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Chapter Three: A Whole New World (And It's Nothing Like the Aladdin Song)

Twenty minutes later, I was walking down the street to Ivan's house with Thug following very closely behind, making me nervous.

"Stupid dog," I muttered under my breath. "How dare they have me followed." Thug let out a single loud bark, as if he heard what I said and I jumped like five feet into the air. "Okay, okay." I whisper-yelled at him, turning my head back a little. "Sorry. You're a not-stupid dog." Thug growled but I refused to call him a good dog. Not when he wasn't one.

The others were parked a block away from Ivan's house. They didn't want to be seen, not even Bree.

"Ivan's pretty perceptive." She said when I asked her to come with me. "He'll get suspicous." Of what? I had absolutely no idea. I didn't think he would, but I didn't argue.

I walked up to his house and rang the doorbell, shuffling my feet. Thug walked over to a nearby bush and hid there. Okay, so maybe he wasn't that stupid. I watched Thug warily, not noticing the door opening until Thug suddenly disappeared into the bush. I spun around, coming face to face with Ivan.

"Kaya?" He asked, sounding confused. "What are you doing here? Are you wearing the same clothes as yesterday?" How did he even remember?

"Um, I think you have my phone so I came back to get it."

Ivan's eyes widened. "Right, wait here for a second."

Wow, doesn't even invite me in.

Ivan came back, holding my iPhone in his hand. He handed it to me. "I grabbed it from you while we were running, since I realized those freaky guys were after you. I thought that it would be better if they thought you lost your phone and they would have no use for you if you got caught."

I gave Ivan a small smile. "Thanks, but it really wasn't necessary. I got them off my trail." Big fat lie.

"Right." Ivan flashed me a quick smile and looked over his shoulder, into his house. He turned back to me. "Didn't you mention something about being busy? You should probably go, I don't want to hold you up."

I frowned. "I never said that."

"Oh." He scratched his head awkwardly. "Right, well I'm sure you have somewhere to go." He looked back over his shoulder again. "Well see ya on Monday." He quickly closed the door in my face while I just stared at it in confusion. Thug came out the bush and ran over to me. "What do you think that was all about?" I murmured to him.

Thug pulled at my leg and I yelped. I glared at him. "Alright, let me go you demon, I'm coming." Thug let go of me and I swear he smirked at me. I hated him so much. Then he nudged me forward again and I walked as fast as I could so I could avoid him touching me.

On my way back down the block, I thought about Ivan's strange behavior. He kept looking back over his shoulder as if there were someone in the house. I wondered why he was acting so weird but I shook it off. It was probably nothing. When I got back to the car, Trey was asleep and Sera was on her phone while Archer and Bree were having some kind of argument. They didn't even notice when I opened the car door because they were too busy glaring at each other.

"Hello?" I said, sliding in next to Trey in the back. Archer was driving and Bree had shotgun while Trey, Sera and I were sitting in the back. I waved my hand in front of Trey's face but his hand shot up to grab mine.

His lips spread into a lazy smile, his eyes still closed. "Just 'cause my eyes are closed, doesn't mean I'm sleeping. Now where's Thug?"

I frowned at him before turning to the rest. "I got the cell phone guys."

Trey ignored me. "Thug?"

Thug jumped onto my lap and then onto Trey's and curled up on his master's lap. Trey stroked the dog's fur lovingly, letting go of my hand. "Did the evil girl hurt you Thug?"