told him and he stopped laughing. A minute later, his question was asked.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"Yes, I slapped her in the face. I was physically removed from the premise immediately and told not to come back and I could forget about ever working there. But I was satisfied with what I'd done; I had another job cleaning up at a game store that my mother's friend owns," I admitted.

"That's a pleasant story," I smirked at his reply, looking at my digital clock. It was 4:32 P.M.

"Oh saltines, I have to go. I have work," I stated, standing up and running over to my dresser.

"I'll talk to you sometime," he replied and I replied with a laugh and a 'you wish' before hanging up the phone and stuffing it in my pocket. I grabbed my wallet, my keys and my name-tag.

Off to work.

***

"You're late," my coworker and best friend Meredith sang from behind the counter. She jumped over it and walked over to the anime games aisle and started reorganizing them.

"I know, I'm sorry. I lost track of time and ended up staying on the phone for too long. It won't happen again, Mere," I apologized, rushing over to stand behind the counter.

"On the phone? With a hottie?" Mere giggled and I shook my head.

"What's his name? I'm going to look him up on f*******:. You always lie about who's a hottie and who's not," she giggled and I told her his name before looking at the door. A young boy walked into the store.

"Hey babe, got any Mario Kart?" he asked. I furrowed my eyebrows at the ten year old standing in front of me, barely managing to see over the counter. Nobody can sound manly while asking for Mario Kart.

"Mario Kart is over there and my name is not Babe; it's Savannah. But to you it's Ms. Savannah," I snapped, glaring at the little boy.

"You're a babe, not my teacher," he retorted, looking back at his friends who snickered.

"I'm old enough to be your mother," I responded. Okay, it was a lie. I'm pretty sure that it's unlikely for a six or seven year old to even know the process of having children; never mind making one and pushing it out of her. "Go buy your Mario Kart," I snapped.

The boy checked out with Mario Kart and I watched as he exited the store and got into his mommy's car. Did she know that she raised a disrespectful little saltine?

"He is hot! I've just spent the last fifteen minutes looking at his pictures. You think it'd be weird if I just added him? You think he'd accept?" Mere asked, sitting on the counter cross legged. I shrugged carelessly. Her first sentence caught me off guard and I thought she was talking about the little boy.

"It's worth a shot," I shrugged. She nodded, clicking the 'add' button. "He's still a minor as far as I know," I warned and she laughed.

"I'm looking for a few dates, Van," she told me and I shrugged again. "Unless... he's into you."

I ignored the latter statement. "I just felt the need to let you know," I warned the 19 year old. It wasn't any major age difference. By the way he questioned my age; I knew he was older than me. He might be seventeen or maybe eighteen.

"When are you going to let me meet your brother? He's hot, too," Mere squealed and I shook my head.

"Never," I smiled and she rolled her eyes.