Chapter 15: My star, my hero
“I can’t feel my legs,” complained Nick as Jade pulled me into yet another posh clothing shop.
“Suck it up, Nick,” Jade said. Nick groaned and plopped himself onto a sofa, tapping his fingers impatiently. I scanned through the racks and pulled out a black sequined dress. The length was to my knees and the silky black fabric crisscrossed over each other, giving it an elegant feel to the dress. The sequins were shining under the lights and it was so beautiful that I was itching to try it on. Glancing at the multiple zeros on the price tag, I quickly put it back on the racks and moved on to another rack, hoping to find something nice but with less zeros on the price tag.
I heard a loud shriek and quickly turned to find Jade holding the black sequined dress I saw just now. “It would look so good on you!” she said.
“I don’t like it,” I lied.
“C’mon, just give it a try,” Jade urged.
“Yeah!” Nick chipped in. I gave up and gently took the dress and entered the dressing room. After stripping down to my bra and underwear, I gently slid on the silky dress and slowly pulling up the zipper. I turned and faced the mirror and gasped. The dress was more beautiful than I thought it was!
“Soph, are you done trying it? Come out and let us see,” Jade said. I unlocked the door and stepped out. Before I could say anything, Jade let out a very, very loud shriek at the same time Nick said: “We’re buying that!”
I shook my head at them before reentering the changing room to change back. Once I was ready, I gently took the dress in my arms and passed it to the very-bored looking worker who took the dress and hung it up on the racks again. I looked at the dress longingly before walking to Jade and Nick who seemed to be bickering again.
“Nick, Spiderman is definitely stronger than Superman!”
“No! Spiderman is lame.”
“No!”
“Yes!”
“Shut up, the both of you!” I interrupted, “let’s leave.”
“Where’s the dress?” Jade asked.
“Oh, I don’t want it,” I lied.
“You are so getting it! It looks perfect on you!” Jade insisted.
“No, it doesn’t.”
“Yes it does!”
“Where’s Nick?”
“Don’t change the subject!” Jade snapped at me.
“Guilty. But seriously, where is he?” We both looked around the store and soon spotted Nick holding the black sequined dress behind the counter.
“What is he doing?” I asked, worried. I can’t afford that dress! We both rushed to the counter only to see Nick placing the dress on the counter, saying, “I’ll take it.”
“Nick, I can’t afford that dress!” I said to him in a loud whisper. He raised his eyebrows at me and only chuckled. What the hell?
“Excuse me, not to sound rude, but this dress costs $4, 900,” the salesperson voiced out.
“So?” Nick raised his eyebrows at her once again.
“I don’t mean to offend you but a kid your age shouldn’t be looking at shops like this for dresses to buy for your girlfriend, moreover you chose one of our limited edition dresses.”
“Are you trying to say I can’t afford it?” Nick raised his voice, clearly outraged at the fact the salesperson is underestimating him.
I nudged him, “Nick, let’s just leave,” I whispered to him
“If you put it that way, yes, I am. I suggest you leave like what your girlfriend is suggesting,” said the yawning salesperson.
“I’ll have you know that I can afford this dress thank you very much,” Nick snapped.
“Look here kid, just leave right now. We all know you can’t afford a dress this expensive, so do us all a favor, and just leave,” the salesperson hissed. Nick said nothing but took a sleek black card from this pocket and threw it on the table before tapping his leg impatiently, waiting for the salesperson to scan it.
The salesperson eyed Nick doubtfully before taking up the card and looking at it and I was sure her eyes bulged out of her eyes. But as quickly as her reaction came, she quickly composed herself before scanning the card and packed the dress.
“I’m very sorry about that misunderstand, very sorry,” the salesperson apologized profusely.
“Oh so now it’s a misunderstanding, isn’t it?” Nick laughed and shook his head.
“Yes, I’m sorry about that.” The salesperson quickly wrapped up my dress and handed to Nick, together with his card and receipt before bowing and thanking him for his purchase.
Jade and I stared at Nick with our mouths hanging open before he pulled us both out of the store. But before we exited, he turned and told the salesperson, “I can assure you that by Monday you won’t have a job.”
“Nick, what was that about?” I asked once we were outside.
“What was what about?” Nick questioned me, feigning innocence and battling his eyelashes at me then handing me the bag containing my beautiful dress.
