"Kim, when you're finished with those markdowns can you start helping me restock shelves?" Jason asked, as he passed by her, holding three boxes of merchandise.

She sighed pointedly, loud enough for Jason to hear. "Sure," Kim said anyway, frustrated that she was still only on the 'R' section of CDs now on clearance.

Kim didn't particularly hate her job, but they were nearing closing time and the store wasn't looking anywhere near ready to close. This wasn't an abnormal occurrence, but Jason and Kim had to be up early tomorrow for a volunteer event- not that their boss, Mr. Goldar would care. He'd gone home hours before, telling the two teens to have the store ready by tomorrow morning, or they'd risk losing their jobs.

She clicked the markdown gun once more, trying to change Boys ii Men's "End of the Road" from $19.99 to 12.97, but the gun jammed. Cursing, she opened up the gun, trying to fix the roll inside. No use- she'd have to get another. They'd be lucky to even get an hour of sleep.

Just as she moved to get up from her squatting position on the floor, her knees protesting, the chimes at the front of the store rang, alerting her to someone coming in- she looked at the clock, twenty minutes before closing.

Kim listened for the conversation, trying to evaluate how long this person would stay based on their questions.

"Hey," Jason greeted them. Kim frowned. He didn't greet them by name, which meant they weren't a regular, and perhaps from out of town. "Do you need help finding anything?"

"Yeah, actually," the stranger said, their voice high and girlish. Kim guessed she was someone snooty and shallow- her favourite film was probably Clueless. "Could you help me find this album? It's really hard to find, for some reason. It's called Cherry Peel? "

If Kim wasn't heavily eavesdropping before, she was now. She loved of Montreal, especially that album. Maybe Alicia Silverstone could be kinda pretty, she thought.

"That sounds familiar," she heard Jason admit, "but I've kind of got some stuff to do," a loud rustling, probably Jason dropping the boxes by the new arrivals shelf, "I'll get my coworker to help you- Kim?"

She was already dusting imaginary dust over her knees to prepare herself to talk to this customer, when Jason appeared from behind the shelves, passing by her again to grab more boxes from storage.

"There's a customer over there," he said, coming out of the back with more boxes.

"Who?" She figured it might've just been someone they didn't recognize, but still lived in town. Regardless, she was curious.

He held the back door open with his foot, struggling somewhat with carrying the inventory out of it, "honestly, I don't know. I've never seen her around before."

"Really?" Kim asked, her head perking up. "Is she cute?"

Jason looked annoyed, his arms shaking from the weight in his arms, "I don't know, damn, I didn't see her face properly since all I see are boxes! "

"Oh," she said, feeling disappointed.

"She's asking for the Cherry Peel album- fuck," he cursed, as he dropped a box.

She loved that album, and said as much. "I love that album."

Jason rolled his eyes, finally freeing himself from the storage room without dropping anything else, "great, so can you help her find it now?"

"Why can't you?" She asked, suddenly feeling shy.

He didn't answer that, instead choosing to glare at her, and gestured to the boxes in his hands.

She grinned sheepishly, realizing finally that he might've been struggling, "oh, right," she chuckled.

Dropping her markdown gun and tossing her hair, she made her way to the front of the store to meet the stranger.

"Hey," Kim greeted the girl, once she was within earshot. Definitely not a fan of clueless, that much was clear from her appearance.

She was a little shorter than Kim, a beanie shoved haphazardly over her dark, overly layered, messy hair, and she wore a baggy red flannel over a tight grey cropped shirt. Her ripped jean shorts and black Docs complimented the look. If anything, her face was the only thing about her that Kim got right- she was unbelievably cute and girlish looking, and it should've clashed, but ended up complimenting her heavy eye makeup and lip piercing.

"So, uh, you were the girl looking for Cherry Peel, right?" Kim coughed, after the girl smirked at her from being caught checking her out.

"Yeah, kind of on the lighter side of my taste," she replied, blatantly giving Kim the same treatment as she looked the taller girl up and down. Andyou could be too, the gesture said.

Kim felt her ears heat up at the action, but continued despite herself. "I actually don't know many people who've heard about them," she said, impressed, "I love them! But we only really have one CD, since they're not really in demand."

The girl shoved her hands into her pockets, looking positively cool. "That's a shame, they're amazing."

"I know," Kim agreed, maybe a little too enthusiastically. She changed gears to cover her slip up, "uh, let me see if I can find it."

"Wow, thanks so much," the customer said, following Kim as she made her way deeper into the store, "you sure you don't want it, though?"

