WARS Chapter 2 - Raven & Amy

The rumbling came slowly to a halt, and the unmistakeable sound of a door opening entered her ears.
“Last stop: Angel city. All passengers must now vacate the train.”

“Hey Amy, c’mon, wake up.”

Amy groggily opened her eyes. “Ugh… five more minutes…” Her head slumped back onto the chair.

“Amy, c’mon, we gotta get off soon!”

Amy saw her friend Raven sitting opposite her in the chair, grinning at her.

The two were inside a carriage of a train, on their way to Angel city. It was Rat’s birthday coming up soon, and the girls wanted to pick out some nice clothes for him to wear. After that, they were planning to spend the rest of the day going about the shops. Angel city was famed for the many clothing retailers, all of which were cheap and nice to be seen in. In fact, the cream cardigan that Amy was wearing on the train, she had got in Angel city a few weeks ago.

Inside the carriage, there were only a few people, since it was only ten o’clock on a Saturday. It was clean enough, with a white and grey colour scheme. The other people looked like office workers, going in only to sort out some paperwork. They all looked tired.

Amy and Raven got out of the train along with most of the other people, and stepped out onto the platform. Here too, it was clean. Quiet though, now that the train had gone back the way they’d came from, and that the other passengers had already left. The two girls were alone.

“Right,” Amy said when she turned to Raven. “Where are we heading off to first?”

Raven shrugged as they headed down the platform stairs. “I dunno, what do you wanna do? Get Rat’s present out of the way first? Or do some window shopping before it?”

Amy rolled her eyes at her. “What do you think?”

Both of them grinned. “Window shopping!” they squealed, laughing.

For the next two hours at least, they browsed the high street shops, talking about all sorts of things. They gossiped about school, who slept with who, who had been in an argument lately, celebrity gossip, bitch about teachers, boys, and girls, the last party that they all went to and how drunk they got (again), who met who at the said party, and so on. Basically, they just meandered about doing absolutely nothing.

Amy was inside one of these shops, checking out a dress she had picked out in a mirror. It was a simple cream with a neatly-trimmed skirt, and straps over the shoulders. It was also form-fitting to her body line, which made her both smile and frown when she saw the little bit of flabby skin around the side of her hips. She ran a hand down one side, and let out a small sigh.

Raven poked her head up over the clothes rack, and smirked. “What are you sighing about now?”

“I’m still flabby,” Amy answered sadly. “Look at this!” She squeezed her sides. “Flab!”

Raven raised her eyebrows. “Oh shush mun, you’re fine as you are. You still got a body that gets the boys attention.”

Amy rolled her eyes. “Yes, but I get the wrong type of attention,” she answered, recalling a memory of boys she didn’t even know wolf-whistling at her. And God help her if she was on a train alone…

Raven put the clothes she was holding back on the rack. “C’mon, let’s get going. We still haven’t got Rat’s present.”

Amy took off the dress in the changing room, and put the dress back. It was too expensive for her to try anyway. Both she and Raven left together, and after a quick discussion, they decided to get Rat a new hoodie. The one he usually wore was starting to get frayed, they noticed the day before.

They headed off to the Keratin clothing shop, a label that Rat had said that he preferred to get his clothes, if he’d ever shop for clothes.
They entered the shop, and immediately made their way over to the hoodie section.

“Talking about attention,” Raven said, “whose attention do you really want?”

Amy blushed. “Umm, well… you see, I…” She then grabbed Raven’s arm suddenly, and pulled her down under a clothes rack. “Keep quiet!” Amy whispered, trying to keep hidden.

“What the hell are you–?” Raven said, but stopped when she heard voices from the other side of the rack.

“Nah man, Rat hates button shirts.”

“Exactly why we should do it!”

“And waste our money in the process?”

“…good point.”

Amy and Raven went quiet. That was Nate and BD talking on the opposite side of the clothes rack. “Why are we hiding?” Raven whispered. Amy blushed further. Raven’s eyes widened. 'She likes one of them?!' Raven realised. 'Which one though?'

