Thursday, August 11, 2011

Handful of Sand Chapter 17 Page 2

It took her a while in the crowded canteen, but Sandy managed to find a couple of empty seats. She sat with her lunch box and waited patiently for Connie to return.

Just then, a brown-haired boy came by with a tray of food. "Hey, is this seat taken?"

Sandy hugged the seat protectively and bared her sharp fangs. "Mine!" No one was going to take away the seat that she had saved for her queen!

The boy backed off slowly from the territorial creature. "Oh, so it's taken," he uttered cautiously before he turned and fled.

Sandy smiled to herself, triumphant in having successfully defended her space. Wait, was that not Billy Townsend of 9-C, the boy who spoke with all the pretty girls?

From what she had heard, Billy approached all the pretty girls. A girl could take a visit from him as a sign that she was pretty. And he had approached Sandy just a moment ago to have lunch with her! He had thought that Sandy was pretty!

Sandy looked up but the boy was long gone. It appeared that she had lost her chance to receive the Billy-Thinks-You're-Pretty Award.

Well, he had not seemed as eloquent as Esper had claimed, Sandy thought to herself in consolation.

"Hey, Sandy," Connie greeted when she returned with a tray of food. She looked closely at Sandy's expression. "Wow, you look like you just lost some money or some precious jewels."

Sandy stared at her blankly. "Uh, what?"

Connie laid her food on the table. "Oh, nothing." She sat opposite Sandy. She placed a steaming paper cup in front of the other girl. "Your hot chocolate." She also placed a plate of fries between them. "I got a large order of fries so we could share."

Delicious greasy food! Sandy promptly forgot about Billy and helped herself to some fries. "Thanks."

Connie smiled as she unwrapped her burger. "The trick you pulled on Annie last week was good. Have I told you about it?" She tore a piece of the burger with her fingers and placed it in her mouth.

"I don't think so." Sandy had been hired again by Connie the previous week, during the Interclass Games. The money she had received had been welcome consolation since she had lost her shiny coin in her failed gambling venture.

Connie laughed. "Annie was frantically running up and down the locker room looking for her clothes. She was accusing everyone of hiding them."

"Did she accuse you too?" Sandy opened her lunch box and took out a fork.

"She did," Connie said, "but I was sitting with Billy the whole time, watching her play volleyball. Or rather, watching her sit on the reserves' bench. I was there the whole time, from before she went in the locker room to change into her gym clothes till after the game was over."

"It was amazing that you got the combination to her locker." Sandy ate a forkful of food from her lunch box. Yesterday's leftovers.

"Annie always uses the same combination," Connie mentioned, "And locking her clothes in the next locker with that combination was a nice touch, don't you think?"

Sandy put on a smile. "Yeah."

"Right in front of Billy, I gallantly offered to help her find her clothes after she had accused me of hiding them. Then when I had her open that locker next to hers, the look on her face was precious." Connie chuckled. "She looked like a senile old woman who had forgotten where she had left her things."

The prank had been simple. Move Annie's belongings from her locker to the neighboring locker and lock it up with the same combination the small girl had used. It was made to look like Annie had forgotten the locker where she had kept her belongings, causing her to appear like a forgetful old woman. The lockers in the changing room were not specifically assigned to students, so students picked one when they needed one.

Connie might have paid Sandy less but the redhead was more fun to work for. As a bonus, Sandy had some extra food at lunch and got to hang out with the beautiful redhead.

To her, it was not a bad decision to work for Connie after all.

***

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