Understanding Secrets, Chapter Ten - Found You

Raychel hopped off the train and looked around at her stop. It wasn't very crowded, but it still was pretty scary. It was a new setting, after all, and she wasn't used to it yet. She had just started to leave, when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, baby, where you goin'?" a scruffy looking young man with a pointed chin and bright eyes purred.

"Uh, I was just going... Home?" Raye lied.

"Well, maybe you'd like to come home with us?"another man stepped out of the shadows. He had a scraggly beard and hair.

"No," Raye growled, trying to walk around them. They blocked her way.

"Aw, come on, baby. We can have some fun together!" the scruffy man snickered.

"Go fahk yourself, you son of a barrel," Raye didn't know what else to say, so she spat.

"Hey," the scraggly looking man stepped in closer. "You're awful low on the Californian food chain to be mouthin' off to US, baby girl. We own this city."

"Oh, please," raye scoffed. "You're lucky enough to own your sticks!"

The scruffy man boxed her ears and pushed her back. The scraggly man kicked her while she was down.

Raye jumped back up and got into her fighting stance. When she was little, her parents had signed her up for Tai Chi lessons.

"Oooh, REALLY shaken!" the scruffy man howled. "OK, kid, let's see how well you measure up!" He held his fists in front of him and mocked her stance.

Raye quickly docked him in the nose and then kicked his gut. "Back off, Jack!" she spat.

The scraggly looking man charged at her. Four years of football experience came back in a flash. He tackled her from the waist and pinned her to the ground.

"So, you gonna take 'em off, or are we gonna have to MAKE ya?!" he roared.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Shiet!" the scruffy man took off,.

"Let's beat it!" the scraggly man got off Raye and took off.

Raye got back up and rubbed the back of her head. That was quite a fall she took.

"Hey, you OK?" a voice asked.

"Yeah. I think so," Raye replied.

"You're not from around here, are you?" another voice quieried.

"No," Raye sighed.

"Well, where are you from? Why are you here?" the first voice inquired.

"I don't want to talk about it," Raye got up and brished herself off.

"Ah, an outcast! We're just like you, kid. Follow us."

-

"Have you seen this girl?" Kevin asked the gas station attendant, showing him a picture of Raychel on his phone.

The attendant looked at the picture blankly, scratching his nearly bald head, then his rough stubble. "So what if I did?" he growled, taking a few chews of the gum in his mouth.

"Now, listen here, uh..." Edward snuck a peek at his dirty name tag, "Lewis. This is my little cousin on the loose. And if she's been here, we wanna know."

"How much are you willing to pay for info?" Lewis snickered, extending his hand.

"Excuse me? 'Pay'?" Kevin clenched his teeth.

"I got this," Noah said, patting Kevin's shoulder. "Look here, Lewie. My friend here's missing his little sister. If we can't find her, we're going to the police. And if we have to go to the police, we're coming back here, because I know you've seen her. And if they found out you refused to help us when you DID see her... Well, you're looking at about six months, I'd bet."

Lewis gulped and stuttered, "Hey, man, the only girl I got here today was a tomboy-lookin' chick, and she had two guys with her!"

"SHE'S BEEN TAKEN HOSTAGE??" Kevin yelled.

"NO, NO! THEY WERE ALL LIKE, BUDDY-BUDDY, PLEASE DON'T CALL THE COPS!" Lewis cried.

"I'd bet she's crashing with them," Edward grimaced.

"Did they say where they were going?" Noah asked.

"Uh, yeah, they said they were going to The Bizar Bar," Lewis trembled.

"Let's go!" Kevin ran out the door, and quickly got in the driver's seat of their car.

"Did you find her?" Mary asked.

"Is she OK?" Johnny trembled.

"Do you know vhere she is?" Deadhead grumbled.

"Yeah, and as soon as Edward and Noah HURRY THE FAHK UP," -Kevin honked the horn and stuck his head out the window while saying this- "we're going to go find her."

-

The Bizar Bar. The only teenage-friendly bar in town. Smoking allowed only outside, sodas in place of alcohol, and NO drugs whatsoever.

It was bustling with the usual late night activity. The bartenders were struggling to keep the sodas filled. French fries, onion rings, and mozerella sticks were being dished out like nobody's business. The candy and chips counter was being filled, AGAIN.

"Doesn't look like much of a bar to me," Deadhead scoffed.

"Well, I like it," Johnny smiled.

"It must be really successful. Look at all the people here," Edward gazed in awe at the number of teens in at the game center.

"Oh! They even have a coffee cafe with free wifi!" Mary gasped.

"Don't get any ideas, guys," Noah snapped.

"We're just here to get my sister and get back home," Kevin concluded.

The lights suddenly dimmed, and the colored stage lights flashed onto the stage. "Tweens and teens, The Bizar Bar now presents our nightly show!"

The teens in the audience cheered. A certain six people leaned against the wall and stayed silent.

The clamboring in the audience slowly died down. The beginning of "I Get A Feeling" played.

A teenage boy with brown hair and bright blue eyes suddenly backflipped onto the stage. While holding a microphone, too! "Oh! Oh! Ohh, sometimes, I get a good feeling. Yeah," he sang.

Some of the audience bobbed their heads to the bass beat, the rest tapped their feet, snapped their fingers, and clapped their hands while the boy continued.

A teenage girl backflipped onto the stage, and then danced along to the now quick-timed beat.

"Raychel!" Kevin whispered hoarsely.

"Oh-oh-oh-ohh-hho!" Raychel and the other teen sang.

The song went on, and then the two teens ended with a backflip, extending their arms from side to side in the "ta-da!" stance.

The audience cheered and yelled, hooted and hollered, clapped, snapped, stomped, and pumped their fists into the air.

Kevin stared patiently at the stage, waiting until Raychel's wandering eyes trailed over to him.

Raychel stared at Kevin in surprise, then realized her whole family was there.

"Found you," Kevin hissed.