UNEDITED
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Chapter 7: Bond, James Bond
"No Carter I understand. Yeah, yeah, love you too." I mumbled as I munched on some sunflower seeds that Alex had given me earlier, "You better be getting a promotion if they're going to keep making you stay after work all the time. No I'll just take the- Shit!" I groaned as I watched the school buses leave the parking lot.
"Sorry about that Carter. Yeah don't worry about it, I'll find a way home. Bye." I finished closing my little flip phone. I called it my brick phone based solely on the fact that if I were to throw it at a brick wall, nothing would happen to it other than a few scratches here and there.
The sky was filled with dark clouds and it seemed as if it would rain soon. I began walking towards the parking lot, letting out a heavy sigh when I realized that I'd be walking home. My house was approximately ten miles from the school. It would take me at least four and a half hours if I walked. However, Kyle had told me earlier about a bus stop only about a mile from here. Well I guess I was riding the bus after all. I sealed up my bag of sunflower seeds and slipped them into my batman backpack.
Just as I was about to walk out of the parking lot, something caught my eye.
Ashton.
He was just a few yards away from me, sitting in a gray mustang with a girl on his lap. They were far too busy shoving their tongues down each others throats to notice that I was there.
A power line aligned with various birds hung above them. A sudden idea struck my head and I smirked to myself. It was time to get back at Ashton Clarke. For what, might you ask? Just for being an ass.
After I did what I was about to do there was no doubt in my mind that he would retaliate. I must not have been thinking clearly though, I mean who could blame me? When this kind of opportunity presents itself you don't just pass it up!
I grabbed my sunflower seeds from my backpack and began slowly walking towards Ashton's car, trying my best to not be seen. It wasn't really that difficult considering that his attention was focused more towards the slut in his lap than anything else. I rounded the back of his car and positioned myself at the back right door. Since he was sitting in the driver’s seat, he wouldn't be able to see me.
I quietly poured out the contents of my -rather large- bag of sunflower seeds onto the roof of his car. I peeked into his car just to be sure that he hadn't noticed. Thankfully he hadn't. I slung my backpack over my shoulders and took out my iPod from the front pouch, carefully unraveling my ear buds and slipping them back into my backpack. I pushed the recording button, aiming my iPod first towards the power line and then towards the roof of his car. I then aimed it inside of the car to show him and the girl that he was kissing. I turned the camera towards myself and put a finger on my lips.
I whistled, figuring that Ashton and his play toy wouldn't notice me. Aiming my iPod back toward the birds, I began throwing rocks at them that I had picked up off the ground. The birds went wild and dove towards me. I ran a few cars in front and focused the camera back on Ashton's car. The birds were covering where I had just been standing moments before. They circled around his car and began pecking at the roof.
Soon the number of birds had tripled and the girl in Ashton's car was screaming as she flung herself off of him and out of the car, Ashton not even making a move to go after her. Several of them dove at her, leaving not so nice surprises on her designer clothing. I kept the camera on her as she screamed and ran halfway across the parking lot before hopping in her own car and speeding away.
I aimed my iPod back on Ashton, his once gray car now covered in bird shit. I stifled a laugh as he slammed his hands on his the steering wheel. I turned the camera towards me and winked at it before stopping the video and quickly slipping it into my back pocket.
Ashton's fury filled eyes met mine and I took that as my cue to get the hell out of there. I smirked at him and without a second glance, broke into a dead sprint. Out of the corner if my eye I watched as his eyes widened and his jaw tightened.
In hindsight sight, this probably wasn't the best idea, but the look on his face made it all worth it... I hope.
**;-;**
"Thank you" I muttered, just loud enough for the bus driver to hear me.
I hopped down the steps of the off-white colored bus. It was pretty small compared to the buses in some of the states that I had lived in and it had definitely seen better days. Its windows were covered in water droplets, as it had rained just minutes before. The bus's driver was an old, stout man that wore a faded blue baseball cap and smelled of expired cologne. He gave me a toothy grin as he shut the bus doors behind me.
I watched as he drove away, the bus sputtered, splashing in the puddles in the road as it heaved itself along. When he was out of sight I began heading in the same direction that he had driven in. I had made sure that he'd dropped me off at a bus stop that was good mile away from my neighborhood. I was a bit paranoid about someone finding out where my family lived.
Well you kind of blew that up when you brought Ashton over. A voice reminded me in the back of my mind.
