The yoghurt store was a cozy little hut snuggled in between a vintage camera store and a dusty shop selling vinyl records. A blast of cool air blew Carmen's fringe gently from her forehead as she pulled open the wooden door. She stepped in and breathed the faintly scented air. Behind her, Dylan yelped as the low heels of his Ferragamos sank into the squashy carpet.
"What on Earth is this made of, oh my God! I'm drowning!
Carmen scowled at him.
"Act your age for once, why don't you?"
She skipped across to the yoghurt vending machines, but as she was about to pull the dispenser, someone called her name.
Lounging among the little cushions that littered the large sofa behind the sofa behind the tables was Charlie Tune. He lazily waved his arm in the air, gold bangles clinking loudly.Opposite him, smiling sheepishly, was Stephen!
"Over here, hey! Bring that pretty little fag along too, and don't take the grape stuff 'cause it's foul."
The cute girl behind the counter growled at him, and he winked cheekily at her. Dylan, who was still by the fascinating bit of carpet, looked up and scoffed loudly. He strode over to the table and banged his and down, causing the crystal utensils to jump.
"Hey. Just because you're in the boxing club doesn't mean I don't dare to hit you, okay. You watch your mouth, or - "
"Or what?" Charlie laughed raucously. "You'll run me over with your master's bulldozer?"
Dylan smiled slyly. He reached inside his purse and pulled out his metal collapsible umbrella.
"Or I'll just use this and go samurininja on your fat ass."
Charlie's smirk dimmed a little, but it didn't slip.
"How feisty!"
Carmen's eyes widened as Dylan raised his extended umbrella over his head. However, before she could rush over to stop him, a hand flashed out and caught it.
"Let's not get so worked up, guys! I'm sure Charlie didn't mean it as an insult, don't be mad!" Stephen's green eyes glittered pleadingly as he slowly lowered the umbrella to the table. Dylan's eyes flashed dangerously, but before he could say anything, Charlie cut in.
"Those chains are badass, man. Where'd you get them?"
Dylan blinked, shocked. Carmen saw his eyes travel slowly down to his plum coloured trousers, where Charlie was looking. The chunky gold chains he had bought on a whim glinted in the fluorescent lighting.
"Somewhere that's way too cute for you, buffoonic imbecile!"
But he huffily plonked down on the sofa next to Charlie anyway. Carmen smiled, satisfied that they were finally getting along. But then, she realised that gave her no choice but to sit next to Stephen! Reluctantly, she paid for her yoghurt and slouched over to the little table.
Stephen moved over and patted the seat, grinning. Carmen did her best to smile a little. It came out more like a grimace. She sat down gingerly; the further away from Stephen, the better. She picked up her spoon primly, and placed a small bit into her mouth. Opposite, Charlie and Dylan had started to bicker over something else. An awkward silence reigned between the both of them, until Stephen finally cleared his throat.
"So, uh. You coming to the party at the playground? It's this Sunday and I bet it's going to be real fun! A class reunion of sorts, just that it's only those who went to Jude Elementary. I invited Lena..." He smiled uncertainly.
Carmen's mood grew black when she heard Lena's name.
"Lena wasn't from Jude Elementary. She only transferred over from Russia during middle school."
Stephen scratched the back of his hand.
"Well. You're always with her, so I figured if she came you would too."
"Who says I'm always with her?" Carmen snapped, angry at Stephen suddenly. "Aren't I with Dylan now? She's not my best friend!"
Stephen blinked, but quickly recovered.
"I never said she was, Carmen. But hey, please come man! It won't feel the same without you. Even Piotr misses hanging out with you."
Carmen recalled the times during elementary school when she, Stephen and a few other had been rather close. Before moving, she had lived next door to Piotr Schmidt, one of Stephen's closest friends. The both of them had passed their final year examinations with flying colours all due to her intensive "tutoring" during the last two weeks before. The girls in Stephen's circle of friends would include her in their little games of jump-rope or hide-and-seek. The attended baking classes, sewing classes, and through one of them, Carmen found painting. But them, Lena had transferred in halfway through their first year of middle school. Carmen had been placed in a different class from her group of friends. Lonely and without a friend, she soon got to know Lena and started spending all her time with her. Slowly, Carmen and her friends had begun to drift apart but Carmen hadn't felt bad. She had had Lena after all. But now...
She sighed heavily. Stephen reached across for her hand, but she moved it away. He coughed awkwardly and continued.
"So...yeah. All those smart ones that got into Aurelique High, they're coming too! Even Amanda, that girl who moved to Canada, remember? - she's flying over specially for this."
Carmen remembered Amanda, her desk-partner for almost half a year. Scrawny, with oily blonde hair and green braces on her teeth, no one had wanted to talk to her. Carmen felt horrid sitting next to her at first but as she got closer to Amanda, she realised how fun and witty she was. Suddenly, she missed Amanda's wide, unassuming smile, so different from Lena's self-confident smirk.
Inspired by this, she nodded firmly.
"Okay. I'll come."
Stephen's eyes lit up.
"Excellent! Oh my God, I can't wait for tomorrow! So - "
But he was interrupted by the table trembling so hard it almost toppled. Dylan had slammed a plastic spoon down mere centimetres from Charlie's lax fingers.
"If you touch me again," he muttered, oblivious to the stares all around, "I am going to string you up by your guts and let the wolves eat you, you hear me?" He let out a string of expletives in various languages, some of which the counter girl unfortunately understood. She marched over, hands on hips, and wordlessly pointed towards the door. Shamefaced, the four of them silently crept out.
I work fast. (Y)
Ohkay, so some observations about the differences between Yoomi's writing and mine!
Yoomi's writing
- is more of dialogue and less of descriptions
- snarky and less-than-formal
- has more short sentences than long
- is very appealing to people with short attention spans (me) because of the paragraph lengths
- has characters which are very strongly characterised
My writing
- has the characters doing a lot at one go
- is very descriptive
- has very little dialogue
- is full of one-liner paragraphs
- is very formal and composition-like
- makes characters all talk the same way - my way
Yeah hahaha these are the main differences, not counting our handwriting! Let's see if this list helps you guys tell the difference between our writing as both really aren't all that similar once you get used to it. (:
Next chapter coming once I finish writing in this book and get a new one. Stay tuned! :D
MIKE
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