Third Person POV
While Clary and the gang were inching closer towards the mysterious cave, Chunk was captured by none other than the infamous Fratellis.
The Fratellis have brought Chunk back to their hideout. In the kitchen, Mama Fratelli is hoping to terrorize him into talking. She turns on the blender and drops a tomato in for a "demonstration". The tomato is quickly pulverized and her aged face is brought into a wicked smile of approval before turning her face quick to examine the young boy.
Mama Fratelli swiftly snatched the boy's hand and directed it towards the blender and its' exposed blades while her sons were closely snug by the table watching the scene unfold.
"First we start with the fleshy little fingers, then the plump little hand—" She carried on bringing his hand closer and closer as the frightened Chuck started to sob.
"—Then the fleshy arm...Now, tell me where your other little friends are." Her hand smacked the table down startling the boy of the sudden action and she brought him close with an irritated glare present in her dead cold eyes.
Chunk's sobs grew louder and his voice trembled as he looked at the terrible child despising woman who was only a foot away from him.
"The fireplace."
"Don't lie to me!"
He swiftly shook his head out of retaliation to her response. "Honestly. We went over to Mikey's dad's place, and we found a map that said underneath this place there's buried treasure."
With irritation quickly bubbling inside the sons of Mama Fratelli, both Jake and Francis move forward mere inches towards Chunk, with Jake cornering him from behind and Francis close to his face holding his shirt into a closed fist.
Jake harshly pats his shoulders and crouches close to the side of his face. "Come on, don't give us none of your bullshit stories, huh."
"Hey kid. I want you to spill your guts. Tell us everything." Francis pipes in as he holds his shirt into a closed fist, merely cutting off his circulation as his face transforms into a beet red color and his tears continue to fall.
A squeak manages to spill out.
"Everything?"
"Everything!"
"Everything. Okay, I'll talk. In third grade I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade I stole my Uncle Max's toupe and I glued it on my face when I played Moses in my Hebrew school play. In fifth grade I knocked my sister Edith down the stairs and I blamed it on the dog..."
—
Down in the caves, Clary and the gang are climbing down into the new cave opened by the earlier blast of water. It is dark and mucky, and even with the lantern that they have, it is difficult to see.
"I can't see a thing. What am I stepping on? Oh brother." Stef mutters aloud as she clings her arms close to her body to hold in the warmth.
Clary chuckles at the blonde's mini rant and gently pats her arm, which immediately causes Stef to flail her arms around, hitting the side of her head and catching her scrunchie in the process sending it flying into a random direction.
"Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Geez Steffy. It's just me. I come in peace. Not a threat, I promise." I let out a light laugh as I put my hands up in surrender.
"Damn Clary! Don't do that! You nearly scared the crap out of me."
Clary mouth gaped as she did a double take. "Nearly? What do you mean nearly? You literally went for my head like it was a baseball and flew my scrunchie into the abyss....that was my favorite scrunchie by the way."
Stef grimaced at the thought of her actions and immediately brought her best friend into a comforting hug.
"I'm sorry! I really didn't mean to hit you like a pinata. It was a natural instinct. Pure self defense I swear. Are you okay? Did I hurt you?", worry laced in Stef's voice as she tried to inspect Clary's head and her now disheveled hair.
A smile formed on Clary's sweet face as she noticed her best friend's concern. "I'm okay. A bit shocked at the sudden attack but I've been through worse. I mean...you've met my brother. You know what I deal with."
That caused a laugh to escape Stef's mouth. "Oh you mean the menace? Mouth the menace? Absolutely. I pity you."
"Trust me, he could be a whole lot worse."
"That's fair. But seriously, I feel terrible and I owe you. When we get out of here, I'm buying you a new scrunchie."
"Stef, you don—" Stef immediately put her finger to Clary's lips shushing her to the point of silence.
"No. Don't say whatever you're about to say. I want to buy you a new one because of two reasons. The first being because I physically caused you to lose it...like literally. And the second is that even if we found it in this mess Clar, that's just disgusting and you won't want to touch it let alone wear it in your hair. I did the damage. I pay for it. Okay?"
Clary simply nodded in agreement not wanting to argue with the girl who just recently threw a smack at her skull. Stef then put her finger back down to her side.
"Can I just make one little note?"
Stef looked at the blonde in question.
"What?
"I just wanted to point out that you would be killer in baseball. I mean do you see the arm you have on you? You should really consider it when we get out of here. It's brilli—"
Stef let out a chuckle before shoving her best friend. "OH SHUT UP"
"Hey! I'm just telling the truth! Oh my gosh, I could call you Stef the Slinger!" Clary's eyes lit up with a mixture of excitement and amusement at the thought of her best friend in a baseball uniform and her nickname in big letters on the back.
"No. Never gonna happen Clar."
"Just don't forget about me when you become famous. If you forget about me, I'll find you, hunt you down, and tell everyone the truth of your origin storyyyyyy" Clary dragged on before slinging her arm over Stef's shoulder and brought her close as they walked in step and caught up with the rest of the group who were up ahead a bit.
Laughter erupted between the two blondes who were reminiscing over the event that just happened minutes before.
"You're such a dork Devereaux."
"Right back atcha Steinbrenner."
Unbeknownst to either of the girls, Brand had fallen behind and could hear the entire conversation. All he could think of though was the sweet blonde he was lucky to call his girlfriend.
—
Author's Note ~
Hi everyone! I hope that everyone is doing great! This chapter was fun to play with because I love trying to build on Clary's relationships with her friends as they are figuring out how to survive this hectic and intense adventure with a criminal family on the loose!
Stef's line really inspired me to create a fun scene between the two blonde girls of the Goonies gang before the intense breakdowns follow ....and of course I had to add a little mention of Brand listening into Clary and Stef's conversation this whole time because he just loves his girlfriend and who wouldn't love Clary?
I wrote her but I would love to be her BFF in real life lol
Anyways...I hope that you enjoyed the chapter and the little moments and of course thank you all so much for reading and all of your incredible support. I appreciate it beyond words. <3
Lastly, please feel free to vote or leave a comment of your thoughts below! I always love reading what you all have to say :)
I love you all! ♥
Xx Malyndah