the bright-eyed teenage girl stocked the shelf at the front of the shop, cautiously sliding the crystals onto the display. she felt a boost of happiness when the beautiful crystals rested in her palm; the color scheme and the way they reflected the light made her feel breathless. (name) loved hanging around her aunt's shop. besides a few unpleasant customers from time to time, mystiria could act as a stress reliever.

"don't forget the boxes over here," cade forrester, the red-headed boy her aunt hired, gestured to the two boxes in front of the register. his legs were crossed as he rested them over the counter, his eyes never leaving his skateboarding magazine. cade was an attractive boy, (name) had to give him that, but he was just so damn lazy.

"cade, isn't this your job?" (name) huffed as she stood up from the now fully restocked shelf. forrester was the only person her aunt employed to work at the shop, yet he hardly did much. most of the time, he'd have his nose deep in a magazine or comic book. she wasn't sure why her aunt hadn't fired him yet.

"i'm doing my job, sweetheart. i'm supposed to be at the register," cade briefly glanced up from his magazine to look at her.

"you're insufferable sometimes, you know that?" she muttered under her breath, heading to the counter to pick up one of the boxes.

"so i've been told," cade shrugged his shoulders, smiling at the picture of a really nice skateboard imprinted into the paper.

(name) scoffed, feeling a bit bitter. she didn't dislike cade but he had a way of getting under your skin. he could just be so. . . irritating. she just couldn't help but think about slapping that pretty face of his, the fair skin flushing an angry red. forrester was getting paid to do nothing while she did all of his tasks.

(name) huffed as she opened the box and began to pull out a few copies of occult healing books. she neatly began to place them onto the vacant shelf. it didn't take too long and when she stepped back to admire her work, she was greeted with a rainbow on the books' spines. it really stood out against the neutral colors surrounding it.

the front doorbell chimed, indicated a customer had just entered. (name) placed the empty cardboard box near the back door so it would be out of the way. she went to the front to greet the customer because she knew cade wouldn't.

a boy around her age with dirty blonde hair was observing the crystals she had just put up, playing with the hem of his striped shirt as he did so. there was another boy accompanying him but his back was facing her. he had jet-black hair and it matched the color of his attire. (name) wasn't judging his clothing decisions, she was just amazed at the fact that his outfit was exactly the same shade of black.

"hello, welcome to mystiria, please let me know if you need anything," (name)'s voice was sickly sweet, she hoped she hadn't sounded too fake. she was still a bit annoyed with cade and that put a damper on her mood.

"will do, thank you," the blonde patron nodded, smiling slightly.

his ebony clad accomplice hadn't said much, just a simple, grumbled, "hi."

the two continued to browse before the blonde walked up to the register, a book with a leather cover tucked under his arm. the noirette sulked closely behind. (name) shooed cade away, it's not like he was going to ring them up anyway.

"find everything okay?" (name) asked as she scanned the book with the word "witchcraft" etched into the cover with pretty, golden calligraphy.

the blonde hummed while he looked at everything but her eyes. from the way, he tucked his arms behind his back and the way he bounced on the balls of his feet, (name) assumed he was a bit nervous. she felt very empathetic if he was experiencing social anxiety.

the noirette now stood next to his brother and she could finally see his face, how could she forget it? his scratch was scarring over.

once he saw her, his expression remained stoic, though there was a flash of panic in his amber eyes.

she didn't physically acknowledge it but she noticed wednesday's brief glances. his eyes would dart back to staring down at his converse.

"that'll be five-forty nine," (name) slid the book of witchcraft back to him. the boy with the striped shirt pulled out his wallet and to her surprise, a lone spider crawled out from the flap. the boy was quick to notice, waving a hand to quickly usher it back inside.

the arthropod must have understood because it crawled back into his wallet. the boy let out a sigh of relief, pulling out the needed amount of cash like nothing happened.

(name) ignored it; she'd seen far more stranger things before. when she was giving him back his change, her eyes met wednesday's. his body visibly tensed up and she felt guilty.

"thank you for coming. have a nice night," the two nodded and wednesday grabbed his brother's arm, almost rushing out of the shop.

"what the hell was that?" cade's eyebrows furrowed, "did you scare them off?"

(name) proceeded to land a heavy punch to his shoulder.

"ow! what was that for?"

.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・．

wednesday when he sees the reader: