Boondox

Shopping

BANG! Cccrrrreeeeeaaaaakkkkkk!
The lights flash on, and I sit up with a start. I squint as my eyes adjust.
I look over at Ashley, and she is covering her eyes with her hands.
The cell doors are open, and Caleb is stretching his legs. Noah is still sleeping, in the corner.
"How does he do that?" Ashley asks when her eyes adjust to the light.
I try to get to my feet, but my legs and back are extremely stiff. I try to rub the knots out of my neck, and then stretch my legs out before attempting to get up again.
Caleb is shaking Noah, and finally he wakes up.
I hear another bang and a creak, and I watch the door open that leads outside.
"Well, I guess that's our cue to leave." I say blinking in the light.
I help Ashley get up, and we go to the door. We exit the jail house.
"Well," Caleb says. We all stand about awkwardly for a little bit, not really knowing what to say.
"So..." I say, "what do you guys want to do?"
Noah clears his throat.
"Oh!" I say a little high-pitched, causing Noah to flinch. "Noah! You promised that you would let me redo your room!"
Noah frowns. "I was hoping you were going to forget about that." He says under his breath.
"Oh! Can I help?" Ashley says. Noah points to Ashley. "No!" He turns to me "That was not our deal! I believe our deal was that I would go shopping for new furniture when I got paid."
"I don't know about that." I say skeptically. Noah and I go back-and-forth trying to decide what the deal actually was, when Ashley butts in.
"That's what we can do today! We can go shopping!"
"No!" Caleb says. "I go shopping enough with you, Ashley."
"Come on! It'll be fun! And we can catch up even more. Please!?" I plead, grabbing Noah's shoulder and shaking him wildly.
"Fine!" Noah says jerking away for me.
"Yay!" I say jumping up and down.
                                                                               🍂
We walk around downtown Boondox for the rest of the day, going into stores, ordering things to be dropped off at Noah's house so that we didn't have to lug around things like the couch around all day.
I find some new dishes to replace the ones Jessica broke when they destroyed my room.
"Let's go here!" Ashley says, pointing at an ice cream shop. "I could use some cold desert."
We head into the shop, but I see Jessica, and her bouquet of friends, Rosy, Daisy, and Tulip.
"Guys, let's go." I say, trying to stay calm and quiet. But Ashley, Caleb and Noah didn't hear me, and they continued the conversation they were having.
"Guys!" I hiss at them. Caleb hears me this time, but he doesn't understand the gravity of the situation and ignores me.
I glance at Jessica and her bouquet, and I see that we've caught their attention.
"Guys!!" This time I don't waste time by trying to whisper. I start shoving them, and Noah spots them too. He was there the day they shoved me over the balcony, and he was the one who helped clean up the mess they made in my room. He knows that they have something against me.
He shoves Ashley and Caleb out the door, and grabs my arm and shoves me out the door as well.
"Fly." He says. I prepare to click on my shoes, but Ashley and Caleb don't understand.
"What's going on?" Ashley says, thinking it's a joke.
"This is serious, Ashley," I say. "We need to go."
"Jessica has something against Gabby, and has been bullying her. And not in the 'say mean things to hurt her feelings' way." Noah says.
"Hello Gabby!" I hear behind me. I swim around, and see Jessica in the doorway of the ice cream shop. Her bouquet couldn't all fit in the doorway, so they are lingering behind her a little bit.
Noah steps in front of me. "Leave Gabriella alone, Jessica." He says in a very sharp voice that I've only heard once before, and that was when I broke his house artificial intelligence, and he had to get a new one. He was extremely upset with me though because he didn't think he was going to be allowed to get a new one.
"Oh, it's so nice that you have a bodyguard, Gabs." Jessica squeaks, taking a small step forward. "If he wasn't there earlier, I don't know what would've happened to you." Her bouquet giggles behind her.
"Jessica leave her alone!" Noah says. I glance behind me, and mouth to Ashley and Caleb to turn on their shoes, then I tap Noah's shoes with my foot, indicating he needs to turn his on also. Jessica wasn't fooled though.
