Behind the display

Chapter 3

56 days.  Only 56 more days before I can escape from this stupid school and go to college.  I hate school.  I hate everything about it and yesterday I decided I’m over being the shy girl everyone walks over. I’m over being the girl everyone talks about behind their backs.  I’m over it.

I rip all my clothes hanging from the rack and throw it harshly on the floor.  I’m done with oversized hoodies and baggy sweatpants.  I’m done with my old black sneakers.  I’m done with my grey glasses almost covering the half of my face.  I’m done with my stupid blonde fringe, just abover my eyes.  I’m sooo done!

I waltz out of my room, almost bumping my dad on the way.

“Wow, what has gotten into you?”

“Just leave me alone.” I yell and run towards my car.

I know my dad doesn’t deserve the yelling and frustration from me but I just feel so overloaded with irritation and anger.

I let my anger out on pressing hard on the gas pedal and playing my music on the loudest all the way to the mall. When I stop I take a deep breath before I climb out and march towards the glass doors that automatically open for me.

“Yeah bitch.” I whisper. I deserve such loyalty.  Doors opening without me even saying anything.

I walk towards the beauty clinic I always ogled at but never stepped a foot inside.

“Hi, how can I help you.”  A lady with straight black hair and a beautiful make-up face says at a register desk.  She looks me up and down and I can already see there’s judgement taking place in her mind.

“I want a complete make-over.”

Her eyes light up, “A complete make-over?”

I nod, “A complete one.” I gesture at myself from the top to the bottom.

“I’m so excited, this is going to be so good.” She doesn’t hide how her finger tips are burning to begin with me and I like it.  That’s the spirit.

“What’s your name?” She asks politely as she starts typing on the desktop in front of her.

“Stacey Cole.”

“Age?”

“Seventeen.”

“Okay, that’s it.  You can fill the other deeds like your phone number later.”

“Cool.” I say, starting to feel a shoosh of excitement.

“Let’s start off with your hair.”

---

When I walk out of the beauty clinic I feel like a whole different person.  I didn’t even recognise myself when I looked in the mirror. My fringe and long frizzy hair are gone, replaced with straight shoulder length hair streaked with a light brown color.  I decided to let go of my glasses and wear contacts, enchanting my rich green eyes.  They only put make up lightly on my face, and taught me about all different products there are and how I should use it.    I like the mascara and bronzer the most.  Lastly is my clothes, which I changed completely.  I bought a few bags full but today I changed into a jean skirt and a baby blue tank top with white sneakers.  It isn’t too fashionable but it’s cute and I liked it.  For the first time ever, people looked at me with big eyes, guys with smirks.  I made heads turn.  And it felt so good.  It feels as if I deserve this.

I can’t wait to go to school tomorrow.  People are going to freak out.  The popular girls.  I can’t even imagine.  I decide to treat myself with nice coffee, so I go sit at a nice place called  ‘On the rock’ and order a large coffee.  I love the aroma's filling my nose of biscuits and warm flavours as I love almost everything made out of wood in this place.  I take in a deep breath and relax backwards on my chair.

“Here you go.” The cute guy waiter appears, placing the coffee on my table.

“Thank you.”

“Anything else?”

“Maybe your number?” I inwardly cringe at my question but I just want to test out my new looks and use it as power.

“Oh, sure, I’ll leave it on the slip.” He winks at me and can’t help but give him a toothy grin.  Succes.  It feels so good to feel so much better of yourself.  To be who I actually am.

When the waiter puts a fancy looking piece of cake.

“Blueberry cheesecake.” At first I thought it’s the waiter being nice but when he pointed at the table behind me and said, “From him.”

I swallow and turn to see the hottest man I’ve ever seen.  Oh no.  I don’t think I’m ready for this yet.  I look back around and blink twice.  What should I do?  Must I go and thank him.  I turn back around and take him fully in.  He has smooth curls,  glistening in the faint sunlight coming in.  His eyes are brown and his skin light brown and I can see bulging muscles from his rolled up shirt.

“What should I do?” I ask helplessly at the waiter looking at me with a smirk on his face.  Maybe I should send it back.  I look at the cheesecake,  It looks so delicious and it’ll just be nasty to send it back but it’ll also be embarrassing to eat it for him to see.  Ughh, why does this have to be so hard.

“Maybe go sit with him?” He highlights an idea.

“No.”  It feels even worse to talk to him about it as I just asked for his number.

