Cause and Effect || Jonah Marais

24

"I've said those words before but it was a lie, and you deserve to hear them a thousand times..."

My alarm sang into the early morning. I groaned, slamming my hand around until I finally found the lock button, putting it on snooze.

Dang it, why didn't I turn my alarm off?

I accidentally left my alarm on from yesterday. I looked at the time. 8:30AM.

I sighed, swinging my legs over the bed. I looked at Jonah, who was still sound asleep. Thankfully my alarm didn't wake him.

I trotted down the cold, wooden stairs, heading into the kitchen. I grabbed a Poptart and found a seat next to Daniel, who was sitting on a barstool with his head in his hands.

"Do you remember the plan?" I asked, rubbing his back. He nodded weakly.

"It wasn't my fault. She kissed me, I didn't kiss back." He ran over the story out loud.

"That's right, bud. I know Kennedy better than anyone. She won't be mad, I promise."

As people started to wake up, Daniel became exceedingly nervous. Every once in a while, I would give him an encouraging look, hoping to boost his confidence.

"Good morning!" Kennedy exclaimed, skipping into the room. Daniel stood up quickly. Kennedy gave Daniel a quick peck before he spoke up.

"Hey babe, can we talk for a minute?" He mumbled. Her expression immediately switched from joy to concern.

"Yeah, of course."

As they were walking towards the stairs, Kennedy turned and looked at me worriedly. I smiled, giving her a thumbs up before turning back to my Poptart.

"So," Jack said. "He's finally telling her what happened at the club?"

I turned and looked at him, my eyes wide and jaw dropped.

"You knew?!" I said.

"Oh, I saw it happen. Kennedy shouldn't be upset, though. He didn't kiss back. He didn't even know who the girl was!"

I looked around at the rest of the boys, who were obviously just learning about this.

A few minutes later, the couple came downstairs holding hands.

"I'm assuming all went well?" Corbyn asked hopefully. They both nodded happily.

A collective sigh of relief sounded throughout the group.

"So what are we doing today?" Zach asked.

"I don't think we are doing anything, actually," Jonah said. "We finally have a day off!"

~

   "I'm getting Chipotle! Does anyone want anything?"

   Everyone swarmed into the kitchen at the sound of Zach's announcement.

   "One at a time, one at a time, people!" He shouted over everyone's orders.

   I waited in the small line that had formed while Zach wrote down the orders in his phone.

   "You know what I want, right?" I said when I got to the front. He nodded, knowing my usual order. We got Chipotle all the time before he moved to LA.

  I walked over to the couch, putting on Netflix. The others joined me while Zach got ready to go.

   "Ooo!" Daniel said excitedly. "Can we watch To All The Boys I Loved Before? I heard it's supposed to be really good."

   "Sure, I've wanted to see that, too," I said "BYE ZACH!"

"BYEEEE!"

But just as I heard the door open, there was a loud crash from one of the downstairs bedrooms.

"What was that?!" Daniel asked, jumping to his feet. Zach came running back inside.

"Guys, there's someone here!Their car is parked in the driveway but nobody—"

"NOBODY MOVE!"

I immediately froze, slowly turning my head to where the voice came from.

There were three guys, all with black ski masks. They were also wearing black sweats and black hoodies. The one in the middle had a gun.

"WHO ARE YOU?" Jonah shouted.

"You don't talk unless I say to talk. Now sit down and we'll explain." The guy in the middle, who must be the leader, ordered.

They walked around and stood before the couch, and Zach slowly sat down along with Daniel and Jonah. Jonah sat down very close to me, and Corbyn wrapped an arm around Maddie while Daniel held Kennedy's hand.

"I bet you have a lot of questions. The only one I can answer is that you won't be leaving this house any time soon." The leader said.

"So you're holding us hostage?!" Corbyn yelled.

"Don't yell." The leader ordered.

I carefully scooted closer to Jonah, even though we were already about as close as we could get. I grabbed his hand and held it tightly.

"If you try to fight back, we will shoot you." The leader explained harshly.

"So why us? What did we ever do to you?" Jonah asked.

A smirk appeared on the leader's face. Suddenly, he became strikingly familiar.

Where have I seen him before?

"It's not about you guys. I could care less about you. It's about Emma."

My stomach dropped to the floor, and my other hand grabbed Jonah's arm.

"I don't even know you!" I exclaimed. The leader rolled his eyes.

"Yes you do, you idiot. You just aren't thinking."

The other two guys behind the leader just stood there, bouncing around a bit. It sort of looked like they didn't want to be here at all.

"Well you aren't really ringing a bell, so how about you tell us who you are instead of playing this dumb guessing game?" I said, getting angry.

He thought for a moment before speaking.

"Fine."

He took off the mask.

And I knew who it was.

———————————
A/N:
This is what the whole book has been leading up to so I'm sooo excited for the upcoming chapters!
I'm going to Cedar Point for 2 days so I probably won't update or even write, so the next chapter will probably come sometime next week :(

Word Count: 938