Chapter 4: Way of Waybright
"Ughhh" Sasha slumped into her seat whilst she tried to drown out the waffle of her chemistry teacher. Why do I need to know this? Since when will I ever need chemistry in my life? These were words that echoed in Sasha's mind, she could hardly wait for the wail of the recess bell. Cindy however had her eyes fixed on the whiteboard, visually devouring every piece of information on the board, every single morsel of writing about hydrocarbons and their uses, she ate them all.
"Cmon Sasha this is pretty easy." Cindy encouraged whilst she took her notes.
"Blehh." Sasha scoffed. "I cannot stand this crap for any longer."
"There's only like ten minutes left of the lesson though." Cindy reassured.
"Ten minutes that could be spent doing something else!" Sasha exclaimed whilst she slumped back into her chair, rolling her eyes. And soon enough, the lesson and the day ended with herds of middle school bursting out of the school doors. Cindy's father was due to arrive in about four minutes, giving Cindy and Sasha some time to talk about stuff.
"Say, you wanna come to the mall with me?" Sasha offered. "I heard there is some cool stuff there that you might like?"
Cindy paused for a moment. "I mean, sure. It depends on my mom and dad though."
Sasha shook her head. "Why are you still listening to your parents? Don't you wanna, like, fit in with us here? Even if your mom or dad says no, who cares? You've snuck out before right?"
"Yeah, around when I was like 12 I think, or 11." Cindy recalled. "Though I did get yelled at by my dad."
"Was that the only time?" Sasha queried
"No, I snuck out like three times before that, didn't get caught." Cindy replied
"Ya see, that's like a one in three chance, you'll be fine." Sasha reassured. Just as she said that, the all too familiar honk of Mr Maxwell's truck rang in the air.
"Oh that's my dad, when do you want me to be there?" Cindy asked Sasha.
"Around four o'clock, and by the central fountain. Anyway, see ya!" Sasha bode Cindy farewell
"Byee!" Cindy hopped into her fathers truck before he drove off.
"How was school today?" Cindy's father asked, his eyes still on the road.
"It was pretty good, I learned some stuff. Also, can I go to the mall with Sasha today at four?" Cindy asked.
"I'll think about it." Cindy's father replied. "Are you going with someone?"
"Yea, my friend Sasha." Cindy replied. "She said that there's some new stuff that I might like and offered for me to join her. Is it ok for me to go with her?"
"Ehh, we'll see." Cindy's father answered
Upon arriving home, Cindy ran upstairs and flopped onto her bed, awaiting her father or mother's approval. 3:10pm turned to 3:30, 3:40 and 3:50, and with each passing minute came no response at all; no response other than "I'll think about it."
"Stupid parents won't let me go to the mall with you :(" Cindy DMed Sasha.
"No problemo, you can just sneak out like I said." Sasha encouraged. "What are they doing now?"
"My dad is at work right now and my mom is downstairs." Cindy explained. "My dad takes me home during his break. Anyway, I think I can climb out my window onto the porch."
"Sounds good, you know the mall, Santa monica right?" Sasha informed Cindy. "It's like thirty minutes away from your place, shouldn't be too bad."
"Alrighty, I'll see you there." Cindy texted Sasha before she switched off her phone. After she changed out of her school uniform and into her typical attire, she carefully slid open the window and cautiously slid through, air gushed into her throat as she momentarily lost her grip but managed to regain it. Once that hurdle was out of the way, she carefully lowered herself onto the porch roof and then slid off, landing on her feet with a small grunt. She took a quick glance behind her; mom didn't notice anything, so far so good.
"Alright, I'm out of the house." Cindy notified Sasha on Discord. And with that, Cindy set out towards Santa Monica Place.
Upon arrival, Cindy took a step back as quickly as her eyes widened at the sheer scale of this, it was much larger and fancier than the mall back in Seattle; stepping inside, her jaw dropped, rows of electronic advertisements lined up at the center of each corridor, all with rows of shops, from Gamestop to Hot Topic, all just waiting for her, calling her, telling her. "Come inside, we have some amazing stuff for you." And the center, the center is really what caught her attention; palm trees reaching for the sky, rows of shops encircling the center behind balconies, with both rows stacked atop each other and seats scattered across the center. Stay focused. Cindy thought to herself whilst she snapped herself out of it and scanned the area for Sasha, it didn't take too long to spot the familiar blonde girl laying against one of the palm trees, her eyes glued to the screen; seeing her gave Cindy the cue to go downstairs and head towards her.