Yeah, I mean maybe I shouldn't have let him come over- Ugh, he needed stitches god damn it!
What was I thinking? I couldn't just not help the guy out! He was bleeding! And who knows who he would have let help him if I hadn't come along.
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I rounded a corner that I had just approached. If I had heard the bus driver right, I needed to take this turn and then walk straight until I saw "Barney's", a local gas station. I had seen it every time one of the boys drove me home and I knew my way home from there.
I sighed contently, trying my best to evade the puddles on the sidewalk.
With out my knowledge, I had started approaching an elementary school; a nice elementary school at that. It was undoubtedly a rich-kid school. The entire school was made of brick, but despite its old features, it had a certain regal feel about it. That's how I knew it was a school for the rich, well that and the fact that all of its students were carrying around the latest technology: expensive laptops, smart phones, tablets, you name it, and they were carrying it around.
They were all wearing uniforms school uniforms: khakis pants or a khaki skirt and either a light blue or navy blue shirt. The boys were wearing sneakers that cost more money than Carter made in a week and the girls held designer purses that probably cost more than my house.
I was about to walk past the school, deciding to just continue with my journey home, when I saw something that broke my heart. A little girl was standing, crying, as boys and girls shoved her and laughed at her.
"Don't do anything, Abby." I mumbled to myself. They were kids; maybe they were playing or something.
I continued watching the kids "play" and was about to leave, when one if the boys pushed the little girl too hard and she fell into a puddle of mud. I audibly gasped. All of my reservations about staying on the sidelines and not going anything had just completely flown out of the window.
An icy glare made its way to my face as marched towards the group of elementary kids. They were currently laughing at the poor little girl that was sitting in the puddle, head in her hands.
"What do you kids think you're doing?" I asked calmly; try as best as I could to not strangle the little brats.
"Get out of here lady." One of the boys snapped.
"Yeah, go away." Agreed another boy.
"It's none of your business." Sneered a little girl with an abnormally large nose. Jeez calm down schnoz.
"What grade are you all in?" I asked, trying to not make eye contact with the poor little girl that was still sitting in the puddle. She looked too afraid to stand up.
"What's it to you?" Whined schnoz.
"Fifth, we're in the fifth grade." One of the boys from before replied "coolly".
The fifth grade? They might as well have "GULLIBLE" written across their foreheads.
"The fifth grade? I see..." I trailed off as I went to grab my black pocket book, which I used as a planner, from my backpack. (Yes I had a planner)
"Anything else?" I asked seriously as I pretended to write down notes in my pocket book. Truthfully, I was just drawing scribbles.
"Hey what's that?!" Yelled a kid that I hadn't heard speak yet.
"That's classified information." I replied in a gravely serious voice.
Many of the kids’ faces paled.
"Who are you?" Gulped one of the girls from the group.
I resisted the urge to say: "Bond, James Bond" and instead replied with something just about as reasonable.
"You all seem old enough. Would it be okay for me to let you in on a little secret?"
The kids nodded their heads eagerly. Ah, blissful ignorance.
I looked around me quickly and shuffled closer to the kids so that I could quietly tell them my "secret".
"My code name is Ace and I'm an undercover secret agent." I whispered.
Everyone gasped, everyone except the little girl that was still sitting in the puddle.
"Yup," I said popping the 'p', "and I'm on patrol, looking for any signs of bullying".
The children audibly gulped.
I quirked an eyebrow at them, "You weren't bullying her, were you?" I questioned, pointing to the little girl, "Because I'm going to have to write you up if you were..."
"No!" Shouted the boy that seemed to be the leader of this little "clique". He composed himself before answering again, "I mean, of course we weren't. We were just playing around. Right Lizzie?"
Everyone's eyes were on the little girl in the puddle as she nodded her head vehemently.
"Well, I suggest you all get out of then. We wouldn't want anyone getting the wrong idea."
They all nodded their heads and the little girl finally tried to stand up from the puddle, before falling right back down again. The other kids snickered around her.
"Get out of here." I barked at them.
The kids all visibly winced and then quickly ran away, leaving just the girl in the puddle and myself.
I held out my hand for the little girl that was shaking slightly below me. With hesitation, she grabbed my hand and I lifted her from the muddy puddle that she had been sitting in.
Once she was standing up next to me, and away from the puddle, I felt my features visibly softened. I crouched down a bit to be closer to her height. She was pretty short, well compared to me that is. She was probably about 4' 9"... Maybe 4' 10"?
