[Revised]

"The princess has arrived, folks!"

Zara pulled the sleeves of her sweater over her hands, ignoring her friend's sarcasm. Her teeth chattered from the cold, which seeped through her clothes, dark skin, and settled into her bones. It may have taken her twenty minutes to find a crowbar—the little bugger had been hiding in a pile of dirty laundry—but Orion didn't have to be so vocal about his impatience.

He glared at her from his spot beside a street light and it was hard to be oblivious to it; Orion's Northern Chinese complexion and dark clothing made him look like a troubled phantom. He soon was going to be one if he continued smoking as much as he did—it wasn't unlikely that he went through a pack of cigarettes per day.

"Next time, I swear we're leaving without you," he continued, thin brows furrowing over his almond eyes. As Zara pranced down the front steps of her apartment building, he brought what remained of the cancer stick up to his lips then tossed it on the sidewalk.

"You don't have the balls," Zara said, a knowing glint in her eye. She was the best thief in the group; they would never leave without her and Orion knew this. Unfortunately for him, he always made the same mistake of trying to say otherwise. Silenced yet again, he resorted to grimacing and flipping the bird.

Zara rolled her eyes as he trudged up to a battered Chevrolet, opened the passenger door, and slipped inside without a single comeback; she revelled in moments like these, where she could put Orion back in his place for running his mouth. With a final snicker, Zara trudged up to the car and threw the door to the backseat open.

Her smile immediately melted away when the musty smell of sweaty feet and old fast-food travelled up her nostrils.

"Sorry guys, I couldn't find this—" Zara said, trying not to gag as she lifted the crowbar and climbed into the car. She sucked in a breath and attempted to hold it long enough to close the door behind her and roll down a window.

The floor was littered with everything from empty soda bottles to dirty clothing. Despite being a neat-freak both at home and at school, the car owner, Saffron, treated his car like a garbage disposal. It was disgusting, but it warded off the nosy onlookers in Zara's shady neighbourhood. She looked briefly out the window and, sure enough, not one passerby gave the vehicle a second glance.

"Took you forever," Saffron muttered from the driver's seat, unscrewing the cap from a bottle of Coke. He twisted the key in the ignition and when the engine began to purr, he shifted the gear in reverse.

"Yeah, I know, man. I said I'm sorry."

As Saffron pulled out of the parking spot, drink in hand, Zara took off her backpack and placed it on her lap. She wrapped her arms around it and looked over at Aurora, who was pulling faces at her compact mirror.

"I'm super excited for this," Aurora squealed, her hazel eyes glued to the tiny reflection. She reached into her Guess jacket—the one she always wore to heists for good luck—and took out a stick of lip gloss.

Zara raised an eyebrow, amused at the girl's vanity. "Is this really the time to be putting on lipstick? One bump and that thing will go up your nose."

Saffron choked on a mouthful of soda while Orion snorted with laughter.

"It's lip gloss not lipstick," Aurora clarified through gritted teeth, pulverising all three of her friends with a look, "and I've done this, like, a million times. I know what I'm doing." She pointedly flipped her ebony hair over a shoulder.

"Don't you get it, Zara? She wants to look good for her mugshot," Orion said after a brief recovery, his voice still hoarse. He reached out the window with a new cigarette, tapping the end with a finger so that the ashes fluttered off. Saffron side-eyed him—Orion knew how much his friend hated people smoking in the car, but he did it anyway. No amount of cussing and threatening would make him stop.

Aurora wrinkled her button nose then continued to dab at her upper-lip with the doe foot. "I like to feel pretty when I'm robbing people, is that a crime?"

"It's a crime to look as ugly as you, that's what I know." Orion broke out into laughter again and Aurora slapped the back of his head.

The rest of the car ride was spent in silence, the earlier jovial mood replaced by nervous anticipation.

As Zara gazed out of the window, she fidgeted with the ends of her curly hair. Break-ins were no easy task and because of that, the gang didn't do them as often as the minor crimes. In fact, in their two-three years of working together, they'd only ever broken into dwellings twice or thrice. But she desperately needed the money, they all did—except for Aurora, who tagged along for the thrill—and robbing someone who wouldn't miss a couple of knick-knacks didn't make her lose sleep at night. That would be the last time, they promised each other over a month ago. After that, the gang would stick to what they knew best: shoplifting and pickpocketing.

They weren't bad people. At least, that's what Zara told herself every single day, because she wasn't sure about whether the others had that same moral tug-of-war with themselves, or if they just didn't care. The gang was young, wild, and lucky as a four-leaf clover—they never pushed their luck and covered their tracks well, but how long would it be before they fucked up? Zara just stole out of necessity, because it made the difference between drowning in poverty and floating on its surface.

If she'd been in a better position, she would've never resorted to a life of crime.

The gang left the big, bustling city of New York behind them and were now entering the suburbs. The car was no longer encompassed by the blaring of horns and the foul stench of exhaust fumes, the road wasn't flanked by dilapidated brick buildings, and the sidewalks weren't occupied by dejected-looking pedestrians. Although it was nightfall, with the aid of the street lamps Zara could make out the small one- and two-family homes, timidly hiding behind high-rising bushes and well-tended gardens, like a toddler behind its mother.

As they neared their destination, the bundle of nerves in Zara's stomach began to misbehave—she needed to go over the plan one last time before taking off or her hands wouldn't stop shaking. "Saffron?" she asked, tapping him on the shoulder.

"Hmm?"

"Can we go over it again?"

"Go over what?"

"The plan," Aurora interjected, twisting her body so she could rest her thigh on the middle-seat. Zara looked at her with vexation; only seconds ago, the girl had been preoccupied with filing her nails.

