The Flyer

CHAPTER 9

Cc: Talk.

VALYRA.

I already like Allain. I call him the brat, but only in my head.

I postponed the talk and made them go to sleep first, and while they were sleeping, Dad stopped by to check on them.

"The pictures were given by Landon Woods," he said. "He's a friend of your mother's."

"So he's not some creepy stalker or anything?" I clarified. 

"No," Dad said. "Your mother must've concluded that Nat and Al would come straight to the gala so she asked him to keep a look-out."

I offered Dad some chips. "Are you saying that Mom  sort of allowed them to escape?"

"Maybe. Your mom was never a fan of those rules."

Dad left after telling me what he knew and telling me to get some rest as well. He also told me that my friends were alright. Again, he told me that Nik mustn't know. This one I don't get, it's like Dad trusted Nik with everything, and now he's suddenly blocking Nik out? What's going on?

In the morning, I found that Nat and Allain were early risers. They woke up at six in the morning and even made some crepes for me.

"You know, I'm kinda ashamed that you guys make better crepes than I do," I told them.

Nat laughed. I noticed her laugh sounded so feminine. "We can only make some things that have batter, if that makes you feel better."

"So, uh, what do you guys normally do at home?" 

"We study, read--"

"Escape..."

I narrowed my eyes the same time Nat did.

"What?" Allain protested. "It's true. Come on. Why do you think we get punished so often?"

Nat's dirty look became dirtier. "It's not an exactly an escape if we were going back before the day ends anyway."

What?

Allain frowned at her, but seemed to mentally shrug it off as he took a sip from him mug of hot choco. "Valyra, why is your hot choco so thin?"

"It's instant," I said, "And the water-powder ratio is wack. It's only intended for like two hundred fifty milliliters, I think."

Allain had the signature red hair and brown eyes of the older family.

So is he nice or neutral?

Whatever.

"So what really happened?"

Nat sighed. "I really don't want to answer that question."

"We spend our free time looking for the youngest Baron, but they somehow find out sometimes and yesterday when we were out someone snitched."

"We didn't know how, but we left the signal off. We're thinking Analyse, Allain's sister, installed something since she's the only other person who touches the ship."

I took a sip of my chocolate. "So you're telling me that you took a detour here because you were being chased for doing something you weren't supposed to? So I'm housing criminals?"

Nat pouted. "Come on, don't say it that way. It's not forbidden. We were just 'advised against' it," she said making finger air quotes, "I just wanna have peace of mind about our sister."

"I'm gonna be honest here," I set my cup in front of me. "I don't care. You're not supposed to do things you were told not to." I stood up and cleared the counter.

Nat and Allain exchanged glances, probably not expecting my response. But I had more to be concerned about than their supposed crime. I had a summer cheer meet scheduled today. For some reason, we were asked to cheer for the local basketball boys this summer for their non-school tournament.

I ran up and dressed in a cropped white shirt and black biker shorts and grabbed my duffel that I prepared last night.

"You kids behave. If you see a guy who looks like Nat, don't open the door for him, don't do anything that would alert him the house is occupied. If he comes in, hide or whatever. Jump out the window, do what you should do. Do not let him know you're here, understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Allain grinned and rested his shoulder on Nat's shoulder, waving me off as if to say that they've got it and I needn't worry.

I feel like I should be even more worried but, I guess it can also just serve as a test.

I rushed out and slipped into my Rover.

The place I was headed wasn't Wilson. For the first time in years, Wilson and Calvary were going to team up and go against the other two nearby schools-- Madden and Olympus. Madden and Olympus were the Calvary and Wilson of the other side of town. The bad blood started when Olympus bullied Calvary in a state football game. Wilson sided with Calvary while Madden accused Calvary of playing the victim.

That wasn't just it.

Madden tried to cheat in a swim meet a few years ago by infusing the guest pool with itching powder. They'd offered the pool to the guests and it happened that Calvary was the first school to arrive. The first athlete to jump in got the brunt of the act and wasn't able to participate. It was just the usual pranking itching powder but chemically modified to have longer lasting effects. The guy got allergic reactions and had to stay at home for an extra day. Thankfully, he turned out okay and wasn't drastically affected by the incident. Since then, no one trusted Madden and Madden's swim team was banned from competing that year as representatives of Madden. 

Right now, I was going to the town gymnasium that we call Jalopy because it used to have this old Jalopy parked by it. The Jalopy was towed away last year, but well, habits don't wear off so easily.

"Valyra!" Coach Alyse chirped. "Punctual as always." I appeared on the dot for real.

"Sup, Coach!" I grinned, giving her a high-five. "Where's everyone else?"

She pocketed her pen and shifted her clipboard completely to one hand. "Come on. We're waiting for you."

I...They what?

"Good morning, everyone. Our cheer captain is now here. Cheerleaders and players must get acquainted. You have to be on good terms with the people you're cheering with, playing with, cheering for, and receiving cheer from, okay? Now, go, go, go! Move it!"

No basketball coach was in sight yet, and the tension was really high, not only among the players, but the cheerleaders as well. It turns out that the coach from Calvary and their more elite going-senior-year cheerleaders attended a cheer conference which had a competition, so they wouldn't be around for a month with practice and the actual thing.

The boys started introducing each other and I think some even tried to crack jokes because I heard some awkward and laughter and although there was tension, it was more of a "we're strangers so I'm quiet" kind of tension. 

The girls weren't...

I grimaced.

The cheerleader "in-charge" for Calvary was Kathilla White, blonde girl, blue eyes, sassy, and extremely talented. I heard the only reason why she wasn't captain was because she was already captain of the volleyball team. The next-in-line to the position was a junior and so she's part of those who went for the conference.

She'd be scary for other girls-- not for me because, well, I'm probably scarier-- and I've got money.

She looked at me sharply as she tightened her ponytail, so I made sure I stared her down for a good few seconds. I saw her scoff and whisper to her teammates, but whatever. Rumor has it that she hated Wilson high's status.

Let's see how this goes.