[ C h a p t e r - F i v e ]

Chapter 5

I was sweeping the floor out of pure boredom. Saturdays are usually our busiest day here at Game Island yet we only had 2 customers so far, maybe it was the terrible weather. I hate to admit it but I’d rather be at school with Jonah. Although we had to dodge Shaw every day last week, it was still pretty fun. I heard the familiar dinging of the bell above the door but when I looked over the rack of games I was behind, my heart leaped in my chest and my hands became clammy.

“Mere, can you take this one? Please,” I whispered to the blonde who was sitting on the counter chewing gum and texting. She looked up and me and sighed before dropping onto the ground.

“Is there a Savannah here?” Shaw’s deep voice asked and I gave Mere a quick shake of my head.

“No, she doesn’t work here anymore. She quit yesterday," Mere lied, blinking up at Shaw.

“That’s a shame because I really need to talk to her; do you happen to have her number?” I shook my head again and her eyes traveled from me to Shaw quickly.

“No, she doesn’t have a cell phone,” she continued to lie.

“Well, I guess this was another dead end. If you happen to see her, tell her Jeff Shaw is looking for her, would you?” Shaw snapped before walking out of the store. I let out a sigh of relief before striding back over to Mere.

“What was that about?” she asked.

“Remember that Jonah kid I was telling you about? Well in the week and half he’s been here, I already have a few new enemies and they’re steroid obsessed idiots,” I sighed, leaning against the glass counter.

“Well, I have to go. I have class in an hour. You’re going to be alright here by yourself, right?” I simply nodded in response and she smiled before leaving the store.

I sat in the chair behind the desk doing absolutely nothing. Times like these, I wish I had more friends to actually hang out with at the store. My phone went off, making me jump. It’s most likely Jeremiah asking me where I put the ketchup.

Surprise coursed through me when I realized that it was Jonah instead of Jeremiah. I picked up the phone cautiously. “What?”

“What’s up?” he casually replied. We’d only known each other for eight days, nine if you count the situation at the library last Tuesday; he was already casually calling me.

“I’m at work,” I replied grumpily.

This didn’t bother him. That was the annoying thing about him; he never was annoyed by me! I rarely got a glare out of him. I only received jokes and sarcastic replies but never a serious insult.

“Oh, sorry,” he apologized and I sighed, resting my head in my hand.

“It’s nothing, the stores empty anyway,” I replied. “Guess who showed up about ten minutes ago?”

“Jesus?” he suggested. I tossed a flat look at the wall I was staring at.

“No, the opposite; Jeffrey Shaw,” I stated. Silence came from the other end.

“What did he want?” he asked.

“I hid and had Meredith deal with him. He was looking for me; he heard that I worked here,” I replied, drumming my fingers along the glass.

“Where do you work?” he questioned.

“At a game store called Game Island,” I replied casually as I watched the rain pour from the sky.

“Is that in Northvalley?” his voice was curious.

“Yes, way out on the edge, near the shops,” I replied.

“Are you even allowed to be on the phone?” he inquired and I sighed.

“No, but am I one to follow rules? Besides, we have no customers and I’m here alone,” I complained.

“When does your shift end?” he inquired. I looked at the clock hanging from the ceiling. I pursed my lips.

“It ends in about an hour, fifty-four minutes to be exact," I shrugged.

“What are you doing after work?” he asked another question.

“I’m probably going to go home and play video games,” I left out the part about taking a shower; like we needed that type of awkwardness in this conversation.

“It’s only noon," he stated.

“It’s raining cats and dogs. There’s nothing fun to do in the rain besides sit inside,” I replied, listening to the rainfall on the roof of the building.

“You can always go somewhere that has fun indoors," he stated and I sighed again.

“Like where, the mall?” I laughed, watching as people raced by the windows with umbrellas in their hands.

“Yeah, the mall; my sisters and I are supposed to be heading there in about an hour. Do you want to join us?” he invited me. I weighed my options.

It wasn’t like we’re going to be alone; his sisters are going to be there. But you can’t really insult the guy with his sisters around. Who says I can’t? Would you like to leave that impression on them that you’re a jerk? Well, I am.

“Sure,” I responded. Silence came from the other end of the phone and I raised an eyebrow.

“Seriously?” he asked, shock flowing through the phone.

“Do you not want me to go?” I asked, flipping through a game magazine.

