one last time, multiship

no, not lily now

˗ˏˋ jae? i'm scared. 'ˎ˗

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

gone. aidan was gone. 

lily's eyes widened in shock, by this time fuming mad at what just happened. 

"see, you guys didn't even warn him about what would happen if he went down, or tell him to be careful! john and lauren are clearly the ones behind this escape room." rasping, she let out, frustrated. she'd come to this escape room to have fun with her friends, not to get killed by them. she'd tried to keep everyone together, as one, as a team, so they'd all get out safely, but it didn't work. and that's when she decided it was over. 

"stop accusing laur and john of plotting against all of us, lily. they'd never do such a thing, especially lauren. i know she wouldn't. lauren's baby." jaeden hugged lauren tighter, as he argued with lily. 

with the argument getting more intense, john started looking around the room for any clues, so they could get out. honestly speaking, lily could spout all the trash she wanted, and john still wouldn't have cared. they'd all been trained to tune out shit-talkers, and kenzie had helped john improve that skill. she'd gotten so much unwanted hate over her childhood, and that was one point most of them really bonded over. 

thing is, ignoring hate was never, and will never be an easy task to do, especially when you've been pushed into the public media, with no room left to develop or grow as a person. of course, praise and accolades all come your way for practically no reason, but all of your flaws get pointed out as well, mostly in ways that aren't well packaged. 

flipping through the math textbooks lying on one of the tables in the room, he noticed a torn out page, explaining the order of operations — consolidated into the mnemonic BEDMAS. messy handwriting was scrawled all over the paper, looking like a student's notes. thumb fanning the edge of the textbook into a wide angle, a message appeared on the book's page-ends. 

take take of your charges, and don't skip any of them, it said. 

folding the paper into a haphazard square, he shoved it in his pocket and continued digging around in the room, set up to look like a nineteen-eighties middle school classroom. vintage books, old desks and chairs, candles at one side of the room, and a dirty blackboard were all present. realising that kenzie had just walked in, and that both of them were the only ones in the so called "math classroom," he turned around, showing off an evil grin. 

"oh okay, i see you orlando, what do you have up your sleeve this time?" mackenzie took a step back, progressively inching closer toward the wall behind her, before her slow walk abruptly stopped. 

"not much, why do you ask?" walking closer to mackenzie, john leaned down, and slid her mask down her nose, before promptly capturing her lips in a soft kiss. 

"you horny bitch, get off of me" was faintly heard, mumbled against john's lips, as he settled on one of the desks, with his girlfriend on his lap. 

"JENZIE, COME BACK" scrambling off each other, they awkwardly joined their friends in the english room, furrowing their eyebrows at lauren, who was crouched over something. 

taking in multiple shallow, but laboured breaths rapidly, lily whispered a weak "bye", making everyone but john crowd around her. he stood behind his girlfriend, clearly not amused by what was happening.