"Going somewhere?" She says, preparing herself for any sudden movements she might need to make. I decide the time is now.
"Go!" I yell. We all shoot into the air, but Jessica was ready for that and she follows us. Her bouquet obviously wasn't ready, and they follow a couple seconds behind.
"Where to?" Ashely yelled at me, without slowing down and looking behind her.
"My room." I say. They have no hope of getting in once the doors close, because they don't have any keys or anything. Like I mentioned earlier, people suspect the key is in us.
We ascend higher and higher with every second, but Jessica is right on her heels. She grabs Noah's ankle.
"Noah!" I say preparing myself to make a quick dive towards Jessica. But Noah taught me that maneuver, and he knows I'm about to use it.
"Gabby, go." he tells me, as he fights with Jessica, at first just trying to make her let go, but he starts using some more aggressive tactics. He flails around in the air, trying to shake her off, and pushing his foot to her face. I realize he starting to get the upper hand, but then Jessica's minions catch up, and all of the sudden, Noah doesn't have a chance.
"Ashley, Caleb!" I yell ahead of me. "Noah needs our help!"
They see what's happening, and turn around. We all charge at the bundle that is Noah, and the Boquet. I try and pry off Tulip and Daisy, while Caleb gets Jessica, and Ashley gets Rosy.
I turn off Daisy's shoes and throw her off of the pile, so it will take her a little bit to recover. Rosie and tulip end up fighting with each other, probably thinking they were one of us, and Noah breaks free of Jessica.
Knowing we have to get out of here, before the Ro Po come and take us away again, we shoot off into the direction of my room, and as I hurtle the railing, I throw open my door, and wait for Caleb, Ashley, and Noah to fly in, before I follow and slam the door behind me.
I see my tablet bookshelf has tipped over, because Caleb slammed into it on his way in.
"I realize," I say, trying to get my breath back, "That to a bystander, this might seem like a really weird situation." I take in gulps of air, and collapse on the couch next to Ashley.
"But Jessica has some real problem with you, Gabby." Noah says, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"Yeah, this is slightly terrifying." Caleb says. "What did you ever do to her?"
"That's the thing. I don't know." I get up, and grab some glasses from the cabinet. Ashley grabs some too, and we fill them up with water.
"I guess the only way to get her off my back, is just to figure of what I did to make her so angry." I say as a hand Noah a glass, and then chug water from my own.
"If not," Ashely says, "Jessica will be on your back for the rest of your life."
We sit around, sipping water, and trying to figure out what to do next.
"We can't be here forever." Caleb says.
I contemplate that for a second, then I say, "you're right. I'm going to go see if they're still there."
"Gabby," Ashley starts. But I guess she realized there's nothing else we can do at the moment, so she just gets up and comes with me.
I go to my door, and grab the handle. I look back at Caleb and Noah, and they are both on their feet. I open the door, and look out. I see nothing out of the usual. Jessica and her bouquet are nowhere in sight.
"Not there." I say. "They must've just gotten bored knowing that we probably wouldn't come out for a while." Noah says.
"It's getting late." Ashley says looking at her watch.
"You're right." Noah says. We all say her goodbyes, and Ashely and Caleb jump the railing, and Noah walks to his room.
I turn to my own room, close my door behind me, and make my way to my bed.
I change into sweatpants and a tank top, and hit the hay.
I don't realize until I've tucked myself into, that I'm extremely tired. I haven't slept much last night, because of the hard floor, so I fall sleep right away.
🍂
I wake with a start. I look around my room, then I recognize the noise that woke me. I get up and look out the window, trying to spot the pod. I see it, a couple floors down to my left. I watch as it stays attached to the ship for a couple minutes, and then soon dispatches, and shoots off into space.
I watch it for a couple seconds, but my eyelids feel heavy, and I get back in bed and go to sleep.
                                                                            🍂
"Happy birthday, Gabby!" Shawn says, startling me awake.
"Good morning Shawn!" I say. I throw off my covers. "I completely forgot today was my birthday!"
