It was about five o'clock in the morning. Cullen sprang out of bed when he heard his phone ring across the room. He slowly trudged his way over to his desk and picked up his phone. He wasn't really surprised to read that it was Vivian calling him at this ungodly hour.

The two of them had been friends since freshman year, she transferred to his

school. They were about to enter their senior year of high school now.

He picked up the phone.

"Hello? ... I know. ... What do you want? ... Your sarcasm doesn't amuse me. ... When? ... What? ... Let me ask my mom. I'll text you. ... See ya."

Cullen set his phone back down. If I had known I may be going to Texas today, I wouldn't have stayed up playing video games until one. He thought as he walked out of his room and down the hallway. He knocked on his parents' door but there wasn't an answer. The door creaked open with every knock due to not being closed all the way. That was basically an invitation to enter. Cullen walked over to his mom's side of the bed.

"Mom!" He whisper-yelled. The body shifted.

"What?" She whisper-yelled back.

"Can I go Texas with Vivian?" He decided to just whisper now.

"What?"

"That's exactly what I said."

"When would you be leaving?"

"The plane leaves today at eight."

"Why are you up now then?"

"Eight in the morning."

"Oh, well, sure. I guess you can go. Hopefully you bring everything you need because I'm going back to bed."

"Okay, thanks Mom!" Cullen made his way back to his room. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and texted Vivian saying he could go. He grabbed his suitcase from his closet and began filling it with clothes. He then grabbed a backpack from the closet and began filling it with other necessities.

It was about 6:30 when he finished. His phone vibrated right when he went to grab it. A text from Vivian Caulfield appeared in the middle of the screen. She said that she would be at his house around 7:30. Cullen texted back a response of approval. Then, he went downstairs to make breakfast.

7:30 came quicker than he thought. Cullen's phone buzzed with a text from Vivian telling him she was about to his house. He ran upstairs and grabbed his bags. On his way back downstairs, he heard a car pull into his driveway. Cullen walked outside, making sure to lock the door on his way out.

The car's trunk popped as Cullen made his way out to the car. He set down his bags and closed the trunk. Then, he went to the side of the car and hopped in.

"Hey, Cullen, how are you?" Vivian's mom asked. It's a question all parents of your friends ask when the see you. It's also the only question their parents ask.

"Pretty good. Don't really want to go back to school. How about yourself?" Cullen replied.

The car ride to the airport was full of conversations between Cullen and Vivian. When they arrived at the airport, Vivian's mom just dropped them off and didn't even make sure they could get in okay.

Cullen and Vivian entered the giant building. There were so many people, they barely made their way onto the plane. Cullen wasn't really expecting that many people, so he was in for a surprise. It was boarding time so Cullen and Vivian walked down the long corridor and entered the plane. They plopped down in their seats next to each other and waited for take-off.

At some point Cullen fell asleep. He didn't realize he had until he was awakened by a nudge from Vivian.

"What? Are we crashing?" Cullen jumped up in his seat. He leaned over onto Vivian on looked out the window.

"No, dipstick. We are landing. What crazy dream were you having?" Vivian laughed.

"It's not my fault I'm so tired. You literally woke me up only hours before the flight," Cullen argued back. Vivian rolled her eyes. "So, we're landing soon I presume?"

"Five minutes." Vivian nodded. The teenagers both looked out the window for the last few minutes.

Cullen and Vivian made it off the plane. Cullen heard many voices, but one was more distinct than the other.

"Vivian, over here!" The voice came from the middle of the crowd.

"Marco!" Vivian called out.

"What are you doing?" Cullen asked, confused.

"This is how me and my dad find each other in big stores. Well, in this case, a huge airport," Vivian replied. She continued scanning the area.

"What's he look like?" Cullen asked so he could help.

"Well, he's tall with brown hair. Kinda fat."

"Wow, that was useful. I wonder how many tall, fat guys are here for me to number down on which could possibly be him," Cullen sarcastically replied. Vivian smacked his hand. "Ouch, what was that for?"

Vivian suddenly grabbed his hand and ran into the crowd. "C'mon, let's go." They got closer and she called out "Marco" one last time. A man turned around. Her description matched perfectly, even though it could match a lot of people perfectly.

"Polo," he said and hugged Vivian.

"It's nice seeing you again, Dad," They broke apart.

"Who might this be? You didn't tell me who you were bringing," Mr. Caulfield stared directly at Cullen.

Cullen shuddered and stuck out his hand. "Hi, I'm Cu–" Cullen was cut off due to being hugged forcefully.

"You can call me Chris," Vivian's dad instructed. Cullen was finally saved from suffocation when Vivian spoke up.

"I didn't bring him here so you could kill him," She laughed. Chris let go and took Vivian's bags.

"Are you two ready to go home?" He asked. Cullen shrugged, still catching his breath.

