"…”
Ashley stared at him for a while without saying a word, as if she felt aggrieved and held back for a long time to say, "No wonder you have no customers."
Jacob "Mm-hmm."
Ashley pushed the money in front of him, obviously did not want to give any more money, the little face was extremely serious, and the two words "gangster inn" appeared sonorously.
Jacob thought it was funny and said, "Charging you an extra dollar is a gangster inn?"
Ashley kept a poker face. "I'm not peeking at you."
"All right." Jacob picked up the money on the table. "Brother is talking nonsense."
Ashley looked at him, said nothing more, and wanted to return to her position.
Before she had taken two steps, Jacob stopped her again, "Wait a minute."
Ashley turned back, "What?"
"Come here."
Ashley looked suspicious and didn't want to go over.
But he stood there quietly looking at her as if he was certain that she would come. After staying in place for a while, Ashley walked over reluctantly and asked again, "What?"
"How can brother charge you money?" The height of the table was more than one meter. Jacob bent down, grabbed her wrist across the table, and put the money back into her hand. "Keep it for yourself to buy candy."
Ashley paused for a moment.
He has put his hand back.
Behind the cashier was a large flow counter with a variety of raw materials.
After saying that, Jacob turned around, took out two clean bowls, and began to make dessert.
Ashley silently put the money back in her pocket.
‘He’s always like this, slapping her then give her a candy.
However, she failed to refuse every time.’
She argued with him stubbornly because of his "slap", and then took the "candy" very shamelessly.
When she returned to her position, Bella leaned over and lowered her voice this time, whispering to her, "Ashley, is your brother's friend going to treat us?"
Ashley nodded. "Right."
"Wow, that's nice."
Bella was very happy. "I don't have much money left after buying a gift. I want to charge a coupon for Adventure Island."
"How much money have you charged?"
"It’s ok."
Knowing that Ashley was not interested in this, Bella changed the subject. "Right! Just now Ethan found me on ins and asked where we were, so I told him. "
"Oh."
"He seems to have arrived and said he would come to us first. And Jack is also coming."
Ashley, "Why don't they get a room first?"
Bella, “It's only 12:00, and they can only get a room until one o'clock in the afternoon. They said they had called to make an appointment and first came to meet us, and then went to lunch. "
"Who else is coming?"
"A few people in their class."
Bella said, "But they all go straight to KTV to find them after one o'clock."
As it happened, Jacob brought up two bowls of dessert at this moment.
Hearing this, he swept over, and casually asked, "KTV?"
Bella was immediately silent.
Ashley nodded.
Jacob did not say anything, but told her, "Go to the regular one, remember to go home before dark, and don't hang out too late."
It sounded like helping Liam discipline her, but in fact, Liam didn't care much about her.
“Ok.”
After he left, Bella leaned over and said, "Your brother's friend talked just like my father. He said the same thing to me before I went out."
Ashley agreed with her. "My father said the same thing to me."
"…”
Ethan and Jack came before they were halfway through the meal.
As a matter of fact, Ashley seldom saw these two people.
At this time, when she looked at them, she found that they seemed to have grown a little taller.
Dressed in casual clothes, like two little adults.
Bella put down the spoon and said with a smile, "Here comes the birthday boy."
Ethan touched his nose.
Sweating, Jack first went to Bella and sat down. "Hurry up, I'm starving. Why don't we have KFC? "
Bella said, "I don't have the money to eat KFC."
With two more people in the narrow shop, it suddenly became lively.
Bella ate very fast and has already finished eating.
The other three were waiting for Ashley.
She listened to Bella and Jack quarreling and speeded up.
Seeing that Ashley had finished eating, Bella handed her a tissue and said, "Let's go."
Ashley nodded.
The other two boys stood up first and went out.
Bella took Ashley's hand and wanted to take her along.
As she passed the cashier, Ashley seemed to think of something. She stopped and pulled her hand out of Bella's arms. "Wait for me outside."
Hearing the words, Bella looked at Jacob and said clearly, "OK, hurry up."
Then she went out.
Jacob was sitting on the chair playing with his cell phone, with one foot on the side of the chair.
Seeing this, he put his hand down and said happily, "What do you want to say to brother, kiddo?"
Ashley hesitated for a few seconds, and finally asked directly, "Brother, are you short of money?"
He didn't think she was here to ask this. Jacob smiled, "Yeah, what's wrong?"
"Last time we went to a barbecue, Brother Mike also said that you were a tutor nearby."
