"You will get your room numbers in approximately 1 hour, be back at 10, please."
"Yes of course," replied Thorn sweetly.
They walked out of the building confidently, as 4 boys, and 1 girl stared at them, intently. 1 of the boys was blonde with icy blue eyes. He walked up to them casually.
"Hey," he said coolly, "are you girls new?"
"Yes," all 3 answered at once, not even glancing in his direction.
"May I inquire as to your names?"
They all came to a halt; Thorn took a step back and analyzed his face suspiciously.
Just when he thought that they were going to be difficult, she replied, "I'm Thorn, Thorn Hum, and they," she continued, gesturing first to the redhead, and then to the blonde "are Luna Zenn, and Dusk Wisteria."
He reached out his hand, "Garwin, Reid Garwin."
She eyed his hand uncertainly, until he put it down.
"Listen," he said to cover up the building awkward silence, "if you girls aren't doing anything now, do you want to go to Nicky's with me?"
"Sure." They all said in unison.
He walked up to a white Hummer with the 3 girls following close behind.
The blonde indicated 3 boys and 1 girl standing next to the car, "These are my friends; Caleb," he glanced at a tall boy with short hair and serious brown eyes, "Pogue," he indicated a boy with longish, light brown hair and brown eyes, "Tyler," a boy with curly brown hair, and pale blue eyes, " and Sarah."
The blonde girl standing next to Caleb smiled. Reid introduced all of the girls, and said that they would all fit since Pogue was taking his bike, and Sarah was going with Caleb in his car.
Dusk spoke up, "Pogue? Would it be alright if I rode with you?"
"Sure," Pogue replied with a smile. They all set off for Nicky's. Reid sat in the back with Thorn while Luna sat in the front with Tyler. Reid scanned Thorn, while she was looking out the window.
"So where are you from?"
"Norway,"
"Really?"
"No,"
He gave up. She was obviously not going to talk to him. There was a long pause before she muttered, "We are from a small town very near Salem, not to far away. Things with our parents got a bit…rough, so they all sent us here."
"My folks sort of did the same thing. We never got along. I just wish they'd…"
"It'd be nice if they'd just…"
"Leave me alone," They turned to each other in surprise as they said the same thing.
"My mom died, and my dad never liked me to much," she challenged.
"Both of my parents are steaming mad, because they found me smoking in my room. By the way, how did your mom die?"
Thorn's face fell, "She was murdered."
They were silent, until they reached Nicky's. Tyler and Luna were having some strange conversation about some guy who was locked in a broken cooler, and froze to death because it was "all in his head". They got out of the car, and Reid got a sudden impulse. He kissed her. She patiently waited until he was done, then punched him. Hard.
"Hey! What was that for?" he asked, rubbing his jaw.
"That was to show you that you can't just kiss people whenever you feel like it! As a matter of interest, why did you kiss me any way?" she looked at him expectantly.
He hesitated, not liking the answer he was going to give, "You looked like someone who needed to be kissed."
She had no trouble hiding her surprise, "well…um…thank you."
Thorn walked into the bar, leaving Reid to follow.
Nicky's was Luna's kind of place. She and Tyler strolled in, and she heard the song Rebel Rebel start playing from the jukebox.
"Come on," she pulled the nearest person, which happened to be Tyler, onto the dance floor.
Pogue arrived with Dusk laughing at his side. He was just thinking that she looked really pretty when she laughed, when Aaron Abbott sauntered up to them.
"Hey, babe, do you want to have some fun with me rather than with those losers?" He smiled in what he clearly thought was a charming smile. Dusk immediately stopped laughing, and glared at Aaron. When he took a step back, she smiled, revealing a set of very white, very pointed teeth. Aaron gave a rather unmanly squeal, and backed out of the room. Dusk forgot herself for a moment, and flashed Pogue a triumphant grin, exposing her teeth. Pogue's eyes filled with fear, and she stopped grinning, but it was to late, he had seen all that he needed to see. Or so he thought.