"Seriously, I just seemed to be in the zone when they had me doing pass routes. The moment I got the ball in my hands, everything seemed to slow down like I had all the time in the..."
"Wait! Wait!" Alex said, interrupting Han. "You want all of us to believe that you just happened to be able to do what you did?" He pointed over at Claire and said, "She was there and saw how everyone reacted. There is no way you can just pass off what you did as just being 'in the zone'" He made air quotes to impress further how ridiculous he found Han's explanation to be.
"What do you want me to say, Alex, that I'm some kind of god that reincarnated himself and my skills at tryouts were an extension of my godly abilities?" Han threw both hands into the air in frustration.
Alex scrunched up his face at Han's words. "If you had that kind of ability you'd have given yourself a better-looking face," he spat.
As Alex was grilling Han, neither of them heard Claire's words, "I think Han has a pretty nice looking face."
Hannah looked over at her best friend and reached out with one of her hands and rubbed Claire's arm in support.
"Think about it, if you had superpowers then you'd be one of the top students at the school, but you barely do better than I do. Or, you'd be going off and fighting crime and getting beautiful girls, like they do in the comics." Alex continued.
"Only you'd think about that!" Hannah chimed in with a frown on her face.
Alex glanced over at Hannah with a nervous look on his face, "I was just saying what they do in the comics, not what I'd do."
"Even though you're also hitting on the college girls at the mall," Hannah countered.
"When did this become about me? I thought we were talking about how Han suddenly turned into Mr. Football?" He glanced over at Han for support.
"I'm just saying that I may have just been somewhat skilled and lucky. I remember my old man telling me about his days playing on the varsity team, so maybe I just got some of his natural skills?" Han tried to explain.
The three of them looked at Han with doubt all over their faces, likely not believing such an explanation. "Though the idea of your skills somehow being passed from your dad is dubious, at least it's something believable compared to thinking that you're some kind of superhero," Claire rolled her head in exasperation.
"Either way, congratulations, Han, on getting onto the football team," Hannah said.
"Thanks, Hannah. It isn't official; the assistant coach said they would let me know whether I made the team later this week," He answered.
With the atmosphere returning to normal, the four of them went back into study mode. Han leaned over and grabbed his backpack, picking it up and placing it on the table. The entire time the three of them had grilled him on how he was able to perform so well, so he never had a chance to take out his textbooks. Opening up his pack, Han pulled out his Chemistry textbook and supplies. Placing his bag back on the floor, Han turned to his school book and opened it up to the chapter they had gone over.
Previously, he had never given much thought to Chemistry, only understanding superficial concepts that films and anime had covered. His school work was never unusually high, due to his prior study habits and intellect not complimenting science-related fields. He understood some business-related areas, like accounting and finance, and computer-related fields, like computer graphics and programming. After taking some business-related classes, such as individual taxation courses, he would sometimes help friends fill out their tax forms. Having an interest in creating his own anime, Han had taken computer graphic and animation classes. With the odd non-related courses, it had taken Han a while to complete his schooling. Luckily, Han was grateful to land a job after college.
Reading his Chemistry book, Han felt like he understood the field a lot more. "For an Electron to be attracted to another Atom, a sufficient need for balance must exist. This is one reason for atoms to lose, steal, or share electrons." Han read from the chapter. "I wonder how this connects to my own ability to create things. Protons are what makes up an element, while the number of electrons dictates its charge." He pondered to himself. "Since my power is called "Creation," does this mean that I can create and control subatomic particles or does it have something to do with quantum mechanics?"
The four of them quietly studied the material, even Alex who was likely wanting to not think about how Han had transformed into someone who knew how to play football. Han enjoyed the atmosphere of studying, though not when it was just him. It was a beautiful feeling to get together with friends and study.
A rumbling noise interrupted their peaceful atmosphere, causing Han to look up to see where the sound was coming from. Seeing Hannah's blushing face, he realized it was the sound of her stomach.
"Do you guys want to go to the mall and get something to eat?" She tried to act as nothing had happened.
"I think that's a great idea, even though I was deep inside this chapter," Alex innocently said, earning him an eye-roll from Claire.
