HANGING OUT

Soon after the men left his vicinity, Roland left his room and summoned one of his bodyguards to convey a message to his two children, only to find out from the incompetent guard that his daughter had left the premises long before he arrived while his son was still studying in his room, the entire time he was having a brief discussion with the supervisors till they left few hours ago. He was furious to hear that his daughter had snuck out of the mansion once again without permission even though he had seen her standing next to Marcus when his returning automobile was still a long way off at the gate.

Unknown to the boss and his household, his daughter had found her way to the central side of town in a taxi cab the exact same day he had arrived from his brief vacation, which she alighted at a bus station before heading to her presumed destination after the cab driver neatly parked his public vehicle on the left side of the smooth tarmac beside a coffee shop, situated between two dross apartments which stood tall above the little shop whose owner haven’t finished cleaning his shop and haven’t made necessary receptive arrangements to receive customers for the morning as a consequence for resuming his work quite late than other retail outlets unlike an arcade store located nearby where coin computed games are being played both day and night since the public management in charge of ensuring that the fancy electronic game gadgets and toys are secured, had made it mandatory to remain open throughout the day and also the night without having to close up when it gets to sunset like most other retail shops do close by, thanks to the uninterrupted power supply that kept the electronic machines in the game shop running and enthralling the guest unceasingly especially little kids living around the neighborhood who regularly visit the game shop to play interesting games with numerous quarters and game coins. Taking a stroll by the sidewalk through the midst of passersby with her hands sinking deep into her blue jean pockets, Ruth looked around the area with a keen eye to ensure that she had not been followed by her father’s henchmen whom she knew would have informed her father about her unwanted disappearance from the mansion despite being reprimanded several occasion for her stubbornness to stop going to strange places in the town without any of the guard keeping her safe but she remained focused to where she wanted to spend the rest of the day having fun somewhere lively than to stay bored in her room all day.

She walked past three other buildings, straight on the pathway with both of her hands still tucked into her pocket in spite of feeling sweaty under her armpit as she strides with ease under the heat of the sun till, she spotted her four high school friends already waiting for her in front of the arcade shop.

They stood on the other side of the busy road beside two old men whose haggard outfit already labeled them as street beggars seeking some money from the little children clad in a neat outfit since their fancy short blouse and their neat hair that was woven and plaited into a pigtail though two of them had their curled black hair braided to one side of the face without having to make it elongated like the others did to the tiny ringlets of their fawn hair.

Her friends soon saw her coming their way from the opposite roadside and called out to her to join them but she ignored their plea as she tried to cross the road where several hustling car drivers kept resounding their car horns into the noisy air swerving the crowded streets and luckily evade the heavy traffic just in time to cross to the other side of the road jam-packed with vehicles trying to reach their intending destination within the small town.

“Ruth, what took you so long?”

One of the girls about her age, queried as soon as she got to where they stood idly waiting while other rowdy customers were entering and exiting the arcade shop at the same time.

“I kinda had to ditch my father’s guards again, which wasn’t quite easy”,

She replied embracing the inquirer who hugged her more tightly than ever in a way that made her feel almost compressed and suffocated to death.

“That’s enough, Christine. Not too tight, you’ll squeeze the life out of me”,

“Oh! Sorry, I really missed you a lot”,

The inquirer replied, releasing her from her tight embrace and move aside for the others to do the likewise.

“Really?”,

“Yes, we did”,

The fourth female intruded.

“Your father would be mad once he finds out you are here with us”,

Another with a curly hair commented after she had given her own share of embracing the long awaited daughter of Sir Roland whom her friends knew to be one of the top affluent businessmen handling most of the city’s affairs behind the scene of the local administrative council overseeing life and property in the town.

“I don’t care what he thinks, Jessica. It’s not like he would lock up me in my room forever”,

“I hope you aren’t wishing him to do that to you”,

“Enough of him already. Let’s talk about what we came here to do”,

Ruth said taking shufti glances at some group boys entering the arcade with their fancy clothes but

“Yeah, let’s us go inside”,

Christine replied leading the trios to the entrance and they were still a short distance away when she asked the fourth girl a question that seems to have escaped the minds of the other ladies.

“Anyway, where are the tickets, Ruby?”,

“Oh, right. Here they are”,

“Nice”,

Christine grinned as she took the five tickets from Ruby who had searched her purse before handing over the five tickets, and showed them off in front of the other four ecstatic girls who giggled with excitement the moment their eyes fell on the legal tender to enter the arcade shop.

“What about the quarters?”,

Ruth questioned as they slowly approached the gate.

“We have none”,

“What?!”,

The five ladies suddenly halted immediately after Ruth’s outburst which left the others bewildered and dumbfounded at her sudden outcry which attracted a bit of attention from those walking past them into the arcade shop. Her friends were almost shocked to hear her scream and became furious with her unexpected show of contempt but they waited for those who heard them to leave first before confronting her.

“What did you do that for?”,

“Who? Me?”,

“Yes, Ruth. There’s no need for you to be make a fuss about the quarters that we decided not to take with us”,

“But I wasn’t part of that decision”,

“Of course, you weren’t. Because we did without you, so, deal with it”,

Christine explained trying hard to suppress her temper which made her round face a bit puffy in a way that her dimpled cheeks suddenly became reddish

“I can’t believe what’s going on”,

“Face it, Ruth. We thought it would be best for all of us if we only came here to hang out instead of getting involve in some games meant for boys”,

“I thought we all agreed that we were going to play some video games”,

Ruth mumbled out in an effort to endure the surprise she had also received from her friends since she wasn’t expecting that they would overturn the decision they all made over the phone during the holidays without her knowing about what they secretly planned behind her back though not to harm her reputation in any sort of way but to exclude the main reason why she had to disobey her father instructions yet again and go against her promise to her mother, to sneak out of her boring room in her father’s mansion just to spend some quality fun playing video games and hanging out with her friends