Hating Flex

Chapter 7 Maya’s POV

" Maya just kick him in the nuts, nothing says leave me alone like causing bodily harm ". Sara shrugged. I laughed as I placed all of their drinks down on their table in front of them. It was the first week of my little part-time job. Rocky diner had just opened this week. The owner was one of my mum's friends and offered me a little job. Dad had told me I didn't need to get a job and should concentrate on my school work. But I wanted to start earning money now to save up. So I had a little cushion for when I went to college. Dad said he had all of that covered. That he'd send me monthly pocket money while I was studying. But I didn't want to rely on dad for money.

I wanted to earn my own. Mum had smiled and told dad to knock it off. There was nothing wrong with me being independent. Eventually, he had sighed and conceded on one condition my school work and grades didn't slip. If they did, he said that I had to quit. School work and my grades were my main priority. I think it came from watching mum rely on dad for money. She always had. She didn't work to look after me and now to look after Joseph. But even in between, when she could have , dad pretty much told her she didn't need to. Dad owned the town's one and only construction company. So he got all the work around town on people's houses and any new buildings, such as building this diner, which had obviously kept him busy and made him pretty wealthy.

Dad never said anything about mum not earning money , nor did he keep any from her. But I just didn't want that. I wanted to make my own money , have a career. Not that what mum did in raising us or keeping a beautiful home was wrong. It just wasn't for me. I saw how Mum got bored , stuck in the same routine and how fed up she gets. It's why she re-paints most rooms once or twice a year. Or the house is constantly getting re-arranged .

" I think that's a bit extreme, Sara " I told her as I rested on the booth. Marie walks past with a tray in her hand. I got her a job too. Well, all my friends just had different shifts , we all did a few hours here a week. Me doing the most . They all wanted to get ready to move away like me, we all had dreams of moving out of this town . It was sad though, because we had all pretty much picked different colleges except me and Marie, and then Alanna and Sara had picked the same . It would be sad to split up , but we had picked the courses we wanted and which college offered the best programmes. We agreed to come back to town on the holidays so we could still see each other, though " I agree with Sara " she sings songs and I rolled my eyes. " Don't encourage her ", I chided.

" Maya, could you take that table that just came in? Georgia had to go into the kitchen and help cook. I've split her section between you and Marie. You take tables ten, eleven and twelve . We didn't expect to be this busy today" Tina, my mum's friend, bustles passed in a flurry. I agreed to do it before turning around. When I did, I saw who was sitting there. I turned quickly, trying to protest, but she was already gone. " s**t " I said out loud. Sara looked at me and then at the table I was staring at with horror. " Oh Maya , I'll go do it if you want. I'm sure Tina wouldn't mind. I'll just go grab an apron ". She goes to get out of the booth , but I stop her.

" No, it's fine , I can do it. It's fine , I'll have to do it at some point, right ? If they keep coming here " swallowing down the lump in my throat. I made my way over to the table. Flex , Nikki , Duke and Casey all sat there reading menus. As I made my way over , I felt my stomach doing flips. Nerves started eating me alive. My legs felt a little like jelly. I'd been trying my hardest to ignore what had happened in school today. If I hadn't come to my senses I would have been kissed by two different boys today. And one of them was definitely unwanted , Andres stealing that kiss well. Well, he stole something that I classed as special. My first ever kiss off of a boy.

I didn't want to class that as my first kiss, I was going to pretend it didn't happen. I mean it lasted like a second. No feelings behind it, or anything. So I was writing it off as just like a platonic peck off of like a friend or a family member , except he was neither. But the kiss that almost happened , that would have been my first. For the very simple reason was , it was going to be passionate. Fueled by nerves, anxiousness and a little bit of feelings. Like I said, I was once in puppy love with this boy. Doing stupid things like kissing the boy I once loved , well, that would stir old feelings in anyone. Even unwanted feelings.

I wasn't about to let that happen. I was so glad I came to my senses and ran away. Now here he was , Nikki practically sitting on his lap again. Standing in front of them, she was the first to pay me any attention. I knew something vile was going to come out of her mouth , just by the way she looked at me. " Ewww, if I knew freaks were working here I would have suggested we come " she spit like venom my way. Flex looks up at me from behind his menu , seeing who she was talking about. When he saw it was me, his eyebrows creased, he looked confused.

