Eleven

Locating the Casa del cibo restaurant was easier than I thought. Apparently, it was a famous restaurant.

I walked into the restaurant and looked around for Tyler and Claire. Within a few seconds I saw a grinning Claire, standing at the far end of the  counter, waving at me frantically. She wore a black jean trouser, a white top and a black jacket. Unlike other days, her hair was not packed in a ponytail, it wasn't packed at all, it just flowed down freely at each side of her face.

I walked toward her, and the closer I got to where she stood, the more I wished she had gathered her hair in the usual ponytail, it looked better that way.

"Hey." I said when I was close enough for her to hear me.

"You're late." was her reply, accompained by a scowl.

Where did all the grinning go?!!!

"I'm sorry. I had to do a few things at home before coming."

"C'mon, we've wasted enough time waiting for you already." She replied flatly, and led the way to where Tyler sat.

"Hey man." Tyler smiled.

"Hey." I replied.

"Where is Ashley?" Claire asked.

"She's not coming." Tyler replied.

"Why not?"

"It's complicated."

Claire raised a brow. "Okay." then she glanced at me, "Thanks to Mr Jason, we have to rush this if we want to make it in time for our movie."

"Hey! I wasn't the only one you were waiting for, why do you keep attacking me?" I asked with wide eyes.

Claire only scowled at me in response. "All this plan needs, is focus, determination, hard work and concentration."

"But focus and concentration mean the same thing." I pointed out.

Another scowl.

Was she really upset or just pretending?

"So," Claire continued "if anyone wants to back out, now is the time."

I pushed my chair back and was about to stand up.

"C'mon Jason, that was a dramatic pause. I didn't really expect any of you to leave."

I looked at Claire's pleading eyes. "I just wanted to get some menus."

Claire looked relieved. "Oh. We already ordered."

"You believe him?" Tyler asked eyeing me suspiciously.

"Why wouldn't she?" I retorted, meeting his gaze.

"We do not have time for this." Claire said glancing at Tyler and I. "My plan has three steps only. Step one, look the part. Step two, infiltrate the prominent aspects of high school. Step three, instill fear and respect in our enemies. Step four..."

"I thought you said there were only three steps?" Tyler asked, cutting her off.

"Can you guys stop interrupting me?!"

"But that was what you said." I murmured.

"Well there are as many steps as we need to achieve our goal."

"Then why did you say there were only three?" Tyler asked.

The only thing that was missing from Claire's angry face, were fumes, puffing out of the sides of her head and her nostrils.

Thankfully, the waiter arrived with our food just when she was about to speak.

"Here are your orders." He said as he placed plates of food before each of us. "I'm so sorry for the delay. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, thank you." I replied, and the waiter left.

"Step four," Claire continued. Apparently the presence of the waiter gave her enough time to relax her nerves. "Enjoy the bliss of being popular." she concluded with a wide smile.

"Okay, so how do we do all these?" Tyler asked.

"I already have step one all set, but let's finish eating first."

*~*~*

Some minutes later, we were done eating and back to listening to Claire's master plan.

"... and since the only rule K.C.A has on dress code is 'always be decent', we are free to wear whatever we please, as long as it's decent of course. But to actually attract all the attention we need," She paused and pulled out her laptop from the bag beside her. "We're going to need these."

"Laptops?" Tyler asked with a puzzled expression on his face. "We've had laptops since the third grade."

"Not laptops, silly, what I'm about to show you."

Tyler and I moved our seats closer to hers to get a better view of her laptop screen.

"Sweet!" Tyler exclaimed. "It's the latest pair of headphones from tech and style."

"These aren't even up for pre-order yet." I added.

"They will be, by next week, and by the end of the month, they'll be in the market. But, we are going to be having them by Monday morning."

"How?" I asked.

"Let's just say, I have a very connected uncle."

I glanced at Tyler with a smile, this was not going badly so far.

"We're also going to be getting all these items within next week." Claire continued. As she spoke, she swiped the screen of her laptop to reveal pictures of various shoes, jackets, wrist watches and such like items, that were yet to be released into the market. "Any questions?"

"How connected is this uncle of yours?" Tyler asked.

"Very."

*~*~*~*

So there I was, seating in the movie theater with a lot of rage burning inside me, watching an extremely boring movie with Tyler and Claire.

"I thought you said this was a nice movie." I whispered to Tyler.

"Well that's what I was told." he whispered back, without taking his eyes off the screen.

More rage flooded my whole mind.

"What you were to... you spoke about this movie with so much certainty like you had watched it."

"Dude, how could I possibly come to see a movie I've already seen? Besides the movie is just starting."

If my eyes could spit balls of fire, Tyler would have been nothing but ashes in a few seconds.

"It's been forty-five minutes." I whisper-yelled.

"The movie lasts for an hour and five minutes." Tyler replied calmly, glancing at me with one of those faces that asked 'what's your point?'

"Exactly. If the anticipated action has not yet occurred, when exactly is it going to? A few seconds before the cast?"

Claire giggled a little but maintained her focus on the screen.

"Can you relax?" Tyler asked, turning to face me.

"No, Tyler. I'm going to wait outside, I can't take this anymore."

I heard someone behind me whisper "Shh!! We're trying to watch the movie."

I glanced at the elderly man and wondered what a man of his age was doing in a movie theater.

Not that he didn't have the right to be here, it just looked... weird.

"I'll come with you." Claire said.

"Why?" Tyler asked.

"To keep Jason company." was her reply.

"What about me?"

"You have all these people here with you, what could you possibly need me for?"

I smiled broadly. "We'll just be outside." I said and walked out with Claire who was already standing.

Claire and I strolled out of the theater and walked down the street.

None of us spoke but the noise from our surrounding filled the silence between us.

I had a lot to say, like, 'You look better when your hair is in a ponytail.', 'You look amazing in black, you should wear it more often.', 'You have a beautiful smile.', 'School has been better since I met you.', but none of these things seemed right to say at the moment, so I remained quiet.

"I guess you were right about Tyler not making good movie choices." Claire said.

"You guess?!" I asked in disbelief. "You sat beside me in that theater, watching that horrible movie, and you guess?!"

Claire chuckled.

"What more prove do you need?"

"I can't judge the guy from one experience." Claire replied.

"I've known him my whole life, so trust me when I say, he does not make good movie choices."

"Alright." Claire replied, lifting her hands up in surrender.

"The next time we're doing this, I'm picking the movie." I concluded.

"So can I trust your movie choices?" She asked, glancing at me.

"Definitely."

Claire smiled. "Okay, if you say so."