Chapter 10 already? Wow. I made this one a bit longer for you guys.
25 reviews! Yay! Thanks to everyone who reviewed.
Sorry for the late chapter, I was deciding whether to bunch another scene onto this, and decided against it. I really like the ending of this one :)
Disclaimer: I don't own MR. James Patterson does. If I did, I wouldn't be writing this.
Claimer: I do own the OC's in this story.
Here you go:
Ella's POV
Looking at the posters of actors and models in my room, I couldn't help letting out a small chuckle. They were famous for their looks, and they were hot, but they had absolutely NOTHING on Iggy. Most of them had gorgeous hair and eyes, but they all seemed fake, in a way. Besides, Iggy was a billion times sweeter and nicer. He'd never pull any of the stunts or be the player that so many celebrities were.
As I ate a late breakfast with Iggy, I couldn't stop thinking about last night. Twelve hours later, it still felt like Iggy's strong arms were still around me and his beautiful lips on mine. His amazing abs were still burned in the front of my mind, and I didn't plan on getting rid of the images. On the roof, all I wanted was to melt into his arms and lay there for eternity.
At fourteen, I never dreamed I'd feel this way so strongly about someone so soon, but I was sure that Iggy and I were meant to be together. Being with him just felt so right. I'd had crushes on cute guys before, but none of them had the same effect on me as Iggy. Whenever he smiled, I felt a powerful urge to pin him to the wall and kiss the smile off his face. His mere touch sent a thousand volts of energy coursing through my nerves.
Through the love, though, I still felt a little resentment. Even though I loved Iggy and the Flock, I wished I had wings like them. It pained me to see them so free, flying the skies, since I knew I could never be like them. I tried to push the negative thoughts out of my mind. They accepted me as family, so why I couldn't accept that they had wings?
I sat down on the couch, ignoring the warnings Fang gave us. I knew my Iggy wouldn't send any flying couch cushions my way. I lay down across its length and pulled out my phone. After spending tons of time with my boyfriend the past few days, I really wanted to just chill with my friends. I quickly typed up a text message and hit send.
To: Jessica Amador
Hey hey what up gurl? :D Any plans for today?
From: Jessica Amador
Hey! So Alexa, Claire, Amanda, and I were gonna hit the mall near your house this afternoon. Wanna come? We're spending the night at Claire's dad's afterwards.
Besides Alexa and Jessica, Claire and Amanda were also my best friends. I was closer with Alexa and Jessica since I'd known them longer, but Claire and Amanda were now just as much a part of our group.
Alexa was tall and had long, blonde hair and blue eyes. Jessica looked a lot like me, with medium-length brown hair, brown eyes, and a contagious smile. Claire was generally regarded as the smart one of us, since she was taking a bunch of classes with the juniors and seniors. Her wild, light brown hair always got in her eyes. For some reason, though, she hated hairties and headbands. Amanda had long black hair and dark brown eyes.
To: Jessica Amador
Ya sounds good! When are we meeting?
From: Jessica Amador
5 at Abercrombie. B-t-dubs, how's Iggy?
To: Jessica Amador
Haha tell ya later gurl! :P
I smiled. I'd definitely tell them all about Iggy, but not on the phone. It didn't feel right to divulge personal details via text message. I trusted my friends, but I'd rather tell them in person. Plus, I was secretly excited to see their jealous faces when I tell them that Iggy and I made out on the roof. I had to be careful, though, to not my friends about Iggy's wings. Even though they were mentioned on Fang's Blog, my friends probably hadn't made the connection that my boyfriend was the Iggy.
From: Jessica Amador
No! You must tell me now, Ella! Have you two kissed yet?
To: Jessica Amador
Jessica, what part of tell ya later isn't clear?
From: Jessica Amador
Meh, fine, Ells. I can't wait for tonight! Claire's dad has an awesome movie theater!
To: Jessica Amador
Ikr! Can't wait! Gotta go spend some quality time with Iggy now :P 3
From: Jessica Amador
Have fun! Don't let Iggy do anything stupid!
Okay, she had no right to that last comment. She was single now, but her last boyfriend, Brad, was a gangster who beat up everyone who pissed him off. Alexa was always worried that Jessica would get beaten up, so she was secretly thankful when Brad dumped Jessica, a shy, sweet girl for a one of the school's whores, Bella.
