Kara simply stood and observed, watching the scene of bitter (and slightly amusing) hatred seething from Sarah's speech. She hated that the teen was getting laid into so hard, but at the same time, it was pretty fun to watch.

In a way, she felt herself getting really jealous of Sarah. After all, where Kara would have just fled, or stuttered her words away, this woman was completely owning the room. 'Why can't I do that?' Kara thought to herself.

The teenager interrupted her response to herself.

"Alright, fine. You've got me. What do you want, my word? My signature on a contract? A lock of hair?"

Kara quickly turned to Sarah and whispered, "M--Maybe we should just...go...or something. I mean, we...we have what we need."

She glanced back to the teen, to see him smugly raising an eyebrow, having apparently heard her little tactical opinion. Kara felt her face grow hot with blush, and quickly turned away.

"Alright, fine. You've got me. What do you want, my word? My signature on a contract? A lock of hair?"

Before Sarah could say anything to the arrogant teen, Carragail was whispering to her.

>>"M--Maybe we should just...go...or something. I mean, we...we have what we need."

The brunette looked at the young girl, making sure to keep one eye on the cashier. Sarah knew a little about the other girl by her actions. The twenty-three year old also knew she needed to get out of the store. She could always tell the owner what happened when she saw him at work. It would probably lead the teen into a false sense of security too, thinking she forgot.

"I guess you're right," she shrugged. "Come on, I'll treat you to brunch."

Sarah put her back to the cash resister, leaving a space for Carragail to walk by her and towards the door. While the brunette didn't like the idea of her back to someone she was sure would take advantage, leaving the younger girl open would make her feel worse.

"Come on, I'll treat you to brunch."

Kara immediately flared up bright red, turning towards Sarah and frantically waving her hands. "Oh, no no no no, you---you don't have to," she stammered awkwardly, before noticing that Sarah was giving her space to make a run for the door. All too happy to oblige, Kara scuttled between the woman and the counter and cracked open the door.

Then she paused. And thought. And smiled slightly.

The beginnings of a little practical joke was forming in her mind. And while pretty much every inch of her brain was screaming at her to just go, go back to the street, go back to the mansion, go cower in her room (which she still had yet to share), the opprotunity was almost too good to resist.

'What the hell,' she thought to herself. 'Go for it.'

So she opened the door, standing to one side and making a gesture of, "You first," towards Sarah. She kept her attention on Sarah, but out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the cashier rolling his eyes and half-heartedly returning to his book.

Sarah smiled at the girl's flustered response.

"I'm having too much fun hanging out with you to let this time end so soon," she responded as Carragail moved past her.

She glared at the cashier before moving after the dark haired teen, keeping two paces behind her. Sarah let the girl open the door and took her gesture as what it was. Walking through the door, she grabbed the edge on the outside to let the teen come out as well.

As she stood there, she watched the cashier go back to his book. Sarah rolled her eyes at his lack of motivation. 'At least I know why the store is so disorganized. Poor employees,' she thought briefly.

'There. There's your opprotunity.'

Once Sarah walked by her, she turned to face the cashier in question. Sensing he was being stared at, he turned to face her.

She stood up as straight as possible, mustered up the most ferocious voice she could pull together (one that honestly surprised herself), and told him in a voice that barely reached him, "Disrespect the circle again, and it'll be the last thing you do."

She turned away and walked through the door that Sarah was holding open. Afraid she might giggle and make herself look non-credible, she quickly ducked around the nearest corner before cracking up softly to herself. She imagined that teens face, and it made her double over with laughter. She only hoped that Sarah either didn't notice or didn't spoil it.

Falling against the nearest wall, she muttered to herself, "Oh my god, that was brilliant."

>>"Disrespect the circle again, and it'll be the last thing you do."

Sarah wasn't sure what the girl meant, but it made an evil smirk spread across her lips. She noticed the cashier look from Carragail to her and back. As the girl fled, the brunette let a low hiss escape. It was a sound she had used to creep out her younger family members.

She watched the boy's eyes widen in fear before she swept out of the store's doorway. She walked quickly, looking around for the dark haired girl.

"Hey," she called when she found Carragail, "that was pretty amazing."

Sarah hadn't been expecting the shy girl to act the way she had, but surprises were always fun. She was glad the girl had spoken up at the end. The brunette was afraid for Carragail, though now she knew that she didn't need to worry.

"Hey, that was pretty amazing."

She turned around, turning face to face with Sarah. Then she giggled. Then she burst out laughing, rolling back and forth with each breath and on the verge of crying from it all.

"It really was, wasn't it?" She managed to say between chuckles.

Then a big, fat realization hit her in the face. She immediately stopped laughing.

"Oh god," she thought aloud. "What if...what if he calls the cops? He knows me! I have to..." She turned to run back to the store and apologize, explain that it was all a practical joke...

...But there was a 23-year-old brunette in the way.

