"Could you perhaps give me a ride home?" Stephen said, walking to Amari. She gave him a suspicious stare.
"You own a motorbike. You rode in it this morning," she said with a raised eyebrow.
"It umm, broke down," he said, a charming smile plastered on his face.
"Not cute," she said, shaking her head, and then walking out on him.
"But you think Nathan is Cute, come on, he doesn't even have half my looks," Stephen screamed after her but she didn't even stop. She just walked towards the door. Nathan ran after her and together they left the lab.
"Be glad she declined. Her car is pink. Think about what it would do to your reputation if anyone saw you coming out of it," Stephanie said and Stephen nodded in agreement after pondering on her words for a while.
"I could give you a ride home," Diane said and Stephanie bit her lower lip in amusement. Stephen turned to look at Diane.
"I have my motorbike, why would I need a ride?" he spelled out.
"But you said…" her voice trailed off as Stephen started to make his way out of the lab.
"Read the room girl. I love you but he doesn't. Seems like he is interested in Amari, wouldn't blame him. She is fly," Stephanie said and moved towards Nick, sliding her arm into his. He didn't even give as much as a reaction.
"Do you want me to come over tonight?" Stephanie asked.
"Not tonight, I have got plans," Nick said, brushing Stephanie's arm off his and heading out of the lab.
"I hate him!" Stephanie yelled in frustration.
"Do you?" Diane asked with a raised eyebrow, and then left the lab.
Stephanie let out a frustrated sigh before she also stepped out of the lab.
****
The rush of breeze that flew over Amari's face as she got out of her car, made her hair dance. She drew a sharp breath and started heading for the door.
"You are early," her father's voice sounded and she turned towards him. He was sitting on a sofa, with his laptop on his lap and his 'I am working' thick-rimmed glasses hanging over the bridge of his nose.
"I am always early," Amari muttered, taking off her bag and placing it on the sofa closest to her. She started for the dinning room and poured herself a glass of water. Sipping on it, she made her way back to the sitting room and took a sofa across her dad.
"I thought you would hang with Nathan. You two have a thing going on now, don't you?" Jake continued.
"Really dad? Shouldn't you be encouraging me to be more serious with my studies not hang with boys," Amari muttered with a raised eyebrow.
"But that's all you do, study, study, study, no boys or fun… I was really pleased when you and Nathan went to the woods to make out last night, you could do that more often, I don't mind," he said.
"Dad!" Amari let out with a doubtful expression on her face.
"I just want the best for you pumpkin. You are a teenager. It's okay to rebel and trouble me every now and then. Stop being so well behaved," he said.
"You are a weird parent," she said.
"I know," he said with a smile.
"So, how was work?" she asked. She hadn't even expected that he would be home by that time, considering the news of the burglary reports.
"Crazy," was his reply as he returned to his laptop.
"Tell me about it," she demanded.
"Discuss crime with my sixteen year old daughter?" he muttered with a raised eyebrow.
"You agreed that you are a weird parent so that shouldn't be a problem. Come on, I am interested. I saw the news," she deliberately mumbled that last part slowly and smiled when she saw the stunned expression on his face.
"Since when do you watch the news?" he asked, amusement dancing in his eyes.
"Since today," Amari said with a shrug.
"Come on dad, oblige me in this new interest of mine. Who knows, I might follow your footsteps and even become a mayor one day," she said, ending with a wink and he burst out laughing.
"You are unbelievable," he said as his laughter died down. She just smiled.
"Well, we have over sixty burglary cases today, the local bank included but it is strange, there was no break-in and entry in any of this cases," he said.
"You mean it is almost like the stolen items vanished?" Amari asked and his gaze on her became sharp.
"Yeah," he said.
"The bank has CCTV cameras, doesn't it? Got anything from there?" she asked and he squinted his eyes at her. Curious.
"I did check out the CCTV cameras but that is even more strange," he said.
"How so?" she asked.
"There was some sort of glitch around the time the burglary happened. However, some people in the bank reported that guns were flying in the air, pointed at them and the person guiding a particular vault from which the item was stolen have the testimony that the vault just opened and the stolen item just disappeared," he said.
"Hmmm," was all she said.
"You are not surprised or shocked. Why?" he asked, his gaze on her quizzical.
"I am… I am just thinking," she said.
"Thinking about what?" he asked.
"Thinking about how this is even possible? Umm," she said.
"So, what and what was stolen?" Amari asked.
"Different things; cash, alcohol, jewelries, and other random stuff theives take," Jake said.
"All taken from vaults, right?" Amari asked.
"Yeah… did I mention that?" Jake asked, his gaze on Amari suspicious.
"It was in the news," Amari said.
"Oooh," he mumbled as he recalled that it was indeed in the news.
Amari stood up. "Can I umm, step out, to see Claire," Amari requested and her father laughed.
"Claire, huh? Sure," he said. She smiled, and then dashed out of the house.
****
"So what are we looking at, a witch did this, right?" Amari asked.
She was in Nathan's room but they weren't alone. The rest of their circle was there.
"This wasn't done by just a witch," Stephanie clarified.
"It was done by a circle. A circle in Beverly hills have gone rogue," Nick completed.
"So, what do we do?" Amari asked.
"We have to stop them," Stephen said.
"But we would have to find them first," Nick said and him and the others turned to look at Amari expectantly.