Roseanne's Summer Vacation- Chapter 11
The team circled around the apartment complex and crossed the Świętojańska Street, but this time in the southern direction. They passed a bunch of fancy restaurants as well as a pharmacy and a Żabka convenience store. Mr Orville pointed out the last two facilities, telling the students to remember the location whenever they happen to need food or medicine.
Farther down the street, Roseanne was the first to notice a gargantuan building of a post office, oozing the style of the 1920s, just like in the case of the railway station. Her heart sped up for a moment. Maybe, after all, she could send her package from Gdynia.
At the opposite side of the post office, there was a big, modern shopping mall. The sign above the revolving door read “The Batory Shopping Centre”.
As they went inside, the shopping mall didn’t seem that big anymore. In fact, it was smaller than similar facilities in Bydgoszcz. It had only a ground floor and the first floor to accommodate food joints, souvenir shops, a supermarket, and a bookstore.
“It’s 1 p.m. already,” Mr Orville said, looking at his watch. “You have an hour and a half to calmly eat whatever you like and do some shopping if you want.” Having said this, he took out an envelope and gave the girls 50 Po credits each.
Thally raised her eyebrows in surprise. “What if I buy something expensive and won’t have enough cash?” she asked.
“Then use your own credit card. The money I’m giving you is only for necessities,” he answered.
“Make way! Make way! Make way!” A wrinkled lady squeezed herself through, pushing Nika aside as if she were a bowling pin.
“You old b—” Nika obviously wanted to say “bitch”, but Mr Orville covered her mouth before she could finish. The teacher didn’t make any comment. Instead, he showed the students where to find KFC, McDonald’s, and Sphinx. He himself went to Luna Express next to the entrance.
“Come on, Rosie. Where do you want to eat?” Natasha poked her in the arm.
“I don’t know…” Roseanne observed as Mr Orville moved along the buffet and filled up his plate with French fries and lasagna. Then he paid for it at the till and sat by a table, alone. For a second, she considered joining her teacher, but part of her was afraid this wouldn’t be appropriate. After all, nobody else did this, and she has never seen a student dining together with a teacher, in or out of school.
“Let’s go to McDonald’s,” Natasha suggested.
***
Milena was running hurriedly back and forth in front of the wooden stands, looking for an appropriate gift for her mom. Unfortunately, all she could find were either ships in bottles or seashells made in China.
“All of it is so expensive, at least for 80 Po credits!” She wiped the sweat off her forehead.
“Here are some pendants. Does your mom like it?” Nika asked, pointing at a variety of colourful decorations to choose from.
“My mom is not superstitious.”
“Hey! Don’t be afraid and come over here. Look at this pendant!” A man in his forties, who looked as if he were stoned out of his mind, invited the girls with a hand gesture and showed them a pendant. It was a bunch of pale, blue stones tied together. “You see this pendant? It helped me pass the Maturity exam. You can have it for 50 Po credits.”
Nika shuddered at the cringeworthy salesman talk. “Up yours, junkie! If some rocks helped you with finishing high school, then why are you selling crap at a shopping mall?”
Before the guy gathered enough grip on reality to talk back, Nika pulled Milena by the hand to follow her. “Maybe we can find something in a bookstore,” she remarked to saddened Milena. “Does your mom like Harlan Coben? His hardcovers are very cheap.”
***
“I literally had no idea that customer service can be that soul-crushing,” Roseanne said.
The two friends were at McDonald’s. From their seats by the window, they were looking at the panorama of the busy Kujawskie Roundabout.
“I told you it was a bad idea from the start, you know. You shouldn’t have worked there in June.” Natasha proceeded to unpack her Happy Meal. “But then again, there aren’t any other jobs for students like us.”
“Hmm… I guess you’re right. But I’m gonna stay away from Żabkas for now. Can you believe my own sister began pissing me off by reading a book called Convenience Store Woman?”
“Is that so?” Natasha raised her eyebrows. “Do you want to continue working during the school year?”
“Well, the driving course ain’t going to finance itself, hun. I’ll try other store chains or even supermarkets.”
Natasha nodded her head. She was busy unpacking her toy, and when she did that, she nearly choked. “OMG, look at this! It’s a Minecraft figure. How lovely.”
Roseanne examined the blue block of plastic. “They used to make much better toys ten years ago, based on much better IPs, too.”
“You’re just a boomer who doesn’t play Minecraft.”
Roseanne stuck out her tongue in retort. The two started eating their hamburgers while flicking through Twitch on Natasha’s phone. After a while, her friend let out a sigh.
“You know, I’m crushing this guy so hard,” Natasha said, pointing at a tall, dark stranger on the screen.
“What is he? A mechanic?” Roseanne asked.
“Yeah, he is doing a livestream right now.”
In the chat, Natasha wrote to him as follows: “Hey there, do you have a girlfriend?”
After a moment, the streamer replied: “Yes, I do.”
“Oh, come on!”
“Here, let me.” Roseanne took the phone and wrote back: “A girlfriend isn’t a wall, you can move her.” In the language of Po, it was a slang expression which meant that while you can’t move a physical wall, you can always change the conditions of your relationship, even to the point of breaking up with your current partner and getting yourself a new one.
“OMG, why did you write that? It’s so cringy!” Natasha gasped.
The streamer saw the chat pop-up and referred to it in front of a camera. “For those interested, I’m in a happy relationship with a user @Patpoqi607, I’m not interested in moving her.”
Having heard this, Roseanne burst into joyous laughter. Natasha, on the other hand, turned red. She took the Minecraft figure and began beating her friend on the arm with it. “I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!”
“Ayyy! You’re hurting me, bitch!”
The two struggled for a while. Natasha pinched the toy against Roseanne’s thigh, whereas she gripped Natasha’s neck and hit the back of the head with a tray.
“Excuse me, wonderful ladies, is everything in order?” They heard a deep, male voice.
Roseanne let go of the painful deadlock and turned. She nearly jumped on her seat in shock. There he was, right in front of her, Tae-jun himself.
“Who ordered a sweet apple pie?” Natasha whispered.
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