Orion let out an irritated breath from where he sat in the front seat. "Do we have to? I know what we gotta do better than my last name. Even better than Saffie over here." With a smirk, he reached out and pinched the guy's cheek.

"Fuck off Orion." Saffron slapped his hand away then rolled his shoulders back, concentrating on the dark road before him. "Zara is right. I think I should at least remind you of what to expect—just so you guys can go in with a clear conscience." He turned his head a fraction to look through the wing mirror, switched on the turn signal, and slowly veered the car into a different lane. Once the car was settled behind an SUV, he silenced the clicking and took a deep breath.

"As you know, I've monitored the area for a long time and took notes, a lot of notes. The neighbourhood in question is relatively well-off. I wouldn't say that the residents are rich, but they don't exactly live in shacks either." He reached into a compartment next to his seat. He pulled out a notepad and handed it to Orion, never taking his eyes off the road. "Be a bro and read the stuff out for me."

Orion nodded and leant forwards, squinting to decipher Saffron's illegible handwriting under the yellowish haze. "Weak sec-secuuurit—" He paused, bringing the notepad closer to his face as he stared at the scrawl for an awkwardly long time, "Look, man, I can't..."

"Oh give it here," Aurora said before reaching out and snatching the notepad from him, "It physically pains me to hear you read." She pulled out her iPhone and flicked the flashlight on, illuminating the ambience of the shadow-filled car. "It's called a brain. You should use it sometime."

"Listen—"

"'Weak security measures. Properties are mostly surrounded by trees and hedges and although there is the possibility that they have burglar alarms, it's highly unlikely.' I just had a thought—we've never robbed a house before, only apartments."

"You're right," Saffron said as he braked at a stoplight and passed a hand through his auburn hair, "Us city-folk are getting much more crafty with our security systems, which is why I thought it would be a good idea to visit a neighbourhood like this, where nothing ever really happens. These people are members of the upper-middle class. Good money, good loot. Everyone is at the same social status so they would have no reason to believe that someone would try and rob their house."

With the haul from this heist, Zara could pay off all her overdue bills. Water, electricity, cable TV—even though robbing a house was something new, it was well worth the risk.

"Ironically, robbing them is exactly what we're doing," she chimed in.

"I know, I know. But there's always a first time for everything right? After this they will most likely be a little more careful, install a laser beam or two. But as of now, I'm even willing to bet that these people keep their doors unlocked. I watched this lady walk into her house one time without using any keys—their cherries are ours for the picking."

After a few more left and right turns, Saffron slowed and pulled up to the side of an empty road. He switched the car off and after a quick glance in the rearview mirror, he unbuckled his seatbelt and turned towards the others, a solemn look on his face.

"Alright lads, this is how it's going to go down. See that white house over there? The one that's three houses away from the one we're parked in front of?"

Everyone craned forwards in order to catch a glimpse of the target.

"You know why I picked that one?" Saffron whispered.

Everyone shook their heads.

"Because the owners are probably deep asleep by now..." He checked his digital watch. "It's midnight, and the owners are a childless middle-age couple." Saffron opened the glove compartment and pulled out a folded sheet of poster paper, rustling it noisily as he unfolded it. "Aurora, can you shine a light on here?"

Why did you pick this house and not any other one? Zara thought, the question throbbing at the forefront of her mind, begging to be answered. His reasoning behind it was too vague—this house wasn't the only one inhabited by a wealthy middle-aged, child-less couple. There was more behind this. Zara sneaked a look at the others; if they shared her concern, they certainly didn't show it.

Then again, the others always took Saffron's word as if Jesus himself had descended to Earth and spoken. He was both the most knowledgeable and organised member of the group, he rarely took a step forward without considering all its consequences first. His current ambiguity didn't sit too well with Zara; she made a mental note of confronting him about it later, in private.

With a nod, Aurora pulled out her phone and illuminated the page. As Zara peered over the driver's seat, she saw that it was a bird's eye view of the house—red markings indicated possible entryways and hiding spots.

"To refresh your memory, you can get in from here, here, and here." Saffron pointed to the spots as he spoke, "There's an alternate exit here," he made a circle above the area with a finger, "right beyond the bushes. It leads to the road parallel to this one."

Zara listened intently, imprinting the red into her mind.

"Cool," Orion said with finality, adjusting the collar of his jacket. "You're driving again, right?"

"Right. If everything's clear, you should get—"

"Wait. No dogs or anything funny right?" Aurora whispered, "We were thisclose to getting caught last time."

Zara bit her lower lip. Out of all the things that could concern her about this heist, getting attacked by a guard dog was what worried her the most. Especially after being told that the area had minimal security.

Saffron waited for a moment before he spoke again. Zara could almost hear the gears turning in his head.

"I've seen a Goldie before, but only once. I don't think it belongs to them—the lawn's way too pristine for a dog of that size to roam the area. Anyway, gear up. We've already spent more time here than we should have."

Zipping and unzipping ensued as the four of them began to change their clothes. To top it off, Zara double-knotted her Docs, Aurora tied her hair up into a ponytail, and Orion slipped on his leather gloves.

With their black balaclavas on, they were now virtually invisible.

"Good luck out there and remember: we're a team. If something happens to any one of you, I'll be damned if we don't all end up in the hell-house together."

Orion and Aurora were the first ones to leave the car. Zara shifted her way towards the door, but Saffron reached out and grabbed her forearm. She turned her head towards him, an inquisitive look in her eyes.

"You know what you gotta do. Lasso those two in if they get too greedy," Saffron said, his voice low and a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. They maintained eye-contact for a split-second. Zara blinked and looked away, inclining her head in understanding.

"Good." Saffron squeezed her arm. "Now go."

She stepped out of the car, grabbing her backpack on her way out. Zara tactfully shut the door behind her—after two swift knocks on the window, Saffron was off.

And so were they.

-:-