Disclaimer: No, no I don't own this movie
"Take chances, make mistakes. That's how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave." –Mary Tyler Moore
"Come on Cameron! " Reid said, pulling me through the massive double glass doors.
"No!" I yelled, dragging my feet behind me to help stop the pulling. It didn't help, at all. He carried me along like I weighed all of five pounds.
"Please!" I begged hysterically. "Please don't make me do this!"
"It's for your own good." Pogue told me, a serious look on his face.
" 'For my own good' my ass." I fumed through gritted teeth.
"The way you keep going on Cameron," Caleb laughed oh so evilly at me "some people might think you're being tortured. You do realize most teenage girls would kill for an all expense paid shopping trip."
"I am being tortured. In case you guys haven't noticed." I told them as Reid finally let go of my arm. "I'm not like most teenage girls."
"Don't worry," Tyler ensured me "we've noticed."
"Then we have an understanding." I said looking back at the boys.
"Yeah," Pogue agreed "An understanding that you need new clothes."
I huffed slightly. "Noooo I don't."
I continued walking forward, only to run straight into an incredulous looking Reid. "What?" I asked in surprise.
"You're wearing one of Pogue's shirts, my jacket and a pair of pants I'm pretty sure didn't even fit you when you were thirteen."
"They did too fit me when I was thirteen!'"I protested with a frown.
"Well, they most definitely don't fit you now." Pogue told me as he steered me into an expensive store where I was fairly certain even the socks were out of my price range. "Your lack of clothing is getting bad Cam. We're not leaving the mall until you have enough clothes to make it through all four seasons."
I sighed deeply "You guys don't need to bring me to a store like this. A Wal-Mart or even a Salvation Army would suffice."
"I'm sure it would." Pogue told me with a smile.
"You're not going to take me to one though, are you?" I asked in annoyance.
"Nope." Caleb told me as he laughed again.
"Now stop complaining and try these on." Reid said, handing me a pair of jeans that were my size. I was a little creped out, considering I never once told him my size.
"Or," He began upon noticing my hesitation. I didn't want to try them on; I had noticed the price tag. The pants were expensive enough to feed a small family for a week. "I could always help you with it."
And suddenly I couldn't try them on fast enough.
"How'd they fit?" Pogue asked when emerged from the fitting room, the already tried on jeans wrapped around my hand sheepishly.
"They…" I wanted to lie, to tell him they hadn't fit like a glove. But I knew then they'd just make me try on more. "Fit fine." I admitted with a sigh.
"Good, grab like seven more pairs." Pogue told me.
"Don't you think that's a little excessive?" I couldn't help but ask.
"No." He told me, grabbing a small stack of jeans when I was taking too long to respond. He grabbed the pair out of my hand before dropping the entire stack on the sales counter.
I felt a sick feeling in my stomach when the total rang up. But Pogue didn't even think twice about it, he just pulled out a black credit card and signed the receipt that was offered.
"Have a nice day!" The overly chipper sales clerk told Pogue as he handed me the bag of pants.
"What else do you need?" Pogue asked me.
"The freedom and the ability to purchase non expensive clothing?" I suggested.
Pogue just shook his head. "Come on, we've got a lot of ground to cover."
I spent the next three hours in and out of changing rooms, but the thing that disturbed me the most was how much fun the boys seemed to be having dressing me up. After most the shopping was done we dropped all the bags off in the back of Tyler's car before going back into the mall. Right now we were taking a break to eat a greasy lunch at the food court before continuing our shopping fest.
I was reaching for my forth burger and third fry when Reid suddenly cleared his throat. Looking up I noticed each of the guys staring at me in a mixture of admiration and disgust. "What?" I asked after I swallowed a massive bite of the burger.
"When's the last time you ate?" Tyler asked me, his eyes wide open.
"Pogue made me eat a light breakfast this morning before we left." I said as I took another large bite.
"Light?" Pogue stammered "Light? You ate five piece of French toast, four pieces of bacon and two eggs."
"Exactly," I finished up my burger and started on my fries "Light."
"How did you feed yourself while you were gone?" Caleb asked, slightly cautious of the answer I was going to give.
"I ate food." I answered as I shoved a handful of fries into my mouth.
"I think he was asking how you got the money to pay for your food." Pogue clarified.
I had known that was what he was asking, but I had also been hoping to avoid this topic of discussion. Sheepishly I looked down at the table and shoved more fries into my mouth in an effort to delay my answer. After three minutes of chewing I couldn't put it off any longer and I swallowed.
Only too realize I didn't know what to say still. Once again I reached for fries but they were pulled away from me by Pogue.
"I'm still hungry…" I told him but he didn't relinquish the fries.
