Just Another Ordinary Day... Right?

Chapter 6

Almost exactly two hours after they parted ways Ben, Danny, Cameron, James, and Sam, were back outside the cabin waiting for Jayy.

“Ya sure he said two hours, right?” asked James, looking around.

“Ya heard him as well as I did,” said Danny.

“Ya don't think something happened to him with that collector, do ya?” asked Ben, nervously chewing on the sleeve of his hoodie. “We should've gone with him”.

The guys suddenly turned round when they heard footsteps running towards them, Danny instinctively stepping in front of Ben. They instantly relaxed when they saw Jayy running up to them, with two bags on his shoulders.

“F-fuck! I-I'm sorry that I'm so late. I almost got caught by my mom while I was getting my stuff. Had to jump out of my bedroom window with all my stuff,” explained Jayy, as he tried to catch his breath.

“Out the window?” chuckled Sam. “Ya little daredevil!”

“Oh definitely,” laughed Jayy. “So, everyone all ready to get out of this hell-hole?”

“Where exactly are we gonna go?” asked Cameron, picking his huge bag up and throwing it over his shoulder.

“I thought we could start off following the Warped Tour and see where things go from there,” shrugged Jayy.

“Warped Tour?” squeaked Ben, bouncing excitedly. “I've always wanted to go to Warped!”

“Can we really afford to follow the entire tour? It's like, what, 44 gigs all over the US,” said Danny, counting the dates on his fingers.

“Oh, don't worry about that,” smirked Jayy, setting one of his bags down and opening it. “I think this little lot should be enough”.

“Holy shit!” exclaimed James, peeking in the bag. “Ya got all that just from those medals?”

“And a few other things,” shrugged Jayy, doing his bag back up. “So, everyone ready to go? We've got an hour before our bus leaves and we got to get to the station first”.

The guys all pick up their bags, throwing them over their shoulders.

“Let's go,” said James, with a grin.

“We'll go the back way in case anyone tries to stop us,” said Jayy, starting to walk out of the woods.

“What if someone does try to stop us?” asked Ben.

“Run to the bus station and wait for the rest of us to get there,” said Danny, with a nod.

“I can handle that,” nodded Sam, in agreement.

The others all nodded as they kept walking out of the woods when, for the second time that day, they found their path blocked by Gates and his friends.

“Told you they'd be around here,” smirked the smallest of the group, called Johnny.

“What do ya want now?” sighed Danny, stepping forward.

“We wanna end all this,” said Gates, looking directly at Danny.

“So do we, that's why we're getting away from here... Away from you,” said Danny, walking closer to Gates. “We're not gonna live in fear for our lives. We're not gonna spend every day looking over our shoulders in case we're gonna get jumped by you lot”.

“What do you mean 'getting away'?” questioned Gates. “Where will you go? What about school? What about your families?”

“We mean, we're getting away from all the bullshit,” said Jayy, his jaw tensing. “We're gonna go and actually make something of ourselves! We're gonna go and not worry about being a 'disappointment' to our 'families'. We're gonna go and actually live!”

Gates, Shadows and their friends just stared at Jayy and the others.

“But we're family,” said Gates, looking at Danny.

“You should've thought of that a long time ago,” sighed Danny.

“What if we promise to change our ways? Then would you stay?” Gates whispered.

“I don't know about these guys,” said Jayy, straightening his bags. “But for me, it would be too little, too late... You've all tortured and abused me for three years, just cause I was different! Well no more! I'm done! I'm leaving! I would say it was nice knowing you, but we all know that it would be a lie”.

Jayy sighed as he started to walk away with Sam, Cameron and James following him.

“What about your sister?” whispered Johnny. “Are you just going to walk away and leave CJ behind?”

Jayy stopped in his tracks and his head dropped.

“She'll be better off without me,” Jayy whispered. “I know you like her, Johnny, so... Look after her”.

James gently rested his hand on Jayy's shoulder as they started to walk away. Cameron and Sam slowly followed behind them.

“Bye Gates,” said Danny, wrapping his arm round Ben. “I hope you've finally learned something from all this... Look after my mum”.

Danny and Ben started to walk away when Gates gently grabbed Danny's arm.

“Wait a second,” said Gates, putting something in Danny's hand. “I know I'm an asshole, but you're still my family”.

Danny looked down at his hand to see that Gates had given him back his skull ring. With a soft smile, Danny slid the ring onto Ben's finger.

“So is Ben,” said Danny, looking up at Gates.

Gates softly nodded and stepped back, holding his hand out for Danny to shake.

“Come back one day, alright?” Gates asked softly.

“We will,” nodded Danny, shaking Gates hand.

With one final look at Gates and his group, Ben and Danny walked away to catch up with Jayy and the others.

“Everything okay?” asked Cameron as they joined them.

“Perfect,” smiled Ben, lightly squeezing Danny closer to him.

Jayy couldn't help but smile when he saw Ben's smile.

“Yeah it is,” Jayy smiled as they walked to the bus station to begin their new lives.