ꕥ𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭ꕥ {𝐈𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐜}

𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬|•ℭ𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 1•|

Timeset for this chapter: December 13, 2019

Around nighttime.

~(Y/N)'s POV~

A frisk breeze blew through my hair, nipping at my ears and causing me to shiver. I held onto my hot chocolate delicately to avoid hurting my cold fingers. The snow covered the ground, and the town's trees lit up festively. I glanced over my shoulder to inspect the bright, Christmas-y lights illuminating the streets and streetlights.

Friend groups surround the tree, playing Christmas music, hanging up their decorated ornaments around it, and a few familiar couples handing gifts to each other to celebrate the season. Christmas is right around the corner, after all. However, one person that caught my eye was this blonde-haired girl, dressed from head to toe in pink, wandering around aimlessly with a red-wrapped gift. I'm wondering where she's off to.

I must've been staring at the tree for too long since I was snapped from my thoughts when I heard my name.

"(Y/N), you okay?" My brother, Drake, asks. I nod in response.

My other brother, Zach, wanders to a nearby bench, "Aye, I'm gonna sit over there for a bit, alright? It's nice out here."

Drake scoffs, "It's no where close to nice out here, it's frickin' freezing. But, alright. (Y/N) and I will head back to the apartments."

"Sure," Zach shrugs and adjusts his varsity jacket. "My apartment's unlocked. Go ahead, and I'll meet you there."

Drake starts to ask, "Wait, why is your apartment unlocked-"

"Alright, thanks, Lil bro!" I quickly interrupt with a teasing expression.

Zach rolls his eyes. "You're the youngest."

"Yada, yada," I add a mocking hand motion. "See you later!"

Drake, Zach, and I are all triplets, if that isn't obvious enough with how we talk to one another. We weren't like lost and found, or whatever you want to call it. We've all grown up with each other all of our lives, so we've grown used to each other's bullsh!t. It's our Junior year of high school, so I'm worried about what the future offers. Maybe we'll be separated, maybe we won't. We'll see...

Drake and I leave Zach on the bench and head toward the apartments. Once we enter the building and take the elevator to Zach's floor, I wander the halls with Drake beside me. Unless it's an emergency, we aren't the type to go right where we need to. This isn't one of those occasions, so we explore.

While we walk around and talk about whatever nonsense comes to mind, we hear something in the hall with us.

"Hey, (Y/N)." Drake starts, staring at the end of the empty corridor. "... You heard that, too?"

"Yeah," I reply, staring down as well.

We slowly approach the corner, ensuring we are as alert as possible. When we make it to the corner, there aren't any other weird noises, so we return to our conversation. Drake starts his sentence again but is interrupted by something bumping into him, causing both of them to fall to the ground with a 'Thump!'

I'm about to assist the two, but the person who bumped into him stands up and swiftly dusts himself off.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention." He looked down at my brother and held out a hand. "Are you okay, by the way?"

Drake takes his hand and pulls himself up, "Yeah, I'm all good. Just watch yourself next time."

The young man doesn't talk with us further. He walks away from Drake and past me, hurrying down the hallway. I can't help but snicker.