Chapter 39

Many, many years ago.

A young girl watched as the other kids began to kick a ball around the yard. She watched as they were having so much fun kicking it around. They were laughing and giggling with one another. She longed for the day to play with them just like they did for her sisters, yet they never did. She envied them from their smiles, happiness, families, and clothing. These things she wished she had better of, yet her father only gave her what she needed to survive and the handy downs of her older siblings.

As she rested her head on her arms, waiting for them to stop playing, a young Amay felt something rough touch her leg. She looked up with heavy eyes to see that it was a ball.

"Hey. Can you pass the ball back?" One of the children asked.

"Oh," Amay quietly said. She then stood up in dirty kimono that had faded and discolored spots, cuts, and patches all over it. Her hands gently touched the ball, and she quietly and slowly walked over to pass it to them. As she reached the little boy, Amay shyly looked away from him. "Here you go," she hesitantly said.

"Thanks. Do you want to play?" He asked her as he gently took the ball from her hand.

"Really?" Amay said as a bit of hope shone in her eyes. "You would allow me to play with you guys?"

"Sure. We are down a player. Do you know how to play?" The boy asked her, giving her a soft smile. They could hear the other kids whispering about her.

"No. But I can learn." Amay eagerly said as she didn't want them to turn her away. She then felt something hit her head that caused her to fall to the ground. A sharp pain came from her head as she held it. Tears filled her eyes as she looked up to see other kids holding rocks in their hands.

"Get away from him, freak!" The one that threw the first rock yelled at her.

"Yeah. Freak." Another child spoke up, following the lead bully, and threw another rock hitting Amay's hand.

Amay quickly got to her feet and began to run as she could away from them with tears in her eyes. She didn't look back as she could feel the rocks go past her.

"I hate them. I hate them all." She thought to herself as she regretted trying to bring the ball back to that boy. "I'm so stupid. I should never have tried to be friends with those people," she tearful thought to herself as she ran to the only place she could be alone from them all.

Present-day.

A now-grown Amay hummed a cheerful tone to herself as she applied lipstick to her red lips to make them pop and match her shirt. After she was finished, she took a step back to look at herself thoroughly in the mirror. She was wearing a red crop top shirt, jean shorts with black legging underneath. She even wore the necklace Elizabeth gave her to appear human to those around her. A soft smile crossed her face as she was proud of her looks and mentally thanked Ann for the outfit idea; however, she quickly noticed a tiny detail about herself. She noticed that a small part of her scar was visible.

"Oh no," Amay mumbled to her as she tried to pull her shirt up to cover it. Even with her shirt pulled up more, she still felt like people were going to at it. "Damn it. I don't want to change, but I don't want anyone to see this awful thing." She thought to herself. As her panic began to grow, she quickly went back to her closet to find something to cover it up.

"Amay, are you ready," Lucas's voice rung out from downstairs.

"I'm on my way. Just a second." She quickly yelled back. Her eyes quickly darted around the room as she tried to find something desperately. She then landed on something that Ann picked out for her. "This will have to do for now," she told herself.

Downstairs, Lucas looked at his phone as he realized their ride was just down the drive. He was delighted they were cool with coming through some woods but annoyed with how much of a tip he would have to give them.

"God. My account must have taken a hit over the month." Lucas said to himself. He's been using a lot of his saved-up money to show Amay a great time. While it didn't bother him, part of that money was to save up for a car. Yet, he didn't mind it. Something about her smile and how happy she was made it all worth it. He just sighed.

"It's fair since she is kinda my bodyguard. " Lucas mumbled as he looked back towards the staircase. His mouth dropped when he saw her taking the last stair down.

"Sorry about that." Amay nervously said as her face was slightly red. She had a sweater on covering up most of her neck, but she still had her original jean shorts with legging. Amay had noticed Lucas was wearing jeans and a black button-up shirt. She also noticed a sweet uplifting musky smell invade her noise as she got closer.

"Stop looking at me like that. Why did your smell change?" She snapped at him but mostly trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Oh. My bad." Lucas said, quickly looking away. He didn't realize he was staring at her for so long. "I wanted to make sure I looked nice as well. Since you always put a lot of thought behind everything you wear. This is also some cologne my dad got for me a while ago. I hope it smells nice." Lucas nervously told her.

"It's a little much, but it does smell nice." She said, getting closer to stand next to him. "So are we taking that Bus again?" She said, trying to keep the conversation from getting quiet.

A loud ping came from Lucas's phone as he didn't have to wait any longer. "Well, I decided another way would be better than all that walking." He replied as a smile came across his face. "Are you ready?"

"I'm always ready. Especially since it's my reward for winning." Amay sassily answered.

"Alrighty, then sassy lassy. Let's go. " Lucas jokingly said as he opened the door.

After a 30-minute drive to the city, Lucas and Amay got out of the car and began to walk the streets. Amay took the lead as she looked for a restaurant to catch her eyes. Each place they went by was either packed or not that interesting. She let out a long sigh as she was getting tired of this.

