The Young and Gifted

91. sbs

Most of SBS had left, due to plane flights and other plans. But the gang all stuck together and went into town. Raf led them to the Mystic High School which was deserted. Kaleb had brought out the alcohol and MG brought the music player. They danced and drank with each other, laughing at Josies attempt to find a beat.

It lasted for a while until Raf and Mason dropped a bag at their feet. Mason knelt and pulled out lanterns. Lizzie groaned. "Seriously? How cliche is that? We're gonna light one up and say what we're grateful for?"

"Yeah, Lizzie. We're gonna do exactly that," Raf nodded. She rolled her eyes and he approached her. Lizzie threw her around around his shoulders and looked up at him as he said, "Come on babe. What's there to be ashamed of? We're all friends."

She finally sighed and leaned in, her lips brushing his cheek. She purposefully didn't kiss him and Raf growled to that. "You'll have to make it up to me later."

Hope, Landon, Stephanie and Sebastian all yell at the same time,"Get a room." They all laughed but each began to light their lanterns.

They all wrote one a piece of paper and slipped it into the their lanterns. Landon helped light them up as the group finished.

Mason hugged Kaura to her body and stared at the sky, littered with splashes of blinking stars. One by one, they watched the little tents of glowing golden lights soar into the sky. They all hooted and cheered but the moment security guards began to show up, they ran off. They weren't sober enough to think about compulsion. 

Eventually, it was Kaleb who convinced them to enter the tattoo shop and they couldn't think rationally about the choice they were about to make. So in no time, all of them were getting matching tattoos, symbolizing their friendship. Stephanie giggled at Sebastian frowning as he watched the needle pierce his skin with fascination. She was strapped to the table as the man inked her and she kept her gaze focused on him to ignore the pain. It somehow worked.

Once they were done, they all sat in town square, the ticking time of the massive clock behind them. Kaura sat on the bench, with Lizzie's head in her lap. The two silently stayed there and Josie and Hope sat near a flower bed, picking at the innocent flowers. The boys remained standing, hands in pockets and Kaleb began to sing from the top of his lungs. Sober, he sounded wonderful. Drunk? Eh..... MG painfully joined in and the group laughed at his pitch but they all joined in as well, swaying to the makeshift music.

A small portion of the town could hear them and some even called the deputy department for the noise level but Jeremy didn't interrupt. He knew that this night solidified the ending of their friendship and he wanted it to last as long as it needed.

As their singing dialled down, Josie cleared her throat. "I wish she was here."

They all knew who she was referring to. Penelope. Kaura nodded and the girls bunched around the witch, rubbing her arm. They shared a moment of silence for Penelope since she was not able to make it.

Lizzie finally broke off first and Josie wiped her silent tears. She then brought the tattoo on her arm to her vision. "Mom is gonna kill us."

"I'm pretty sure she's too...occupied with Clarke to give a shit right now," Lizzie said and Josie kicked her shins.

"SS for Salvatore School," Mason said as he rose his brows and gave his tattoo a pointed glare.

"SS for Salvatore Students?" MG offered.

"This really works in my favour, my last name is literally Salvatore," Stephanie muttered.

"SS for Supernatural Sluts," Sebastian smirked.

Stephanie shook her head. "Shut up. Not all of us are supernatural's."

"But most of us are slu--" Sebastian winced when she kicked him.

Landon shook his head and ignored them as he said, "SS for Salvatore Saviours." They all groaned at the name he had come up for them but it only ended up in laughter.

"I'm really glad that I met you all," Hope said with a smile.

"Hey, be careful. The last time I heard that type of talk, you jumped into a fucking book," Mason snorted.

"No, but for real. Can you believe that the past two years we've been tightening monsters? Monsters. Unbelievable. I'm disappointed we didn't get to see mermaids."

"Because they're half-naked fish? Down bad, man," MG shook his head with disappointment.

"That's totally not the reason. Was I the only one who watched that show? H20 Just Add Magic or some shit. I deadass looked up magical potions to become a mermaid."

"Yet here you are, a bloodsucking vampire," Lizzie drawled lazily.

"At least I'm not a witch bitch," the vampire shot back.

"Please, you're just pissed off that these monsters were the only interesting thing that happened in your life," Lizzie laughed and crossed her legs, completely unbothered.

"You wanna come closer to say that?"

Kaura chuckled and shook her head. "You guys are ridiculous. I'm...sort of sad that we won't see each other again. For a very long time."

They all gasped. "Kaura showing emotions? Hold up, I need to document this."

"Shut up, I can show emotions," she hissed.

"Mmh, are you sure?" Raf said knowingly. "Because I distinctly remember an incident where you flipped your morality switch, killed Dave, flipped it back like it was nothing. Even without the stupid switch I'd still consider you emotionless."

"Let's get one thing straight, everyone hated Dave. Kind of fucked up that he left so dramatically but I'm just saying," Kaleb muttered, holding his hands up in defense.

Raf punched his arm. "You're a demonic man."

"Yes, the most charming and handsome demon you'll ever see." Kaleb flashed his pearly whites and winked. They all laughed and her looked at them wondering what the joke was. 

The night was spent on laughter and playful fighting. They were walking through the streets, sleep not even crossing their minds. The others were behind Hope and Kaura. Their arms were around each other and Hope said, "I heard you were going to New Orleans."

Kaura shrugged. "Maybe I missed those stupid beignets."

"I knew it!" Hope gasped.

Kaura snorted. "Don't get too ahead of yourself."

"Freya and I will be leaving in a plane tomorrow to New Orleans. I found something about my mom's side of the family."

"And after? Where will you go?"

Hope sighed and stared at the sky. "I don't know. Wherever time will take me."

"I'm worried about what this distance will do to Mason and I."

"Same. Everything with Landon is amazing and I hate that it might end."

"As long as we have each other, right? We'll be there for each other," Kaura swallowed and felt her heart thunder in her chest. Over the past couple of years, Hope had become the only person she could ever trust completely. Mason was somewhere in the loop.

Hope stopped the walk and threw her hands over her. "Always and forever."

~

"𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕗𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕗𝕒𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕪. 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕗𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕤 𝕨𝕙𝕠 𝕓𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕗𝕒𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕪."

try to guess who said it and don't forget to vote ;)