"You can get it back after you answer the question." He told me, pulling out a single fry and consuming it.
I got the message: Tell us what you're hiding if you ever want to see your fries again…
I wonder how much they'd freak…
"It's nothing really bad." I said fingering the straw in my drink "It's just not exactly legal either."
No one spoke for a moment, during which time I realized I'd have to tread carefully if I wanted to get out of this without making anyone to angry.
"What did you do?" Pogue asked in horror. Each of the sons was staring at me like I had grown a second head.
"Oh come on!" I rolled my eyes in annoyance. "It's not like I was dealing many-any drugs. "
Crap, oh crap.
"You what?" Pogue hissed.
"I went through a very rough patch about a year ago and desperately needed some money. It was just prescription drugs."
"I'm pretty sure that's still illegal." Reid informed me.
"Do you know what would have happened if you got caught?" Pogue was infuriated, I didn't exactly blame him. I knew what I had done was stupid. But I was starving, I had no one and I needed food. "More importantly, did you ever do drugs?"
"No." I answered instantly "I never once did any drugs. But if I ever was caught dealing, that would have been the least of my worries."
"Oh yeah!" Pogue snapped back in a low menacing tone. "Tell us Cameron, what were you doing that was worse than drug dealing?"
I rubbed my hand through my hair slightly and growled in frustration. There was only one thing I could think of doing to stop this conversation before I got into anymore trouble.
"This conversation is getting weary and old. Forget that which in the last five minutes you have been told." I chanted. I let the power flow out my body, not a lot, but enough to make it work. A blank expression crossed the sons' faces', and for a second I thought my spell might have actually worked.
"Did you just fuckin' try to use magic on us?" Pogue asked me and I realized instantly that working a spell probably hadn't been the best idea.
"Tried to," I admitted "I'm not really sure why it didn't work…"
"We noticed." Reid snapped "Why would you try to use magic on us?"
"Honestly," I sighed "Because I thought you wouldn't notice and I'd get away with it."
"You didn't." Tyler informed me as I started to rub my hands together.
"Apparently I can't use on you." I whispered. Well, this sucked big time.
"Maybe that's a good thing." Caleb told me "If you're going to start using on us whenever we ask you something you don't like."
"Don't give me that." I snapped back "Pogue's used on me, Reid's used on me. For all I know you've used on me too."
"Yeah, to get you to sleep, or to prevent you from running away again, reasons that were justified." Pogue tried to explain to me.
"So what?" I asked with so much anger that the table actually started shaking "When you use on me it's ok? But when I try to use on you, I'm in the wrong?"
They noticed the shaking and, unlike the time in the kitchen, they knew it was me doing it.
"You need to calm down." Reid tried to persuade me, but he only succeeded in enraging me enough to cause the shaking to shift from slight, to noticeable to anyone walking by.
"Don't tell me what to do." I snapped, causing a plastic cup of water to fly off the table. I yawned at the loss of energy but the shaking didn't stop, if anything it increased.
"Hey," I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around to reveal Ben standing behind me "What's going on Camera? You ok?"
Ben's calming touch instantly calmed me, I took a deep breath and the shaking instantly stopped. "What are you doing here?" I asked him in surprise.
"Gale was picking up some parts for his laptop. Your aura was going crazy; I saw it all the way from the store…What's going on?" He had noticed the angry glare the sons were giving me.
"Hey Ben, take a seat." Reid suggested, pulling out a seat and gesturing for him to sit in it.
"Actually, I think I'm good…" He trailed off, remembering what happened last time he had gotten in between me and the sons.
Before he could attempt to back away Tyler grabbed his shirt and pulled him into the chair, kicking it into the table before he had the chance to go anywhere.
"We have a question for you Ben." Reid's smile was incredibly menacing.
"We want the truth too." Tyler added, I just buried my head in my hands.
"See, Cameron," Pogue yelled my name as he spoke "Won't tell us what she did as a major source income when she was gone. You wouldn't be stupid enough not to tell us, would you?"
"I don't think this is something I should be telling you." Ben tried to explain
"One of you two better say something, now." Caleb informed us.
Ben grabbed my arm and started rubbing it in comfort. He nudged me with his elbow, an indication that it would be alright for me tell them.
"It's ok." He told me.
And like always, I believed him. The thing that always hurt me the most was the fact that Gale was right; Ben did love me and though I did love him, it wasn't in the same way he loved me. Even though Ben knew that, he would always do his best to be there for me. I couldn't help but think he was holding onto the idea that someday I may feel the same way about him. But right now, our relationship was nothing more than a friendship.
"You know how I told you I could see the future?" I asked the sons as I held Ben's hand tighter.