Kim grinned at her from behind her shoulder. "Nah, I already bought the album off my cousin's CD catalogue, so I'm good. Thanks for the thought, though."

They walked in silence for a bit, until they came to a stop in front of a miscellaneous shelf. Kim scanned the shelf quickly, looking for the familiar red and blue on the cover of it.

'Aha,' she muttered under her breath as she pulled the CD from where it stood. She handed it to the shorter girl, blowing some of the dust away before she did so. "It's kinda dusty since no one really shops in this section, but there it is."

"Thanks," she said, accepting the CD from Kim and smiled good-naturedly at the taller girl. The piercing was one thing, but she had a cute gap between her teeth, and Kim had to remind herself to stay cool.

"No problem."

There was a pause then, the two awkwardly staring at each other, until the stranger shifted on her feet, and ran a hand through her hair.

"Hey, um," she started, looking embarrassed, "would my cool-girl-with-a-good-music-taste persona be ruined if I asked you where you kept the cassingle for Wannabe?"

Kim laughed, not having expected that. "You mean, like, by the Spice Girls?"

"Maybe," she hinted, not wanting to admit that yes, she was looking for Wannabe, 'like, by the spice girls.' "It's for my mom?"

"That's a shame," Kim joked, pretending to look absolutely devastated by this news, "because I happen to love the Spice Girls."

"Really? I meant it was for me," the girl said, playing along.

"Aha," Kim said accusingly, as if she'd just solved some sort of mystery, "caught you. Now I know it's for you."

"Not fair," she pouted cutely, but still looked amused.

Kim shrugged. "Life isn't fair," she shrugged, moving to the next shelf slowly so that the customer could follow, but went on, "but I do love the Spice Girls. Personally, I'd consider myself a Posh Spice."

The girl narrowed her eyes at Kim, but softened, finding something in them that made her share what she said next, "I'd like to think I'm a Sporty or Scary Spice."

"Really?" Kim asked, sounding doubtful, "if I had to guess, I'd say you're more of a Baby Spice."

She rolled her eyes at Kim, and instead of feeling offended, Kim couldn't help but find the action adorable. "Is it just because I'm short and my voice is really high?"

"Yeah, that," the taller girl agreed, somehow no longer having a filter, "but you're also just really cute."

The girl blushed, and Kim found herself swooning. "You're not too bad yourself," she remarked, smirking despite her red cheeks.

There was a pause again.

"Anyway," Kim said, shaking herself to focus on the situation after she'd realized she'd just been staring at this girl, "it's right here in the Top Hits section." She gestured to the 'S' section of the wall, in case it hadn't been clear enough that they were now standing in front of it.

"Okay, thanks, I think I can handle the rest from here," she said politely, noticing the slightly awkward tension, and effectively dismissing Kim, "I need to look for more pop cassingles for my- uh, mom."

Kim chuckled at that, thankful for the joke to break the tension, "right. See you at the cash, then."

She nodded once more at the customer, narrowly bumping into a wall as she walked away, and figured she could get the girl's name and number once she cashed her out.

The bells at the front chimed again, and Kim looked up worriedly from where she was staked out near the register to check if the cute customer had left without buying anything.

"Hey, Kim," a familiar face greeted her once they made eye contact, "can you help me find all the CDs on this list for my nephew?"

She glanced back at the Heavy Metal shelf where the grunge girl was now located, and, figuring she had plenty of time, she turned back to the newcomer.

"Yeah, of course, Mr. Oliver," she agreed.

Plenty of time.

Plenty of time? As if!

Kim was only halfway done finding the items on Mr. Oliver's very long list of obscure bands, when she noticed that Jason was cashing out the cute girl from before.

The cute girl from before that she was meant to get a number from!

She rushed through the list, trying to finish helping Mr. Oliver before the girl could leave, and she'd almost finished, but the old man pulled out another list.

"Thanks so much, young lady," he said, "but can you help me find these albums now? They're for my niece."

The bell chimed as she left, and Kim could only watch longingly as the girl disappeared from sight.

"Sure, Mr. Oliver," she said glumly, suddenly hating the man.

"Relax, it's a small town- you'll probably see her again," Jason sympathized, after they'd closed and Kim had finally finished talking about 'the one who got away,' as she'd dubbed the cute customer.

It was nearing 3am, and it seemed to Jason that Kim wasn't going to get over this encounter anytime soon. They were in his red pickup truck, on their way home. Being neighbours since childhood, they were basically siblings, and carpooled to and from literally anywhere they went together.

