Chapter 1

Shop Till You Drop

"Dang it!" Jeff moaned as he lazily hit the alarm clock on his nightstand.

It was a beautiful day in Las Vegas, about 87 degrees with not a cloud in the sky.

Jeff was a fairly tall boy, around six one, with thick brown hair in a faux-hawk style, and lived in Las Vegas for over five years now, but was getting tired of the same thing every day.

Jeff busted open his closet, and decided to wear his favorite white Sonic the Hedgehog t-shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans. Then he went into his bathroom and hopped in the shower.

A little ways down the road, Jeff's friend, Brittney, had just woken up as well because they had plans to go shopping today before school started the following week.

She was around five foot eight and had fairly long brown hair that she usually kept tied in a ponytail.

Jeff's phone began to vibrate on the counter in the bathroom, and, luckily, he had just finished getting dressed and slid his glasses on.

"Hey, Ivan" Jeff answered in a positive tone.

"Hey, I got time off work, so I can hang with you guys today."

"Cool, I think we are going to the Wal-Mart on Craig in a couple of hours."

"So, noon? Okay I will meet you guys there."

"Cool, see ya then," Jeff said as he set his phone down and continued his morning rituals.

Ivan Flores was five six, and had short black hair that he kept parted to the left and a slight mustache.

Back at Brittney's place

"Hello."

"Hey, Britt, it's Alegandra."

"Hey, what's up?"

"What time are we all going shopping again?"

Brittney paused for a moment "11:30," she retorted knowing how she would probably be late anyways.

"Okay thanks, I can't wait."

Jeff returned to his room and sat down on the bed, where he quickly glanced at the clock that read 11:30 in a florescent red light. When his phone began to vibrate.

'Jeff, I asked my mom and I can go today. I will see you later. Naomi'

He flipped his phone open and typed out 'Kay, thanks for coming, should be fun.'

Then it was 11:45, so he ran downstairs, told his dad good-bye, and hopped in his Chevy Malibu. When he got to Wal-Mart, he saw Ivan and Brittney outside.

"Hey you guys!" he yelled whilst waving to them, "Naomi messaged me, she said she is coming and should be here any minute."

Ivan Flores's face lit up like a little kid's on Christmas. It was obvious to everyone else for a while now that he and Naomi liked each other. They never became a couple though, because they were both seeing some one else.

"Where's Alegandra?" Jeff questioned.

"Late, as usual. I even told her it was a half hour early!" Brittney exclaimed.

Just as she finished her sentence Alegandra came from around the corner.

"Sorry I am so late. My mom wanted to go to Old Navy."

"Lucky you told her a half hour early," said Ivan.

"What?" asked Alegandra, puzzled.

"Oh it's nothing," Brittney said trying to shove off Ivan Flores's comment.

"Hi you guys," came a voice from behind them.

It was Naomi, around five four with long black hair that she had straightened.

"Hi Naomi," said Ivan Flores as he scooted a little closer.

"Do you think Alyssa can make it?" Jeff asked looking down the road.

"Remember, she has to take the bus in order to get anywhere," Brittney reminded him.

He looks back at Craig and sees that the Cat bus had just pulled in to the stop.

"There she is," said Alegandra.

A girl just got off the bus, she was relatively five foot six with long straight brown hair that she had cover her left eye just slightly.

"Hey Alyssa!" Jeff shouted waving his hands in the air.

"Shut the hell up! She is like a block away!" Brittney screamed at Jeff.

"Don't make me choke a bitch," he argued.

"Boy did I miss hearing that," said Alyssa panting after rushing across the parking lot.

"Hey," Ivan said.

"Well we're all here now, right?" questioned Alyssa.

"Yeah, let us go," stated Jeff as he marched proudly into Wal-Mart.

"Oh my god!" he yelled.

"What?" everyone asked, looking around to see what he was talking about.

"I have to go to the bathroom."

"You made us all stop for that?" yelled Brittney.

"Please wait for me, I won't be that long."

He ran towards the restroom sign, which was luckily in the front of the store. It was disgusting and smelled like no one had cleaned it since the start of the month. There was writing all over the toilet seats, things like TGR and RRP and several scratch marks, which he could only assume were the names of the gangs in town.

'Why the hell would they fight over owning a toilet seat at fucking Wal-Mart,' he thought.

He finished up and went to wash his hands, but, when he reached for the soap, the lights abruptly went out and he couldn't see a thing. Suddenly he got a breath of fresh air, but not nasty bathroom air, it was clean outdoor air. The sun was shining brightly in his eyes and he could barely make out a sign a few feet away.

It read; 'Welcome to Lima, Ohio'

He stood there, staring at the sign, gasping at what he just read.