Still Awake

Chapter Three

Sᴇᴇɪɴɢ Lɪʟʏ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴀs hilarious, but as we walked away, I couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for her. Then I shook myself. Snap out of it! I scolded myself. Lily isn't your friend.

Why not? some part of me questioned.

I couldn't think of a good answer, so I just ignored it. "That was awesome, Brittany!" I told her.

"Totally!" Caleb chimed in. "Where do you come up with this stuff?"

Brittany just winked. "I have my ways..."

The last thing I saw before I walked out of sight of the Fail Force was Toby glaring at us as he gently helped Lily get cleaned off.

★★★

We got to school about fifteen minutes late. Mr. Walters didn't seem to care at all. We'd managed to flatter our way so high up onto his nice list, we could do whatever we wanted at this point and he'd would turn a blind eye. It was that way with most teachers.

Caleb, Brit, and I sat in the back of the class, chattering away. I didn't really hear any of what Mr. Walters was saying, but it all sounded really boring. Yada yada yada graphing quadratics yada yada linear equations yada yada. Nothing that I'd end up using at any time in my life besides Mr. Walter's stupid math tests, which I could always cheat on, so no big deal, honestly. 

The rest of the day went by at a similarly boring pace. The only class that I really paid attention in was Mrs. Lopez's class, like usual. Mrs. Lopez taught history, which was usually my least favorite subject, but she managed somehow to make it entertaining.

She was the kind of teacher that felt simply like a friend. She wasn't so old as for it to be awkward, either - in fact, she could easily pass as a student, albeit a slightly better-dressed one. She was dramatic, but in the best way possible. Mrs. Lopez was by far my favorite teacher, and so I at least tried to pay attention in her class.

History being the last class of the day, my day ended on a pretty good note. And it was only going to get better.

The raid would happen tonight. 

★★★

"Is everyone ready?" Brittany asked in a hushed tone. We'd gathered quite a group of people outside of Amanda's Coffeehouse. They'd be joining in on our raid on the soup kitchen tonight. Of course, we three were leading it. Actually, that's probably why the crowd was so large -- everyone was eager to try to show off and potentially become a part of our trio.

"Okay, roll call!" I announced. "Logan?"

"Here!" shouted a pimply-faced boy, waving a couple of rolls of toilet paper.

"Sara?"

"Present." I rolled my eyes. Sara was always tailing us in hopes of winning our favor, but gosh. Did she have to be such a nerd? At least she had spray paint.

I kept rattling off names until finally everyone was present and accounted for. It was 10:30 by then, and we were ready to move.

Everyone knew the route. Brittany had emailed it to all of our raiders the night before. We went left from Amanda's, took a right at the huge boulder, trekked up the hill, and before long, we came to the patch of land separated from the soup kitchen by only a narrow road.

Brittany and Caleb crossed the road first, followed by everyone else. I was the last person to cross, to make sure that no one ditched. There was a lot of bumping around and jostling as everyone tried to casually elbow their way up to the front, while I went back into the surrounding trees to check that no one had gotten lost. Eventually, everyone had gotten to the other side, so I stepped onto the road and started walking. 

I had taken no more than two steps when someone screamed. I turned my head to see what the problem was.

That was when I saw the two huge, bright car headlights heading straight towards me.