A/N: Here's another chapter I hope you all enjoy it! If you haven't noticed by now, and I meant to point this out early, each chapter goes back and forth between Alison's and Fire's POV.  Whichever name is at the beginning of the chapter, that is whose POV it is.

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 Fire

“Hey,” I replied. The girl speaking to me was the same girl that ran into me at the carnival. There was a slight difference. I noticed that there was a bit of blood on her face and a band-aid. What had happened?

  “Mind if I take a seat?” she asks, gesturing to the empty spot beside me. I shrugged. I didn’t care as long as she didn’t bother me.

  We sat in silence for a while. To say it was awkward would be an understatement. “So,” I began, breaking the silence, “you’re heading to L.A. too?”    She nods.         “Yeah, they have awesome parties so I figured why not.”

  I looked at her for the first time, like really looked at her. She was wearing dark blue jeans shorts that were ripped and really short, a light blue tee shirt, and neon green converses. On the shirt were a plate, a cooked egg, and a piece of bacon with a cute pig and baby chick looking at it. Below the picture it said ‘horror movie’. Her hair was a wavy mess that spilled down her back.

  “I’ve never been before,” I admit.

 “Me neither,” she says as she crosses her legs underneath her body.

I crossed my legs underneath me as well. The cloth seats of the bus were comfortable enough. “I’m Sapphire, but everyone calls me Fire. It’s much easier to say. Who are you?”

 “Alison but you can call me Ali,” she replies.

   I nod. “Where are you from?”

              “Edenton, Virginia”Ali replies.

             “Cool.  I’m from here, well close enough to here, it’s a small town.”

There was another moment of silence. “So Fire, why are you going to L.A.? Aren’t you a little young to be travelling by yourself?”   

I glanced at her with a raised eyebrow. “Aren’t you?” I accused.

She laughed. “Yeah, I guess I am. I just had to get away. Too much crap going on that I couldn’t control. What about you?”

I shrugged, not really wanting to say that I was poor, especially since she seemed to be the type of girl that was wealthy.

 “Oh, come on,” Ali pressed. “I’ll tell you if you tell me.”

I sighed. “My family is poor so I’m always working. I’ve never had a chance to be a teenager, so when a friend decided to ditch town, I joined.”

 “Well, that’s not as interesting as I was expecting it to be.” Ali said has she looked down to the side, wrinkling her mouth to the side as well, as if deciding what to say next. “Okay, my story is that I was a World Class Gymnastic. The place I lived at before we moved had a training facility, and I would always be there. My family is rather wealthy, and we have a reputation that my mother is dead set on maintaining no matter what it costs. We moved; she tried to make me into something that I’m not, so I decided to run.”

I was surprised. “You were a gymnast?” Sure I noticed she had a tone and muscular body, but I hadn’t really thought of the reason behind it other than she was athletic.

She nods. “Yep. I wanted to go to the Olympic level. I could have if my mom hadn’t of interfered.”

 “Oh, uh, sorry?” I asked, unsure if she would react negatively to me showing sympathy.

Ali just shrugs. “It’s okay really.”

Then a thought hit me. “So this is your way of rebelling against your mother then?”

 “In a way, yes. But this trip is also for me. I need to get away, to let the worries wash away.”

I nodded, understanding. “Yeah, this trip is for me as well.”

The rest of the ride was silent. I fell asleep at some point, well, as close to sleep as one can get if they are on a bumpy bus ride. I was woken up by Alison shaking my arm lightly. “What?” I asked crankiness in my voice.

“We’re here.” She said, and gathered her stuff. I gathered my own and we made our way off the bus. “I’m staying in a hotel; if you want you can stay with me.” She offered, I couldn’t make sense of this girl, normally people of her status are rude and only care about themselves. She was different, she wasn’t cruel or selfish she was actually quite nice.

“Thanks for the offer but I think I’ll be fine on my own.” I said.

