Life at the High

All For One and One for Janelle

"I'm gonna kick his ass until he tells me where my damn sister is." Travis punched the back of the empty headrest.

Miko was scared of all the possibilities. She wanted to find Janelle, but she was afraid of all the ways things could go wrong. Her fear began to make her doubt that it would happen at all. Travis' anger didn't help to soothe her worries at all either. She had never been comfortable with violence, even when it was necessary.

Charity, on the other hand just wanted things to get back to normal. She couldn't wait to find Janelle because then she could be happy and not have to worry about her best friend being a trafficker or her old friend missing. She wanted to be the center of attention again, without that being such a bad thing.

"Hey," Miko said with a very soft voice. "He may not have answers to give us okay. We have to remember that."

Travis could see she was afraid. He would hate for her to ever be fearful of him. "I know. I just have to protect her. I failed at that once already."

"You didn't fail at being her big brother. None of us know what happened yet." Miko gave him a sympathetic look before she got out of the car.

"I have their room number, but no name. Let's just see if he's even in there. I'll stand in front. You two stand off to the sides when he opens it okay?" Charity instructed. She began to walk ahead of them while doing her power walk, which could be mistaken for her runway walk except her face had a fierce expression.

"Why? I don't need to hide from him." Travis called out after her. He made sure Miko was beside him before stuffing his hands back in his pockets and following Charity. He was so close and all of the anticipation was becoming too much for him. He wondered if he should have told his mom, but a part of him wanted to see the look on her face when he walked through the door with his little sister.

Before they got to the lobby entrance Charity turned to face Travis. She let out a sigh, and her shoulders dropped as she did so. "Look, I get it. I know you're upset. I'm just suggesting that we stay prepared so that if this guy is dangerous, we have some element of surprise on him." She looked at Travis and Miko and realized that they not only understood but needed her. This was one of the moments where she was reminded it wouldn't be easier to slink into the shadows and watch things happen rather than being a part of them. Well, It would be easier, but it would not be her. "Alright, ya'll. Let's do this."