Legend of Kataria | Outcasts Book #1 (NEW VERSION)

Chapter 6

It was far too nice of an afternoon to be walking through the city alone, Greeny mulled as he took another sip of his milkshake. But yet, somehow, that felt exactly like what he was doing. And he was sure he was an unusual sight to behold. His clothes were all dirty from following Leah into the scene of yet another mystery and his hair he had taken no extraordinary time to try and organize before class. He was training to be a mechanic, it wasn't like they were known for being particularly polished and spotless anyway. He didn't mind how he appeared to others. They didn't know him. It wasn't their place to judge, however, he knew what a difference he appeared when compared to the blond trudging along beside him.

Leah's eyes were transfixed on her phone and she had barely spoken more than ten words upon hanging up from her rushed phone call. Without any kind of warning, she had marched back into the malt shop and had informed him that they needed to go. 

"Why?" he'd sarcastically asked without looking up, having pulled out his phone to engross himself in a contented game of Pong. "Is your father already sensing that we've gone outside of the city's limits and sending fifteen squadrons to bring us back?" He grinned at his own joke, knowing full well that Leah's father would not be checking his phone at this time of day. He knew the two were more than capable of taking care of themselves (at least for the most part). They had proven that they could be responsible over the years, so there was nothing for him to be concerned about. 

When Leah didn't sling back a good snarky response, Greeny paused his game to look at her and his grin faded instantly, realizing she wasn't smiling back. "Leah?" he said, quickly running through all of the possible things he had said in the past day and a half, searching for what he might have done to upset her; about two dozen quippy responses and one downright refusal to assist with a game night for the middle schoolers, but nothing really out of the ordinary for him. Certainly nothing worth getting worked up over. "What's wrong?"

She sighed, jamming her phone into her pocket and slumping into the seat across from him. This was a drastic change in her mood since only minutes before and Greeny could feel the tension crackling between them, but he had no idea what could have caused it or what he could do to fix it.

"It's nothing," she said, brushing it off with a tired shrug. "Just a bunch of prankers calling and asking about my running washing machine."

Greeny arched an eyebrow. "You're awfully upset for something as harmless as a telephone prank," he pointed out. "And you never have that kind of reaction to Sky or Josh's inopportune jokes." In fact, I've never seen you make that expression. You look like you're ready to bite someone's head off if they aren't careful. Must have been a pretty bad joke. 

"It was a really bad joke," Leah admitted and Greeny laughed. At this, Leah's frown twitched slightly and she roughly pushed his milkshake back across the table. "Come on, finish your banana slushie. We've got work to do." She slung her backpack over her shoulders once again and clambered back out of the booth. 

"But it's not even halfway melted yet!" Greeny protested, grabbing his things and hurrying after her yet again. "Can't we at least take the time to savor the horrible flavor you made me get? Leah? Leah!"

As he'd expected, she didn't hear him as the bell above the door tinged and she whisked back onto the sidewalk, not waiting for him to catch up, but that was something he was well accustomed to by now. 

"Sorry, sorry, excuse me, sorry," he mumbled as he shouldered his way through the crowd. Leah kept moving, quite quickly too, Greeny noted. It was almost as if she were running away from him, but that didn't make any sense. Leah didn't run. She preferred to face her problems head-on, face to face, where she could easily wallop whoever was annoying her in the eyeball like ta-da! Problem solved!