CharaMystic by Shante` G.J.G (books for 20 year olds .TXT) 📖

a subtle wave without turning around.

I go take my seat and put my headphones on. As the bus fills up, it becomes louder and louder. Everyone is blabbering about the blow up with Kara and that couple. The girls of course were verbally ripping her to shreds and the guys were either simulating what sex would be like with her or saying how they always knew she was a freak, and going on about how hot they think she is, among other things. So I turn my volume all the way up reassigning the mute button to the crowd.

I notice as I look over to my right Alexion's backpack looks like a pack of wild dogs used it as their chew toy. It was badly torn. He was even carrying some of his things in his hands because his bag was so tarnish. Wasn't his backpack new this morning I thought. Whatever.

"Nice book bag poindexter," says Marc slapping Alexion in the back of the head as he passes grabbing his seat at the back of thebus. Marc is one of the two rowdiest boys on the bus. He's usually the prim culprit when drama goes down.

"Yeah, geek-wad. I like what you've done with it," says Anthony, Marc's right hand man. He says this to Alexion directly up in his face. I pretend to not notice by looking out the window.

That's when it hit me. Before the break Alexion had a different backpack. I think I remember it being messed up too, except not at all this bad.

I feel bad for this kid. I do not get why he simply does not tell them to leave him alone or confront the principal with this issue. He can't really be that much of a wuss.

I completely ignore what happens and stare out into space. I listen to my music imaging how my life connects to the song. A loud obnoxious screech suddenly overpowers the bliss of my music as well as the voices of the other teens on the bus. At first, I ignore it because I simply don't care. I'm use to any extremities that occurs on the bus; but I feel a light brush against my arm so my attention is grasped. I turn around and I see the girl that usually sits by me on the bus screaming her lungs out in the face of Alexion. He looks frighten.

"Who the hell do you think you are, huh? You think you big and bad. You took my seat, then you have the nerve to tell me you ain't gettin' up."

Alexion starts to rise. "Fine, I'll get up. You're overreacting."

She grabs Alexion's arm and violently seats him back down. "Nah, you can have the seat. You can sit there cuz' you wanted to sit there, right. I don't want you to think I'm overreacting or anything. Sit...sit." She says in a snarky tone.

Alexion starts to get up again. "I said sit down dummy. You want the seat so bad I'll sit somewhere else." So She did, and she pulls a guy from another seat and takes his.

"You need to calm down Crystal. He's not bothering you," shouts another girl who evidently does not like Crystal. This is obvious because of the way they argue almost everyday on the bus.

"Shut up and mind your own damn business Paige."

"Who do think you're talking too! I'm from the hood in New Jersey. I'll get a bitch to cut you," Crystal threatens.

Paige is now over her seat pointing and yelling back at Crystal. "You've been making that same threat for years and you haven't done not a damn thing. I ain't afraid of you. I'll -"

My headphones are now back on muting the noisy nonsense. I focus on the music in my head until I get to my stop which isn't my usual stop during the week but sometimes on Fridays I get off at a stop that's about 45 minutes from my home. Then I take a 20 minute walk from that point on.

I work at 'Indy's Place' every weekend on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Today I decide to show up early and do my homework in the back, then prepare for my 9:00pm shift. I'm not suppose to be here this early especially when the owners aren't, but I simply do not want to deal with my father today.

Indy's Place is a club run by two fraternal twin sisters, Mindy and Cindy. They inherited this place from the old man who died recently. And the first thing they did was change the name. They both were loyal employees and managers for years so you can say they earn the spot, as his own children wanted to sell the place. They're off doing bigger and better things.

Mindy and Cindy are also two very generous women. About three in a half years ago on a Thursday, I snuck into the club to get away from my father. He was beating on me, so I really needed an out that night. I got so drunk that night I blacked out in their bathroom stall. And instead of calling the police or my father, they gave me a job. To this day I still do not understand why they would do such a thing, but I am internally thankful for their show of kindness. Regardless how illegal it seems.

They're taking an enormous risk paying me under-the-table as one would say. Their club is for 21 and over, except on thursdays, it's over 18 nights. After three hours of homework I fall asleep in the storage room, only to be woken up by Mindy, the nicer and older twin.

"Hey...hey...get up. Wake up Chris."

I jump in shock and stand up abruptly.

"I'm so sorry, Mindy. I didn't mean for you to catch me. I mean I didn't mean to fall asleep...to sneak in -"

She holds up her hands to silence me. "It's ok. I'm not going to fire you. I won't tell Cindy either, but you have to grab your things and get out. Cindy is on her way now."