“She totally sucked up to you after she saw your card.”
“It’s a card with unlimited usage. The bank only issues it to very, very rich people,” Jade replied.
“How rich is ‘very, very rich’, Nick?” I asked, looking at him.
“Um, I’m poor.”
“Don’t listen to him, Soph. He’s as rich as Zac!” At the mention of his name, I felt my smile disappear off my face and turn into a frown. Zac. I miss him. I miss his laughter, his lame jokes and most of all, I miss how dimples would appear at the sides of his face when he smiled. His smile is just contagious. Wait, I shouldn’t even be thinking about him.
Jade seemed to have realized her mistake because she quickly slipped her hand into mine. “Sorry Soph, it slipped out, let’s go do something fun!”
I faked a smile. “Of course, what should we do?”
“Let’s go get some food, I’m really, really hungry,” suggested Nick.
My tummy rumbled at the thought of food. “Sure.”
“Yay, food!” Jade cheered.
“Yay, food!” Nick imitated Jade in a girly voice.
“I sound nothing like that!” Jade defended.
“Just keep on thinking that way,” winked Nick.
“And you call me the immature one,” interjected Jade.
“Let’s just go get some food.”
***
I rubbed my fed tummy and let out a groan of satisfaction. Nick, Jade and I had lunch at D’Heritage, one of Nick’s favorite French restaurants. Honestly, being with Nick made me feel like a total celebrity. That restaurant required a prior booking of three months yet all Nick had to do was enter the restaurant and we were immediately escorted to a room with a breath-taking view by none other than the restaurant owner himself.
“I’m so full I don’t think I can eat for the next few days,” groaned Nick.
“Yeah, me too, I don’t think I can walk,” I agreed.
“Then we should go and walk to digest the food,” suggested Jade.
“No way!”
“Yes way, let’s go, pigs!”
“Where are we going? Please just let us stay here. The food will digest eventually,” I pleaded.
“Somewhere we will need to walk.”
“No, please no!” Nick and I begged.
“Let’s go there, we’ll get our food digested and at the same time get some grocery shopping done too!”
“NO!” Nick and I both roared.
“Please?” Jade pleaded, sticking her lower lip out and looking at us with her best imitation of puppy eyes.
“Fine. Only because you used The Face,” I sighed.
“You’ll thank me once you guys can walk normally again!” Nick raised his hands and requested for the bill which arrived literally 5 seconds later. He paid for the dinner and the three of us slowly walked towards Nick’s car.
Once we were safely inside the car and buckled up, Nick sped off towards the neighborhood supermarket. And a thought randomly popped into my head, does Nick buy his groceries himself or does people buy his groceries for him. I’m guessing the latter but I asked anyway.
“Hey Nick, do people buy your groceries for you?”
“Yeah.” And I was right.
“Do you know the way to the supermarket?” Jade questioned.
“No, I only know the way to school.”
“WHAT?!” both Jade and I shouted simultaneously. Nick started laughing and we both stared at him. I’m beginning to think he’s turning into a lunatic.
“Y-You guys are so funny. O-Of course I know the way to the supermarket. T-There’s something called a GPS,” strutted Nick in between his huffs of laughter.
Oh, a GPS. I forgot he had one installed in his Porsche. “What’s a GPS?” I asked, trying to get back at Nick for laughing at me.
“You don’t know?” Nick and Jade asked incredulously.
“No.”
“A GPS is a guide. It guides you and-“ I cut Nick off with my sudden outburst of laughter.
“I know what’s a GPS. Oh my god, you should have seen your faces when I asked what’s a GPS, I can’t believe you guys fell for it!”
“I knew you were acting all along,” Jade scoffed.
“If you say you do.”
“We’re here!” Nick stated. Jade and I quickly got out of a car but Nick chose to jump over the door.
“Showoff,” I muttered.
“I heard that,” Nick said in a sing-song voice.
“I don’t care.”
The three of us walked into the supermarket with Nick following behind. “Nick, grab a trolley,” I said to Nick.
“I’ll get it,” Jade volunteered and went off in search of a trolley and not too long after she came back with one. “Let’s start shopping!” Jade chirped.
“So how does a trolley work? Who goes in it? I doubt it’ll fit all of us,’
“Nick, a trolley isn’t for people to get on, we put in things we want to buy so that we don’t have to carry it.”
