Quick lunch - Kayla (open)

[Kayla Whitaker]

It had been a lazy sunday thus far. Kayla had gotten up and gone running of course, but since then, she hadn't really done much. She'd mostly stayed home and caught up on homework all morning which was really lame but necessary.

For the afternoon, Kayla decided to do some shopping. She wasn't really much of a shopper--she usually only went when she needed things but she was kind of bored so, it seemed like the thing to do. She decided to take the bus to the mall, it dropping her off about a block or so away.

It was raining and Kayla didn't have an umbrella but she had a hooded sweatshirt that somewhat shielded her. But still, it was cold for LA and although Kayla was originally from Philly where the weather often got much colder, she'd been in LA for enough years to have gotten used to it being warm. 60s and raining was quite chilly as far as she was concerned.

On her walk from the bus stop to the mall, she spotted a Starbucks and couldn't help herself. Kayla wasn't really one for coffee, but it was chilly and a hot chocolate sounded good. She was also getting slightly hungry, but not terribly so, so she figured she could grab one of their pastries or something to hold her over while she shopped.

The line inside was considerably long, but Kayla waited in it anyway, not really feeling like heading back outside just yet. When she reached the front she order a grande peppermint hot chocolate and a vanilla scone to go along with it. Perfect.

She waited a minute or so for her order and once she got it, she lucked out finding a small table by the window that she sat down at. The hot chocolate was a little too hot, so she removed the plastic lid, letting it cool off for a bit as she sat back in the wooden chair and stared out the window at the rain.

[Kristen McKenzie]

Kristen was ready to hit the mall and get this new Gucci Purse that she had been admiring. She knew that all the girls at school would envy her for having this purse. Kristen decided to quickly jump in her Pink Honda Civic for she need plenty of time to shop.

Traffic was horrendous on the way to the mall. Cars like this were not as rude in Italy. She was finally nearing the mall when she saw a Starbucks. Kristen was a big coffee drinker from Iced latte to frapes she definitely knew her Buckets of Mud .

Once Kristen got to the cashier she asked for a White Chocolate Mocha Hot because it was a little chilly out. Once she got her order Kristen saw a girl sitting by herself. Now normally Kristen wouldn't say anything and sit alone but sometimes the Kristen from Italy got the best of her. Kristen asked the girl if she could sit with her and asked the girl for her name. Kristen could see this girl was a well-known coffee drinker too. Kristen also saw that the girl had a Grande Peppermint Hot Chocolate. Kristen remembering having that once before and it was delicious. Kristen knew she could definitely be friend with this girl for they already shared something in common.

[Kayla Whitaker]

Kayla was staring at the window so she didn't notice the other girl at first, not until she spoke up. "Oh...go ahead," she said. It was pretty crowded and seating was limited anyway and the table Kayla had picked at two chairs and an extra someone must have pulled up earlier and left that way. Plus, the girl looked around Kayla's age and she knew that if she was forced to sit with someone random that she'd want someone her age.

Kayla blew on her hot chocolate one last time before placing the plastic lid back on and taking a sip. It was still pretty hot but it was bearable now, good even. "I'm Kayla," she said, introducing herself when the other girl asked her name. Kayla wasn't always the most social when she first met people so she felt a little awkward. She took another sip of her hot chocolate, hoping that the girl now sitting across from her was more talkative that she was. Either that or they could maybe sit there in silence.

Kayla smoothed her hand over her long brown hair which was pulled back into a ponytail. "It's pretty crowded in here today..." she said sort of arbitrarily, before she glanced out the window again and picked at her scone.

[Kristen McKenzie]

Kristen noticed the girl liked to look out the window alot. Kiristen figured she was most likely a little shy. lKristen answered the girls statement "Yeah it is crowded". "Wow what people would do to get there coffee huh ?". Kristen said " Hi my name is Kristen. Kristen was glad she had found someone to break the ice ,Kristen was really bad at that sometimes. Now what Kristen did have was the habit to keep a conversation going sometimes a little to long.

Kristen asked Kalya " Do you like to shop?"and also asked Kalya if she wanted to join her shopping at the local mall. Since Kristen was pretty new around LA she could use a shopping buddy.Kristen even asked if the Kalya if she didn't have a ride she would be glad to take her in her Honda Civic.Kristen noticed she might not have had a ride because the girl clothes were dripping a little. Kristen knew she had promise herself she wouldn't let herself get hurt by putting herself out there to be friends with people. But Kristen deeply inside wanted to break that fear that she had.

