Shopping, talking and stalking.

"Man, I haven't been to a mall in years." said Lance as they pulled into the parking lot.

"Me either." said Sage as she opened her door and got out. "There are always too many people. I usually get lost."

"Well, we won't go alone so no chance of that. Should we all go together or in twos?" asked Ty as they walked through the sliding doors.

"Why don't we make this interesting and split up? I'll go with Lance and you can go with Sage. Then we can all meet up at the food court in an hour and we will switch." said Lyla.

"Sounds good to me." said Lance. "What do y'all think?" he asked Sage and Ty.

"Sure." they both said.

"Okay, well, we will see y'all later." said Ty as he took Sage's hand and began to walk away.

Lance waved, feeling a little nervous and worried about not being with Sage.

"So where do you want to go?" Ty asked Sage.

"Um, I'm not sure. I kinda have a weird style, kind of emo/anime kid with a touch of old fashion from time to time."

"Want to do a clothing montage?" asked Ty.

"A what?"

"Well, pick a store, then I will show you."

Sage picked a well know clothing store that she personally had never shopped in because it was too expensive. But Ty had assured her over and over that he (meaning his family) would pay for everything and that they had more than enough to cover whatever she wanted.

"Okay, so let's pick out some clothes first." Ty said.

Sage walked around slowly, looking at things but picking out nothing.

"Oh, come on, there has to be something you like!" Ty said after twenty minutes with his arms full of clothes he had picked for himself.

"I'm not good at this sort of thing. My roommate used to help me pick out clothes."

"Oh, well, why don't you sit over there by the dressing rooms and I will pick out stuff for you." Ty said.

"Really?"

"Sure, I don't mind. Just wait, you will like what I pick."

So Sage sat down and waited. After about fifteen minutes or so Ty came back with an assortment of clothes.

"Now, you don't get to look at them, just go in and try them on, come out and show me each outfit. That is a clothing montage." he said as he hung the clothes in a open dressing room.

"Okay." said Sage as she walked in.

Ty sat down and waited.

Sage came out wearing a red crop top with high waisted black skinny jeans.

"Well, what do you think?" Sage said nervously.

Ty stared at her. She looked beautiful. there was just a small amount of her tan chest showing. Ty felt hot and knew he was blushing.

"I like it, do you?"

"Yeah, I do, I never wore this kind of stuff before but I like it with these high waisted jeans." she said smiling.

"Okay well, keep trying on."

Sage tried on another flower pattern blue crop top with burgundy jeans, a large boyfriend striped gray and white sweater with black leggings, a yellow flowy blouse with a high waisted burgundy skirt, and finally a velvet burgundy evening dress that went down to her feet. It had a plunging v neck front, with a slit up to the knee on the right side and an open back.

Sage stared at Ty.

"Why did you pick this?"

"Sometimes we have Ballroom parties so I thought you might need one and might I say, you look amazing."

Sage blushed.

"Okay, my turn now." Ty said walking into the dressing room.

After they had paid, they began to walk towards the food court.

"So about that story you wanted to tell me. Is now a good time for that?" Ty asked.

"I guess so. Are you sure you want to hear this?"

"Are you sure you want to tell me?"

Sage stopped and looked at him.

"Do you mind being a little late to the food court?"

Ty smiled and sat down on a nearby bench. Sage laughed and sat down next to him.

"So, when I was eleven," she said nervously. "I met a boy. We were friends at first but then I grew to like him. Eventually we ended up in a serious relationship and had plans to get married young and move to Haiti together. I wanted to start an orphanage there ever sense I was a little kid. Anyways, we grew older and slowly grew apart. Next thing I know, he goes to Haiti without me. I was heart broken but I still cared about him, so I got in contact with him over social media and started messaging him thinking maybe he still had feeling for me. But instead he basically sided me. That's when I realized that I had been the one keeping things going though our whole relationship and he had never once tried to show me that he actually wanted to be in a relationship. So basically I just waisted years of my life making plans with someone who didn't truly love me. So yeah, that's the short version of the story."

"Wow, I'm so sorry, Sage. I can't even imagine how hard that must have been for you."

"It's okay, I got older and wiser. But I still want to go to Haiti one day and live out my dream, just without him." she sighed. "We should probably meet up with Lance and Lyla now." she said standing up.

"Okay." Ty said standing. "Just so you know, that guy was wrong and must of been out of his mind to not want to be with you." he said looking down at her. Sage blushed.

Earlier...

"So where do you want to go?" Lyla asked.

"I don't care, anywhere I guess."

"Let's go in here." Lyla said pointing to a fancy clothing store.

"Are you sure?" Lance said looking at the store. "It looks expensive."

"We are paying! You saw how big our house is." She added in a whisper. "We got this, come on." She started pulling him towards the door.

"Okay, if you say so."

Lance walked in and started looking around. Lyla came over to him after a few minutes.

"Found anything?"

"Not really, this isn't really my style."

"Oh, I'm sorry, well why don't I let you pick the next store?" Lyla said.

They walked out and started looking for a new store.

"So can I ask you something?" Lyla asked.

"Sure, I guess."

"It's about Sage."

Lyla looked at him.

"Oh." Lance said. "What about her?"

"Well....when you were both being erased..." She said trailing off. "The lab assistant who was over removing blemishes told me she noticed a lot of scaring on Sage's wrists and some on her thighs."

She looked at him nervously.

Lance didn't speak for a moment and his face went blank.

"I've known Zmayah for close to six years now." He said. "I've known her through some really rough times."

He continued walking and not looking at her.

