Shady

He felt suddenly defensive. It wasn't like she needed to point out that he wasn't doing well at living up to his reputation. Great, now she was probably going to ...

Adolescent? Who even used that word? Pratik followed her towards the door, still in a mood, even though he wasn't sure why. He answered playfully, "Bold of you to assume ...

Pratik burst out laughing. He wasn't sure why it struck him as funny as it did, but he was thoroughly amused. "Welcome to Rent-A-Pratik." He hefted the big bags of ...

Pratik was a bit surprised that she actually relented. But he nodded. "Yeah! Just give me a minute!" He ran upstairs and explained the situation to the owner, then came ...

"The owner's upstairs," Pratik said with a shrug. "She wouldn't mind coming down to watch the shop for a bit so I could help... might even let me stay on ...

"I mean... I really wouldn't mind helping. Twenty minutes is a long time for you to have to carry all of this..." Pratik looked at her skeptically. He couldn't say ...

"Uhhh, yeah! I mean... heh, not around school." Pratik smirked at his own joke, then sobered. "But I'll likely be the one working when you come to pick up the ...

Aeron watched as Quentin began ranting about medusa and Greek mythology. He blinked at him. Then he turned away and looked at the statues. A strange sense of uneasiness settled ...

Jerica stopped abruptly, surprised. Had she heard her right? This must have been what Aerik felt like the first time she thanked him. Completely unexpected. She glanced at Eve, then ...

Aeron barely managed to keep from gaping as he watched the chaos unfolding in front of him. The boy that kept talking to himself. The twins who couldn't remember which ...

"Hah! Wouldn't want that." Pratik finished the tally. "Total's $31.42."

Pratik laughed a bit. Lillian was endearing, he'd give her that. He smirked. "Happy to appease the Goddess Pandora."

"She's cute!" Pratik said. Because of course, why wouldn't he keep embarrassing himself in this interaction? "And, uh... I mean, I think she'd look good in the red, but the ...

"Pandora?" Pratik asked. He glanced down at his laptop quickly, then decided it'd be more likely to draw attention it if he tried to cover it than if he left ...

Pratik smirked a bit more. She was like a different planet compared to the people he usually hung around with, but it was oddly endearing. He pulled up a page ...