“Would I have invited you if I didn’t want you to go?” he sarcastically retorted. He stole my words.

“Then why do you sound like you’re shocked?” I asked.

“I didn’t expect you to want to go. I thought you were going to make some slick comment about not wanting to hang out with me because I’m annoying,” he replied, amused.

“You know me so well. Anyway, I’ll meet you in the food court. I have a customer,” I hung up quickly and shoved my phone in my pocket. I really didn’t need another bad review.

“Hello, young lady. How much for the game of Halo?” an old man asked. I blinked a few times. I was surprised by his request. I was expecting him to ask for Trivial Pursuit for Nintendo or something.

“A used game is $40.00 and a new game us $60.00,” I told him.

“I’ll take a new one, please,” he smiled and I nodded, grabbing the game and placing it on the counter. He reached forward to grab it and I stopped him.

“I’m sorry sir; you’re going to have to pay me to get the game,” I informed him and he furrowed his eyebrows.

“Can I get a trivial pursuit game, too?” he asked me and I nodded, turning around. That’s more like it.

I heard footsteps and I turned to see the old man making a run for it with the game. I hopped over the counter (okay, maybe I took the long way and walked around it but that doesn’t sound as cool) and stood in front of the door. I snatched the game out of the old hag’s hand and told him to exit the store.

“I only wanted to see if you have good security,” he swung his walker around.

“You need to leave or I’ll report you to the police,”I told him.

I sat in the chair, spinning around. I took my DSi out of my purse and started playing it, glancing up every so often to see if anyone was here. I looked at the clock and I realized that I had ten minutes until closing time. I took off my glasses and rubbed them on my shirt before placing them back on my face.

When the clock struck 12:55, I quickly got up and took off my name tag, sticking it into my pocket and grabbing my bag. I swung on my jacket and put my bag over my shoulder. I locked up the shop and quickly walked to my car, rain getting on my glasses. I wiped them off before driving to the large shopping center.

***

When I arrived, I entered through the food court, where Jonah said he and his sisters would be waiting. I took out my phone and shot him a quick text as I leaned against the wall.

I suddenly saw a teenage boy and a girl stand up and start waving their hands crazily. I looked around to see if anyone noticed; they hadn’t. It took me a minute to realize that it was Jonah and his sister.

“Hi,” I smiled politely when I reached the table. Jonah furrowed his eyebrows.

“What? No insult?” he asked.

“The ‘hi’ was for your sisters, you stupid saltine,” I snapped before smiling at the twins who were watching us. One of them had a fry in her mouth and the other was clacking away on her pink blackberry.

“I’m Sierra,” Sierra introduced, extending her hand. She was the one with the fry dangling from her mouth. I shook it, her hand not the fry. I realized that she had glasses similar to mine and her style was much like mine, too. It was quite creepy if I’m being honest.

“I’m Sabrina,” the other girl smiled, shaking my extended hand. I noticed that she was more of a girly girl; she had a pink streak in her brown hair and she was wearing lighter colors while her sister was wearing the exact opposite. From what I could tell, they might be twins but they’re so different.

“I’m Savannah,” I smiled at the two girls and they nodded.

“We know,” Sabrina smiled before turning her gaze to her phone which just vibrated on the table.

“How?” I asked.

“News travels fast about which girl helped our brother tick off some big steroid induced guy,” Sierra replied this time.

“Yeah, that’s me,” I replied with clenched teeth as I looked at Noah.

“A stunt like that and you’re still friends with my brother?” Sabrina snorted.

“Is that what he told you?” I asked, looking at Jonah who had his face stuffed into a cheeseburger. “It’s quite the opposite, girls. I actually don’t like your brother. He follows me around like a lost puppy and I have to restrain myself from punching him about 99.9% of the time that I’m with him.”

“Then why are you here?” Sierra raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged. “I have nothing better to do this fine Saturday so I accepted the invite.”

“Are you hungry?” Jonah asked and I shrugged. I could go for a taco right about now.

“I’ll be back; I’m going to go get a taco,” I excused myself. I walked to the taco booth, staring at the options. “Can I get a spicy soft taco?” I asked. The guy nodded.

As I approached the table, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small packet of hot sauce. Jonah furrowed his eyebrows. “Did you just pull hot sauce out of your pocket?”

