They took off from Theo’s house, fueled and ready to take on anything. They travelled in a clump on their bikes, riding down the open freeway. Eniola looked down and her bike showed they were just leaving their city. The trip to San Francisco would take at least three hours, so they needed to hurry if they wanted to make it to the opening ceremony in eight hours.

The palm trees were accumulating as they continued, swaying next to a beach. Eniola looked up at the levitating road sign to see that Los Angeles was still a ways away. They had only been driving for 1 hour.

“Let’s take a quick break,” Theo suggested, and they all pulled off the main road and onto a small path leading to a beach by the road, with few people dotting the long stretch of sand. They found a nice spot, surrounded by some bushes and palm trees. They drove in circles, then stopped, forming a nice barricade.

Eniola slipped off her bike and headed to the trunk of her bike and popped it open. Her hand flew to her back. Already one hour on the bike was making her tailbone kill her. The glass cooler was still intact, and so was her heavy-ass backpack.

“What’s in the cooler?” Jay asked, passing her bike and sitting next to her.

“Just some things my mom made for me,” Eniola said. “Oh, and your bike is right there.”

“It would be nice to have a change of scenery,” he told her.

“We just got here,” Eniola huffed, but she let him sit next to her. “Just don’t be annoying.”

Lucia then ran from her bike to Eniola, looking enthusiastically hungry. She took the cooler from Eniola and dove in.

“She brought my favourite!” Lucia squealed, holding up a container of pepper soup.

“I guess we can all eat this,” Eniola said. “My mom made a lot.” She handed out containers of various foods and handed them all out to them, as they all sat on their bikes and dug in.

“I’m just happy for any break,” Iris mentioned suddenly. “The trip has been so quiet with all 8 of my brothers and sisters screaming at me.”

“Imagine having more than 1 younger sibling,” Eniola joked.

“I don’t need to. I have 8,” Iris huffed. “I’m just happy I have some free time from being mom number 3.”

“Let’s just hope we win,” Theo cut in. “And have a good time doing it. These 10 days are going to be so fun. Playing SCOPE in a different city and exploring.”

“Hey!” Jay leaned over to her.

“What do you want?” she asked him, knowing damn well he was going to say something. “Are you going to call me ‘shorty’ again?”

“You know I was going for a suave pickup line, but then I got all flustered when I saw you,” he admitted, and she could still see his wide smile despite the darkening sky. Heat welled in her cheeks.

“Is this how you talk to all girls?” she asked teasingly. “Instead of being normal?”

A light chuckle came from his mouth. “Bold of you to assume I’m normal.”

She rolled her eyes in response, as he chuckled. Eniola narrowed his eyes on him. What did he really want?

He then started looking at her like she was the sun. Mostly because he was squinting and looked like he was trying to see something. “Don’t move.”

Before she could move her own hand to her cheek, Jay shifted closer to her and reached for her face. She was practically exploding with heat when his thumb brushed against her cheek. He wiped away a stray piece of rice stuck to her cheek.

“Got it,” he said, flicking it from his fingers. Her cheek still distractingly tingly from his touch as he went back to life as usual, eating his jollof rice. It was clear what had happened.

Eniola.exe had stopped working.

She snapped herself out of whatever trance she’d been in and zoned back into reality. Next to her, she caught Lucia smirking obviously, and Eniola remembered how she somehow thought she liked Jay. As if that could ever happen. He’d just joined.

Suddenly, a single deafening scream roared out into the air. Panic hit them all at once, as they tried to locate it. A figure came forward and a pair of black hands clamped Theo’s mouth, then pulled him back. Eniola screamed and tried to run, but her legs didn’t move. Someone suddenly tackled her to the ground. She tried to scream again, but a hand clamped over her mouth. She barely looked up before she saw Jay and Lucia on the ground.

Eniola screamed as she tried to register what was going on. Who were these people? Were they being kidnapped? What was happening?

Suddenly, a loud bang shocked her and left ringing in her ears. Then, Eniola was released as the person on top of her fled.

Eniola laid there shaken until she looked up. The world suddenly fizzed in her vision like it was a glitch. Eniola’s breath hitched into her throat, before blinking again. She was suddenly on her bike again, eating the food like she was before. The breaths shakily escaped her throat as she looked up. Everyone’s eyes were on her.

“You good?” Jay asked. “You just spaced out for 5 minutes.”

“We thought you were frozen or something,” Lucia joked, before going serious. “I was so worried.”

Eniola turned to them swiftly. “I’m fine,” she said loudly just in case they wouldn’t believe her. “I just spaced out.” Eniola finally regained control of her body. What had just happened? Did she fall asleep and have some messed-up dream?

Eniola probably did and left it at that. She let out one breath again, before smiling at her concerned teammates. Even Jay seemed concerned, which was surprising.

“Well since that’s settled,” Theo said. “Let’s hit the road. SCOPE awaits.”