"You don't know that," she frowned, and slumped back in Jason's car seat.

He yawned, tired from not only this conversation, but also from carrying boxes all day. "Then we can look for her tomorrow," he promised.

"We can't," she sighed, as if this information was killing her, "we have the carnival tomorrow."

Right. He'd almost forgotten. "Then the day after," he corrected himself, and pulled into his driveway. "Now get some sleep- the three hours that we can, at least."

"You ready?" Jason asked, on her front porch at exactly 8am, like he was, every year for this stupid event. He looked tired, and loosened his tie slightly from his baggy grey suit.

"You bet," she deadpanned, closing her front door behind her as she joined him outside. Despite having woken up just 15 minutes ago, Kim's eyes were neatly lined with black eyeliner, accented lightly with a purple eyeshadow. She'd thrown on a white crop top with the words 'LOVE' written on the chest, and paired it with a pair of dark high-waisted red jeans, a heart studded belt holding them up.

Jason nodded and walked over to the driver's seat of his truck, but not before frowning at Kim's attire.

"What?" Kim asked, once they'd both settled in.

He started the engine, and reversed. "Nothing."

"You have something to say about my outfit," Kim insisted, unhappy at his avoidance of the question.

They did the carnival every year since they were kids, and last year was meant to be their last time. But then, Jason had to get busted for tipping a cow over with Zack, and since this was his first crime related incident, the police decided to just ban him from his final year of football, and give him 300 hours of community service instead of sending him to Juvy.

Being Jason's best friend, she was roped into doing the community service hours with him, and was therefore back for one more year at the carnival. The difference was, every year her mother signed the both of them up, which meant she had no control over where she volunteered.

"It's just- you're wearing that ?" He asked, his disapprovement evident in his tone.

"What's wrong with this? " She questioned, feeling suddenly self conscious of her choice to go casual this year. "You'd better be careful with your answer- since the only reason why I'm here again is because of you."

Her mother choosing where she signed up meant Kim was always working at the Kissing Booth, since she was the only volunteer every year who didn't look like they spent all their time on the internet. Well, her, and Katherine Hillard, who always ended up taking the second shift at the Kissing Booth anyway. Sometimes, being pretty bit you in the ass.

"There's nothing wrong with it," Jason said quickly, feeling grateful but also guilty that Kim was volunteering with him. "I just meant- don't you normally wear a dress or something?"

The Kissing Booth's uniform also called for a more formal outfit, something about boys not wanting to kiss a girl who wore pants. Kim was mainly just grateful she didn't have to shave her legs.

"Yeah, but I'm not working at the Kissing Booth this year," she said, picking at her nails. Then, she turned sharply to look at him. "Right?"

He pulled over into the makeshift parking lot of the carnival, avoiding her gaze.

"Um," he finally said, "not really sure. Zack signed us up, remember?"

Before she could properly ask him what that meant, Mrs. Hillard, an organizer of the carnival and mother of Kat, interrupted them.

"Kim, Jason," she greeted them, clipboard in her hands, "I trust you know where you're at?"

Jason opened his mouth to reply, but Kim cut him off, "no, actually," she said, curious to find out where Zack had signed her up.

Mrs. Hillard tsked, but looked down at her clipboard to tell them anyway. "Let's see," she murmured, pulling her red glasses down so she could properly read the sheet, "Jason, you're a basket boy," he knew that, but groaned anyway. He hated wearing suits.

"Kim," she said, pointedly ignoring Jason's unenthusiastic response, "just like every year-" her stomach dropped. Say it isn't so! "You're at the Kissing Booth. Your outfit's not exactly up to standard, but," she pushed her glasses back onto her face, "there's no time to go back and change. You're both late."

When Mrs. Hillard disappeared, Kim turned to murder Jason.

Unfortunately for her, he was already a fair distance away, having run ahead into the carnival.

"It wasn't me, it was Zack!" He called from behind his shoulder, his voice barely audible.

She sighed, feeling too tired and defeated to continue being angry, and made her way to the kissing booth.

She'd barely taken a step inside the actual carnival when a blur of flannel collided into her side.

"I'm walking here!" Kim exclaimed, already fed up with the day.

"Sorry," the person chuckled, sounding vaguely familiar. "Hey, I've seen you before- you're from the record shop, right?"

Kim turned to look at the girl properly, her scowl fading quickly when her breath nearly caught. "Yeah," she cleared her throat after she'd cracked, "and you're the girl with the kickass music taste."

