CHAPTER - 2

"Heyyyyy Netani" yelled Samara down the alleyway in front of Italian corner.

"It's your birthday and I'm here early" complained Samara

"What took you so long?" questioned Samara with her hands on her hips.

"My mascara bottle was jammed and the mascara was all frozen sort of, and I had to go to 'Avenue' and buy one." said Netani running her fingers through her hair which Samara thought was ghostly when left open.

"Now, why did I ask you that?" said Samara regretting

"Changing tracks…where are the others?" said Samara looking around

"Think of the devil and she arrives" commented Netani as Mikaela was walking down the alleyway with disgust looking at the green and dried moss.

"Just hope she didn't hear that" whispered Samara

"Hi Samara, A very happy birthday to you Netani, How's life? And your dress totally rocks" said Mikaela taking a deep breath after the long breathless sentence.

"*cough*cough*" coughed Netani, staring at Samara, after hearing the comment about the beauty of the dress and the fact that Samara thought it was lame.

"Umm…That 'cough' still doesn't change my opinion" replied Samara with her hands crossed.

"That's enough guys" said Mikaela behaving like a traffic police.

"Wowee" exclaimed Netani staring at a bunch of guys at the far end of the alleyway.

"No wonder you come to the Italian corner every Friday" said Samara realizing the fact.

"You know something….You're the worlds biggest 'tube light'." replied Netani.

The comment made Mikaela grin widely.

"Oh look whose here…the real 'devil'." said Mikaela staring at Netani angrily because of the comment passed previously by her.

"She heard that alright" said Samara guiltily

"Wow, it is the devil" said Samara stiffly

"Ssup people? Yo Samara" came Valeyn

Valeyn Kacher was a total wannabe. She thought was popular, pretty and at the top of the cute girls list when actually she was at the very bottom. She pretend dated guys just so that she could be loved by the so-called 'cool' girls. She wore loads of eye-makeup just so that she could be loved by the 'Goth' kids and she wore short skirts just so that she could be stared at by guys. But actually, they made her look really bad because she was really skinny and her body was totally out of shape.

"R V all the gals hangin' out here t'nite, Yo?" asked Valeyn a little lazily.

"Can you quit that, because right now it's getting really annoying" said Netani hoping Valeyn would be the I-understand-your-concern type of girl.

"Yeah, sure" replied Valeyn quite casually

"By the way, it's really pointless waiting out here, when we can just go in and sit down somewhere" said Mikaela looking around.

"Samara, why did you call Mikaela? She's a total dweeb" whispered Valeyn getting close to Samara.

"Umm…I don't remember asking you anything on the invited" commented Samara.

"Yeah, whateva" said Valeyn pushing her hair in her face and then pulling it out hoping that the guys would notice her.

"I'm so not surprised" muttered Samara under her breath

"GUYYYYYS, I'VE CAUGHT A SEAT HERE" yelled Netani from the farthest cranny of Italian corner.

"Ugh...Ouch...Ouchee" whispered Valeyn in pain of being squeezed by the crowd in the crowded Italian corner.

"Phew! I'm surprised we actually caught a place to sit" said Valeyn settling down in the crowded cranny.

"Ehem!" said Netani clearing her throat.

"Yeah?" said Valeyn

"We caught a place to sit??…It was I who caught a place to sit" informed Netani.

Just then Mikaela and Samara arrived squeezing their way through the crowd the same way Valeyn had.

"Wow…Good job…you actually managed to catch a place in here" said Mikaela feeling quite impressed.

"Thank you, Thank you" said Netani feeling quite flattered.

"Excuse me" waved Netani

The waiter came scurrying down their table bringing his pocket sized notepad with him.

"We want 1 Fanta, 2 Coke and 1 Mountain Dew for the drinks…please make it without the ice" said Netani

"We also want the garlic bread with cheese…maybe 6" said Valeyn

"How about a Meal for 2…that'll be more than enough for the 4 of us" informed Mikaela.

"Anything else?" asked the waiter scribbling down the order.

"Hmm…we'll order the desserts later" said Samara

"Right" said the waiter and went on towards the kitchen.

"So what's up with the Sydney gang?" asked Valeyn curiously.

"I don't know…I really want to stop the fights because it's getting to my head" said Netani quite disturbed.

"Uh-uh" nodded Valeyn

"And Samara, what's up with Laisha" asked Valeyn turning her head towards Samara.

"Valeyn, we have not been talking properly to each other since June" said Samara tired of being asked the same question over and over.

"She wanted to be with Sydney and that's where I left her" continued Samara

"And moreover, we used to fight a lot. So…" said Samara.

"OO-Kay" said Valeyn realizing that she had asked the wrong question.

"I think the Sydney group is not up to anything right now" said Netani watching the waiter serve the drinks. "I feel it'd be better if we shut up and live in our own world" said Netani sipping her Mountain Dew.

"You know something, this thing…that is the problem we're having with Sydney is a totally kiddish topic to discuss. I mean we're 13 and…" said Samara sipping her Coke.

"And by the way, my mom's picking me up at 7:30 pm today. We're going out at night for a family get together or sumthin'." said Samara feeling down.

"So let's not waste the rest of the night talking of someone so useless as Sydney or Laisha or Ashley. OKAY?" said Samara feeling quite angry now.

"Okay okay Chillax" said Mikaela trying to keep Samara's anger under control.

"The garlic bread's here" said Valeyn happily rubbing her hands and waiting to hog.

The waiter served the fresh garlic bread with cheese in a platter. Another waiter came behind him ready to serve the pizza. After both the waiters had served and had left, Valeyn, Netani, Samara and Mikaela began to hog the food as if they had never eaten before.

"Mmph…Tha foo is Goob" said Valeyn with her mouth stuffed with garlic bread and pizza.

"I agree" said Mikaela eating with so much of etiquette and manners and throughout the night she didn't even drop a morsel of food.

After dinner, all of the 4 hurried to Ice delight just opposite Italian corner to hog some more ice-cream.

"Yo Samara" said Netani looking flirtatiously at a bunch of hotties in the ice-cream parlor after enjoying some awesome ice-cream.

"I dare you to walk past the guys and then get them to notice you" said Netani still talking with the same look.

"Umm…" said Samara quite confused of her capabilities.

"Why Samara, Chickening out???" said Netani smirking.

"I so do not chicken out" said Samara showing her brave side.

Samara then walked past the guys and then returned getting them to notice her.

"So there…I guess I did a good job huh?" asked Samara

"Yeah, I guess so" said Netani agreeing.

PEE-EEP PEE-EEP

"Oh great…My dad's here" said Samara feeling she had not enjoyed enough.

"Okay then…umm…I'll see you in school" said Samara waving goodbye.

"Enjoy your family gathering" said Mikaela trying to control her laughter.

"Yeah, I'll enjoy" said Samara sarcastically.