Anya
Before we were let go, Georgia gave us one more piece of advice: “If you want to be more unrecognizable, change your looks. Give yourselves a makeover. Anya, give Sadie a very colorful look. Sadie, give Anya that emo kind of style as well. Change your clothes too. If you guys have enough money you can buy on the way.” 
“So…Should we just abandon her clothes here?” Sadie said, referring to mine.
“Yeah, if you’re good with it.” Georgia and Sadie look at me. I assure them that we have enough money to buy new stuff and I don’t mind leaving my clothes here. “Don’t worry,” Georgia added, “We give things for charity. It will be fine.” She also gives us face masks, in case we get recognized.
We are by the door when Sadie and Georgia hug. They give each other one last smile as Sadie exits the building. Georgia’s head follows where Sadie goes and then she turns her head back to me.
“What you’ve done is so amazing,” I told her.
“Oh, it’s nothing!” Georgia scoffs.
“You sure you don’t want me to pay you?”
“No need! I did this as your frie-”--she stops herself before she could finish, and clears her throat to start again-- “I did this as Sadie’s friend, not as a hairdresser.”
It hurts that she resisted calling me a friend, but I won't let that affect me. “I swear after this I’ll hire you as my hairdresser”
“Oh please!-”
“No, really! You’re great!” I smiled.
Georgia looks down, biting her lip.
Before I could think about it, my arms latch onto her, pulling her into a hug. Georgia backed up a bit, but she didn’t push me away. “Thank you,” I said. “It means so much to me.” 
“You’re…welcome.” I pulled away and her eyes remained glued to the floor. I can’t read whether she’s just shy or she’s mad at me still.
“Don’t worry.” I put my hand on her shoulder, which makes her look up. “I promise I’ll take care of Sadie.” 
She nods and smiles. 
I remembered having non-clothing-related things in my bag so Georgia offered to help. I only grab the camping backpack and keep my notebooks, pens, and secret wallet. 
I wave one final goodbye before Sadie and I head on to her house. Both of them live in the same subdivision but Sadie lives at the very bottom, where most affordable houses are in.
I walk wearing the clothes Georgia gave me--An oversized pastel pink T-shirt with a Japanese statement written on my chest which translates to “fuck you, bitch” and long blue shorts with dessert prints, while still wearing sandals on my feet. I somehow can’t shoo my mind at the thought of how good Georgia smells when I hugged her, and when she helped me with my stuff. Gladly Sadie’s present with me. “My mom is gone to work, and my sister's in school. They don’t arrive until six PM. For the neighbors, we just need to sneak past. Some of them can be very nosy in this country.”
I have nothing to say so I just nod.
We are walking on a gray road continuously. There are rows and rows of houses we are walking past, bigger than Georgia’s house. 
I look down at Sadie. I still can’t move on from how her hair looks so perfect on her. The memory of a while ago came back to me--the way her eyes locks on mine and her soft smile. I realize that the orange streaks in her hair are like a fire, and her smile is like gas that ignites the flame as it makes my cheeks warmer than it was before. When I see her and hear her laugh with Georgia makes my heart feel, but at the same time, I'm envious. I want to make Sadie smile like that someday too. I promise myself that this journey can’t end without Sadie smiling.
Now, I'm walking along with her, and even though she's wearing a mask, her eyes are not the same happy ones she was giving Georgia when they talk.
Fuck, how can I make her smile again?
“Umm…” When Sadie looks up at me, I look straight ahead, fumbling my fingers. “Do you know about the…The man who made knock-knock jokes?”
It takes a few seconds before she asks “What?”
“He won the ‘no-bell’ prize!” and suddenly all the laugh that I keep holding in has let out like a demon leaving a body. I remember scrolling through Facebook and seeing that post for the first time. I laughed so hard that my mom thought there was something wrong with me. Best day of my life! Still never fails to crack me up!
I calm down, letting out bits of chortles. When I look at Sadie, she’s not laughing. Instead, she looks at me with her eyebrows furrowed. I turn back around, flustered. 
I started the joke which started Sadie hating me.
I learn that it’s better to stay quiet than to mess things up one more time that Sadie would tell me to 'eff off.'  
I don't even know why I care so much about making her happy the way her friend did. Besides, Georgia likes Sadie and I don't wanna meddle between them. 
I promised Georgia that they will get their romantic happy ending, so why does it hurt me thinking about it? It's not like I like Sadie. It's not like she will ever like me...
As we reach the bottom, we took a turn and I see rows of houses, smaller this time. They are almost identical to one another, with decorations outside being the only one that differs them. There are a few people outside, some adults watering the plants or cleaning their vehicles and some kids playing around. The kids don’t mind us walking but some adults turn their heads. I can't help but stare back at them, making eye contact which makes me feel like a kettle about to whistle with the heat rising in my cheeks. Should I say something to get their stares away from us?
