******
"Lance! I didn't know it was possible!"
"What?"
"To be that bad at basketball," Justin said.
"Shut up, Justin!"
"Actually," Justin continued. "You did me a big favor. I've been wondering if there was something wrong with the hoop. I was right! It should be about 10 feet forward and 5 more feet to the left!" he said brightly.
Lance glared. "You better run, Curly," he said.
"But you won't hurt me! You're the shy one!" Justin said, running away.
"And you're the cute one. So cute I just want to...beat the crap out of you!"
"You think I'm cute?" Justin batted his eyelashes.
"Typical fifteen year old," Chris said, coming by and rolling his eyes.
"How would you know? You act like you're five!" Justin retorted.
"Oh, you're just getting everybody pissed off at you now, aren't you?" Chris began running after Justin.
Lance laughed, satisfied, and sat back in his chair.
A pair of eyes watched his every move.
***
"HEY!" Justin called to Lance.
"What?"
"My mom wanted me to get this cross thing for her...um...friend or something...wanna come?"
"Who else is going?"
"All of them, we're gonna go eat afterwards," he said.
"Sure."
They all got into a car and drove to a small store. "You guys coming in?" Justin asked.
"I'm game," Lance said.
"Figures," Joey muttered. Lance smacked him lightly on the arm. They all ended up going in.
"What did your mom want?" Lance asked.
Justin furrowed his brow. "I don't know. I don't even know why I agreed to come here..." He stopped, thinking. "I think she wanted to get her a necklace she saw one day."
"Couldn't get it anywhere else?" Chris asked.
"Guess not." Justin finally found what he was looking for and went to the counter.
Lance followed behind him, eyeing everything the store had. Then he saw who was behind the counter. His eyes widened and he started choking on the gum he was chewing.
"Lance? You okay?" JC asked worriedly.
"Fine," he managed, still looking at the person behind the counter. Then he started to chuckle.
Justin looked at him oddly. "Lance? I'm sorry..." he said, turning to the guy behind the counter. "He's not usually like this..."
"Oh really?" the man sounded amused.
"Yeah...he's normally quiet. Anyway, I'm all set."
"Great," the guy said, looking at Lance with a grin on his face. JC was patting his back, because Lance was still choking on his gum. He rung up Justin's purchases.
"Here," he said, handing the bag to Justin. Justin took it and thanked him.
Lance finally got himself under control. "I'm gonna go talk to the guy, and make sure I didn't scare him too much," he said, knowing he sounded lame, but not really caring.
"All right," Justin said, looking at him weird again.
Lance ignored it and went to see the man behind the counter. "I should've known you'd be here," he said, smiling.
"Where else would I be? I had to check up on you somehow," he replied. "So you're quiet now, are you?"
Lance nodded. "I'm being good," he said.
"Yes you are," the man laughed.
"So are you going to be inhabiting any other stores, or are you gonna stick to religion?"
"Who knows where you'll find me?"
"You're crazy, Nikolas," Lance said. "Absolutely crazy."