The Shelter

Part 2 - The Paint

oo-oo

"Momma? Mor? Is that Raine?" Karma yells from the top of the stairs, sending a message to her best friend in case her moms hadn't heard her.

"Where's my favourite shortcake?" she hears a familiar voice yell back. Karma runs down the stairs to see her whole group of friends crammed in the entrance corridor.

"Hey! I thought I was your favourite?" a deeper voice argues, indignant and demanding.

"Nah, fam, you're just short," Raine shrugs. "Better luck next life."

Derrick, the owner of the deep voice, has such an offended look on his face that Karma can't help but laugh.

"What's everyone doing here?" Karma chuckles confused. "I thought it was going to be just us two going to the cinema?"

"Damn, you really thought we would leave you alone for your birthday?" Sergio mocks her, coming over to hug her tightly. "Happy birthday, artista."

Karma blushes, clearly aware of the muscles on his back. She tried not to seem as if she's groping him, but before she can second doubt her movements, she's already passed into Derrick's arms.

"You've finally caught up to me! I'm so proud of you!" Derrick croons out, trying his best to ruffle Karma's head.

"I'm two days younger!"

"Happy birthday, my favourite shortcake," Raine sends a smirk to Derrick, before swinging her arms around Karma. "You ready to rock and roll?"

"Where are we going?" Karma knows better than to think they'd be going to the movies after they'd all bothered showing up.

Derrick says "It's for me to know and you to find out" at the same time Sergio replied with "Glow It".

"Whoops," Sergio corrects himself, a fake innocent grin on his lips. "Was it supposed to be a secret?"

"You're hopeless," Raine tells him. "I'll never tell you who my crush is."

"You promised!" he exclaims confusedly. "I won that bet."

"Wait, wait, wait," Karma cuts their argument off, what Sergio just spilt out hitting her. "Are we really going to Glow It?"

"Who do you take us for? Of course, we are," Raine rolls her eyes. "And you call us your friends, woman."

Karma let out one of the largest screeches you would ever hear. She saw all her group simultaneously wince then wheeze as they got strangled into a hug by her.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she pushes out in one breath. She adds an extra squeal to let out the last of her overexcitement, before getting herself under control. She smoothes the wrinkles out of her clothes and quickly glances into the mirror hung in the corridor to see if she looks proper.

Glow It was a glow-in-the-dark art gallery a couple of hours away from her house. It had opened a few months ago by one of her favourite artists that she followed on the International Online Database (or IOD as they called it), and Karma had been trying to convince her parents to drive her there for ages, even saying they could take the trip expenses out of her own pocket money but they'd told her time and time again to wait. She'd looked at all the pictures online and was constantly following what was happening with new art and concepts.

"Let's go!" She yelled out, grabbing the closest appendages she could find and dragging them with her out the door. She could hear her friends amused laughs, but she was too happy to even be offended by them.

They drove for several hours, Sergio had gotten his driver's license a month back as soon as he'd turned eighteen, and Karma was vibrating with eagerness the whole time. It felt so dangerous, going out with no adult supervision. They'd gone as far as the next town over before, so driving to the next state was a big deal.