Drip.

"Dammit!" Britnay yelled.

"Hey, he didn't give us ours either." Ari muttered.

"I didn't have one anyway." I murmured. "I carry everything on me. My phone... it must have fallen out in Jack's car." I slammed my head back into the cement wall and it made a loud cracking sound.

“Yeah, that was kind of dumb.” Britnay commented. And then added hastily, “No offense.”

“What was? Me dropping my phone or me slamming my head into a wall?” I asked sarcastically as I cradled my head. Now, why’d I do that again?

“Nevermind.” Ari interrupted. “I have my car keys in one pocket and a couple dollars in the other one.” She said it quickly. I didn’t even know if Britnay was trying to pick a fight.

“Maybe we could bribe him?” Z suggested.

“Yeah, with ten dollars. I’m sure that’d get us out of this Hell-hole.” Ari muttered skeptically.

“Well, I have twenty dollars.” I put in.

“And I have…” There was a pause as Z dug through his pockets, “I have five dollars.”

“Woo! Thirty-five dollars.” Ari yelled sarcastically.

“Are you sure you don’t have any on you Britnay?” I asked, ignoring this new side of Ari.

“Nope. Nothing.” She murmured, probably put out by the fact that everybody else had at least a little. I leaned back against the wall slowly, not wanting to hurt myself this time.

“I also have this.” Z said. After I looked in his direction in confusion for a few seconds he added, “He might be watching.”

“Oh!” A voice gasped out. I think it’s Britnay’s. “This would have been nice to know earlier.” I could hear her eyes rolling. I smiled slightly, almost jumping up and down in anticipation. What was it?

“What?” Ari asked tiredly, beyond the point of caring. Then suddenly, “Oh! Yeah!” She sounded like she was literally bouncing.

Something cold pressed into the palm of my hand. I almost gasped at the feeling of cold metal. I squeezed it just a little, trying to figure out what it was. My eyes widened when I finally recognized the oval shape. The smooth flat sides and the rough, jagged inside. I managed to push a smaller piece of metal out. A pocket knife?

“Seriously?” I deadpanned.

“Yep!” Z tried to keep his voice down, but the excitement was clear in his tone.

I leaned forward to give him back his blade. He met my curled fingers with his worm outstretched ones. His hand disappeared and I almost exposed the pocket knife, but soon enough his hand was back and wrapped around mine. It was so much bigger than mine, it made me smile, and for some reason his touch sent shivers down my spine.

I almost scoffed at how cliche it was but pulled him closer anyway. “You’re too far away." I murmured, to avoid suspicion.

“Thank you.” Z said proudly and I could hear the rustle of his hand sliding into his jean’s pocket.

“Next question.” Britnay sounded bored already.

“My turn again.” Z stated and then paused to think of a question. Or maybe it was for suspense. Who knows with this kid? “Favorite color?”

“Magenta.” Britnay said matter-of-factly. I rolled my eyes. Of course it’s pink. A high-class pink at that.

“Indigo.” Ari murmured. She sounded too quite to be the Ari that I’ve come to know.

“Sage.” I said nodding. It was an odd color yes, but I still loved it.

“Mine’s neon orange.” Z said, making me laugh. He then felt the need to explain, “You all had cool names for yours so I just came up for something other than…” He trailed off, believing we had gotten the point.

“Why?” I asked.

“Why what?”

“Why orange?” I wrinkled my nose. I wasn’t the fondest of that color.

“Because it’s awesome.” He replied simply.

There was a short silence before Ari picked up the next question. “Music?”

“Anything that comes up.” Britnay said quickly.

“Like what?” Ari and I asked at almost the same time. She didn’t seem like the music type. But who was I to judge?

“You know, Green Day, Taylor Swift, P!NK… that stuff.”

“Oh.” I rolled my eyes. I bet she didn’t know anything beyond their newest CDs.

“My favorite band ever would have to be Linkin Park.” Z said excitedly.

“Seriously?” I asked, not believing him.

“Yea-ah.” He drug the word out and I had to hold back a giggle. For some reason.

“Well, I don’t have a favorite, but I’d listen to anything that’s not country or rap crap.” I wrinkled my nose at the thought of listening to that stuff.

“But you listen to Linkin Park?” Z asked obviously skeptical.

“Well duh, and they don’t count as rap.” I said matter-of-factly.

“Sure, sure.” He barely mumbled out before Ari started explaining her style. Which ended up being absolutely everything.

“Like what?” Britnay asked. I could tell she was faking interest.

“Well, Three Days Grace, Metro Station, Led Zepplin, Mayday Parade, Fall Out Boy, The Ting Tings, Chopin, Bring Me the Horizon, Alicia Keys, Apocalyptica, Eminem, N*SYNC, Brad Paisley, Hey Monday, Elvis Costello, Elvis Presley, Cage the Elephant, Busted, Atreyu, Flyleaf, Johnny Cash, Escape the Fate, LUDO, Miley Cyrus, The Kinks, Lifehouse, U2, The Killers, The Jonas Brothers, Owl City, Secondhand Serenade, Breaking Benjamin, and, well, anything… like I said.” Somehow, she managed all of that in mainly one breath. I hadn’t even heard of half of the bands she’d mentioned.

We all sat in silence for a minute or two. Probably all shocked.

“That’s just a few.” She finished after panting for a bit.

“Jesus, girl…” Z murmured. “Do you even have a life?”

I slapped him slightly. It wasn’t hard enough to hurt or for anyone to hear. “Yeah!” She yelled defensively. I could almost see her with her arms crossed and her lip pouting defiantly.

“I was kidding…” Z murmured, I could tell he was facing me though and I could kind of hear the rustle of him rubbing his shirt. “Kind of.” I snorted, very unlady-like, before moving so that my legs were curled up underneath me.

“Next question?” I asked, yawning.