Maika's survived her first week of school, she's so happy that it's Saturday; she's also happy to hang out with Hayley and meet her friends. She wondered what'd be like; she's used to mostly hanging out with her sister and her mom. She loves them very much, but she wants to make new friends and be more social. Maika wasn't much of a social butterfly but she wants to try and get out of her comfort zone more.
"Maika are you excited to see your friend?" Lily asked.
She snapped out of her quiet trance, "Oh, yeah I am."
"I'm glad your making new friends," She smiled.
Maika agreed, "I am too, it's amazing anyone will talk to me."
"Don't think like that, once they get to know the real you, they'll love you," She said.
"I'll keep that in mind," Maika said.
They drove up to the 'Galleria Mall' and Maika's jaw dropped, she's been in malls and shopping centers before but never one this big.
"I'll pick you up around 8, okay sweetie?" Lily asked.
"Okay mom, love you," Maika said as she stepped out of the car.
"Love you too sweetie, make friends!" She said as she drove away.
Maika stared up at the large mall in front of her, it was even bigger up close. She stepped inside and it was a lot for her to take. There were so many things to see and explore, where to begin? Well first she wanted to start with finding Hayley. Hayley told her that the 'Ravens Nest' was upstairs to the far left, it was right across from a place called, 'Belts, Belts, Belts,'
She made her way to an elevator and pressed the first-floor button. As the elevator went up Maika got a lovely view of the mall, she was amazed.
"Wow, so many places, so little time," She mused.
The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened on the second floor, Hayley told her to meet her at 'The Ravens Nest,' She passed by endless stores until she found it. The outside had a black gate by the entrance which looked like something you'd see in a dungeon, the store windows had mannequins that modeled goth/punk attire and the sign was neon blue. The interior of it was even more of an experience, everywhere Maika turned there some kind of over the top dark and mysterious fashion peaking its head around every corner.
On the walls were various posters of punk bands, such as, 'My Chemical Romance', 'Skillet', 'Simple Plan'; along with a large TV on the ceiling that played a random band while promoting the store and their products. She smiled to herself, she felt like she belonged here; it was her kind of scene.
"Hey Maika!" Hayley said.
Maika turned to see Hayley who was standing behind the cashier desk. A smile formed on her face this is the first time she's actually going to hang out with a group of friends; words couldn't describe how happy she is.
"Hi Hayley," Maika said.
"How do you like the 'Ravens Nest'?" Hayley asked.
"It's um…it's a lot to take in, I mean that in a good way don't get me wrong," Maika said.
She chuckled, "Don't worry about it, lots of people's first impression is something they didn't expect, but it grows on you."
"How long have you worked here?" Maika asked.
"Six months, this is my home away from home," Hayley said.
"I can see why, it really suits you," Maika said.
"You could work here to, if you want, there's an opening," She said.
"I'll keep that in mind, so what would you like to do?" Maika asked.
"I was thinking of seeing a movie and we can get some dinner afterwards, and I can introduce you to my friends," Hayley said.
Maika smiles, "That sounds great."
It was late in the afternoon, so they had some time to kill before the movie started, they walked around the mall talking up a storm. Maika felt a sense of calm rush over her, she didn't have to worry about her clothes or her hair being inappropriate. Back home if she's caught wearing the wrong clothes or her hair looking wrong, or even wearing makeup; she'd be fined, arrested or worse. Her train of thought stopped when she was interrupted by two guys walking up to them.
"Hey guys," Hayley said.
Hayley seemed like she knew them; were they friends of hers?
"Hey Hayley." The first guy said.
The guy that first spoke was black and an anthropomorphic pit-bull, he had a dog nose and cropped ear's, but he looked more human then a dog. His outfit was a blue t-shirt with mid-length white sleeves and light washed jeans with black vans.
The other guy was Asian and an anthropomorphic cat; like his friend he looked more human then animal and had a cat's ears and nose. His clothes were a teal v-neck t-shirt, grey jean's and black converse. He looked taller and slightly more muscular then his friend. He seemed cute maybe even hot.
The Asian cat guy grinned at her, "Who's this cutie?"
"This is Maika; Maika these are my friends, this is Logan and that's Aaron," Hayley introduced.
"Hi," Maika said shyly.
Maika always felt awkward introducing herself, she never knew what to say other then, 'hi' or 'hello'.
"Nice to meet you Maika," Aaron smiled.
"Nice to meet you too," Maika said.
Logan grinned, "I didn't realize the new girl was so lovely, so beautiful how do you like Canada?"
Maika felt all the blood rush to her face, she's never been flirted with before. What does she say back, something flirty too; nope, she's way too introverted for that.
"It's nice, I thought they'd be trees full of syrup," She said.
Logan purred, "You look so much sweeter than syrup."
Her face has turned into a tomato, she placed her hand over her mouth to prevent herself from laughing.
"Down kitty, bad boy," Hayley said.
"Alright," Logan grinned.
"So, are we ready for the movie?" Aaron asked.
"We've still got time to kill, why don't we walk a little longer?" Hayley asked.
"Fine by me," Aaron said.
"I'm cool with that," Logan said.
The four of them continued to talk and got to know Maika a little more, they seemed to be interested in her home life and how she's settling into her new-found freedom.
"Your not allowed to wear certain clothes?" Aaron asked.
Maika nodded, "I'm not even allowed to wear makeup, or have my hair long."
"How did you manage that?" Hayley asked.
"I put it in a bun," Maika said.
"That's insane," Logan said.
Before Maika could get another word out, a certain mall cop interrupted them. Ron Rent-A-Cop hasn't changed much but he's still as grumpy as ever when it comes to dealing with mall rats.
