~

My body is violently shaken awake by a strong pair of arms.

"God, Kelch. Did you drink last night? Why are you finding it so hard to stay awake," Gray's voice comes out as a low whisper.

"Huh?" I stretch my arms, peering my eyes open, adjusting to the dim lighting in my room. "Is there a fire?"

Gray hunches his shoulders, a blank look plastered on his face. "It's 4:30, and Aaron's flight is by 7. We need to leave."

My body had a monotonous morning routine. Wake up by 7 am. Do the needful and get to school. Anything earlier than 7 makes it go on stutter mode, and I can't comprehend what happens during those moments.

"4: 30? Are we trying to open the airport for them?"

Through my slightly closed lids, I see Gray roll his eyes before carrying me in his arms. Instinctively, I wrap my arms around his neck, burying my face further into his chest.

"Hmm," I murmur against his chest, inhaling his overwhelming scent of aftershave and lavender Cologne. "You smell so g-."

My words are cut short by a splash of cold water hitting my face. I wince, pushing my body away from Gray's at an alarming rate.

"Why?" I pout.

"Babe, you need to be up. Zyair would be here in the next ten minutes."

"Why?"

Gray shakes his head at me, an amused expression on his face. "The plan. Aaron."

My eyes widen as realization dawns on me. "Aaron!"

Pushing away from Gray, I run back into my room to get dressed. We had to get to the airport before Aaron and his father, but my sleepy head was probably going to slow us down.

Gray's phone rings and he waves it at me. "Zyair's here. I'll stall for a while," he says and walks out of my room.

Hopping on one leg as I struggled to wear my biker shorts, I grab my toothbrush and head to the bathroom. I finish dressing and washing my face in 10 minutes- a new record, by the way, yet my eyes still felt groggy.

Gray is waiting for me in the living room with a cup of coffee in his hands. "Are you still feeling sleepy?" he asks, wrapping his arms around my shoulders as we walked out.

"What's the time?"

"5:12."

"Yeah. Still sleepy, " I rub my eyes and get into the back seat of Zyair's car with Gray.

"Hey, " I greet Zyair with a smile.

"Why are you both getting into the backseat?" Zyair complains but starts the car anyways.

I rest my head on Gray's shoulder, closing my eyes, letting myself sleep in the warmth of the car.

"Kelch needs to rest on my shoulder to sleep, " Gray replies.

"I wonder what the headrest is for, " Zyair replies sarcastically with a snort. "Can't at least one person sit next to me. I feel like a fucking driver."

"Stop whining. We're picking Ashley up in a few minutes."

"You guys don't appreciate me enough," Zyair shakes his head, playing on our emotions.

With a sigh, I pry my eyes open, staring at him through the rearview mirror. "Do you want a kiss to make you feel better?" I asked, a mocking tone to my voice.

Zyair glares at me through the mirror, and a smirk form on his face. "Just to piss Gray off. Yes."

I roll my eyes and lean forward to peck his cheeks. Gray stops me by grabbing my wrist. "What are you doing?"

"It's just a little kiss on the cheeks to stop his unnecessary whining, " I whisper.

"I can hear you. Besides-,"

Zyair stops talking when Gray plants a loud kiss on the side of his face, scrunching up his face in disgust. "You do realize your life is in my hands?"

"Done," Gray turns his face to me, returning my head to his shoulder with one hand, ignoring Zyair.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay. Who are the guys helping us?" Ashley asks, staring at her phone screen.

It's 5:40, and we are parked at the airport's underground parking lot, going over the plan one last time before we get down from the car.

"Presley, Jake, Fawn, Elliot, Zoe, Ursula, Omar, Diaz, and ken," Zyair replies.

"Ken is helping?" I ask, my surprise evident in my face and voice.

As far as everyone knows, Ken and Aaron were each other's worst enemies. Their feud became worse when Aaron became the team captain, and Ken became the assistant.

"He knows how much we need Aaron to win the state finals," Zyair shrugs.

A small sigh escapes my lips. My heartbeat elates at the thought of what we're about to do. I skim through the bag Ashley had brought with her, admiring the work she had done.