“Don’t worry, I’m gay.” He says as if reading my mind.

“Really?” I hope that he can help me figure things out.

“Yeah girl, don’t stress yourself out.”  He’s right.  I should calm down.  I take a deep breath, but it doesn’t help.

“I don’t know what to do.”

“Just accept it.  Take a big bite out of it.  I can tell you, this place’s cheesecakes are amazing.”

“But isn’t going to be weird to eat it in front of him.  It feels as if I’m going to owe him something.”

“All he probably wants from you is a chat.  Or he’s just being nice to a beautiful young lady sitting all alone.”

“Even if he’s just being nice, it’ll still feel as if I must do something back for him, you know?”

“Okay okay,” he sits in front of me, his eyes keep darting to the man who just bought me the cake, “What do you want me to do?”

“I don’t know.” I say but an idea suddenly pops in my head.

“Well I don’t know either.”

“I’ll pay for his bill.”

“Then you’ll be paying for the cake he actually bought for you.” He rolls his eyes, probably thinking that I’m taking it too far, but that’s okay. I’ll be a step ahead.  I like the idea of him thinking that he must pay for his bill but to find out it’s already paid.

I chuckle, “It’s fine, bring his bill to me first.  And don’t tell him anything until after I paid.”

He nods and stands from my table.  I take a satisfied bite out of the cheesecake feeling so much more relieved, knowing that I’m going to pay for it. I hope the waiter is going to do as I say and not make things worse.  I feel so hyped for all of this to suddenly happen to me.  I savour the creamy and sweet taste in my mouth eagerly wanting to turn and look at the man but force myself to stay still.

“Okay here’s his bill.” The waiter throws a small black book on the table in front of me.

I glance at the waiter's bach to see his name is Leo, “Thanks Leo.” I say and open the book.

“He only drank an espresso.” I sau, surprised to see only an espresso and my cake on the slip.

“Yeah, he’s actually a regular customer.”

“Really?”

“Yeah and expresso’s is his regular.”

I hum in response. So he’s an espresso guy. Plain and simple, but also dark and strong.  I desperately want to take another glimpse at him.

“He’s hot right.” I say wondering what Leo thinks of him.

“Girl, he’s like one of the hottest dudes I’ve ever seen.” He exaggerates.  It is true though. He’s super hot and handsome.

“I know right.”

“And you’re like one of the prettiest girls I’ve ever seen.”

I frown, “Nah, but thank you.”

“No like really, if I weren’t like one hundred person gay, you defiantly could’ve turned me.” He lashes with a serious expression on his face.

I giggle, “Well I just had a make-over.  Before today you definitely wouldn’t have said that.”

“No, like you have this natural beauty.”

“Oh, well thank you.” I say and put some cash in the book, “Can you bring my bill as well, please.”

“Sure hun.” He escapes and I can’t help but think how much I like Leo’s company.  As if we could turn out to be really good friends.  I wonder what’s gonna go through the man’s mind when he finds that he’s bill is already paid for.  I start to giggle but force myself to stop, knowing that people’s going to think I’m crazy.

“He just paid for your bill as well.”

I widen my eyes at excited Leo, almost yelling in my ears.

“No.”  I sigh, “You shouldn’t have let it happen.” 

“Oh come on.  This is the beginning of a beautiful love story.” He claps his hand excitedly together and I just laugh at him.

“Has he left yet?” I ask, still wanting to check behind me.

“He’s standing right now.”

“Oh god.”  i hope he won’t be coming here cause I’ll be making everything embarrassing and awkward.

“It’s okay, he’s gone.”  Thank goodness.

“Thanks for the thumbs up.”

“No problem girl.” He reassures as if we’ve been friends for a lifetime.  It sure does feel as if we’ve been friends for a lifetime.

“You here tomorrow?” I ask with a smirk.

“Yeah sure.”

“I’m coming then, same time as today.”

“Awesome.” He says with a sweet smile as I pull myself from my chair and put some of the shopping bags in my hand.

We exchange goodbyes and I exit the shop with a big satisfied grin.

“Hello.” A small girl says behind me. She has two curly pigtails and beautiful blue eyes.

“Hi?” I say as sweet as possible.  She hands me a piece of paper and, confused I open it to see a scribble of You’re beautiful.

“Aww thank you, you’re beautiful too.”

“I didn’t write it.” She says through squeaky voice.

“Okay?”

