After school juniper just went home considering she didn't have any plans, she knew Gert wouldn't be home because she texted her saying she would be at the coffee shop,but she expected molly to be home but for some odd reasons she wasn't
A couple hours later it was getting kinda late,well not really but it's late for Gert because if she goes out she gets home really early so juniper and molly went to the coffee shop it was only a couple blocks away so they walked
When they arrived at the coffee shop they noticed gert looking upset and looking around as if she was looking for someone
"Hey you okay" molly asks gert as they walked up to her "I think I just got stood up" she says "who were you supposed to be meeting" juniper asks confused "I was supposed to help chase study but looks like he decided not to come anymore" gert says packing everything up
"Oh" juniper said gert finished packing got up and looked at her "don't worry juni it didn't mean anything I was just supposed to help him with Spanish I would never do that to you" gert told juniper and she looked confused "what?" Molly and gert chuckled at her
"Nothing let's just go home" gert told them, they were about to leave but then all three of them received a message from Alex and it was a photo of all of them
Alex has his arms over Nicos shoulders and they both looked really happy,karolina was standing behind them smiling, molly was on chases back smiling chase was holding molly but he wasn't looking at the camera
He was looking at juniper who had her arm around gert and chases looked like he was......in love with her in that moment
"You know what maybe we should go over Alex's house" juniper tells the two looking up from her phone "yeah maybe..." molly says
When they were about to walk up to Alex door step they saw chase and karolina at the corner of their eye also walking up to the house
They all nodded silently at each other and walked up to the door and knocked on it, Alex opened the door and looked surprised at all his old friends at his door step even more surprised that they came
"We all got your text" chase said showing Alex the photo "manipulative sending that photo" gert told him " but effective since you're almost all here" Alex reply's just then Nico arrived with her mascara smudged under her eyes
"room for one more?" she asks Alex just smiles at the sight of almost all of them together again "so..... you gonna let us in" chase asks him Alex nods "yeah" he motioned for them to come in
"Yeah if you guys don't like veggie there's pepperoni at the bottom" Alex says trying to start a conversation "there's a sausage under,and a pineapple too.......... or board games, oooo yes twister remember that we would always-" he got cut off "we're not 12 anymore" gert says
"Not even me" molly backed up "good point" Alex sighs then sits down "oh okay how about suggestions then, just anything you guys-" "what are you doing that was her chair" molly says
Alex looks down at the seat he was in "sit wherever you want she's gone" Nico says after that it was just silence not a comfortable one but a very uncomfortable silence
"This is too weird" chase says "maybe we just don't work without her" karolina continues then it was silence but only for a short amount of time before chase spoke up "yeah, I'm out of here" he says getting up
"No come on guys!" Alex says stopping chase from leaving "listen we can't blame Amy for the fact that we don't hang out anymore" "fine, I blame you" chase tells Alex sternly "chase don-" juniper warns him "you didn't come to the funeral!" "Everyone grieves in their own way" karolina says
"At funerals with their friends" chase says and motioned to all of them " yeah who would ever do that?not show up when a friend is expecting them especially who is willing to help them with something" juniper tells chase because she was kinda mad at him for leaving gert at the coffee shop for hours
He looks at her " I'm saying wilder not showing up was the first crack in the wall" "that wall was always coming down we were friends because our parents were friends,we were just kids we were always going to grow apart" karolina tells everyone
"Plus it's kinda hard to stay friends with someone when all they care about is being the perfect church girl" Gert tells karolina "better than the insufferable social justice warrior" karolina says referring to gert
"Or a dumb jock" Alex says "yeah or molly and juniper" chase says, the two girls looked at him confused "I've got nothing against you guys your both really nice" he continues
"What about me?" Nico speaks up they all looked at her "Nico..." Alex starts "whatever I am now it's not amy, sorry to let you all down" she says shrugging
"What? No, come on nobody's thinking that" Alex tries to tell her "great party Alex thanks for all the pizza and sadness" chase says sarcastically
"Yeah for once I agree with chase what are we doing here? We'd all move on we were doing fine" gert says "no none of us is fine and I for once am sick of pretending that I am we need to sit together and talk this through" karolina demands
"Fine then I'm going to need some alcohol" chase says then walks out "what- hey-" Alex goes after him "where are you going?" "As I recall your dad keeps a bottle of Pappy Van Wrinkles in his study I've been sipping on it since I was 13"
"Yeah but their in there now having a meeting" Alex yells at chase but he doesn't listen and continues walking to the study
"Hey Alex can I ask you a question" Nico stops Alex "yeah" he replies "you still never told me why you didn't come to the funeral, I guess what difference does it make it wouldn't bring her back..... thanks for doing this tonight for me"
"Hey Alex! You can take the stick outta your ass now they're gone" chase yells and the others walk to the study
They all looked around and chase went behind the bar "just don't touch anything okay?" Alex's asks them "too late!" Chase yells "dad says there's no reason to be in here when he's not"
"Why is my moms purse here?" Nico asks confused "where are they" "I don't know and I don't care all right he must've moved all the good stuff this'll do" chase says picking up a random bottle
Molly sat down in from of him "bourbon on the rocks shaken not stirred" she told him, he softly smiles "I don't think so"
Gert sits down beside molly "hey look I'm sorry about tonight" he told gert "clearly you had other plans" she said "it's not like that" "also I didn't do it for you I did it for juni because I know she cares about you" gert mentions the girl who was sitting down on the couch
Look I was a totally douche okay and I don't know maybe we could try it again?" He asks "no tengo ganas de perder el tiempo en un atleta desinteresado" gert tells him in Spanish
He looked at her confused "that means no wow you really do need a tutor" molly says walking away "and she needs a lime" "and a coaster" Alex chips in
Juniper got up and walked over to chase "any chance there's some water over there?" "Seriously juni water?" he lightly smiles at her and her heart bursts with happiness of him calling her juni like he used to
She was finna say something until they all heard clanking and turned over to where Alex was and they see his book cause turn into some sort of passage way
"Holy shit what just happened" "you mean other than a secret passageway opening" Alex says "where does it go?" Nico asks
"Bomb shelter?" Gert speaks up "no a kickass wine shelter definitely" chase says "in the past when religions are being persecuted sometimes builders would build secret temples to worship" karolina says
"Yeah but this is Brent wood not Bethlehem" gert says clearly irritated "this is some narnia shit" Alex says walking up to it "there's only one way to find out" molly says "let's do it" Alex says then walks into the passageway with the rest of them following
It was really dark and they couldn't see where they were stepping so juniper grabbed onto someone's hand she couldn't tell who's hand it was but when they gave her hand a squeeze she knew it was chase because he always did that to show her he's there for her
They walk further in and see their parents "what is happening" "shh" "I don't think they can hear us" gert says "there's like a barrier" Alex says touching it "what kind of charity meeting is this" chase questions
"Wait guys that's my mom" karolina says "who is she with" "I know that girl" they all see the girl take a drink of something and then faint "okay the creep factor just went up to like 11, molly you can't unsee this" gert says trying to block molly "gert-" she starts
Then all of a sudden a box with a bright flash opened and they put the girl inside "what just happened!" Nico yelled "gert I wanna see too!" Molly says taking a picture with her phone which had the flash on "wait don't!" Alex yelled and tried to cover the flash
They all ducked and ran before their parents could see
and that's when everything went downhill