Title: Supply and Demand
Genre: YA
Word count: 447 words.
"Are you guys sure?"
My friends, girls to the point of idiocy, giggle and give me a victory sign each.
"Don't worry, someone's already told him about you-just go over there."
"Okay, okay."
I'm incredibly nervous. I've never done anything like this before, and if it weren't for some guys we overheard talking in class, I might never have thought about it.
The delinquent--I've always just assumed he was a delinquent--is leaning against a handy set of rails. I wonder if he's just trying to be picturesque--
"What?"
"Huh?"
"What? Why are you over here?"
I give him a weak smile. Damn my inability to converse properly with strangers.
"I'm--"
"No names. I know who you are and what you want."
"So," My voice drops an octave. "Can you supply me with... what I want?"
"Can I?" He mocks. "Do you want it or not?"
I nod. Then I nod some more, just to make sure he gets the point. He gets tired of it after a while.
"Hand it over."
I duly hand the pendrive over to him.
"When will I get it back?"
"When I'm ready."
"So... tomorrow?"
He just gives me the evil eye.
"Day after? Sunday?"
"When I'm ready."
"-because I'm not in campus on Sundays," I rush to reassure him.
"Monday morning. Fine?"
Before I can splutter my 'yes's or 'thanks', he's slinking down the stairwell -just like a real delinquent.
---------
It's bright and early Monday morning, when I walk past the same spot three times. Each time, I notice he isn't there. I'm beginning to worry for my pendrive. It's not like I had stuff on there, because, as an obsessive-compulsive password setter, I backed up and deleted all the data before giving it to an unknown hoodlum. But still.
Finally, in the break between the last two classes of the morning, I see him.
I take in a breath. His hand is in a cast.
"Um..."
"Here." He tosses the pendrive in my direction. I flail a bit before catching it.
"It's got-"
"Yeah, yeah," he interrupts. "Just give me the payment."
Looking surreptitiously from left to right, I put a hand in my bag. Rummaging around, I give him a faint smile. "It was here this morning. My bag's like a sack, just gobbles everything up and- ow!" I pull out my hand and examine my finger--it's bleeding from the pin of the Rolling Stones badge I'd dumped in there.
His patience is probably running out. I do not want a delinquent mad at me.
"Ah! There you are, paid in full."
He grabs the chocolate bars from my hand and does the slinky thing with the stairs.
---------
Note: This is probably a part of a short story I just decided to write... like just. Like ten seconds ago. I'm not sure where this is going to lead, but I've a start and a finish. It should work out.(probably)
Genre: YA
Word count: 447 words.
"Are you guys sure?"
My friends, girls to the point of idiocy, giggle and give me a victory sign each.
"Don't worry, someone's already told him about you-just go over there."
"Okay, okay."
I'm incredibly nervous. I've never done anything like this before, and if it weren't for some guys we overheard talking in class, I might never have thought about it.
The delinquent--I've always just assumed he was a delinquent--is leaning against a handy set of rails. I wonder if he's just trying to be picturesque--
"What?"
"Huh?"
"What? Why are you over here?"
I give him a weak smile. Damn my inability to converse properly with strangers.
"I'm--"
"No names. I know who you are and what you want."
"So," My voice drops an octave. "Can you supply me with... what I want?"
"Can I?" He mocks. "Do you want it or not?"
I nod. Then I nod some more, just to make sure he gets the point. He gets tired of it after a while.
"Hand it over."
I duly hand the pendrive over to him.
"When will I get it back?"
"When I'm ready."
"So... tomorrow?"
He just gives me the evil eye.
"Day after? Sunday?"
"When I'm ready."
"-because I'm not in campus on Sundays," I rush to reassure him.
"Monday morning. Fine?"
Before I can splutter my 'yes's or 'thanks', he's slinking down the stairwell -just like a real delinquent.
---------
It's bright and early Monday morning, when I walk past the same spot three times. Each time, I notice he isn't there. I'm beginning to worry for my pendrive. It's not like I had stuff on there, because, as an obsessive-compulsive password setter, I backed up and deleted all the data before giving it to an unknown hoodlum. But still.
Finally, in the break between the last two classes of the morning, I see him.
I take in a breath. His hand is in a cast.
"Um..."
"Here." He tosses the pendrive in my direction. I flail a bit before catching it.
"It's got-"
"Yeah, yeah," he interrupts. "Just give me the payment."
Looking surreptitiously from left to right, I put a hand in my bag. Rummaging around, I give him a faint smile. "It was here this morning. My bag's like a sack, just gobbles everything up and- ow!" I pull out my hand and examine my finger--it's bleeding from the pin of the Rolling Stones badge I'd dumped in there.
His patience is probably running out. I do not want a delinquent mad at me.
"Ah! There you are, paid in full."
He grabs the chocolate bars from my hand and does the slinky thing with the stairs.
---------
Note: This is probably a part of a short story I just decided to write... like just. Like ten seconds ago. I'm not sure where this is going to lead, but I've a start and a finish. It should work out.(probably)
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