Saturday, July 30, 2011

Handful of Sand Chapter 5 Page 3

As she ate, Sandy thought of an interesting idea. She could make something to sell. She could make something delicious to eat - some of those tasty cookies, maybe sweet cakes. She could sell those to her classmates. And they would buy every day. She would have a steady income. Sooner or later, she would have a mountain of money and would have found her wealth, just like that card in her back pocket had said.

That was, if she could bake. Or cook. She could boil an egg. Could she make money selling boiled eggs everyday?

After she had finished lunch, Sandy felt thirsty for a drink. Having to suffer another serving of spaghetti, she really needed a can of soda. Fortunately for her, she had been saving up and had by then just enough to buy herself one.

So there she was, standing in front of the vending machine with her lunch box under an arm and her wallet in her hand. She poured the coins out of her wallet and found herself to be short of one. She was sure she had brought enough - she had checked that very morning.

"Hey, are you going to take forever?" a girl behind her asked.

"Umm, just a moment," Sandy said to the girl as she turned. She poked around her pockets. Maybe the coin fell out.

Sandy glanced at the other girl. The girl carried a cute pink handbag and held a purse in a hand. She was short, with shoulder-length black hair decorated with a red hair-band. Her blouse and skirt were brightly colored. Her socks were flawlessly smooth and of the purest white. If Sandy had the money, that was the kind of fashion she would wear.

The girl stared at her with impatient blue eyes. "Jeez," she uttered as she dug into her purse. "Here, this should be enough." The girl added a couple of coins to the pile on Sandy's hand.

"Umm, thanks," Sandy said. She turned and bought herself a can of soda from the vending machine. As she stepped away, Sandy would have smiled at her benefactor as a second thanks but the short girl already had her full attention on the vending machine.

Sandy walked towards the cafeteria entrance. As she pushed her remaining coin into her wallet's purse, she found her missing coin wedged in the corner. So that was where it went.

She stopped walking long enough to pull the can's tab open and take a long drink of the cool, sweet, gassy liquid. It tasted good. It felt good. It was perfect for such a hot day. She wished she could afford one everyday.

She wished she could also afford good clothes, like the one that little girl wore. Well, Sandy's clothes would have to be bigger to suit her size, that was for certain.

That familiar-looking redhead over there also had a fashionable outfit. Yeah, that girl with the shoulder-length red hair standing in the school corridor talking to the plump brown-haired girl in front of a club's notice board. She was tall, though not as tall as Selina.

And that outfit of hers, that caught Sandy's eye - that sky blue sleeveless blouse. That matching blue skirt with ruffles. And her pretty black shoes with little heels. She certainly was glamorous and charismatic and Sandy wished she could be her.

Then the redhead noticed Sandy staring at her. She put on a friendly smile. "Hey, there. I'm Connie."

Sandy smiled back. "I'm Sandy."

"Well, pleased to meet you." She waved towards the girl beside her. "This is my friend Sabine."

"Hi," the plump girl greeted meekly.

"Hi," Sandy said in return. She glanced up to the notice board and saw the name of the club. "The Sewing Club. Is that your club? That must be where you got such a great outfit."

"Thanks," Connie accepted the compliment, "but I'm not with the Sewing Club. The club doesn't make clothes like mine." She waved a hand over the photos on the notice board.

Sandy examined the photos. "Oh!" she uttered when she realized her mistake.

The fashion of the dresses the girls in the photos wore were definitely way more outrageous compared to Connie's outfit. Many of the outfits were brightly-colored and ostentatious. Attractive, but not something that Sandy would like to wear to school everyday.

"You're in the class next door, right?" Connie asked.

So that was why the redhead was familiar. Sandy must have seen her in the corridor outside her class. "I'm in 9-B. Which class are you in? A or C?"

(Silly Sandy. If Connie was in A, you would have seen her in the combined gym class with the girls of 9-A.)

"I'm in 9-C," Connie replied. She pulled a handphone from her red handbag and glanced at it. "Ah, I've got to go. It's nice meeting you, Sandy."

"Nice meeting you too," Sandy said back. She watched as Connie and her friend walked in the direction of class. After she had finished her soda, she discarded the can in a nearby bin. Then she checked her watch. There was some time before lunch break was over. Just enough time for a quick trip to the washroom.


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