The Want of the Heart - R. G. (#Wattys2017)

7: The Girl That Might Have Possibly Made The First Move

Downtown Hemlock Grove is a little downtown shopping area; one of those cute ones you always see in movies. There's those little Ma & Pa shops, ice cream parlors, and those little dress boutiques. I'll give the town this, it has a nice aesthetic about it.

You see a lot of the other teenagers hang out around here although most of them just leave town to head to the nearest shopping mall or something. There's not all that much to do here except sulk in the gloomy weather conditions. I'm walking down the street, having just left the dress boutique when I see Roman Godfrey and his sister Shelley walking my direction. I smile and wave. "Shelley!" I call out.

Roman meets my eyes and smirks at me. Shelley's face lights up in a huge smile and she picks up her pace. She types something onto her phone quickly. "Hello," she says.

I look over at Roman and smile. "Roman," I greet him, "What are you guys up to?"

"Shopping," Shelley says.

"What's in the bag, pretty girl?" Roman asks.

I look over at him. "Did a little shopping of my own," I reply. "Got a new dress. Thought it was time to update the wardrobe a little bit."

Roman looks past me and starts walking in that direction. Shelley waves and follows after him. "I'll see you guys later then!"

A few days later, we head back to school. Another girl has been killed, and people are back on edge. Where is the wild animal going to attack next? Of course, things still aren't good for Shelley. The other students are saying that it was her that attacked those two girls. I've done my best to tell them off, but I can only do so much.

As school lets out for the day, I head down the steps towards the parking lot and find Peter Rumancek standing there. "Shelley!" he calls out.

I look up at her and smile. "Go say hi," I say.

She smiles and waves at him. I follow behind her and see this big smile on his face.

"Zoe," he greets me.

"Hi," I reply. "Whatcha got there?"

He holds some oranges in his hand. "I had a little trick here that I wanted to show you guys. You wanna see?" he asks.

Shelley nods her head, and I say, "I'd actually like to see this."

He starts juggling two oranges. "Pretty cool, huh?" he says.

"Yeah, but you still have one more," I reply.

"Well then let's add another one!" he exclaims. "Can he do it?! Can he do it?!" The oranges fall out of his hand. "Oh-h-h!"

Shelley claps her hands and I join along with her, the two of us giggling.

"Terrible," Roman says from behind me; I turn my head to face him. "Got any other tricks?"

"Not with the ladies present," Peter replies.

"Have you met my cousin Letha?" Roman asks, motioning to the blonde, fair-skinned girl standing next to him.

"No. I'm Peter," he responds, holding out his hand for her to take.

"Hey," she replies, and she stares at him, clutching the straps of her backpack.

"How about you, pretty girl?" Roman turns to me now.