Sapphire Eyes ~ 10 Chapter Challenge

Four Years Before the Letter ~ Part 1

Tequana puts her hands in her pockets, digs in her purse, checks her pockets again, then goes for her bag, making a big show as she searches for money we both know she doesn't have.

"No way ... uh." She looks through her purse again. "Did I give you the twenty my mom gave me?" She turns to look at me.

"No." I wrinkle my forehead. Her mom? Hah, that's a good one. So, the act is to pretend to lose our money? Then what?

"Oh, god, I can't find it."

The man behind us clears his throat loudly.

"You sure you don't have it?" Tequana asks.

"T, you didn't give anything to me."

"Go check the bathroom for it?"

I nod and go back to the bathroom. I pace around the tiny room twice, then go out and walk back up to her. "Well?" she asks.

"It wasn't in there."

"Do you have any other way to pay?" the man behind the counter asks.

"No, that was all I had," Tequana says. "My mom dropped us off. She won't be back for two hours." She is doing a great job of acting frantic. "God, what are we gonna do?"

"If you can't pay then move it," says the man behind us.

"Wait."

I turn to see the lady with the leather coat.

"I'll pay for you," she says with a smile.

"Really?" Tequana says. "Oh, thank you!"

The lady hands a twenty to the cashier. "Don't you worry about it." She smiles. Her food comes up, and she takes her change, picks up her bag, and walks out the door.

Wow, Tequana is a genius! I smack her hand and she smacks me back, playing on my hand like a gangster chick.

Our food comes up on the counter in a to-go bag. Tequana grabs the bag, and I grab the sundaes and follow her out the door.

"T, you are so awesome!"

"It doesn't always work. You have to pick the perfect target and—" she snaps her finger, "Free lunch."

"I'm so lucky you're here. I'd be so lost without you," I say. It's true too. When I ran away from my newest foster home, I was this close to getting caught when I met Tequana in a park, and we've been like this ever since.

"Yeah, you would be." She smiles.

"You're my best friend."

Tequana tilts her head and smirks at me. "You're my best friend too."

Suddenly I can't see anything but white out of my right eye. The loud roar of the traffic fades out. All I can hear is this low buzzing noise, like the hum of a radio turned down too low to figure out what you're listening to. The sundaes slip out of my hands and splatter onto the sidewalk.

For some reason, as the white spills over everything, all I can think about is how much it sucks that I didn't even get to taste my ice cream.

Jane Doe ~ Deb

"Whoa!" A deafening crash breaks the calm serenity of the ER.

I hurry around the corner toward the emergency doors. Frank is halfway through the doors with a gurney leaning against the wall, about to topple over. A girl is trying to slide out of the loose straps holding her on the gurney.