Is That Your Reason or Your Excuse?

"Um….I'm guessing we're done here?" Matt asked puzzling as he peered at the numerous bags of shopping items we purchased within the last few hours.

"Yeah, we better leave now. I just got ten calls from my mom, I'm pretty sure by now she sent the cops after me," Valary said.

"Psh, my parents don't really care about me," Johnny shrugged.

"Well, aren't you big and bad?" Jimmy taunted.

"Hey! Lets just go, geez." Matt grunted as he walked off.

Soon everyone else followed. Val and I trailing behind the group of boys. I've really come to like Valary a lot. She's the first girl I've met who was the closest to my age. I think she's someone who I could really learn to trust. I've never really had friends, just a close family, and having one seemed nice. Even if Val didn't see me as a friend yet, the feeling of thinking so was still nice.

"Why is everyone's parents so worried?" I asked Valary.

"They don't know we're leaving…" She whispered.

"Why not?"

"Because if they knew, they'd never want us to leave here."

"Why? I mean if its what you really want, parents should let you do it."

Valary shook her head. "It doesn't work that way. You see, they think that if we go off into the world by ourselves that'll we'll just set our own rules. They think that'll we'll end up dead or in jail. No in-between. That's just how parents are." She shrugged.

I began thinking about my guardians that I left behind: Aunt Wendy and Uncle Joe. I thought about how they couldn't wait until I was old enough to leave the house. Not because they wanted to get rid of me, but because of how much they knew that the lifestyle I was living wasn't one that I should be having. I figured that if they knew where I was, they'd be okay with. In fact, I'm sure they'd be happy.

I figured they're must be someone watching over me, I've never been one for religion but I figured someone out there finally answered my calls. Someone or something finally took me away from that horrid environment. Even though I'll miss everyone there, I know this is what's best for me.

As we were walking out the mall I felt Valary bump me slightly, but that slight bump made me lose my balance and I nearly fell on Zacky. As I crashed into him I made him drop all the shopping bags and fall into the ground with me falling right after.

"Oh my God! I’m so sorry!" Valary said between hysteric laughs.

"No its fine, its my fault anyways," I muttered but I'm pretty sure no one heard me, everyone was so engrossed by the incident that just took place that they were laughing to hard to even notice me or Zacky.

Zacky didn't say anything instead he got up, wiped himself off, and offered me a hand that I of course accepted.

"Thank you," I whispered shyly. I still wasn't used to the whole talking-to-guys-my-age thing. Even talking to a guy I don't even know that well was still making me queasy.

"No problem Amy," he said smirking right before he picked up the bags and started walking off again.

I instantly felt heated. I didn't like how easily I felt vulnerable around him, I felt weak and helpless. I stood there for a moment before I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Valary with a halfhearted smile.

"Be careful," Valary said.

"What?" I asked perplexed.

"Don't fall to easily, Zacky isn't all what he appears. Just promise me you won't get too involved with him, okay?"

I nodded with a confused expression on my face. I didn't know what she meant, I mean Zacky seemed like a nice guy to me. What was the big deal? And the whole "don't get too involved" thing was confusing too. Get involved how? I looked back at Valary's face and saw slight pain in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" I asked worriedly.

She shook her head. "Nothing." She simply stated.

She gave me a quick smile before she ran off towards Matt who instantly engulfed her into his arms as she walked by him. They shared a quick kiss before walking off to the parking lot. I couldn't help but smile. I always fantasized about being in a relationship with a guy. I just never really thought about it as much as I did today. In fact thinking of the possibility that now could even be a reality was really scary. I didn't want to think about it now just yet. I'll just let things happen by there own term. It seemed like a safer route to go.

We finally got to the van and drove off. Matt was the one driving and the rest of us piled into the back, except for Valary who was in the passengers seat next to Matthew. It was a van so it could've seated up to eight people, we only had seven. Brian, Zacky, and Jimmy all sat in one seat while I sat in the back with Johnny. Who was snoring soundly as his head was pressed against the side of the van. He looked peaceful and I was surprised at how well he slept with all the noise. Matt had the radio on, while he was talking to Valary. And Jimmy, Brian, and Zacky all were laughing hysterically at Jimmy's own goofiness. I would've laughed too, but I was sleepy and I also didn't even know what the joke was. It wasn't long before I also finally fell asleep.

When I woke up I realized that the van wasn’t moving. It was also darker then when we left the mall earlier. The other thing I realized was that Johnny was no longer beside me. The sliding door to the van was open letting a street light shine throughout the van so I could see Valary's blonde figure laying on top of my shoulder. I began thinking about whether I should wake up Valary or not. I really needed to go use the bathroom and I really didn't know where we were so I didn't want to go alone. I decided I might as well wake her up, so I began shaking her gently.

"Valary…?" I whispered as I continued to shake her gently. "Valary!" I said a little bit louder.

"What?" She asked groggily as she subbed her eyes.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"We're at a rest stop. Now go back to sleep Matt…"

I arched a confused eyebrow. "But I'm not-" I decided to ignore the statement. "Valary, I need to use the restroom," I muttered.

"There's one outside," She mumbled as she slowly slipped back into her deep slumber.

I sighed and decided to just go for it. I got up and maneuvered around the sleeping bodies as I made my way out of the van silently with much difficultly. Once I was out I realized we were sharing the "rest stop" with a bunch of other cars. And that the restrooms were easily found, only because they were right in front of my face. I walked into the restroom that obviously was made for girls. As I walked in my eyes had a hard time adjusting to the lighting since the lights inside were well lit and no one was inside. But before I could even get to a stall I heard the door open. I turned around and my eyes widened.

It was Zacky.

"W-why are you in the girls bathroom?" I stuttered.

He simply shrugged and continued to walk towards me. I couldn't really do much other then just stand there perplexed. I had so many questions floating through my head. Why was he here? And why is it that he seems like he's getting too close? Did he follow me in here? If so why?

"Zacky I-" But before I could even begin the sentence he placed a finger on my lips while his face was only inches away. I don't think I was even breathing. As I looked closely at his face I noticed something was a bit off. I looked closer and noticed it was his eyes. His eyes were different, they looked glassy and his pupils were bigger. Plus, his breathe smelled foul.

"Tell me something…" He whispered. "as long as you were trapped under the roof of my own house, have you ever even talked to a boy?"

I shook my head no.

He didn't say anything but he smirked. "So you've never kissed a boy?"

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, but before I could even process what was even happening, he crashed his lips with mine. Instinctively I tried pulling away but he already had a hold on me and he was far stronger. But after a while I started to relax and let him have his way. Once he knew I wasn't going to pull away his grip loosened and his tongue violently slipped into my mouth.

My face was heated from the sudden volatile gesture. I was really at a loss of what to do, I don't even think my brain could even function properly. But after his alcoholic tongue explored the rest of my mouth he pulled away. I stood there frozen and slightly scared. But he didn't do anything, instead he just walked away which only made me more confused.

What was all that about?