As I walked down the hallway Luke ran up to me and hugged me. I playfully pushed him as he began questioning me.

"What happened after I got knocked out? Tell me everything." Luke sounded rushed. He wanted every bit of information he could get.

"I...I told Vanoss to go away." I lied. I lied to my only friend. I don't count Vanoss as a friend. I only went with him for information. What? I was curious! It was pretty interesting though. I could entertain it for a while. His friends were pretty funny too, and that Lui guy had a gay bracelet just like mine! It was exciting.

"Did he?" Luke really believes me!? Crap. I can't tell him the truth now.

"Yeah. After he..." 

"He what?! Did he hurt you!?" Luke began checking me over as we got to my locker. I chuckled nervously at Luke's pestering and opened my locker.

"No, he didn't he helped me bring you to the nurse's office"

"He did? That's not like him..." I looked at Luke and saw Wildcat a bit behind him, walking past minding his business. Luke didn't seem to notice him, and I found it kind of odd how easily Wildcat could just blend in. Why was Vanoss so well known and hated but Wildcat could just casually walk around?

I reached into my locker and grabbed my stuff and said goodbye to Luke. I walked out of the school and saw the gang talking off to the side. I watched them and saw Vanoss look over at me. He smiled and I continued walking, face hot and grip tight on my backpack strap. I couldn't be seen with them on school grounds this early on.

I walked down the street with my hood up and stopped when I heard someone running towards me. I felt someone grab my arm and pull me forward, knocking me off balance but making me keep up with them. I looked over at the figure and saw Wildcat. He didn't say anything, just kept running. I started running beside him and he smirked, still silent. We passed my house and ran into the woods a few minutes after, where I saw the rest of the guys.

Vanoss looked over at me and smiled. I have no idea why he's playing with me like this. What's he planning? "Alright. He's here." Wildcat said. Everyone looked at me and one of them started coming over to me.

"I suppose it's time for you to get to know us." Vanoss walked towards me. "Alright, we got Terroriser, Moo, Nogla, Basically, Lui, Ohm, Mini, and Wildcat." Vanoss explained, pointing to everyone when he said their name. I smiled nervously and waved at everyone, and Moo and Mini waved back at me.

"Vanoss is the leader. He chooses what we do. He is the one who brought us all here" Moo walked up to Vanoss and put his arm around him. Vanoss lightly pushed him off.

I chuckled at Moo as he gave Vanoss a pissed off look. "You think we should do the 'thing' yet?" A short guy with glasses named Mini walked closer to me, looking me in the eyes. I leaned back and Mini backed off a bit.

"We'll do it tonight. I'm sure Delirious has someone to go home to." Vanoss looked past me while saying that. I looked back and saw the bus passing the forest. My eyes widened and I began running home. I waved back at them as I ran, considering I forgot to say really anything to confirm the suspicion.

I got home and saw my mom walking back and forth in the kitchen, her phone to her ear. I felt vibrating in my bag and looked over at her. She looked at me and dropped her phone. She was calling me. She thought I was lost. Good going.

She ran over to me and hugged me. "Where were you? I've been calling you for 5 minutes!" 

"M-Mom I'm fine! I just...I was hanging out with my friend" My mom looked at me in surprise.

"You have a friend?! Aww! Your first day and you're already making friends." I chuckled and hugged her back, patting her shoulder to try and relax her. I miss her hugs.

My mom tightened her grip on me and pulled away, putting her hands on my shoulders and smiling down at me."We should celebrate! How about pizza for dinner, huh?" I nodded my head and she went back into the kitchen and picked up her phone. I walked upstairs to my room and saw a small note on my windowsill. I went up to it and read it.

