Don't you hate it when you text someone and that person does not respond within the first minute when you know as a fact they always respond quickly. Also, you know the person has their phone on them 24/7.

Then again, the said person probably hates me guts.

The said person is Sky of course.

"So..." Dante knocks on my opened bedroom door to grab my attention. "You do know that you're still in enrolled in school and you have two more weeks left before your class graduates?"

"Ah yes, that thing exists." I sigh and flip my phone so the screen faces the bed covers. "What's the point? I already passed the CAHSEE."

"CAHSEE?" Dante looks at me to explain.

"Ah...back when I was in California, I took the CAHSEE, aka the California High School Exit Exam. Plus, I got my diploma from Elite early." I shrug.

"Wait, when were you in California?" Dante pauses me. "Actually, never mind." He gives up.

"So yeah I don't need to graduate from this school. I could attend the ceremony but since i don't know any of them, or care about any of them...I'd rather not go." I ramble.

"Yeah true. There's no point in going when Alfredo Acerbi is now jailed. The Acerbi Family will deteriorate without its Boss." Dante shrugs. We stand there in brief silence.

"Oh, and-" We both say at the same time.

"You go." We say once more together.

"No, you-" Dante begins.

"Just go." I roll my eyes.

"We got this in the mail." Dante hands me an envelope and a package.

"Who is it from?" I read the elegant calligraphy across the labels. I am impressed people these days can write so beautifully. It looks like one of those old fashioned fancy writings.

"Dunno. No return address. It was just sitting in the mailbox." Dante shrugs. "And it's way too light and thin to be anything potentially dangerous." He adds after I give him a doubting look.

I turn the envelope around and begin to open the seal. Dante stays next to me nonchalantly.

"Yes?" I chuckle. "Anything else you need?"

"Oh nothing. I'm just passing by." Dante smiles before leaving my room.

It's quite undramatic. The opened envelope reveals a letter.

Enjoy.

That's it. One little word neatly sprawled across the paper.

I look to the package. Opening up the wrapper, there is a navy velvet jewelry box. I open it in trepidation.

The phoenix medallion catches the light as soon as I open it. The medallion gleams brilliantly. I never thought I would see this heirloom ever again, unless I searched for it in the black market or something.

I examine the medallion, holding it and looking and it carefully. It seems untampered and the same as normal. I look at the piece of paper once more, under different lightings. It's still the same.

The last time I saw this medallion I was with the Acerbi Family. The only people who would be able to send this to me would be Alfredo Acerbi himself. However, he is in jail. There is no other person I would be able to think of who knows I own this medallion and also that I was with Alfredo Acerbi.

I put the medallion back around my neck. It stays there comfortably. I am going to take this as a sign of good fortune. I hope I do not regret it.

My phone begins to buzz. Grabbing it, I answer the call. "Hello?"

"You called?"

"Sky. Thank God." I breathe in relief. "Can we meet?"

"Yeah. I just finished classes. I'll meet you at your place later." He agrees easily.

"Wait. Let's meet at Starbucks near the school." I change the meeting location.

"Sure." He says before hanging up.

I stare at the phone in my head. This was a lot easier than I expected. Collecting my belongings, I head outside.

"Where you going?" Leo asks me as I walk past him in the kitchen. His words sound muffled because of the huge hamburger stuffed in his mouth..

"Gross. Where is your table manners?" I turn away in revulsion.

He chews with his mouth open and chews loudly in response. When he finishes, he says, "No, really. Where are you going?"

"I'm going out, Mr. Babysitter. Just to the Starbucks near the school."

"That's pretty far. Do you want me to drive you?" Leo offers.

"No, I'm good. I can take the family car." I say. "See you later."

*****

It takes about fifteen minutes to get to Starbucks. I find a table to sit and wait until Sky comes. Of course, I order a mocha frappuccino as I wait for him. It does not take long for I soon see him enter the store. I raise my hand and wave for his attention. He comes toward me.

"Hey you." I smile.

"Sup." He gives me a small smile.

"Coffee?" I offer my drink.

"No, it's fine." He shakes his head politely.

"So...how's class?" I ask.

"The AP exams have been over and done with. Thus, I'm not really needed. I go there once or twice a week now. It's pretty lenient." He says. I nod, not knowing what else to say.

"Are you still mad at me?" I blurt.

"Always right to the point." He nods. "Honestly, no I am not mad. I got over it."

"Do you forgive me?" I ask cautiously.

"Yeah, I do. You're not to blame. If anything, it's the people who killed my grams who are responsible. Really, I don't know what I was thinking. I mean, Pearl must have filled you in on stuff about me already. My therapies and anger management classes have helped a shit ton, despite my reluctance to admit that. Still, I'm not dumb as fuck, you know. I guess the blood really rushed into my head since I almost punched you in the face."

"I'm glad your anger management classes have been better." I don't really know how to word my words.

"And you must have seen my huge change? Pearl really helped me the past few years. I pretty much owe her for life. She got my shit together when I had no one. I guess seeing you just really made me snap. No offense of course." Sky laughs and scratches his head. I also don't miss the fact that his eyes twinkle fondly at Pearl's name. "When I saw you, I guess I just thought you were just here to leave me again. It just wasn't a great time for me."

"I am sorry for that." I sigh and grab his hands. I notice how large his hands have become, dwarfing my hands completely. We both stare at our fingers. I'm sure he doesn't miss the fact that compared to his, my hands sport faded and fresh scars all over. Plus, my palms have calluses and knuckles are still raw from abusing my fists. I know how to treat my hands so they don't become "man hands" but boy it's difficult.

This time I realize our silence has lightened up.

