The Prophet's Daughter (Black Army Sequel)

Chapter 2- The Mall

Chapter 2- The Mall 

When Abbie woke up, she felt like she was gently swaying back and forth, and felt the warmth of somebody's arms around her. Her eyes fluttered open to see Andy smiling down at her. 

"Have a nice nap?" he asked. 

"Please put me down," she yawned. 

"Why? We're almost at the van." 

"The van? What van? God Andy there better not be candy and ice cream in that so called 'van'!" she said, trying to wriggle free. Andy laughed and put her down. 

"The van to get to my- I mean our- house. We're in L.A. now, sleepy head. You slept through the whole flight," he explained. 

"Yeah, and on me!" Ashley added. Abbie rolled her eyes and climbed into the van. 

"So, what's on the agenda today?" Abbie asked. 

"Unpacking," Ashley replied with a stretch. 

"I want to take you to the mall so we can go shopping later," Andy said. 

"Mall? I wanna go to the mall! Can I go? Please?" CC begged. 

"We can all go!" Sammi exclaimed. 

"Sure, why not," Andy said with a shrug. 

"Have you ever been to the mall?" Ashley asked, grinning at Abbie. 

"Um... That's like a place with a bunch of stores and stuff right?" Abbie asked. Ashley's grin disappeared and he stared at her in disbelief.  

"If it is," she continued, "then no. I've read about them in a bunch of books I found once, though." 

"Oh no! You poor, poor girl! We need to get you over there ASAP!" Ashley exclaimed. 

"Stop being melodramatic, Ashley. It's just a mall," Jake muttered. 

Ashley looked at him, eyes wide. "Melodramatic? This girl is thirteen years old and has never been to a mall! How can that possibly be-" 

"Shut up already, Ashley! We get it. We need to go to a mall. We're only like, five minutes away. Calm your Purdy Pants," Andy practically shouted. 

Ashley sighed and crossed his arms. "I call taking Abbie first!" he shouted suddenly. 

"Dibs on second! CC grinned. 

"Third!" Sammi exclaimed. 

"Now wait a minute. She's my daughter!" Andy protested. 

"I don't need anything. You don't need to spend money on me," Abbie added. 

"No, you need clothes. Besides, I'm you're dad. I'm pretty sure most dads spend money on clothes for their daughters." 

"What about me?" Ashley pouted. 

"I'm not you're dad!" Andy exclaimed. 

"No. I mean, why can't I get Abbie anything?" 

"Because I don't need a thousand things at the mall?" Abbie replied, almost as if it was a question. The van pulled into the mall parking lot and they all got out. 

"I still think I should take Abbie shopping. I'm a girl, she's a girl, we both wear girl clothes," Sammi said, taking Abbie's hand.  

Andy sighed and shook his head. "Let's go," he said, walking into the building. Abbie and Sammi fallowed him eagerly. Andy soon found the Hot Topic and went inside with Abbie and Sammi. Ashley headed off to the Hello Kitty store, and Jinxx, Jake, and CC went to the music store. The store was practically empty besides a couple workers, so they were safe from fans. Sammi helped Abbie pick out the right sized jeans and shirts, while Andy patrolled the batman section. After a half an hour, they walked out of the store with bags full of shirts, jeans, and batman accessories. 

"Hey, let's go find Ashley and head to the music store," Andy said, nodding towards the direction of the Hello Kitty store. Abbie and Sammi agreed and they headed to the bright pink shop filled with Hello Kitty products. It didn't take long for them to find Ashley looking at a Hello Kitty doll. He looked up and smiled at them. 

"My turn to shop for Abbie?" he asked eagerly. 

"Not quite," Andy said. 

"We're going to the music store. Do you want to come with us?" Sammi asked. Ashley put down the doll and nodded. They all walked across the mall to the big music store. They easily found Jake and Jinxx by following the sound of "Devil's Choir" being played in perfect harmony on two guitars. When they finished the song, they looked up and smiled. 

"How'd you find us?" Jinxx laughed. 

"A little guitar pick told us," Sammi smiled, kissing him quickly on the cheek. 

"Where's CC?" Abbie asked, looking around. A loud crash of symbols rang out through the store. "Never mind." 

Andy laughed and they ran over to where the noise had came from. CC had knocked over the symbols on a drum kit and was trying to pick them up. Once it was steady, he looked at them and blushed. 

"How much of that did you see?" he asked. 

"We heard most of it," Abbie giggled. "Nice drum kit, by the way." 

CC nodded. "You play?" he asked. 

She shook her head. "I want to, but there aren't any drums out in the middle of the woods so I didn't really get a chance to learn. I tried to teach myself a few beats, though." 

Andy looked at her, raising an eyebrow.  

"Let's here what you got!" CC exclaimed, motioning to the kit. She looked at him. He nodded and handed her the drum sticks. She sat down and hit the symbol in a repetitive beat, 1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and, and hit the snare drum on '2' and '4'. 

"I haven't really established using the bass drum yet," she admitted. 

"That was a pretty good start! Maybe I could give you a few pointers some time," he grinned. Abbie looked at Andy, who nodded in approval. 

"Really? That'd be so awesome!" she exclaimed. 

"Ok, Ms. Awesome, time to go home," Andy said, putting his arm around Abbie. They started to walk away, the others just staring at them. 

"Guys, you have to come, too," he reminded them. They all ran to catch up with them and walked out of the mall. 

"Time to see your new home, Abbie," Andy said as they got into the van and drove off.