Val's POV

I sit on the edge of my bed, tapping my fingers on the blanket and biting my lip. I don't know why I'm so worried, but I really, really hope Crystal and Shelby's date went well.

"You all good there?" Parker asks when he notices my worried state.

"Yeah. I'm just nervous for Crystal and Shelby."

Parker lets out a little chuckle and says, "Are you sure you aren't jealous?"

I throw one of the pillows off my bed at him and respond, "Shut up. I just want Crystal to be happy. I mean, she liked both of us for so long, if she gets with someone who likes her back, I'd be really happy for her."

Parker fake sniffles and teases, "Th-that was so sweet. It just... it just brings a tear to my eye."

 I throw my other pillow at him. After a few minutes of giggling, Parker goes back to reading his book and I simply continue to stare at the wall. 

While I'm in the middle of zoning out, the sound of the door creaking open very slowly from behind me startles me. I look at the door as it continues to open.

Parker looks up from his book and raises one eyebrow, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say we're in a horror movie."

"Relax, it's probably just Crystal or something," I head towards the door with excitement. I'm so ready for Crystal to relay everything that happened. 

I peak my head out the door, but there's not a Crystal in sight. Confused, I shut the door and sit back on the bed. Parker goes back to his book.

I suddenly feel tired from all the thinking my brain is doing so I stand up to grab one of my pillows back from Parker's bed, but once I set my foot down on the ground I feel A HAND GRAB MY ANKLE-

"AAAAH!" I scream as loud as I possibly can and jump back from bed, landing on Parker's. He jumps back from my scream and accidentally falls of his bed.

"What?! What's happening!" Parker jumps up onto his feet in a position that says, 'Try me.'

"Something... my ankle..." I mutter as I point at the bottom of my bed.

Parker walks around his bed until he's on the side I'm on and says, "Whoever it is, come out!"

I wait for a body or something to crawl out from under my bed, but nothing comes out. The only thing that came out in the next moment was my soul when I heard a, "Boo!" along with the feelings of a pair of hands on my shoulders.

Parker and I scream and jump back onto my bed. I turn around and see Drake cackling evilly.

"Drake?" Parker asks before his eyes widen. He grabs my hand and sprints over to the door but Drake gets there first despite us being closer to it.

"Uh uh uuh," Drake sings as he waggles his finger. Parker and I slowly back up back into Parker's bed and we take a seat.

"How did you escape?" Parker asks in a low voice.

"I. Am. A. Genius. Remember?" Drake puts emphasis on all the words he says.

"But that's still pretty impressive. Escaping from juvy," I spit out.

"Well, hey. They are gonna have to give the best to trap the best. They barely even had security guards there. It was a piece of cake," he brags.

"What do you want?" Parker asks.

"Easy. I want you to disable whatever device you put on Val so that my dear brother can be with her again."

Parker looks down, "It's a lot more complicated than that. I can't just 'disable it'."

"Well you better do it," Drake pulls out a gun and points it towards Parker, "or I shoot."

My breath hitches in my throat. I can't breath. A single tear rolls down my cheek and I don't move. I don't dare look at either of them.

"Ok. I'll try," Parker says as he stands up and slowly walks to his bedside table where he keeps tools he doesn't need in the lab.

Before he reaches the table, we all hear Crystal and Shelby's laughing voices. 

Drake starts to panic a bit and tells me, "Tell them to go away now or I shoot you, too."

He points the gun at my head. I realize I have to snap out of it or I might die. I wipe away the tear from my face and reach the door.

I stick my head out into the hallway and put the fakest smile on my face, "Hey guys!"

"Val! We were just coming over to talk to you and Parker," Crystal says happily. I almost cry again. She doesn't know that her life could also be in danger right now.

"Now's not the best time," I say as I start to slowly right on the door with my left hand. I start with the letter 'D'.

Crystal, seeing that she needs to stall, answers, "Why would that be?"

'R', "Parker and I are just busy right now, that's all." 'A'.

"Could you," 'K', "be more specific?" 'E'.

I don't really want to go into the," '9', "details if you know what I mean."

'1', "Is that code for making out," Shelby joins in.

'1', "Shut up guys," I give a little giggle. Since I'm done with the message, I stop. 

"Well, I guess I'll see you guys later," I say as they run down the hallway, probably towards the nearest phone.

I come back inside the room and sit down next to Parker. While Drake goes to close the door completely, I nod at Parker. He understands.

"Well? Get to it, lovebirds!" Drake urges.

The next fifteen minutes are Drake ranting to us about how easy it was to break out of juvy and how they should really change the system while Parker pretends to extract something from my body.

Finally, the police come in the room.