"Yeah, let's head out. I'm ready to unpack at this point," Vivian suggested. They all left the airport.

Cullen and Vivian made it home without any harm, even though the wind was blowing hard. The teenagers exited the car and shivered immediately. Perhaps, they shouldn't have dressed in summer clothing. They knew something was off, hence it being this cold.

"Dad, it's summertime. Is Texas supposed to be this cold?" Vivian finally asked.

"I'm sure it's fine. It get's chilly here every now and then. I wouldn't worry about it," He shrugged. They carried all the bags from the car to the house. Cullen and Vivian ended up having to share a room. Both of them wanted the top bunk. Vivian made her hand a fist and Cullen jumped.

"Whoa, I wanted the top bunk but I'm not going to hit you for it." Cullen spoke up.

"I'm not going to fight you, numbnuts. Rock, Paper, or Scissors." Vivian clarified. Cullen stepped closer and made his hand into a fist also.

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" They both cheered. Cullen threw a paper and Vivian threw a rock.

"Whatever, it's fine, I didn't want top bunk anyway," Vivian replied sarcastically.

For the rest of the night, all they did was unpack. As Cullen unpacked his PS4, Vivian asked what he would be playing tonight.

"I'm not even sure. I'm still exhausted. I only have maybe four hours of sleep under my belt. More than likely, I'll just crash tonight." Cullen finished putting his clothes away and hit the hay. Vivian followed shortly after.

Cullen woke up in the early morning. He didn't know what to do since Vivian was still asleep. He usually went on walks in the New York mornings, so he decided to do that. He saw a note that Chris left and skimmed it. He then

Cullen was walking down the street. It was early morning and Vivian was still asleep. He decided he wanted to go on a walk until Vivian woke up. Luckily, he put on his sweatshirt because the wind was blowing strongly. It seemed almost faster than it should normally be.

Cullen made his way into the outskirts of the city. Since Houston was a big city, the humongous buildings caused Cullen to not see the dark grey clouds. It started sprinkling a little and gradually started raining harder. He was too far away from the house to turn back. It didn't help that he also didn't know where exactly he was.

Cullen decided to hide from the impending storm in a coffee shop. It was a quaint building; it gave off a vibe he couldn't describe. The coffee shop had a lot more people than would be expected during a storm.

Cullen ordered some hot chocolate and sat at a table near the entrance. He took one sip of his drink and stared into the street. Unexpectedly, a tree fell right down the side of the building. This caused him to throw his glass into the air in fright. It shattered on the ground and the hot liquid went everywhere.

Cullen was still startled as he noticed a man walk over to the door and try to push it open. His attempt didn't go so well. The tree had fallen perfectly so that the door couldn't be opened and no window had shattered.

The owner of the restaurant encouraged people not to freak out and that she would just open a window for them to escape the coming hurricane. Cullen hadn't known there was a hurricane until now and he started freaking out even more.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and read the text Vivian had sent him. She had said she was worried and that the power was out. She was asking where he was. He texted back: 'I'm freaking out, I'm trapped in some kind of old coffee shop. I only ran here for shelter but a tree fell in front of the entrance and i have no way of getting out. The windows aren't as fragile as they appear. Please find me.'

Cullen put his phone away and caught up with reality. The owner tried opening the windows, but there was branches blocking them. The next best idea was to throw stuff through the window. The owner wouldn't let anyone into the kitchen, so they could choose between chairs and tables. Everyone in the restaurant grabbed a chair since the tables were bolted to the ground. They all threw them at the window, but the chairs were plastic and wouldn't break the windows. So for now, they were stuck in the coffee shop.

After what seemed like forever had passed, Cullen's phone rang. It was Vivian so he answered it. "Where are you? ... That may just work. I tried throwing chairs at it but these chairs are made out of plastic. And the lady who owns the place couldn't get the window unlocked. ... Understood. Go ahead. Hopefully I'll see you soon. We have to hurry. A hurricane is coming."

Cullen hung up the phone. He instructed everyone to get back from the window. The obliged once he explained why. Everyone was away from the window as a brick hit and cracked it. The window wasn't shattered yet but almost anything would work. Another piece of the building shattered the window. Cullen ran over to the window and poked his head out.

"I highly recommend removing the leftover glass on the window before climbing out!" Vivian hollered. Cullen and a few others removed the remaining glass and everyone began climbing out. Cullen was huffing and puffing by the time he reached Vivian.

"Are you okay?" Vivian asked her friend.

"We have to get out of here," Cullen said between breaths.

"What about everyone else in there?" Vivian was concerned.

"You just made them a way out. They can take care of themselves from here. Besides, I'm more concerned about us." Cullen changed Vivian's mind. They entered the car and drove off.

"Oklahoma, here we come."

Vivian's POV may be posted on AshcoX soon idek ill talk to her.