Closing his book, Han said, "Going to the mall sounds like a great idea. We've been in this place for several hours already, and we can swing by the mall before heading home." Looking over at the clock on the wall, Han saw that they had a couple of hours before the food court closed.
They all began putting their things away as they prepared to leave the library and head to the mall, which was near the edge of the city. The mall was a recently added so had to be built near the city limits. This meant that it was further away but popular with Alex since it was closer to the university. Having such proximity to the college gave Alex a chance to interact with college girls, who usually expertly dodged his flirting. Han always enjoyed watching him get shot down as if they were expert anti-aircraft gunners in the previous war. This was to be the expected outcome, considering they were only middle school students.
"Let's try that new burger joint inside the food court, I heard that their cheese fries are mind-blowing!" Alex said after they finished putting on their backpacks and were walking towards the elevator.
"I'm partial to the pizza place," Hannah commented.
Getting into the elevator and reaching the ground floor, they made their way to the door as they talked about what they wanted to eat at the mall. Han waved at the assistant librarian as they went their way out of the library.
The road in front of the library led directly towards the mall, so they made their way in that direction. In the other direction, Han could see the government buildings for the city which looked similar to the library. With the government buildings in the center, the city's main street formed a plus sign with minor roads leading to various areas like the suburbs, where they all lived.
"You excited about the new horror movies coming out?" Alex asked Han as they all walked.
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"There are a couple I'm interested in," Han nonchalantly said.
"I don't know how you guys can watch those movies," Claire commented with Hannah nodding her head in agreement.
Kicking a small pebble on the sidewalk and watching it skip over to the grass, Han said, "There's just something about horror movies that make you wonder about the world and universe we live in."
"Yeah," Alex agreed. "It makes you wonder if any of us would ever be in a similar scenario, where we run into a monster or serial killer." He lowered his voice while moving closer to Hannah, "Just think about it, we're camping in the middle of a forest enjoying the campfire, when you suddenly hear the snapping of a branch somewhere in the darkness." Alex lowered his head and looked back and forth, "Soon, you hear the rustling of the bushes and wonder if there's someone or something out in the darkness.
"Quit it," Hannah said as she tried not to picture the scenario.
Ignoring Hannah's protests, Alex continued, "You go out to see if it's just an animal, when suddenly..."
Han snapped a twig he found while Alex was telling his story right behind Hannah, causing her to shriek and jump.
Alex and Han laughed at Hannah's reaction, who had run towards Claire. The two of them high-fived at their successful prank.
"You boys are horrible!" Claire yelled as she comforted the crying Hannah.
The two of them slowly stopped laughing. Alex, seeing Hannah still distraught from the prank said, "I'm sorry Hannah, we didn't mean to scare you that much."
"Yeah, Hannah," Han also apologized, wincing under Claire's glare.
"I'll get you your favorite ice cream shake at the food court if you forgive me," Alex said. Seeing Hannah in such distress, he looked guilty about the incident.
Hannah's crying soon turned into giggles once she heard Alex's offer. She turned towards and startled the two of them with her grinning face. "How do you like being the one that gets pranked?" She said to Alex and Han.
Han looked over at Claire, who was also grinning.
"Wha...? Then all that crying was faked?" Alex said looking confused.
"You owe me a strawberry shake with fruit on top," Hannah said as she stuck out her tongue.
Alex looked over at Claire, who said, "Don't look at me, you deserve what you get for trying to scare Hannah."
Han pointed and laughed at Alex who looked defeated. "She got you good! You should have seen your face!"
"Don't think you're getting away from this! You have to share your cheese fries with me!" Claire said to Han, who turned to look at her.
"Why do I have to share my food with you?" He demanded.
Claire and Hannah locked arms and walked faster, ignoring Alex and Han's protests.
The two of them walked faster to catch up to the two girls. Han thought about how scary girls could be with their acting skills.
Walking towards the mall was a decent amount of effort, but they all enjoyed the trip considering they were able to gossip over various topics. Slowly, the number of significant buildings were replaced by smaller stores and occasional houses. This was an area for those who were not as well off. It was odd how this place existed between the mall and downtown, two locations with a lot of economic potentials, though such benefits didn't trickle down to this area.