"Hey maggots what do you think your doing?" He sneered.
Hayley glared, "We're just talking."
"Are you? Cause it looks like your up to something," He sneered.
"We're walking and talking, that's all we're doing dude," Aaron said annoyed.
"It's none of your business," Logan glared.
Ron glared, "Watch your mouth punk."
Maika couldn't stand seeing this anymore, this is something she never does but this situation demands it, so she might as well do it.
"(in Korean) Excuse me why are you bothering us? We have done nothing wrong," Maika said.
Ron turned to her with a questionable and angry look on his face.
"What did you say maggot?" He growled.
Maika grew nervous but she wasn't going to let him intimidate her, she kept a straight face.
"(in Korean) We are only having a conversation and you interrupted us, it seems like you are the rude one," Maika said.
Hayley had a look of disbelief while Logan and Aaron held back laughter. They had no clue what she was saying but they're pretty sure it's awesome.
Ron only got more angrier, "Are you threatening me?"
"(in Korean) No, I'm only stating that your being rude for no reason," Maika explained.
Ron looked like he wanted to argue more but decided not to, he wasn't going to win.
"I'm on to you missy," He glared.
Maika rolled her eyes, "(in Korean) That's cute."
Ron huffed and walked away, the three of them were astonished that someone actually trolled the grumpy mall cop in another language.
"That was awesome!" Aaron laughed.
"I've never seen that before," Hayley said.
"How'd you do it?" Logan asked.
Maika blushed, "I only use it whenever someone is bothering me back at my old school in Pyongyang whenever someone would mess with me I'd speak English and pretend that they had no idea what they were saying, and they backed off; but in this case I reversed it."
"Maybe I should learn Korean," Logan said.
"It's a little tricky to grasp at first," Maika said.
"Maybe you can teach it to me, it'd be nice to have a cute teacher to look at," Logan purred.
Maika giggled, "Okay."
"Come on lover boy lets get to the movie," Hayley said.
As they waited in line two girls joined them, one was short about 5'1 and the other was tall reaching to 5'10. The short girl was Asian with long black hair and small brown eyes; her outfit was a pair of light washed jeans, green v-neck t-shirt with a black camisole and black converse. If she wasn't wearing makeup, Maika would've thought she was eleven or twelve due to her round face and petite figure.
The other girl was black and had a slender hourglass figure; she had long black curly hair and a medium dark complexion. Her clothes were a pink long sleeve v-neck t-shirt with mid washed skinny jeans and navy toms. With her tall figure she could be a super model.
"Hi guys sorry we're late, me and Michelle had to work overtime," The tall girl said.
"That's okay guys we're just about to buy our tickets," Aaron said.
"Hi, my names Michelle, you must be the new girl everyone's talking about," Michelle introduced.
"My names Maika nice to meet you," Maika greeted.
"Hi Maika, I'm Sam, are you excited for the movie?" She asked.
She nodded, "I am but I don't know what we're seeing."
"We're seeing 'Die Again', it's about a guy that dies, and he has to complete a thousand good deeds before he dies again," Hayley said.
"I hear that's supposed to be really good," Sam said gleefully.
"Sounds pretty epic," Maika said.
They got up to the front where they were greeted by another one of their friends, he was an anthropomorphic wolf. He was Hispanic and he had a slightly muscular built and was about six feet tall; his uniform was a white short sleeved shirt with a red vest and black pants. He had shaggy dark brown hair with grey eyes and his skin was a medium olive shade.
"Hey guys what are you seeing?" He asked.
"Die Again," Hayley said.
"Good choice, that's suppose to be the best film of the year," He said.
He printed their tickets and sent them on their marry way, Julio is going to join them for dinner after the movie. As the guys got their snacks, the girls waited and talked for a bit. Maika had no idea Hayley knew so many people, to be honest it was kind of overwhelming. She's never been around this many people unless it's school or out on the town. Even with that it's still enough to make her feel nervous, she's so used to being alone it's a bit of an adjustment to have friends to hang out with. Still it felt nice; even if it was a change to how things usually were.
"Hey Maika, are you okay?" Michelle asked noticing how quiet she was.
"Oh sorry, I'm fine," Maika said.
"You seem really quiet is something wrong?" Michelle asked.
"Just deep in thought that's all, I'm fine really," Maika said.
Maika didn't want to tell them what she was feeling, it'd be to awkward to explain. What would they think of her?
"Hey girls you ready?" Logan said with an armful of snacks.
"Yeah let's go," Michelle said.
The six of them made their way to the movie theater, they took their seats and relaxed while they snacked. The movie itself was really good, Maika hadn't been to the movies in a long time, it felt really nice. She could understand why it's considered one of the best films of the year.
"That was awesome," Logan said.
Michelle wiped away tears from her face, "It was beautiful."
Hayley grinned, "I knew you'd cry."
"Can you blame me though?" Michelle asked.
Hayley patted her back, "No I guess I can't."
"What did you think Maika?" Sam asked.
"I loved it, I hope it wins best picture," Maika said.
"Hey who's hungry?" Logan asked.
"Why don't we get dinner at El Sporto's?" Aaron suggested.
"Sounds great I could go for a cheeseburger right about now," Sam said.
"What's El Sporto's? Is it a Spanish sport's restaurant?" Maika asked.
"It's a sports themed grill, they've got pretty good food, I think you'll like it," Hayley said.
"Okay, it's nice to try new things," Maika said.
"Alright El Sporto's it is," Logan said.
Maika smiled to herself, maybe having friends won't be so bad after all.
End of Chapter 6; sorry this took forever it's just been very slow on how to put everything together but here it is, and I hope you enjoy; more will be coming soon I promise.