“Oh.”
“You sure are stupid.” Nick remained quiet. Did I hurt him? Before I had the time to react or ponder on how to apologize to Nick, I felt arms wrap around my waist and my feet leave the ground. The next thing I knew, I felt my backside land on the cold, icy steel of the trolley. I looked up and saw Nick’s grinning face.
“Revenge for calling me stupid!” He started pushing me. Slowly at first, but gradually gained speed and soon, I was begin pushed so fast the aisles were blurring past me.
“Nick! Stop it! Slow down!” I screamed at him.
“No.”
“Nick, stop it! Stop now!”
“No.” And as impossible as it was, he started running even faster, pushing the trolley faster with him.
“Nick! Please stop, I’ll do anything you ask!”
“Anything?”
“Yes, anything!” I shouted. And then Nick stopped pushing the trolley. But even though we weren’t moving anymore, my head was still spinning and I saw doubles. I closed my eyes and when I felt the dizziness go away, I opened them again.
“You okay?” Nick asked with concern in his voice.
“No, no I’m not okay! You could’ve killed us Nicholas! What kind stupid, thoughtless and irrational action was that? You could’ve hurt people! You could’ve crashed me into something. You could’ve killed us both, you idiot!” I screamed, ignoring the stares I was getting.
“Chill Soph, I’m a racer. I race hundreds and thousands of times faster than this. I’ve got good coordination skills, don’t worry.”
“You’re a racer?” I asked, all anger forgotten at this new piece of information.
“Yup. First place in the 2012 F1 Grand Prix International.”
“I’m going to guess that’s some racing competition that I just never heard about.”
“It means I’m the best racer in 2012.”
“That explains your car.”
“I just like speed. You can’t blame me,” Nick replied, backtracking with his hands up in a surrendering way.
“Let’s just find Jade,” I said as I took out my phone and texted her. ‘Where r u?’ two seconds later my phone dinged with her reply. ‘goodies aisle’
“Jade is at the goodies aisle. Let’s go.”
“Okay,” Nick said cheerily while forming the ‘OK’ sign with his fingers. I shook my head at his immaturity. I pushed the trolley towards the goodies aisle with Nick following hot on my heels.
“Sophie?”
“Yes, Nick?”
“You promised you would do anything I ask if I stopped the trolley just now.”
“And?”
“And I want you to get on the trolley and let me push you.”
“No frigging way I’ll get in the trolley ever again!” I shouted.
“I won’t go fast, I’ll push you at the same speed as how you are pushing the trolley now. I promise.”
“No.”
“You promised you would do anything I ask!”
I sighed. “Promise me you won’t go fast.”
“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”
“Where did that come from?”
“Oh sorry. I just felt like quoting one of my favorite lines from Harry Potter. Yeah, I promise I won’t go fast.”
“Fine. Help me get on.” He gently wrapped his arms around my waist again and hoisted me into the air and slowly lowered me into the trolley before taking his arms off my waist.
“Thanks.”
“No worries,” Nick said and started pushing me, slowly this time, towards the goodies aisle.
“Hey guys. Why is Sophie still in the trolley?” Jade asked when we saw her.
“We made a deal,” grinned a very happy Nick.
“Do I want to know?” inquired Jade.
“No.”
“Okay. So should I get Toblerone or Cadbury?” Jade asked.
“Definitely Toblerone!” I replied and she threw a bar of Toblerone chocolate into the trolley.
“I want these!” Nick shouted from the far end of the aisle and came back with his arms full of snacks, chocolates and a bunch of junk food. He then proceeded to fill the trolley with the things he ‘wanted’ and then ran off, only to come back seconds later with his arms full with once again, snacks and chocolates.
“Nick! Stop it, are you trying to buy the whole supermarket?” I asked, amused with his actions.
“I will! There are so many nice things here!” Nick replied, running off to grab more items. Soon, he came back and buried me in the trolley with more chocolates and snacks.
“Nick, seriously, stop buying so many things!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll pay for it. And I’ve gotten enough!” Looking at the goodies that were around me in the trolley, I shook my head.
“You are going to die eating all that, Nick.”
“So? I don’t even have so many varieties of goodies at home!”
“You aren’t supposed to. This is a supermarket, Nick,” Jade replied.
“I don’t care.”
