Stella Urbem

Chapter 2: Part 3

The boys decided to get comfortable in their new room, so they peeled off their jackets, grabbed sodas from the fridge, and sat on the couch to look at the television. Drey collapsed onto the sofa and took a deep breath. "I swear, if they make me go on one more moving object, I'm gonna strangle Tack," he threatened, pointing at the confused teen. "Hey! Why me?" "Because I'd strangle him right back," Jey answered, not entirely joking. As Tack flipped through the channels, Jey silently worried about his friend, wondering why he couldn't appreciate such an amazing new experience as much as the others. Tack had secretly caught on too. "Dude, are you homesick?" He asked Drey bluntly. "Because you seem to really not like this place." Drey stared at the floor and Jey patted him on his back. "Hey, it's ok man. It feels different for all of us." "Yeah, I bet everyone of us is least a little homesick," Tack agreed. "I mean, you saw how we were hugging our parents knowing we'd miss them." Drey had heard enough. "You know what just leave me alone," Drey said, as calmly as he possibly could at the moment. "You need to stop being embarrassed to show emotions," Jey advised him. "You're only gonna hold it in and wreck stuff for everybody else." "Dude, I said don't worry about it! I'm not your problem." "Uh, you're our friend so...yeah you are," Tack corrected. Drey turned to Tack, "Don't give me another reason to strangle you." Tack put his hands up in mock surrender and continued flipping channels until he saw a tapping of a championship race in another base. "That guy's knocking them out of the park!" Tack thought out loud, staring at a white-haired teen in a blue IndyCar speeding ahead of the other racers on a track with a loop in the middle. Drey sat foreword. "He shouldn't be driving that reckless. If he loses control of the car during the loop, he could fly right off the track." "He has to go fast or he won't be able to ride up the loop," Tack explained. "Dang, that's insane. A loop on the track?" Jey exclaimed. "At least they get a flat track!" Tack informed to Jey. Jey chuckled at Tack's response. "Yeah, I guess that's true." He looked over at his two friends, lost in the race happening on t.v., and smiled at them, grateful that they were there with him.

      Meanwhile, the girls were preparing to leave for the tour. "Ready to go?" Glow asked her friend. "Yeah," Lizz responded, "just let me brush my hair." They began to hear loud music coming from the next room. "Wow, that's loud," Lizz stated. "I know, I wonder who that is; they should really tone it down a little," Glow agreed, then stared out the glass wall. "This is so amazing; I feel like I could race around the whole globe." "I know," Lizz agreed. Glow watched as flying cars and transports zoomed in and out of sight around the tall, shiny buildings. "It's all so gorgeous, can you believe people actually live here?" "I wish I did," Lizz answered, "but no, I'm grateful for where we live. It's nice and small." "Yeah." Glow began to feel a little homesick. She flopped on the bed and decided to try out the projector lamp. "Do you mind if I try out this cool lamp, or..." Lizz turned around. "Oh no, go ahead." "I'll just turn off the lights real quick." She wondered if the lights worked the same way they did back at home. In her apartment, the lights were next to her bed so she wouldn't have to get up to turn them off. She looked around the bed. Lydia saw her peeking into different spots and said, "I think you just clap or something and they turn off automatically." Lizz clapped twice, but nothing happened. "Lights off," she called out. The lights dimmed and turned off. "Wow," she responded to the advanced technology. She clicked the button on the wireless lamp and immediately billions of small lights portrayed as stars shone on the ceiling. The room was lit up blue, and bits of sparkle turned the room into a light show as the lamp rotated continuously. After a few seconds of amazement, Glow said, "I'm gonna ask if I can take this home with me. Ready to go?" "Oh, yeah! Sorry, that was distracting." "That," Glow said as she pressed the button again to turn off the projector, "was awesome."

     The doors outside had a holographic message that told the last name of the person or people staying in the room. In case of two of the same last names, the first initial was shown for both as well. A knock came at the boys' door. Jey went to open it but found no handle. He reached for the door and it automatically unlocked. It opened to show Lizz and Glow. "You guys wanna come on the tour with us?" They asked. Jey turned and asked Drey. "No thanks," Drey said with almost an attitude. Tack decided to stay back as well. "They don't wanna go," Jey replied. "Do you?" Glow asked him with a smile. He looked back at his friends who were watching the t.v. and declined. "Common Jey, you know you wanna go," Glow said to him, still smiling. Jey tried not to return the smile and instead stared at her. "Go ahead, Rags. Hang out with the nerd chicks," Drey prompted. "Hey!" Lizz exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips and narrowing her eyes at Drey. "I thought you were going to stop calling me that," Jey told Drey, clearly annoyed and feeling slightly betrayed. "Sorry, sorry." He held his hand up, still smirking like he always did when he was the team's enemy. "Yeah, I'll go," Jey answered the girls, finally smiling. Then he turned back to the boys watching t.v. "I'll be back before the meeting starts." "Kay," Drey responded, not paying attention.