“Suite yourself. I’ll see you around Fire.” she said and grabbed her bags walking down the street as if she owned the world. I doubted I would see her again we were in Los Angeles, one of the largest cities in the country. I gathered my things and headed into a covenant store and bought a coke and bag of chips with the money I had. I looked as the money as I put it back into my pocket, I shouldn’t be using this. I thought to myself, I shook off that never ending feeling of how bad of a person I was and walked off. I was going to have to find a job if I was going to live here, the money I had wasn’t going to last me forever. I wandered the streets of L.A. as I ate my chips. It was a lot different than what my small town I had grown up in but it was a nice change.  

I walked into a small diner with a ‘Help Wanted’ sign in the front window. I walked up to the cashier; she was wearing a name tag that said Clara, jeans and a white button up shirt that has ketchup stain on her left shoulder. “What can I help you with?” Clara asked with a small smile and overly happy tone, she wasn’t from here, I could hear it in her accent, she was from the country.

“I would like an application.” I said.

“Alright, here you go.” She said and handed me the papers and a pen. “When you finish just give it back to me.” She said and went off to the take orders from an older couple sitting in a booth in the back of the restaurant.

‘Address’ was the first thing that it asked for; I didn’t have one yet and decided to leave it blank. I went through all of the papers and filled as much as I could out. When I was done and Clara was no long busy I handed her the papers back and she looked over them.

“Is there a problem?” I asked her when she made a few faces reading over the information I had given her.

“Well, Fire, you didn’t list an address or a phone number.”

“Oh, I don’t have those right now”

“Look, I’ll help you out, I live in small one bedroom apartment a few blocks from here, and you can sleep on the couch for a few weeks until you come to your senses.” Clara said.

“What do you mean come to my senses?”

“You don’t belong on the streets of some city as a kid, and that’s what you are, a kid. I don’t know why you left your home, but soon you will realize that it’s better for you to go home. But until that, you can stay with me. Here’s the key.” I just nodded at her and left the restaurant. I leaned against the side of the building; it was odd for someone to be so nice. Most people wouldn’t trust someone that they just met, but something about her told me that I could trust her.

“I have a job for you if you need one.” a man’s voice said.

“Excuse me?”

“I overheard your conversation in the diner; I have a job, if you’re interested. It gives you a place to stay and money.”

“Thank you, but I don’t think right now that’s such a good idea.” I said, I had heard of those horror stories, teenage girls run off to some city were they are offered jobs by seemingly nice guys and end up either dead, or as some sex slave in another country.

“If, you change your mind here’s my card, feel free to drop by any time.” He said with a smile handing me a legit business card. He walked off into the night of the city. I watched as he walked away, just thinking, maybe he won’t be one of those guys whose crazy and sells you to some man in another country. Maybe he was actually being a nice guy, is it so hard to believe that someone could actually be nice? I just shook my head, I then made a deal with myself, if I ever saw that Alison girl again I would call the guy and work for him, but for now I needed to go find my new home. I walked down the blocks looking at all the small shops, a bakery, a secondhand clothing store, a drug store, but not one of those chain stores these were all family owned business.

When I reached the building I opened the door and made my way up the twelve flights of stairs to my new apartment. It was a good size apartment, not too big but not too small. The door opens and the first thing you see is a tan three person couch, with a glass and wooden coffee table, a recliner and a flat screen television. The television sat on a short two shelf bookcase, on the bottom shelf there were books and on the second there were movies and a DVD player. There was a small four person table in the corner of the living room.

 To my left was the kitchen, it was narrow, one of those kitchens with only enough room for one person. In the far left corner against the outer wall there was a refrigerator, and then a gas stove on the other side of the counter that was beside the refrigerator. I walked into the living room where I had seen the couch; there was a small hallway, there were two doors, one at the end of the hallway and one halfway down on the left side. I was guessing that was her bedroom, and maybe a bathroom. I opened the door to what I assumed to be the bedroom and didn’t see what I had expected; there was man who had wet hair and body as if he had just come out of the shower. However it was not just any man, it was a naked one. “Oh my God!” I say and turn out of the room and shut the door going to living room pretending that didn’t just happen.

The man I had seen naked walked out into the living room a few seconds later, fully dressed this time. “Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my apartment?!” he yelled at me furiously.

“I’m sorry, this girl, she gave me the key and told me I could stay here for a few weeks. She didn’t say anyone else lived here.” I said, I was scared and was backed against the corner of the wall although he was a good four feet away from me.

