Lightning (Thunder Sequel)

Chapter 3

"Wake up, Birthday Girl!" My overly perky father's voice shakes me from my sleep.  "You're 17 today!"

I groan, turning over in my bed, not quite ready to celebrate the fact that August 9th has come once again.

"You know, the sooner you're up, the sooner we can get you your new phone."

"Okay," I mumble.  I hear my dad's footsteps travel down the hallway and into the kitchen.

A ball of fluff rubs against my face, and I open my eyes to find Lily.  she walks onto my pillow and lies down, swinging her tail back and forth.  Her tail whacks me in the face repeatedly and I laugh as I sit up.

"Stealing my pillow again, Lily?" I ask as she stretches her legs into the space my head used to be.  She begins purring, lowering her head and drifting off into a cat nap.  I pet her silky soft fur a couple times before I bother to untangle myself from my blankets.

I walk into the kitchen and the sweet scent of syrup fills the room.

"Oh, yum!  Waffles!" I exclaim as I notice my dad pouring batter into our belgian waffle maker.  My mom sits at the table, drinking a glass of milk.  My dad carries over a stack of already made waffles, setting one on a plate for me.  I sit at the table and pour syrup all over my waffle.

"Happy birthday, Kyleigh!" My mom says to me.

"Thanks," I reply as I take a bite of my waffle. "When are we leaving to get my phone, Dad?"

"After breakfast, if you're ready," he answers, sitting down beside me at the table.

"Once I'm finished eating, I get dressed and head into the bathroom. As I brush through my mostly dark brown hair, I take notice of my clearly visible white streak. Not feeling ready to be stared down in public, I find my purple Washington DC hat that I bought on a trip a few years ago.  I pull half of my hair up into a ponytail, being sure to have my white streak in it.  I put on the hat, tucking the ponytail inside.  My brunette hair hangs down out of the hat, but my white streak is no longer visible.

Much better.

I slip on a pair of flip flops and sunglasses, and then I'm ready to go.

***********

"Now you're phone should be all set up," the worker at the store says, handing me my new phone.  It's basically the exact same phone I had before, but a slightly more updated version.

Once we finish at the store, my dad and I split up to look at other shops in the mall.  I don't plan on buying anything, but I like window shopping.  I look through a couple places, not really finding anything worth purchasing anyway.  Then I walk into a beauty store where I come across various brands of hair dye.

Hmm... Maybe I'll dye my streak before I go back to school.  It could prevent some unwanted attention.

After a few moments of glancing at various hair color shades on the shelves, I decide to find and rejoin my dad, wherever he wandered off to.  Assuming my dad is at the Apple Store, I make my way toward the center of the mall.  I get a strange feeling that someone is watching me, though, honestly, I've felt like this the whole time I've been at the mall.  I glance around at the crowd who all seem to be minding their own business, walking in and out of stores, calling/texting on phones, laughing with friends while carrying several shopping bags.

I'm just being paranoid I decide as I continue walking.  Then, I notice a woman far off to the right, standing against a wall between two doorways.  She isn't looking directly at me, but she seems to be observing something in the crowd.  What really draws my attention to the slightly suspicious woman with chestnut colored hair is that I feel like I've seen her before... But where?