Page 3 of The Good Char (Soul Taker)

Despite seeing me walk over there, knowing what my purpose was, Cindy was flustered upon my return, crossing her arms with an audible exhale.

“I can’t believe you just did that,” she huffed before stuffing her face with a corndog.

“You know I’ve been trying to find a way to not work at the restaurant anymore, Cin! I mentioned it to you, remember?” I sheepishly whined. I wasn’t a complainer and I didn’t like the feeling I got from having to explain it to her again.

“But a hotdog shop? Really?”

Nicole quietly ate her corndog as she stared over both our shoulders. I was too excited to be as bothered as Cindy wanted me to be. There were so many things that I could do with this extra money and there was nothing she could do or say that would take my excitement away.

Taking a bite out of my corndog, my stomach purred in satisfaction.

I happily turned around and waved at my new boss before taking another bite.

We devoured our amazing food and drank down our pink lemonade with a giant gulp.

Cindy and Nicole finished up their meals and quickly got up to throw away their paper trays.

I took one last delicious bite and waved at my new boss once more before tossing my food away but kept my drink. He stared at me with a blank expression but I knew he was excited to have me on board as well.

“So where are we going next?” Nicole asked.

“I don’t know but I have loads of energy now that my stomach is full!” I giddily answered before taking another sip. The cold liquid was refreshing and gave me a pep to my step.

We continued to explore the stores on the bottom level and I couldn’t take my mind off the fact that with my new job, soon I would be able to do all the things I wanted to do.

“Girl, what you need to do is party more,” Cindy called out to me from across one of the clothing racks. “Greg took me to Deadman's Hill last night, and girl, he pulled out his little dick and asked me to suck it. I told him I wasn't interested in cocktail weiners,” she laughed.

I choked on the remnants of ice in my cup, spitting it everywhere. Feeling flush from embarrassment, I quickly wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, hoping no one saw me.

“That is so funny. I mean, how uncool can someone be? Like, eww, but you really need to calm down,” Nicole told her with nonchalance. “You are going out with a new guy every week and I mean, are you sleeping with them?”

Cindy gave us a sly smile before tapping finger at the corner of her mouth in consideration. “Well, only if they have a nice large?—”

“Okay!” I exclaimed, tossing the rest of my drink away in a nearby trash can loudly. “I don't want to know!” I placed my hands over my ears and began humming.

She was my best friend and I know I'm not supposed to judge her but she was becoming a tramp and didn’t realize it. Cindy needed to understand that she was so much more than what her body had to offer.

Nicole bursted out with a laugh and they both turned into a fit of timed giggles by the end of it. I rolled my eyes and gave them a smile, unable to help myself. It was contagious.

We exited the clothing store after Cindy bought some sexy lingerie and looked left and right.

The Pizzeria Arcade enticed everyone nearby with animatronic laughter and a bustle of teenagers constantly streaming inside.

All of the stores lined up near us offered everything a person could want.

It was no wonder teenagers loved to hang out here, getting lost for hours on end.

“Where should we go next?” I asked the girls, my eyes straying to the Dark Spells Comic shop.

“Girlfriend! Is that you?”

We all turned to see several people coming toward us, none that I recognized. They must be Cindy’s other friends from her subdivision from the looks of them. I stood there silently as they began chatting up.

“I see you brought your pet with you,” a tall red headed girl, dressed in a fashionable checkered dress and high top sneakers noted. The other two girls giggled at her joke, which I didn’t understand, when Cindy quickly put them in their place.

“Pet?” she snapped. “She’s my friend and a hell of a better friend than you! So if you don’t like her, see yourself the hell away from us. You got that?”

She grabbed my arm and pulled me right between them, splitting the crowd like the red sea. Most of their mouths hung open, some of them glaring but I innocently turned my head away and continued to let Cindy lead me from the wolves with Nicole following right behind us.

I didn’t know what happened, but I also didn’t like the vibe I got from them by the way they looked at me. I hope Cindy wasn’t mad because of me being awkward around them.

“Let’s go. We don’t have time to talk to losers, Kimmy,” she said aloud for them to hear even though we were already a few feet away. “They let anyone in here, don’t they?”

I blinked a few times. Was she mad at them and not at me?

She began to giggle and then Nicole joined in over her crazy antics.

I pretended to laugh boisterously with her but that red headed girl really did hurt my feelings now that I knew she was talking about me.

I get it. I wasn’t the prettiest and I didn’t look like them with my obvious straight black hair. I didn’t have the money they have.

Maybe Cindy would be better off without me. She should be hanging out with people like them, shouldn’t she? Instead of keeping a sore thumb like me around because she was being nice.

As if reading my change in mood, Cindy quickly piped up again. “Girl, you know what would cheer you up? Photo booth! Let’s take some bestie pictures!” she squealed. Her enthusiasm made me smile because sometimes I didn’t feel I deserved such a good friend.

She dragged both Nicole and I across a few stores until we spotted one.

We all climbed inside the picture booth together and began making funny poses, holding up peace signs and making a lot of other bizarre moves while the camera flashed.

Once it was done, we spilled out of the booth in a fit of giggles as we impatiently waited for the pictures to print.

We hugged each other while the pics finally decided to print out. They looked so cool. I pulled out my trusty scissors from my purse and began to cut each picture individually.

“Smart, Kimmy!” Cindy crowed. “Who knew your nerdiness with sewing would come in handy, eh?”

“Man, I want this one!” Nicole pointed out and I eagerly tried to cut faster.

