Chapter #2: The Mysterious Boys Part 2

Chapter One continues...

Eva woke up the next morning, glad it was a weekend. She sat up, rubbing her eyes and scratching her hair, which was now a mess. She walked out of her room and straight into the bathroom, raking a brush through the matted mess on above her face. Then she opened the cabinets by the mirror and grabbed her lipstick and eyeliner. Soon she was smiling at a very attractive and weird girl again.

She looked at her clothes, which did not seem to be in bad shape, and shrugged. Eva sprayed herself with a little perfume and skipped out of the bathroom and down the stairs. What was life without faking a little vanity? She always reasoned.

Her mother was downstairs making breakfast while her father was at the table reading the financial times section of the newspaper. Eva passed by her mother to see what she was making. French toast was in the oven and bacon was frying in a pan next to another pan with 6 eggs side by side.

Eve gave her mother a smiled and walked into the dining room where she gave her father a kiss on the cheek and sat down. Her father put down his newspaper and looked at her with a grin.

“Anything interesting happening this morning?” he asked.

“No,” Eva answered with another smile.

“Okay, how much money do you want?” he asked.

“Harold!” Eva’s mother said as she answered carrying plates of food.

Eva giggled and stood up from her chair to help her mother. “Well, I could use a little...”

“Ah! See, I knew she wanted something, Regina,” Harold said with a chuckle.

“Well, Tina is going to the mall and yesterday at the library she asked me if I wanted to come,” Eva said.

“I told her I might if my wonderful, sweet, loving, and oh so caring parents would allow me.”

Harold and Regina looked at each other with a smile and nodded.

“Since you did put on such a convincing little performance, I guess we can allow you some time with your friends,” Harold said, reaching into his back pocket. He pulled out his wallet and handed Eva a pair of twenty-dollar bills and a ten.

“Thank you, dad!” Eva took the bills and hugged her dad. Then she put them in her pocket and began to eat her breakfast.

Harold talked about what had been going on at work for that past few weeks and how he had been promoted twice. He talked about how that meant more money would be paid to him every week and how he would also get a new office with a view of the city. Regina started talking about how her book club was coming along. None of those interested the girl with the miracle of 50 bucks to spend. Eva finished her breakfast and ran up to her room. She took out her cell phone and called Tina. After a few moments, Tina picked up.

“Hello?” came a groggy voice.

“Tina?” Eva asked.

“Yeah?” Tina replied. “Is this Eva?”

“Yeah, it is,” Eva said. “When can you be here?”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” Tina responded. “I need to get ready. Your parents said yes?”

“Yeah,” Eva said. “See you in ten!”

Eva ended the call and put her phone into her pocket and sat by her window. She smiled, waiting for her chance to go to Hot Gothic and maybe even Period Era. A few minutes passed by and Eva saw her father leave for work, pulling out of the driveway and cruising down the street. Soon after that Eva saw Tina pulling up in her Cadillac.

Eva bolted out of her room and down the stairs and straight out the door with only a hurried “Bye!” to her mother that she was not sure had even reached her mother’s ears.

She ran over and hopped into the front seat next to Tina, with Linda, Maxy, and Cassie all in the back seat. They were all dressed like her but chose to wear different make-up and hair-styles. Eva smiled at them all as they said their hello’s and Tina sped off in the same direction as Eva’s father had gone. This was the way straight into the city.

Tina put down the windows and let the wind play with their hair. They drove for not even 3 miles before hitting the mall. Tina chose a parking spot and everybody hopped out. Together they walked through the entrance of the mall complex and headed for their favorite store. Hot Gothic was waiting for them. Tina smiled smugly and she passed the girl working the counter with the cash register on it. There, with a miserable look on her face, was Jain. She was the queen of the preppy b*****s. And now that her parents had cut her off from their unlimited supply of money, she was forced to get a job and earn her living. Tina paused at the counter, checking out a pair of black jeans with a number of chains hanging from the belt. Jain rolled her eyes and turned away. Tina gave Eva and the rest of the girls and look at Jain.

“JAIN!” she yelled as loud as she could.

Jain tensed up and turned around. “May I help you?” she asked through gritted teeth.

“Don’t take that tone with me, snob,” Tina said. “Do these come in a larger size?”

“Why don’t you take some pounds off the gut and come back!” Jain shot at her.

Tina began looking around. “Oh, now where did the manager of this establishment go?” Tina asked aloud. Jain gritted her teeth and said, “We have larger sizes in the back.”

“Thank you!” Tina turned away and walking to the back of the outlet store.

“I don’t think you should be doing that,” Eva said.

“Do what?” Tina said as she and Maxy giggled like crazy.

“Mess with Jain like that,” Eva said. “Karma always has a way of biting people in the a*s. And it’s always looking for a reason.”

“Whatever,” Cassie said. “Hun, you are too superstitious.”

Eva sighed and walked away. She found a belt with spikes running down it and took it off the rack. She then walked through the store, looking for more merchandise. Some of it she already had, and others just did not interest her. She stopped at a little rack selling The adult-animation figures. They looked cute but were not for her. She looked up to peer at another shelf when she saw something that she wanted, but was definitely not for sale.

Right outside, walking out of a bookstore, was Aleck.

Eva’s eyes went wide and she put down her stuff and quickly walked out of the store. Aleck was strolling down to the food court. It was quite crowded, and Eva quickened her pace.

“Aleck!” she called out just before he entered the food court. He stopped, his back straightened and he looked around. Definitely had heard her.

She called out his name again and ran to cover the distance between them. Aleck turned around and saw her. He smiled and waved. Eva waved back and caught up with him.

