A/N: Thank you to everybody who read, reviewed, favorited, and followed! I am so sorry for the long wait, I guess time got away from me. Here's the next chapter!
~ Chapter Eight ~
~~ Group Date ~~
The car pulled up outside the movie theater on Friday night. Georgie looked out the car window, spotting her friends standing by the entrance to the theater. They hadn't seen her yet; too busy talking to take notice. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief, turning away from the window. She leaned her head back against the seat and wiped her sweaty palms against the black skinny jeans she had opted to wear instead of the skirt that was Lou's first choice for her. She also wore a long-sleeved red and black striped sweater, and a nice pair of black lace up boots. Georgie held her jacket tightly in her lap, along with a change purse that also held her cell phone.
Peter put the car in park, the automatic locking mechanism clicking as the doors unlocked instantly. "Ok, here we are, have fun," he announced, sitting back and turning to his daughter. "Do you have extra money for snacks?"
Georgie nodded faintly, turning to look out the window. "Yeah,..." she mumbled. Her friends were off to the side of the movie theater doors, gathered in a tight cluster. Georgie didn't get out of the car. Stephen was standing in the group, and he happened to glance over his shoulder and spotted her sitting in the car. He faced the car fully, waving her over shyly. Georgie turned away, hunkering down in the seat.
"Georgie?" Peter questioned her. "What's wrong?"
Georgie was silent for a couple seconds, contemplatively. "Why do boys and girls have to change?" she finally sighed. "I mean, everything was fine and perfect the way it was, and now it's all just so weird and kind of awkward." She looked down at her lap, fiddling with her fingers.
"Well, that's kind of part growing up," Peter started to tell her. He turned more to face his daughter, putting his arm on the back of the seat. "Sometimes when you know a person for a while, you start to see them differently and notice things about them that you never did before. Special things."
"What if I don't want things to change?" Georgie asked, quietly, looking up at him and her hair flipped over her shoulder as she did.
A heartbeat passed before Peter spoke. "I think that's for you to decide," he told her, gently. "Whether things stay exactly how they are or if you try something new, that is up to you to choose. You have a good heart, Georgie, very pure and honest. I think if you look deep inside, you'll know what to do."
Georgie nodded slowly, casting her eyes downward again. She fiddled with her jacket, and then she nodded more sure this time. "Thanks," she said. Georgie looked up and flashed him an impish grin. "I'll try, but I think I'll still make some mistakes, though."
"That's okay," Peter grinned back at her, patting her shoulder. "We'll always be here for you when you mess up, big or small." He pulled her into a hug and she wrapped her arms around him, too. He held onto her, stroking her hair, the young strong-willed, scared girl who burst upon their lives two years ago. A minute later, the hug dissipated. "Ok, I think I embarrassed you enough in front of your friends," Peter joked, chuckling. "Go on and have fun. And, remember, don't let any boy convince you to do something you're not ready for."
Georgie giggled, "Ok." She started to move to get out of the car.
"I'll pick you up later after the movie," Peter reminded him.
"Oh, Stephen said his mom will drop me off after," Georgie told him. Peter nodded, and watched her gather her stuff and open the car door. A brisk, chilly wind blew through the car. Georgie gave him one last smile as she left the car. Peter waved at her, seeing an older version of that girl, no longer scared, but more surer in her life.
Georgie shut the car door behind her, pulling on her jacket against the chilly evening air and started walking over to her friends. She heard Peter drive away as she walked. Stephen greeted her quietly as she approached the group. "You look nice," Stephen complimented her, softly.
Georgie smiled self-consciously back at him. "Thanks," she said shyly back. "You do, too." And she really did mean it. He was wearing a navy blue and white striped polo shirt and dark denim jeans. His coat was unzipped, and he stuffed his hands into his coat pockets just for something to do out of nerves. They lapsed into a silence, neither one knowing what to say next.
"Good. We're almost all here," Gus said, to the small group.
"Who else is missing?" Georgie questioned, looking around. She only saw a loud group of little kids with their parents, and then a teen couple holding hands, looking all lovey-dovey, enter the theater. She quickly glanced away from the couple, but she found Stephen's gaze instead. She blushed and looked away again.