After passing through the lower-income neighborhood, there was a massive sign that read, "Welcome to Cherry State University." On the other side of the road was the public university, marked with newer looking buildings and manicured lawns. It was a famous university, specializing in agriculture. Having a focus on farming technologies, the school was one of the largest in the country due to the number of academic farms it had on the property.
Just beyond the university on the same side they were walking on, was the mall. Being across from the school, the city had designed the building to be rather large having two floors. A wide range of stores existed inside of the mall and attracted people from both the city and university. It even had people coming in from neighboring counties coming to shop at the location, generating a decent amount of revenue for the government.
Looking at the main entrance, Han always marveled at the design of the upside down step pyramid which gave it a futuristic look to it. Behind the entrance were several rectangular shapes of varying sizes for the different story layouts inside. One side of the mall jutted out and angled where it was all window panes, giving it an open look to it. With all the natural light coming through and being across from the school, this was where the food court was located.
"It looks a little busier than usual," Hannah pointed out, after seeing the number of college students heading to the food court.
"It's probably due to the school allowing students to use their food allowance at the mall," Claire said. "I remember dad talking about that."
Hannah nodded her head, "I think I remember daddy talking about that several days ago. He believes it'll be good for the city and the school."
The four of them headed towards the food court entrance once they reached the mall. Aside from Han, the other three behaved differently due to the number of college students. Han grinned at seeing the happy expression on Alex's face. Next to Alex, Hannah had an annoyed expression at how Alex was checking out all the college girls. Han silently prayed for Alex that his friend would be able to survive Hannah's determination on becoming a couple.
As they went through the sliding doors, the sounds of laughter and talking washed over them.
"That's the place!" Alex pointed towards the row of food stalls.
Han and the girls turned towards where Alex was pointed at and saw a line of people waiting to get food. "Star and Moon grill? That's an odd name for a fast food joint." Claire mentioned.
"Who cares about that! Let's try that place out!" Alex ignored Claire's doubtful voice.
"The line is pretty long, don't you think we should try someplace else?" Han mentioned to Alex, looking at all other joints that weren't as busy.
Alex adamantly shook his head, "Dude, everyone is talking about this place. There's no way we can just go to the usual places without trying this place out at least one time." Leaning over to Han, he said, "Supposedly the girls that work there are models."
"Boys!" Claire sniffed, taking Hannah's hand and heading to the back of the line. Hannah looked like she shared a similar sentiment as Claire with the withering look she was directing at Alex.
"What's up with them?" Alex asked, looking confused.
Han placed an arm on Alex's shoulder and laughed, "You're going to have a lot of fun once Hannah starts pursuing you seriously."
"Like that would happen," Alex said blushing.
"What do you mean?" Han asked as they slowly walked.
"Hannah's going to go off to some nice private university and go to medical school, like Claire. There's no reason why she would be serious with a guy like me." Alex said.
Hearing the serious tone in Alex's voice, Han said, "just because Hannah is more than likely going to medical school doesn't mean that she's not serious about you. There's still a long while before she's going to be heading off to college. You shouldn't let stuff like that get in the way." He lightly punched Alex in the chest, while he still had an arm across Alex's shoulders.
Alex merely nodded his head noncommittally, not really believing in Han's words.
With them getting close to the girls, Han didn't want to continue such a serious conversation and he figured that Alex felt the same.
"You guys walk so slow," Claire said looking at the two of them.
"What wrong, Alex?" Hannah asked when she noticed his demeanor, moving towards him.
"I guess I'm just hungrier than I thought I was," Alex laughed, placing a hand on his stomach.
Hannah reached out with one of her hands but stopped short of grabbing his hand. "I'm sure the food will taste great and then you'll feel better," Hannah tried to reassure him.
Alex smiled at Hannah and nodded his head.
"Dude, this place is off the charts," a college student lining up behind them said to his buddy.
"If your girlfriend finds out you came back, you're going to be in deep trouble," his buddy laughed. "I heard that this place only hires seriously hot chicks! Becky from our Economics class was able to get a job here."
"Becky?! Dude, how the hell did that girl get a job at this place? I heard that Sarah from the dance team couldn't get a job here and she's got agents trying to scout her for modeling gigs." The first guy said.