I scurry to gather my things and leave, but just before I do and after thanking Mindy, she tells me to give her back the secret spare keys I've been hiding to the storage room. Damn. If I hadn't fallen asleep and gotten caught she might have never found out that I have one.

Nine o'clock rolls around and I begin my work as a waiter. They have me dress up and everything. Mindy and Cindy are already committing a crime by allowing me to work here but having me dress up in outfits and encouraging me to flirt with the women here is really taking the cake. Neither actually came out and told me to do this, but based on how they explained my job description, it became pretty clear. Also there is the message from cindy that I better do this their way or I'm fired. Apparently, I'm a hot piece of meat to women in the 21-35 age group; according to a joke Mindy made once. That was a tad awkward. They just hope no one realizes I'm actually 17.

I question a group of ladies, "Two long island's and three shots of vodka?"

"Woo."

"Yes."

"Thaaank you."

The girls I'm serving take their drinks and I notice one of the three takes all the shots for herself.

"Those three shots can't be all for you, can it? I ask. Your boyfriend wouldn't want you to be taken advantage of by some random guy," I continue to say.

They all look at each other and paste smiles smeared with blush and excitement across their faces.

She answers, "That's ok. My girls have my back."

"I don't know. The men are persistent around here. But if you need one, we had a bat."

"Thanks, I'll let you know." she says.

I push the empty tray under my arm, smile and politely disengage myself from further flirtatious conversation. As I walk away, I could hear them shrieking with glee and shushing one another until I was further away.

My eyes lit up as I made way to my next order because I know I am definitely getting a decent tip from those girls or at least a phone number. But I rather have the tip.

As night goes on and the later it gets, the easier it is to flirt and gain decent to great tips. A lot of the time, all I have to do is smile and tell women I love how they look tonight and they do the rest. Some are verbally aggressive and insist they're taking me home while others want to wait for me to get off work to drive me home. Some woman invite me to sit and chat with them. Then there are the rare few who want to take me into the single stall bathrooms for some quote unquote one-on-one converstaion. Regardless, I do not care at all. As long as I get money, it is definitely worth it.

The more money I get. The easier it will be for me to move out as soon as I graduate. And to get out of that hell hole of a suppose home.

"Hey, hey, Dr. Naughty," the girls shouts.

"Over here," the second girl shouts out.

"Where's our shots?" says the third.

I scurry over to the table with a a massive smile. "Someone's a bit impatient. This is your tables' fifth round of shots in one hour. I'm starting to think you ladies are getting drunk just to see me."

"The view isn't hard to look at, Dr. Naughty," the seemingly most drunk girl says.

"Yeah, you're so cute. I still can't believe you don't have a girlfriend," another one says.

"I don't know what to say. I really like women. There's simply too many pretty girls with big hearts to choose from. I like to make sure I'm dating the right one," I say flirtatiously.

"Aww," they all say looking at each other.

"You should hang out with us after work Doctor. You'll need to wind down from working so hard," the most confident girl of the group says.

"Yeah that'll be fun," says the girl who looks like the tag-a-long friend.

"I do."

"Aww, you should have time for fun," drunk girl says.

"Oh, he does. I know you be flirting with every girl in the club. That's ok, though. It's how you get paid, right." confident girl says.

I smile as the two other girls as they await my response. I only smiling because I think it's amusing these girls are assigning me such ridiculous nickname. I tell one sexual innuendo to make them laugh and possible earn a larger tip and they nickname me Dr. Naughty. I wish I can say this was a first.

"I won't lie to you girls, I do. But I have to admit, I have never spent this much time talking to a customer more than you ladies. You're all funny, sweet and extremely beautiful.

"Aww,"drunk and tag-a-long girl says. "Thank you."

"You know it's funny. You keep looking at your watch but you say you get off really late," confident girl ask.

"I like to keep track of how many hours I have left," I respond.

"According to the bartender, you have none left. You get off in 10."

"What?"

"Sorry. I asked her earlier. You lied to us. I guess that means you really don't want to hang out with us."

At this point confident girl is making me mad. She's acting like she needs to expose me like on an episode of Cheaters. The other two girls simply look at me in disappointment. I need to figure out a way to gain back their trust. I need my tips.

"No, it's not that. I would love to spend the night with you ladies. You are all gorgeous but I can't because I...I still live with my parents, so I can't bring anyone over."

"I own my own place," confident girl says.

Damn. I see she exudes not just confident but also persistence.

"My mother freaks out when I don't come home; she pays the bills, so..."

"Oh come on. Just one night. You're at least