"There you are." Sasha smiled at Cindy whilst she walked towards her. "How's it going?"
"Pretty good, how 'bout you?" Cindy replied. "And where shall we go first?"
"Doing great." Sasha replied. "And I say we go clothes shopping first."
"Awesome idea!" Cindy beamed. "Which place do you recommend?"
Sasha placed her hand on her chin for a moment and tapped her foot. "Hmmm, this place looks pretty good." She started walking towards Hot Topic, gesturing to Cindy to follow her.
"I like Hot Topic, they sell pretty cool stuff." Cindy followed Sasha.
"Trust me, the Hot Topic in Seattle ain't got nothing in the one in LA" Sasha boasted. "Check this out." She pointed Cindy towards one of the clothing items Cindy always wanted yet was never able to obtain.
"Are those…chokers?!" Cindy gasped. "We never had those in the one back there!" She stamped her feet in excitement before she quickly grabbed one. Immediately, she turned her head to see an assortment of arm warmers in her favorite color scheme, black and white. "Yoooo!" Cindy gushed whilst she laid witness to them. "I. NEED. THEM!"
Smiling, Sasha turned her head and her jaw dropped; a new line of leather jackets just dropped and she wasted absolutely no time in running towards them. "Ho-ly CRAP that THEY LOOK SO COOL!" She squeaked. "Cindy, get your ass over here!"
Cindy approached Sasha and beamed upon what she saw. "They look so dope!"
"I know right." Sasha nodded excitedly. Suddenly, Cindy's attention was snatched by a row of black and purple sneakers. They were sitting there, calling for her, waiting for her. Feeling their allure, she darted straight towards them, it was as though she was attracted to them by some unknown force.
"That'll be $29.45" The cashier held his hand out, awaiting either a credit card or cash.
Cindy reached into her pockets and her heart skipped a beat upon feeling a single $10 bill.
"Oh crap." She muttered. "I don't have enough."
"Don't worry Cindy Tindy, I gotcha covered." Sasha nonchalantly pulled out two $20 bills from her purse and laid it in front of the cashier, accepting the change that was given to her.
"Thanks a million Sash'" Cindy smiled
"No problemo." Sasha replied as she and Cindy walked out of the store.
"Let's go to Gamestop and after that I'll have to head home, my dad comes back at six." Cindy pointed at the Gamestop store, its bright purple sign called Cindy and Sasha to come towards them.
"How about going to the coffee shop afterwards?" Sasha suggested.
"Nah, maybe next time, after all like I said, my dad comes home at six." Cindy turned down Sasha's suggestion but.
"I said we are going to the coffee shop afterwards." Sasha reaffirmed.
"But-" Cindy was about to remind Sasha but Sasha cut her off.
"End. Of. Discussion." Sasha stared right at Cindy whilst her eyebrows lowered.
That look was more than enough to sway Cindy. "Y'know, maybe that does sound like a good idea. Gamestop first though."
Inside the Gamestop, Cindy's eyes scanned through the rows upon rows of games lined up against the shelves; Kingdom hearts, Sonic The Hedgehog, Crash Bandicoot, Super Mario, all of them were preparing to throw a lasso at her, to rope her in and pull her towards them. "Pick me, pick me, pick me!" They all called out to her. But alas, she could only choose one, and that one was "Crash Bandicoot 'N Sane trilogy for the nintendo switch, released a year earlier. Without a moment's hesitation, she immediately plucked it from the row of switch games and stuffed it into her bag.
"You want anything Sash'?" Cindy asked.
"I'm good thanks" Sasha replied whilst she and Cindy made their way to the cash register.
"That'll be 49.99." The cashier held her hand out. Much like before, Sasha gestured for Cindy to step aside before she placed a $50 on the cashier's hand.
