Ernie, shm-ernie.

Chapter 1: Friends

The day started like every other for Lily, she was surrounded by her friends and laughter boomed off every wall. The clouds were coming over now and the sun was struggling to keep beating down. The days high was 12 degrees. That was the warmest it had been all winter. The air was beginning to get an eerie feel, which, most of the time, meant rain was coming.

Finally the first day of winter term had arrived and Lily was the decided host for the get-together, like normal.

Anastasia, Beatrice, Carlos, Holly, Lily, Lucy, Peter and Reece always spent the first day of every holiday together. This was the last holiday they’d celebrate at high school together. They wanted to make this holiday a party to remember. They wanted to make the most of the end of their teen-hood while they still could.

The laughter was dying down and becoming an awkward tension. They’d spent the last 11 weeks at school together talking about everything they could and had nothing more to say now that there was nothing happening. The only thing they could think of doing was sitting around watching movies in silence. Lucy suggested Harry Potter, and Lily (after great debate) placed Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone into the Blu-Ray console.

It was 11:30 in the morning and they hadn’t slept all night. They also hadn’t eaten for a while, even though there was plenty to eat. The group vowed to have much after the movie was over.

“It's curious that you should be destined for this wand when its brother gave you that scar.”The group quoted.

Harry was on his way Hogwarts and buying his supplies. Unfortunately, the group had seen this many times and were becoming bored. Anastasia suggested lunch and they debated what they wanted.

The group took a vote on Pizza or Chinese Take-away. Pizza won the final  vote and everyone put a couple of dollars towards the cost. Since no parents were able to pick it up, they decided to save money on delivery and walk. Hellz Pizzeria was the closest and they decided to go there. It was only a 15 minutes walk from Lilys house.

The outside temperature was a lot lower than outside and no one had taken jackets because it was meant to be sunny. They decided the faster they get there the faster they can get home, so Lucy rang the shop and ordered then they all set off down the road. They were dancing, prancing, running and shoving each other all over the place, acting like 5 year olds.

Lucy and Lily had always been silly children. They didn’t care what people thought of them. It took them to get the rest of the group to jump & be silly, but after a while everyone was being fun and silly.

Lucy and Lily were best friends, and had been for the last 2 years. They were so funny together and always had a smile on their faces. Until now, they had always been together. Some people almost believed they would die together….. I guess they were right.

Of course, best friends don’t come without opposites. Lucy was more of a silent being, whereas Lily was more of an outgoing person. Lucy liked cats. Lily liked dogs. Lucy liked reading. Lily liked music. Lucy preferred to be alone. Lily didn’t want to be alone. None of that was bad, but to the other… There was room for improvement. Although, there is always room for improvement.

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Lucy and Lily had been twirling down the road ahead of their friends. They were standing facing the group waiting for them to catch up when they noticed a bunch of 5 elder men in black suits walking their way. Of course, the men weren’t actually following them. They just happened to be walking the same way.

When the group finally caught up they continued to walk towards the Pizza shop. They were half way there and there was pretty much a straight road now. Lily and Lucy managed to get ahead of the group again, and stood facing the others. This time the men weren’t there. In fact they were no where to be seen.

“They must have gone into someone’s house” Lucy whispered to Lily. By time the others caught up, the men hadn’t made an appearance, so Lily and Lucy were content that the men weren’t stalkers after all.

The group of teens arrived at the Pizza shop just as their Pizza was ready. They sent Anastasia and Peter in to pick it up. As the two walked back out with the food, the men appeared again. This time from the other direction… somehow. 'It's probably nothing' Lily thought to herself quietly, trying not to get scared.

They were just 50 metres away now, but Lily didn’t want to scare Lucy, and tried to drag the others away from the shop. Carlos noticed a park up the road a bit, towards the men, and pointed it out. “Lets go there” He suggested.

Lily knew she was going to have no choice in the matter, and silently followed the group to the park. All it had was a mangy slide and a swing set that looked like it would fall at any moment. The group sat in a circle and ate their Pizza quietly – not knowing what to say.

Lily was glad that she had the group to take her mind off things, but the silence was making her mind run. Lily had always been a paranoid person, but that wasn’t always a good thing. She often let her mind wander over to the things that scared her most.

Lily was worried that if she told Lucy then Lucy would either 1) not believe her or 2) overreact. If Lucy overreacted, she’d tell the group, and then the group would think Lily was over reacting and trying to cause a scene.

Lily noticed the men passing the park, and breathed a sigh of relief. Hoping maybe it wasn’t even the same group of men and just people that looked similar. Lilys mind stopped running, and suddenly there was a better feeling around the group, everyone was talking.

The group soon finished the Pizza and left the park. Nothing seemed unordinary, everything was fine. Lily sighed a little and went over to Lucy and they linked arm and skipped up the road ahead of the others.

Looking back, just to be sure, Lily saw a black blur moving into a gate. She grew suspicious, once again, and ran ahead. The group jogged and eventually caught up with Lily. They weren’t asking questions, but their faces were.

Anastasia turned around, still running, to see what they were running from. She saw the five men and yelled to Lily if that’s what the problem was. The five men were just a few houses behind, and catching up. They wore suits and sunglasses with strange dark shoes. They carried official looking suitcases that made them look funny as they ran (but didn’t slow them down).

They were only a few streets away from Lilys, but she knew that if she was correct, and the men were kidnappers, they'd follow them. Lily lead the group in the opposite direction, to a main road she knew well.