Chapter 10: The Queen

"Why is the Queen her?" Charlie whispered.

"You mean Lexi?" I said

"Yeah, she is the girl that sits next to you right?"

"Yeah?" I said with a raised eyebrow. "What's the problem?"

"She is know as 'The Queen'. She is always quiet and when people take to her she is awfully rude and demanding. Along with all that she is also one of the hottest freshmen and she has the best grades out of all freshmen." He said frantically.

"Hey watch it." I said with a glare. I know that she is hot but hearing it from someone else bothers me.

"Wait a minute!" Charlie looked at me surprised. "Don't tell me that you and her are a couple!"

"Yeah, and what's wrong with that?"

Charlie smiled at me and patted my shoulder. "You are a lucky man. But personally I wouldn't have gone for her."

I looked over at Lexi, she had a confused look on her face as she looked at the bike she was working on. She seemed confused and I walked up to her to see what is wrong.

"What's wrong honey?" I said. 'Honey! What the hell am I thinking!' I screamed internally at myself.

Lexi looked up at me with a big smile. "Aww, I loved that. But I can't figure out what I did wrong." She said as she looked back at the bike.

I looked at the bike for a moment. I pulled a part off and there was still plastic on it. I put the part back and looked at Lexi.

"There we go, I knew I missed something." She said with a smile.

"Take a break for a moment. I will order some food for us." I said with a smile

"Oh, can we please get Chinese?" She said with puppy dog eyes.

"Of course." I said as I patted her head. I walked back over to Charlie and he was looking at me surprised.

"You really did it!" He said surprised.

"Yeah, well it was her that made the first move." I said as I rubbed the back of my neck.

"Well anyways good on ya. But back to what I came here to do." He said as he looked at a bike.

"You want this one?"

"Yeah." He said with a smile.

"Well this isn't a beginner bike. This one is a mountain bike, it has several gears and it is used best when climbing hills. They also are good for gravel roads and going downhill."

"Huh, so I should try something else?"

"I personally suggest a fixed gear like mine. The area we are in has paved roads and little to medium size hills. There isn't really any need for a mountain or downhill style of bike."

"Ok, so why should I get a fixed gear?"

"For starters the bike only has one gear. This means you don't need to think about what gear you are in. All you really need to do is pedal, some of them have breaks and others don't."

"Some don't have breaks!?" He said surprised.

"Yeah, if you pedal backwards on a fixed gear. It will cause the back wheel to lock up and move in the opposite direction. This also makes them a good freestyle bike, used for stuns and tricks."

Charlie looked at a fixed gear for a moment and rolled it out. He sat on it and pedalled backwards, he nearly fell over.

"I thought the back wheel was supposed to lock up?" He said confused.

"That is only if you are moving forward." I said with a small chuckle.

Charlie continued to try and ride the bike. I noticed that he seemed a little uncomfortable. 'Is the saddle not set right?'

"Charlie, move the saddle up all the way." I said to him.

"Ok." He said as he pulled the saddle up. When he fixed it he tried to get on and nearly fell off.

I grabbed my bike and began showing him how to get on properly. With the little help I gave he got it on the first try. His balance wasn't the best and he was struggling to move forward.

I took Charlie to an empty parking lot in front of the shop and started helping him. After a while after he started getting more comfortable. His riding was smoother and he was having more control over the handlebars.

"Thanks for all the help." He said with a smile.

"No problem. So is this the bike you want?"

"Yeah, it feels heavy but I also feel comfortable on it. I assume that I can come here and buy different parts?"

"Yes, I will help you with that. But if you want a lighter bike, we can go get a different one."

"No, I think this is the one for me. I just have a gut feeling about it." He said with a smile.

"Well this bike is 800 dollars."

"Ok." He said as he pulled out a debit card and swiped it on the card reader.

"Ride it after school as much as you can, and before you know it. You will be flying on the highway." I said with a smile.

Charlie chuckle as he left on the bike. When he left the Chinese food I ordered arrived. I payed for it and walked to Lexi and gave her the food.

"Thank you, Jack. This is like our little own date." She said with a smile.

"Oh really?" I said with a smile.

"Really." She said as she took a bite of her food.

We are our food and talked for a while. 'I like this date.' I thought. It was nice, just us in a bike shop with some warm food.

Lexi ate her food with a small smile. There was grease on her cheeks and sweat on her forehead. It was quiet warm in the shop. That explains the sweat. I was starting to sweat myself.

We finished our food and I took our trash and threw it away. 'Today has been fun.'