It was Abigail who answered, looking down the sidewalk. "Them," the other girl told her, pointing. Georgie turned her head. "Olivia and Cyrus." The duo were walking arm and arm down the sidewalk, toward the group.
"Finally," Gus muttered, looking away from his watch. Georgie heard him, but she just assumed he was anxious to see the movie. "Are we ready?" he asked everybody, louder.
"Of course, but we're getting more than one popcorn right?" Olivia asked, still holding Cyrus' arm. "Because I don't eat butter on my popcorn, too greasy." She held her hand up, rubbing her fingers like she was rubbing off imaginary grease.
"Actually,..we're not seeing a movie tonight," Gus announced, spreading his hands in a dramatic gesture and was unable to stifle his grand smile any more. Everybody looked over at him in shock, except for Abigail.
"Wait, what?" Georgie questioned, being the one to speak first. "We are seeing a movie; that's what we planned, that's what I told my parents."
Gus was already shaking his head before she finished speaking. "That's what Abby and I decided to tell you guys to tell your parents," he explained. "If I told you what we were really doing, than some of you might have chickened out or your parents never would have let you come."
Olivia took a step forward with her haughty attitude, crossing her arms and leaning on her hip. "Don't tell me I wasted my allowance on a brand new outfit to be tricked on something," she warned. "Where are we going then?"
Gus looked positively gleeful as he rubbed his hands together, getting ready to reveal his secret. "We are going on an unofficial set tour!" he announced. His declaration was met with surprised silence, as the others tried to figure out what he was talking about.
"What are you talking about?" Georgie asked, furrowing her brows.
"C'mon, guys, I know you all want to see Man vs. Horse live and in person," Gus persuaded them. "Just imagine how cool it will be to actually be stand on that same ground. Meet the horse." The boy looked pointedly at Georgie when he spoke the latter.
Georgie did her best to tamp down the urge to see Spiridon. "But it's nearly dark," she argued. "No one goes on 'set tours' this late. What you are talking about is trespassing, it's illegal."
"It's not trespassing if you don't get caught," Gus replied, shooting everybody a cocky grin. Then, he looked at everybody in the group in turn. "And we're not going to get caught."
Georgie gaped that he was really thinking about doing this, but Olivia was the one who exploded first. "Are you kidding me?" the other girl snapped. "I didn't come here tonight to traipse around outside. This is ridiculous. I came here to see a movie with my boyfriend."
"Aw, c'mon, Liv, I think it would cool," Cyrus contradicted, throwing his arm around Olivia's shoulder. She smiled shyly and giggled, turning her face into her shoulder.
"I guess, maybe for a minute," Olivia agreed, smiling up at Cyrus. "I'm not really dressed for sightseeing."
"Yes!" Gus exclaimed, cheering. He looked over at Georgie and Stephen. "What about you two? You in?"
"You guys can't seriously be thinking about doing this," Georgie gaped. "You could get into some big trouble. What if you break something or spook Spiridon?"
"So, you're not coming?" Gus asked. Everything Georgie said went in one ear and out the other. "That's fine. You'll just be the two losers who missed the opportunity of a lifetime."
"No, we'll be the only two who don't get in major trouble for doing something illegal," Stephen said back, quietly but certainly, siding with Georgie. He flashed her a small smile and she grinned back at him in thankful relief.
Gus shrugged nonchalantly. "Let's go, guys, before it gets too late," he motioned to the other kids. They all turned and started leaving, walking down the sidewalk. Georgie and Stephen were left there by themselves. Georgie stared after the other kids wistfully, wishing she could have convinced them not to go.
"So, um, do want to see the movie that we had told our parents we were seeing?" Stephen asked her, after a few quiet minutes.
"Yeah,..." Georgie mumbled, then she dragged her eyes away from her headed-for-trouble friends and looked at Stephen. "Yeah, sure."
Stephen nodded, then they started walking to the movie theater. Georgie glanced over her shoulder, looking back again. She didn't realize that Stephen was holding the door open for her, until he said her name a second time. "Georgie." he said. "Are you okay?"
Georgie shook herself back to reality. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine," she answered. She started to walk through the open door, but then she stopped again. She bit her lip, hesitatingly. Stephen looked at her curiously, saying her name again. Georgie turned back to him, determinedly. "Stephen, we can't let them go," she stated, firmly. "We have to follow them and try to stop them. We can't let them get into trouble."
