★

"HERE'S TWO HUNDRED FOR the water bill," Joe said, handing a wide eyed Amara the cash. "I'll have the rest of it by the end of this week." Joe's arm held out for a moment, before he realized she wasn't going to take it, and he awkwardly placed it onto the counter between them. "What, you don't want it? I thought you were cramped for cash, and that's why you were selling weed out of that shitty ice cream truck."

"For the record, it's not just weed—not like its any of your business in the first place. Also, you know, you can't buy your way back into our lives. What you did was unforgivable."

"Was it, really? Come on, Amara. I've changed. You have to forgive me."

"Yeah?" She asked, walking towards the front door, and pulling it open. "Next time someone beats you senseless until you wake up the hospital three days later, when you're at the young age of five, you can tell me who I have to forgive."

The door slammed shut behind her, not giving Joe a chance to respond. She made her way to work. Her hair waved back and forth in its ponytail as she walked, every once in a while she'd feel it brush her bare shoulder.

After her date on Friday, she didn't want to show her face at work, especially considering her and James had the same shifts most of the time. Surprisingly, he wasn't standing behind the counter once she arrived at the parlor, and for a moment she thought luck had finally found her.

"Here you go," Amara said with a grin, handing the little girl, who couldn't be more than five. The work day had flew by, and before she knew it, she was on her way back home. She hated walking alone in the dark, times like these were when she wished Ian or Lip was with her. But sadly, they weren't, and she had to clutch her pepper spray like a lifeline.

★

Amara laid on the ground in her bathing suit, taking in the warmth of the sun. Her eyes were squinted shut, and every so often Debbie would start up a conversation. However, Amara was convinced that Silvia had fallen asleep, because she made to effort to chime in or reply.

Suddenly, her body was exposed to freezing cold water, and her eyes flew open as she let out a shout of surprise. She glanced up to see Carl holding a case of water balloons, Ian and Lip behind him, the three boys all wearing matching grins.

Amara pushed herself up with a smirk. "Fine then, boys. Let's dance."

After gathering their own set of balloons, the girls crouched behind the far side of the pool, and Amara peered over the top of it, trying to see if she could spot any members of the enemy. With a confused look, she ducked her head back down, shrugging at her teammates.

"You can't see them?" Debbie questioned.

"Nope," Amara answered. "But I'm sick of waiting. Let's attack them."

"I'm in," Silvia said almost immediately. "I call Carl."

"Ian," Debbie announced.

"Guess that leaves me with Lip," Amara concluded. "Alright, we'll split up. I'll go left, Via you go right, and Debs you go straight. They have to be somewhere around here. Ready? Three, two, one!"

They took off sprinting towards the direction of the backyard. From the far corner of her eye, Amara could just make-out Carl crouching behind a set of stairs. Silvia quickly found him, and the two were aimlessly throwing the balloons in their hands at each other. She lost sight of Debbie as she peered around a corner of the house.

Her jaw dropped in shock when ice cold water splashed over her head, and the particles of it dripped down her body. She pulled a piece of a broken balloon out of her hair as she turned around to face none other than Lip himself.

"You totally suck, you know," he told her, and she rolled her eyes.

"I'm still gonna beat you."

"Oh yeah?"

With a sly grin, Amara shoved his shoulders, and he tripped, falling onto the grass with a laugh. She crouched down over him, and dropped one of the water balloons onto him. She raised her eyebrows in confusion when it didn't pop.

"What the hell?" Shortly after, Lip was snickering to himself, and Amara glared at him. "You gave me fake water balloons, didn't you?"

★

Amara laughed loudly at dinner the next night, watching as Carl shot a noodle from out of his nose. The gang had managed to convince her to go to an all you can eat buffet, even though she told them she was too broke to pay for it, they'd somehow dragged her and Silvia along anyway. Fiona kicked her leg from under the table. "Don't encourage him."

"What?" She snorted. "It's funny."

"For a five year old," Ian said, elbowing her stomach.

"Oh, har har," Amara mocked.

"My steak is too rare," Veronica complained from a few seats over.

"Have this one, King Henry," Fi said, and the two of them traded off plates.

"Hey, what was the final tally in the purse?" Lip wondered, taking another bite of his food.

"Five hundred and twenty-six bucks," Fiona answered.

"I can't believe you managed to snag that," the brunette commented. "I wanna know how much you could get from the purse itself."

"Jesus. I wanna know who carries that kind of cash."

Fiona licked the steak sauce off of her finger before reaching into the bag, pulling out the wallet which Amara assumed had an ID in it. "Um, Kim Furtado."

"Some rich bitch," V muttered.

"In our neighborhood?"

"For real, you'd get jumped within seconds if anyone knew you had that kind of money on you," Amara stated.

"Not in our neighborhood," Fiona denied. "I was in Glencoe having coffee with a friend from high school."

"That guy from your diary?" Carl asked with a smirk.

"Shut up, and eat your spaghetti taco," the older sister demanded, a teasing smile on her face.

"Do you think it's real?" Veronica questioned, gesturing to the purse. "And if it is, can I have it?"

"It's real," Lip confirmed. "The LV's are two inches apart, seams are even, and the stitching is yellow. And the leather has turned brown from oxidation."

"Wow," Amara mused, leaning back in her seat. "Lip the purse expert, everybody!"

"I don't like you," he shot at her, and she stuck her tongue out in response. Everybody stared blankly at him, before Lip rolled his eyes. "What? I read a lot."

"Nerd."

"Shut up," he kicked her leg, making her laugh as the conversation switched topics. "Mm, hey Fi, you know what you should do?"

"Ride the L more often?"

Lip reached into the purse. "Found her home number. Tell her you found her purse. I bet she'll give you a reward."

"We just stole the money out of it, I think we've done enough bad deeds this week," Amara said.

"It went to voicemail," Lip continued, ignoring her and bringing the phone away from his ear, handing it to Fiona. "Leave a message."

Fiona grabbed the device from Lip's hands, glancing around the group nervously as she spoke. "Hi, Kim. My names Fiona and I found your purse on the L. Give me a call so I can get it back to you. Okay, bye."

"Short and sweet."

"Just like Amara," Ian said, making the group disperse into laughter.

"I hate you all," Amara declared.

★