Under The Radar (#Wattys2015)

An Unexpected Turn... For the Worst? (Chapter Four)

My friends and I were thrown into the living room while we saw other people going through the rooms and two girls (out of the five kids we saw) had kthe younger kids with them. The leader of the group (I'm assuming) glared at us like we had caused them a problem by trying to find a safe place.

"Who are y'all and why are y'all here?" He asked in a rough voice that held no signs of kindness. I looked at my friends and cleared my throat, "I-I'm Claire and these are my friends Sabrina and Annie and we're sorry that we came here, we thought it was empty and we really needed a place to stay because our home got destroyed."

The kid rolled his eyes, he looked at all three of us and then the two little kids. He looked at another boy and jerked his head in a "get your butt over here" kind of gesture, "I want you to put them in one of the guest rooms until we can decide that they're not going to murder us in our sleep." I opened my mouth in disgust, "You can't assume just because we're here th-" He cut me off. "I am the leader of my group and as such I am allowed to do whatever the hell I want especially since this was where we were staying before y'all came."

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. The two other boys and the leader grabbed my friends and I and took us in a spare room that locked from the outside. The two kids were handed over to us and the door was shut and we heard the bolt slide. "Great JUST great." Annie said kicking the door. "We finally get comfortable here and this happens." She laughed and gestured wildly towards the door, "Nothing good ever seems to happen to us, it's like we're magnets for bad luck."

Sabrina shook her head and just sat down on the floor. "At least they didn't kick us out, and at least they didn't kill us." She laughed nervously. Annie rolled her eyes "You have read one too many mystery books hun." I laughed and just looked out the window. My brain was racing and I was trying to think of a way for us to get out, or at the very least negotiate with these kids; but worry and overthinking caused me to fall asleep and the next thing I knew I was being shaken awake by one of the girls in the other group. "You might want to get up, Alex isn't the type who likes to be made to wait." I got up and went with her, I glanced back in the room and Annie, Sabrina and the two kids were fast asleep and they didn't even stir when I shifted the blankets.

I sighed and followed her, "What's your name?" I asked as I looked at her. She's about my height, maybe a little taller with brown hair and brown eyes; something told me despite the stern frown on her face that she's the kind of girl who laughs when she's comfortable with other people and I hoped one day (If Alex and the others didn't kill us before that of course) that all of us could form an alliance or even become friends if things cooled down which hopefully they will. She glanced at me out of the corner of her eyes and brushed a strand of hair back under a headband. "It's Kara." I nodded and looked at her as she opened the door and Alex sat there with the other kids.

He had that egotistical smirk on his face as he took in my cautious stance. "You can calm down Claire, we're not going to kill you or throw you out." I looked up at him warily, "You sure? I don't feel like running for my life a second time." He threw his head back in a laugh. "Yah I'm sure," The leader with his dark hair and almost black eyes that seemed like they had some kind of private joke; stood up and walked in front of me and stuck his hand out "I'm Alex Lancaster; and this is the rest of my team." He motioned his head to Kara, "This is Kara Ramirez," we nodded at each other. He motioned to the boy he had motioned to yesterday, I got a good look at all of them, this guy had dirty blonde hair and these dark brown eyes where you could barely see the iris. "This is Caleb Jones." Caleb nodded at me stiffly but I saw a slight smirk on his lips 'God is everyone here just super stiff until they get comfortable with each other?' I thought. "This is Jasie Colons" A girl with blue and black hair and blue eyes waved at me. "Wow someone can actually be friendly here!!!!" I said raising my eyebrows at the two girls. They started snickering.
Alex looked at me with eyes that could burn through concrete, and he cleared his throat. "This is my bestfriend, Karson Andrews." I looked into the eyes of a tall boy with short dark brown hair and these eyes that looked dark blue around the edge and then the closer you get to the pupil the lighter it gets. I nodded and shook his hand.

"Well like I said before, I'm Claire and I would appreciate it if next time you listened to me before you and your buddies through me and my group into lockdown." Alex just shrugged and looked me and my friends over. "So how old are y'all?" He asked. I looked out the window and told him that Sabrina, Annie and I were all sixteen almost seventeen. "Camille is five and Xavier is only a year and a half." He just nodded and then cleared his throat. "Well I am eighteen, Karson is too, Kara is seventeen Caleb and Jasie are both sixteen." I just shrugged and headed toward the room Annie and Sabrina and I had been in, "What are you doing?" Kara asked. I laughed.

"Well I'd prefer to actually have normal clothes on when I go for a walk." I said motioning down to my plaid sleeping shorts and black tank top. She smiled and nodded. I quickly changed and slipped out the window.

I needed to clear my head because now we have these people in our safe haven. "Great, just great." I muttered as I kicked a stone. "You shouldn't be out here by yourself, especially when it's dark out." I rolled my eyes and turned to look at who joined me. Karson looked over at me and smiled, "I'm really sorry about Alex. He's kind of an ass if you couldn't tell." I decided my sarcastic ass self needed to come back out. "No!" I said putting my hands to my face in mock shock. "He seems like the sweetest, warmest, and most loving person in the whole world." He snickered and I looked out at the surrounding area.
"He can't be all that bad if he decided to let us stay and not throw us out." Karson shrugged. I sighed and left him out there and headed back inside. I didn't want to be out there any longer than I needed to. The wind was starting to pick up and I felt the chill through my thin jacket, the back door slammed shut behind me. I thankfully let the warm air swallowed me in its comfort. I walked to our room and shut the door as I sat on my bed.
"Surprisingly enough I feel like we're gonna be okay." I mutter to myself. I looked over at the mirror and frowned, my hair was a mess. I shook my head and sighed. 'Fantastic time for my feminine side to come out isn't it?' I thought sarcastically. I flung my legs over the side and got up, I hopped in the shower and let the water relax my tension away.
I didn't know what was going to happen to us... but at the moment I didn't care.