Swiftly Through the Air

"Hey... um, so do we have enough money for everything on the list?" Evan asked while staring at our already full shopping cart.

I stopped the cart and paused for a moment, then smiled, "Eyup!" I said, "We should have enough for everything, plus a bit to spare." Evan turned and looked at me.

"Are you sure?" He seemed really worried, "If y-we can't afford it what are we going to do?" His hand reached into his pocket and pulled out the list that Erin had written for us. It was crumpled in a ball, but he quickly smoothed the paper out. Evan then passed it to me.

Evan and Dale Please Buy the Following...

I laughed at that; Erin was always so formal and specific. Erin was sometimes, no, especially formal about things that no one needed to be formal about. It was as if he was going to give the paper to royalty!

"Just keep reading," Evan stated impatiently. I could tell by the look on his face that he knew all about our friend's quirky habit, but, unlike me, he chose to ignore it.

"Fine," I said, my smile sneaking into my voice.

1 Family-Sized Tent/ 2 or 3 Single Person Tent

Tarp

4 Lanterns, Batteries

Flashlight Head Straps

Lots of Canned Food

I paused and stared at that one word, lots. It scared me. If even Erin didn't know exactly how much to get, we were in trouble, and Erin knew it.

"I know, but keep reading," Evan sighed, "Please."

He'd said it so filled with emotion that I just nodded and focused on the paper once more.

10 Apples

2 Bunches of Carrots

4-5 Blankets

Swiss Army Knife

5 Radios

I stopped here for a moment. Five, why five, there are only four of us.

"You done?" Evan asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry, no, but almost," I replied as I started reading again.

Canteens

Apple Cider (Alcoholic)

I stared at the last item and asked the one question my confused brain could handle.

"Why did Erin let Ida write on the paper?" I asked.

To answer my question Evan just shrugged. "So, will we be able to afford all this?"

Oh yeah... I'd forgotten that was why I read it. "Yes," I said, my voice full of confidence. After that I just folded it up and passed it to him.

"Come on. We'll go to the camping section now." Evan just trudged behind me, confused.

I mean, I guess it made sense; I'd never shared my financial situations with my friends, so they didn't know how well off I was. My guess was that they thought I was Middle-Class, but they were probably just judging by my apartments.

When I got to the isle I went straight to the back; where the Family-Sized/Walk-In tents were kept.

"Hmmm... Wh-"

"Dale... look over there," Evan whispered, and through his quiet voice I heard something. Relief? Confusion?

I followed his finger, and my jaw dropped to the floor. Three girls were getting out of a car, one was staying in, and... I thought that they were going through what we were. The ones that were getting out of the car had lime green hair, red hair with a desaturated pinkish streak, and one that had blond hair. The one in the car, well, it was hard to say through the windshield, but I think they had white hair with an ice-blue outline.

After the green haired one turned around to shut the door I confirmed my suspicions, as she had a lime green tail sticking out of her shorts; they were going through the same thing as us.

"Go get them over here," I said. Secretly I was glad that it wasn't just me and my  friends in this, but I was also aware that any chance of this being a prank was gone. "We'll find out wha-... well we'll find out if we can help." Evan just did what I asked.

While he was walking over to them I just stood by our cart and waited. I watched him start talking to them. Then I flinched; my back had gotten a searing pain.

"Ow!"I whisper-shouted.

It was then that Evan chose to walk up. "You okay?"

"I think so, my back just got a cramp." I said, still in a decent amount of pain. Then I turned to the new-comers. "My name is Dale, you?" I asked politely.

The girl with lime hair stepped forward, though a guarded look was set on her face, "I'm Reanne, this is my sister, Henrietta, our friend Regan, and our cousin James," She said motioning to the blond haired girl, the red head, and the white haired person in turn.

I sighed, Good, I thought, Now that that's out of the way...

"Okay, now that we know each other's names," I spoke with authority, but still sounding sincere, "May I ask where you got your tails?"

I'd thought about how I was going to phrase this, after all, I didn't want to start talking like everything was normal and have them call some insane asylum!

She gave the reaction I was looking, or even hoping for; a confused face with fear mixed in.

"Ummmm-" She spoke worriedly. Until I cut her of that is.

"Okay, sorry about that; just had to double check something."

"What?" Henrietta asked suspiciously, "I mean, what did you have to check for?"

I locked my blue eyes with her strikingly green ones, "I had to check that you were turning into something that wasn't you to begin with, say a pony?"

The one boy stepped in front of his cousin, James I think his name was. "Hello, I think my cousin here needs to be a little bit stronger to take lead of us, but I also think I qualify for the job." I raised my eyebrow at that statement, while the blondie coughed and Reanne looked ready to kill.

        "Anyways," he continued hastily, as if sensing the danger he was causing for himself, "What makes you think that we should trust you?" James's voice sounded as if he was trying to cover up the fact that he cared for them, his friends, and family. Of course I saw right through the act, and I knew Evan did too. I was going to point it out, but Evan beat me to it.

         "I understand that you're worried, James isn't it? But I can swear to you, Pinkie Swear even, that neither me, nor Dale, or Erin, or Ida will do anything bad to you." Evan's even blue eyes glanced at each of them. Then he froze, "Dale... Did I just say Pinkie Swear?"

         My brain froze as I thought about what my friend had just stated, but, thankfully I was spared from what saying what I suspected. By what, you may ask, by the loudest phone ring coming from my phone.

It was my ringtone for for Ida, a very loud, very noisy, warning shout. I of course took the excuse and answered.

         "Yes Ida?" I spoke without my usual trace of annoyance while talking to Erin's sister... This time only, I thought.

“No plane tickets, but for some reason my dunderhead of a siste- brother thought that a train ride was a good idea-”

“Of course it was a good idea!”

“Yeah right, anyways it leaves tomorrow at 3:00 A.M. Erin thought that not too many people would be out, the only good idea sh- he’s had all day!”

I’d been listening intently from the start, but I’d grown very stinking worried at how much Ida had been messing up. I mean h-she, I paused; I’d just done the same.