[Kayla Whitaker]

"Yeah, I guess so...or to get out of the rain," Kayla pointed out. After all, that's why she'd come in. She didn't even drink coffee but she did like the hot chocolate and the tea was pretty good too. Starbucks carried Tazo brand which Kayla liked. "I guess people are pretty coffee obsessed in general though," Kayla reasoned, although she didn't really get it.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you, Kristen," she said, sort of wondering where the other girl went to school, and how old she was but she didn't ask. She probably didn't go to Silver or Gould anyway because Kayla hadn't seen her around before, and she could usually recognize someone as a Silver student even if she didn't know their name and she was started to recognize the Gould students too. She'd been there long enough to do that now, well mostly, there were still probably some Gould people she hadnt' seen around yet.

Kayla shrugged when the other girl asked if she liked shopping. "Shopping's okay," she said, "although that is where I was going next," she admitted, sort of motioning to the mall down the block. Kayla wasn't really much of a shopper though. She was just bored. She was kind of surprised when the other girl asked her if she wanted to shop with her. "Uh...I guess so," Kayla said. It wasn't that she had anything against the other girl, she seemed nice, Kayla just didn't know her and she wasn't used to people she didn't know randomly asking her to go shopping and offering her rides. She didn't mention the ride for now, figuring that she'd play that by ear later, just in case the girl turned out to be a psycho or something. After all, you never knew in LA, and Kayla tended to be on the cautious side. Although, the shopping part seemed harmless enough.

[Amy Baker]

Amy had been cooped up in the house for way too long. She just needed to get out of the house and with her father constantly badgering her to go out, she finally relented only because she didn't want to be home when the cab took him away from her for months on end. And Keely wasn't coming over until the evening because of her shift work at the hospital.

"I'll be back before you know it." Her dad said as she was about to leave. She turned while she jammed her feet into her sneakers. "You say that every time you leave dad. I never believe you." She said lightly, not wanting her dad to know just how much she usually missed him during his long trips out to sea.

"Don't be so cheeky with me." Alex grinned although she could see something in his eyes that made her feel a bit guilty for making him feel guilty for leaving. He only wanted to provide a good life for her anyway. She should be grateful. Slinging her sports bag over her shoulder that was filled with her basketball, a change of clothes, a big bottle of water and a towel for later use, she gave her father a little kiss on his cheek.

"Well don't be late." She said before getting out of the house to get her bike. "I won't!" He called out as she cycled off in the direction of the mall to get some coffee. The rain was still heavy and she was glad she had her parka on. At least then her pants would be the only wet article on her.

Parking her bike at the bike stand outside the entrance of the mall and stuffing her parka in her bag after turning it inside out, she walked in one of the many coffee shops littering the shopping complex and got a couple of big cookies, which were her favourite from the cafe. As she turned, she spotted one of the few girl friends she had who were athletes. They didn't hang out much but they got on well with each other.

She was with another girl Amy had never seen before but it wouldn't hurt to get to know new people anyway, especially girls since Amy wasn't exactly known for having too many friends who weren't boys. Shrugging, she walked over to the pair. "Kayla, hey! Not practising today?" She asked of the brunette before turning to the other with a big welcoming smile.

"I don't think we've met. I'm Amy. Hope I wasn't interrupting anything?"

[Kayla Whitaker]

Kayla smiled, looking over at Amy when she approached the table. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised that the mall was a popular destination on the rainy day, although it did look like it let up a little outside. "Hey, Amy," she said. "No, definitely not interrupting. You should sit down," she said, motioning to the empty chair that someone must have pulled up to the table earlier, before she'd sat down. "I'm not really up to much," she said. "I did some running this morning, but it was hard with the rain and all," she explained. "Now I just figured I'd do some shopping since I had nothing better to do," she admitted. "What about you, get in any practice at all?" she asked the other girl. Kayla didn't know Amy well, but she knew her well enough to carry on a conversation with her. Plus, Amy was also really athletic which was something that Kayla appreciated. Most of Kayla's friends were the athletes of the school, and she didn't include cheerleaders in the whole athlete thing.

"This is Kristen," she said, introducing the other girl to Amy. Kayla didn't really know anything else about Kristen to go on. She didn't know what school she was from or where she was from or anything. All she knew was that she was also going shopping. "I think she was going to join for shopping though, you should too," she offered, feeling sort of weird bringing everyone together to shop. She was so out of her element. She didn't usually shop and she wasn't usually the social one of the group, but somehow it had sort of happened because Kristen had sat with her and was really friendly and she already kind of Amy.