I smiled slightly at that, and held out my hand for her to shake.
I didn't exactly like people -that much could be gathered by having just one encounter with me- however, I had a certain soft spot for kids. Yes I know, they're still people, but I had always viewed them differently for some reason. Perhaps it was because of Ethan and Kayla. Either way, I liked them, the ones that didn't push their peers into mud puddles that is.
"I'm Abigail," I said softly.
The little girl took my outstretched hand in hers and shook it slightly. She withdrew her hand, as I did mine, and then spoke quietly.
"I-I-I'm E-Eliz-Elizabeth." She stuttered out.
"Hi, Elizabeth. May I ask why those kids were picking on you?" My voice came out quietly and soothing (I hoped).
"Be-be-c-cause of-of my st-stu-stutter." She said with difficulty. After a long pause she decided to speak again.
"Y-you-r n-no-t r-rea-really a s-s-sec-re-t a-g-agent, a-are y-you." It came out as more of a statement than a question.
"You're a smart one, aren't you?" I chuckled to myself, "No, I'm not a secret agent, but I knew that they'd leave you alone if I said that... Not that lying is okay! No, I'm not saying that, it's just that I figured if I said that, then it would benefit you... Oh god, that came out wrong! Lying doesn't benefit anyone and-" I rushed, cutting myself off when I heard Liz giggling softly.
I didn't want to be a bad influence okay!
"Are you laughing at me?!" I asked in mock defense.
This only made her giggle harder. Her blond hair had stuck to her face from her tears and her bright blue eyes lit up as she laughed.
"Yeah? Well you know what? *Pllllbbb* to you too." I winked, while blowing a raspberry.
Do you know that sound that you make when you stick out your tongue and blow? Yup that one. Childish, I know, but it was making her laugh and she could really use it right now.
I began to chuckle along with Liz, an idea bubbling in my mind.
"You know, secret agents really love ice cream," I began "Do you like ice cream Liz?"
Elizabeth nodded her head vehemently.
"Well, I'll have to call your mom or dad and make sure it's okay first, alright? But then we can go to the ice cream shop down the block. How does that sound?" I asked, smiling both outwardly and inwardly.
She nodded her head again, a grin overtaking her features and brightening her eyes.
Adorable, I thought to myself.
I shrugged my backpack off of my shoulders and set it down beside me.
I grabbed my brick phone from the front pouch, flipped it open, and then handed it to Liz.
"Can you dial one of your parents' numbers for me, please?"
She looked at the phone like it was some sort of alien. Figures. I mean, this was a "rich kid" school after all.
I chuckled and shook my head as I held out my hand. Liz looked at my hand with her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Thankfully, realization struck her sooner rather than later and she handed me my phone back.
I dialed our area code into my phone and just as I was about to ask Liz for the rest of her parent's number, my phone buzzed and played a little tune before turning itself off. Dead battery. Damn.
I put my phone back into my backpack and turned my attention towards Liz, sending her a sheepish smile.
"Do you have a phone that we can call your parents on?"
"O-O-f c-cour-course!" Liz ran over to her blue backpack that was sitting just a few yards away. I hadn't really noticed it earlier.
She plopped her turquoise and black stripped backpack right in front of us, grabbing the newest iPhone model that was on the market from one of the backpack's many pouches. Liz quickly dialed a ten digit number on the screen of her expensive phone.
"I-It's m-my mo-m's nu-num-number."
Liz handed me her phone, the grin never leaving her face. Her cheeks were even becoming rosy from smiling so much.
"Great! Thank you, Liz."
I pushed the call button and stood up so that I was no longer in my crouching position. I held the phone to my ear as it began to ring.
Oh shit, I thought to myself, What am I doing?! I barely know this girl! I silently cursed myself for not thinking this through. And then, just to make things worse, my brain thought of something that was terrifying and very possible: What if this is a set up; a trap?
What if Michael set this all up? What if this was just a trap to lure me into his grasp.
I almost bolted right then and there... That is, until I looked down at Liz's enthusiastic little face.
I was being ridiculous! Absolutely ridiculous. I was just paranoid and as I looked down at Liz, I reminded myself that I wasn't doing this for me; I was doing this for the little girl that was pushed in a puddle.
"Hello?" Asked a feminine voice.
"Uh, hi! Is this Elizabeth's mom?" I replied back.
"Yes it is! Oh dear, is she alright? Did something happen?" Liz's mom began to panic.
