Unsung

Chapter Four

What happened next, was one of those moments you just can't explain. You know, the kind of out-of-body experience that others often describe as temporary insanity, but ends up being completely life-changing. You don't know why you're driven to do it, but you know you can't stop it and you can never take it back, even if you wanted to.

"Hey, wait up!" I yelled, shocked to hear the words as they came from my lips. When my legs started to move too, and I neared the corner that the blonde had just vacated, I briefly wondered if this were an invasion of the body snatchers situation.

But no. Bizarely, this was all me. Or some sort of crazy brave version of me.

Either way, I couldn't stop it.

"Hey—" I began, abruptly stopping when I turned the corner and came face-to-face with the blonde chick.

"Geez, you don't have to scream," she said, scrunching up her nose in annoyance. "I'm not deaf."

"Er, sorry," I apologized, my voice barely audible now. I glanced around and saw that we were alone. Correction: that I was alone with a girl who very well might be a ninja. Or the leader of a girl gang. Both of whom could hurt me.

I took a step backward.

"Well?" the blonde asked expectantly.

"Uh, I was just wondering..." my words trailed off as I realized that I didn't actually know what I was going to say next.

After several seconds of showing off my scarily accurate impression of a catatonic person, the blonde turned on her heel and started to walk off.

"Nice talk," she said, over her shoulder.

I began to panic.

I couldn't let her leave. Not when I had so many questions.

So I willed myself to take a shaky step after her. "Who are you?" I managed to get out.

"You a cop?" she asked suspiciously.

"I'm sixteen," I responded, confused.

"Hey, you never know until you ask," she answered with a shrug. Then she added, "The name's McKayla."

The space between us was growing, and I raced to catch up. The fact that she could move so quickly—and in heels—astounded me. A glance down at my worn-in black Converse reminded me again of just how athletically challenged I was. Still, I forced my legs to move faster than I thought possible, and before long, I was almost able to keep stride with her.

"Why...what...how did you do that?" I asked, my breath already coming out in puffs.

"Look, I don't really have time for an interview right now, but if you get in touch with my publicist—" McKayla said quickly.

"You have a publicist?" I interrupted, astonished.

"Of course not," she said, laughing. Then she seemed to think about it. "But I really should."

She kept right on walking—and to my dismay—didn't slow down. I had to get her to stop or I was going to keel over.

"Can I just...ask you some questions?" I huffed out.

"I sort of have somewhere to be," she said, trying the same line she'd used on the shop clerks a few minutes before.

It was clear I was being blown off.