I waited till I got a nod before clearing my throat and continuing "Well, I'm kinda way better at controlling my visions then I am at controlling anything else. So when ever money got tight and there was a major sports game coming up, I'd well…"
"Please tell me you didn't do what I think you did." Pogue begged.
I smiled a small apologetic smile "I'd tell other people the results in an exchange for a 20% profit from their wining bets."
"Didn't anyone ever get suspicious?" Caleb.
"Occasionally, but if they ever did I'd make sure they couldn't remember why they were suspicious in the first place."
"What's that suppose to mean?" Tyler asked.
"It means that no one could remember me, let alone their previous curiosity at my unbelievable guessing abilities." I sighed
"And her magic worked, most of the time." Ben looked at the sons carefully "Whenever it didn't Gale and I would protect her. What about you guys? Do you honestly think you're able to keep her safe?"
"Ben…" I tried to calm down my suddenly angry friend.
"What?" Ben asked "Gale and I took care of you the past two years; these guys couldn't even find you. Like they could do a better job helping you than we could."
"Yeah I bet we could." Reid smugly, leaning forward to glair angrily at Ben.
"Oh yeah tough guy?" Ben let go of my hand to lean forward and meet Reid's gaze.
"Both of you stop it." I warned; stick out my hands to push them apart. "I can take care of myself."
A moment's hesitation more passed before both teenagers leaned back against their chairs.
"Sorry Camera." Ben told me and before he could say anything else his cell phone rang. "I'll be right back."
Ben put an affectionate hand on my shoulder before walking away to answer his phone. Looking up I could have sworn I saw a brief look of jealously in Reid's eyes as Ben touched me.
"What?" I asked as Pogue looked at me.
"What do you think? Illegal gambling operation?" He snapped at me "Why the hell didn't you just come home if things were that bad?"
"Because money isn't what makes the world go round. If I got to do everything over gain, starting from me running away to when the cops busted me, I wouldn't change a thing." I told my cousin.
"So you'd leave us again?" He looked angry
"That's not what I meant and you know it. Everything I went through in the past two years has made me into the person I am now." I explained "Yeah, not being around you guys sucked ass but it also taught me how to take care of myself and how to control my powers."
"We could have taught you how to control your powers." Pogue pointed out desperately. "We could have been there when you needed us."
"I'm sorry I worried you for all that time. It was selfish and immature of me. But you have to understand that I learn from experience, not example." I whispered.
"But all the stealing? All the drug dealing and gamboling? Not being able to control your magic?" He seemed upset but was trying to hide it. The only reason I noticed was because of how much our relationship had started to heal over the past couple of weeks.
"Led me back home to you guys when I needed it most. That's the thing about my magic, it may not always do what I want it to, but it always does what I need it to." I smiled at my sad looking cousin as Ben came back over to the table.
"Hey that was Gale," Ben told me.
"Big surprise there." He raised his eyebrows at me.
"Yeah I know." He muttered "Well, I've got to go. I'd tell you to have fun shopping, but the last time I took you to The Salvation Army because you were literally out of clothes, you almost killed me."
Pogue gave me a satisfied look, Tyler smiled, Caleb laughed and Reid just mumbled "I knew you'd bitch about shopping no matter where we took you."
"Anyway, " Ben continued "I'll see you later Camera. Call me if you need me."
"Actually," I said before he could walk off "Can I go with you to see him before you guys leave? I kinda want to apologize."
"Yeah, sure." Ben sighed
"You're not going anywhere without us." Pogue warned me
"Come on Pogue," I whinnied slightly "I'm not going anywhere but to see Gale, then I'll come back. Besides, you can't tell me there isn't at least one store you want to visit for yourself today."
Pogue hesitated for a minute before Caleb decided to respond for him "Go ahead, but don't take long."
I nodded yes before running to catch up to Ben.
"Cameron!" Pogue yelled up behind me. I turned around to look at him and noticed how seriously he was looking at me "Remember what we talked about last week, because if I have to come looking for you…"
"I've got it." I promised him with a nod as Ben and I continued our walk to the computer store.
"So you're fitting in quite well aren't you?" He asked me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.
"Yeah, it's hard to believe it's only been a week since I ran away for the second time." I admitted sheepishly.
"I think it's hard to believe it's been a like three weeks since you disappeared and Jason hasn't hunted you down yet." His words left a sick feeling in my stomach.
"Urgh," I shivered at just the thought of Jason "Don't go there."
