XIII
Tour De Voleur
~~~

"Nnnn..." I open my eyes after what feels like forever. What the hell happened? Every part of my body aches. I sit up and grope around for a wall, then prop myself up on it.

Oh my... my knuckles are bleeding. That's when I feel the pain of my black eye, my busted lip, and my bruised cheek. Bloody knuckles...did I get into a fight? With who?

"Hey! Asshole!!" Gar...?? My eyes focus and I see Adam standing a few feet in front of me. Wait this is school!! What is going on?!

"Look what the cat dragged in. You coming to save your girl?" Adam spoke triumphantly. Like he had already won. He must've done this to me. There's no way I could've just let him do this. How do I not remember anything before this?

"Raven is not my 'girl'. But she is my friend! So I'm defending her!"

"And how do you think you're gonna do that?"

"Because you may easily mess with her, but you don't have the balls to touch me! You've only done one thing to me! You're afraid of me. And it's obvious. So step off before I make you!" I can't see Adam's face, but I can tell he's pissed. He's not moving, and he couldn't clench his fists any more.

All of a sudden a loud ringing sound played as Adam began speaking which is preventing me from hearing him. Wait...is that my...alarm?

~~~

"Why did you guys bring me out here?"

"What's it look like?"

"It looks like you've taken me to a random gas station off an empty highway at ten o'clock at night."

"Jeez Vic is right. You really are clueless."

"Just tell me what we're doing Jinx!"

Wally and Jinx hopped out of the car and Gar confusedly followed.

"Seriously guys, why are we here?"

"You'll see." Wally says that like it's supposed to reassure him. Gar facepalms as his friends walk inside the gas station's convenience store. He looked around once more before he stepped through the door, and all he saw was dirt and highway to his right and the same to his left. There wasn't another building for at least two miles.

Great.

It looked like any other convenience store. The shelves were just barely above his head and the stuff on the shelves near the entrance reeked of cigarette smoke. The man at the register didn't even seem to acknowledge their presence in his exhausted stupor. The store was relatively big, having 8 isles, freezers in the back and on he side, along with a slushy machine. Kind of odd since this gas is not only unpopular because of the quality, but it's also in the middle of close to nowhere off a highway. Yes it was near the city, but the highway was pretty much empty all the time.

"Gar," Wally waved him over. "Check this out." Wally points to some fireworks in a box on the floor behind one of the shelves.

"Ok. They're fireworks."

"Illegal fireworks. This guy shouldn't be selling these until late June."

"How do you know that?"

"My mom is a cop and she's told me hundreds of times about a bunch of different laws involving minors."

"It's true. She pretty much reads off a list." Jinx adds.

"So what are you gonna do? Call the police?" Gar asks slightly annoyed.

"No." They both reply in unison. They walk to the slushy machine and get extra large cups and fill them to the very top, getting one for Gar as well.

"Uh..."

"Take the slushy Gar. You know you want it." He hesitated. "If you don't take it I'm drinking it myself." She coerced.

"Fine!" He snatches it out of her hand and sips on it begrudgingly.

They walk ahead of him to go and whisper in a different isle. They both laugh and Gar looks at the top of their heads squarely.

"What are they doing?" Gar whispers to himself. He snags a look at the box of fireworks again. He walks over and picks one up, but before he can examine it his phone rings. It's Raven's ringtone. "Hello?" Wally and Jinx's whispering halted.

"Hey Gar."

"What's up?"

"Can you help me with the Chem homework? You were taking better notes than me."

"Why are you doing homework on a Friday night?"

"Because Kori's party is tomorrow and I'm busy on Sunday. Can you help me?"

"Not really. I'm not home." He replies. A faint meow can be heard in the background. "I'll send you my notes when I do get home though." Wally and Jinx step out of the isle and look at Gar who is facing away from them.

"Where are you then?"

"I'm with Wally and Jinx."

"What...oh. You're at a convenience store aren't you? In the middle of a highway? No buildings around it?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"Ahh I think that's enough of that!" Wally goes and snatches Gar's phone right from out under his ear.

"Wally! The hell?!"

"Sorry Rave but Gar lost his phone and won't have it for the rest of the night. See ya tomorrow!" And with that she was hung up on.

"Really subtle Wally." Jinx whispered.

"Um, care to explain?!"

"She was going to tell you the surprise. Then it wouldn't be a surprise anymore. Duh." Jinxi Jim j8 pm says this like it's obvious.

"Give my phone back Wally!"

"Sure. When we get back in the car."