Jessica was torn up, but Alexa, Amanda, Claire, and I helped her through it, and after four months, she's almost as good as new. It killed us to see our usually cheerful Jessica moping around, sobbing constantly. We all felt bad for her, especially how she found out her and Brad were through. Jessica walked in on Brad and Bella making out in a classroom after school. She needed to grab a textbook she forgot, and unfortunately was in for a less than pleasant surprise.
Anyways, Iggy would never do that to me. I hoped. If I saw Iggy kissing someone else, I'd be damaged irreparably. I could never love anyone the same way again. Thankfully, Iggy was way too sweet and kind to cheat on me.
I made my way over to his room and popped open the door. Iggy turned around.
"Who is it?" he asked, in the general direction of the door. I answered by planting a soft, quick kiss on his lips. He smiled in recognition.
"So, what do you want to do today?" I mused.
Iggy threw up his hands. "Well, Fang and I were gonna go for a fly, but all he wants to do right now is sit in his room and stare at the wall. I think I'll go make some bombs with Gazzy." I looked down, disappointed.
Then I realized something. Since Iggy and I had been officially together, he'd been spending so much less time with the Flock. It dawned on me how selfish I was being, hogging Iggy to myself.
"Okay. Be careful," I said softly, turning around. Iggy frowned, knowing something was wrong, but let me go. I walked to the kitchen and opened the cabinet. Thanks to Gazzy, we were fresh out of potato chips, so I took out an apple and began munching on it. On my way to the table, I absently checked the clock. It read 4:51.
I quickly finished the apple and headed back to my room. Looking in the mirror, I realized that I was still in my pajamas.
"Crap," I mumbled, as I changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I stuffed the pajamas into my pink overnight bag. I quickly applied a dab of mascara and slid my makeup kit into the bag. After slinging it over my shoulder, I pulled out my phone and tapped my ongoing conversation with Jessica.
To: Jessica Amador
Sorry gurl, gonna be a bit late.
From: Jessica Amador
It's fine! Just meet us at Abercrombie whenever.
I put my phone in my pocket and opened the front door.
"Where are you going, Ella?" my mom called, from the kitchen.
"Mall! Be back tomorrow morning!" I yelled back. My mom didn't respond but gave me a nod.
I shut the door behind me and started on my way.
Ten minutes later, I was at the entrance of the one of the mall's stores. Racks of overpriced clothing and accessories were present literally everywhere here. Ignoring the flashing signs, I made my way through the store as quickly as possible. I loved shopping, but I really couldn't stand this store. Did the store management stoop so low so as to have to resort to flashing signs to grab customers' attentions?
I left the store and headed to Abercrombie. When I was a few hundred feet away, I spotted my friends. I picked up the pace, quickly walking to join them.
Suddenly, a guy about my age stepped in my path and looked me up and down. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, like Iggy. Unlike Iggy, this guy made me really uncomfortable checking me out.
I stopped. "How may I help you?" I questioned, with a hint of sarcasm. He smiled.
"You're kinda pretty. Can I have your number?" he said, holding out his phone to me.
I nodded, holding back a smile. I made a new contact in his phone, In Your Dreams. I typed nine random numbers and ended up with 197-481-8948. After going back to the home screen, I gave his phone back to him.
He broke into a full-blown grin. "Thanks, girl. I'll call you later!" he said, walking away from me. If he only knew what he was in for. I walked over to my friends, not holding back my laughter.
"What'd you do this time, Ellie?" Amanda asked me, as she wrapped me in a hug.
"Luckily for him, I didn't beat him up. I just wrote 'in your dreams' in his phone with a random number," I explained.
My friends began laughing. At the other end of the long mall hallway, I saw the guy I pranked suddenly stop.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" he yelled, turning around. I hid behind Alexa. My friends looked at me, and I nodded. They started laughing again.
"Oh man, Ella, that one was good," Claire said. I nodded and giggled.
"Let's go in," I suggested, gesturing to the store in front of us. A bunch of customers inside were glaring at us. We'd already caused quite a blockage.
"Oops," Jessica mumbled.
My friends followed me as I made my way through the racks of clothing, looking for anything that stood out. As usual, Amanda was completely enthralled by every single rack in the store. Before she could get to the men's underwear section, I figured we should get out of this store. She loved shopping at all places, but Abercrombie especially made her crazy.
