Who: Claudia Lloyd and Charles Brandon When: Backdated to Thursday evening. Where: Zener school What: He said. She said.
There were a lot of things that Claudia did not care about. The big one was Zener in general and the various people that lived in it. She picked at her schoolwork enough to keep her parents happy and to prevent Griffith from going on an emo trip but really, she was going to do things on her own terms. Like this project and filing for a divorce. There was really no way she was going to work with River. He was lame. Period. And spending time with him would probably make her want to put a pencil through his eye. In the end she had done research on divorce and custody and had factored all of this into her project folder. In the back of her mind, Claudia knew that this was probably futile. The teachers would probably fail her and tell her that the whole point of this project was to work together with someone you normally wouldn't be friends with. When that happened Claudia had a whole set of comebacks to throw into their faces.
But first she had to work her way through this budget. Lawyer fees aside, she was a single mom who lived in a decent one room apartment...but why did baby cribs have to be so expensive? She frowned as she clicked through the Wal-Mart web page. The cheapest were going for one hundred dollars more or less...Maybe she could skip it and have the baby sleep on the bed? Maybe not...Claudia frowned at the piece of paper that her budget was scrawled across. She had probably gone wrong somewhere. And that was when a shadow fell across her table.
"Hello fuckweed." Claudia said without looking up.
If it wasn't for Justin's pouting, Charlie would not have been in the library in the first place. It was not someplace he visited on a regular basis. All the books intimidated him..there were just too many words and not enough numbers. The plan was to get in and out quickly and then ask Justin if he could burrow the other boy's car for a little spin. Now Justin's car...that was something Charlie knew he could love. He was making his way out when he spotted Claudia. This really should have been more of a motivating factor to leave but Charlie found himself walking over. The girl was a bitch, but Charlie had a bad habit of never leaving well enough alone when it came to certain things.
His eyes narrowed when at her greeting. But then guessed that since she didn't look up, she was just being offensive in general. "Hello yourself." He replied, looking instead to the various papers on the desk. Her laptop showed some web page from Wal-Mart and that was as far as Charlie got before she was snapping about him being in her light. "Be thankful." He drawled in return, not moving still. "Whatever light you're in is bound to look unflattering." Which wasn't exactly true..but she had called him a fuckweed.
Claudia rolled her eyes. "I'm not in the mood to indulge you today, Brandon." She replied, her dry tone matching his own. She continued to scrawl random numbers on her piece of scrap paper. They weren't adding up. The way she was going, she was going to be in debt. And then he was snatching her pen away from her and she could hear the loud scrape of a chair being pulled out. It certainly blocked her loud, "Hey! What do you think you're doing fuckweed!"
"Saving these numbers from being tortured." Charlie replied, not looking at Claudia but instead pulling her laptop towards him. She reached out to grab the other end and once again they were stuck in tug of war. Since that usually ended in a mess or him getting spat at Charlie let go and gave her a look. "Obviously you need help." He said and barreled on before she could open her mouth and insult him. "Mental help for one thing and help for his budget for another. Since I can't stand for longer then several hours I'm going to give you help on the latter." He looked down and frowned. "You're numbers are all messed up."
She wanted to hit him. But since there was nothing within reach that was heavy enough to cause sustainable damage, Claudia only growled. "I don't need your help." She replied, pulling her budget paper away from him. Since this was a sudden movement and since Charlie was still holding onto it, the paper tore. She cursed. "Go the fuck away. Now." But that didn't seem to be happening. When he looked up at her again, the look on his face was just as intense and angry as her own. What did he have to be angry about? The thought immediately entered her mind. He wasn't the one who was-
Claudia didn't have time to rant though. Charlie was already looking away and snatching up a fresh sheet of paper. Soon he was scribbling his own set of numbers. Clicking through all the pages she had bookmarked. He muttered to himself as he worked until Claudia couldn't stand it anymore. Fine. If he insisted on sitting there and pissing her off she wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Grabbing her own piece of paper and another pen she began working again on the budget. It seemed that they were both pretty decent in the math department, though Claudia used the calculator more often then Charlie did.
"It could be cheaper here if you used the flat fold diapers instead of disposable ones" Charlie said after a few seconds. He pointed to the computer screen to illustrate his point. The answer he got was a grunt. And still he pushed on with. "Says here they're easily washable and dry really fast. And there are twelve per pack. You can probably get six packs and it''ll be able to last you. He went back to work and wasn't expecting an answer when she said,
"Babies are supposed to be poop machines. I don't have time to be hand washing diapers all day." Single mother and everything she had a job to juggle on top of everything else. Claudia didn't look at Charlie as she spoke and didn't even look up until he was tapping her laptop screen with the pen. "Half and half then. Here's a range of affordable disposable nappies. You can use those when you're really pressed for time. And when you're not you can use the cloth ones." He made a good point and she ended up shrugging. "Do what you want."
They continued in this vein for a while. With Charlie looking over at the budget she was doing and saying things like, "There's really no need for a stroller. You can get one of those baby carriers. Besides, you'll be too busy working so there's not much time to stroll anyway."
He even got her to add in little things like, "Diaper bags aren't necessary. A backpack will do. The same goes for those milk bottle carriers. I don't intend to take the thing travelling until it can walk on it's own. If I have to I'll breast feed in public. People can deal with it." Was he smiling a little. Claudia couldn't tell and she certainly wasn't going to look at him properly to find out.
Charlie said, "Butt cream is redundant. Find a good set of wet wipes for babies. They're easier to store anyway."
Claudia said, "Why the hell should I buy it shoes when it can't even walk. Those soft shoes are fine. For at night when it's cold. All the other times it can wear those rompers with the covered feet. Hell, it can wear rompers until it's two years old for all I care. Those come in a pack."
Charlie said, "Two sets of bedding for the crib. One is just not hygienic. And three blankets. What if it poops and the diaper leaks or something. Then you're in trouble." He clicked away and was pointing again. "Cheapest ones are going for $48.90 and $49.00." When she didn't say anything, Charlie added those in. He knew that they had chosen different cribs and then added. "You don't need a playpen. The crib can double up as one. You can get a big baby cushion or something and stick it in front of the television in the day time."
"Thus the newest generation of couch potatos is ensured." Claudia continued and they both snorted before going back to work.
He finished first. "There. And now you'll have enough for your own household stuff and a babysitter." He stopped when she shook her head at the babysitter bit and then said "Oh." When Claudia explained that her mom would probably look after the baby when she was at work. It made sense she was a single mother and things. "You'd have more money if you didn't have those lawyers fees." He said and watched as she rolled her eyes.
"A necessary evil. How else am I going to get rid of Simmon? This is make believe and already he's whining and making himself look like a victim." She wasn't complaining. Just stating a fact. She couldn't spend time around someone like that. And speaking of which. "If you're done you can go." How long had they been here and been civil to one another. It was time to stop. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him smile.
As Charlie walked out of the library he head the sounds of paper being crumpled. But he didn't turn around to see if it was his budget she was throwing away. If he had, he would have seen that it wasn't.