The Boy Band Who Adopted Me!

Chapter 7: Cheshire

AN: Imagine reference photo with black hair = Gavin :)

I have 13 chapters queued and ready. Favorite and comment to let me know I should post them!

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Cody ran over to Jamie, arms spread out wide like an airplane, and jumped onto his back without warning. Jamie heaved in surprise, but then hefted Cody up onto his back and carried him toward a break between two houses. "Whooo!" Cody yelled.

Will pointed toward where Cody was headed on Jamie's back. "That's where we want to go." Will started walking.

Emmett, who was wearing a full uniform with only a green dinosaur hoodie over it, took off his hoodie and the sweater vest. He tossed both onto the roof of the car. He rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt, ruffled his hair a little, and began walking Will's way. I blushed at the scene; although shorter than the other guys, Emmett still boasted a slight build, and was still taller than me. I followed, running a bit to catch up.

I needed answers. Cody was too aloof, Jamie was carrying him around, and Will was busy trying to locate a mystery lead singer in an abandoned neighborhood during the middle of a school day. Who better to ask than the only other person who also seemed like they were just along for a ride?

"Care to explain this whole situation to me?" I asked Emmett, who was walking beside me.

"It's kind of a long story," he answered softly. He looked at me with eyes that seemed to be looking into me. It was inexplicable, and damned me to near-silence.

I anxiously straightened my hoodie. "Well... considering we're trying to find one random guy in a big neighborhood... I've got time."

"If you insist," Emmett replied neutrally. He seemed almost as aloof as Cody, but more dreamy-eyed and gentle - like Cody said, a human unicorn.

"This neighborhood was where we grew up. We all lived on the same street, and went to the same elementary school a couple blocks away. Every resident here was kicked out because of a variety of reasons. A huge fire broke out - you can see the damage over there -" Emmett pointed to an entire row of houses as we were walking. Actually, it was more like debris; the charred remains of what looked to be like five houses lined an entire street. There was so much more to this than I ever thought.

"Oh, my God," I almost whispered. "Was anyone hurt?"

"Everyone was able to get out in time except for Gav's parents. He lives so far out of town because he has to stay with his sister, who'd already moved out at the time. But luckily for us, Carroll isn't a public school, so he could still enroll and transfer here."

I balked at this revelation. To have your own parents die when you're not even out of middle school... "How did the fire start?" I almost didn't want to find out.

"It was part of some big rivalry between two gangs of drug dealers. That was one of the other reasons why this whole neighborhood got shut down - various houses around the block were bases of operations. The neighborhood was basically a drug center, except all of us were still living here. Will's mom moved them out a year before the fire, because the drug news was getting bigger; the rest of us were getting ready to when it happened. That one was my house."

Emmett pointed to a large powder blue house with ivy climbing the sides and front. Weeds overgrew the front yard. I looked back to Emmett, who had a look of sadness and wist on his face. He seemed suddenly far away. I didn't even know what to say; my problems with Maisy seemed so small compared to what everyone else had gone through.

"That's all so horrible."

"Yeah," Emmett said, returning to reality. "But still, after that whole thing, we kept coming back here on our bikes to play - even Gavin, after he got done with, uh..." Emmett nervously ruffled his hair and changed the subject.