Locatum

2. Its Nothing

"Hey, hey! Guys, stop," Kay attempted to reason with them, even though it seemed like they were disregarding her. She was being the bigger person, even though she wasn't really doing what she intended to do, at least she got a few looks out of her feint.

Fae stood shoulder to shoulder with me, she was so unsteady I had to move away from her. I was so worried for Alek I was biting my nails. Worried... for Alek? What! I'm pretty sure I was, though, because Kayla didn't impress me and Brett is a douche bag no matter what he does.

I thought fast, feeling the necklace in my pocket. My mind didn't help me, I just threw it. The necklaces flew over the stampede of people and landed in the middle of the circle surrounded by quite a few people. There were middle aged men in dirty tank tops and baggy shorts, teenagers wearing snap backs and tweens in princess and fairy costumes. Not really, but there was a lot of people.

Fae stayed at my tail (if I had one, I guess) as I joined Kay in the centre of the circle. I scooped up the locket, just catching it with the tip of my nail. I impulsively grabbed the coke can from Alek's hand, taking the biggest gulp of Coke. I was expecting myself to cough, but I felt fine.
"Thanks," I babbled. I didn't know what the hell I was doing, I just had to do it. And yeah, I know what you're thinking... and no. GET A CLEANER MIND.

"Jessica?" Brett was so surprised, that his tone of voice hurt my ears. I guess he never. saw me at all... fuck. I glanced at the Coke can in my hand, and took another convincing drink from it. This time I could taste it, and I almost gagged at the sweetness. The bubbles also somehow fizzed up into my nose and shocked my nerves. It seemed like a good idea in my head, this whole 'save Kay' thing, but I reconsider now with the consequence that reality is unexpected and unforgiving.

"I really needed that," I said without running the words through a thought process. I started to feel really awkward standing here after interrupting something at a particularly odd time. My eyes coursed over to an approaching police officer; and my body tensed.

"Its nothing," Alek was smug, smiling at me with little respect for my reasons. I didn't do it to save him... did I? No, shut up, don't think about it!

The officer came forward.
"What's going on here?" His voice was deep. I couldn't think of anything to say, heck, I didn't want to think at all. I just hoped I sounded like I was telling, y'know, the 'truth'.

"It's nothing officer." I stated, but my voice was shaky. I saw Trae and Erik in the background, making me cringe. These boys were stalking me. "I just asked for a drink, my friend came back with it and accidentally tripped and spilt it on Brett. With all the commotion I guess he didn't realise Brett parked himself in his way."
The officer nodded as I finished my sentence.
"Okay then, I just thought a fight broke out. Sorry for that." Well you thought right! I boomed to myself. The cop went off on his merry way, probably to get a donut or something. Alek winked as I remained laughing silently while everyone broke away from the circle.

"Let's go get some food," Kay said, waking me back to reality after I revisited what just happened in my imagination. I rubbed my thumb against the pattern engraved into the locket, then found myself opening it. Inside there was the original photo of me and my dad when I was a little girl.

I kept the locket safely tucked away in my pocket wrapped in a cloth. I found myself smiling as I walked away from the markets. It was the locket Erik stole from me.

We walked and talked, arguing about what we were going to eat and adding up the money we had. The four brothers followed close, so close in fact, I could hear them talking about sardines, or fried beans. Whatever. Kay seemed to be 'walking' at a fast pace, but I kept to my limit, with Fae accompanying me.

"Are they following us?" Fae didn't realise she was stating the obvious, and that bothered me. I wanted to scream out "YES!" but I figured I would seem like an excited, show-off 'fangirl'. I'm not one, I'm just saying. But I do like the looks of...
"I won a holiday!" Jack appeared, making me roll my eyes. "What? You aren't happy for me? Fine! I'll go to Hawaii on my own."

I shook him from my mind and focused on walking. I mumbled a simple "no" to Fae, but the lie was necessary. We ran across the road before a car could take a chance to stop. We strutted through the car park, the cool breeze on our faces. I sighed happily, enjoying the cool sensation through my hair.

We made our way into an OP shop, going to the back of the store where they stock the second hand bras and underwear. At that moment I had a hunch that the boys would walk in, and as I predicted, the bell above the door rang and four heads bobbled onto the store and disappeared behind the wooden shelves.

Kay, Fae and I were laughing and smirking at all the lingerie and huge hosiery, when suddenly, Kayla had stopped. At first we didn't notice what she was doing, Fae and I were just digging into the bargain bin and laughing.

"A guy just looked at us," she whispered as if she was either too frightened or over excited. My head shot up from the undergarments.
"What? Where?!" I had a mini panic attack, hoping it wasn't who I wanted it to be. I began to cock my head in different directions, repeating myself constantly without noticing how obsessive I probably looked.

"The one with the black hair," Kayla pointed out discreetly, not pushing her voice above a whisper. Sigh- it was Trae. We returned to our feet and began to make our way over to the dress section. Erik's eyes stayed on me as I moved around, giving me the feeling something bad would happen.

"How pretty is this dress, Jess," Fae murmured, poking me to catch my attention. I smiled at the white dress but then forgot to comment on it, making my way over to the swimwear rack with Kayla, but I was pretty certain all she wanted to do was get close to the boys. We all now stared mindlessly at the same rack, Erik now invading my personal space. Kayla looked over and pretending to converse with me a few times, and I saw pretend because her sentences didn't make any sense.

"She's checking you out, Trae," I whispered when I had the chance to turn away from Kay. Trae gave me a serious look, then glanced to Kay, then back to me, and then over his shoulder.

"No, she's checking out Blair!" He hissed back to me with quiet laughter. I smirked, watching as Kayla picked out a red and white, polka dot bikini. She grabbed me by my arm and then told Fae to follow.
"How hot's the blonde! I could really hook up with him," she said as she paid for her things. I took small steps to the door, feeling too amused to even laugh. The boys made there way into the Supastore, and Kay wanted to buy some food, coincidentally, there. I guess we were the ones stalking them now.

Kay went to find cookies, while Fae went on a quest to buy good but cheap lollies. I wandered around the same aisle twice before I somehow walked into the brothers.
"She's checking Blair out!" Erik buzzed, making me cackle. Blair just rolled his eyes.
"No, she's not," he mumbled. I shook my head.
"She said you are hot. she-wants-to-hook-up-with-you," I made the last sentence quick, which, in a weird way, made it dramatic awkwardly. Kay tried not to smile when she got to me side with Fae. I snuck behind Blair to grab a lollipop, growling to myself when he wouldn't move.

"Do you mind?" I pushed him forward, towards Kayla. Alek chuckled. I picked out my lollipop, gasping when an old lady couldn't get past Kayla. All because Blair moved closer to her.
Kay moved closer to Blair to let her through, followed by an additional group waiting to pass. Erik's hand reached in and retrieved me from behind Blair... good. 'Cause I was going to kick that guy's ass. Now Blair moved back, and Kayla forward. Gah, are they dancing?

"Slink away, slink away..." I sung, trying to leave this group to go pay.
"No, Slinky," Trae dragged me next to him, "stay here." I felt disgusted when I looked at Blair and Kayla, and how they just stared at each other. My phone rang and vibrated violently, making me jump to answer it.
"Hello?" No answer. "Hello?!" Still no answer. There was a static sound, and then the line died. I eyed my phone with my mouth open. What... was that? I wasn't standing near a radio or anything...
"Who was it?" Fae put her hand on my shoulder. I just shook my head, running my fingers through my hair.

"It's nothing."