Nikki's lap dog Casey pipes up. " Right Nikki , I mean why are you working here? Your dad has lots of money , unless they are secretly broke ?" She says as she uncovered a huge hidden dark secret. Rolling my eyes at her idiocy, I huff, but try to keep my mouth shut. They were customers at the end of the day, and I wasn't about to get a telling off on the first week of having this job. " Yea I bet they're swimming in debt or something, having to send their freak nerd daughter out to work just to eat " Nikki laughs. I looked at Flex as if to say really ? I mean not for him to stick up for me. But as if to say , this is really your type. " She doesn't even have a car , it's all starting to make sense ", Casey added. I tried to hold my tongue, I mean I really tried.

But in the end, I failed. People talking smack about me. I didn't mind. I had plenty of practice of brushing most of it off. But I wasn't having them drag my family's name through the mud too. " Or maybe I'm not just a lazy air head and I'm saving up my OWN money , to get away from girls like you. Who will most likely get themselves knocked up by a guy they'll end up hating and stuck with because, oh my god, they were so cute and hot. So I just let him impregnate me. Then, s**t, that cute hot guy turns into couch potato drinking beer, his hot body gone and you are left pretty much alone chasing the kids around. Thinking I used to be so hot. While I'll have a high-paid job drinking wine on a terrace somewhere, because I worked hard and took my education seriously while I had the chance, and I'd have done it all without my dad's dime ."

Their mouths were hanging open so wide a train could use it as a tunnel. A whooping snaps my head in the direction of the loud noise to find Sara air punching and laughing. The rest of my friends were holding their hands over their mouths trying to hide their laughter. s**t , my runaway mouth. Looking back at the table, Flex was openly grinning and Duke looked offended. " Wait, are we couch potatoes with beer belly's in this scenario " he says, gesturing between him and Flex. " I'll get you sacked freak ", Nikki snapped at me. Casey threatened pretty much the same thing.

" Maya ". I heard my name being shouted behind me and cringed. That was Tina's stern voice. Looking over my shoulder, I saw her pissed. She nodded her head towards the back room and then walked off. Turning, I heard the idiots behind me mocking that I was going to get fired. Sighing , I followed her in. She was standing in the same pose I saw her stand in when she used to shout at us kids meaning me and her two sons when we were younger when we were in trouble. They were older than me and left school two years ago. They were away living in a dorm together now studying. The twins, Harry and Harvey, were like my cousins of sorts. Well, like adopted ones , with our mums being friends. I missed them. When they sometimes caught people picking on me, they'd stick up for me. Having twin boys , Tina was definitely the stern one out of her and mum she had to be to keep them in line.

" What was that all about Maya ?" She asked. Looking down at my feet, I apologised " Sorry , I didn't mean to. But they're always so mean towards me, then they got on about my family and it just came out ". I heard her sigh. Looking up, she dropped her folded arms. "They are some of the kids that make your life miserable?" She asks and I nod. " But Flex is out there , dosent he tell them to knock it off ?" This time I felt like sighing. No matter how many times I told her and mum he was the main one , they just couldn't grasp the idea of it. They'd seen us as kids and just didn't get how he could be cruel towards me , when in their words. " But he's always been so smitten with you before , why would he be cruel to you ? " the word was , being the word they had to understand. But I suppose because he's always so nice to them , it's hard for them to see the side I now saw.

" I keep telling you and mum , he is the ring leader. He was the one that started all of this to begin with. " She looks at me , that disbelief I was so used to written all over her face. " Either way Maya , you shouldn't let bully's get to you. The minute you stoop to their level, they've won. Plus, this is a business, Maya. A new one at that. I can't go out there and bar them before I know it, word will have got round that I will kick people out for staff members being rude to them, and the young ones are some of the main customers here, Maya. So , go out and ignore their cocky ass attitudes and give them free milkshakes on the house. And the next time they are mean or rude, come and get me and don't call them all basically hussys that will have teen pregnancies ", she says, smiling, trying to hide her own laughter.

All of them had cocky grins on their faces as I placed four free milkshakes in front of them. All except Flex , who at this point looked bored and annoyed. Nikki was practically clawing all over him and he sat there stock still just letting her. Her hand was running through his hair and one of her legs was draped over his. I felt a spike of something that felt very much like jealousy, he tried to kiss me earlier and now he was there cozying up to her. It just goes to prove he's a pig.