Clawing my way to catch up on word count, ;_;

     “Still, let’s try to stay away from private property until we run out of options.  We still have some more public places and the school to scope out.  We can have the conversation again if we reach that point,” said Mr. Rhodes.
     “Whatever,” said Perry, as Mr. Rhodes looked at him sharply, dismayed by his lack of authority.  “So what else do we need to bring?  I already bought my red flashlight lens!”  He held up his flashlight and pointed the red beam at the ceiling.
     “Yeah.  We know,” said Gali.  “We should get red lenses for Mr. Rhodes and Sam.  We should also get some kind of a makeshift first-aid kit.  Anthony fell in the cemetery, and that could happen to anybody, even if we don’t find any ghosts.  We need some band aids, some rubbing alcohol, and some cotton balls so we can take care of cuts or whatever.  We all have cell phones, and we’re pretty good about keeping them—“
     “Okay, I thought we couldn’t have our phones on during a ghost hunt!” said Perry.  “I mean, you made that pretty clear.”
     “Well, obviously the noise they make isn’t something you want on a ghost hunt.  So if we’re all in a big group – like we were on Halloween – we should just keep them off.  But if we split off into groups, it would be a good idea if we had them set to vibrate.”
     “That makes sense,” said Anthony.
     “Let’s go buy them now!” said Samantha.  I think the store closes at 10:00.  If we leave now, we should have enough time to walk there and shop around before we have to leave.”
     “That’s a good idea,” said Mr. Rhodes.  “Maybe you guys could help me pick out some furniture for this room.  I was thinking about getting some bean bag chairs or something – both for you guys and for my students.”
     “Yes!” said Perry.  “We will choose the best bean bag chairs that store has to offer.”
     Mr. Rhodes followed the kids out of his room, turning to shut off the lights and lock the door.  The four of them were wrapping their necks with scarves and pulling on gloves to protect themselves from the cool night air.  He smiled as the door locked with a click, and turned to follow them.
     
     The four teenage members of the Paranormal Research Team clamored around a weary Mr. Rhodes, who was pushing a full cart toward the check-out line.  Two horrifically clashing bean bag chairs, one bright pink selected by Sam, and one navy blue selected by Anthony, took up most of the cart.  Three red lenses were also thrown in, along with band aids, cotton balls, rubbing alcohol, and bandages.
     The students were also excitedly tossing in bags of Halloween candy that was on sale, along with various toiletry items that they “needed” but had been too lazy to walk to the store by themselves to get.
     “You don’t like candy corn?!” Perry shouted at Sam.  “Who doesn’t like candy corn?”
     “Her,” said Anthony, pointing at Sam, while looking at Perry with raised eyebrows.  “She just told you.”
     “Whatever,” said Perry, putting the candy corn back on the shelf.  Mr. Rhodes had agreed to buy some candy for both the ghost hunters and for his classroom, but had made it clear that the kids would have to buy their own toothpaste.
     Perry guided the cart into the only open check-out lane, behind an elderly woman who was arguing with the cashier.
     “I told you that I wanted to return this shirt,” said the woman to the cashier.
     “Yeah, I remember,” said the cashier acidly.  “And I told you that I can’t do that for you.  Even if I could, I couldn’t do it on this register.  You need to wait until I’m done ringing you up, and then go to the service desk.”  The woman looked very offended.
     “Well!  What about my coupons?!”
     “These,” said the cashier holding up two coupons, “are fine.  However, these,” she held up a half-inch thick pile of coupons, “are all expired.  Would you like me to throw them away for you?”
     “No!  You give those to me!  They’re mine!”
     “Yeah, okay.  I need you to sign here,” she said, handing the woman a receipt and a pen.  She looked up and flashed a smile at the Paranormal Research Team.  “I’ll be right with you!”
     “Okay!” said Perry, lighting up.  Gali rolled her eyes as she helped him unload the cart.  Perry waited until the elderly woman ambled away toward the service desk, grumbling as she walked.  Then, he attempted to strike up conversation.  “You look pretty familiar,” he said to the cashier.
     “Really?  That’s good,” said the cashier as she took his cash to pay for his deodorant and dental floss.  “I go to High Glen, too.”
     “Oh wow, really?”
     “Yeah….I’m in her grade,” she said, pointing at Samantha.
     “Hi, Ayu,” said Sam shyly.
     “I’m sorry, what did she say your name was?” asked Perry.  “I couldn’t hear her.”
     “My name is Ayumi,” said the cashier, tapping her nametag.  “Or you can call me ‘Ayu,’ for short.”
     “That’s a pretty name,” said Mr. Rhodes, smiling.
     “Aren’t you an English teacher?” asked Ayu.  “What are you guys doing out here together?”
     “We’re the Paranormal Research Team,” said Gali.  “We decided to come shopping to break up the monotony.”