"I suggest that you have a shower today, Gabby." Shawn says.
"Good idea." I say, grabbing some fresh clothes from my dresser near the door, and then skipping to my bathroom.
The water turns on automatically, Shawn's doing, and I strip, and get in.
Shampoo dispensers from the ceiling, and I rub it in. Soap, the smell of lavender, dispensers from the walls, then the water rinses everything away. Conditioner squirts onto my head, then one last rinse, and the water turns off.
Soon I have my teeth brushed, and my new clothes on.
I decided to wear my black jeans again, and a red shirt with the logo of my favorite book series. Of course, all over top of my standardized silver onesie.
I apply some mascara, and then run over to the kitchen for some breakfast.
I open the cupboard, and see a huge breakfast meal sitting there for me. I throw the bacon and eggs into a frying pan, the biscuit in the oven, and the gravy in the microwave.
As that heats up, I decide to tidy up my room. My bookshelf is still knocked over from when Caleb crashed into it last night, and so I stand it back up, and replace my tablet books on it. The only other thing, is some dirty dishes that I put in the sink.
I press the button on my bed to turn it back into a couch, and as I load my breakfast onto a plate, I hear knock on my door.
"Who is that Shawn?" I ask. I've become a little bit paranoid, but I relax when Shawn says it's Noah, Ashley, and Caleb.
I open the door, and I'm greeted with "happy birthday!"
"Happy birthday to you guys too!" I say, as I go in for the group hug.
"I see you fixed your bookshelf." Noah says, directing it at Caleb.
"Hey!" Caleb says, throwing and arm into the air defensively. "I was flying in! What do you expect?"
We all giggle, as I pour us all some orange juice from the fridge.
"Can I have your bacon, Ashley. Aren't you a vegetarian?" Noah says.
"No she's not." Caleb says.
"Or was that last week?" Noah grins.
"No, last week she was a vegan. Last month she was a vegetarian." I say, playing off Noah. "No judgement. It's hard to keep up with sometimes."
"You guys are mean!" Caleb says.
But I know it's ok because Ashley is laughing too.
We sit on my living room, and after some jokes, and some conversations I don't even know how got started, we are all done with our breakfast, and I put all of our dishes into the sink.
I sigh as I flop back down onto my couch next to Noah, and there's a moment of silence as we all let the food sink in.
"That was some amazing bacon!" Noah says.
"Oh!" I exclaim jumping up from the couch. "You guys haven't met Molly yet!"
"Oh yeah!" Ashley says.
"You talked about her a lot in the Jail House, but we've not met her yet!" Noah says.
"Well, now's as good a time as any." I say.
We file out of my room, and I step up onto the rounded edge of the railing. Noah gets on to my left, and Ashley and Caleb to my right.
I let my weight pull me forward then I freefall for a couple stories. I finally click on my shoes, and I burst into the air at the last second.
I let my feet instinctively keep me upward, as I just soak in this amazing feeling I'm getting. My friends are about to meet someone I spent a lot of time with, today is everyone in Boondox's birthday, and I had bacon for breakfast! This day couldn't get any better.
I gracefully land in the hallway in front of room 153,681, Molly's room.
I turn around, just in time to see Noah to crash into me. Before I know it, he has my arms and legs pinned down, and he's laughing. I wiggle, and try to get out of the hold he has on me, but he has me immobilized, and he's enjoying having the upper hand.
Ashley and Caleb land behind him, and he lets me go, and helps me up. I wipe a tear laughter from my face, and I gasp for air. When I catch my breath, I knock on Molly's door.
I wait in excitement, and finally the door opens.
"Oh, hi Gabby!"
I stand in shock. I glance at the room number.
"No." I whisper.
"Gabby?" Noah says, grabbing my shoulder.
"No!" I scream, stumbling back. I look at the room number again. It's the right room. But that is not Molly.
"Gabby, what's wrong?" Ashley says, trying to keep me upright.
"Molly..." I feel like the wind was knocked out of me. "Molly was taken to the glass dome."