“Well, now this is a surprise,” he said as she slowed down.

“Yeah,” Eva huffed and she stopped next to him.

“You come here regularly?” Aleck asked as he turned around.

“Kinda,” Eva said as they started walking again.

“That’s cool, maybe you could show me around sometime,” Aleck said.

“Hmm?” Eva looked at him with a confused expression.

“I just moved here,” Aleck explained. “I’m still getting used to this place.”

“Oh okay,” Eva said. “Well, I can help you out. Maybe we can take a walk, and I’ll show you this place that way.”

“Sure, that sounds great,” Aleck commented cheerfully.

“So were you planning on eating here?” Eva asked.

“Yeah,” Aleck said, nodding. “Where do you plan on going to?”

Eva looked around. There was quite a selection. Taco-Huts and Burgerman’s were selling like mad. But Eva hoped he would not choose either one. The way those places cooked their food was enough to make her gag.

But to her relief, Aleck steered her to a Veggie Dome. There he ordered two Veggie subs with ham. It made the clerk a little confused and Eva laughed when she heard him place the order, but sure enough five minutes later they were choosing a seat with a tray carrying two Veggie subs with ham. Eva took a sip of her lemonade and then a small bite out of her sub. Aleck did the same but in reverse order.

“So,” he said, “How long have you live here?”

“Oh, just my whole life,” Eva said.

“Oh...” Aleck said, and he quickly took a bite out of his sub. Eva sat back, giggling.

Aleck smiled, lettuce falling from his lips, making Eva laugh more. Aleck wiped his mouth off and Eva sat back, taking a few more sips of her lemonade.

“Are you here with your friends?” Aleck asked

“Yes I am,” Eva said. “Are you? Or don’t you have any yet?”

“I’m here with my… brother,” Aleck said.

“You are?” Eva asked with a smile.

“Yeah, here he comes,” Aleck said, nodding and pointing past Eva.

When she turned around, Eva could not have been more disappointed with who she saw walking up to their table. It was Bruce, still wearing the clothes from last night. Come to think of it, so was Aleck. Eva tossed the thought out of her head and turned back around.

“You two are brothers?” she asked is dismay as Bruce walked up.

“Yep!” Bruce said and he gave Eva a smack to the shoulder.

Eva felt a strange feeling course through her should as she touched it. It tingled, then felt like electricity was raging through it. Her eyes went wide and her form became a little rigid. Aleck saw this and quickly reached over and removed Bruce’s hand. Then the feeling in her arm returned to normal. Bruce gave Aleck a quick look and Aleck shook his head. Bruce then returned his hand to his side. All this took place in the one second before Eva snapped back into reality.

“What was that?” she asked, looking up at Bruce.

“Uh...” Bruce thought quickly.

“Buzzer!” Aleck said quickly.

“What?” Eva said, looking at Aleck.

“Oh yeah,” Aleck said. “Bruce loves those joke hand buzzer things, don’t you Bruce?”

“Sure do!” Bruce said with a smile. “But it seems this one was a little too strong. I better go return it!”

And with that, Bruce turned on his heel and walked away. It was not until he was out of the food court that he let out a sigh of relief. Aleck had saved him again.

Eva watched him leave, as did Aleck, rubbing his chin gently. Eva started turning back and he dropped his hand quickly. She looked at him and he gave her a little smile and went back to eating his sub. She flashed the smile back to him, faking it, and finished her lemonade.

“Well, I’d better get back with my friends,” Eva said slowly.

“Okay,” Aleck said. “I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah,” Eva said, standing up. She took what was left of her sub and threw it away along with her drink. She then walked off into the crowd of mall shoppers.

Aleck watched her, keeping a close eye on her. He then also finished off the rest of his drink and sub, and left, leaving the tray on the table. He put his hands into his pockets, walking casually as if he was just here to shop like everyone else. He looked around, the hung a right into a long, wide, deserted part of the mall.

He kept walking then hung another right and went into an alcove with two doors leading to a pair of bathrooms. He checked to make sure nobody was watching then leaned against the wall with a sigh. Then he saw a camera rotating to his position. He snapped his fingers and the gears reversed, sending it the other way. Then they jammed up and broke, keeping it in that spot.

With a smirk, Aleck snapped his fingers again and a folder appeared in his hands. There was a label on a tab, reading just “Evalisa” in bold print. He opened up the folder and saw an enlarged school photo of her. Next to it was the basic info, such as name, age, height, weight, school, address, and- Aleck’s eyes fluttered back up to all that basic information. He knew that most of the times, it was the basic information that could be most helpful. He smiled, for there, right under her weight, was her address.

“Hmm, all the better to protect you with, my dear,” he said with a chuckle.

He heard footsteps coming from down the wide hall and quickly tried on of the bathroom doors. It was locked. He slid his fingernail into it and the lock clicked open. He slipped into the Men’s bathroom and locked the door quickly behind him. He looked around, saw a window, and bolted for it. It was high out of reach for normal people.

Luckily, he was not a normal person. Nor was he in fact really a person. Aleck leapt up and grabbed onto the window. He pried it open and crawled out it. There was a steep two-story drop to the ground. He let himself fall and he hit the pavement on his feet easily. He looked around and saw that he was in the Semi-loading bay. It was where all the supplies and merchandise for the outlet store was brought in. Right then there was no vehicles around, so Aleck was able to run through the loading bay until he got to the busy parking lot. Then he just put his hands back into his pockets and started walking through it.

 

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Author's Note

Part 2 of 3