Stephen thought about it for a minute, but then he agreed with her. "Okay," he replied, dropping his hand and letting the theater door swing slowly closed. "but should we call someone first, maybe one of our parents?"
"I don't think we have time. They already have a head start on us," Georgie declined. "Besides, I don't think they need to know. We'll stop them before anything can happen." She took Stephen's arm and they began to sprint down the sidewalk where their other friends had gone. All the while, Stephen had a bad feeling unsettling in his stomach.
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Dusk was beginning to float into darkness by the time the kids found themselves on a quiet street. Everything had a bluish tint as they walked along the side of the road. Being out in the open on a quiet street was very conspicuous, but, luckily, there had been hardly any cars that passed by to look twice at them. Georgie and Stephen tried vigorously and fruitlessly to try to stop their friends, but Gus kept on leading the charge without budging in his decision. The other kids were willing to follow him, too. Then, Gus stopped suddenly and turned around to face the others.
"Ok, the ranch is just on the other side of these woods," Gus explained, pointing to the forest of trees on his right. His excitement was pouring off of him; there was no convincing him not to now. "All we have to do is cross in here. I looked it up earlier during homeroom." He was all too proud of himself, bragging.
"Hold on a hot second!" Olivia burst out, stepping to the center of the group, flourishing her arms. "I did not come all this way to trek through the disgusting woods. It's unacceptable."
"And illegal," Georgie added, stepping forward, too. "You're sneaking into someone's ranch without their permission, at night."
"Oh, I could care less about that," Olivia flicked her hair, looking at Georgie, crossing her arms. "These are brand new shoes." She motioned down at her boots.
Georgie rolled her eyes, but she didn't dignify that with a response. "C'mon, Gus, look at yourself," she still tried to reason. "You are acting like an obsessed person."
"I am looking at myself," Gus argued. "I'm seeing myself taking a selfie on that set and showing it around school. Maybe I'll even take a souvenir." He shrugged like he didn't just talk so casually about trespassing and stealing.
"We are going to be the most popular kids at school!" Abigail squealed, giddily.
Georgie sighed in frustration. None of the others were getting the real danger of this; they were only really caring about the popularity. Gus, Abigail, Cyrus, and even Olivia, even though she was worried about her shoes she was more concerned about being popular, all started walking into the woods. Georgie threw up her arms into the air.
"This is ridiculous! I don't know what else to do!" Georgie exasperated, to Stephen, who was the only other person left still standing there. She swung her arm out at the rest of her friends, pointing. "They're all being stupid!"
Stephen had his hands in his jeans pockets, and he stepped forward a couple of steps. "Maybe we should just go back to the movie theater and call our parents," he shrugged, not knowing what else to say or do. "I don't think we can do anything else. We don't have any rope where we could tackle them and tie them up." He tried for a joke, chuckling lightly.
Georgie looked over at her true friend, and realized that he was right. There was nothing else they could do to stop the other kids. They were just going to have to learn things the hard way, if they get caught. Physical restraint wouldn't do any good; it would probably just start a fight. She started to nod her head, to agree with him, when she glanced back at the woods. The other kids were just shadows now and leaves crunching underfoot. Georgie knew what they were about to do was illegal, but, nonetheless, she still felt some kind of an unseen force drawing her in that direction. Maybe that's why she kept going all this way, even knowing the attempt to stop her friends was futile. She looked back at Stephen, a look of longing on her face. Then, she made a snap decision.
"Let's go," Georgie said, and she turned and raced after the other kids. Unwilling but still loyal, Stephen sprinted after Georgie.
The group walked for about ten, fifteen minutes, until they saw a break in the woods. The thick and claustrophobic darkness of the woods began to release them, and all of them were relieved. They came out onto a big yard, behind an old, dilapidated barn. The kids skirted around it, Gus leading. Gus spread his arms out and walked in a circle, grinning from ear to ear.
"Ladies and gents, I present to you...the Man vs. Horse set!" Gus exclaimed. He rubbed his hands together, thinking of where he was going to go first.
"Keep your voice down, someone might hear you," Abigail advised him, smiling as well. Gus shrugged like he didn't care.
