(Real location, culled unceremoniously *sarcasm* from the internet 10/12/2019)
The D00M SQU4D:
Allen- fAllen
Sarah- Sarah, The Great
Megan-Megan of Gondor
Hannah- Hannah Banana123
Alisha- The Bush Goddess🌳
Makayla- Clark's♥️
Clark's- Makayla's♥️
***

Sub rosa: Pale Pink
Pink roses are versatile and can be used both romantically and platonically. Pale Pink is best used at the beginning of a romance as variations represent friendship and falling in love.

Mr. Oriskinnov drove as I listened to Apocalyptica's Ashes of the Modern World and took my antipsychotic, Geodon, with a slurp from my watered down Subway drink. Which may, or may not be a good idea if I'm planning on staying up late tonight. The letter from earlier rolled over and over in my mind. I thought that there was some clues I could glean from it but hell, I can't even do crosswords right. Algebra is semi-legible but crosswords are of the devil. There was a steady stream of blips from my phone as Makayla shared the squads contacts with me.

It took me a second to realize the gravity of what just happened.

I just got like four or five girls' numbers and didn't even lift a finger. Then I got a blip stating: Sarah, The Great has added fAllen to the D00M SQU4D. Blinking a few moments I made sure that I was reading that right.

Yep, Sarah has my number... and I haven't changed my visible name in ages.

Hannah Banana123: Pfft, fAllen? That's your name?

The Bush Goddess🌳: Could be worse.

fAllen: Is your name a Fortnite 3 reference?

Megan of Gondor: Yeah, don't judge by names tho- trust me. Otherwise: Omae wa mou shindeiru...

fAllen: 😏 I see you are a person of culture, read steamy mangas often?

There was a long moment of silence but then Sarah texted:

Sarah, The Great: OMG Megan is blushing so hard right now 🤣

Hannah Banana123: How do you know all this stuff boii? 😒

fAllen: Internet, seriously 🤣
I added: fAllen: After my home schooling projects I'd look up the most random stuff.

Clark's♥️: Hey, Sarahlinn needs a tutor~ 😏

Sarah, The Great: Whoa, hold up Makayla, you got no chill

fAllen: I can help but I HATE English lol

The group chat was silent until we pulled up. I reread the messages again... wait a minute. Mr. Oriskinnov rolled down the divider window from the front of the limo. His Russian accent wafted back at me.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do! So that means she better be pretty and you better be safe!"

Not catching onto whatever he was implying I just smirked and said, "Will do."

"Atta boy!" He held out his fist, "Fist of Stalin."

I finished the fist bump saying, "Fist of Stalin." Then we did a mock explosion with a goofy flourish before I got out. For some reason my brain rewinded to what he said just now... w-was that a sexual innuendo? I rubbed my face in frustration, now I'm second guessing or trying to find random clues in everything.

"Hey!" Clark cried out while holding Makayla's hand, "Over here!" Once I got closer he gave me a look after seeing what I changed into, "Bruuuh, really?"

I spotted Sarahlinn and made sure my glasses were up and on my face. Cupping a hand on my fedora I half-jogged, half-speed walked towards the Doom Squad with my cane in my other hand. When I caught up, I admired the edifice with the most random train of thought...

How would I escape if we were attacked by zombies?

"C'mon!" Hannah said, "I already got your wristbands and cards!"

My brother shook his head at me and smiled, "So, have you noticed anything yet?"

"What?

"Nothing~" He cooed while putting Makayla's wristband on.

Going inside I was, again, comfortably-uncomfortable. The sounds of arcade games, brats running around, and other squads of girls and gangs of guys made my hermit-like paranoia try to come out. However, the presence of my friends and brother made the social stimuli bearable. That and the games, I can get through any discomfort joyfully as long as I have video games.

