Kids in the Dark

Chapter 17

After finishing the alphabet soup, and tidying the cups away, the 3 of us fired up the Wii and began a vicious Just Dance tournament. The 7th round was a slight disaster. All 3 of us clutched Wii remotes in our hands and danced and whirled in all directions. By the time the round was over Marc had a black eye, and was currently trying to get even with Theo as the two wrestled on the floor. I sat back and watched as the two rolled around shouting at each other.

After both boys had thrown a few punches I decided it was best to break them up. I didn't think it was wise to let a 16-year-old take on a 17-year-old boxer in a wrestling match. I pulled the two of the apart and inspected the damage. A dark shadow was forming around Marc's eye, and there was a small trickle of blood coming from Theo's nose, but nothing too serious.

"It seems you've started a trend." Theo chuckled, wiping away the blood with the back of his hand. I looked at him in confusion to which he responded by pointing at my fading bruise and Marc's fresh one.

"Do you want to join the movement?" I asked somewhat annoyed, clenching my fists.

"No thanks," Theo smirked taking a step back. "Now we all need some new clothes because I take it you don't want to keep sharing Ryder's clothes," He said to Marc, who nodded. "I'll grab the money, we leave the dog here. The quicker we get going the quicker you can be in Hot topic."
"Someone's trying to get back in my good books," I said approaching Tank who lay on the sofa. "How do you know there's a Hot topic?" I asked.

"Google," Theo replied waving his phone at me. I rolled my eyes, and turned back to Tank, crouching so our eyes were level.

"You're gonna have to stay here buddy," I said patting the dogs fluffy head. I stood up to leave and he let out a small whine. "I'll be gone for about 2 hours," I said leaving, getting out the house before Tank could follow.

"Hurry the hell up," Theo called from his seat behind the wheel. I let out a huff and jogged over to the car, scrambling in my usual seat. Theo began to drive as I buckled up my seat belt, Marc sat in the back counting out 3 piles of money.

"It's so nice to have some room back here." He chuckled handing a thin wedge of 2o dollar notes to me. "That's $300." He said and we pulled to a stop in the parking lot of a decently sized shopping complex.

"Ok. you two, go around together. If anyone asks about the money, you two are twins, you have rich parents, it's your birthday." Then he turned around to face Marc. "You wear these." He said holding out a pair of fake Ray Bans. Marc slipped them onto his face, hiding his souvenir from Just Dance.

"Come on," I said, pocketing the cash and allowing Marc to clamber out of the car. Once he was stood beside me I said, "Ok, we'll meet back here in 2 hours." Theo acknowledged this and we left.

"Ok, you need clothes in general, a bag would be good too, and we both need things like toothbrushes," I said as we pushed through the doors into the mall. It was by no means busy, but there were still enough people to fill the place with noise. I lead the way to the first map I saw. "We need to go here," I said pointing to the zone in red.

"Lead the way," Marc said gesturing for me to go first. He had to quicken his pace to match the one I set as we made our way towards Hot Topic. We entered the dimly lit store and were greeted by My Chemical Romance's Sing playing through the speakers.

"Look around, try things on if you need to." Marc nodded eagerly. I laughed. "You've never been in one of these stores have you?"

"There weren't anywhere I come from." He shrugged.

"Where do you come from?" I asked realizing I didn't know.

"Practically the middle of nowhere." He muttered browsing the band tees.

"What state?" I asked picking up 2 medium sized shirts, one with Bring Me The Horizon's umbrella, the other with Fall Out Boy's logo.

"Virginia." He replied picking out a Slip Knot shirt of his own.

"Small world, so is I." I left him by the shirts and went off to a stack of wristbands. I selected a few multi-packs and continued further into the shop.

Ok, So that was chapter 17. Hope you enjoyed it. I must say I don't feel like it's my best work, but oh well. Next chapter is in Theo's P.O.V Thanks for reading. - Flo