ARCTIC HEART (ON HOLD)

4: Your Napalm Eyes

Arizona counted the vibrant cartoons swaying side to side over his shoulders as she followed. She was pretty sure Miss Queen was exaggerating when she said he bought 13 cartons of ice cream every night but turned out, she was not. Exactly 13 cartoons tied in two tight columns were dangling precariously over his shoulders as he sauntered down numerous turns and alleys.

Wait. Why am I following him?

Arizona thought biting her lip as she ducked behind a butcher-up wall to avoid being seen. Following him like a creepy stalker was not her plan A. She wanted to stop him at the door and thank him for last night and just walk away. That small detour, however, somehow turned into some James Bond movie and she was then torn between running after him and screeching a thank you and like a lunatic or just taking a U-turn and whistling away like a three-year-old caught trying to avoid being caught doing something suspicious. While both the options seemed lucrative, this was the most thrilling thing she came close to doing since she had moved to Annexa and she had no intention of stopping any moment now. Arizona smirked to herself.

Who knew stalking is so thrilling!

Just then the little angel on her right shoulder, like the sensible one it was, started yapping out loud.

Well, A. Think you filled your monthly quota for thrill last night, and B. You got only 40 minutes before your classes start.

Run!!!

Arizona scoffed to herself as she hushed her inner gramps. She could not believe she grew her conscience to be such a moron. It should have learned by now that she never listened to it and she never regretted not listening to it.

Duh!

Arizona cursed herself as she looked around for her ice cream monster. She was so busy pushing her inner scream queen that she went on autopilot. And now...

Great! Are you happy now?

Her shoulders just dropped. She felt like she had just failed a top-secret mission shouldered to her by the very hands of the Chief of FBI. Her target was nowhere in sight. Now she had no idea what to do for the next 40 minutes.

Arizona murmured hitting gravels.

What on earth are they gonna teach anyway?

She knew Plastic Pansy and her minions were now in their daily route of collecting alms in the school ground in the name of giving- them- the- privilege- to- breath- there- by- not- smashing- their- misfit- arse. People outside the broad spectrum of being a typical Barbie and Kent happened to be her regular donor and Arizona happened to be a transferred Barbie with the accent of an immigrant. The perfect misfit candidate. The thought made Arizona groan. Her moneybag was not in charitable health that month and she had no intention of smelling her 10 tons of face powder that early in the day.

Seeing no other choice, Arizona started walking back to where she came from, taking as small steps as she could to prolong her dreaded donation. She took some turns. Then some more. Till she realized she had no idea which block she was in. It was not a part of town that she had been to before. And had no reason to either. It was all graffiti and flat tires sunk in blankets of smokes. All abandoned and grey. Not a fancy neighborhood.

Shaking her head, Arizona fished for her phone in her pocket. Knowing how amazingly persistent she was in losing track of turns, she installed a tracking app in her phone long ago. She turned her screen on to launch it when a reflection shadowed her screen. Even before she could react, she found herself flying across the lawn onto a fence and unable to move.

Arizona looked up. It was him in flesh. The white-haired devil Miss Queen warned her of. He was towering over her and saying something that she could not quite process because she was not even listening. Arizona was twisting her arms and legs, trying to break free. But they were tightly clasped in his strong fists, pinned against the fence. She swung her leg against his groin with all her might but he ducked in one swift motion and re-enforced his newly found rage on his grasp. Arizona winced in pain. She looked at him with venom as he looked back with emotions she could not quite decipher. He was furious and ...