“What girl? Where did you meet her?”

“Her name’s Clara, I met her at this dinner about four blocks down.” He sighs.

“Damn it Clara.” he mutters and then looks at me. “I’m Oliver, Clara’s fiance.” I got a good look at his this time. Dark brown hair, green eyes, olive skin and very built.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Fire.” There was an awkward silence for a few minutes. “Are you going to kick me out?” I blurted out.

“No, I know why Clara said you could stay here, it’s happened before. You’re a runaway; Clara and her sister were runaways until-”

“Until nothing.” Clara said cutting him off as she walked into the apartment, setting a few bags on to the counter. “I would still be called a runaway today however; I’m twenty one now and am legally an adult. Even if the police did find me there isn’t a thing they could do.” She said while walking further into living room and gave Oliver a kiss. “I brought home dinner! We should all sit at the table and eat!” she exclaimed. “Help me set the table?” she asked me and I nodded.

After we had eaten dinner I grabbed a shower and changed into some pajamas. I went into the living room were Clara and Oliver were sitting on the couch cuddled up together watching a movie. “Hey! Come and join us the movie just started.” Clara said.

“Uh, okay, what’s the movie?” I asked as I grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around myself sitting down in the recliner.

“House at the End of the Street.” Clara replied. I nodded.

            We watched the movie until late into the evening, Clara fell asleep before we had even seen half of it, though Oliver didn’t seem to mind, when he noticed that she had fallen asleep, he chuckled a bit to himself. “She has never, in the entire time I have known her, been able to watch a movie beginning to end. I can’t blame her though, we usually watch them after she’s been at work all day.” He said. I just gave him a small smile and went back to the movie.

            As the movie progressed, I became much more uncomfortable being in the apartment with only myself and Oliver consciously awake. However I didn’t want this to show, I just kept my eyes on the screen in front of me.

            When the movie had ended it was a few minutes passed midnight, Oliver picked up Clara up bridal style. “We’re going to bed, you can watch the television if you want. There is a pillow and some more blankets. Goodnight, Fire.” Oliver said and took Clara into their bed room. I turned the television on to ABC Family; they were having some fairytale marathon thingy. I turned the volume down low and wrapped myself up in blankets and laid down on the couch that Clara and Oliver had occupied just moments ago. It didn’t take me very long to fall asleep, however staying asleep was more of the problem I was having.

            The following morning I was woken up by the smell and sound of fresh bacon cooking. I sit up and over at the stove is Oliver. “Morning, Fire.” He said with a smile.

            “Hi, um, what time is it?” I asked.

            “A little after nine, did you sleep well?”

            “Um, yeah I slept fine.” That wasn’t a totally lie, the last few house I had been asleep, after Clara’s leaving had woke me up.

            “That’s good, I hope you’re hungry, I made breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, and eggs!” he says the last part in a sing song voice.

            “That sounds great.” I got up and went over to the kitchen. “Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked.

            “Why don’t you take this stuff to the table and tell me how you like your eggs.” He said with a big smile.

            “Scrambled” I said as I move the plate full of pancakes to the table, along with bacon, fruit, juice and some syrup and butter.

            Once the eggs were done Oliver brought them over to the table and we sat down filling our plated with food. “Thank you, but you didn’t have to do this.” I said.

            “I know but I wanted to, you’re a runway, when was the last time you had a home cooked meal? By the way last night doesn’t count” he asked.

            “I guess the last meal I had before I left three days ago.” I said.

            “Exactly, you needed some real food.” He said as he took a bite of his eggs.

            “Don’t take this the wrong way but, uh, what do you do for a job, Clara’s always gone and you’re always here. And well, last night you said you couldn’t blame her for sleeping during movies because she works all day.” I said taking a bite of my own food and washing it down with some apple juice.

            “I’m a pharmacist; I worked yesterday and have today and tomorrow off.” He said, he had this smile on his face like he had won, I’m guessing he figured I didn’t see him as the pharmacist type of guy.

            “Oh, that’s cool.” I said, not really sure of what else I could possibly say to him. After a few minutes of silence I finally spoke. “Last night, you said Clara was a runaway until something happened, but she came in and stopped you form telling me, what happened?” I asked.