Presence of my friends... were they really all my friends? A cold suspicion crept over me, what if one of them is the culprit? I shook myself, surely one of Sarahlinn's friends isn't responsible for this craziness. I mean, a letter? What kind of melodramatic whack would do this sort of thing? What did Sarah do to deserve this? Hannah had said, "Hulk, I got more enemies than Donald Ragin' Cajun Trump." Maybe it wasn't Sarah at all who supposedly wronged our bad-guy.

"Stop thinking about it." An angelic voice whispered in my ear. I turned to see Sarah, unable to meet my gaze. She's still thinking about it though, I could tell by her face.

Everyone began going their own way I spoke up, "Um, d-did you want to go play a game together?"

She thought about it a moment, looked briefly where the others were and then smiled.

"Sure."

"Okay, where should we start?"

My heart pounding, I walked alongside Sarah until she pointed to a game that surprised me. The Walking Dead. I laughed, "I just had the random thought of what to do in an eminent undead invasion."

For a moment she regarded me with a cross look. Oh no, was that too geeky? Too dorky? Too weird? Then she uttered a light giggle.

"That's... interesting."

"Yeah, I-uh say random stuff all the time."

"I'm best friends with a gamer, a tomboy, a Tolkien-slash-Potterhead, and a hardcore blonde. Random doesn't bother me."

"That's great!" I said, worming into the curtained-and-covered arcade game. Sarah wormed in behind me and we were less than a span apart as we scanned our cards in. The game started and I quickly found out that Sarah was easily frightened. Throughout the game, at almost every loosely scary part, she about jumped into my lap or buried her head into my shoulder.

My heart was thumping, adrenaline pumping and it wasn't from the game. A wise man once said: 'Thoughts are like birds: you can't keep them from flyin' over your head, but you can keep them from making a nest in your hair'.

If that's true, I got half-a-dozen, eagle-sized, and very aggressive birds for thought trying to make a nest in my doo.

This went on until I couldn't sacrifice any more of my life bar compensating for the... notable skill difference. Once Sarahlinn died her jaw dropped playfully and she said, "You punk! If you were a gentleman you would have died for me!"

"I ain't jumpin' into a lake for you! Swipe back in!"

As I tried to continue to carry I finished the level we were on and it entered a cutscene. The characters were running from the horde and escape seemed bleak. One of the side characters, a woman, broke under the pressure and shoved her former lover into the dead and stole what the group needed to survive. Thus becoming one of the main antagonists.

Considering everything I was thinking a moment ago, it caused a queasy feeling in my stomach. I tried to leave, saying,

"Iiiii don't wanna play anymore."

Sarah grabbed my coat sleeve before I could leave.

"Hang on, we've never really been able to talk very long, have we?"

Physical contact-code-flipin'-red-physical contact~

"N-no we haven't."

The game returned to the main menu and dimly lit the confined space we were in, the curtains providing a bit of privacy. Sarah's rosy scent not far from one's nose.

"Is your hand alright? You punched that table pretty hard."

"Yeah, it's okay."

"Are you sure?" She smiled as a joke came to her mind, "You weren't doing that good on the game."

The joke however, flew over my head and my expression flatlined. "Excuse me?"

"No~" she shook her head and laughed, "I was teasing."

"Oh," I shrugged, "sorry." Mentally scrambling to keep the conversation going I blurted, "I gotta say, your perfume smells awfully nice."

She smiled, a flattered look on her face when she said, "I'm not wearing perfume... it's lotion."

Those birds for thought from earlier were eating me alive.

"Thank you though, you are the first guy to say anything about it."

I just screwed up big time... but she was nice about it? Then Hannah's head erupted next to mine.

"Boo!"

Now I about leapt into Sarah's lap.

"Come on, lovebirds. Let's go shoot each other!"

A/N: Real talk guys, how do you and your friends usually text? I myself, since I usually type stories on mobile, have had friends say I'm much neater in my texts than most. Unless texting my brother (who is getting married 12/14/19 yaaay)! Also, if you are reading this on computer tell me if the pics and/or audio are acting up as they transition from mobile to PC. As always, the plot thickeneth and vote if you enjoyed!