"Why is this so hard?" Amay said, walking away from another busy restaurant.

"Well, it is a weekend evening. Most people have the same idea as us." Lucas tried to reassure her. He could tell she was becoming frustrated because he was himself. "Are you sure you don't want to try waiting a little?"

"No!" Amay turned around, snapping at him. She quickly realized what she had done and let out a sigh. "I don't want to have to wait behind other people. I just want to eat and have a good time. I want it to be kinda special." Amay said, slightly blushing and rubbing her arm.

Lucas was surprised she said that and understood where she was coming from with this. He then placed a hand on her shoulder. "Alrighty. Let's continue on our search then." He softly smiles at her.

"Alrighty then. Maybe we can-," Amay said before her voice was cut off.

"Holy shit. Lucas?" A familiar voice called out from behind Lucas himself.

Lucas squinted for a moment, knowing who the voice belonged, and turned around. "Oh my God. What are you guys doing here?" Lucas smiled as he saw Joe, Chris, and Ann in casual clothes. All three of them came up and gave him a hug which Lucas quickly let out a painful ouch for his right arm.

"What happened, man?" Chis asked the first to see his right arm fully bandaged up.

"I got into a little accident at home. Nothing too bad. I can't do much with it, but it's healing at the moment." Lucas said, playing it off.

"Is that why you couldn't come in for the last two days? Jesus, you should have seen little dick bugging out." Chris jokingly told him as he was worried about him. "What are you doing out in the city?"

"Are you going to introduce us to her?" Joe spoke up, noticing the girl behind him slightly.

"It's you again! Amay, was it?" Ann said, not recognizing Amay for a moment. She quickly went over to her and hugged her. "How have you been? You look amazing, by the way?"

"Oh...thank you." Amay sheepishly said as her face turned a little red. "I took your advice and wore the outfit you suggested."

"I see." Ann told Amay. She then leaned in close to whisper only to her."Were it able to hide the minor issue?"

Amay sighed and shook her head with a disappointed look when she said that. "It still was visible."

"Okay. I will make sure to look for something more better next time." Ann reassured her. "But you look fantastic. So let's not sweat it."

"Thank you," Amay told her, looking towards the guys.

"Woah. Is that the girl that you told us about?" Chris said, looking at Amay. He quickly made his way over to meet her. "Hi there. I'm Lucas's friend Chris, but you can call me the Magical Negro." He jokingly said.

"Oh....it's nice to meet you as well." Amay nervously said as she did a slight wave to Chris. "Lucas told me about you as well." She said, making a small joke as she remembered him as the funny one.

"Chris...we talked about this," Ann said, slowly shaking her head. "You're literally the only one that can get away with that, not us."

"Oh. I know, and that's what makes it better." He said, giving Ann a big smile.

"Amay. Listen to me." Ann said, bringing her closer to her. "Don't let this man influence you. He's a terrible, terrible person." She told Amay.

"I mean, you're not wrong," Chris said as his smile grew bigger. "Come to the dark side, Amay. We have cookies and dark jokes," he said, rubbing his hands together.

"Uhmm," Amay said, feeling overwhelmed by them. She then looked for Lucas for help, but he chuckled at her. "I don't know."

Lucas couldn't help but chuckle at this as Ann tried to protect Amay like a big sister while Chris was messing with her. He then looked up at Joe. "So, what are y'all doing out?"

"Oh. We were going to grab something to eat. We would have invited you, but you usually don't like to leave the house, and we honestly didn't," Joe said, feeling guilty.

"Y'all are good. I'm honestly only out because I lost a bet to her, so I'm taking her out to it." Lucas confessed. "No harm done."

"Wait, are you on a date?" Joe spoke with a surprised look on his face. He covered his mouth and brought his hands out. "I'm so sorry we are ruining it."

"No. No. No. It's not a date. We both just wanted to get out of the house and find something to eat." Lucas explained as his face turned a little red.

A sigh left Joe's mouth as a feeling of relief washed over. "I guess we are all in the same boat," Joe said, looking back up to see Ann trying to strangle Chris as Lucas's friend was trying to hold back her laughter.

"I wish there was a place around where we can eat, have fun, and talk," Lucas confessed. "Everywhere else has been busy and full."

"I think I have an idea," Chris spoke up. "Let's go play pool."

His idea caught the attention of nearly all of them. They all thought about it for a moment and agreed that it did sound good.

"Amay, are you alright with that?" Lucas asked her first since it was her choice.

"Well..." Amay said as she thought about it for a moment. She did want to have fun and enjoy the night. This also would be her first time fully meeting his friends besides sitting and watching them and finally getting to know them more. "I guess that will be fine." She said, looking away from them all.

Lucas softly smiled at her and nodded. "Alrighty then. Chris lead the way."

"Alrighty, everyone follow me. I know de wae." He said, making a clicking sound. He could hear them all groan as he chuckled at his own joke. "This is going to be fun."