“Let’s get out of here before Nick tries to buy another ais-“ I was cut off by the shrill ringing of my phone. I quickly fished it out of my pocket and looked at the unknown number that was flashing on my phone screen.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Sophie Meyers. I believe you remember me,” the same deep, eerie voice that I have not heard since a long, long time said, sent goose bumps down my spine.
“Y-Yes.” I stammered, lost for words.
“I see you are with your friends right now. I suggest you walk to somewhere else before we continue this phone call.” My eyes widened in shock. How did he know I was with my friends? Was he nearby? Should I follow his instructions or should I just hang up? If I walked somewhere else, would be corner me?
“I see you are hesitating. This is once again, about your father, don’t you want to know more?” The moment I heard it was about my father was the moment I decided I wanted to know more.
“Be right back, phone call,” I mouthed at Jade and Nick who both nodded. I quickly climbed out from the trolley with help from Nick and turned away from them and walked a few aisles away from them before speaking into the phone again.
“T-They are no longer with me.”
The gruff, scary voice chuckled. “Yes, I know, Sophie, I can see you.”
“How can you see me?” I demanded.
“I can see a lot of things, Sophie. More than you can ever guess. But I didn’t call to make small talk. I’ve got a preposition for you.”
“W-What preposition?”
“Why don’t we meet up at the abandoned warehouse on Swanston Street at midnight?”
“What is the preposition about?” I asked again.
“I’ll tell you when we meet up, I warn you beforehand, there will be no accompanying friends, phone calls to the police or such rubbish. You will come alone and not tell anybody about your whereabouts. I wouldn’t be recalcitrant if I were you because that would mean risking your family and friends’ safety as well as your own wellbeing because rest assured you’ll be the next one buried six feet underground if you oppose me.” And with that, the caller hung up.
I stood frozen in the same spot for what seemed like hours but actually it was only a few minutes before Jade and Nick came over to me and shook me out of my trance.
“Are you alright?” Nick asked.
“Y-Yeah, l-let’s go.”
The three of us pushed the three quarter full trolley to a counter and starting piling all the items onto the conveyer belt and the cashier’s reaction didn’t surprise me. She must not have seen someone buy so many items before.
After what seemed like an hour, the cashier finally finished scanning all the items and the bill was pretty long but as usual, Nick paid with his flashy credit card. Quickly we exited to the store and started stuffing Nick’s car with the groceries. Apparently we bought too much and the car boot didn’t have enough space.
“I told you not to buy so much, Nick!” I murmured.
“We’ll stuff it in with us,” Nick suggested.
“Nick, we can hardly seat three in your car! Why did you buy such a small car?”
“It’s not small!” Nick defended.
“It can only seat two!”
I sighed. “I’ll just walk home. Jade, you can ride with him, that way you guys will have space to put the groceries.”
“No! You can’t walk home, it’s late now! You might get kidnapped or something,” Jade exclaimed.
“I’m not a kid, Jade. Don’t worry.”
“I agree with Jade, it’s really unsafe for you to walk home.”
“I’m not too far from my home and I’ll have my cellphone with me,” I reasoned.
Nick looked unsure. “Call me if anything happens, okay?”
“Sure. I’ll call you too when I get back.”
I waved. “Bye Nick, Jade!”
“Bye!”
“Later, Soph!” The engine roared and before I knew it, Nick and Jade sped off. I couldn’t help but feel a little scared and worried after a phone call. My house wasn’t too far away, but it was definitely far enough for someone to kill me before I reached it.
I rounded a corner and suddenly I heard a pair of footsteps behind me. Was I being paranoid? Nevertheless, I quickened my pace, but the person behind me quickened theirs too. I broke into a jog and quickly crossed the road. Paranoid caused me to temporarily forget my senses to look left and right before crossing and out of nowhere, I heard a loud tire screech.
I looked up and all I saw was a bright flash of light.
And then everything turned black.
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Hey everyone. Sorry I took so long to upload! I'm so happy I've got about 600 reads right now, I hope every one of you will continue reading and that if you like it, you would take the trouble to leave a comment or vote! =) I'm sorry I took so long to update but I promise the future updates will definitely be faster. I tried to make this chapter as long as possible and make it a cliffhanger because I want everyone to keep reading heehehe :3
So anyway I hope you guys liked chapter 15 and don't find it too boring ;)
Love,
melanie x