ᴛᴡᴏ. ʟᴜᴄᴀs sᴄʀᴇᴡᴇᴅ ᴜᴘ

Suki was restocking CD's when a young girl came running inside the store. Her sneakers squeaked against the tile as she came to a quick stop in front of the cash register where Gina was standing waiting for customers to check out.

"Gina, I've got to find Corey right away!" The young girl said with urgency in her voice.

Gina looked up at her with a bored expression. She reached over and grabbed the microphone that was for the intercom, and held down the button.

"Paging Miss Corey Mason. Meet your smelly sister in the rotunda." Gina said into the microphone as she stared at the girl.

Corey's sister glared at Gina and stuck up her middle finger towards her before running over to Corey.

"Dad said to bring this to you right away. Wait until you see what's in it." Corey's sister smiled handing her a white envelope she had been holding in her hand.

"Harvard." Corey said quietly looking between AJ and Gina who had walked over to her. "It's Harvard." She said her smiling growing quickly. She fumbled with the envelope. "I'm afraid to open it." She admitted.

It was quiet as Corey slowly tore open the piece of mail. AJ and Gina looked at each other nervously before turning back to Corey.

"Well? Did you get in?" AJ questioned.

Corey was quiet. Her eyes scanned the letter. She ignored her friends and sister pestering her for the answer until she finished reading it. She slowly looked up, and smile broke out onto her face.

"Yes." Corey said. "Yes." She repeated grabbing her sisters face and kissing her cheek. Her sister hopped excitedly before snatching the envelope back and bolting out the door.

"Are you sure?" Gina asked.

"Yes." Corey nodded jumping up and down happily.

"You did it!" AJ said hugging her. The two held onto each other tightly as they celebrated.

"This is awesome. You're getting out of here." Gina exclaimed before reaching for the intercom microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen," Gina spoke into the microphone grabbing the attention of everyone in the store.

Suki even stopped restocking to look over her shoulder to the group of her coworkers. She immediately saw Corey and AJ hugging and poking at each other with wide smiles. She felt a pang of jealousy in her chest before quickly ignoring it to go back to what she was doing.

"Our most valued employee, Corey Mason, is going off to Harvard to secure the free world." Gina told the store mimicking a calm professional voice before cheering. "Harvard! Harvard! Harvard!"

Corey's eyes were gleaming brightly with joy. Her cheeks started to hurt from smiling, but she couldn't stop. She got into her dream school, and she knew her dad would be proud.

"Miss Mason, you just got into Harvard. What are you gonna do now?" Gina asked holding out the intercom microphone to Corey.

"I'm gonna," Corey's face started to slowly drop. Her smile faded into a slight pout. "Throw up."

The store was quiet. AJ and Gina glanced at each other awkwardly. Gina pulled the microphone away from Corey and turned to place it back on the counter.

"You okay, Core?" AJ asked placing a hand on her shoulder.

Corey stared in front of her unable to respond to AJ. Her brows furrowed as she shifted uncomfortably. She turned her head to AJ who was watching her with concern.

"Harvard." Corey muttered. "Harvard, Harvard, Harvard." She slowly repeated looking down at the ground.

"Maybe you should sit down, Core." AJ said placing his hand on her back and leading her to the break room.

⠉⠉⠉⠉

Suki was at the cash register with AJ, sitting on the counter, when Joe came stomping towards them. If his heavy footsteps weren't enough to see how angry he was his scowl definitely was, and it seemed Mark had an idea of why Joe was so pissed off because he was following Joe with a guilty look.

"Hey, Joe." Suki said with a small smile and wave.

"Suki." He smiled politely back before walking up behind AJ who was messing with the cash register. "AJ." He said grabbing the boy's shoulder tightly. AJ looked up quickly and glanced behind him at Joe. "I want you to find Lucas." He ordered.

"What do you mean find Lucas?" AJ asked chuckling lightly trying his best to hide his nervousness from the man.

"What do you think I mean?" Joe retorted.

"I told him." Mark said making AJ look over at him with a look that said he wanted to slap him right across the face. "What was I supposed to do, man? I mean he threatened me." He said as he chewed on his fingernails.

"Christ, Mark. You're killing me, man." AJ said rolling his eyes.

"You find him and bring him to me." Joe instructed AJ. "Suki take over the register for AJ." He said to the girl. "Mark, work." He demanded pointing a finger at the boy before making his way back to his office.

Suki slid off the counter the same time AJ turned to her making them stand face to face. Suki had to look up a bit to look him in the eyes. His jaw was clenched and she assumed it had to do with Mark and Lucas.

"Everything alright?" She asked tilting her head to the side.

"Considering this is Lucas," AJ sighed. "Probably not." AJ huffed and walked out from behind the register.

Suki watched AJ walk away then her eyes landed on Mark who was still standing in front of the register despite Joe telling him to go work. She leaned forward on the counter using her arms to hold her up.

"Hey, Mark." Suki said catching his attention. He took a few steps forward. "What's Joe so pissed off about?" She asked.

"Lucas screwed up. Big time." Mark said before walking off.

"Now he wants to shut his mouth." Suki huffed rolling her eyes. She shook her head at the boy walking away before standing up straight as she saw a customer approaching her.

"Will this be all?" She asked giving the customer a sweet smile.

𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐗 𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐒:
Chapter Two!! I'm loving how this is going so far. I was a bit worried about writing the beginning of the movie because it has a bunch of like "skips" where the scenes are like short and all 20-30 mins apart, but I think it's going good so far lmao.
Rex will be showing up very soon too! Either chapter three or four! Super excited for that hahah!
I hope you enjoyed this. Don't forget to comment and vote please! Thank you for reading 💜