"Yeah, man! At the start of the semester, they were looking to hire people, while the place was being built. They sent her to the main office for training and the last time I saw her, Becky was smoking hot! The crazy thing is she's even doing better than when we took Economics with her." His buddy explained.
Both Claire and Hannah looked like they were trying their hardest not to appear like they were listening in on the conversation. Alex didn't seem like he heard what the two guys were talking about, likely feeling a little down about earlier. Han was pretty impressed with how quickly the line was moving, not in the way you felt at certain fast food restaurants. Seeing the people walking away with their food, Han noticed that they all seemed relaxed and a little upbeat.
When the line moved closer, he got a chance to check out the menu. The items listed didn't seem very different from what he had seen at other food joints, which was odd considering how much praises Alex was giving this place.
Soon the people in front of them moved and revealed several cash registers, with a worker waiting behind them. Two of the registers had the people in front of them making their orders, while one of them had a cheerful looking girl waiting for them.
"What can I create for you today?" The girl asked them.
Alex seemed to cheer up immediately and moved towards the girl. "Hey there. This is our first time here, what do you recommend?" He gave the girl a broad smile, going back to his old ways.
"All our burgers are prepared fresh and use the best ingredients, so all of them are very delicious. We also have some seafood options, like our fried shrimp or fish sandwich. The ice cream that our shakes use is made inside each Star and Moon location, which gives it that extra goodness." She explained in a precise manner, while not looking annoyed or bothered about having to say this. When she was indicating to each item, she seemed genuinely passionate about presenting the selection.
"Remember that you owe me cheese fries," Claire elbowed him when she thought Han was checking out the girl for too long.
"Hey, Alex, let's just get some drinks, burgers, and cheese fries," Han said.
"Okay." Alex nodded and repeated the order to the cashier girl.
Each of them lifted their wrists and tapped on the scanner, completing the order. The girl then indicated where their orders would appear. When they walked over to the pick-up location, they noticed that the people who were ahead of them were already walking away with their food. Han was impressed with how quick the process was.
"Here are your orders," a girl said to them in a way that wasn't too loud or soft. With graceful efficiency, she placed four trays on the presentation area and gave them a warm smile. Instead of turning around to start a different task, she waited patiently for them to take their food. "May you create happy memories," the girl said to them when each of them took their respective trays.
As they were talking to an open table, Hannah mentioned, "the people there seemed really nice and happy."
"Yeah. It kind of makes you want to work there." Claire agreed.
"There's an open table over there," Han said noticing some students getting up to leave.
The four of them picked up their pace, not wanting someone else to grab the table with how busy the food court was that night. When they reached the table, each of them organized themselves with the girls on one side and the boys on another.
Sitting on the chair and looking at the food, Han admitted to himself that the aroma was pleasant. There wasn't the usual greasy smell that most fast food places had. Looking at the packaging, Han noticed that there were little images on the side of the package. The images seemed to give directions on how to use the box the burger came in.
"Check this out!" Alex said. "You can use the lid as a platform for the burger!" Alex took both of his hands and split the top open to reveal the food. Lifting up the box, the two halves of the top were folded down to create a mini podium for the burger.
"You can even use the box to hold the burger as you eat, so you don't get your hands messy," Claire added. She looked amazed at how the package seemed to be able to do so much.
Hannah looked preoccupied with eating her food. When she finished her sandwich, Hannah said, "Alex, you're right! This food is a lot better than the other places!"
Seeing how quickly Hannah ate her food, Claire took a bite and nodded her head as her mouth full.
Han tried the food and thought it was several times better than what was usually served at restaurants. It didn't taste better than his mom's cooking, but he imagined she would enjoy eating here. When he got home, Han planned on telling his family about this location.
The rest of the items were just as good, creating another wave of comments from the girls. Alex didn't say anything, but from the way he was devouring the food, they all knew that he agreed.
Above them, the lights in the mall increased in brightness, to offset the setting of the sun. Claire looked behind her and noticed how dark it was getting. "We should probably get back," she suggested.
"My daddy is probably wondering where I am," Hannah agreed.
After putting away their trash into one of the dedicated Star and Moon trash bins, where the trays could be placed on top, they made their way out of the food court.
Leaving the mall, his friends began chatting about how excellent the Star and Moon grill was while Han looked at the setting sun and smiled.