Ryder's POV (2 years later)(Age 15)

I rolled over in my bed, hearing my all too familiar pacman alarm. "Mornin' Sam," I said, sitting up and turning off the alarm. Upon hearing no response from the blonde teen, I looked over at his bed on the other side of the room. To my surprise, his bed sheets were pulled back, and his bed was lacking his lean form. Creasing my forehead, I pulled on my silk dressing gown and opened my bedroom door. His bathroom door had been open, indicating he wasn't in there. 

I walked across the hall, and knocked on Sierra and Josy's bedroom door. A second later, Sierra opened. "Morning love. You okay?"

"Morning. Do you happen to know where Sam is? He wasn't in bed when I woke up," 

Just as I said that, the lift door opened, revealing Sam himself. His smile faltered as his gaze set on me. "I wanted to make it back before the alarm, but it seems I failed," 

"Where did you go?" I asked. 

"I went to speak to Rick about what we talked about yesterday. He thinks the idea isn't bad, and he's going to call a meeting," he said. 

I shook my head, smiling. "So eager, you couldn't have waited till the morning?" 

"I couldn't stop thinking about it, and I didn't want to wake you up," he said, in defense. 

"Did he say when the meeting was?" Sierra asked. 

"No, he said he'd put something on the group alert," Sam replied. 

"Okay, thanks, see you two at breakfast," Sierra said, before closing her door. 

I went back into our room. Sam followed me around like a lost puppy. "Are you mad?"

"I thought you had been abducted by . . . the pacman ghosts," I said. Over the couple of years of living with Sam, I had grown more comfortable with changing my clothes in front of him, as he did with me. I slipped on my short black shorts, and a thin white shirt, before tying my straight black hair into a ponytail. 

"You can't stay mad forever," Sam pointed out. "I promise I won't abandon you again,"

"You're right, I can't stay mad forever." I said, turning to face him. "But I can ignore you for a while," I smirked, before closing the door behind me in the bathroom. 

"Even if I get you a monster?" he tried, on the other side of the door. Once I was done, I opened the door again. "Is that a yes or a no? Oh I see, you're ignoring me,"

I began the daily routine that me and Sam had become familiar with performing together every day. 

My baseball bat, which had received a paint job, was slung on my back by the sling that Gray got me for my 13th. It was black where the grip was, and the rest of it was a gradient from the black to light blue at the tip. One side read the words Sic Parvis Magna, and the other side said R. Black. It had a few cool signs and logos here and there in black, which added a cool touch to it. I had Sam help me design it and Gray fabricate the print for me.

I grabbed a protein shake, and Sam got his own. "Rye, come on," he groaned, "You only missed me for like 30 seconds," Once I finished my shake I left the canteen again. On the bright side, it was kinda nice having Sam trail behind me for once. 

Nash and Hayes passed us, on their way to the hangars. "Morning guys," I said.

"Morning kid, flying today?" Nash asked, while Hayes gave me a little wave. Since my 14th birthday, I had been going for a flying lesson every single day. Nash was more than happy to start teaching me, and I was obviously very eager.

"Maybe, depends on when Rick calls us in," I said. 

"Give me a ring if you want to yeah?" he said before the two continued walking. 

"Sure thing," I responded.

"So you'll talk to them but not me?- I suppose they're not the ones who abandoned you in the middle of the night,"

I began to pick up a light jog as we reached the perimeter. Sam sighed and jogged alongside me, quietly. I felt a little mean, but waking up alone for the first time in over two years was scary. For the first time in my life, I had found a real family, who weren't going to hurt me, and I couldn't bare to lose them.

While I was lost in my thoughts, both of our phones pinged at the same time. We both pulled them out to see that the message was from Rick. 'Meeting after breakfast at 8:30, for Gray Smith, Sierra Krieger, Blake Hargrave, Texas Garcia, Mila Garcia, Roman Covali, Kara Covali, Jared Renner, Josephine Wilson, Taylor Faulkner, Tessa Faulkner, Luke Heron, Jack Heron, Nash Johnson, Hayes Johnson, Reeve Castor, Ryder Black, Samuel Hargrave, Glen Hallett, Paul Niven.' 

"Wow, first time our names have ever been on that list. Feels good, huh?" Sam stated, putting his phone away as I did. 

I smiled, because he was right. It felt so good, to finally be invited to one of the big meetings. But I still didn't respond. We finished our run in silence, before Sam spoke as we entered the canteen. 

"Are you really going to make me eat my baked beans with nobody to talk to?" he chuckled. 

"I suppose I could speak. Only because performing silent treatment in the presence of baked beans is very disrespectful,"

"I have never been so grateful for baked beans in my life," Sam breathed out in relief. I smiled. Although he was a hot, manly teen, who liked to show off his abs every couple of hours, he could be cute sometimes.

As we grabbed our food and sat down besides Sierra and Gray, Gray placed down his knife and fork. "Hey, what'd you kids do that got you onto the meeting list?" he asked, an amused expression appearing on his impossible-to-read face. 

"Oh, we came up with a genius idea," Sam said. 

"Which might just be better than all of the other genius ideas," I added.

"Are you gonna explain?" Sierra asked.

I looked to Sam, before we both said "Nah," at the same time.

"We'll save it for the big brains," Sam joked, earning a glare from Sierra and a playful eye-roll from Gray.