Ashley whispered, "And then I saw you working here today."
Jacob stared at her, did not speak, quietly.
His eyes were a little puzzled and she could not tell what his mood was.
Ashley began to get nervous and swallowed, "Aren't you going home?"
"Well, a little bit."
This seemed to be an answer to her previous question.
But Ashley didn't react and said "ah" dully.
"Have fun."
Jacob's expression was loose as if he didn't take it to heart at all. "Your little friends are still waiting."
Having said that, he turned around, turned on the faucet, and washed something.
After a while, just when Jacob thought Ashley had left, a crisp voice "Goodbye, brother" sounded behind him, and then there was a sound of footsteps trotting away.
Jacob wiped the table with a rag and glanced back.
His eyes were fixed on the table.
There was a pile of money on it, which seemed to have added a lot more than he had just given her.
At the bottom was a bill of one 50 dollar, and then there was some change of ten and five dollars.
The top was pressed with six or seven one-dollar coins and two fifty cents.
It looked neat and tidy.
It was like she had put all her savings here.
Jacob was numbed for a long time. Then he reached out hesitantly and poked the stack of coins.
The coin tower collapsed and slid onto the table.
He raised his eyebrow and burst out laughing.
‘What's going on?
Why do I really feel guilty about cheating a kid out of money this time?’
Ashley really didn't save a penny for herself, and she borrowed money from Bella for lunch. When she had no money, she always felt uncomfortable when she stayed with a group of unfamiliar classmates.
At five o'clock in the afternoon, they were singing happily in KTV.
Ashley was drinking a cup of tea, her ears were aching because of the loud music. She tangled for a long time and said to Bella, "Bella, I'm going home."
Bella did not hear clearly and looked up, "What?"
Ashley had to raise the volume. "I said I'm going home."
At this time, the chorus of the song just passed and entered a piece of pure music.
Her voice suddenly appeared abrupt.
They all looked in her direction.
Soon, the music played again, breaking the frozen atmosphere.
The others didn't take her words to heart.
Only Ethan came over and sat down in the seat next to her. "Ashley, are you going back?"
"Yes." Ashley said, "My father told me to go back before dark."
After thinking about it, she added, "Happy Birthday."
Ethan was silent for a few seconds, and later said, "I'll take you to the station."
"Why?" Ashley looked strange and stood up. "It’s not necessary. I'm leaving."
She turned around to say goodbye to several people nearby and got out of KTV.
Ashley took the student card out of her bag.
KTV was on the fifth floor of the mall, and the dessert shop was on the fourth floor.
When she took the escalator down to the fourth floor, she stopped for a moment.
Ethan's voice suddenly sounded behind her, "Why did you stop?"
"…”
Ashley was startled and immediately turned back. She had a feeling of being caught and said angrily, "Why are you following me?"
"I didn't follow you." Ethan's expression was a little embarrassed. "I came out to get some air."
"Oh."
Ashley continued to go down, "OK, goodbye."
Ethan still followed her, "lead you out by the way."
Ashley didn't bother to talk to him.
"Right." Ethan scratched his head and found a topic. "There will be a class exam at the beginning of next semester, do you know?"
Ashley nodded. "I hear you've made progress in the final exam."
"…”
"The fifth from the bottom of the grade."
Ethan felt humiliated and reluctantly said, "I was asleep."
Looking at him like this, Ashley seemed thoughtful.
She recalled that what he had told her on the bus and that his parents were called because he did not listen in class, but in fact, it was he who took the initiative to ask the teacher to meet his parents.
She suddenly asked, "Are you feeling inferior?"
Ethan “…”
"It's all right. If you study hard, your grades should improve. "
Ashley said, "Just don't be so lazy and focus on your study. Don't feel inferior. "
"Ashley." Ethan finally couldn't help talking about it in her face. "I don't believe you can't see it."
Ashley paused, "What?"
Ethan did not speak.
"What?"
Thinking about Bella's words, Ashley hesitated to ask, "Do you have a crush on Bella?"
"…”
Ethan almost lost his breath.
He gritted his teeth and said, "Who told you that?"
Ashley innocently said, "I guessed."
Ethan, "Would you please stop guessing?"
Ashley was very inexplicable. "Do you have a crush on me? Impossible."
Ethan stared at her, and said directly, "Anything is possible."
"…”
Ashley's expression finally changed a little. "Ah."
The teenager was young and vigorous, and in the most arrogant tone, he said the most cowardly words, "If I mean, if I had a crush on you, what would you do?"
“…”