High School Never Ends

“Hey! Are you guys alright!?” Tony called out
Quickly, I jumped to my feet away from Mike.
“What happened?” Tony narrowed his eyes looking between me and Mike
I looked guiltily over at Mike when I noticed he was still on the ground.
“What are you doing?” I asked Mike
“Well I can’t exactly stand up.” He replied, nodding towards his ankle
“Oh yeah.” I laughed to myself
“Why? What happened?” Tony asked
“I proved to Mike that I’m better at skate boarding than he is. Basically, he fell off the skate board at some point and hurt his ankle.” I explained
“Yeah, yeah. Now are you gonna help me up or not?”
I shook my head whilst Mike pouted. Tony rolled his eyes and helped Mike to his feet. As soon as Mike had reached his feet, Tony pushed him towards me.
“Meeting someone.” I raised my eyebrow
“Maybe.” He blushed slightly
“Ooooo, Tony’s got a girlfriend!” Mike teased
“Shut up, Mike!” I scolded. “But seriously, do you?”
“No. Just a friend.”
“Who?”
“You don’t know her.”
“It’s a her!” Mike noted
“Have fun guys.” Tony waved as he walked away
“Play nice!” Mike called after him
I slapped his arm.
“What?” He smirked
“You know what!”
I helped Mike hop back to the car.
“Y’know I can’t drive now.”
“What? You only need one foot.” I stupidly exclaimed
“Well I kind of need one foot to brake and another to accelerate.”
“Shut up.” I mumbled
“So?” Mike dangled the keys in my face
“I’m shit.”
“As long as you get me home with my car in one piece, it’s fine.”
I sighed and grabbed the keys. Mike hopped around to other side of the car and climbed into the passenger seat. I got into the driver’s seat and put the key into ignition.
“Cross your fingers and toes.”
“Honestly, you can’t be tha…”
“Shh!” I scolded. “I need to concentrate!” I snapped
After driving in a comfortable silence, Mike decided it was the best time to start up a new conversation.
“About that kiss.”
I jumped at his voice and braked just in time so that we didn’t hit the car in front.
“Fucking hell, Mike. What the fuck! You fucking dick head!” I screamed at him in fear
“Woah, chill!”
“I-I-I… Sorry. You made me jump.”
“Concentrating hard, huh?”
“I’m trying not to screw your car up.”
“Awh, aren’t you sweet.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “We’ll talk when we get back.”
“Alright.”
When we arrived back at Mike’s house, I quickly hopped out of the car. I legged it inside and dived onto the sofa. Hugging one of the cushions tightly, I heard somebody clear their throat.
“Yes?” I asked
“What... What are you doing?” Vic laughed
“Mike made me drive home.”
“It all makes sense now!” Jaime exclaimed sarcastically, with widened eyes
“Screw you guys!”
Suddenly, Mike burst through the front door, barely reaching the settee, before he collapsed.
“Thanks for the help, Ari.”
“Oops, I forgot.” I smiled, innocently
“You guys had fun?” Vic asked, raising his eyebrow at me
“Ari taught me a few tricks…” Mike began
“That Mike mostly failed at.” I finished for him
“Hey! I wasn’t that bad.” He pouted
“You fell off the skateboard and now you can’t walk properly.”
“Shut up.” Mike mumbled
“So nothing…” Vic started
“Did you know Tony has a secret girlfriend!” I exclaimed, quickly changing the subject
It seemed to work, as Jaime suddenly became very engaged in what me and Mike had to say about Tony and his secret girl.
Vic sighed and left the room, clearly uninterested in what we had to say. He probably already knew anyway: he knows everything. Mike was in the middle of explaining his theory on Tony and his new friend. Both Jaime and Mike were so lost in the conversation that I was able to sneakily slip out and into Vic’s room. Gently, I closed the door behind me and turned to face Vic on his bed.
“Have you heard of knocking? I could have been naked!” Vic hissed
“Worse things have happened.” I shrugged
“What’s up?”
“Well… Can we just leave all the stuff to do with Mike for a second.”
Vic nodded
“Okay then. What’s going on with… Y’know. Have you heard any news about the drugs situation.”
“If I had, my face wouldn’t be looking as pretty as it is now.” Vic smirked
“Watch it, you’ll become cockier than Mike.”
Vic faked a gasp before continuing. “All I know is that they haven’t made much of a disturbance in the, let’s say, ‘local community’, meaning that they’re up to something.”
“But we don’t know if it has anything to do with you.” I reasoned
“True. However, I’d rather not take that chance with my life.”
I slumped down next to Vic and put my head in my hands.
“What are we going to do?” I groaned
“It’ll be fine, we’ll figure it out.”
“Paige would know what to do.” I murmured
“Yeh, she would.” Vic agreed
“So let’s think like her!” I grinned
“How?”
“Well, she would probably want to charge in and kill them all. Obviously, that isn’t our style. So we could adjust her style to fit us?”
“That all sounds complicated. Can’t we just all live here and barricade the house.”
“That can be plan B!” I chuckled “What if there was another way to pay off the debt?”
“I don’t think they like to negotiate their conditions.”
“But there must be something that would make them happier than killing someone… What about money!?” I suggested
“Too easy.”
“Puppies?” I asked hopefully
“Yes, that’s what a gang of drug dealers want: puppies!”
“What about the police?”
“They’d have to investigate your home.”
“Not that option.” I quickly whispered
“Why? Is everything okay? Is someone hurting you!?” Vic panicked
“No, no. It’s just… If they knew that Paige had done this maybe they would blame my Mum and I would be taken away.”
“Oh… Good point.”
“We’re fucked.”
“We could run away.”
“Where?”
“Alaska? Nobody goes there!”
I laughed. “The cold doesn’t sound appealing to me.”
“But you’re from England?” Vic stated, confused
“You can’t get frostbite in England.” I chuckled
“We’re fucked.” Vic repeated my words
“What would happen if we fought back?”
“We’d either end up dead or as murderers.”
“We’re fucked.”

Notes