"Amanda, let's go. There are a million other stores here," I said, giving her sleeve a tug.
She looked distraught. "But there are so many cute shirts here!" she wailed, slightly resisting my pull.
"C'mon, Amanda. There's a Forever 21 downstairs," Claire suggested, smiling. She was always smiling.
Amanda sighed. "Fine," she mumbled.
Alexa led us out of the store, ignoring the manager's sigh of relief. The accidental blockade we set up earlier probably costed him a bunch of customers.
Before we reached the escalator, another store caught Alexa's eye.
"Hey! We should get some chocolate!" Alexa practically shouted at us, as she walked towards the candy store. Amanda and I looked at each other and shrugged. We were generally regarded as the leaders of the group, although I was a year younger than them. Almost everything we did didn't require a leader, so nobody paid any attention to it.
When we got in, Alexa was disappointed to find out they had no chocolate.
"Are you serious? What kind of candy store doesn't have chocolate?" she yelled at the clerk.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, we're just out of stock right now. If you come back in a few days, we might have some," the clerk responded, calmly.
"A FEW DAYS? What, do you expect us to sleep here or what?"
"Miss, we're out of stock. There's nothing I can do about that."
"Fine," Alexa huffed, turning around.
"It's all right, Alex. You can get your chocolate somewhere else," Claire suggested.
"I guess so," Alexa said sadly, "but what kind of candy store doesn't have chocolate? They deserve payback for deceiving innocent shoppers!"
"Let's go," I decided. We'd already ticked off two cashiers, and there was no sense in making one of them even madder.
"Wait a minute. I'm gonna get some jelly beans," Alexa said, with a smile.
"All right."
Alexa disappeared into the small crowd flowing through the aisles. A minute later, she returned to us, carrying a bag with one jelly bean in it. Claire, Jessica, and I just stared at her. Amanda gave her a big thumbs up.
With her head held high, Alexa walked over to the cash register, bag in hand. She handed it to the cashier with a smile. Glaring at Alexa, the cashier disgustedly placed the bag on the scale. It read, 0.002 pounds. Jessica saw the reading and laughed.
"That will be one cent," the cashier said, trying to control his frustration.
"Do you take credit cards?" Alexa asked, feigning innocence.
"Only from legal adults," the cashier explained, narrowing his eyes at her.
In mock disappointment, Alexa sighed. "Oh, well. It seems like the only other option is this," she said, opening her wallet. She pulled out a $100 bill and handed it across the counter. That was the last straw. Claire, Amanda, and I burst out laughing. Even the usually quiet Jessica was failing at suppressing her giggling.
The clerk was having evident difficulty restraining his anger. Glaring at us, he picked up his phone and pushed a few buttons.
"Hello? This is James. There is a pack of teenagers causing trouble out here," he began. He paused, waiting for a reply. He frowned, clearly not liking what he was hearing. "Wait, but-" he continued, before getting cut off. His line went dead. Frustrated, he slammed his phone down and grabbed Alexa's bill.
He slowly counted out $99.99. After a tense thirty seconds, he handed it to Alexa and gave her a dismissive wave.
"Don't come back!" he yelled after us.
Alexa counted her change and chuckled to herself as she walked away. She tucked the money in her wallet and happily whispered to us, "Gave me an extra 20!"
Normally, I would offer to return it, but this clerk was a jerk. I was more than happy for Alexa to have this money she didn't own. As we reached the store's threshold, Alexa froze, a grin plastered to her face.
"HEY PEOPLE! THE CANDY STORE SUCKS! DON'T SHOP THERE!" Alexa screamed. Even though it was in jest, the comment had its desired effect. People began drifting away from the candy shop. The clerk gave Alexa one more glare before disappearing into the backroom.
At the end of the hallway, I noticed a mall policeman slowly walking in our general direction. The noise probably set him off.
"Let's move! Police!" I alerted my friends. We inconspicuously sped up and located the nearest escalator. Fortunately, we had quite a bit of experience pulling stunts in the mall. As a unit, we all swiftly sped through the crowd and boarded the escalator. The policeman didn't notice a thing. We made it down the elevator and put plenty of distance between us and the policeman without raising suspicion.
Suddenly, Alexa stopped in her tracks and stared at Amanda.
