Bloom // Peterick

Chapter 3

IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: I messed up the timing. They go to school in June, no one questions it. It'll be some sort of weird all-year sucky hell school. Explains why they're so emo. Okay? Okay.

We get out there and I see almost all of them, leaning against someone's van, smiling brightly at me. I walk over with Pete and feel at least three people pull me in for a hug at once. I feel at home.

We all begin to pile in and I notice that some people I haven't seen before are here. Pete sits at the wheel and adjusts the neckline of his tee, trying to look official. "Alright, role call!"

He rattles of a list of names and people raise their hands or shout as they hear theirs. "I brought Patrick, so... Hayley W, Ashley, Joe, Andy, Brendon, Dallon, Gee, Frank, Kellin, Vic!" All these people, in the same boat as me, helping me. "Where the hell are Josh, Tyler and leader Hayley?"

Dallon explains quickly. "They all said they couldn't skip. Hayley's a rule following angel, and Ty and Josh have already been caught and can't do it again."

Pete pretends to be angry. "Josh has gone to this school for like three weeks! How have they already been caught? You know what, it doesn't matter. This is good enough." He prepares to drive off, and then I remember something.

"Pete, wait!" I yell, flailing my arms around. "We forgot Jack and Alex!"

Pete looks at Ashley and she throws her arms up. "Shit, sorry! They weren't in the halls where they usually are, I didn't know where to find them. Kinda forgot after that."

Pete tries to look angry but ends up laughing. Through chuckles, he says, "Well, we can't just leave 'em. Who wants to come with me on the mission?" The class period has already started, so teachers without classes will be on the prowl. It would be so easy for us to get caught.

"Well, don't all volunteer at once," he says sarcastically.

Before I can think any more and stop myself, I say "I'll go with you."

He seems a bit surprised. "Are you sure, Patrick? Frank and Gee have skipped at least a dozen times already. Either one could probably do it."

I set my jaw and say, "I can do it."

"You've never skipped before. I don't want you to get caught, Patrick," Hayley says.

"Let him go get the kids, Hayes! He's never gonna do anything like this again, so he's gotta go hard at it now, doesn't he?" Brendon says. Then he whispers to me, "You better do something with Pete, I didn't do that for nothing."

I simply open the van door and step out, ready to go get Jack and Alex. Pete follows me and claps me on the back. After the door is closed again, he says, "I was trying to warn you just so you couldn't blame me if we got caught, but I was hoping you'd insist. Now let's go."

-

We get back inside the building easily, and Pete says he knows what class they're in right now, so the rest shouldn't be too hard either. We begin to walk down the math hallway until I suddenly am pulled into the bathroom next to us.

"Shh," he hisses, finger over his lips. A few seconds later he whispers, "There was a teacher looking out her classroom door. We're good now, though." And this is when I realize how close he pulled me, how close he's still holding me.

"Alright," I say, my mouth feeling dry.

Pete texts Jack and Alex, telling them to get out of the classroom. Jack approaches us a few moments later. "Told her I had to go to the bathroom. Alex'll be out in a few minutes, headed to the nurse," he explains. He then turns to Pete. "So, you're the mastermind of this plan. Where are we going once we're out of this hellhole?"