We Come Alive 5

Dangerous Plan

The next morning, it was dark and storming outside. The Dallas sky was full of grey clouds and the ground was full of puddles and mud from the buckets of water falling from the sky. On top of that, Jacob forgot to set his alarm and Ricky had to leave early to the school to help set up for a school event, completely forgetting about Jacob all together. So, Jacob had to call an Uber and was forced to be late to school. He didn't mind being late since it gave him some time to eat a better breakfast than he usually did and not have to rush around the apartment.

Jacob paid his driver after he had gotten all his stuff out of the car. He started walking quickly through the parking lot to go through the front office so he could get a late pass to class, when he noticed movement not too far away from him. Since Jacob was in the student parking lot, he knew it was most likely just some students who were running late like him.

Jacob moved his hood from in front of his eyes as he tried to see who it was. He frowned seeing Baylor talking to someone in a red car a few rows away from him. Jacob didn't slow down his pace, not wanting to be obvious about his watching, but he couldn't help it when he saw the car was full of people and the man in the driver's seat reached out to Baylor's book bag.

Jacob nearly tripped over the curb when he saw the man roughly grab Baylor's bag. He unzipped it and put a black object into the depths of Baylor's book bag. When Baylor turned toward him, Jacob quickened his pace and looked forward so he didn't recognize him.

~

Only a few hours later, in his fourth period class which was his study hall, Jacob was sitting at a table with Ethan and Jose, like he did any other day, along with Diego, Clover, and Stephen who had skipped class to accompany them.

"Wait..." Ethan whispered. "Jacob, you can't just say that. You have to be sure."

"I know." Jacob repeated, for what felt like the millionth time. "He was talking to this guy in a car full of people and the guy reached into Baylor's book bag and put a gun in his bag."

"A gun?" Diego repeated, but kept his voice hushed. "How do you know it was a gun? Have you even seen a gun?"

Jacob glared at him then rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know what a gun looks like. What? Y'all don't believe me?"

Jose shook his head, cleaning the dirt off his shoes since he had his feet on the circle table in the back of the study hall room they were sitting at. "No, we don't. We can't just go to someone and tell them he has a gun, create a big huge scene, and it turns out that it was his dad just giving him his lunch money."

"His dad lives in Boston. They're estranged." Clover corrected him, not looking up from her phone. "It was probably his brother. A guy covered in tattoos with a shaved head and most likely wearing dark sunglasses?"

Jacob snapped his fingers and pointed at Clover. "That's exactly what the guy looked like. And I heard Ricky on the phone talking with Mateo and Danny about the fact that Baylor's brother drove off with him at the game Saturday. Ricky thinks that Baylor's brother is in a gang. Which means Baylor is in a gang."

"That doesn't mean that." Stephen shook his head. "Most of Diego's half brothers are successful in life but hey, look at him. He can barely tie his shoes."

Diego punched Stephen hard in the back of his shoulder making the younger boy groan in pain. "Shut the fuck up." Diego said through gritted teeth. "But we have to know for a fact, not just speculations."

The boys all looked at each other before all of their eyes landed on Clover. The only girl at the table looked up from her phone when the conversation went silent to see them all staring at her.