She stopped, and backpedaled a foot or two, then shrank slightly. "Um...I--I need to..." She finished the sentence with her hands, gesturing as if to say, "I need to get around you, so please move."

>>"It really was, wasn't it?"

Sarah nodded as she grinned at the younger girl. Then she saw the expression on Carragail's face change. Then the laughter stopped.

>>"Oh god... What if...what if he calls the cops? He knows me! I have to...Um...I--I need to... I need to get around you, so please move."

"Woah, Hun. You need to calm down. I'll move if you answer a few questions. If you give answers that make me think you should go back, then I'll go with you. That okay?" Sarah asked.

Carragail was really sweet. Though the possibility of getting arrested, the brunette wanted to make sure the young girl had thought through her decision.

"Woah, Hun. You need to calm down. I'll move if you answer a few questions. If you give answers that make me think you should go back, then I'll go with you. That okay?"

Kara listened intently to Sarah's request. No...it was more of a demand, really. When she was done, Kara softly muttered, "O--okay..."

She thought hard about what questions Sarah would probably pose, trying to prepare herself for when they came. All she wound up with was questions about her source of bail.

Oh...wait...

Her source of bail was her dad...

What would her dad say?

She was sure that some of her inner panic was showing on her face, even though she tried as hard as she could to keep her inner panic from becoming outer panic. She couldn't help it. The thought of calling her dad from jail was...beyond terrifying....

She shook her head slightly, as if that would get rid of the surge of terror, and added, "O--okay. Go ahead...and...y'know...ask..."

'Wow. Way to mess up a sentence.'

>>"O--okay. Go ahead...and...y'know...ask..."

Sarah smiled softly and moved her weight around so she didn't look like she was going to force Carragail into anything. While she would watch out for her, the brunette wasn't going to make her stay put. All she really wanted was to know exactly what went through the girl's head.

"Let's start with," Sarah started, "how he knows you? And why you would want to tell him it was a joke?"

Those were the main questions she wanted to know. She knew that if you did something on impulse, you usually regretted if you took it back. Then again, if Carragail might have a legitimate reason to need to tell the kid it was a joke. If so, Sarah planned on accompanying her to make sure all went well.

Carragail was about to spout off a bunch of different answers, listing every reason why this entire situation couldn't possibly end well.

Then she realized...she was pretty much exaggerating the issue.

For starters, he was asleep when Sarah and Kara introduced themselves. There was the distant possibility that her name had seeped into his subconscious mind, but then there was the fact that she'd never thrown her last name out. So he couldn't possibly know her.

On the other hand, she could think of about ten million reasons why he should know it was all a joke.

Silently, she simply deflated and let out a little, "I...guess there's...no harm..."

>>"I...guess there's...no harm..."

Sarah smiled. "It's okay, Hun. You two probably won't meet again. I'm going to make sure that brat isn't going to have a job for much longer." She stopped as she remembered something. "Hey, let's go get some food. I'm starved."

At that moment, the brunette's stomach started to make noise. She had skipped breakfast and her stomach was making sure she knew it. With a laugh, she motioned for the other girl to follow her.

"It's okay, Hun. You two probably won't meet again. I'm going to make sure that brat isn't going to have a job for much longer."

"Oh, n--no...you don't have to..."

"Hey, let's go get some food. I'm starved."

Kara kept trying to finish her previous sentence, but no noises came out. Her brain had overridden her panicky sentence to try not to interrupt the sentence that had interrupted hers. Yeah, maybe a little too nice, but there really isn't such a thing. Right?

Finally, Kara registered what Sarah's most recent sentence actually. She panicked. Mentally flailing, she spat out, "Um...n--no thanks..."

'Wait! You need to say why! Or else you look like a big jerk!'

"Um...my...um...dad...I'm supposed to be..." Her voice trailed off. She could only hope that Sarah could finish her sentence for her.

>>"Um...n--no thanks... Um...my...um...dad...I'm supposed to be..."

Sarah nodded, half understanding what the girl needed to do. Waving a hand in the air she started talking, "Whoops, my fault. I do that sometimes. Be presumptuous I mean. Family comes first. Why don't I walk you to where you're meeting him? That way I know you got there safely."

Carragail was really a sweetheart. It was a shame Sarah couldn't spend more time with her. The city was large enough to know that finding someone you met one day would be difficult without contact information. However, the brunette wasn't going to ask for that from the teen. While she wouldn't mind keeping in touch with such a sweet girl, Sarah preferred to let teens keep to themselves. She had been rather cautious with strangers so she expected the same from others.

"Why don't I walk you to where you're meeting him? That way I know you got there safely."

Busted.

Completely and utterly.

Kara tried to keep her face as composed as possible, while her brain scrambled to figure out an excuse. She'd always been a terrible liar, but she'd never thought it'd actually be a useful skill.

Finally, she arrived at a conclusion. One that she really, really hoped would work.

"It's...um...over on S--Seaman Avenue...by Riverside. You d--don't have to...come along..."