“My uncle did.”  I scratch my head at her words.  Could that be the man from the shop?

“Oh, thank you.” I didn’t know what else to say.

“He also said through stringy gates, might you find the sound you’re looking for.” Huh?

What is she talking about?  

“Okay?”

“I think it’s like a scavenger hunt.” She says with an excited hop in her feet.

“A scavenger hunt?”

“Yes, you have to find another message.”

Through stringy gates, might you find the sound you’re looking for.  I don’t understand.  I’m certainly lost.  Stringy gates?

I sigh and look around, trying to find a clue.

Stringy gates. 

Stringy gates.

I decide to walk around a bit and scan through the shops. Okay, that is a clothing store that I know can have absolutely nothing in common with a stringy gate.  What is a stringy gate even.  I sigh again.

A flower shop?

A cosmetic shop?

Various food shops?  I even walk through every aisle in the shop but I see nothing or nothing comes to mind.

A music shop?

I give up.

I walk back to the coffee shop I came from and gesture for Leo to quickly come outside.

“What’s up, s**t I never got your name.” 

“It’s Casey.” 

He nods and I tell him everything, from the little girl and  how I’ve been searching for something everywhere.

“Stringy gates.”  He put his finger on his chin and I can see him in deep thinking mode.

“I thought of a guitar.  You know like the stringy gates could be the strings of the guitar and the sound.”

“Yes! That’s exactly what it is.” He exclaims.

“You think?”

“I know, there’s only one music shop in this place.”

“Okay, but what do I do when I get there?”

“I don’t know, look at a guitar or something.”

“Okay.” I say, my nervousness increasing.

“This is so exciting.  You come to me immediately when you find the next clue.”

“Okay.” I say and start  to walk towards the music shop I just passed.

I don’t know how to describe the smell of instruments but I like it.  It smells like wood and steel at the same time.  It smells brand new.

“Hi, how can I help you.” A bald man asks and I was hoping no one is going to ask me for help.

“Oh no thank you, I’m just going to look at some guitars.”

“Anything in mind.” Ahh no, just leave me alone.

“No, I’m just going to look.” I feel like a b***h when I step away from him towards the hanging guitars, but luckily he doesn’t bother me again.

I look through the different colored acoustic guitars and a black one catches my eyes.  He just seems out of place.  When I look closely I see a white paper in between the strings and it feels as if my heart skips a beat.  I swallow and take the piece of paper, hoping that the bald man wouldn’t see me.  

“Thank you.” I quickly call out and escape the shop.  I hope he isn’t offended but I can’t even play the guitar.  I wonder if he plays guitar.  I wonder what;s his name is and I wonder why he’s doing this.

I look at the piece of paper in my sweat palm and it almost feels like a piece of gold.  The most valuable thing in my life right now.

I quickly scan around to see if there’s anyone suspicious looking and when I feel everything is safe I open the paper.  It contains a scribbled number.  A phone number.  He gave me he’s number.  Somehow I feel a little let down because I thought there was going to be another message for me to find somewhere in the mall.  I skip towards Leo who runs towards me with a curious expression on his face.

“Did you get it?”  He sounds more curious and excited than I am.

I nod and hand him the piece of paper.

“His cellphone number?”

I nod again and he starts to frown.  Maybe he’s thinking the same as I did.  Maybe he hoped that there was a clue on the paper as well.

He gasps, “I have an idea.”

“Hmm?”  I hope he has a good idea, because I have no clue what to tell him over a text.

“You should do the same to him?”

“What like a scavenger hunt.”

“Yes.”

That’s a good idea, I’m just not that creative.  I wouldn’t be able to think of a cool mission for him to go on and give him clues with puns.

“It’ll be easy.” He continues.

“I don’t know.”

“Just think of how cute it’ll be one day when you’re married and you tell your kids how you met.”

I laugh.  I haven’t thought so far yet.  But yes, it will be cute.

“Okay, I’ll do it. I’ll just have to think of something.”

“Yes take your time.  Don’t show him that you’re too interested.

“Okay,but i have to head home, I have school tomorrow,”

He gives me a small hug and I smile at his affection.  We exchange numbers and he begs me to let him know about my plans.

I escape the mall, still feeling like a different person. It feels as if doors are opening for me now.  I take a deep breath and hop in my car, already thinking about an idea I can make for him.  I put the piece of paper with his number on in my cable and made a mental note to remember where I put it.  I already like the way he’s doing things. Whatever he’s name is.