Meet us at the park at 10 PM. We've got a surprise for you. You'll need to come alone. Be prepared with dark clothes on and a flashlight. -The Vanoss Crew

I stared at the note reading it over and over again, asking questions like 'We only met during school! What could they want?' 'Mom definitely wouldn't let me go, how would I sneak out?' 'Why do I need to wear dark clothes? What would it matter?' 'How the fuck did they find my address?' The thoughts sent me into an hour long anxiety attack, during which I took off my mask and hoodie and sat on my floor in the fetal position scratching at my arms. Just your average Monday. A really shady guy finds where you live and leaves a suspicious note on your windowsill and it's not like you can tell your mom cause she'd be so disappointed in you and you really should've known better because this is the second time-

I was snapped from my thoughts when mom yelled for me to go downstairs. Once down there I saw a pizza sitting on the counter and my mom getting a few paper plates. It was near silent as we ate, save for the thoughts still buzzing in my head and the sound of chewing and sipping on water from the only two cups in the apartment. We sat on the couch to eat while my mom asked about school. I didn't tell her much. Just that it went well and about Luke.

"Well sounds like it went alright. Just, do me a favor? There have been rumors about a group of criminals going around and, it just concerns me because they go to your school and nobody knows their names."

My heart stopped for a second. They're criminals?! It has to be Vanoss and the guys right? There's nobody else it could be! I'm getting involved with a group of criminals? A criminal was the first person to treat me right since we got here?

That's rough man

Literally shut up.

"Have you seen them?" My mother looked concerned. Why wouldn't she be? I didn't tell her about the voice I heard, that's been there ever since we moved, but my reaction was probably suspicious. I'd always been too expressive.

"No, I just heard about them too. My English teacher told me to stay away from them." I saw her relax a bit and immediately felt bad for lying. Too late though.

"Well, then listen to your teacher. Also, take the bus home. I don't know what I'd do if that man found you."  Her voice was shaky as she spoke, and I felt a pang in my heart at the reminder he was still out there.

"Mom," I was going to finish my sentence but, instead I hugged her. "Don't remind yourself of him. He's gone now." It was hard to hear her muffling her sobs. I wished she wouldn't have to.

The memory was always hard to revisit, but it clearly plagued my mother's mind. Suddenly her freaking out about me being gone even five minutes longer than normal made sense, if that was on her mind. I preferred not thinking about it, like now.

My mom stood up and put everything away. I waited for her to go upstairs and into her room before I went to mine. Dinner was uncomfortable and painful and I hated lying to my mom but she couldn't know about any of it. If I thought they'd be anything like last time, I'll handle it. I couldn't leave so soon, they probably wouldn't let me go.

I checked the time, 7:30. I still had time to relax. I laid on my bed and looked up at the ceiling, falling asleep at some point.

I slowly opened my eyes as I woke up. I still felt tired. The room was still dark. I looked over at my alarm clock and saw it was 9:31. I got up and put on dark clothes and my mask, trying not to question the gang again. I was going to get answers about what the hell was going on, one way or another.

I walked outside my room and peered into my mom's room. She was asleep. I walked downstairs and grabbed a flashlight before walking outside and to the park. Along the way I saw someone else walking, but they turned and went into a forest about half a mile from the park.

This is real sketchy, even for you.

Fuck off. I don't want to hear from you right now

Why not? I'm going to become everyone's favorite, you'll need me

No I won't. Just go away

Would if I could Johnny

The voice disappeared and I realized I was at the entrance of the park. I could normally ignore the voice, but it always got worse after a panic attack. I walked over to the bridge and went under it. Nobody was there. Was I really led there for no reason?

I looked around and saw a group of people walking towards me. At least I hoped they were people. I couldn't tell at the time. They just seemed like figures. That is, until one of them turned on their flashlight. They shun the light at me and continued walking.

As they got closer I realized it was Wildcat holding the flashlight, and the gang following Vanoss. "You made it." Vanoss spoke. The rest of the guys turned on their flashlights and I realized how dark it was. 

"Yeah so...what do you want?" Vanoss, Basically, Mini, and Ohm looked at me. Almost suggesting I should know. "Well seeming as you already know about us being criminals, it should be kind of obvious."

I widened my eyes in shock, how did Vanoss know about that? I sputtered to get a coherent sentence out, and Wildcat interrupted me before I could ask anything. "I know you have a lot of questions but you should trust us. We haven't done anything to you yet have we?"

I saw Vanoss shoot a look over at Wildcat, my mind began racing with even more questions like, what does he mean YET? I couldn't take a whole gang of criminals. I was way over my head with this one, but it wasn't exactly like I could just walk away and be left alone. What was I meant to do?

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