Page Numbers

12- Katie

"LOOK OUT!" I yell as some guy walks out into the middle of the pathway. He looks up in surprise as me and Josèe crash into him. I hear her scream as we crash to the ground in a heap, "Ow..." I hear the guy say. I open my eyes and slowly sit up rubbing my head to see mystery boy and Josèe lying on either side of me. I stand up, going to my sister and she just gives off a little huff then brushes herself off standing up, "Katie! You have to be careful!"

"I know Jo, sorry, he came out of nowhere. Are you okay? No broken bones? And scratches? Bruises?" I ask inspecting her. "I'm fine Katie, I'm a big girl and can take care of myself." She pushes me off and crosses her arms pouting. I roll my eyes and inspect the damage on my bike, it seems to be okay except now one of the handlebars is at a different angle to the other one. If that boy hadn't- wait a second, I forgot about the boy! My eyes widen and I spin around to see the boy lying on the ground brushing himself off.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay? I am so sorry, you just came out of nowhere and then we hit and I am seriously sorry, if there's anything I can do for you jus-"
"I'm fine, no thanks to you." He interrupts. I sheepishly offer a hand to help him up but he ignores me, pushing himself up aand off the ground. I look at him and realise that the kid's about 10 years old, I just hit a ten year old kid! "Oh wow, I didn't realise how young you were! Now I feel even worse, do you want me to walk you home? Where are your parents?" I look around legitimately worried and he just stands there staring at me with one eyebrow raised.

"Are you done yet?" He says rudely. I raise my eyebrows at him, "Now, that is no way to talk to someone," he rolls his eyes, "I would appreciate it if you could show me some respec-" He scoffs shaking his head. "What?" I say putting my hands on my hips.

"Oh yeah, show 'respect' to the chick that hit me with her bike, like that'll ever happen." I feel my cheeks heating up and am about to throw a snark comment back at him when I feel a little tug at the back of my shirt. "Katie?" I hear Josèe say, "What's going on?" I squat down, "Don't worry, I'm just talking to the boy who went onto the path. Just wait a second, then we'll head to the place okay?" She nods and I turn back around opening my mouth to give the guy a piece of my mind.

"You asked before if there was anything you could do for me," I nod my head, "Well, you could take me with you to this 'place'" I raise an eyebrow, that was no what I was expecting.

"And why would you want to come with us?" I ask suspiciously. He shrugs, "I'm bored, I was just going to read this book but-"
"Wait, wiat, wait." I interrupt staring at the book that had somehow appeared in his hand, "Is that... Page Numbers?" He nods his head warily. My eyes light up, "Oh my gosh, I LOVE that book, in fact..." I look around for my bag that had fallen off in the commotion of the accident, "Ah hah!" I say running over to it and bringing it back to the guy. I open it up and bring out my copoy of the book, "I have my own copy right here!"

He raises his eyebrows in surprise, "Huh, I wasn't expecting a girl like you to actually read books." I frown, "What do you mean a girl 'like me'?"
He shrugs, "I don't know, you just don't come off as a girl that would be into that stuff, but it's totally cool that you are." I shake it off choosing to ignore what he's said. "Fine."
"What?" He says confused.
"You can come with us." He grins running over to the bike and jumping on already, I just stand there staring at him.
"Well, are we going or not?" He says ad I roll my eyes jumping on behind him as he somehow manages to perch between the seat and the handlebars. "Come on Jo, we're taking our new friend..." I look at him realising I didn't even know his name. "Colin," he says holding a hand out to Jo, "Come on, I won't bite." He smiles. She sticks up her nose and jumps onto the handlebars.

"Let's go find Xander!" I say as we continue on our journey.