cool kids [c.hood]

chapter ten

the mall.

the mall was place where obnoxious, chitty and chatty teenagers and workers go and it wasn't indie's cup of tea at all. she was more of a street mall kind of girl but she had no choice but to go shopping for homecoming considering it was a week and a half away and she only remembered due to gemma's annoying reminders every single day. as for the whole not 'labelling' their relationship thing, it wasn't going as smooth as they thought it would. in fact, the last time they spoke to each other was around two weeks ago after they got into a small fight calum had started about the whole thing, again.

after wasting her time walking around with an earphone stuck in one ear, she called it a day and decided to go to a random coffee shop to re - energize herself. she was waiting in line, desperately wishing people would order their coffees quickly so she could go home and binge watch whatever she wanted. the touch around her waist caused her to jump and lock eyes with a random male that indie could already tell was drunk.

"hey there, lady." he slurred, alcohol lingered his breath.

"get off me." she pried from his grip but it only tightened, causing her to wince.

"what's a pretty girl like you doing in a coffee shop all alone?" he whispered in her ear and she wasted no time kneeing him right in the balls, causing him to scream and dig his nails into her waist.

"you should've never done that." he growled, tugging on her waist but indie stopped him with a forceful slap.

"hey!" an angry girl voice boomed from behind her, they both turned around and found a rather pissed off girl gawking at the guy and she looked extremely familiar to indie. "get your dirty hands off her, mark."

"aw c'mon, i was just playing around." he laughed and indie took the chance to pry off of him again and she succeeded.

"leave her alone. she's innocent. go prey on someone else," she yelled. "leave, before i call the cops."

mark immediately stormed out of the coffee shop leaving indie in a traumatic state at what just happened and also in a rather awkward state when she realised luke's girlfriend was the one to save her.

"t– thanks." indie managed to choke out when all she wanted to do was burst into tears but she was in public and she didn't want to catch anyone's attention.

"hey no, it's okay." the girl scurried over and pulled her in for a hug, rubbing small circles on her back. indie wanted to pull away at first but she was so scared that she ended up clinging onto her like a sloth on a tree branch. "you're okay, doll. you're okay."

"shit," indie muttered when she felt a tear slip down her eyes, "you're luke's girlfriend right? aya or something?"

"aria," she corrected her. "and you're luke's sister. indie. he told me a lot about you."

"yeah, i am." indie sighed, wiping off the tear that left her cheek. "thank you for that."

"it's alright," aria nodded. "that guy's an absolute asshole for coming onto you like that. his name is mark and he goes to my school and he's two years older. god, i'm so sorry. you don't even know what he's capable of, i can't imagine how you're feeling."

"like absolute shit." indie managed to stifle a laugh, "i was trying to look for a dress to wear for my homecoming but i gave up on that."

x x x

"indie, are you okay?" aria's voice snapped indie out of her daydream. they were in a small restaurant just outside of the mall eating chicken nuggets and fries when indie accidentally zoned out for a full five minutes. "you seem a little out of it."