Procrastinators on Stage (Chris Kendall/crabstickz fanfic) *unedited*

Part 6- I Don't Like New People

By five o'clock that day, the four of us were making our way along a pavement on a small housing estate, taking the well-paced walk to Mia's home. It had been mentioned to me that Mia, Dan and Phil had lived in a flat together at one point, but now, they all lived together in one house. That house was split into two apartments; the top one, which was upstairs, belonged to Mia and Dan, and the downstairs for Lynn and Phil. The four of them seemed to be perfectly content with the accommodations staying like that for the moment.

We were all now bitterly cold and overcome with fatigue. The cold snapped at my lank hair, slicing through me like a carving knife. Despite this, we'd all had the pick-me-up of sugar laced sweets combined with the slight hysteria from laughter. I dreaded the sugar crash.

Mia and Lucy were dancing around each other at the moment. Mia was toying with her friend by swinging a bag of sweets almost two feet above her shorter friend's head. Lucy and Mia were laughing joyfully at each other's actions, spinning round each other as if they were conducting a carefully choreographed routine. Lucy was jumping as if she were hoping to suddenly find that she had frog like jumping reflexes, whilst Mia was mildly gloating down at Lucy, mocking her in a good humoured way.

Mia believed that we were simply going back to her house because Chris and Charlie (another one of their YouTube friends) had been over at the house for the day to film a new collaboration video with Phil and Dan. Little did she know that they'd actually been renovating their lounge into a den. I wasn't sure of the technicalities or setup that had been created for this party, but from the brief occasions that Carrie and Lucy had been able to smuggle me information about it when Mia was occupied elsewhere, be it looking at something in a shop or at the toilet, it all sounded insanely promising.

"Are you nervous?" Carrie whispered to me as we walked. I sighed slightly, even my exhale of breath wobbling in defiance of the mask I was trying to form. Carrie didn't say anything. She simply slid her hand into mine and squeezed my fingers, just to let me know that she was here for me. I needed her for that.

I hadn't had a shopping experience like the one we'd just had in a very long time. Maddie and I would only go out shopping if we ran out of cereal or something. We didn't really indulge in shopping.

Now, I felt like I was almost friends with Mia and Lucy. Once the awkwardness had thawed between us all, and they'd seemed to have accept me as a friend, we'd been able to make the most of the day. We'd gone to Lush, Waterstones, The Sweet Factory and the Disney Store after we'd had lunch, our stomachs full and heavy, but our minds open to the possibilities. Lucy had introduced me to Lush's massage bar range, and I'd spent a good portion of my money in their accordingly. My gift to Mia of Maltesers was also nestled beside a card I'd scribbled a message into when Carrie and Mia had gone to look at the book accessories in Waterstones.

Mia reached out with her hand to open up the curled black gate at the front of a slim gravel path, which led up to her home. She stepped aside and held the gate open for us as we passed through to gather in the front garden. I looked down at Mia's hand on the top of the gate, noticing how her fingernails were clipped neatly and her skin ghostly pale.

As I stepped aside from the gate, she let it swing shut behind me, where it screamed eerily in its closure. Mia then sped up the path and the two steps, her pale fingers fidgeting with the keys as she fished them from her pocket. She pushed the black painted door open and slid inside, her form being overcome by the darkness of the hallway inside.

I heard the click of a light switch and watched as the whole lower floor and the stairs were bathed in a warm light. The entrance hall was about two metres squared in size, with a red door leading off to the left, and then a set of stairs which climbed upwards to a landing with wooden bannisters gripping to it. There was a blue painted door after the stairs at the far side of the banisters, which made it look like wooden jail bars were covering that entrance.