Hooray! I have new friends! YAY! 'K, here's the next chapie!
Chapter Twenty-two: Rivalry
Dick, Kori, Garfield, Terra, Victor and Rachel walked into the glass doors of the Gotham Mall. The mall had two levels with a glass roof and shops on every side. Every now-and-then, there would be a palm tree that interrupted the tiled floor. Popcorn, cotton candy, and fresh baked pretzels filled the air with delightful smells. Children cried, teenagers laughed and everyone else filled the atmosphere with light-hearted talk.
After looking at the map that was placed in the middle of the floor, the group went their separate ways. Dick went over to the game center, Kori and Terra went to shop for cloths, Vic went to the sports shop, and Rach went over to the Barns and Noble.
"I haven't decided where to go, yet," Gar explained.
"Ok," said Dick. "When everyone's done, meet up at the Food Court, 'K?"
They all nodded ant left.
After seeing that Terra was out of sight, Gar looked at the map again. He pinpointed a place marked Barns and Noble.
He quickly walked over to the book store/café, and saw who he was looking for.
Rachel was sitting in the corner of Starbucks, reading a black-bound book and sipping herbal tea.
"Hey," he said, sitting down next o her. "Watcha reading?"
She looked over her book. "Bloodline" she replied (A/N this is one of my favorite books).
"Any good?"
"It's about Dracula's heir and World War II. It's peachy."
He laughed nervously.
"Anyway. What are you doing here? I thought you hated reading."
"Oh… well… um…" he looked around for help. " Starbucks! Yeah, that's it…"
She cocked an eyebrow. "Since when do you drink coffee?"
"Well, um… they don't just have coffee. I mean, you're drinking tea, aren't you?"
She smiled. "You don't like herbal tea, either."
"Well – ha!" He raced over to the counter where they rang up books. "They've got great gag stuff here!" He pointed to a section of whoopee cushions, exploding gum, and large, plastic bugs.
"Figures…" Rach said with a smirk.
He looked at the pile of stuff and said: "Sweet!" He picked up a plastic jar. "Green face paint!"
Rach sighed and went back to her book.
After Gar had bought the paint, he sat back down. "So, uh, sleep well?"
Rachel looked up and set her book down. "Ok, what do you want?"
"Nothing," he said truthfully. She looked at him. "Honest!" He held up his hands. When she still didn't seem convinced, he said "Look, I just wanted to – you know – talk."
She blinked. "Talk? We've been on the road for over a week now."
"Well, yeah, but I never had a chance to – talk to you. You know, like we did before."
She smiled. "When we 'talked' I was usually making fun of you."
He gave a week smile. "Yeah. I guess so." He turned to leave.
NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO! STOP HIM! screeched Love.
Let him go said Logic. He has a girlfriend, remember?
Who cares? said Rage. That blonde bimbo gets what she disserves.
All of you, SHUT UP! sheyelled at herself.
Go for it whispered Brave.
"Wait, Gar…"
He turned and looked at her.
"Yeah?"
"Why don't you, you know, grab a hot chocolate, and we can – talk."
He grinned, scampered over to the counter, and ordered as she gave a small smile in spite of her self.
Oh, great said Timid. Terra's going to have a field day when she finds out.
Oh, shut up.
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After the shopping spree, they all gathered back at the food court (Gar lagged behind Rachel so they wouldn't be seen together by Terra, just in case). Then started the famous "pizza topping" fight.
"Black olive and mushroom!"
"Pepperoni!"
"Veggie!"
"Anchovies!"
"Can we please just order something?" said Rach in her metreone voice.
"As long as it's vegetarian!" said Gar.
"Come on, man," said Vic, "How can you deny me the 'all-meat' experience?"
"Dude! I take care of most of those animals!"
"Why don't we try something different?" said Kori. "Like – pickles?"
They all looked at her.
"You're not like – pregnant – or anything, are you?" said Rach.
"No"
"Double pepperoni!"
"I'm not eating meat!"
"There's no meat in pepperoni!"
"Well, well, well…" said an annoying, little voice. " If it isn't the Teen zit-heads?"
They turned and saw Jinx, Gizmo and Mammoth. They were all dressed normally, but they still looked as malicious as ever.
"What do you guys want?" said Dick, darkly. Everyone knew that Dick took challenges seriously.
"We came for pizza," Jinx said, slyly.
"And it looks like you're sitting at our table", said Mammoth.
"Beat it, scrum buffers!" added Gizmo.
"What are you going to do if we don't?" said Rach, calmly.
Mammoth cracked his knuckles. "You don't want to know."
"Actually, we do," said Vic, standing up and cracking his right knuckles.
Gizmo took note of this and said: "What's the matter, peg-arm? Got no knuckles to crack?" (A/N remember he has a prosthetic left arm)
Vic's eyes narrowed and he lunged at Gizmo, but was stopped by Gar.
"Easy, Vic," he said.
"Yeah," said Mammoth. "Easy, Vic."
"We don't want you hurting your other arm, now, do we, cutie?" said Jinx.
Vic bared his teeth and his right hand clenched into a fist.
"Excuse me," said a mall cop, walking over to them. "Is there a problem here, kids?"
The two groups glared at each other and then Jinx said: "No problem officer. We were just leaving."
And, to make a long story short, that's what they did.
Ok, time for the clear-up. Gar and Rach haven't kissed or done anything (yet) and here's why: in my book, cheating's, like, the lowest thing anyone can do (no matter how bad the other person is). And I certainly didn't want to make Gar look like the bad guy. So, yeah…
R&R!
Tprinces