Chapter Nine - Nix

"Hi, Nix," Olivia said to me while suddenly appearing in the seat in front of me.

I sighed. "Go away, Olivia. You're going to get in trouble if you don't get to class," I warned her, but she just smiled.

"So you worried about me," she stated, even though I think it was a question. She had her arms resting at the top of my desk, and she was leaning in to talk to me, not even noticing the guy waiting behind her to get his seat back.

I leaned away from her as much as possible. "I meant you're going to be in trouble with me."

She frowned and started to sulk. "Why don't you like me?" she asked.

"Because you keep bothering me when you know I don't like you, and it makes me dislike you even more. Please fucking leave," I begged of her. The whole class was listening to our conversation now, and it was only a matter of time before she-

"But we had sex," she said without hesitation, and I resisted the urge to hit her. Olivia was so hard headed.

"I don't give a fuck about what you think we did, I still don't like you, so leave me alone. It's not going to happen, princess," I said to her, and she became angry as well.

"Fine," she said, getting up out of the seat while glaring at me. "But we did have sex, and I have proof."

I just rolled my eyes as I watched her leave. What is her problem? Laying my head down, I dreamed of the day I would be rid of Olivia. She had followed me for as long as I remembered, and when I was younger, I actually thought she was cold. But then, I learned about her habits of sleeping with other guys and I decided that I didn't want to be another victim. It may have been shallow or harsh, but I didn't know what else to do. Even now, my mind is going blank on ideas.

"Are you asleep?" I heard someone ask, and I looked up to see Kace standing in front of me. He smiled, and I almost smiled back, but then I saw it. The dark circles around his eyes were darker than before… A lot darker.

"I'm not, but are you?" I asked, wondering how he was even standing right now. I've never seen someone so tired before.

"Huh?" he asked, confused on what I meant exactly.

I sighed. "You went to bed at eight-thirty. How did you get less sleep from that?" I demanded from him.

"How did you-" he started and I interrupted by pointing under my eye; he got it right away. "Oh… I, uh... I had a hard time going to sleep."

"So?" I said, and he gave me an odd look.

"So what?" he asked.

"So why the fuck didn't you call me?"

Instantly, Kace smiled, but before he could say anything, the teacher began her lesson, so he went to go sit down. I was left in a daze, my mind spinning form the crash. Most people didn't understand most of the cold things I said. When I was being harsh, I was trying to be nice. Kace understood that perfectly. I wondered why?

"Thank you for choosing Mc. Donald's. Please come again," I said in a monotone voice, and the customer gave me a weird look. I didn't really give a fuck today; not that I gave one any other day either. Today was the first day since the beginning of this school year that I've been to all of my class, some for the first time. It wasn't my idea, but Kace's, and in some ways it was a good idea. We had two more classes together, actually, and for some reason, that made Kace happy. The work, however, pissed me off. There was no way I was going to do it.

"You could actually try a little bit, Nixion," Valéry said, glaring at me from the cash register next to me. "Some of us want a pay raise."

I rolled my eyes. "How do I affect your pay? I don't remember telling you what to do."

"Because we're on a team, remember?!" she quietly yelled. Her face was doing the thing again where it gets all red and scrunches up.

Darian laughed at the third register. "Sweetheart, they will never raise your pay, and I think Nix is doing a great job at doing exactly what he gets paid for."

"Oh great, I always wanted a complement from an ex-stripper," I said, teasing her about her old job. She would get angry, I knew, but we were friends and she gave me permission to talk shit about it a long time ago. Something about negative reinforcement and how it would keep her from going back to it. "Did you do exactly what you were paid for too?"

I wasn't prepared when she suddenly threw a pen at me, and I barely hide time to duck before it smacked hard against the wall beside me. "Fuck! Did you throw a pen at me?!"

She didn't answer and instead was angrily punching something into the screen. Valéry's face was red again. "Don't curse! There are children in here!"

I was about to say something back to her but I heard the sound of someone clearing their throat and I turned to see a man and a woman stand at my register. Time to work, I guess. "Hi, welcome to Mc. Donald's. Can I take your order, please?" I said still flat and monotone.

The lady looked irritated. "You could be a little nicer you know. We are giving you guys money."

I rolled my eyes. "Could I interest you in our happy meal?" I answered in a more cheerful voice that was poured over with sarcasm.

The lady sighed and gave up, not happy with my joke, and had her husband order first. It was a little weird that two grown people picked this place to eat out together, not that it was my place to question. Or at least, that's what I thought until I saw a figure standing behind them with a hood over their head. So they have a kid. The kid seemed nervous; I wondered why.

They finished ordering and I typed in the screen like I was supposed to. "And what does the kid want?" I asked when they were silent.

The lady turned to him and spoke to him quietly and softly, like he was a dog. "Kace, what do you want to eat?" she asked him, and it clicked together in my mind.

"Oh, hey Kace," I said to him, and he looked up so I could finally see his face. It made sense now why this person was so nervous. It was crowded here, and he was probably terrified. "Do you know what you want?"

"Nix? You work here?" he asked, surprised. I noticed as he started to talk to me that he started to relax. Maybe because he knew someone here it made it easier.

"Yeah, I have to get money somehow," I said shrugging.

Kace's mom glared at me. "You could be a bit nicer then," she snapped and I felt my face start to burn a little. Great, now Kace's parents hated me. Kace's dad didn't even seem bothered.

"I haven't been here for a while," Kace said to me, ignoring his mom. "Could you just order something for me?"

I shrugged but typed in something I thought he would eat anyways. His mom seemed surprised that he was talking to me. Was that not normal for him?

They moved over to the side to wait for their food, but Kace was still smiling at me. "When do you get off work?" he asked me.

"Umm…" I stalled while looking back at the clock. "Fifteen minutes."

Quickly, Kace turned to his parents and started asking them if I could go to his house. Again, I was surprised. Why did he want me there? His parents were hesitant at first, but after Kace begged for a while they gave in. "So do you wanna come?" he asked hopefully.

"Sure," I said laughing a little at his excitement. He noticed and blushed.

Their food came then and Kace said goodbye to me, telling me that they'd wait on me to finish up with work. I nodded, and watched as they walked away, Kace telling his parents about me in a speed of talking that was too fast for me to keep up with. I smiled a little; Kace had seemed to completely forget that he was surrounded by people.