The Future is Ours

Twenty

Holly and Ernesto had spent the night in Wales with Ernesto's family before driving back to London in the morning. It had been a strange evening of bonding with his parents, but they were coming back feeling a strange sense of triumph. They had arranged with the rest of the Sparticles to meet for dinner to discuss a plan.

"Are you sure you don't want me to look after Kimmy, Hol?" Kim had asked her daughter. "You both deserve a night off."

"I don't want a night off though, mum. Thank you for the offer, I just want Kimmy with me. She's only 3 months." Holly had insisted.

"And this isn't really a night off." Ernesto added as he straightened his tie. "We've got important things to discuss."

The trio jumped into a black cab, speeding off down the busy London roads until until they arrived at the restaurant. It was a large, modern building overlooking St Paul's with windows from floor to ceiling. Chandeliers hung down from the ceiling, glistening as light reflected off them.

"Miss Green, Mr Griffith, please follow me to your table. The rest of your party has already arrived."

"Heyyy guys!" Sadiq exclaimed as he watched the remainder of his tribe arrive at their table. He had a glass of wine in hand, which he waved in the air at them. A bit slipped out and landed on Frankie, who pulled a disgusted face whilst whipping it from her dress.

"Oooo, my little tiny baby!" Serena ran up, taking a giggling Kimmy out of her pram and rubbing their noses together. "Look at you, you beautiful girl! Are you going to come sit with Auntie Serena?"

Holly couldn't help but laugh at the pair, feeling pure happiness at the sight of her best friend doting on her baby. She took her seat in between Ernesto and Serena as a waiter handed them some menus.

"Can I get anyone some more drinks?" She asked.

"I'll have a beer!" Liam asked.

"Umm, no you won't!" Tia corrected. "You're only 14! He'll have a coke, and a glass of wine for me please."

"I'll have a beer, please." Ernesto asked, before turning to Liam and sticking his tongue out. "Sucks to be a kid, don't it, little man."

The rest of the tribe ordered their drinks before getting down to business.

"I honestly don't see what's so wrong with how the government is handling things. They've made me Director of Science." Kat said gleefully, happy that her hard work during the Disappearance had been recognised, allowing her career in science to be fast tracked.

"And me, Tia, and Liam are being offered full training in medicine for free! We would have never been able to afford that otherwise." Jeff added.

There appeared to be a divide between the old Sparticles and the final tribe who had been together in the final stretch of the mission. Whilst the original members appeared happy with how things were going, the final 7 weren't so pleased.

"They want to do experiments on me and Aris, and the rest of the sensitives. I'm not too sure how I feel about that..." Reece trailed off.

"I am! I don't like us being viewed as lab rats!" Aris exclaimed in anger. "We had powers. Now we don't. The whole universe got split into two dimensions, and yet they think us once being able to move things with our minds is the thing which needs investigating."

"That's horrible, you two don't have to do anything you don't want to do. They can't be treating kids like that." Callum added.

"Well, we have the 3 month unification celebration dinner next week. They're going to be announcing our new 'titles' to the rest of the world, announcing their next steps. Who says we have to comply with them then?" Serena suggested.

Their waiters arrived with their food, and the tribe went quiet, not wanting anyone to know their plans. They had all become some what of celebrities since the worlds had realigned. People would take any opportunity to sell information about them to the newspapers - it was something they had had to learn the hard way.

Information emerged of Jeoff and Tia's secret engagement. Jeoff had planned to propose to her once the world's were aligned, allowing him to ask her father's permission first (he was traditional if anything, being raised by his gentleman of a grandfather). However, before he had the chance to pop the question, photos of him shopping for engagement rings were all over the front pages. He had been heartbroken that his surprise had been ruined, but Tia still cried happy tears endlessly when she found out.

"What do you mean, Serena?" Frankie asked in a tone barely above a whisper.

"What I mean is, at the awards ceremony we fight back. We announce our own revolution, our own fight, our own party to give us all a voice!" She explained, passion evident in her voice.

Ernesto couldn't help but smile at his friend. "A revolution? I like it, it's just what we need to do!"

"But wouldn't it be better to discuss your grievances with them, rather than jumping straight to a rebellion?" Jeoff suggested.

Sadiq sighed. "Tried that. Didn't work. They wanted me to be their 'pretty boy'," he done air quotes with his fingers, "to be the face of the returned teenagers. I wasn't having any of it, but apparently I shouldn't have a choice in the matter."

Kat looked like she was debating the idea. "Well, if we're going to do this, we have to do it properly. No messing about, we need a road map if we need this to succeed."

All heads turned to face Ernesto, and he gave them a puzzled looked. "What?"

"Ern, you've led a revolution before. Can you lead this one too?" Holly looked at him pleadingly.

A big grin appears on the boys face. "I thought you'd never ask."