"Zmayah, had a really hard up bringing. Her dad was an alcoholic." He continued. "He wasn't really there for most of Zmayah's childhood. Her mom basically raised all seven of them on her own. She tried to be a good mom but Zmayah was still abused by one of her siblings. Her dad finally got cleaned up in Zmayah's late teen years but then her parents began pushing Zmayah to be perfect and finally caring what she did. But they were too late. Zmayah was broken and untrusting. When we met, she was a very guarded person. She seemed shy but really she was hurting and depressed. It took a long time for her to open up to me and explain what she had gone through and the only reason she told me was because I kept asking her why she always wore long sleeves even in hot weather. I asked her for over two years before she finally told me." Lance paused and looked at Lyla. "Zmayah was a cutter. She had been cutting herself for years trying to escape the pain of her reality. When I found out, I tried to help her. I showed her she could trust me and slowly she started to. Eventually, she stopped, but after a fight with her parents that ended in her moving out and a relationship gone bad, she started up again. I've been helping her and she has only recently stopped again.

His eyes studied Lyla's face. She looked shocked and sad.

"I am telling you this in complete confidence. If any of this conversation in any way gets back to Zmayah, you will never hear from or see either of us ever again. Zmayah is my best friend, and one of the most caring and kind people anyone could ever befriend. But she is also sensitive and if her trust is broken, she ends up broken. She just recently went through a tough time. So I am willing to do anything in my power to make sure she is happy and safe."

"You really do love her." Lyla said staring at him with a look of pity.

"Yes, I do, but her happiness means more to me then my feelings and I would rather be her friend forever then accidentally hurt her."

"Wow, you both are amazing, and I will keep this to myself. No one else will know."

"Thank you, now, let's go in this store. this is more my style." He said pointing to a skate shop.

"Lyla, Lance, over here!" Ty yelled waving to them across the food court.

"Did y'all finish your shopping?" he asked once they reached the table.

"Yeah, did you?"

"I did, are you done shopping Sage?"

"I am done clothing shopping but I would like to get some shoes I guess. I don't have any dress shoes that will go with that dress."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I should have thought of that."

"Did y'all eat already?" Lance asked looking at Sage.

"Yes, I ate Sean okay!" she said exasperatedly.

Ty laughed.

"I made sure to feed her." he said smirking at Sage's annoyed face.

"I was just checking. I know you don't eat sometimes if there isn't food you like."

"I ate, I had a smoothie, some fruit and a cup of tea."

She glared at him. He smiled back at her. Then he walked over and patted her on the head.

"Cute little angry person!"

"Stop it! You know I hate that!"

Ty and Lyla laughed.

"Well, we will go grab some food." Lyla said walking away with Lance still laughing.

"So now that everyone is done eating, what should we do?" Lance asked, after throwing away his burger trash.

"Why don't we split up again? Should we switch? Lance can go with Sage and I'll go with Ty?"

"Sure." They all agreed.

"So you need shoes?" Lance asked Sage as they left the food court

"Yeah, I just don't know what kind. I've never worn a dress like this before."

"What dress?"

"I'll show you it when I try on some shoes."

They walked into a shoe store.

"I guess I should try on heels...I don't know, I'm not good at this."

"Why don't you show me the dress and I'll try to help."

Sage held up the velvet dress.

"Wow, that's nice. Um, how about these?" he said holding up a pair of gold stripy heels.

Sage tried them on.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"Do you like them?" he asked.

"I guess, it is kinda hard to tell without having the dress on."

"Well, why don't you go put it on?"

"I guess I can, I'll go find a bathroom or something. You stay here, I'll be back in a minute."

Lance waited.

Sage came back, wearing the velvet dress. Her face was very red.

"Do you like it?" she asked sheepishly.

Lance stared at her.

"You look beautiful. Here, try the shoes with it."

Sage put the shoes on.

"Well?" she said looking at Lance.

"I think those are perfect."

"Okay, well I guess we can go then."

They payed, using a card Ty had given them.

Once they walked out, Sage went and changed in a nearby bathroom.

"I need to go in here real quick." she said pointing to a lingerie store. "I need some lady things." she said blushing.

"Oh, okay, I'll just wait out here." He said sitting down on a bench.

Twenty minutes later, Sage came out with a small bag.

"Okay, I'm done." she said.

"Should I text Ty and see where they are?"

"No, let's go find them." Sage said with a smirk. "And some candied nuts, those sound really good right now."

Lance laughed and followed her.

"Hey, I wanted to talk to you about this morning." Lance said as they walked around eating candied nuts.

"Oh, okay. What about it?"

"Is this what you want? I mean...you and me."

Sage stopped walking and faced him.

"I like you Sean, you are my best friend, nothing will ever change that. But I just don't know if right now is the best timing for a relationship. I mean, you and Sophie just split up and I just lost the man I thought loved me. So maybe these feelings are more us just rebounding then how we really feel. I don't know, I just think we should take our time and see if these feelings are real or if they dissipate over time."

"Yeah, I can understand that. Honestly, I like being your friend and that is enough for me if that is what we choose."

"Okay then." said Sage, beginning to walk again. "I did have a question to ask you too. Did you tell Lyla about the man who bumped into you and about that picture and note he put in your pocket?"

Lance thought for a moment.

"No, I don't think I did. I guess it never crossed my mind."

"Maybe you should, it seems like important information."

"Yeah, I will when we find them."

"What the hell! You mean to tell me, some random person bumps into you, gives you a photo of my school and a note that says 'All is not as it seems' and you forget to tell me?" Lyla said some thirty minutes later when they all met up.

"I'm sorry! It must have slipped my memory as I was being shot at!" Lance whispered angrily.

"Lyla, calm down. Lance did you see any details of what this person looked like?" asked Ty.

"No, they were dressed in all black and it was night."

"So this person somehow knew you and knew Lyla and where to find her. Wow, that is really concerning. It sounds as though this person was stalking both of you. We will have to talk to mom and dad about this Lyla. This means someone might know about Free Men."