            “Maybe another time, not now though.” He said and picked up his plate taking it to the sink, I grabbed my own pate and took it well and help him clean up the kitchen and put away the leftover food.

            “I didn’t mean to over step, I just, I figured that because you seem to be willing to tell me last night, maybe you would tell me now.” I said, we were now sitting on the couch in the living and had been silently watching some morning talk show.

            “You didn’t.”

            “Are you sure, because you haven’t said anything since I brought it up.”

            “I can’t tell you, there was a reason I wanted to tell you last night but I realized you don’t deserve that.” That was great; he just gave me more information that made me want to know desperately what he was going to tell me, and made me wonder even more why Clara had planned on hiding it. Yes, it’s not like we were best friend but still she told me she was a run away in the first place, that’s not something you tend to tell people, I know I can’t tell anyone, I’m a minor, if they told the police then I would have no choice but to go with them and go back to the life I had abandoned.

            “Alright.”

            “Get dressed, I can’t stay in this apartment all day and you’re new to the city. Want to see the Hollywood sign?” he said standing up.

            “Yeah, that’s sounds great!” I said with excitement and went over to my bag to find clothes. I put on a t-shirt that said ‘Girl on Fire’; my mother thought it was cute since my name is Fire. I put on my bright orange shorts and my sneakers and quickly pulled a brush through my hair. I then put on some thick black mascara and eyeliner.

            “Fire, are you ready?” Oliver asked me as he walked into the living room.

            “Yeah! Let’s go!”

            “Alright.” He said and he grabbed his phone and keys as we made our way out of the apartment. We made our way down the stairs and out of the building.

            “Where exactly are we going?”

            “We’re going to go up a few blocks, so we have a better chance of getting a cab. Then the cab will take us close to the sign and we will walk all the way up to it, then we can go see the Walk of Fame.” He said and I nodded as we walked. We went by a few small shops, including a cute little bakery, I stopped at the window Sinfully Sweet was written on the window, inside there was a woman wearing a purple apron that was covered in flower and she was icing what appears to be freshly made cupcakes. She looked up and gave a small smile before going back to the cupcakes. “We can stop here on the way back, get some sweets, they are the best you will ever have.”

            “Sounds good.” I replied with a smile as I turned away the window only to find that Oliver had already gotten us a cab and that he was waiting for me to get inside. I quickly walked over to the curb of the street and got into the cab, Oliver quickly following shutting the door.

            “Where too?” the driver asked.

            “Hollywood sign.”

            “Sightseeing, where are you two from?” the cab driver asked.

            “I live here, but she’s new to town and I thought I’d show her the major things.”Oliver replied, I could see the drivers’ eyes reflecting in the rear view mirror, staring at me. It wasn’t in a creepy way, but almost as if he was worried. I shrugged the feeling off and looked out the window the rest of the car ride.

            When we arrived we both got out of the cab and Oliver paid the driver, “Let’s get started.” Oliver said referring to the long path to get to the Hollywood sign. I nodded in response and we headed up on the path. “Tell me something, why did you run away?” Oliver asked.

            “This guy I knew, I worked with him on this horse ranch, he being a senior this year, we never talked much. Nothing more than common politeness, we were at this dinner with my boss and a friend of his. He’s friend’s nephew just so happened to be the guy. A walk alone at the gazebo, and a nice comment or two later and there we were locking lips. He convinced me that to run away, to have some fun in my life, which I’ve never really done.” I said, confessing things I never thought I would say to basically a stranger.

            “And what exactly happened to this senior guy?” Oliver asked looking at me with a smirk on his face.

            I froze in my tracks, my face went pale, Zach, no one had asked me about him which I was extremely thankful for, but now someone wanted to know and I didn’t know what to say, tell the truth? No that would make me seem like a bitch, I couldn’t tell anyone about Zach. I was brought out of my thought by Oliver “Fire, Fire! What’s wrong?” he asked, placing a hand on my arm lightly, in a concerned way.

            “Huh? Oh, nothing. The whole guy thing, it’s just complicated that’s all.” I said with a forced smile and he nodded, staring into my eyes for a moment before removing his hand form my arm. We continued our walk up to the sign.