The girl laughed, and Kim felt butterflies go off in her stomach. "Or maybe you've got a good one," she stuck her hand out, "Trini."

"That's probably it," Kim agreed, thinking that her name had suited her well- it was somehow simultaneously girlish, with a tomboy undertone from being a nickname. "Kim," she introduced herself, taking her hand.

She was already late to the kissing booth, would it hurt anybody if she was just a little bit more late?

"Kim, you're hurting the carnival's fundraising by being late to the Kissing Booth, for God's sakes," Mrs. Hillard said, somehow appearing from nowhere, "get going!"

Kim frowned at that, and grinned sheepishly at Trini, who stared at her, amused.

"Sorry, duty calls," she said, letting Mrs. Hillard pull her away, but called out flirtatiously while she was still in earshot of Trini, "I'll be beside the ferris wheel!"

Trini quirked an eyebrow at that, but nodded, indicating she heard Kim.

Kim's high spirits were almost ruined when the Kissing Booth had finally come into her line of vision. The line was ridiculously long, just like it was every year, but she figured there would be less boys, now that she was the ex-head cheerleader.

They can strip you of your social status, but hotness doesn't fade away, Zack's voice rang in her mind, from when he was encouraging Jason that someone would definitely want to buy his basket at the auction.

She took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for the amount of frogs she was going to have to kiss today, and popped a mint in her mouth.

Trini better fucking show up to this.

Her lips were sore, she desperately needed mouthwash, and she'd probably already kissed at least fifty guys. She wasn't sure- she'd lost count after thirty-eight. In what way would someone think a kissing booth was a good idea? Who actually liked kissing a bunch of creepy, slimy men?

She sighed and looked down at her watch. 12:05. It was 5 minutes past when her shift should've ended, and Katherine still wasn't there. Kim couldn't blame her; Katherine was a lot like Kim when she was a sophomore, having been pressured into popularity and hating it. The Kissing Booth was hell to anyone who had to work there.

"Hey," a girl's voice said, breaking her out of her thoughts as she stood next to Kim on the stage. "I'm here to relieve you of your shift."

Thank God. "What the hell, Katherine? You're late. Do you know how inconsiderate that is?" Although Kim understood her reasoning, it didn't mean she wasn't entitled to being pissed off for kissing more people than she'd wanted to.

"Jeez, sorry," she apologized, snapping her gum in her mouth as she rolled her eyes. "At least I showed up."

Kim glared at her as she walked off the stage. When she stared at who was next in line out of curiosity, however, she found herself running back quickly to the dreadedKisser's seat.

"Wait, Kitty," Kim said, now desperately needy instead of pissed off, "can you just wait one more person?"

Katherine gave her a weird look, but got up off the seat anyway. "Whatever."

She plopped down gratefully onto the chair, and watched as Trini walked onto the stage.

However, just as the shorter girl sat in the seat across from Kim, Jason hopped onto the stage and pulled her up into a standing position, looking panicked.

"Kim, the basket boy auction is starting!" He exclaimed, sounding not at all like his usual calm self.

She stared at him, annoyed and confused by his behaviour. She just wanted to kiss a damn girl! Why was everyone making this so hard for her? "So?"

"So, I need you to bid on me! Otherwise no one else will," he explained, moving his hand along as if she should've known this.

"Jace, sweetheart," she put her hand on his shoulder in mock comfort, her voice condescendingly low and soothing, "you're the star quarterback of the football team, remember? Last year, you were sold for $300, and you only had saltine crackers in your basket."

His hands were in his hair, like the world was ending before his eyes and there was nothing he could do about it. "But that was last year! And I'm ex quarterback! Now, no one's gonna want me!"

Kim shared a look with Trini, trying to apologize for her best friend's strange behaviour.

"Jason, did you not have this talk with Zack? Remember? 'Hotness doesn't fade away? ' He wasn't wrong, look at the size of this line-"

He shook his head quickly, cutting Kim off, "-Zack also made me tip a cow over and got me back into this mess!"

That shut Kim up for a second, "you have a point there. But can I just do something first?"

"We don't have time, we're already ten minutes late," he said, scooping Kim up and throwing her over his shoulder, "I promise I'll pay for whatever price you bid on me, and do your chores for a week."

"Jason, put me down!" Kim yelled, but her efforts were useless, and all she could do was watch as Trini watched her be carried away, no doubt confused by the interaction.