"You did all these alone?" I ask, grabbing the bag and getting down from the car.

"I love art, " She smiles, shrugging her shoulders.

We meet up with the rest of the guys. I give Elliot and Fawn small sides hugs. "You don't think we can get arrested, do you?" Fawn asks, fidgeting with her fingers.

"What? No? This is America. Only black people get arrested illegally. You'll be fine,"

Jake taps Fawn's shoulder reassuringly.

Everyone becomes silent, staring at him incredulously. "Okay, Okay. I'm just kidding," he raises his hands in the air defensively. "Not."

Gray shakes his head and wraps his arms around my shoulders. "Let's just go in."

Mr. Baker had taken Aaron's gadgets, hence leaving us with no mode of contacting him.

"Do you know what Airline he's using?" Elliot asks Gray.

"Mr. Baker only uses one airline. Farkos," He replies, staring straight ahead.

We walk around the large airport for a while, searching for Farkos airline 7 am flight to London. We also didn't fail to garner attention from passersby, who didn't fail to gape at us like we were meat.

What do you expect when we strutted around in a group like lost chicks?

Finally, we find Farkos check-in point by 6:05 and settle down to put our plan in place.

The plan was a very simple one. Cause Chaos.

As if on cue, we spot Aaron- his shoulders stooped, a pale and tired look to his face- walking towards the check-in point with his father.

Gray sees them too. "Now!"

Zyair pops the confetti, summoning an insane amount of attention to us. I grab my poster, holding it up above my head.

My poster read

We all sent what we wanted to be written on our posters to Ashley last night, deciding to be creative with our words.

Zyair's read

Jake's read

Ashley's read

Elliot's read

Gray grabs the megaphone ken had stolen from their coach and clears his throat into it. "Yes. Hello. Look at me, please, " he points at a random stranger. "Yeah, you too."

Aaron and Mr. Baker get closer. Mr. Baker's face was a hot shade of red, making me wonder how he was able to turn red so fast. Aaron had a small smile on his face, trying hard to hide his laughter.

"With all due respect, sir, " Gray calls out, his eyes trained on Mr. Baker. "We are about to disrespect you. You shouldn't take our best friend away from us just because he isn't living the life you want him too."

Zyair points his finger at Aaron. "Aaron likes it here. Don't you, Aaron?"

Aaron laughs and shakes his head gently. He runs his hand over his throat, gesturing towards his father with his head.

"Yeah, we know he hates us right now, but we don't care," I shake my head.

"Now we know you spent money on that ticket, and we cat let it go to waste, " Gray shakes his head and kisses his teeth.

"You can use the ticket on yourself. London is a beautiful place. Clear your head. Enjoy the frigid weather," Zyair gestures with his hands, a small mischievous smile on his face.

Mr. Baker is silently glaring at us, his face getting redder and more intimidating by each passing second.

"We've got snacks. We can do this all day if you want," Ashley shrugs her shoulders.

A loud whistle goes off behind us. I turn my head to two security guards coming running our way, pointing their fingers at us.

"Who called for security?" Fawn asks Mr. Baker, raising an eyebrow.

"I did," an old lady at the check-in line in says. "This man is trying to do something good for his sinner of a son, but you kids are just, " she shakes her head condescendingly.

"With all due respect, how old are you, ma'am? 80? Don't you think you should be a bit nicer at such an age?" Zoe places her hands on her hips, jutting her hips.

The young female adult that is in charge of the old woman gasp, widening her eyes at Zoe. "Have you no manners?"

"You should ask your grandmother that question. No one asked for her opinion."

The lady scoffs, rolling her eyes. "You kids are the ones making noise. Your friend shouldn't be gay in the first place if he doesn't want to be shipped away to another country."

"Gosh, you sound like a terrible person," Zoe throws her hands up frustratedly. "I bet you have no friends or anyone who would stand up for you. You and your grandmother are the only ones complaining. I bet you're a loser that-,"

Loud resonating slap streams in the air, engulfing us in the deafening silence that followed. Initially, I had tuned Zoe and the lady's argument out, but upon directing my gaze to the source of the sound, I see Zoe clutching her left cheek with both hands.

