The High 5

Chapter 7: Sunday at Noon Part 1

The next day when it was noon, Sun didn't need to wake up Aivie, she had gotten up all on her own. Just previously, she was sleeping as peacefully as a toddler. But now she was in the bathroom, vomiting as loudly as a sailor. The boys had taken her to the Daye home, because they knew she would need Serena's care.

Though they weren't her kids (except for Sun), Serena never spared any expense whenever any of the Five needed to be taken care of. And except for Rion's father, Serena wasn't particularly close with any of the Five's parents, and it took her awhile to see this as a good thing since she almost never heard anything good about them.

In her nauseous state, Aivie stared with disconsolate eyes, at the small pinkish chunks splattered around the insides of the toilet -- including the back of the toilet seat and lid.

Sun emerged in the bathroom doorway with his cellphone in hand. "Alright, I've sent him the text. I said that even though you wanted to drink, you didn't mean to get so drunk, that it just got of hand before you could realize. I even told him who you got the alcohol from. Try not to freak out. You know Kite's a reasonable person."

Aivie slowly shifted her wretched gaze towards Sun. "You ratted out the Captain?"

Sun shifted awkwardly before walking towards her. "Don't say it like that, and it really wasn't even entirely his fault." He sent a knowing glance at Aivie. "I also said that in the text, that and that Captain was under a bit of duress now that it's senior year, and he didn't want to add anything stressful to the President's plate which is why he didn't tell him about bringing alcohol."

Aivie snickered, and it sounded quite sickly. "People always give a Captain too much credit, when the crew are the ones keeping up their reputation." She snickered again.

Sun frowned, "you're a maniac. Ready to go back to bed?"

"Mhmmm," Aivie groaned as she stuck her arm out to him. Sun shoved his phone in his back pants pocket, then leaned down to wrap Aivie's outstretched arm over his shoulders.

Together, they slowly stood up from the floor, to which then they faced the defiled toilet and Aivie gently closed its lid and Sun flushed it. They hobbled out of the bathroom, and down the hall back to Sun's room where Serena was cleaning up a small pile of vomit that had failed to make it to the toilet when Aivie awoke 15 minutes ago.

They tottered around Serena to make it to the bed, and Aivie voluntarily tumbled into it and shuffled a cyan blue comforter over her entire body. While under it, she yelled 'sorry', to both of the Dayes.

Serena smiled to herself, though no one could really see it because she had on a pink face mask with a picture of a smiling sun on it. "No worries, hun."

Sun went over to the small vomit pile and crouched down opposite of Serena. He clenched his nose and watched as she sprinkled ground coffee onto the mess. "Um...?"

"I read some time ago that it takes away the smell of vomit and dehydrates it as well. That way, it's easier to clean," Serena explained.

Sun nodded. "To think, I thought you bought that because you were actually liking coffee now."

"Gosh no. Tea forever owns my heart." She removed her face mask and shoved it into her pocket, then started putting on rubber gloves. "The bag," she said to Sun, and gestured to a crumpled, black plastic bag near the corner of his bed. Sun took it and held it open for his mother.

Just as Serena finished scooping up the puke with paper towels, Mace burst into the room holding a bowl of cereal, and Rion appeared in the doorway just a second after holding a ripe banana.

Mace looked quite triumphant as he said, "haha, see? Told you we could do it without getting anything on fire. Pony up, Ms. Daye."

Serena feigned a shocked look, but it looked very real. "Alright, alright. A deal's a deal." She took off her gloves then took out her wallet, and handed Sun fifthteen dollars in exchange for the bag of barf.

Rion and Mace high fived. "Deep-Dish Pizza, here we come," Mace cheered. He strutted over to Sun's bed and sat down by Aivie's feet. "Eat up girl, this is my special Five-Up mixture, made with five kinds of cereal and some cold milk."

Rion shortly came over as well and stood at the foot of the bed. He held up the banana to his lips like a smile. "And a banana on the side."

Aivie chuckled, this too sounded sickly. She slowly poked her head out from under the comforter and sat up. "Thanks guys."

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Serena stood up and tied the bag of vomit. "I'll get it, then I'll be back to see what I can do about that stain."

After Serena left, Sun sat down on the floor by the side of the bed while Aivie ate her cereal, and Mace and Rion played a few rounds of rock-paper-scissors to decide on whether or not to get pineapple on their pizza. About a minute later Colette came into the room looking fresh as a daisy, wearing a slim sundress, high heels and a full coat of makeup.

"Well if it ain't the Queen coming to her throne, well past noon. I hope that's a sign you lived ya best life as a solo girl last night?" Mace said jokingly.

"Shut it, Mason," Colette said, distress present in her eyes.

The unfavored name of Mace Verdant, had just been spoken. Aivie had stopped eating her cereal, Sun crossed his legs and leaned forward, Rion took a hand out of his pocket, and Mace's smile disappeared. Shocked, everyone looked at Colette.

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry, Mace. I'm just...I'll just say it. Last night, I got to talking with someone, like...intimately. One thing led to another quicker than expected and...we slept together."

"You did the horizontal tango? You lost your v-card?" Aivie questioned, sounding less sickly.

"Did you use protection?" Sun questioned.

Colette stared at the hardwood floor. "He used a condom but...this morning when I saw it on the floor, it had this little hole in it. But it was like, near the top of the condom, and all the...stuff was still in it. I'm pretty sure that hole wasn't there last night but..."

"You're not sure," Rion finished. Colette nodded once, hesitantly.

"Are you ok?" Mace asked, his voice was gentle.

Colette finally looked up, and when she did, it was only at Mace. "I don't know, I mean...I might be, once I know for sure. I...I can't do it by myself. The test thing...like go in and actually buy it."

Aivie slammed her bowl down on the bed, and the only frightening sound it could make from such an impact, was the spoon rattling against it. Surprisingly, none of the milk had managed to spill anywhere. The cereal had gone quite mushy, and for several reasons in that moment, she couldn't stand the sight of it. "You seriously spent the whole morning getting dressed, Col?" Colette tried to respond, but Aivie was feeling antsy. "Come on. We're going now. All of us. No if, ands, buts, or nothing. Let's go."

She shoved the bowl into Mace's unsuspecting hands, and climbed out of bed. She already had on a t-shirt and sweats that Rion had picked up from her house, and decided all she needed now were her sneakers. She grabbed the bowl back from Mace, took the banana from Rion and stuffed it into a pocket on her sweats, and led the charge out of Sun's room and down the stairs. She no longer sounded sickly.

There was a brief exchange of blank glances before anyone finally followed out of the room. There was a brief meeting on the staircase between them and Serena, who hadn't noticed Aivie had come downstairs, to scarcely inform her of where they were all off to. There was a brief request from Serena to Sun, for him to pick up some milk because Mace and Rion had drank it all at some point during their mission to make Aivie breakfast.

Aivie was already at the front door, peeling open the banana. When they were all standing near her, she practically yanked the door open, and marched outside. The four didn't hesitate this time to follow her.

Rion pulled out his phone to check the time. The time read: 12:28 p.m.