Kim stared glumly at the stage, her paddle hanging carelessly from her right hand as she waited for Jason to be called up. She waited as the first two boys were being auctioned off, knowing that Jason was going to be third, same as every year.

Zack was the only new basket boy in the lineup, replacing Mr. Oliver's nephew Tommy, which pushed him to the front of the line. Just like Tommy, he was sought after, although not in the same way.

Where Tommy was a jock, Zack was the town's badboy, with devilishly handsome good looks. In case that wasn't enough, in his basket, he had takeout from Tiger Boy, not wanting his mom to know he had to be a basket boy for community service. He sold for seventy dollars.

Next was Billy Cranston, a sweet, soft spoken boy from their class at school. He was cute in a nerdy way, and kept to himself, mostly. His basket was always known for the quality of them, being some sort of full course meal packed by his mother. He was sold quickly for a humble forty dollars.

"He's pretty good at football, but absolutely terrible with animals, namely cows," the announcer started, and Kim cringed at how inconsiderate that was. No wonder Jason wanted her to be there. "At seventeen, this boy's already ruined his own career, but here's your ex-star quarterback- ladies and gentlemen, Jason Scott!"

Jason walked onto the stage in his grey suit, his basket hanging limply by his side. He looked embarrassed and angry, his face red in the heat.

"I'll start the bidding off at ten dollars?"

Kim waited, looking to see if anyone would bid on him.

When ten seconds passed, and no one did, Kim sighed, raising her paddle. Zack was wrong.

"We've got ten dollars over there," the announcer said, sounding surprised, but quickly resumed his speech, "ten dollars, do I hear a fifteen?"

"Fifteen dollars!" Someone called out, and Kim's head whipped back at the sound. Jeez, where was this person before?

"Fifteen dollars, we've got fifteen dollars, is there a twenty-?"

Kim raised her paddle up to bid, wanting to find out who was bidding against her. It was Jason's money, anyway, and he'd probably enjoy the ego boost.

"Alright, twenty, anyone higher-?"

"Twenty-five dollars!" The same voice yelled back, and then Kim saw her.

With that unmistakably high voice, Kim wasn't sure how she didn't realize it before, but the flannel and the smile she sent Kim's way had her heart stuttering.

"Thirty dollars," Kim called to the announcer, dropping her paddle in the grass and making her way closer to the shorter girl.

Caught up in the moment, Trini bid again, this time offering only a fraction more than Kim, "thirty-one dollars?" She only had forty on her, and she didn't want to spend all of it on something like this.

"Thirty-o-one dollars!" The announcer stuttered, the rules not allowing pricing like that, but no one else seemed to protest, and money was money anyway.

Kim frowned at Trini's higher bid, not having anymore money in her pocket for Jason to redeem after, and mouthed 'you win,' to her.

"Going once, going twice?" He called out, waiting for anyone to protest, but shrugged when no one else offered, "sold!" he banged his gavel, "to the girl in the red flannel shirt."

Trini's eyes widened, not having intended to actually win over the bidding war. She blinked, but made her way up the stage, and gestured for Kim to meet her there.

The announcer glared at her for her unorthodox bidding tactics, but handed her the basket anyway, and basically shoved Jason towards her.

They made their way off the stage, Kim waiting for them at the side.

"So," Trini started, once she'd reached Kim, Jason in tow. "I just paid thirty-one dollars to go out with your friend."

Kim laughed at that, watching Jason's sheepish face. "Yeah, you did."

"But I don't wanna go out with him," Trini said simply, and turned to Jason, "no offence."

He sighed, and scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "none taken."

"I think I know how to solve that," Kim said, ignoring Jason's comment, and stepped closer to Trini, Jason no longer in her line of vision.

"Yeah?"

Kim snatched the basket from Jason's hands, his homemade grilled cheeses rustling quietly as she did so. "Yeah. I'll be your basket boy," she went on, and realizing her minor slip up, corrected herself, "or girl. Whatever."

Trini's face lit up, the sight softening her hard grunge appearance, "that sounds like a good idea," she toyed with the hem of her sleeve, clearly a nervous habit, "but are you sure, though?"

"Yeah, of course I'm sure- why?" Kim asked, genuinely confused.

"So I won't have to chase you around for the next half of the carnival?"

She chuckled, feeling embarrassed about their earlier encounter, "no, we can have," she looked inside Jason's basket, confirming whether or not she was right about the sandwiches, "this gourmet meal of grilled cheeses right now."

Trini smiled wide, the gap in her teeth making a quick reappearance, "it's a date."