Chapter 8 – Date Fright.

Grace sat quietly in the small cupboard as she heard Franky walking back and forth, busily getting ready for something. The light entering in the crack between the door and the floor was welcoming for Grace as the light was never turned on in the cupboard so for the past day she had been in nearly total darkness. She leaned against the door, trying to make out any noises from outside. She had no idea what Franky wanted; she was just pretending to be Grace.

"Could you please just turn on the light?" She asked in a loud, clear voice. There was no reply, but she knew that Franky had heard her. She inhaled deeply, trying to be brave which was one of the most difficult tasks she had ever had to do.

"What do you want?" Grace asked, pressing her ear hard against the door and she swore she heard Franky exhale. She glanced down at the crack of light and saw Franky's shadow growing larger, so she assumed she was walking closer.

"You wouldn't understand." She sounded exasperated when she responded like she had experience of people not understanding her and this pushed Grace to try get through to her.

"Maybe you could tell me and I might be able -" She was cut off by a condescending bout of laughter coming from the other side of the door.

"What? Help me?" The harshness of her tone brought Grace back to reality. This person had kidnapped her, why was she trying to be nice to her? This person was obviously past the point of help.

She slumped back in her seat and searched blindly for her flashlight so she could find the small packets of crackers that she knew was somewhere around her. Just before the front door slammed shut, the cupboard light turned on revealing a bottle of water and crisps in the far corner of the room.

Mini was finding it difficult to restrict her movements on the packed dance floor. Liv was moving freely, but Mini had to make sure the exposed part of her arms was not in risk of touching any innocent dancers who were grinding close to her. Liv pulled her closer and she couldn't help but laugh as Liv moved Mini's arms to get her to loosen up.

"Isn't this fun?" Liv shouted over the music, laughing into Mini's ear. She grinned back and nodded in reply. Liv spun her around to do a full circle, but Mini only managed a semi circle as she noticed three guys she did not want to meet right now. She quickly snapped back around to face Liv and held onto her shoulders.

"This was a bad idea." Mini said hurriedly with widened eyes. Liv shrugged and raised her eyebrows in obvious confusion. Before Mini could explain, she heard the faint shout behind her.

"MCGUINNESS!" Liv looked around Mini's shoulder and her mouth formed a perfect 'O' shape when she saw who was there. Mini stood beside Liv and waved awkwardly at Alo, Nick and unfortunately Rider as well.

"Ginger minge," She said as a way of greeting. It already felt awkward as Nick had a completely baffled look on his face and Rider seemed to be laughing silently at something. Liv seemed to be communicating with just her eyes in Alo's direction.

"Is it 80's night or something, Mini?" Rider said in his obnoxious, grating voice, whilst pointing at her outfit. She rolled her eyes, but regretfully had to agree that her outfit was reminiscent of 80's attire. She had the big hoop earrings, satin gloves, black dress and the fishnet biker shorts. She narrowed her eyes at him before shouting,

"All I know is it's not Twat Night, so maybe you should fuck off." Alo clapped his hands together once as a way to break the awkwardness.

"Drinks anyone?" Liv quickly nodded and joined him, but also pulled Rider away with her. Mini was now stuck with just Nick and her guilt for lying to him earlier that day was building. He sucked on his lips before asking her,

"Thought you were grounded?" Mini did her best attempt at a smile and let a small, fake laugh escape her lips.

"She went out tonight, so she couldn't exactly stop me." She said, pretty satisfied with that explanation. "Anyway I don't have your number so I couldn't let you know."

He seemed to buy it and held out a hand to dance with her. She grabbed onto it and began to move closer to him. He was about to put his hands on her upper arms, but she quickly guided them to her hips.

"I can give you my number later." He whispered into her ear. She grinned; it was so easy for her to forget that she had anything wrong with her and to play along with the fantasy that there could be a future for her and Nick.

"Is that seriously all you're eating?" Rich asked, pointing at the salad that was sitting in front of Grace. He had ribs and chips on his plate, which looked like a mountain compared with Grace's. She gave a small nod.

"Yes, didn't you expect Gr- me to eat salads?" She looked away from him and back to her own plate. He stuffed a few chips into his mouth and shook his head. This was feeling much more awkward than the previous night. She seemed to be acting weird; he had to restrain himself from tuning into her thoughts because he knew she wouldn't like it if he did, but there was something not right.