Plus, Kayla wouldn't mind getting to know Amy better. What she knew of the girl, she liked. Plus, it would make the whole shopping with Kristen thing less weird, not that Kristen was weird...she seemed really cool, and annoyingly attractive, but then again so was Amy. Kayla's main issue was not knowing Kristen at all and Kayla usually needed more time to ease into friendships...sort of like that Christophe guy she'd met the other day. Nice and all, but Kayla just wasn't one to go around befriending random people, so having Amy as a cushion, definitely made her feel more comfortable about it.

[Kristen McKenzie]

"Oh yeah I forgot to say that I'm a Gould Sophomore. "I’m fifteen years old and I'm from Rome, Itlay. " I'm new around hear don’t really know anyone." I just met Kayla 30 mins ago, when I was drinking my coffee. Kristen then looked at Amy she seemed like a nice girl both girls Kristen had met looked like they were great friends. Finally Kristen decided to make conversation with Amy.

"Yeah I was just telling Kayla that we should go shopping together."You should join us Amy we could definitely use a third person. I need help shopping for these new earrings that I want to get. Kristen was amazed at she didn't know either of these girls and she was comfortable with telling them so much. Kristen then starting thinking to herself maybe she was being to forward she really hoped the girls didn't mind she just wanted to make friends. Kristen asked the two girls" So you’re both athletes what sports do you guys play?" What school do you guys go to?" Kristen was really just trying to make conversation .She knew if they all went to the mall she would have more social skills. Kristen had already finished most of her coffee and was tired of looking at the Starbucks environment. Kristen then suggested that they could all meet up at the mall if it was more comfortable to them.

[Amy Baker]

She sighed with relief when Kayla recognised her and reassured her that she wasn't bothering them. Amy nodded and sat in the empty chair as Kayla started to explain about her morning. "Oh yeah, I didn't bother getting out of the house in the morning. But...things changed come afternoon. The rain seemed to let up just a bit so I decided to take advantage of it. Kudos to the dude who invented parkas right?" She grinned. She hadn't let the girls in on the details of what changed come afternoon. She didn't want anyone to know about her little issues with her father being gone. No one even knew that he was gone half the time.

The shopping invitation made Amy blanch but not physically of course. She wasn't rude or anything. "Uh...me? Shopping?" Amy laughed nervously. "No...I mean...grocery shopping's fun but shopping...I tend to make a beeline to the sports stores most of the time so..." she shrugged, taking a bite of her cookie. "You want some?" She offered Kayla with a grin, her gaze lingering longer than was appropriate before she turned to the new girl with an enthusiastic grin. "Hi Kristen. I'm Amy. I'm Silver go Silver right Kayla? Haha!" She knew she was being awkward but she had just stared at Kayla. It was awkward and it was just not appropriate. They were both girls for God's sake.

When Kristen also invited Amy to go shopping with them, she couldn't say no. It would just seem rude. And it wouldn't kill her to know what being a girl was like, right? And what could possibly be better than to have two girls who acted like girls teach her to act more like a girl? Not the she was about to start acting like that Kate Walker. If she spent more time enhancing her play than waste time on make-up and girly clothes, she'd actually be better at basketball.

"What sport do I play?" Amy chuckled in disbelief. "Basketball isn't a sport. And it's not what I play. It's a lifestyle and I'm living it well," she knew she sounded cocky and completely pretentious but whatever. Basketball needed to be appreciated as the art it really is. She got out of her trance and grinned at the girls to stop the awkwardness coming from her. "Kidding. Basketball. I play basketball,"

[Kayla Whitaker]

"Yeah...I know...I'm not much of a shopper either, but I have to have clothes for when I'm not running," Kayla said with a shrug. "But I wouldn't mind hitting up some of the sports stores." She didn't really need anything right now, but she always liked looking around. Although the only sport Kayla did in school involved running, she liked playing all different sports and still owned a ton of equipment for different things.

"Yep, go Silver," Kayla said with a smile, "although the schools are combined right now. Did you start Gould yet?" she asked. She'd said she was from Rome, so Kayla wasn't sure just when she'd moved to LA. Kayla glanced over at Amy for a moment, catching her staring...was she staring? Kayla stared back for a split second, catching her eye, then quickly glancing back at the table. Why did she always do that? But the girls were attractive and Kayla thought girls were really attractive...but that was no excuse. Just because she felt that way, didn't mean the other girls did, so she'd have to stop.

Luckily, Kristen asked Amy what sport she played and she went on about basketball. That was good...distraction, yeah. Any awkwardness from Kayla wasn't due Amy's basketball lifestyle comment. It was from her own distracting thoughts. "Yeah, Amy's like a basketball star," Kayla put in. "I play a bunch of different sports, but I just do track and cross country at school. I really like running..." she said a little lamely. "Do you want to head to the mall? I'm pretty much finished anyway..."