"You guys... didn't have a dog at all?" I questioned, baffled.
"Well, when I was ten, we had a hamster called Rocky that died when I gave it a bath and more recently, a bunny rabbit called Chuck Norris. He also died when I gave it a bath." Harry explained with a shrug.
I was abruptly pulled away before I could reply. With a strong tug on my arm, I was brought into a crowd of familiar faces.
"Helena... remember these girls?" Lindsey asked, squeezing my arm.
I took careful glances at the three girls surrounding me. Their effusive yet somewhat dark auras were conversant... but I just couldn't recall when we'd met.
"Fourth grade!" Lindsey exclaimed. "Dixie Cheer!"
I instantly remembered the cheerleading team Lindsey and I joined during our fourth primary school year. The three girls standing infront of me were the cheerleaders in our team that I once looked up to. I aspired to be like them. But they didn't look as glamorous as they did when they were younger.
One of them had a tan so obviously artificial that she looked like someone had plucked her right out of an episode of Jersey Shore. The other had one side of her head shaved and the hair on the other rolled up into a bun. Another looked almost fine but her breasts were so rambunctious and unrealistic for a girl of her size that you wouldn't know where to look when conversing with her.
"Mimi, Sandra and Vicky." Lindsey giggled.
"Oh, I remember! How are you guys doing?" I flashed an amiable smile at them. "You've all changed quite a lot."
"Yeah... you haven't, though." Mimi, the tanned girl, replied. "You still dress like a boy." She chuckled with the other girls.
Slightly irritated, I smiled weakly at them. "Catch up with you guys later." I told them before pushing my way out of the crowded cafe. Then I remembered how they used to treat us like losers.
I found myself under the large tents, vigorously searching for the curly haired boy that left me puzzled. I squinted my eyes to get a clearer view of the faces that surrounded me. Harry was nowhere in sight.
But I spotted Niall at a face-painting stall. I walked over to him and realized he was getting clown make-up on. "Niall?" I laughed. "What are you doing?"
"It's for a good cause. People are going to pay to see me dance as a clown and the money will go to charity." He replied proudly as a woman brushed streaks of white paint across his cheeks.
"That's nice." I told him. "Hey, do you know where Harry is? I need to ask him something."
"I think he might be helping out at the flea market." He answered. "But if I see him, I'll tell him to look for you."
"Thanks, Niall. Happy clowning!" I told him before heading over to the flea market stalls at the back of the cafe.
There were so many people that it seemed almost impossible for me to find Harry. Why is it that he always appears when I don't want to see him and disappears when I desperately need to talk to him?
I walked through the sea of people, tiptoeing and looking over heads every few seconds to check if there was a tall, mop-haired boy in any stall.
I was budged and pushed by several people who were rushing to the front of the cafe to catch the Earth Hour candles being lit up. But I couldn't care less. I jostled against the current and leaned against the doorframe of the female bathroom to relieve my exhaustion.
I exhaled deeply as I wiped the sweat off my forehead. I was distracted from my goal of finding Harry when I heard whimpers from inside the bathroom. I followed the sorrowful sound and found Polly sobbing in a corner. She had her knees brought up to her chin and her arms encased her legs.