"Err…Did you sort things out with Mini and Liv then?" He asked, trying his best at making conversation. She glanced up at him and her eyebrows furrowed together as if she wasn't sure if they were friends again or not.

"Yes, totally… Everything's great!" She said smiling. She took another bite of her salad.

This isn't working, Franky thought. She tried to be like Grace, but she didn't know Grace well enough to give an accurate portrayal and now things were becoming more awkward by the second. Maybe it was time to mention things she knew Rich would like... Over the years since she had liked him, she had discovered all about his favorite food, music, movies etc. Now was probably the time to use that knowledge.

Franky contemplated what to say next as Rich cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Could you -"

"What do you think -?"

Grace blushed and Rich gave a half smile. He gestured at her for to continue.

"What do you think of Napalm Death?" He raised an eyebrow in surprise at the question and he shook his head in disbelief.

"You've heard of them?" He sat back in his seat, intrigued to know how she even knew about them.

"I love them!" She said excitedly, leaning forward. "I've listened to their album Law of the Leech over and over again."

Rich looked pained when she said that and gave her a scrutinizing look. "Order of the Leech is great, yeah."

Franky wanted to kick herself; it had been over a year since she feigned interest in Napalm Death, so obviously she was a little rusty. The empty silence settled again.

"What were you going to say anyway?" She asked, putting on a bright face. Rich paused, trying to remember what it was and with a deadpan expression said,

"Could you pass the salt?"

"You're amazing." Nick said with a stupid smile on his face, as he passed his cigarette to Mini. She took it in one hand and began to laugh.

"How am I amazing?" She put the cigarette to her lips, but kept looking at him from the corner of her eye. He was staring intently at her.

It was nice now, because they no longer had to yell at each other. He wanted a cigarette so they came out the side entrance so that he could light up. It was a slightly scary location as the side entrance led out to a dim alleyway, but at least there weren't many people. He had taken her by her gloved hand and led her to a more secluded area that had one bright light shining down on them.

"You don't even know how amazing you are," He said, moving to stand in front of her and holding her lightly by the wrists. She shook her arms to get her attention on him.

"I know I'm amazing, but you've only known me five minutes." She said looking him in the eye and smirking. He bit down on his bottom lip before continuing on.

"I really want to kiss you right now." She sighed at this and removed her arms from his. Her fantasy was quickly crumbling around her, as she realized this couldn't happen… ever.

"That's really not a good idea." He edged closer to her and Mini didn't know if she could resist him, but thankfully there was a clattering sound from the far off corner that she could use as a distraction. "What was that?"

"I didn't hear anything." Nick said, not even flinching at the concern in her voice. He knew she wanted to kiss him; she had made it plainly obvious that she was interested in him from the beginning and now she was backing out?

His lips pressed against hers for a brief second and Mini didn't pull away like she should have.

"Give me the bag." Mini opened her eyes and saw a blonde hair guy standing in front of them, holding a small, yet sharp knife. He looked like he was around their age and was well-built. She let out an ear piercing scream as she backed up further against the wall. Nick stood in front of Mini, acting like a shield. She scrambled to pull her bag off her arm so she could give it to him.

"Don't give it Mini." Nick said, as he walked closer to the guy and shoved him. The guy kicked Nick back, so he stumbled backwards but he still managed to get his balance in the end.

"He's got a fucking knife!" Mini shouted, before throwing the bag on the floor. The guy grinned and snatched it up. Nick still fought back, punching him in the nose. The guy stiffened as he felt the blood trickling out of his nose.

The next part confused Mini more than anything else; he held up a hand as if it were a gun. It was like silly school children who pretend their hands are guns, but for them it was always pretend. This guy pulled the trigger of his imaginary gun and a firing noise echoed around the alley. Mini knew the sound was too real to be fake, but he didn't have a gun…

As the gunshot went off, Nick fell backwards and lay on the floor simply clutching at his stomach. Mini shook her head and fell down next to him.

"No, no, no…. Nick, no he didn't have a gun!" As much as she tried to deny it, as soon as she moved his hand away from his stomach she couldn't deny it anymore – he had been shot.

I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING. Three months? Three months and she comes back with a terrible chapter.

Sorry, sorry, sorry. Be back in a few days with the next chapter though.

This chapter is dedicated to my mango.

Thanks,

TheCheeryCherry.