I walk up to the till. I am so so happy that Riven decided to give me my purse back. Now I can pay back Gareth for the groceries.
"Gareth!" I call. He looks up from counting the notes in his hands for a customer. His face lights up into a smile when he notices it's me. But then he frowns. He finishes counting the notes and hands them to the customer. As they are last in line, he walks over to me.
"Flora?" He asks.
"Hmm?" I answer.
"You didn't walk from Bramblewitch to here, did you?" He asks in an accusatory tone.
"No, Gareth. I got a lift." I explain.
"A lift? From who?" He asks.
"Riven. And he... found my purse." I don't think I should tell him that he was a junior fence. That would just ruin my hopes with him.
Hopes?
Yes, that is what I said. Hopes.
So you do like him?
Maybe. Well, yes. "Well that's good." Gareth says. "Wait, who did you say?"
"Riven. Riven Jeffreys." I say, starting to get very confused. Gareth's face pales. "Why?"
"Oh! Oh, no reason." He shakes his head and smiles. "Come on, girls. Fish will take you home now. He's going to go on break now anyway."
"Wait." I lean on the counter and take out my purse. "Here, Gareth, take the money, now that I have it back." I hand the money to him.
"No, Flora. You need it. You're short on money as it is." He pushes it back into my hands.
"Then if that's the case, Fish is going to drop us home and take the shopping bags with him." I say firmly.
"Flora, why do you have to be so stubborn?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. "I'm trying to do you a favour here."
"Yes, but you don't understand. My father does not want that favour. He will literally slice my head off if he finds out I didn't pay!" I yell. Everyone in the store turns their heads to me.
I can hear mumbling: "that girl has no shame,"
"That girl needs to go to a mental hospital,"
"That girl's father needs to be reported," and even,
"That girl! She's going to go and try to steal my boyfriend!"
Look what you've gone and done, Flora.
What are you saying?
You've gone and given a stupid impression of yourself.
I didn't mean for it to be so loud. Gareth was annoying me.
Well, tell him! Well, maybe not the second part, but you know what I mean.
Really? OK. "Gareth, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to shout it out so loud." I say. I feel my cheeks getting warmer and warmer, and with that, they would no doubt get redder and redder.
"Hey." He puts his hand on my shoulder. "No need to be sorry, Flora. You were just trying to reason with me."
"Yeah, well-" I start to say. Just then, Fish comes running up to us.
"Flora! Gareth! Miele!" He calls. He skids to a halt in front of us.
"Hey, dude, what's up?" Gareth asks.
"Flora... and Miele's... dad... called me... just a... minute ago." He puts his hands on his knees and takes short and ragged breaths.
"Dude, calm down. Deep breaths. In and out. Yeah?" Gareth crosses his arms and looks down on Fish, who nods crazily. "Stop it! Stay still and just breathe, dimbo!" Gareth scolds.
"Miele and Flora's dad called." He says once he had gets his breath back.
"What did he say?" I ask. I have a burning feeling in my stomach and I wonder how long it will be before my knees give away and I collapse on to the ground.
Be strong, Flora. You are not afraid of him.
Yes, I am. He's not scary... just frightening.
No, you are not! And you do know scary and frightening are the same thing, right?
Yes... Oh, fine. I'm not scared of him! "He said to bring them home right away. He was very, very angry. Very angry." Fish mused. "Oh, and he wanted to speak to you, Gath." He nods at Gareth. "You are gonna be in well big shit, mate."
"Adam Fisher! Please do not use those words in front of these tiny little ears!" Gareth scolds, thumping him on the shoulder.
"Hey, its OK." Miele says forlornly. "Dad says them all the time, really, really loud. I know what they are..." she trails off and scrunches her face up, "and what they mean." Her tone of voice is disgusted and she sighs.
I see Fish and Gareth glance at each other and they each raise an eyebrow. "OK..." Fish says, "well... let's go home, then, girls!" He says somewhat enthusiastically. "Gath, I deserve a half an hour extra break for this!"
"Adam! Just stop it already." Gareth leans in close to Fish and whispers. Or he tries to whisper, though I hear what he says. He says, "you don't need to make them feel any more unwanted than they already feel." Gareth must be feeling really strongly for us because he never calls Fish by his actual name unless he is mad.
"OK, OK! Jeez, dude, calm it down a little!" Fish folds his arms and rolls his eyes.
"I think it's best if you take them home, Mr Fisher." Gareth is still mad at Fish but he has somewhat calmed down now.
"I can't take them home. Mr Cheffriz said he wanted to talk to you, not me!" Fish points to himself as his eyes widen.
"Fine. Remember to tell me that I owe you one dude." Gareth gives in and gives Fish a - friendly - pat on the back.
"You owe me one, Gareth Willingson." Fish says with a huge grin on his face.
"Whatever. Come on, girls, let us get going." We walk away from Fish after we wave goodbye to him.
"Brace yourself, Gath!" He calls. Gareth gives him a backward hands up and as I look at him, I see a big grin playing on his face.
I suddenly feel a hand in my dress pocket. I turn and look to my right and see a flash of dirty blonde hair. I know I've seen dirty blonde hair recently. Where have I seen a big mane of dirty blonde hair before...? Selina! She runs off with my purse again! "Hey!" I yell. "That's my purse!" She looks back at me while running and smirks. She doesn't see where she's going and bumps into someone. I see that its Bloom!
"Bloom!" I call gladly. And then I see Layla!
"Give. Flora. Back. Her. Purse. Selina!" Layla says. She clenches her fists.
"Who's going to make me?" Selina taunts.
"We are!" Bloom cuts in. I smile. Layla lifts her fist and punches Selina in the face. I wince.
"Take that!" Punch. "And that!" Punch. "And that!" She says angrily.
"No, Layla! Stop it!" I call but she doesn't listen. Somewhere in the distance, I hear sirens.
"Selina! Just keep the purse and run, you idiot!" I hear a male voice yell. I look towards it and see Baltor and all of his gang. How could I have ever thought these guys were cool? Let alone nice?
"No! She. Will. Give. My. Best. Friend. Her. Purse. Back!" Another punch goes in from Layla as Bloom says those words.
The sirens get really loud now and I sense trouble.
"What's going on here then?" We hear. God, no. The police are here!
"That blonde girl took my purse." I begin by saying, "and then the red head and the brunette, who are my friends jumped in."
"OK, well you are all coming to the police station.
"No. My sister, Miele, and Gareth Willingson didn't do anything. I can assure you." I argue.
"Yes, madam. We know. We will just take them along to question them." He says.
"Fine." I look around to see that Selina is shackled, Baltor and the others are also in shackles are but frowning, and Bloom and Layla are restrained by the last two officers with their hands behind their backs.
As I walk back to the police car, Gareth bends down so his mouth is level with my ear. "Thanks for trying to get me out of this." He whispers.
"No problem, Gareth." I whisper back.
A/N: Yup. Now the villains and Specialists have been caught along with Bloom and Layla!
Next chapter, everyone is in the police station, along with Flora's father!
Review? Please?