Chapter 5: Easy drive or Gang Fight

P.O.V Leonard

"What???" I yelled.

"There's no need of shouting at me. It's not a really big matter," Caitlin said it like it was nothing for her. Well, it was for me.

"Why would I do that? Do I look like nuts to you?" I was expecting from Caitlin that she'll ask me to become sweet.

"Yes," She answered politely.

"Oh, come on now, Caitlin. She's your guest, You should go," I again asked her not to give this damn responsibility to me.

"She's the part of the puzzle, and she's as much important to me as you are. And by the way, this is your punishment for behaving like that with her." What?

"And, do you think that I would do that punishment?"

"No, but you have to. And one more thing," She stopped and glared at me. "Bring her here safe!" I wasn't getting this. 'Why does she want me to get her here?'

"If you are so scared that I might hurt her, then why aren't you going? Or why can't you send Evelyn or Darren?" I was becoming more and more pathetic. Why? Cause I hated her. A minute late, and she might have killed Darren.

"Because I want you to show her a little hospitality. Tell her that we're not savages."

"I don't want to show her hospitality and... Doesn't she have her own legs to walk down here?" It wasn't fair!

"Leo! Don't fight, or I will tell Evelyn that you are not listening to me." Caitlin put the finger on the right point. Evelyn called me brother and respecting her words, I haven't rejected one thing she said in the last two weeks of our friendship.

"Okay. Okay, I'll go!" I threw my hands up in defeat. That girl knows how to persuade me, and I hated that.

"Good boy." She smiled.

Throwing daggers one last time at Caitlin who was still smiling mischievously, I came out and went towards the car. We didn't own that car. We brought it on rent for some days because we were going to move out in a week or so. I drove the car out of the parking lot and set it on the road towards the apartment of the girl that just accidentally got into our group, the 'pumpkin' with red hair.

******

I knocked twice but there was no reply. I don't know a specific reason, but I was becoming furious like I would rip her apart the moment I'll see her.

"Why are you knocking so..." She said while opening the door and immediately bit her tongue to refrain herself from saying something further. I kept a blank expression because I didn't want to let her see any emotion, whether of hatred or anger coming out of me.

Suddenly, her eyes shined and the pupillary zone of her green iris became blue. She seemed to be in some deep thought.

I, who was looking at her with a blank expression, immediately blinked my eyes and broke the staring competition. I was surprised at how her eyes could change colors. She eventually blinked and stepped back.

"I... no... me..." She tucked her red hair behind her ears and tried to make a sentence nervously, maybe scaredly. When she came to our apartment, she kind of trusted Caitlin, the reason she was a lioness in front of me then.

"Why are you so nervous?" I became blank again.

"Uh... nothing. Just... nothing." She was still nervous. 'Does she have some kind of memory checking power too, and she looked into my head? Well, I wasn't thinking something at that time. I'm not even thinking now.'

"Are you going to come or not? It's okay if you won't come." I smiled a bit.

"No, I'll come," She hurriedly said.

"I'm waiting outside," I turned to leave.

"No, don't wait for me. I'll come on some... public transport," She said abruptly, and it took a single second for my blood to boil.

"Do I look like I came here for sweeping your damn apartment?"

"You came here to pick me?" She gawked at me. 'Is it that unobvious?' I didn't say anything.

"So sweet of you, but still, you can go h......" She came back to her annoying side, and that was what I didn't want.

"Oh, sorry, did I missed the part 'If it pleases your highness'? Get down and sit in the damn car." I glared one last time at her and before she could say something else and make me kill her, I barged towards the stairs.

******

'Argh! She's so annoying!' I groaned because it had been 15 mins since I was waiting outside. After nearly 5 more minutes, she came.

"Hey, don't be... don't be so furious..." She was breathing like a track of a marathon was built here, and she was a racer who just jumped out of it.

"Did you run?" I looked at her puffed state.

"Yeah!!" 'Is there still something left to do? You can go on and do it'. I didn't say it though. Rolling my eyes, I moved towards the driver's seat.

"Are you going to sit or not?" I asked when she didn't move.

"A... Where should I put my things?"

"On me!" And I slipped inside the car. She sat right next to me, and when I turned to ask her that with whose permission was she sitting in the front seat...

"Ouch..."

"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to do that." She was probably putting her backpack at the back seat when it hit my face with all the force with which it was swinging.

"This is my worst day on Earth!" I opened one eye and looked at her with rage.

"Sorry!" She said while smiling, and I had to admit, she looked better when she smiled. And that one thought made me feel, she can be good, only sometimes though. I sighed and quiffed my hair. Without saying a word, I set off the car.

I was bored just in two minutes because I didn't want to talk to her. So, I connected my phone with the audio player. Playing the song of Mandy Moore & Zachary Levi 'I see the light', I relaxed a bit.

After some time, I felt Cathia's gaze at me. I looked at her mischievously smiling lips. I raised an eyebrow, and her smile converted into a toothy grin. I listened to the song and the lyrics at that time were;

Now she's here shining in the starlight

Now she's here suddenly I know

If she's here it's crystal clear

I'm where I'm meant to go

(Zachary Levi's lines)

'Oh, heavens. Save me, please!'

I hurriedly turned off the player. She burst out laughing, throwing her head back. The coincidence was stupidly embarrassing.

"What? Why are you laughing?" I asked covering the embarrassment.

"No...... nothing...... Just drive, please," She said in between the laughter.

The rest of the drive was silent. Just that I realized, I was, without a reason, getting angry at her, and maybe, she too was not so annoying. Why she was so scared was because, as far as I knew, she had never met any of us before. And presumably, lost her brother at an early age too. I can't possibly imagine the pain.

I moved the car towards a shortcut, and while we were on a back street of buildings, a gang of boys came suddenly in front of us. I put my foot on the brakes instantly.

"Are you all blind at the same time?" Fury blanked my senses for a minute suddenly. They were all hooded. The street light was not enough to see their faces.

One of them came towards my window side and leaned over it. Showing his face, he said,

"Long time no see. Right, Leonard Morris?"