ꜰʟɪɢʜᴛʏ

✂︎Chapter Six✂︎

CONNER LOCKED THE FRONT door, Maddy looking out the window close to the door while nibbling at the skin along her nails. Robin lightly tugged at the end of one of her red curls. "Quit eating yourself, Mads," he reminded with a little smile. Maddy stared at him and frowned, crossing her arms and looking back outside.

Conner jumped over the back of the couch and plopped down next to Matt, who was hunched over an old book from about fourth grade. It was a book of various fantasy creatures and little blurbs of information about them, the whole book set up to look like a faded, old journal; it was given to him by his cousin, Heather.

Robin messed up Maddy's hair- earning a frustrated squeal from the 6-year-old girl- and joined his friends on the couch, sitting on the other side of Matt. He yawned and blinked slowly, glancing down at Matt's book in time to see him flip to a page about sirens and mermaids. Conner yawned, making his signature move of opening his mouth as wide as he could and practically yelling when he let the breath out, and groaned when he stretched his arms above his head. "I'm bored!" Conner announced to no one in particular, simply wanting to express his discomfort and bring attention to the lack of entertainment.

"Me too!" Little Maddy piped up from behind the trio on the couch.

"We all are," Matt sighed, sitting up and arching his back to stretch out the stiff muscles.

Robin hummed in agreement, yawning once again. "The boredom is making me insanely tired," Robin muttered as he closed his eyes.

"Ay, ay!" Conner said in a playfully aggressive manner. "Wake up, wake up!" All said while lightly smacking Robin's forehead.

"Conner!" Robin snapped, opening his eyes and lifting his head before Conner could get another smack.

"The acoustics on that dome are magnificent," Conner said, ignoring Robin's irritated tone.

Matt smiled and looked at Robin. "'The acoustics'!" He echoed, stifling laughter.

Robin smiled and scoffed, unable to be truly annoyed by his friends.

Another yawn left Robin. He groaned and rubbed his face. "I'm getting bored!" He groaned loudly, making sure to drag out the last part of 'bored.'

"Agreed!" Conner yelled. "For the love of God, can we please do something?"

"Like what? My aunt and uncle don't want us going anywhere. Plus, Maddy is here," Matt reminded, closing his book and tossing it on the coffee table.

Maddy got up from her spot and came over to the couch. "We can go on a walk," she suggested in a soft voice.

"It's something!" Conner said getting up. "Let's do it!"

"Conner! I just said-"

"Matt, dude, we're just going 'round the neighborhood. There's no way your folks will get pissed at that."

"That's a bad word," Maddy stated, tilting her head to look up at her brother.

"You're a bad word," Conner grumbled, lightly pushing his sister's head.

Robin got up and stretched. "A walk would be pretty great," he agreed, stifling yet another yawn. "We won't get into any trouble. We can go out for an hour and come back. Look, Matt, you keep track of the time since you're so worried about it."

Matt frowned but got up. "Yeah, okay. Just an hour."

///

Robin groaned and stopped.
Conner was falling behind him and Matt once again because Maddy was trying to fix her shoe. Matt huffed and rubbed his cheek, staring at his friend. "I'm about to ditch him and let them fend for themselves," Matt breathed, his eyes widening and turning to Robin.

Robin chuckled half-heartedly.

"I am not kidding," Matt deadpanned, turning around and continuing to walk.

Robin stared at Matt in disbelief, watching as his friend continued walking.

Robin turned in time to see Conner lifting Maddy up like it was nothing and jogging over, the little girl squealing and punching his chest. "I will drop you and feel no remorse, shithead!" Conner panted, jogging past Robin to catch up with Matt.

Robin laughed and called, "Jackasses!" at his friend who was both jogging now.

He ran and quickly caught up with them. "We're racing, Rob!" Conner quickly said. "Whoever loses has to spend the night outside."

Robin sucked in a short gasp of air and tried to keep up with his friends.

Despite Conner's pudgy frame, he nearly matched Matt in the athletic department. He was a tall, fat kid- standing at a staggering 6'5- and had a surprising amount of stamina- most likely from running away from his asshole brothers and their constant torment- and a reasonable amount of strength from having to haul feed and buckets of water across pastures on his family's farm.

Matt was nearly as strong as their ginger companion and much faster than both of them. He had speed and agility on his side, having competed in almost every available sport since the 3rd grade. He was muscular and fast, just barely meeting the 6-foot mark within the past couple of months.

Robin was a meager 5'3, thin, and had little stamina. He was a weakling compared to his friends. If he had any older siblings, he sure would be a victim of constant and unending teasing and torment. Now, Robin could run, he had to learn to run fast in short spurts to escape the boys that'd chase him, but never had to run for very long.

He was definitely going to be stuck sleeping outside.