Glitch | #ONC2020 ✔

Chapter Three

*So...Emo Band*

"Why did you drag me to the mall?" I ask the red-head next to me who is outright beaming.

She gasps at me and playfully pushes my shoulder. "Are you kidding me right now?  Terra Topic just got Till Forty-Six merchandise!"

I laugh and back away from her.  "And that affects me how exactly?  No offense, but I don't think an emo band getting merchandise warrants me waking up at nine in the morning."

She puts her hands on her hips and glares at me.  "Okay, for one, Till Forty-Six isn't an emo band! It's an indie and alternative rock band!"

"So, emo, " I say this statement with a straight face but instantly regret it after being pushed by a girl who is a foot shorter than me.

"Let me finish!" Aira's face gets redder as she gets angry, making her skin look like she is trying to twin with her hair.  I gesture with my hand for her to continue and she huffs at me. "Anyways, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, they aren't emo.  And to your second point, you were the one who messaged me, asking if I was up at six this morning."

"I-" I cut myself off after realizing the truth to her statement.  "Sorry for waking you up."

She beams and grabs my arm, pulling it toward the store.  "It's completely fine! If you can't trust me when you have a nightmare, who can you trust?"

I pull my arm out of her grip and gape at her.  "How did you know I had that dream again."

She smiles at me, making my heart leap for a moment before calming down.  "Oh please, it's best friend intuition." My shoulders drop at her statement.  

Best friends.

I almost forgot about that.

She grabs my arm and pulls me toward Terra Topic.  Once we enter the store, the short redhead disappears, leaving me in front of the anime merchandise.  

"Hello, sir!" I jump at the sound of a voice. I glance over at the source to see a female with brown hair and blue eyes.  "I see you are checking out the merchandise for the show Villain Academy! I was wondering if you need a new ramen bowl, these are extremely popular right now and only here for a limited time."

"Uh, no thank you?" I awkwardly say before stumbling into another section of the store.  The layout of the store is super unorganized, why are these stores so popular?

My eyes widen as I see a Dear Josh Lansen tee-shirt.  "No way!" I mutter to myself as I look for my size. My hand comes into contact with one on a hanger, so I immediately look for the back tag.  "Yes!" I hug my medium size tee in my arms, elated that I found something I actually like at this store.

"You seem excited." I jump as I turn around and see Aira standing there with three or four large bags in her arms.  She looks at where I'm looking and smiles as she notices that I'm staring at the sheer amount of overpriced things she got.  "Hey, don't look at my merch like that! This place has good quality stuff."

I nod and put my shirt on the counter.  The same female from before greets me with a small smile.  "Oh, so you're a theater kid."

I shrug in response, not really interested in the conversation.

Aira smiles and nudges my arm with her elbow.  "Don't be a jerk!" She turns toward the cashier, a smile plastered on her face like always.  "I apologize, he's a dweeb and doesn't know how to interact with other humans."

The girl laughs, her eyes shutting.  I can hear her inhaling as she leans on the counter for support.  Aira and I stare at each other for a moment since what she said wasn't that funny, it certainly didn't warrant a laughing fit.  The girl's laughing calms down and she stands up straight before wiping a tear from her eye. "You two are so adorable." She takes the credit card that I have in my hand and charges my account. 

She puts the shirt in a small bag and hands it to me.  I do a closed mouth smile, mumbling, "Thank you, " under my breath.  

She grins and gives me my receipt.  "Oh, it's my job. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable, didn't know you had a girlfriend."

Now its Aira and my turn to start laughing.  Aira leans on me for support as her smile widens.  "You got it all wrong, we aren't dating! Just best friends."

The girl crosses her arms and stares at us as if we are idiots.  "The customer is always right." She mumbles to herself. She shakes her head and smiles at us.  "Well, you two are just adorable together."

Aira, who had put down her bags a few moments earlier, rubs her wrists that are reddened and indented.  "Thanks! It's very strange of you to mistake us for a couple, you're not the first."

I grip my bag, embarrassed that she even is still talking about the honest mistake.  Why is she even humoring the poor person getting charged minimum wage?

"Well for what it's worth." The cashier puts her head in her hands as she continues to lean on the counter.  "You two are absolutely adorable and anyone with a brain would come to the same conclusion that I just did."

Aira just shrugs it off and grabs her bags from the floor.  "Well, we need to go! The food court food won't devour itself!"

The girl, who was cleaning up overpriced headphones that had been put in the wrong section smiles and waves at us.  "See you later then!" She pauses before laughing. "That sounded creepy. It's just, according to your account, you go over here a lot.  So it's only normal that I would see you tomorrow."

Aira smiles and nods at her.  "Anyways, what's your name?"

The girl smiles, as if happy that we asked for her name.  "My name is Mixy."

Aira beams and jumps up and down ever so slightly.  "Then we will see you later Mixy!" With that statement said, Aira pulls me out of the store, her red hair bouncing as she basically skips.  

"That was the weirdest interaction I've ever witnessed," I say to her, clearly weirded out with the conversation.

"Well, she seemed nice none the less."

"Remember, don't assume someone's gender." My brain goes back to my thoughts about Mixy, I assumed their gender as well.  Well, what Aira doesn't know won't hurt her.

"Stop nagging me!" Aira laughs and continues to pull me to the food court.

My eyes look around until I spot an electronics store.  Televisions line the front of the store, all showing the local news.  "Hey, Aira?"

Aira halts and looks at me confused.  Her eyes are scrunched a little and she stares at me.  "What's up?"

I look at her, a serious expression on my face. "When was the last time something bad made it on the news?"

Chapter Word Count: 1,186
Official Book Word Count: 3,227

Author Note:
Reminder to anyone who may feel concerned about how I introduce something.  There will be two parts, arcs, whatever you wish to call them.  This is the first arc, everything is supposed to feel unrealistic.  Everything I introduce in these chapters, every character, every show, every musical, every store, all connect in some way shape or form in the second part. 

Regarding Aira and her cheeriness, it's supposed to be overbearing.  She is a cliché and that is exactly how she is supposed to be.  She doesn't have flaws in this part because it is genuinely needed for the ongoing plot.  Her character will definitely grow as the parts go on.

Also clarifying if someone is confused about the genders of the characters:

Cyrus-Male
Aira-Female
Kaz-Male
Mixy-female