BD and Nate were quiet for a moment, but then BD gasped in happiness. “Holy crap! Did you see the jugs on her?!”

“Well…”

Amy’s eyes darkened in anger.

Raven then smiled. 'Nate, eh?'

BD whooped. “Ahaha, don’t deny it! She was damn pretty!”

“I’m saying nothing.”

Amy let out a small sigh of relief.

“Oh, why not? Got somebody you like, is it?”

Amy froze. 'No, no no no no…'
Through the clothes rack, Amy saw Nate shrug. “To be honest, not really.”

“C’mon, there’s gotta be somebody you like.”

Nate paused, thinking. “I suppose… if there was anyone that I liked like that, then… I dunno. Amy, probably.”

Amy and Raven’s eyes widened. 'Me?!' Amy thought gleefully.

“Probably?” BD repeated.

“I’ve never really thought about it. But… When I do, the only girl that fits my sort of type is Amy.”

“And what is your type?”

Nate paused again. He rested his arm on the metal bar of the clothes rack. Amy and Raven quickly moved a foot back in case the rack moved towards them. “A funny type. The girl who’d be there. The type that can take banter and dish it out. The girl who has looks and brains.”

BD nodded. “Out of her and Raven, Amy certainly has them.”

“Raven has looks as well.”

“Not brains though.”

Amy smirked at Raven’s furious face. “You bastard,” Raven mouthed. She was going to kill him for that…

“But why Amy then? I mean, there’re other girls in our year that fit that.”

Nate looked up at the ceiling for a moment, watching a fly buzz around above their heads. “Well… lemme tell you something. Me and Amy had known each other longer than you lot have thought. I knew her when we were five. She’s always been there. When I had that depressive mood with Keira, Amy was there to pull me back from the rocks.”

Keira was the girl Nate used to go out with before she moved away.

“No matter what happened, she had a shoulder to lean on. I mean, you – all of you – are my best mates. Amy was just that person I could always depend on.”

Amy’s smile warmed. She’d never thought that Nate thought of her that closely.

“You’re a soppy bugger, aye,” BD said slyly.

“Shut up, man!”

Amy and Raven watched the two walk away to a different part of the store, having decided that they’d get him something else. When they left the store, with Nate looking a little glazed-over, only then did Amy and Raven come out of their hiding spot, albeit embarrassed by the confused glances from other shoppers.

Inside her head, Amy was replaying the scene where Nate revealed that he liked her.

“I dunno. Amy, probably.”

She left that shop feeling proud about herself, something that Raven quickly picked up on when they stopped in a café.

“So, come on then,” she said with a grin. “Spill the beans about Nate.”

Amy sighed happily, and put her coffee down on the table. “Nate and I have known each other for years. Our mothers met in the clinic, and the two of us just played together for hours. Even when I was only five, I couldn’t get enough from being with Nate. He was just… perfect, for a simpler word.”

“Awww!” Raven smiled.

“I remember when I was seven years old, and some kids were picking on me. I was a chubby little bugger back then, and I was got the crap taken out of me. But Nate, he came up to me, and stood in front of me. He opened out his arms, and said he was going to protect me for the rest of his life. That was when I realised I liked him. And, true to his word, he protected me. Sure, he met BD, Rat and Swifty, and I met you, but me and him… there’s that little bit extra between us that I would never want to be gone.”

Raven put a hand on Amy’s. “You’re a beautiful girl, Amy. I can see why Nate would like you.”

Amy grinned. “I know!” She let out a small squeal of happiness. “Oh, I’m so happy! I can’t believe it! He likes me. Me!”

Raven raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I know, I heard him too.”

Amy couldn’t stop grinning about it. When they finally decided on the hoodie that they were buying Rat, she was still smiling on the train home. Even when she got home that night, and went up to her room, she smiled. When she opened up her diary, she smiled. And when she looked at a photo of just her and Nate, she smiled.

Amy has had her first Valentine.