Straight ahead of them sat a lonely, old, one-story house, yards away. All of the lights were out and there seemed to be no movement inside the house. A shed sat to the left of the property from where they all stood. A high-fenced round pen was opposite the shed, on the other side of the yard.
"Ooooo, I bet they keep all of the film equipment in there," Gus marveled, his bright eyes landing on the shed. "C'mon, over here." He motioned toward the others and started walking to the shed.
"No, no, no, we can't separate and we shouldn't touch anything!" Georgie intervened, sprinting forward to stop them, but she only found herself flying through the air and landing in the dirt.
"Georgie, are you alright?" Stephen asked, kneeling down beside her.
Georgie pushed herself up, brushing dirt from her face and arms. She took a mental count of herself, finding no extensive injuries, only a raw stinging where her hands slid across the dirt. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said. "I just tripped over something..." She looked behind her to try to see what had tripped her.
What she found horrified and disgusted her so much that she almost threw up right there. A hoof stuck up from the ground just a foot away from her. Georgie held back a scream, her hand flying to her mouth, realizing that a horse was buried right here. Then, she looked over and found another mound of dirt a couple feet away from this one. This time, Georgie did gasp out loud, jumping up and backing away from here as fast as she could. Except, she couldn't tear her eyes away from the makeshift graveyard. Her feet only stopped moving when her back thudded against the slatted wood of a fence.
Georgie turned around slowly and found herself looking in on a round pen. She was just able to make out the dark silhouette of a horse standing in the middle of the circular arena. Suddenly, she felt hypnotized, like everything had been pulling and leading her to this spot. Georgie rested her hands on the fence, leaning forward. Even in the dark, she knew that the horse was watching her.
"Spiridon?" Georgie called, in a whisper. The stallion pricked his ears, letting out a tense breath. "Here, boy," she murmured. Spiridon stared at her, then he lifted a hoof and took a step forward. Then, he froze again. Georgie's heart went out to this magnificent creature, left caged and terrified here. She couldn't let him stay here one more minute. "Do you want me to get you out of here?" she whispered to him. Spiridon snorted nervously. Georgie slowly moved over to the gate, trying not to draw attention to herself. She reached her hand out to the lock on the gate.
Suddenly, the back light on the house flicked on, flooding the yard. Spiridon snorted again, jumping and running to the other side of the pen. Georgie froze, her hand over the gate that she now saw had a padlock on it. Georgie spun around, crouching down to the ground to try make herself as small as possible. She couldn't see her other friends, but she hoped they were hiding quietly. She glanced over and saw a man standing just outside the back door. The light cast him completely in shadow, but she thought she could make out the outline of a gun hanging in his hand. A dog could be heard barking inside the house.
"Who the hell is out there?!" Hank Caldwell yelled out. He maneuvered his gun to in front of him, holding it with two hands now.
It was a tense, silent couple of seconds as Georgie held her breath, hoping he wouldn't see her. But then again, she didn't have to worry about that much longer.
"Run!" Gus shouted, from the other side of the yard, bolting from the open shed. Georgie jumped at the broken silence, and then four shadows darted out from places, racing toward the trees. Georgie stood up, but she didn't run; she turned and stared helplessly at Spiridon.
"Hey, get the hell back here!" Hank called, firing a shot into the air as a warning.
The gunshot spooked Spiridon some more and he reared up high. Tears sprung to Georgie's eyes as she watched his fright and panic. The stallion's eyes rolled in his head. Georgie started to open her mouth to soothe him with quiet words that she would protect him and save him from this place. Instead, she felt someone grab her hand and pull her backward.
"C'mon, Georgie, we have to go!" Stephen told her, running beside her. She wanted to stop and go back, but her heart was pounding so loud and she thought she heard the sound of pursuing footsteps.
So, Georgie did what she used to do best: Run. Her feet pounded against the ground, running beside her friend and holding on tightly to his sweaty hand. However, with each stride she took, she regretted it even more, for her heart still stood with the beautiful stallion still trapped in a nightmare.
A/N: Well, how did you all like it? Was it intense, scary? Prepare for more. Tell me what you thought/liked about this chapter. I promise I'll try to update sooner this time.