     “Ohhhh….Paranormal Research Team, huh?  Do you guys like, hunt ghosts?”  Ayu gestured to the red lenses that would soon be affixed to flashlights.
     “Yeah….it’s weird, I know---” began Perry.
     “No!  I think that’s really awesome,” said Ayu.  “I wish I was in a club like that.  All I do is forensics, and everyone in forensics is all cliquey and giggly.  But ghost hunters, man – that would be really cool.  Have you guys found any ghosts yet?”
     “Yeah, actually we have,” said Gali eagerly.  
     “Ayu!” shouted a man from behind the service desk.  “Stop gabbing and do your job!  It’s almost closing time, and I need you to count all of the loose change in your cash drawer!”
     “Sorry,” said Ayu, rolling her eyes so that the Paranormal Research Team could see, but not her boss.
     “You should come join us!” said Gali, picking up two plastic bags full of Halloween candy.  “We’re open to new members.”
     “Really?” said Ayu.  “That would be awesome!”
     “How do you get home from here when you’re done working?” asked Anthony.  “Do you walk?”
     “Nah, I ride my bike – walking by myself in the dark kind of freaks me out.  Especially here in Finbell Winters – there aren’t any street lights!”
     “It’s 9:50 right now…do you get off at 10?” asked Mr. Rhodes.
     “Yup.  You guys should leave, too, before I get in trouble again,” said Ayu.
     “We could walk you back to High Glen!” said Sam.  “We walked here anyway – we’ll just wait outside.”
     “Oh, no, you don’t have to do that!” said Ayu.
     “No, no, we insist,” said Perry, cocking his head to the side and grinning.  Anthony and Gali exchanged raised brows.
     “Well, I guess if you’re going that way anyway, then that would be okay.  I’ll meet you outside the front door as soon as I can – thank you so much!”
     “No problem at all,” said Mr. Rhodes, hefting a bean bag chair in one hand and pushing the empty cart back to the cart corral with the other.
     Once outside, Perry snatched Gali’s plastic bag and took out a bag of candy corn.  He was popping some into his mouth just as Gali said,
     “So!  You seem a bit smitten, Perry.”  Sam turned quickly to Perry with wondering eyes, realizing that he had been smiling a lot, and also had seemed to have been trying to impress Ayu.
     “Hmmm, do I, Gali?”  He winked at her.  “Don’t worry, Sweetie, I’m saving myself for you.  Here, have some candy corn.”  He offered the open bag to her, grinning at her slackened jaw.
     “What the hell are you talking about?!” she shrieked.  “You think I’m jealous?  For you?  Please!”  She swatted the bag of candy corn away, causing some of the candy to spill on to the pavement.
     “Hey, guys, let’s relax a little,” said Mr. Rhodes.
     “Yeah, come here, Gali – I’ll help you settle down a little bit.”
     “Relax?!  Did you hear what he said?” Gali asked Mr. Rhodes.  “You are such an idiot!” she muttered to Perry.
     “Chill out, Gali,” said Anthony.  “You’re just going to make it worse.”  Gali looked at Perry with a revolted expression, as he pursed his lips and made kissing noises.
     Lights inside of the store flickered and then turned off, and the door opened.  Ayu’s manager was letting her out and locking the door behind her.
     “Hey, guys!” she waved as she jogged to unlock her bike from the bike rack.  “Thank you so much for walking back with me – it’s really sweet of you.”
     “Well hey, we do what we can,” said Anthony.  Perry carefully caught Gali’s eye and gave her a significant glance as if to say, “Are you going to make a big deal about Anthony’s flirting, too?”  Gali flipped Perry off, after checking that Mr. Rhodes wasn’t watching.
     “So, where are you guys going now?” asked Ayu.
     “Well, right now we’re going back to High Glen,” said Gali.  “So we can drop off the bean bags in Mr. Rhodes’ room.”  Gali was balancing one of the bean bag chairs on top of his head, while Mr. Rhodes held the other awkwardly in front of himself.  “I don’t think we’ll go ghost hunting tonight,” she added.
     “Really?  How come?”
     “Well, we’ve been kind of sloppy so far, so I’d like it if we could plan things out before we go next time,” said Gali.
     “Hmmm, that makes sense,” said Ayu.
     “I don’t really feel like going back to the dorms after dropping the stuff off, though,” said Anthony.  “We should do something else.”
     “Like what?” asked Sam.
     “Let’s watch a movie!” said Perry.
     “Where?” asked Anthony.  “We can’t have members of the opposite sex in our rooms past midnight, and it’s already quarter after ten.  By the time we drop the stuff off and get to someone’s room, it’ll almost be eleven.”
     “We could watch a movie at my house,” said Mr. Rhodes.  “As long as you’re not in the dorms, it’s okay.”
     “Sweet!” said Ayu.  “It’s so cool that you guys have somewhere else to go an hang out.”
     “Yeah,” said Samantha.  “It’s nice to have somewhere else to go.”