nothing pt 2
___ For a few seconds, he was too stunned to say anything. Apparently, she was too as they stood staring at each other, wide-eyed for a few seconds, both of their hands still on the doorknob to the house. Finally, she narrowed her eyes and sneered, “Move it, nerd.” She shoved him out of the way and stumbled out of the way, still recovering from the initial shock.
It didn’t take him long to recuperate as he held both hands in front of himself and shoved her back with even more force. “No.”
In Miracle City, he would have forced himself to take it for the sake of not losing his temper and drawing suspicion to himself. But this was a new start. A new beginning. And he was ready.
Now it was her turn to almost fall over. “What did you say to me?”
He felt smug, seeing the stupor on his former school tormentor’s face at the one time he fought back. “I said no. You move it.” He hardly got the last few words out as his short moment of joy ended and he was tackled to the hard pavement.
As they wrestled in the front yard of the house, they were too occupied to notice the front door open and a middle-aged man step out. He watched them uncertainty before clearing his throat. “Excuse me, excuse me! I haven’t seen you kids around Pelican Town. Are you new or just tourists?”
“Who are you?” Zoe asked.
“I’m the mayor of this town, but just call me Lewis. Do you need directions? Or perhaps--”
“I’m here to buy the farm!” they both shouted at the same time. Then, they faced each other and exclaimed simultaneously,” WHAT?!”
“It’s mine!” shouted Zoe as she wrestled with Diego, throwing him through the mayor’s flowerbeds. “I came here for it.”
No way would he be turned away after that long train ride. He needed this more than anything. Someone like Zoe would not be the one to get in the way of him. “It’s not up to you!” and it took awhile for that revelation to sink in, but when it did they stopped fighting and turned to the older man still standing before them.
Perhaps it was the menacing look in both of their crimson eyes or the way they grit their teeth in a fierce determination to own the farm they had both traveled so far from home for that led Mayor Lewis to begin to sweat profusely and scratch his neck nervously. “U-Um…”
And that’s how the nightmare began.
“I can’t believe he sold it to both of us.” Diego groaned, running his hand down his face. There were two cabins, but everything else they’d have to share including the 20 acres of grossly overgrown farmland. A thick line dug into the soil with a shovel separated the land evenly. 20 acres was probably too much farmland for him anyway, but now that he was told he couldn’t have the full 20, he wanted it desperately.
They didn’t hang out much in school for obvious reasons, but he was 100% sure she wouldn’t be easy to get along with. The obvious solution would be to give up the farm and go find another place, but both of them were far too stubborn for that. “This is the worst.”
“...Did he charge us both full price?” Pause. “I’m going to kill him.”
He wanted to march back to town and argue with that dumb mayor and unleash Dr. Chipotle Jr. on him. That would surely get the farm to himself. But he restrained himself. This was a new start, he told himself. But a new start would be a lot harder than he thought.