I nodded. “Yes, I can’t go without it,” I replied calmly, devouring the taco in about 3 seconds. Okay, maybe it took about 4 minutes.

Once I finished, Sabrina’s head darted up. “Let’s get shopping!” she smiled widely and Sierra frowned, pointing to her unfinished fries while Jonah scarfed down the rest of his burger.

***

“No, no, and no,” Jonah glared at Sabrina who just stepped out of the changing room with a low cut top, high wedges and extremely short shorts. Sure she had leggings under them but the outfit shouldn’t be worn by a twenty year old, never mind a fourteen year old.

“Why not? I have leggings on,” she whined, leaning her weight on her left foot. Her hand was placed on her hip and she was chewing her gum obnoxiously loud.

“I don’t care if you have leggings on. If you bend over, everything will be on view," he snapped.

“So?” my jaw went slack at this comment and I obviously wasn’t the only one. When Sierra saw my expression, she glanced at me with an equally surprised look, mouthing the words 'I swear I'm not like that.' I almost laughed. Jonah was just as shocked. He also had a hint of anger on his face.

“Go change,” he groaned in frustration. She went to argue but he glared at her and she stomped back into the fitting room. “Goodness, that girl is aggravating.”

“Just like you," I smiled at him. He smiled and rolled his eyes at me before glaring at the changing room his sister was in. I don’t know why, maybe it was the perfume in the air, but seeing him angry made me a bit sad. He was usually a happy person but now that he was angry, the aura of the room changed. He was leaning against the wall and tapping his foot with an annoyed look on his face.

He actually looked quite hot while doing so and that was another thing I didn’t like. It caught me off guard that he could look hot. Even though he’s already good looking, it’s weird to just openly admit it. Especially since the boy is as annoying as he is.

“It’s different, I don’t go around wearing short shorts and low cut tops with wedges,” he replied, a small smile hinting at his lips. I winced at the mental image.

“Jonah, I can imagine you leaning on your motorcycle like the girls on the magazines. Oh my God, the mental images. Ew, why Jonah?” Sierra was holding her head between her hands. My ears perked up.

“Motorcycle?” I asked, turning to face Jonah who was laughing at his sister’s expense.

“I have a motorcycle. And a car; I have a car and a motorcycle.” How come I never heard of this?

“He had this whole bad boy thing going on in California. That’s half of the reason why we moved; he kept getting into trouble,” Sierra groaned, shaking her head.

He just stayed silent for a moment. I thought he was offended or maybe even annoyed at his sister’s lack of filter. “I was a hot bad boy.” I don't doubt it.

I let out a loud laugh, buckling over. I placed my hands on my knees as I guffawed. Sierra was laughing, too. “You? A bad boy? And a hot one at that? Yeah, right.”

When I finally stopped laughing, Sabrina exited the stall. “Is this okay?” she was wearing red super skinny jeans, I was afraid they’d cut off her circulation. She had a black crop top on without a shirt underneath it and she had red flats on.

“No. Go change,” Jonah waved her off.

“This isn’t fair!” Sabrina stomped, leaving us to go find more clothes.

“No, you know what isn’t fair? How I can’t get my clothes because we’re too busy shopping for her. In the last ten minutes here, we’ll stop at a store that doesn’t have my size and you’ll say something like ‘oh well, maybe tomorrow,’” Sierra exclaimed.

“I could always bring you somewhere,” I shrugged.

“A dark alleyway? No thank you,” Jonah snorted and I glared at him.

“We have the same fashion sense or so it seems; I know a few stores that are actually tolerable,” I shrugged and Sierra grinned, nodding her head.

“Really? You’d do that?” I nodded, shrugging again.

“That’s if Jo-bro lets us,” I turned my head to face Jonah.

“Did you just call me Jo-bro?” I nodded and he sighed. “Sure, fine, whatever. How about we make this a competition?”

“Okay," I nodded. I’m not one to turn down a challenge.

“The one who is the most successful in purchasing clothes wins. We’ll each get the same amount of money and we’ll have the same amount of time. Whoever gets the most clothes and is most satisfied with them wins,” he smirked and I shrugged. He handed over the money and I nodded.

“Do they need to get shoes?” I asked and he nodded.

“Good luck,” I laughed over my shoulder. “Let’s beat them,” I said to Sierra and she nodded.