The "Leprechaun" only distracted the Fratellis for a moment or two, but it was long enough. The confusion of all twelve teenagers rushing for the door, yelling and tripping over each other, stunned the two brothers, who just stood there looking blankly at the doorway.
"YOU IDIOTS! Get them!" yelled Mama Fratelli, whacking Francis hard enough that he staggered backwards.
Francis gave her a hurt look, and followed Jake out the door. "Why can't you get off your lazy ass and get them yourself, witch?" he muttered to himself.
"I heard that!" she roared.
Outside, they had all scattered in different directions. When they finally stopped for breath, Lindsey, Carrie, Mouth, Chris and Tobias all found themselves huddled behind a large rock together.
Attempting to get his breath back, Chris managed to wheeze, "Did we lose them?"
Lindsey cautiously shifted herself and twisted her back in an uncomfortable position that allowed her to peek over the top of the rock. "I think we're safe." she replied, seeing that nobody seemed to be outside the restaurant. The building looked gloomy and abandoned in the distance.
"Uh, that's great, but how come there's only five of us?" Tobias asked, brushing his golden hair out of his eyes.
"I'm gonna assume that they just found different hiding places than us." Carrie said optimistically. "We couldn't have all hidden behind this rock, anyway."
"Never make assumptions, 'cause 'assume' makes an ass out of both you and me." Mouth stated wisely, climbing to his feet and leaning on Lindsey's shoulder for support.
Lindsey winced and poked him in the side. Mouth obligingly shifted his weight off her and looked at Chris.
"Okay, we'll just check everywhere they could be hiding and figure it out along the way." Chris decided, starting toward a group of trees not far away. He looked over his shoulder at them. "But keep quiet, in case the Fratelli people hear us."
Mouth offered his hand to Carrie, who took it and smiled at him. Lindsey followed the two of them, walking next to a quiet Tobias. They searched in silence for several long minutes, not making a sound except for the occasional snap of a twig, or a semi-whispered "Mikey?", "Gordie?" or "Chunk?".
In the middle of peeking into a dead-looking bush, Lindsey heard a thump behind her and a little gasp of pain. She whirled around to see a sheepish-looking Data on the ground behind her, his legs sprawled out in front of him.
"I fell on my teeth." Data grimaced, pulling a battered set of clicking toy teeth out of his pocket.
"What are you doing?" Lindsey asked, amused.
"Looking for you. We hid in a tree, Andi and Stef were collecting leaves or something, and they found us."
"Oh." Lindsey replied, wondering how Carrie would feel about this. She was slightly apprehensive - after all, Mikey had kissed Andi, even if it was accidental - but reassured herself that nothing would happen. "We were behind that rock." she pointed, and Data nodded.
"Where's everyone else?"
"I guess they're still looking for you and the other guys."
At that moment a shout was heard, and Carrie, Mouth and Chris came jogging up.
"Data!" Chris said, rather breathlessly. "Where's everyone?"
"Mostly everyone's back talking with Andi and Stef." he explained again. "Come on." He led them through the trees and in a short time they arrived in a small clearing. Sure enough, everyone seemed to be there. Gordie, who'd been engrossed in conversation with Stef, noticed Carrie right away and made his way over.
"Hey! Data found you?" he asked, his face lighting up.
"Yeah, and we found you." Carrie smiled at him.
"You have a really pretty smile." Gordie noted bashfully (and a bit randomly).
Grinning to herself, Lindsey left the two to flirt and glanced around for Mikey.
"Hey.." she realized to her dismay.
"Where's Mikey?" she and Vern asked at the same time.
"I thought he was with you." Vern said, his face obviously distressed.
"And I thought he was with you." Lindsey frowned.
"What's up?" Carrie asked, breaking away from Gordie and joining them.
"Have you seen Mikey?" Lindsey asked, already knowing the answer.
"Oh, shit, no." Carrie's face fell, and she turned back to Gordie. "Gordie? Did Mikey come here with you?"
Gordie shook his head. "Wasn't he hiding with you?"
"No, I just had this conversation with Vern." Lindsey replied, frustrated. "I'm sure he's okay, but I'm going to go look for him."
"Yeah, I'm coming too." Carrie volunteered.
"I'm coming if you are." Gordie said quickly.
Vern nodded. "Me too, if you want."
"Thanks, guys." Lindsey said gratefully. "Data, can you tell them that we're looking for Mikey?"
Data nodded. "You'll find him. He just decided to find his own hiding spot. Like when we were eight and played Sardines, or hide and seek."
This random, lighthearted reference made Lindsey smile, and she hugged him. And then she, Carrie, Vern and Gordie set out in search of Mikey.
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A/N: Oooh, where's Mikey? Sorry for the delay in updating but I've been swamped. I'll -try- to update once a week or more, but I can't promise anything. Thanks for being patient, reading, and reviewing. Your reviews are what keeps me writing. :)