"Hey there young lady, what would you like?" The barista asked Sasha.
"The usual caramel latte. What about you Cindy Tindy?" Sasha ordered before she turned to Cindy.
"Uhmmm" Cindy paused for a few moments, trying to think of what she'd like to order. Same as Sasha's? Nah? Coffee? Hell no. Toffee frappe? Sure why not. "I'll take that." Cindy pointed at the toffee frappe.
The barista shook their head. "Sorry, that's currently unavailable. Why not try something else?" They suggested.
"Hmmm" Cindy scanned the menu once more, trying to pick one from the thirty-plus drinks. "I'll just take the lemon iced tea." Cindy pointed at the beverage's photo.
"Alright, and is that all you two?" The barista double checked.
"Yep, is all." Cindy confirmed.
"Mhm." Sasha nodded.
"Alright, your drinks shall arrive in no time." The barista said as Cindy and Sasha sat down at the table nearby.
"Did I tell you about that one jock that tried to hit on me?" Sasha scoffed.
"Nope." Cindy leaned forward.
"A few weeks back, this one kid with hair that looked like ramen tried asking me out." Sasha recalled. "The way he pulled it off, was possibly the corniest thing I have ever seen. But it was so funny, like you should've seen the love letter he sent me."
"Holy crap." Cindy laughed. "You have a pic of it?"
"Yep, hold on." Sasha pulled out her phone and quickly brought up a photo of the love letter he sent her which she quickly turned to show Cindy. The letter was poor handwriting written on a scrap piece of paper, like it was chewed up by a goat. The handwriting was barely, if at all, legible and that the letter was bordered by crudely drawn hearts. "Get a load of this cornball."
Cindy covered her mouth as she tried to contain the waterfall of giggles. "Holy crap that is both sad but so, so funny. What did you respond to it with?"
"I just ignored him for the entire week and he got the message eventually." Sasha recalled. "What's worse is that he tried forcing himself into our friend group." She shuddered.
"Yikes." Cindy scoffed.
"Lemon iced tea for Cindy M. and a caramel latte for Sasha W." The barista called out.
"Cindy, can you go get them?" Sasha asked, handing Cindy the $20 bill.
"Will do." Cindy replied as she got up and walked towards the counter. There, she handed over the $20 to the barista, put the change in her pocket before she grabbed hers and Sasha's drinks and returned to the table. "There we go." Cindy said as she sat back down.
"Thanks Cindy Tindy." Sasha smiled whilst she placed her caramel latte on the table.
Cindy then took a sip of her lemon iced tea; it was…alright. Not exactly fantastic or mouth-watering, but good. "Not bad." Cindy remarked.
"Next time we come here, you should defo try the strawberry accai." Sasha suggested. "It's so frickin' good. Last time I came here with Anne, she wanted to order, like, three of em." Sasha laughed.
"Remind me to pick that up next time I come here." Cindy noted. "I also suggest you seriously check out the hot toffolate, I had those back home and they were awesome." Cindy recommended. "Hard to go wrong with hot chocolate and toffee."
"I'll keep that in mind." Sasha noted.
After the two had their drinks, Sasha gestured Cindy to follow her to the back of the mall in an alleyway. Curious, Cindy followed her and was surprised to see Sasha pull out a can of pink spray paint.
"Uhhh what are we doing?" Cindy asked.
"What does it look like, we're going to leave our mark." Sasha replied as she sprayed S.W onto the red brick wall in the alleyway. The brickwall was already defaced with dozens of graffiti. "There's stuff here dating back to the 1960s, meaning that what we put here will last for generations y'know." She then handed Cindy a can of dark purple spray paint. "Your turn."
"Eh, I'm not exactly the one to do graffiti y'know." Cindy declined but Sasha wasn't having any of it.
"Look, I paid for all our stuff, the least you can do is this. Now, like I said, your turn." Sasha lowered her eyebrows and the corners of her lips.
"Hm, alright then, guess it won't hurt anyone." Cindy shrugged as she accepted the can of spray paint and quickly sprayed C.M onto the wall whilst Sasha grinned as she watched. After that, Cindy's face of apprehensiveness morphed into that of slight happiness.