"Yes, she's fine. Well, she's not hurt is what I meant to say... I think it'd be better if I explained: I was walking home when I saw some kids pushing her around. They pushed her into a puddle, but I stepped in and now I'm thinking that ice cream sounds like a good idea," I winked at Liz before continuing, "I need your permission first though. The shop is just a block away from the school and you can pick her up there. I'll understand if you say no. Stranger danger and all that."
Liz's mom chuckled slightly."That's so kind of you. Yes she can go with you for ice cream. Thank you for helping her out. We'll talk more when I pick her up from the ice cream parlor. May I ask for your name?"
"Abigail."
"Well thank you very much, Abigail. Can you please put Elizabeth on the phone?"
"Yes ma'am."
I handed Liz her cellphone back. After a few minutes of her saying 'okay' and 'yes', she finally said 'I love you' and hung up.
Liz squealed and ran over to me, hugging me tightly. Her head was a few inches under my chin and she reminded me a lot of Kayla. She was soaking wet, but I didn't really mind too much. When Liz pulled away she was grinning even wider than before (if that was possible). I let go and took a step back, a grin making its way to my face as well.
Liz's grin faltered when she noticed the stains that she had created on my light red spiderman t-shirt and faded blue jeans. The fact those kids believed me while I was wearing this made it just that much funnier.
"Don't worry Liz, it'll wash off." I encouraged.
She stopped grinning altogether. "I-I'm s-so sor-sorry."
"I already told you that it was fine, Liz. Ready for some ice cream?"
She shook her head and tears welled up in her eyes.
"I-I-I c-can-can't g-go i-in l-like th-thi-this!" She whimpered, gesturing towards her muddy clothes.
"You don't want people to see you muddy?" I asked softly.
"N-no."
I crouched down next to Liz.
"Shh. Don't cry Liz. Why would you care what they think? Do you know the people in the ice cream parlor?"
"N-no."
"Do care about them?"
"W-well, I-I d-don't kn-know be-be-cau-because I-I d-don't k-know t-them."
"Exactly. So why would you care about what they think?"
"I-I g-guess th-th-that I-I sh-shouldn't." Liz looked down at her feet.
"What's wrong Liz?"
"I-It's ju-just th-that y-your s-so p-pre-pretty a-and I-I'm j-just s-so-"
"Cute. So cute and adorable." I finished, cutting her off before she could finish.
Pretty? Yeah right. It felt nice to hear her say it, but I didn't exactly agree with it.
Liz's head shot up and her eyes lit up.
"Y-You r-really th-think s-so?"
"Of course!" I exclaimed in a 'duh' tone.
I watched as Liz's cheeks tinted a pinkish color. She was blushing. Like I said, adorable.
"And you know what? If you're going to walk in muddy, then I will too."
With that, I stood up and walked straight over to the mud puddle. Liz's eyes widened, but she didn't try and stop me. I didn't particularly want to do this, but I knew that Liz would feel a lot better if I did. I moved my backpack a safe distance away and began splashing in the puddle that Liz had been sitting just minutes ago. I was muddy, but not as muddy as Liz. I knew what I had to do.
Hear we go I thought to myself. And with that, I let myself fall right into the mud puddle.
The in the school yard (Liz included) gasped as I fell into the mud puddle. Yup, that should do it.
I quickly stood up and walked over to Liz.
"Wanna hug?" I asked playfully. Getting closer and closer to Liz.
She shook her head and ran a good distance away from me. I chuckled and walked over to my backpack. We needed, or rather I needed, to get out of here before one of the kids snitched on me. I didn't want Liz to get in trouble.
I wiped my hands on the front of my shirt and picked up my backpack from the grass.
"Come on Liz! It's time to get ice cream!" I yelled over to where Liz was standing -and giggling.
The grin on her face made its reappearance. She nodded her head quickly and rushed over to me.
Did I mention that I had a soft spot for kids?
A/N:
Yeesh! Four months! Well four and a half, but who's counting! It's summer so I figured that I didn't really have an excuse to not write. Anyway, sorry again. I did make this chapter a little longer to make up for it though. I'll try to write the next chapter faster!
Abby's prank was pretty original if I do say so myself B)
Looks like Abby has a soft spot for kids huh? Who would've guessed.
FYI:
The next chapter will have more Liz and even an angry Ashton... A very angry Ashton. Take that pretty boy ;)