The Road Ahead (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 4 of The Hardships Saga)

Chapter One

❝teenager (pronounced ˈtiːneɪdʒə or teen-ey-jer), noun
a person between the ages of 13-19, usually angst-filled at the troubles that their very short lives have given them.❞

She looked through the window. "Alright. Coast is clear. Now, are you coming or not?"

"This is stupid. We're gonna get in trouble."

Elle smiled, taking her hair tie and pulling her brown hair into a ponytail. "Drew, I thought you knew me better than anyone. I always get in trouble."

He bit his lip. "Ellie, come on. We can't always be doing shit like this. My parents will ground me again."

"So? Sneak out."

"That's not an option."

She rolled her eyes. "Pa's too soft to ever ground me."

"Hey, Ryan's coming back soon, isn't she?"

"Six months," she said blandly. "Why?"

"Why did she leave?"

"Because she didn't care about us anymore."

Drew sighed. "Are you always going to be like this? Angry at them? It's not their fault about what happened at the hospital."

Elle rounded on Drew, her once kind brown eyes flashing with anger. "Don't you dare bring that up now."

"Screw this. I'm going home."

"And if I die out here by myself?"

"That's stupid, you know that won't happen."

"Good. Then come with me." She pushed the window of the old, presumably haunted house open, and slipped inside. Years of dancing had made her nimble on her feet. "Coming or not, beanbag?"

The nickname 'Beanbag' had come along a couple of years ago, when they had been at Drew's birthday party, and he had jumped onto his beanbag, landed in an awkward position, then fallen off and broken his arm. Elle had called him beanbag ever since.

He sighed. "Fine. I'll stay."

"Finally. You're back to normal. Now, come on."

Drew slipped in behind her. He hadn't shaved, and he had a tiny bit of a moustache on his upper lip. "This isn't safe."

"Neither is life. Get over it, you'll live."

"This is a bad idea," muttered Drew again. "We're gonna get in so much trouble."

"You know what trouble really is, Drew? It's just disappointment in yourself. It's a guilt trip." She walked forward and moved some cloth aside. The moonlight shone eerily through the windows, and Drew, despite his instinct, followed her. "They try and make you feel bad about what you've done. Why's detention such a bad thing? You're allowed to sit inside on your desk and do 'nothing'. It's too easy to just put in some earphones and pretend the world doesn't exist. Do the teachers catch you? No. Because no one gives a damn until you make yourself noticeable."

"Getting in trouble-"

"Means nothing. If we were going to get the death sentence from our parents, then the word trouble has meaning. But it doesn't. The only thing worth fearing is death."

"And if we die here?"

"Then we died for an honourable cause."

"This isn't honourable!"

"And neither is your whiny bitch talk, so shut up!"

"Why do you have to be so mean?"

"Why do you have to be such a freaking sulk?"