𝑊𝐴𝐿𝐾𝑀𝐴𝑁 | 𝐴𝐿𝐼𝐸𝑁 𝐼𝑁𝑉𝐴𝑆𝐼𝑂𝑁 ✔︎

Paired Up

Outside of San Francisco
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Bell began to explain her plan, and Jett couldn't help but grow worried. "Okay, so I think if we can somehow distract the other smaller ships then we can get Blue seen by the mothership. We don't technically have to get her up to it. It's really big so it probably will see her accidentally."

"Those ships are swarming everywhere." Marcus states. "I don't know how we'd get them away from their mothership."

Bell shrugs. "Something big needs to catch their attention. Maybe like... an explosion of some sort? All we know is that it needs to draw most if not all of them away."

Jett decides to speak up, still terrified. "You do realize we could get killed. I mean... maybe we should just keep out of the aliens' way."

Marcus gives a concerned look and pats Jett's shoulder. "C'mon, Jett. We've made it this far. We have to try." Jett just nods, still unsure. Of course he wanted the world to go back to normal. But couldn't doubt the fact that he was terrified.

"What about the aliens? Like the dog-like ones." Brooke inquires. They're running around the place too, hunting Blue down. How are we supposed to lure away the ships and stay out of their way. I mean... we've already seen like three of them." The girl brought up a good point.

"We'll just have to be careful. They'll probably want to see what the explosion is too." Bell nods.

Marcus slouches in the driver's seat with more questions. "So... are we doing this all together or..."

"What do you mean?" Bell asks. The athlete shrugs. "Well... while some of us make the explosion, some of us need to get Blue to the mothership. We can't all do everything."

The techy girl nods. "You're right. I actually think I know how we should divvy this up."

Bell proceeds to explain how she kinda knows how to make an explosive based on something she learned in one of her science books. "It's a pretty good sized explosion too. Might draw all of them away."

Marcus grins. "Perfect. So you guys are on that." He gestures towards the girls.

Margot raises a brow. "What would Brooke and I know about explosives?" Marcus shrugs. "Nothing, most likely. But you guys are a good team, based on what happened at Krazy Karaoke. It's best you stick together."

"So... you and Jett are getting Blue to the mothership?" Brooke inquires. The tall boy nods. "Yeah."

Bell mumbles a few things to herself before clasping her hands together. "Okay. I think our plan is golden. Let's get on it." All of the teens quietly exit the vehicle while still standing under the large tree, unnoticed.

Bell had scooped Blue into her bag once again and closed it before handing it to Jett. "Here ya go. We fed her in the car so she shouldn't make much noise. And she can't see the ships while locked in there, so she won't know to warn her family or not."

Jett nods and shakily takes the bag, putting it on. "O-Okay. Thanks Bell." Everyone in the group is silent for a moment before they all embrace into a tight group hug. "Oh my God guys, this is scary."

"Yeah."

"For sure."

"We'll be okay."

"Let's get this done and over with."

They all separate and eventually head their separate ways. Marcus and Jett were headed into San Francisco as the girls walked through some trees beside it, hoping to spot a perfect place for their diversion.

Marcus glances back over to his curly haired friend as they cautiously hide behind buildings on the way in. "You okay?"

"Hmm? What? Yeah." Jett says pretty quickly. The athlete rolls his eyes while stepping further behind the building. "Stop lying. Now's not a great time to be all secretive."

The teen huffs. "I just... I don't want to die."

"I knew you were worried." Marcus crosses his arms. "Here, follow me." The athlete then leads Jett behind a dumpster at the back of the building. The roof above hangs over a bit, leaving no room for aliens to spot them whatsoever.

"Walkman." Marcus holds out his hand for the item. Jett blinks in confusion but unclips the device from his waistband, removes his headphones, and hands it over to the athlete.

The tall teen puts on the headphones momentarily while skipping through songs. After a few seconds he removes them and placed them on Jett's head. "Try and let the music relax you. We're gonna be fine."

Before Jett can respond, the song Back To The Old House by The Smiths begins to flow through his ears. The tune was slow and relaxing, which helped his scared heartbeat slow a bit.

I would rather not go back to the old house. I would rather not go back to the old house. There's too many bad memories. Too many memories there.

Jett smiled at the tune. The lyrics seemed a bit sad but the tune was overall happy. The music wasn't terribly loud so Marcus and him could still talk while it was playing.

"You... more relaxed now?" The athlete inquires. Jett nods. "Yeah... this song is nice."

"It's one of my favorites. My team would make fun of me for listening to The Smiths but they're just too good. They're good at calming me down."

The film obsessed teen sat there curious rather than scared. A question lingered in the air around him.

"Why... why do you love music? You seem attached to it. Especially since you're always wearing a walkman around school."

Marcus leans his head back against the building. "People always assume that I have... the best life ever. I get that looks can be deceiving. I'm one of the star players on the basketball team, I'm popular, and I'm rich. But... none of these people at school actually know me."

This statement causes Jett to quirk up a brow. Marcus continues. "Stuff at home isn't great. Never has been. Despite our wealth, our family has never been happy. When my parents argue or I'm too stressed to think, I listen to music. I've done it since I was little and... it's really helpful."

When you cycled by, here began all my dreams. The saddest thing I've ever seen.

Jett stares in awe at his new friend's confession. He had no idea that Marcus would be so open about his home life. "I'm... sorry. That must be terrible."

"It's okay I guess. I'm more used to it than I was before. But thanks. I'm just glad I can help you with it too. It sucks seeing you like that."

And you never knew how much I really liked you. Because I never even told you. Oh, and I meant to.

"Really? I sorta thought I was annoying everyone." Jett mumbles while clicking off the song and removing his headphones. "C'mon, Jett. You aren't being annoying. I think someone would be crazy not to be scared during an alien invasion. You're just better at showing it than some of us. It's nothing to be ashamed of." Marcus smiles.

Jett laughs to himself. "Huh. I really misjudged you."

The athlete raises a brow. "What?" The curly haired boy continued. "Back at school. I always sorta thought you were a jerk like the rest of your friends. I just... assumed, which was wrong of me. But turns out you're pretty great Marcus Anderson."

Marcus's eyes widen a bit as his face reddens slightly. Before he can respond, a noise is heard from the other side of the building. A screech.

"Shit." Marcus huffs as he and Jett huddle together next to the dumpster. The athlete glances around frantically before catching a glimpse of something useful.
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Slay cliff hanger🫶🏻🫶🏻 I hope you're enjoying my story so far 🤭 Also I guess it's good that Marcus and Jett were paired up because they're such good buds lmao.