"So..." I can't help the grin that is slowly growing. "How long have you liked Pearl?"

"Gosh, you two?" He rolls his eyes at me. "I don't-"

"Save it." I stop him. "C'mon, I'm not dumb either. Don't bullshit me. You totally like her. Does she know?"

"Pearl might not look like she has changed much, but you leaving her and everything took a toll on both of us. You wouldn't think it would, but Pearl has got a lot on her plate. I think the last thing she needs is me liking her." His eyes lose the light and begin to close off.

"But you guys never did anything? I mean look at you, you're a hunky dude." I tease him. "I would think she'd have jump your bones already."

"About that." He shifts slightly.

"No...fucking...way," I gasp. "You totally were friends with benefits?" I lower my voice and lean in excitedly. I know I shouldn't pry, but damn.

"I guess."

"Damn, just date already." I punch his shoulder playfully.

"I'm waiting for the right time." Sky replies.

He is totally whipped.

"So anyways, I heard on the news about Alfredo Acerbi." Sky begins. "That's the dude that you talked about last time right?"

"Yeah."

"So it's finally over huh?" He states.

"Yes, it is." I nod.

"You can come home?" I dare to say the tone in his voice sounds slightly hopeful. I mean he does look a lot more cheerier than the last time I saw him.

"I hope so. There are still things I need to settle though." I think about Jacob.

"Here to stay?" He says hesitantly.

"I plan on it." I look him dead in the eye.

"Oh, and can you do me another favor?" I really didn't want to ask him anything more, but I really need his help. "Can you help me look for somebody?"

"Sure," he takes out his laptop. The guy is never anywhere without his trusty laptop.

"Who?" He glances up from his laptop keyboard.

"Jacob Smith." I state.

"That's the dude that was always with you. You got me looking him up a while back too right? What do I need to do?"

"Just find him somehow?"

"That should be easy. I just created this new program; it's a prototype that needs a lot of fixing but still works decently. I came up with the idea when I was looking for you actually. It kind of piggybacks on any known source of information on the internet, or somehow connected by a small thread to the internet when I just search up the name. It's way more complicated than what I said and a lot cooler."

I wait a few minutes as he types rapidly onto the keyboard.

"Nobody can hide from Big Brother." he smirks scarily. His face grows serious as he concentrates on finding Jacob.

Eventually, he says, "found him. There are multiple hits all over the place, but I think I have narrowed it down to one place. I found someone and ran his face through the facial recognition program just right now to make sure. It's definitely him. He's on a plane boarded for...Colorado?"

"Colorado?" I repeat. "What's in Colorado?"

Sky looks up once more. "That's where America's most secure prison is: ADX Florence."

"ADX Florence, why does that name ring a bell?"

"Because Alfredo Acerbi is being transferred there tonight." Sky sighs before closing his laptop.

"Ah shit. He can't be that stupid." I have so many thoughts right now in my mind I don't even know how to react.

"This might also be a stupid question, but is there any way of tracking his burner cell?" I ask. Then, I change my mind. "wait, scratch that. That was too stupid. Of course, you probably cannot track it. What was I thinking?"

"He's got some balls though. I got to admire that." Sky laughs humorlessly.

"That jail has got quite the rep. Not only is it the most secure jail in the US, but it's also one of the worst jails with the worst inmates ever." He raises his eyebrows. "Alfredo will probably fit in along with the other crime figures. Of course, they probably all hate him anyways. James Marcello is there, and I know as a matter of fact that he's somebody who's got blood out for Alfredo. Yikes." Sky shakes his head this time.

"Wait, how do you know that?" I am amazed at his knowledge, though I know the guy is a genius.

He just taps his laptop. "I researched a lot. I have had a lot of time on my hands."

"Anyways, I don't think Acerbi will have any visitor privileges for the first weeks, if not months. I don't see how Jacob will be able to talk to Acerbi, if that is his main objective."

"What does Jacob want with Acerbi anyways?" Sky looks at me for the answers that I am looking for.

"Dunno." I sigh.

"When does the plane depart?" I ask.

He glances back at his computer screen and starts typing furiously. I wonder what is he doing. "You now have an hour and three minutes."

"Really? What did you just do..."

"I may have tweaked some stuff and delayed the plane an hour long. You can make it to the airport within forty minutes if you don't have traffic." He glances at his watch.

"Dude, i'm so going to have traffic." I sigh and check the time too.

"Not with me by your side you won't." His grin gets bigger. "God it's been so long since we've broken some rules...laws..what nots."

"You mean since I did and forced you along for the ride, you goody two shoes." I poke him in the ribs. "Where has he gone? Since when does he break the rules before me?"

"Time changes people. You never know." Sky starts packing up and adds, "We have a plane and your boy to catch."

"He's not my boy." I push him a little to the side forcefully.

"What you said." He nods doubtfully.

"Well, it's like saying Pearl is your girlfriend, my whipped friend." I shoot back.

"touché." He does not deny it.

Please don't do anything stupid Jacob Smith!

_____________________________________

A/N

Promm was last weekend! :D That was a mixture of both fun and bad. Any of y'all been to prom before?

Also, I'm graduating in 16 days! Can you believe it? I'll be done with high school. OMG. So excited to leave and start my life :) My school gets out so late...i know many people who graduated a week ago. Poo.

How have you all been?

Sorry for the late update.

The next chapter shall be interesting :P

Any ideas or suggestions on how to end the story!??!??!?! please tell!!!!!!! AND COMMENT WHAT YOU GUYS WANT! I TRY TO READ EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR COMMENTS (BUT DON'T ALWAYS GET THE CHANCE TO REPLY)

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