"Ugh!!!" Wally stuffed the phone in pocket and they continued to peruse the isles. Gar was grumbling around behind them. After another few minutes he became impatient. "When are we leaving?" He said deadpan.

To his surprise, Jinx said, "Now." Wally grabs the entire box of fireworks, shoves it into Gar's arms, and then the two grab him and run out.

The alarm sounds as they run through the glass door which jumpscares the man at the cash register, waking him up, and causing him to freak.

"H-hey!!" Jinx and Wally shush him after they rush behind the gas station. The man comes out and looks around frantically.

"Hey!! I'm calling the cops on you kids!!"

"What?!" Gar freaks and his head starts spinning. What did these two get him into?! He couldn't get arrested! And the fireworks were illegal! They just stole illegal fireworks!! The panic was plastered all over Gar's face.

"C'mon." Said Jinx calmly. She just dragged Gar to the car whilst he was in the middle of a near panic attack.

They slammed the doors and drove away. The man didn't realize that they were in the car until the engine revved up and by then they were already rolling. All he could do was shake his fist and growl.

And then his grunting devolved into laughter.

"Poor kid. He was so confused. She picked the perfect kid this time. Ha!"

"Soo...did you have fun?" Wally asks.

"Fun?! FUN?!? Dude what the hell was that?! How are you guys so calm?! You just dragged me into stealing illegal fireworks!!" Gar was out of his panic attack and was now absolutely livid.

"Hahahaha."

"What is so damn funny?" He demands through clenched teeth.

"Ha. Just the joke we played on you." Jinx says in passing.

"...what?" Gar sticks his head in between the drivers and the passengers seat. "What. Joke."

"Ah just a joke we play on the new kid every time there is one. No big." Wally shrugs.

"NO BIG?!"

"Jeez Gar calm down. None of it was real. That guy back there is my grandpa and we do the same thing every time. The alarm was fake and so are the fireworks." Jinx explained.

"Ugh..." Gar dove his head into his hands. "You f*cking idiots almost gave me a heart attack."

"Oof. That hurt." Wally stated.

"Did you seriously think you were going to get arrested Gar?"

"YES. I DID."

Jinx snickers.

"Alright Gar. You totally would've gotten arrested for stealing from a gas station." Gar got annoyed at her sarcasm, but decided not to rebut. He knew this was a loosing argument on all fronts.

"Fine. Just take me home please."

"Ok." Wally replied carelessly. He stepped on the gas and the car jolted forward a bit and sped up.

Gar was quiet the whole ride home. He just listened to Jinx and Wally's conversation. He wasn't paying much attention to them and nor them to him. That is, until his phone rang in Wally's pocket.

"Ah! My phone! Wally!" He carelessly threw it back to him without saying a word. "Ass...Hello?"

"Gar...?" Her voice was soft and quiet, with a slight bit of stress lacing it.

"Raven? Are you ok? You sound upset."

"Eh...Are you? Their joke didn't make you too angry did it?"

"You were going to tell me about it! Yeah no I'm still pissed."

"When you said you were with Wally and Jinx I looked at the time and I knew exactly what was about to happen."

"Ugh. I'm never agreeing to go with them by myself again."

"Most don't after that."

"Hey we can hear you you know." Jinx intervenes.

"You don't have a right to be salty!"

"Gar..." Her voice was still quiet, but now it was more stressful and serious.

"Yeah Rave?"

"I...nevermind."

"Raven? C'mon what is it?"

"You don't need to worry about it Gar. I'll handle it."

"Alright." He shrugs. "Hey do you need a ride to Kori's party tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Mother— Mom is going to be doing more stuff with the courthouse again. Papers and stuff."

"Ok. What time does it start again?"

"I dunno. I think 8-ish. But she might want us there early to help set up. I'll text her tomorrow morning and ask. She's probably sleeping right now."

"Ok. Later Rave."

"Later. Oh, slap Jinx and Wally for me please when you get out of the car." Gar chuckled.

"I was thinking about doing that anyway." Raven laughed.

"Ok. Bye."

"What did she tell you to do?" Jinx asked slightly annoyed.

"You'll find out later." Gar said smuggly. He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms, satisfied with the action of slapping them before he even does it.

~~~

~~~

Sorry this update is late. I had to scrap like 3 million ideas and I'm still not exactly satisfied the way this turned out. I feel like I could've done this better, but maybe when I go back and edit this a few months after I finish it I'll be able to attack this with a different state of mind.

Next up is Kori's party! Get ready for some crazy shenanigans!

~Rae

Word Count: 1793