"What's wrong?" Amanda asked, legitimately concerned.
"I forgot my jelly bean!" Alexa said softly, with mock horror.
We all started cracking up, especially Amanda. She practically collapsed into Alexa's arms as she doubled over in laughter.
"I'm hungry," Jessica announced, snapping us back to attention.
"Me too," Claire chimed in.
"There's a Chick Fil-A in the food court," I suggested with a smile. They knew 'The Drill' as well as I did.
"Are we executing The Drill?" Alexa asked me. I nodded. The Drill had never worked before, but I had a feeling it would today.
In the first real silence we'd experienced together today, we walked to the food court and into the Chick Fil-A. The first person I noticed was the cashier. She was a young, pretty, woman with a contagious smile. I felt a small pang of disappointment. We'd end up ticking off the cashier with The Drill, so why couldn't it be a grumpy old man like the candy store?
As usual, Alexa was the first to reach the counter.
"Hey! I'll have a chicken sandwich with ketchup, and an order of unsalted fries," she said. The cashier entered her order as Alexa stepped back.
The rest of us ordered and paid, and I went to find an open table. Thankfully, there was a vacated circular booth with cushioned seats in the corner. I led Jessica, Amanda, and Claire to the booth while Alexa waited for the food.
While we waited, Claire decided to spark a conversation.
"So, how's the first week of school been for you guys?" she asked.
Jessica responded first. "Great! Everyone is really nice this year. I wish Brandon would ask me out, though," she said dreamily.
"Brandon Sparks, that guy?" I asked. Brandon Sparks was a short, brown-haired kid who was a bunch of the same classes as Jessica and I. He was a little attractive, I guess, but I'd never thought of him as a potential boyfriend. He was really nice and smiled a lot, so it wasn't hard to be friends with him. Brandon wasn't regarded as a 'cool kid', but he was probably my favorite male friend in the school. Most of the popular guys pissed me off, anyways.
"Yeah, him," Jessica responded.
As if just realizing what Jessica said, Amanda sat forward. "How long have you liked him?" she asked.
"Um, just this week." Claire and I nodded. I silently wished that Jessica would get her wish. Brandon was a great guy, and Jessica deserved someone like him.
Claire spoke up, "That's-" before being interrupted by Alexa, who was holding a tray of food.
"What'd I miss?" she said, setting the tray down. She slid into the booth right next to Jessica.
"Nothing," Jessica responded, a little too quickly. Alexa raised her eyebrows.
"She said she likes Brandon," Claire said, smiling.
Alexa looked at Jessica. "That's awesome! Has he asked you out?" she asked, grinning. Jessica shook her head.
"I wish he would, though," she said with a sigh.
"Does he know?" Alexa pressed. Jessica shook her head again.
"Tell him, then! He's always staring you, Jess. I'm certain he likes you back."
"Maybe.." Jessica muttered uncertainly. Being shy had its benefits, but it was hard when it came to dealing with boys. I know I never would've gotten up the courage to tell Iggy I liked him. I was glad I had a boyfriend who wasn't scared of taking on the world, much less asking me out.
"The Drill," Amanda suddenly reminded us. We all stood up and walked to the front of the store. We organized ourselves into a neat line with Alexa in the middle.
"PEOPLE!" Alexa yelled, effectively garnering attention. Nearly everyone's heads turned our way.
"DO THE CHICKEN DANCE!" she screamed. At once, my friends and I broke into the chicken dance. We yelled 'na na na na na' in the song's tune as we danced.
The effect was instantaneous. At first, only a group of maybe fifteen kids joined us. Just as enthusiastically as we were, they danced and screamed along.
After a minute, teenagers and even some young adults stood up and did their best to follow along. Even the cashier and mascot joined us.
It was actually working! In our first two attempts, nobody joined and we just looked plain stupid. This time, people were actually dancing along.
Within a few minutes, at least fifty customers had put their dignity aside enough to stand up and do the dance. No restraint was exercised as everyone rocked the restaurant.
Mall Policeman's POV
Na na na na na na na!
I tensed. What the hell was going on? I turned a corner and looked down the hallway. I didn't believe my eyes.
I reluctantly trudged towards the mess that was Chick Fil-A, wishing to never have to set foot in that store again.
I really liked this chapter. It was a blast to write. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it!
Question: Do you like Ella's OC friends?