The Alliance

Chapter 5: Escape Artists

Lights out is at about 10:30. Pretty late, considering that breakfast is 8:15. Isn't as bad as the Boy Scouts camps, though. Cole and I were Boy Scouts in middle school; summer camp was brutal. Ugh. They literally forced you to stay up till 11:00 and played Reveille at 6:00. It's not like you really wanted to sleep in though. The bunks were ratty, and the camp staff would do literally anything to get you out of bed. Cole claims he got cold water on his face once. But that's a different story.

I wanted to sleep. The hike, jock battles, and other things that had happened were practically draining the energy from me. Naturally, sleep was the last thing Cole wanted to do. First he asked if I wanted to play a game of chess. I politely declined and climbed into my bed. Then he asked if I wanted to play a game of Angry Birds. I said no, I want to sleep. Then he asked if I wanted to go grab some snacks from his car. I told him to shut the hell up and let me freaking sleep. Finally he left me alone.

This is about where things get interesting. Around 11:30. I was dreaming about Star Wars and it was interrupted by a tap-tap-tap-tap-tap. It was loud enough to wake me up (I'm a light sleeper). I disregarded it. But then I heard it again. I immediately jumped to the conclusion that Cole was surfing Tumblr on his computer. I was about to jump to his bunk and tell him to put his nerf-herding computer away and sleep for once. But then I realized something: the sound wasn't coming from Cole's bunk. It was coming from the window.

I grabbed my flashlight and pocketknife and I was ready to shank the guy at the window, but upon turning on my light, I saw that it was just Kitt. He was standing on the tree outside the window. At the time I thought he was trying to prank us, so after my eyes had adjusted to the bright light, I silently but violently pulled open the window.

"Kitt, do you even know what time it is!?"

He shushed me, and whispered, "Wake up Cole."

I figured I should humor him so I went over to Cole's bunk. I gave him a good jab in the arm, but he merely stirred, and he moaned and said, "mmmf...no, ladies...I haven't finished my math homework yet...zzzz..."

I grabbed his arm and shook him. That woke him up.

"Mmf...wha...what? Jordan, what the heck? Is there a fire or something?"

I said nothing, just motioned towards Kitt, who nodded and said, "Get dressed and pack your stuff. And hurry."

We were both too tired to question him. I quickly changed into a hoodie and some jeans, and assembled my stuff. Cole, as usual, took about two decades longer to pull on his pants and jacket, but when he was ready, we followed Kitt down the tree.

It was pitch dark outside. The only source of light was my flashlight and Kitt's car, which had the headlights on, but not the engine. Kitt motioned that we follow him to the car, so we ambled down the hill and got in.

Kitt hit the interior lights on, and what we saw inside was quite a shock. It was Lukas and his crew.

Cole tried to squirm out of the car, but I grabbed his arm before he could do anything.

"Cole, calm down! Calm down!"

He settled down for a sec, long enough for me to look Kitt right in the eyes and say:

"Okay, what in Merlin's beard is going on here!?"

Lukas looked at me with a serious expression. "I saved your life back there, Jord, and you're still scared of us?"

"Um, yeah," I responded, in a valley-girl kinda tone. "You hate us."

"Hate's a wasted emotion. I learned that six days ago, when I found out how cool a dancer you are."

Did he just call us cool? This day was just getting weirder and weirder. I looked over at Aidan, confused.

"What they're saying is, we want you in our squad, guys," said Aidan.

"You just tried to punch me not five hours ago!" I shouted back.

"I know," he responded cooly. "This isn't a desirable thing for Chase and I at all. But it was Lukas' idea to drag you guys along for...a little adventure. You offer us your superior intelligence strategies, and we'll put up with you so you can explore the world with us. Deal?"

Cole and I looked at each other. He nodded. I nodded back. "Deal," I said.

Lukas and Kitt exchanged an approving look.

"All right!" said Cole fervidly. "It's just like The Hobbit! I just hope you guys got enough food for second breakfast..."

Kitt laughed. "Not a good time to think about food. 'Cause first we gotta get outta here unscathed. Fasten your seat belts, boys!"

Kitt engaged his engine, which made a deafening snarl, and stomped on the gas. With a screech, we jolted forward. Almost immediately we saw dorm lights flick on and people rush out. Thirty seconds hadn't passed before we had teachers in camp transport carts in hot pursuit.

"This is intense!", shouted Cole.

"Kitt, step on it!", I added, looking out the window and seeing them on our tail.

"I'm giving it all I got, guys!" he responded. "I can't shake 'em!"

"Stay on target! Stay on target!", I shouted, to complete the Star Wars reference Kitt had started.

"Target? Target??? Jordan, you're a genius!" shouted Kitt. "Aidan, remember those water balloons we filled with diluted ketchup?!"

Before we had a bunch of teachers and camp directors and stuff on our trail. Now we had wet teachers and camp directors on our trail. What with the sudden barrage of red, they decided to let us get away. I knew Star Wars would help me in life sometime...

For the first time in my life, I felt free. I felt like I had been liberated from every bit of stress in my being. No more mean jocks. No more jerky preps. No more junior year. No more life.

We were going somewhere.