Although the argument had blown way out of proportion, I didn't really pay attention because they were only exchanging words.

Another slap lands on someone's cheeks, but the slap wasn't from Zoe. Ashley had taken it upon herself to fight for Zoe by slapping the woman back.

Did someone say best friends' goals? *note the sarcasm*

More words exchange and a few more blows and hair pull are all that is needed for more guards to arrive.

"That's my cue to run," Jake sprints off, leaving the rest of us. Elliot grabs Aaron's wrist, and we all run away from the scene until we hear a familiar cry.

"I can't run in these heels," Ashley cries from behind us.

Who the fuck wears heels early in the morning to a fucking protest?

We turn to reach for her, but before we could, a guard grabs her wrist, pulling her away. Zyair runs up to them, kicks the guard hard in this shins, causing him to let go of Ashley's wrist.

Ken, Zoe, Fawn, and the rest had visibly left us. Zyair pulls Ashley's shoes from her legs, throwing them away and grabbing her to run.

"I can't leave my Louis Vuitton," She cries, heading back for the shoe.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Gray mutters under his breath.

It doesn't take long for the six of us to get cornered by five guards. Ashley didn't look bothered at the fact that we got caught because of her, clutching her red bottoms to her chest.

"Hope you're happy," Zyair glares at her, muttering under his breath.

"As Ariana grande said, happiness is the same price-,"

"Oh, shut the fuck up," Eliot snaps, cutting her off.

Zyair takes small steps towards the officer, rasing his hands mid-air. "Officer. Guard? TSA?" Zyair raises his brow at the fuming officer he kicked earlier. "Might I add, your hair looks really good."

The officer kept a straight face, still glaring at Zyair. "You and your friends would be kept in a holding cell until your parents come to bail you out," He says.

"What if we don't have parents? What if we're orphans?" Gray asks with a shrug.

The man kept his resting bitch face on, obviously not buying it one bit. "Get moving, " the man replies through gritted teeth.

Bodyguards in black suits walk past us, and a lot of people we're pointing at them, whispering to themselves. I tip my toes to see who they were protecting. My eyes widened in excitement, and I turn to look at Zyair, who had a grin on his face.

"That's my father," Zyair points at Mr. Smith, trying to push past the security.

The guards raise their brows at us, chuckling softly to themselves. "Get moving. I won't ask nicely again."

We push past the security men and walk towards Mr. Smith. Zyair's father is a senator. He's also one of the funniest and kindhearted men I knew.

"Dad! Dad!" Zyair waves his hands as we strut towards him. His guards give way for us when they recognize his son.

"Dad, they are trying to arrest us. Can you please talk to them?" Zyair rushes his words, pointing at the guards behind us.

The guards catch up to us, and one of them bows to Mr. Smith. "Sorry for the disturbance, sir, but they claim to be your children."

"What did they do?" Mr. Smith asks, his eyes skimming through all of us, an amused look on his face.

"Noise pollution- they staged a protest against their friend's father, Insulted an old lady, got engaged in a fight, and physically assaulted an officer, " The guard says, his eyes fixed on Zyair as he said the last words.

Why did he have to put it that way?

Mr. Smith turns to me, his eyes silently asking why I was involved in this. When I was much younger, Mr. Smith always said that I was the most logical 5-year-old he had ever met because he liked the way my mind worked.

I shift my body, hiding behind Gray's back, embarrassed that I had let him down.

"Are they your kids, sir?" the guard asked again.

Mr. Smith sighs, placing his hands into his pockets. "No. I've never seen these children before in my life," he replies with a straight face.

"Dad!"

"What's going to happen to them?" He asks the guard, ignoring Zyair's cries.

"We'll put them in holding cell until their parents come to pick them up, sir."

"And if their parents don't show up? " He asks, pointing at Zyair. "Because I don't think he has parents."

Zyair rolls his eyes and sighs into his hands.

The guard looked at Zyair and back at Mr. Smith. "We'll let them go after 24 hours."

"Make it 48," Mr. Smith says, and the guard nods his head.

"Dad!"

Mr. Smith walks away without saying another word after basically sealing our fate to be in Jail.

•••••••••••••••••••

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