I'd be lying if I told you I hadn't thought about Jason Bradley in the three weeks since I moved home. Jason had been my biggest client in my little gamboling operation. He was also abusive, cruel, controlling and, for some reason behind my comprehension, immune to my magic. Eight years my senior, Jason had suspected there was something more to my guessing skills from the beginning. As time went on he had only become more suspicious, until he had discovered the truth. When that happened he had kidnapped me, refusing to let me do anything without his say so for fear of losing his biggest source of income.
Once again Ben and Gale had saved me ass, getting me out of his slimy grasp before anything bad had happened to me. Unfortunately Jason had gone on the rampage, doing everything in his power to try and find me again. Which, considering he was wealthy and manipulative, was a lot. I had managed to stay under his radar and had been whisked away from Boston by my aunt and uncle before he could find me again.
"You should tell them." Ben told me and, judging by the look on his face, it pained him to say it. "It'll help them take care of you and it'll help you feel safe at night."
"They already hate me enough. I don't need to add insult to injury." Ben stopped so abruptly I managed to run into him.
"They feel a lot a thing about you Cameron. Love, friendship, sympathy, understanding…But none of them are hatred." He looked down at me "So don't say that. Got it?"
"Yeah. Sorry, I was feeling sorry for myself."
He shook his head at me "It's fine-crap…Speak of the devil."
Instantaneously he hugged me into his chest and looked down affectionate at me before speaking to me so softly I could barely hear him. "Our favorite little friend's cronies are lingering around the mall. Frekin' creepers. Just look up at me, smile at me like you actually don't hate me." I complied "Yeah that's it. Now we're just going to stand here until they leave, then we're going to talk to your cousin and explain everything to them."
As he spoke I had become increasingly tenser. Jason was not a nice person and I had successfully pissed him off. Intentionally, on more than one occasion I might add. For instants, the last game scores he had demanded from me I had lied to him about-badly, I might add- causing him to lose thousands of dollars. I had claimed that he needed to lose occasionally in order to keep a low profile, but that hadn't stopped him from giving me a broken arm.
"Ok, they're gone." He told me before pushing me away slightly so we could start walking again. But as soon as he let go of me, we were swarmed from all sides.
"Well, what do we have here?" Wade, Jason's head follower asked Ben and me.
"Nothing, we were just leaving." I said, trying to step away. Wade stepped in front of me and opened his jacket to reveal the gun he had underneath it.
"No you weren't." He smiled evilly at me "You were a pain in the ass to find Cameron. So guess what you're going to do now. You're going to be a good little girl and follow us and not make a scene."
"I don't think so." I snapped back. "I'm not stupid and I know you're not going to shoot me unless you want to unleash the wrath of your boss."
"You're right." Wade admitted fingering his gun "I might not shoot you, but your boyfriend here isn't as lucky. One false move and he gets it."
And just like that I was listening to what he had to say to me. "OK, I'll do what you want. Just don't hurt him."
"No, Cameron." Ben protested but one look from me and he was silenced.
"Don't make me do anything you'll regret." I warned him "Please don't say anything."
I had used magic on Ben before, but only in situations that I absolutely had to. Ben wasn't stupid, he knew if I thought I had to use magic against him to keep him safe, I would.
Ben wasn't sure what to say, so he didn't speak as Wade directed the two of us out a door and into a side alley.
"What now?" Ben asked, standing in front of me defensively.
"I don't need you anymore." Wade hit Ben in the head with the butt of his gun, instantly rendering him unconscious.
"Ben!" I screamed running forward "Ben!"
Wade grabbed me around the waist before I could reach me friend. He grasped a hand over my mouth before dragging me towards an ominous white van that had just pulled up.
"You actually got her?" I heard the driver ask right before I was shoved through a side door. Hands grabbed me and I was gagged and blind folded.
One of the things that sucked most about my magic was the fact that it required verbal commands. Take that away, and I could use as much magic as a street magician. The only thing I could successfully use at that moment was my capability to see the future. Which, let's be completely honest, wasn't exactly useful at this time.
I tried to struggle, to kick away and get my hands back so that I could remove the gag. But strong hands grabbed me and I was instantly tied up. Still I refused to be restricted, I still fought against whatever or whoever I could as I kicked and thrashed out.
I hit something; I heard a satisfactory crack and felt the warm trickle of blood as it dripped onto my skin.
"My nose!" I heard someone scream "She fuckin' broke my nose! I'm gunna kill her."
"No!" Wade warned "You touch her and I'll kill you."
He grabbed me and tried to pin me down, but still I didn't stop fighting.
"Then what the fuck am I suppose to do?" The man asked desperately as I kicked him over and over again.
Wade sighed in annoyance "Do I have to do everything myself?" He asked as I heard the rustle of fabric and felt something hard hit my head right before darkness consumed me completely.