"There we go, now people in the future will look at this and wonder who painted this onto here." Sasha smiled. "They'll ask themselves, "who were these people, what does S.W and C.M stand for?""
"I can see that happening." Cindy said whilst she then looked at her phone. "Crap, it's half past seven, I gotta go now."
"Alright, thanks for coming." Sasha bode Cindy farewell.
"You're welcome, and thanks for inviting me to come. Means a lot." Cindy waved as she walked in the opposite direction of Sasha, she turned past a corner, expecting to make a quick run home. That was, until.
"Young lady, can we talk to you for a second?" A police officer stood in front of his patrol car, sirens blaring their red and blue lights.
"Oh crap." Cindy gulped.
"Look, I've seen many unbelievable things in my life, but oh my god am I seldom for words." Cindy's father said through his teeth. "We've already been through this before, two years ago."
"Sasha kept egging me on to do it." Cindy excused herself but her father was having none of it.
"And? If Sasha asked you to leap off the freeway, would you do that?!" Cindy's father's face contorted as his jaw tensed.
"You're comparing sneaking out for a little bit to leaping to my literal death." Cindy rolled her eyes.
"Quit the goddamn backtalk young lady!" Cindy's father snapped. "You know what, you're grounded for three weeks. No video games, no computer, no leaving the house without our supervision, no-"
"FAIR!" Cindy snapped back.
"If you want to be grounded for another week, then keep that up. Otherwise, go to your room!" Cindy's father yelled.
"GrraAHHHH!" Cindy grunted as she stomped upstairs and slammed the door shut, sulking in her bed.
10:49PM. Cindy sat expressionless on her bed, her mind constantly looping the events of today, over and over. Back and forth. She constantly asked herself as to why. Why did she give in to Sasha's demands? On the one hand, she paid for everything in the mall, from the new clothes to the video game. But on the other hand, she essentially got herself into hot water and now she is grounded for three whole weeks. Cindy pulled out her phone, contemplating as to whether or not to confront Sasha. Opening Discord, she checked to see that Sasha was offline, probably asleep. Yeah probably not. Cindy thought to herself. Besides, that's just gonna cause more problems. Her face then lit up with a blush upon seeing the DM notifications from her crush.
"Hey r you ok? You haven't been talking much today :( '' Marcy DMed, wondering as to why Cindy was unusually quiet.
"Parents grounded me because I snuck out with Sasha." Cindy texted back. "I wanted to go home at six but because she paid for everything I didn't want to make her feel sad."
"Awww :(" Marcy responded. "Maybe you can try and talk with your mom or dad?"
"I'd rather not rn." Cindy responded curtly. "I just feel like utter crap atm."
"That's oki. If you need to vent or anything, then feel free to." Marcy then sent a gif of two bears hugging.
"Thanks MarMar, means a lot." Cindy blushed at Marcy's response. Suddenly, she heard a light knock on the door.
"Can I come in? Cindy's father asked.
"Mhm." Cindy nodded curtly as her father walked in and sat on the bed next to her, smiling lightly.
"Hey, uh, I'm sorry for yelling at you back there." Cindy's father said whilst Cindy hung her head. "But, you have to understand, sneaking out without our permission is not cool sweetpea. You know how worried your mother and I were when we went to your room and you weren't there? How she sobbed her eyes out and we had to get the LAPD?"
"I'm sorry, Dad." Cindy mumbled, her eyes still fixed on the floor. "My friend kept asking me to go with her and that I wanted to come home before you came home and that she kept buying stuff for me and-" Cindy just collapsed onto her fathers lap, a tear streaking down her face.
"I understand, but you have to remember, that isn't exactly an excuse for how it affected me and your mom. But I'll tell you what, you do more chores for the next week, and we'll consider shortening your punishment." Cindy's father offered. "Sounds fair?"
"Yeah I guess so." Cindy accepted as she got off of her father's lap.
"Well, I'm going to head out now." Cindy's father got off the bed and walked towards the door. "Goodnight love."
"Goodnight Dad." Cindy shut her eyes and casted herself off to sleep.