f o r e v e r | lab rats | *EDITING*

c h a p t e r 9 ; death spiral smackdown

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"After school today is the big Death Spiral Smackdown," Leo is yelling at all of us while we are simply trying to eat breakfast. "Me and Adam are gonna unleash the fury! You guys gonna come watch?"

"I can't," Gemma says without looking up from her game of Candy Crush. "Allison's flying in today and I need to go pick her up."

I frown at her. "Aren't you too young to drive?"

"Did you know there's this thing called a cab?" she fires back. I give her an eye roll and ignore Chase as he chuckles from my side at the stove.

"What about you guys?" Leo directs at us.

"Well, as much as I'd love to see you pulverized," I say, "we're gonna be busy."

"Yep. We're gonna go to the mall and check out the escalator," Chase adds with a confident smile. "I finally mastered the art of stepping off without tripping."

I pat his cheek while handing him his plate of eggs, face painted with amusement and pride.

"Ooh, um, were we supposed to do that today?" Bree says sheepishly. "Shoot, I-I can't make it. I have a really big test to study for."

"What?" His voice is laced with a sort of hurt, and he sighs. "Okay, fine. I just hope those old ladies are there again to clap for me."

"They're your biggest fans," I reassure him. His spirits lift quickly as I place a delicate kiss on his head.

"Never had this cereal before," Leo comments, holding a glass container with the Davenport Industries symbol on it. He opens it and is about to start pouring the contents into his bowl when his stepsister reaches forward and snatches his wrist.

"No, Leo!" she cries. "Those are power pellets."

He sets the container back onto the counter. "I don't care what they're called, as long as they make my milk chocolaty."

"No, they're not for breakfast," Chase explains. "They're bite-sized pieces of adrenaline that activate our bionics."

"Yeah, but, we don't eat them anymore because we learned how to activate them ourselves," his sister adds.

"They taste like dog treats without the livery aftertaste," Chase finishes, a large smile stretching over his face with excitement. The remainder of us reward him with unimpressed smiles. Quickly he covers it up. "I'm guessing."

"Sure you are," Gemma says as she pats his shoulder.

Leo shrugs. "Well, I guess I'll just have these," he says while picking up another box.

It's now Chase's turn to stop him as he takes it from his hands. "Careful, Leo! Those are Powdered Sugar Cookie Donut O's. Studies have shown they slow down your brain activity."

That's when Adam enters the kitchen, face lighting up with delight as his eyes land on the box. "Yummy Powdered Sugar Cookie Donut O's!" he exclaims happily, snatching the cereal from him.

Chase gives me an exasperated glance.

"I'm honestly surprised you didn't see that coming," I tell him. As he groans in response, I toss him his backpack while picking mine up from its place by my chair. "Come on, we gotta go."

His eyes aren't the kindest as he shoulders the bag. I nudge Gemma, who drops her spoon and grabs her own, and Bree leads us out for another hellish day at school.

*

Later that afternoon, I leave history class and join Leo and Chase to walk down to the cafeteria for lunch. Currently I'm discussing my math assignment with the former, laughing at our shared inability to work through geometry, when Chase stops in his tracks.