We decided which pics we each wanted before we walked arm in arm into the gameroom in bright moods.

The gameroom was where every teen wanted to be, from basketball, to fighting games, bowling and games of skill.

This place was the coolest. The flashing lights and all the people winning prizes made it a place of pure relaxation in the midst of total chaos.

Despite our ages, we still found this to be the best place to unwind.

“Ms. Pacman!” Cindy yelled in excitement before hurrying to put money into the token machine. “You are going down this time, I promise you that, little Miss high score.”

“You sure about that?” Nicole laughed, flicking her gaze at me knowingly, before she wandered off to play something solo.

I waved at her, knowing we’d meet back up later as I followed behind Cindy. When I got to the machine, Cindy placed her token in and, like always, the highest score came on the screen and there was my name at the very top: gamerqueen.

“Yeah, just you watch me take that high score from you,” she taunted.

Cindy was always so competitive with me.

Some might see it as one of her flaws, I saw it as one of her endearing qualities.

I laughed off her threat because when it came to games, she was pretty bad.

But I let her think I was scared she could beat me. It was what best friends did.

One minute in and Cindy was leaning toward the machine. I stood there calmly, making my moves in silence as a few other patrons stopped to watch us.

“I’m coming for you, Kimmy! Eat your heart out!”

“Okay, Cindy,” I replied with a soft smile.

Her excitement crashed and burned after losing several thousands of points from my high score. I covered my mouth trying to hide my laughter because Cindy was the world’s biggest sore loser.

“Ugh! This thing is broken!” she growled, giving it a little kick before standing there with her hands balled into fists, fuming. I was surprised steam wasn’t coming out of her ears or perhaps it did and that was why the small crowd around us began dispersing quickly.

“It probably is,” I teased. “Hey, let’s go play skee-ball instead!”

Her frown turned into a sparkling in her eye as she pivoted and fast walked toward the next game against me. It was moments like these that my confidence was strong. Cindy had a way of making me put down my walls when I was around her. We went way back to the beginning of Death Canyon City.

Nicole joined our dynamic duo not long ago so I was still feeling her out. Cindy vouched for her though, mentioning that things at home for her weren’t the best. I could understand that and empathized with her.

“You’re going down, Cin!” I laughed and with her index finger and thumb, she placed an L on her forehead, mouthing that I was going down first. We both got serious as the game started.

Thirty minutes in and I easily beat her again, gaining hundreds of tickets. I did a little dance as Cindy stomped her feet and turned her face away. She was so funny.

I grabbed all the tickets in my arms and made my way toward her. “Come on, Cin! Let's see what we can get with these!”

Her frown turned upside down and we both laughed as we walked up to the counter to cash them in for several cheap novelty items.

“Why did you get more than me?” Cindy whined as she stuck her thumbs in her ears, wiggling her fingers and sticking her tongue out like the immature brat she was.

“Stop being a brat, Cin,” I playfully teased, slapping her arm.

“Someone’s gotta take the spot. Might as well be me!” she singsonged.

“Woah! Nice pot guys!” came Nicole’s voice, her hands full of her own small prizes.

“Right?” I asked, throwing my arm over Cindy’s shoulder and pulling her in against me. “It was great teamwork.”

Nicole rolled her eyes but said nothing as we both made our way out of the gameroom.

“Hey guys, I need to check one more store, but you don’t have to come with me. I’ll see you guys tomorrow or something? Call me,” she mimed a phone with her hand—thumb pointing toward her ear, the other finger acting as the receiver end.

We nodded and waved at her, watching her walk away from us. Shrugging my shoulders, Cindy looped her arm in mine and we both headed out the front glass doors of the mall. The moment the doors opened, the heat blasted our faces and we both groaned in unison.

I playfully shoved her off me, the leather of her jacket starting to stick to my skin. We both laughed when a small pickup with a rollbar pulled up with several guys inside. They rolled down their window and called in our direction—well, in Cindy’s direction.

“Hey sexy, wanna come and sit on my lap," the guy from the passenger seat suggested.

I cringed but Cindy responded smoothly the way she always did. “How much booze ya got?”

Was she kidding? Booze, in this heat? We served booze at the family restaurant, but I was never tempted to try. Yellow liquids looked wrong to me.

The guy lifted up a twelve pack and Cindy laughed, looking at him seductively. “Sure, I will come with you Jarred.”

She knew him? I mean, it didn’t matter, look at them! Look at what they were suggesting! I quickly grabbed her wrist.

“They’ve already been drinking. You don’t need to be riding with them to god knows where Cin, you need to grow up and think,” I pleaded.

“Grow up?” she snapped, automatically turning defensive. “Really? You are the one with a bottle stuck up your ass! I am grown and I will go with whoever the hell I want to go with, now let me go!”

She jerked her arm back and I was hurt. Couldn’t she see that I cared about her?

“Fine! Then go!” I said in a huff, turning my heel in frustration as I walked away from them all. The truck sped past me with a roar of the engine, their laughter fading away into the distance while the truck accelerated up the street.

I wasn’t going to let it bother me, not one bit. I hope she gets so drunk that her hangover tomorrow makes her sick all day.

Once the thought left my mind, guilt assaulted me and my eyes burned with unshed tears.

After walking about thirty minutes in the blazing heat, I made it home and ran up the stairs and closed my door.

I threw my purse on the floor and fell face first across my bed, replaying the argument Cindy over and over in my head until I fell asleep.