The Rain - Josh Wheeler

The cold air that pumped through the mall made its way through the green room door onto the couch where my tired body lay. The cold air slowly crawled across my skin until the temperature was unbearable, I woke from my deep sleep, shivering cold. I slowly pulled myself up and began to walk around the room we had claimed as our own. I peered into where Josh was supposed to be, to find not even a single trace of him. In a state of sheer confusion, I looked at every inch of the cold but comfortable room. A small note was left on the floor, next to where he was supposed to be sleeping. I slowly bent down and picked the note up, I peered at it intently.
Hi. Wesley asked if I could help him with something. I'll be back in a few hours.
The note was crumpled into a ball on the floor so I placed it back where it was and got ready for the day ahead. I dug into my bag and ripped open a protein bar before taking a huge swig of Gatorade. I wrapped the bag around my body and exited the room, walking down the winding hallways of of the big building. As I fell deeper into the winding works of the mall, the more I realised I knew no one and that I was alone.
I waded through the crowds and sat myself on a bench, watching as people passed. Minutes faded away, I continued to sit alone but my loneliness came to a halt when I was approached by a younger looking girl, her hair was scruffy and blonde, her eyes were a deep blue and her clothes were all mix matched. "Uh who are you?" She questioned, a strong and empowered tone riddled her voice.
"Uh my name is Cade? I've been here for two days-"
"And who let you in here?" Her arms folded as she scowled at me.
"Josh, Josh Wheeler." I replied with a growing confidence.
"Oh well in that case..." she smiled at me as she shoved her hand in my face. "I'm Angelica." I took the small girls hand and smiled gently. "Josh is a cool guy right?" She smiled, her eyes widened as she talked about the brown haired boy.
"Right." I smiled, a fluttering feeling grew in my stomach. "He's nice." I added, my cheeks turning red as we spoke about him.
"You have any other friends around here?" The girl asked excitedly, shifting closer as I cleared my throat.
"I guess Simon knows me, I wouldn't say we're friends though so no, not really."
"You could've just said no, genius. I don't either, well I've got Wesley and Josh but the age difference and the gender difference makes it difficult to feel included." She shrugged, swinging her legs as she sat down next to me. We both stared blankly at the shop in front of us, watching people walk in and out in groups of friends. "How about we go on an adventure, outside. I wanna blow some ghoulie asses up." She cackled a deafening cackle, mischief filled the blue pools in her eyes.
"Sure, why not." I smiled, the young girl took my hand and dragged me through the building. We exited the mall without looking back and began to walk down the winding, dust-filled roads of Glendale. The sun beat down forcefully onto us, all was quiet and calm until we heard the loud and ruthless roars of the jocks from afar. Angelica froze in fear, her pale skin turned paper white, she stood completely still. "Doesn't seem like you'd be the type of girl to get scared by some nimrods. Come on Angelica." I grabbed the girls arm tightly and pulled her behind a car.
"Thank you Wade." She smiled at me.
"It's Cade and you're welcome." I corrected her, patting her gently on the shoulder.
"Wade, Cade... Tomayto, tomato." She shrugged, giggling at herself.
"Shh, they're coming." I grabbed her again, she put her hand over her mouth and gulped.
Slowly the parade of jocks galavanted past us, they had a malicious look in their eyes as they searched the baron lands for prey. They finally passed and Angelica let out a huge sigh, looking at me with a grateful look in her eyes.
"That's enough run ins with death today and I'm hungry so can we go back to the mall now?" She whined, stomping her little feet on the dirty ground.
"I guess, the rain will start soon anyways." I muttered, wrapping the young girl in my arm as we made our way back to the mall. We were about ten minutes away from the mall when the rain began, however this time I didn't freeze, I tore through the bag and opened the umbrella almost immediately, sheltering Angelica and I however we had to hurry up as the rain melted through sections of the contraption.
"You saved me once again." Angelica laughed. "I don't like when people save me, it belittles my intelligence." She spat. "I'm joking, I'm glad you saved me." She added, looking up at me with big eyes.
We finally made it back to the mall and were greeted by Wesley and Josh, they stood in the doorway with crossed arms and angry eyes. "Why did you take Angelica outdoors? We've got to protect her." Wesley shouted, pulling the girl from under my arm as soon as we came within reach. The young girl pushed the boy away and walked closer to me again.
"Cade was the one dragged outside, she saved me three times. She's really great." The girl fought back, taking my arm in her hands and hugging me tightly. She pushed the boys out of the way and dragged me along with her, we didn't look back at all. That was until I felt a hand tap my shoulder, I let angelica go and turned around to be met face to face with Josh.
"Why didn't you leave a note?" Sadness riddled his voice.
"I'm sorry it was a last minute decision, I was lonely and Angelica related to that so we thought we'd have some fun. Now if you'll excuse me I've got to feed an overly intelligent 12 year old." I smiled falsely and continued to walk with her.
"Wait, I'm hungry too." Josh laughed, running to catch up with us both. He wrapped his arms tightly around the both of us and we walked to the pharmacy in a group, laughing and smiling as our bonds grew tighter. I felt safe and at home with these two.