Sadie nudges my arm. “Don’t stare at them,” her voice so soft and quiet it feels like a lullaby. “It will make them more suspicious.” I do as I was told, but I’m afraid I already ruin things because I hear whispers from behind us asking who we are. It is a relief as it is nerve-wracking. Sadie is right about them prying on someone but at least they don’t recognize us yet.
We turn left to the fourth alley, which is a slope downwards. “This is not where my house is, but I need to take their eyes away from us,” Sadie said.
She grabs my hand and pulls me to a pathway with rows of rectangular houses on each side. We walk straight down until we reach its end, which is another main road with more parked cars and no person in sight. We turn left and walk downhill to where the last alley is. It is the same pathway as the other one we pass by except we are walking upwards. 
Sadie walks past me and stops at one house. The moment I followed, she already opened the gray gate where she tells me to walk in. The house is just like the rest: walls covered in white, and the door’s brown. Sadie rummages in her bag and picks up a blue key with daisy prints and pushes it through the keyhole. I hear a faint click when Sadie turns it. She turns to look at me before she opens the door. Our faces are quite close there which turns my cheeks into a shade of pink. Sadie pushes the door slowly, hearing only minimal creaks from the fixture. Sadie stops when the gap is wide enough for us to fit inside and close the door. I’m about to look around the house when Sadie whispers: “There’s no time--we need to pack.”
Sadie walks the first few steps and stops on the landing to flip the switch, which gives more light by the stair. She waves her hand, motioning me to follow her. We make our way upstairs and turn right to the first room. While Sadie runs to her closet, I stand still by the door, observing every corner of the room. It is not as neat as mine--probably because they don’t have any maids. 
The blanket is all over the bed, the desk by the window is occupied by a lot of pens and papers, some clothes and trash are scattered on the ground, and now two backpacks are laying on the carpet as Sadie slides racks of dark clothes in her closet, picking out which ones to leave and which to bring and shove them in the black and blue bag.
“I thought we won’t be needing clothes?”
“Yeah I just-” she is struggling to complete her sentence as she is now reaching for the drawer above her clothes. I was about to offer a hand when her finger finally got a hold of the handle. As she pulls it slowly, it looks heavy.
“Should I help-” I already drop my camping bag beside me by the bookshelf when she stops me.
“No,” She grunts, “I got it.” Sadie is being careful with pulling the long wooden box. With every move of the box, the metal handle rattles lightly, even when Sadie grabs the sides halfway as it reaches the edge. She gently places that box beside the bed then she stands up and rummages through her closet again to pick some clothes. “Hey wait here, I’ll change my clothes.” She walks to a door that leads her to another room and with the slam of the door, she’s out of my sight. 
I walk over to the drawer that Sadie grabs. Inside it is messier than I’ve ever seen in this room--lots of notebooks and pens, some paper crumples, small boxes, and packs of candies smother around for additional decoration. I can’t help but wonder what are these for. Why does she keep a lot of notebooks and boxes? (And do they have trash cans here?)
Sadie steps out of the room wearing an oversized pink tee with the statement “cute but psycho” glitched across her chest and grey jogging pants. She runs straight to the drawer while putting her mask in her back pocket. She's sits down with her legs crossed in front of it, and runs her fingers through its contents. I decide to bring my ask down to my chin, feeling more of the fresh Earthy breeze pass through my nose sit on the bed without asking. Somehow, Sadie did not notice and instead chose specific notebooks, pens, papers, and small boxes then drop them inside another backpack, which has a doodle design. She stands up and walks over to the bookshelf to pick a few books, which are five…While having six notebooks and three boxes in that bag. I sit there and wonder why she has to bring such useless things. She walks back and kneels at the wardrobe to grab only two pairs of footwear--slippers and sneakers. Seriously? This woman…
Finally, Sadie puts the drawer back where it was--with a slight struggle--and closes the closet. She walks to the nightstand and grabs her laptop. She sits on the bed without noticing that our bodies are brushing. Instead, she's on her phone while waiting for her screen to open. Her eyes and hands switch back and forth through each screen. I don’t know what she’s doing but I am afraid it’s personal so I decide to mind my own business.
 Sadie glance at me but quickly turn back to whatever she’s doing. It's just a short second of eye contact, but my heart skips a beat like it's a jumpscare. 
No, she doesn't scare me. She just made my heart panic, my cheeks blush, and my lips curl into a smile. What could this mean?
  “I’d just try to transfer my shit on the laptop and to my phone, for backup in case.” She said. I did not say anything, just let the clack of the keyboard do the talking. I look around the place again, even if I have already seen enough. I don't know what made Sadie so cute when she's focusing on something, and I don't want my heartbeat to grow louder. “I’m close to finishing this. Just wait.” I just nod and went back to room-gazing. I just listen to Sadie humming a song I am not familiar with along with the taps from her phone and laptop. “I need to finish this before one of them comes back.”
Suddenly the devil seems to hear our worries as we hear movements downstairs. The gate grunted and the lock of the door clicked open and then shut. 
I turn to Sadie. The color of her skin got light and her eyes widened. This is no good.