The moment I made it and could see the store in question, Clark and his friends stood out like a burning fire on a winter's night. The group was huddled around near the steps of the store, their voices so loud and raucous I could hear them clearly despite the distance. I originally believed that Clark was one of the most unique-looking people I ever knew, what with his array of piercings and shaggy brown hair. Yet when among his friends, he seemed to fit in perfectly.
Clarks was surrounded by four others, making the group five in total, with there being three boys and two girls respectively. The male to Clark's left, standing at the edge of the group, had short sandy brown hair and looked to be close to two metres tall, taller than even Sam by a few inches. However, unlike Sam, he looked to be incredibly skinny, so skinny that his bones jutted harshly out against his skin, looking as if they could be snapped with but a single breeze.
In comparison to him, the male to Clark's right seemed his polar opposite with his buzzcut haircut and endless supply of muscle, with him being as wide as two regular people put together. The most recognisable thing about him however, besides his muscles, was the gigantic black snake tattoo that seemed to be wrapped around his neck, looking as if it was choking him.
The girl, currently hanging off his arm to his right-hand side, seemed no less weird, dressed in both a pure black skirt and tank top with a myriad of black tattoos scattered over her arms. Something which, when paired with the full black eyeliner and lipstick she wore, as well as her long straight black hair, made her look as if she belonged in a Tim Burton film or as a part of the Adams family.
Lastly, there was the girl on the far right-hand side, seemingly oblivious to the shouting and laughing of her friends, somehow. She was like a model or an actress, with short brown hair ending just at her shoulders and a pair of bright red lips. She was beautiful. At least she would have been if not for her black, ice cold eyes that were staring impassively to the sky and the deep onset frown that was stuck to her lips.
As I stared at the rambunctious group of people and how intimidating they all seemed, I wondered for a moment if I should just turn around and leave. Unfortunately, just as the thought entered my mind, Clark happened to look up, noticing me standing dumbly from down the street.
"Yo, Adam over here!" He waved as if it would have been entirely possible for me to have missed them.
Immediately, as I began walking towards them, having lost my chance to escape, I felt four more pairs of eyes stare in my direction. Trying my best not to be self-conscious, I pushed my shoulders back and kept my head held high, pretending I was far calmer than I truly was. In reality, being only one step away from shitting myself.
"It's good to see you man!" He shouted once I was only a few metres away.
"You too." I replied, flashing a smile that was undoubtedly strained. Seeing my obvious glances to his friends, Clark quickly spoke up.
"Ah, my bad man, let me introduce everyone to you. This is Lewis and Jamie." His hand pointed towards both the skinny giant and the muscular snake guy, respectively. To which I received a small nod from the first and stoic silence from the other.
"That ray of sunshine over there is Cindy." A comment which rewarded him with a middle finger and an eye roll in return from the goth-looking girl.
"And finally, our other beautiful companion at the end is Alice!" Alice didn't even seem to react, simply continuing to stare at me for a few seconds before going back to looking up at the sky with a frown. "Sheesh, I never realised how depressing you lot are before." Clark muttered jokingly, loud enough to be heard by everyone.
"It's nice to meet you all." I said as calmly as I could, still doing my best to mask the nervousness I felt. Especially in the face of such unfriendly faces
An awkward silence soon filled the air, with no one saying a word, which was expected. What with them not knowing a thing about me and vice versa. Just as I was about to speak up with an attempt to bail, not wanting to deal with any more of this awkwardness. The goth girl, Cindy, beat me to the punch.
"Why aren't you at school?" She demanded suddenly with her arms crossed.
Surprised at the randomness of the question, I paused for a couple of seconds before deciding whether to tell the truth. Seeing no reason to lie, I decided to be honest. "I got expelled for getting into a couple of fights."
"What happened?" The muscular guy Jamie asked, leaning forward, looking far more interested than he did a moment prior.
'Of course the dude who looked like a miniature Hercules would be interested in fighting.' I thought with a smirk.
I began a short retelling of what happened, throwing in a bit of hyperbole where I could to try and make myself seem cooler and more badass than I actually was. Seeing the focused looks they all had as I spoke, I started to feel more confident, becoming more expressive and passionate in my storytelling, throwing in a couple of small jokes here and there as I did so.
"That's fucking sick man." Clark cheered, acting far more excited than any of the people who had actually witnessed the fight had been.
"It did feel fucking good," I admitted. Something which I hadn't been able to say aloud to anyone else. "Only downside is now that I'm expelled and I'm bored as fuck."
"Don't worry about that dude. Finding fun shit to do is our speciality." Lewis smirked, sharing a look with his friends that I couldn't quite decipher and which led to a frigid chill running down my spine.
"Damn right! What should we do?" Clark thought out loud, turning towards the others.
"We could sneak into the cinema and see what's playing?" Cindy suggested.
"Nah, there's nothing good showing this morning. I already checked online." replied Lewis, shaking the phone in his hand as if to back up his point.
"Let's go to Shark's." Jamie piped in. "Adam here clearly loves to fight. I can't think of a better place for that than Shark's."
"Ain't it way too early to go to Shark's? It doesn't usually get busy until around four or so" Lewis remarked, looking back down towards his phone.
"There's always a few people there. And in the worst case scenario, we can get something to drink and hang out while we wait until later."
"You just want to get into some fights yourself after hearing about what Adam got up to yesterday." Clark smirked, having seen that his assumption was spot on as Jamie just shrugged in response before a wicked grin appeared on his face and a dangerous glint could be seen in his eyes
"Sounds good to me. We could also go to Underworld's after. Show Adam here how we party." Cindy mused, throwing me a somewhat flirty smile and making me turn a blushing red. As I went to look away, I noticed the look in Jamie's eyes go from friendly to furious in a heartbeat as he moved his arm, wrapping it tightly around Cindy's waist, forcing her onto his lap and causing her to let out a giggle in shock.
'Note to self. Stay the fuck away from Cindy if I don't want to get the shit kicked out of me.' I thought to myself as I slowly took a step backwards, just in case.
At this point, I was completely lost, having never heard of a place called Shark's before in my life. Though I did vaguely remember having heard about Underworld before in passing. But for the life of me, I couldn't remember exactly what was said.
"Now that seems like a plan! How about we go get something to eat first and then head to Sharky's?" Even though he framed it as a question, by the time Clark had finished speaking, he had already started walking ahead. Quickly followed by Jamie, who, while dragging Cindy along with him, gave me one last suspicious glance in my direction. Lewis followed a couple of seconds later but caught up to them easily with his giant steps, eyes stuck to his phone as he walked. In comparison, I just stood there, motionless, surprised at the quick pace everything was going. It hadn't even been five minutes since I had arrived, and already they had planned out the entire day.
"Are you just going to stand there all day, or are you going to get a move on?" A voice I hadn't heard before spoke from my right, breaking me out of my thoughts. I turned around and came face to face with Alice, who I hadn't realised hadn't already gone on ahead with the others.
"My bad. Was a bit lost in my thoughts." I said while scratching the back of my head, embarrassed at being caught looking so dazed like a moron.
"Yeah, I could tell." She smirked, the first sign of emotion I had seen on her face since I had arrived. "Anyway, you better start moving. I'm starving." And with that, she left, walking towards the others at a casual pace. Clearly in no rush to catch up to them.
After processing her words, I quickly jogged forward to her side. A sense of anticipation within me at the thought of what the day was going to bring. Excited at the prospect of stepping out of my comfort zone and doing something different for once. Little did I know how insane the day was truly going to turn out.