Sam sighed as she shrunk deeper into the cushions of Denny's Pizza Place. Her older sister Carla prattled about her college classes while her brother, Dan, tired to see how much of his pizza he could shove into his face. Her ten year old sister, Willow, looked at her. "What?" Sam asked.
"You look bored."
"How observant."
"Sam, don't talk to your sister in that tone." Her mother scolded. Sam rolled her eyes.
"How's school Sammy?" Carla asked.
"One, don't call me Sammy. And two, school's great." She explained.
"Make any friends?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. I have a group of friends." Sam said, sitting up straight.
"Oh really?" Dan said. "People actually hang out with you?" Sam pursed her lips, and began drumming her fingers on the table top.
"Do you have anything to say?" Her father asked.
"Nothing nice." Sam replied. "I wanna go home." She added.
"No. It's family day." Her mother stated.
"Well, last time I checked, family doesn't single one person out just because of their personality, or how they look." She said, hotly.
"Samantha's gonna have a temper tantrum." Willow said in a song song voice. Sam snapped her head in the direction of her younger sister when a hand was placed on her shoulder.
"Easy there fireball, no need to get angry." Sam's family stared up at the boy with bright green hair, and his two friends.
"Saved by the bell." Sam muttered. "You look like a skittle by the way." She smirked.
"It looks like Christmas threw up on you two." Luke laughed.
"Shut up Luke!"
"Sam," her father said. "Who are these men?"
"Men? No, not men. Five year olds in teenage bodies more like it. Well, maybe not Calum, but you get the point." Sam said, standing. "But these, are my friends. You know, the people who actually want to hang out with me. You guys can go back to family time, I'm gonna hang out with the three stooges." San grabbed Michael by the sleeve of his shirt and dragged him out of the pizza joint.
Sam left out a breath of relief when they were outside. "What was that about?" Luke asked.
"My family is not the nicest group of people. Hell, Willow has my parents so wrapped around her finger that she could tell them to hire a hit man to kill me and they would." Calum grimaced.
"Why?"
"Because they hate me. I'm the black sheep of the family." Sam sighed. "Thank god you guys showed up, otherwise they would have gone on this long rant that my friends are imaginary and- wait, you guys are my friends, right?" She suddenly asked worried.
"Of course." Luke said. "Unless you think otherwise."
"No, but- the only people I really hung out with was Ara and Teddy, so I didn't just want to assume anything-"
"Sam," Calum said, cutting her off. "You worry too much." He wrapped and arm around her shoulder. "Just breath." She nodded.
"What were guys doing in there?" Sam asked as they wandered down the street.
"Michael was hungry." Luke explained.
"Doesn't surprise me." Sam laughed. Michael playfully shoved her.
"What about you?" Calum asked.
"It was 'family' day which usually means, 'we go out and pick on all of Sam's failures' day." Sam sighed. "Not my fault I can't do anything good.
"That's not true." Calum scoffed. "You're smart, and funny. Not to me nation you can pull off just about any colour in your hair like Michael."
"Thanks." She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. Michael and Luke exchanged glances with each other until Calum glared at them.
"No problem."
The four of them spent the afternoon together, and Sam got to know them a lot better than she had in her years of knowing them.
Around six, Sam and Calum said goodbye to Michael and Luke and the pairs went their separate ways.
"I had a lot of fun today." Sam said as she walked with Calum through the park.
"Me too." He confessed. Sam smiled softly to herself, and gently took Calum's hand with hers. "What are y-you're doing?" He stammered. Sam laughed.
"I'm holding your hand Cal." She said. Calum shook his hand out of her grasp but before she could protest, he laced their fingers together.
"Much better." He grinned. Sam leaned into his chest a little bit. It was quiet between them. "I like you, Sam." Calum professed. Sam looked up at him.
"I know. Ashton told Ara, who told me." She grinned. Calum flushed red.
"I'm going to fucking kill him, I swear-" Calum was cut off when Sam pressed her lips to his. Her hand held his face against hers. She pulled back.
"I like you to." She smiled. Calum smiled back before kissing her again.
Calum and Sam walked hand and hand down the street later that evening. They hadn't said a word since the kiss. They turned the corner. "Calum, isn't that-"
"Good evening." Calum spun around and came face to face with an older man. He protectively placed Sam behind him.
"Evening." Calum choked out. "Can we help you?"
"Yes, I hope so. I'm looking for two teens. My niece and nephew to be exact." Chuck said with a sad smile. "They've been missing for a few months now." He showed them a picture.
Of Ara and Teddy.
Sam swallowed. "I'm sorry, " she said. "But we don't know them. Nor have we seen them."
"A shame." Chuck said. "Would you please let me know if you should find them?" He handed Calum a card.
"Of course." Calum said.
"You two be careful now. There's a killer on the loose."
"We will. Have a nice evening." Calum said.
"You too." Chuck turned around and stalked off into the shadows. Calum quickly grabbed Sam's hand and took off running.
"Calum!" She yelled. "Slow down. I can't keep up!" He stopped, and she bumped into him.
"Sorry." He breathed. "I just wanted to put distance between us and him."
Sam's heart was beating fast in her chest. "Calum, I'm scared." She said.
"Don't worry." Calum said.
"We need to call Ara. She needs to know." Sam said. He nodded.
"Come on."
Ara, Teddy, Liam, Cat and Aaron sat at the kitchen table discussing their current issue. "So Chuck got out of prison because someone fucked up evidence?"
"That's correct."
"That's bullshit." Teddy said. "He still committed that crime. That's like saying-" Teddy didn't bother finishing the sentence.
"Don't worry about Chuck, okay? I'll take care of him."
"I thought this was over." Ara sighed.
"I'm sorry, Ara." Liam said.
"Don't be. It's not your fault." She said. "Its-"
The doorbell rang then.
"Stay here." Liam said, standing. Cat and Aaron pulled out their guns, and stood by the doorframe. Teddy and Ara ducked down.
Silence.
Silence.
Silence.
"It's alright!" Liam called. "It's Sam and Calum." Teddy and Ara stood up.
"Sam?" Ara asked.
"And Calum?" They looked at each other. Suddenly the two burst into the kitchen.
"We have a problem." Calum breathed.
"Yeah, a big one."