"Dez, I feel really bad for leaving," I mumbled as I brought my legs to my chest.

"I do too, Mel, but we still have things to do before school starts next week. Remember?" He asked, annoyed, as he continued driving.

I sighed and looked out the window, watching as we passed familiar buildings. "You won't let me forget," I mumbled. "How much are we doing today?"

"I was planning on going to the larger dock today so we can do the smaller ones on our own."

My gaze snapped from the window to him. "On our own?"

"We're going to watch a huge shipment come in, of course I'm picking up reinforcements."

"So, we're picking up…"

The car made a left turn, confirming my thoughts and causing my face to heat up. As he continued to drive, I pulled down the visor and opened the mirror. Fixing the loose strands of my black wavy hair and readjusting my hair clip. I moved my face around as I checked for any surprise bumps across my tawny skin. My dark brown eyes locked with that in the mirror.

What am I doing?

The car made one last turn before stopping at the small wooden house and my heart began to race. Dez left the car and went up the creaking staircase to the front door, leaving me alone with the eyes that stared back at me. They watched my every move as they squinted and furrowed their eyebrows at me. They read my blushing face as Dez exited the front door with the tall figure following behind him. The eyes thought the same thing I had been thinking for the past couple years:

What am I doing?

Finally being able to break the stare, I sucked my teeth and slammed the visor. The doors swung open and laughs filled the car. I leaned on to the middle console and rested my chin onto my hand as I stared at the aging home. The white spotted roof was trimmed with fading blue lining. The once russet wood now had dark spots and ends sticking out of it.

"You ready to go, Mel?" Dez asked.

I nodded without removing my eyes from the house. As he pulled out of the driveway, I noticed that the wired screens on the windows and doors now had holes in the corners of them. It's been a while since I came here.

I felt a presence behind me and my body stiffened, becoming cold as sweat began building up. They came near my uncovered ear and lightly fanned it with their breath, their soft lips touching the top of my earlobe. The heat from their lips quickly spread across my body, causing me to jump up and furiously rub the area until the odd sensation went away. As I did so, the car filled with laughter once again. One of the many sounds from their lips that I could listen to all day without stopping.

I quickly turned around in my seat and stared at them. Their long copper hair bounced on their shoulders as they continued to laugh. My hard glare softened once their green eyes stared back at me.

"What the hell, Sadie?!" I screamed.

She wiped away the stray tears that gathered in the corners of her eyes. "You didn't say hi to me! Whose fault is that, Melie?" She questioned, her voice becoming steady.

"I was going to!"

She adjusted herself, grabbing onto the back of our chairs, and leaned toward me. The setting sun shined onto her pale freckled skin. "Oh yeah, when?" Her eyes studied mine as her pink plump lips slightly parted.

"I- you- well… eventually," I huffed, turning back around and sinking into the seat.

The seat moved up slightly once she let go of the headrest rod and leaned back into the black leather seat. I brought my knees closer to my chest, feeling as my heart slammed onto my rib cage at a fast rhythm, and buring my burning face in them.

When we finally arrived at the docks, the sun had disappeared, leaving the moon alone in the sky. Dez pulled into the parking lot next to the tallest building near the docks. I jumped out of the car and began stretching.

"Alright," he said as he rounded the car. "We're not going to do anything different this time, our usual plan works best. Sadie, you'll take east and I'll take west. When everything is loaded and checked, we'll meet back here, the middle point. Mel, you have everything you need in the car, right?"

I made my way to the trunk and opened it, revealing two duffel bags, a locked metal box, and a long zipped bag. "Yup, I even brought extra clothes just in case."

"Good, I did too. Hopefully, we won't need them. It's been pretty smooth here ever since we started doing shipments without the others." He grabbed the dark blue duffle bag and pulled out white tape that he began wrapping his knuckles with.

I followed his lead and grabbed the metal box, unlocking it. As I opened the green box, a few bullets fell out from the sides of it.

I grabbed a few rounds of ammo, placing it into my pockets. "When is it getting here?"

"Should be in" -he checked his watch that hid under his black long sleeve shirt- "an hour. It's seven right now."

"It took forever to get here," I groaned.

"Yeah, it did. That traffic was insane today."

"It's only because everyone was driving home from work at that time. We could've gotten here earlier if I was picked up at the promised time," Sadie said while placing her book bag into the trunk, between Dez and I, and grabbing her pistol.

Dez sighed. "I'm really sorry. We got there for the burial and then left as soon as it finished."

She strapped the gun and its carrying case to her side, under her oversized black hoodie. "You guys got there late? That’s surprising."

"Mel and I were late because we were trying to finish the shipments inside Manhattan before working on the outside of it, so we got stuck watching one of the garages. I don't know about everyone else though."

Her jaw dropped. "Everyone was late! What's going on here?"

"Not everyone, I meant the other three."

"Still! You guys are never late for anything. Your parents taught you better than that," she mumbled as she sorted through the ammo in the box.

He chuckled. "Well, dad would be proud that we finished our work perfectly."

I smiled. The thought of our father's excitement knowing that the shipment was carried out with zero issues because of Dez and I was something completely true. He always taught perfection and punctuality while our mother taught living on the edge and quick thinking.

Once my pockets were full of bullets, I brought my leg up to the trunk and checked my boot pocket for a knife.

"The summer homework!" I gasped. "Did you guys finish it?"

They both nodded. "Did you not?" They asked in unison.

I smiled nervously.

"Really, Mel? The plan was to finish homework early so we would only have to worry about the shipments. You already messed up our first plan, you only had one job and that was homework," Dez said sternly.

"I swear I started it last night. Igot sidetracked because Blake invited me to his party. When I got back, I was too tired to finish it so I was going to do it before the funeral. Then, we left early this morning to go to the garage and I ended up forgetting." I shrugged.

"You're lucky we still have time before it's due. How much did you get done?"

"How much was there?"

"Four homeworks per subject." he huffed.

I opened my mouth to speak but he cut me off before I could. "There were five subjects."

I brought my leg down from the trunk and stomped onto the ground. "Well, the good thing is that I started one."

"You're kidding me!" He rolled his eyes and began digging into the box.

"What? Math is hard! At least I got through two questions. Give me some credit!"

He mumbled a few words under his breath as he pulled out a small pistol, inspecting it.

Sadie placed the magazine clip into her gun, cocking it back. "I can tutor you, if you want. Maybe I could teach you some new things." Her eyes slowly crawled my body. When they made contact with mine, she winked.

A sudden chill came over me as my face felt hot. "I-"

"It's time to go," Dez interrupted. "We can deal with this later. You guys have your earpieces on?" He stuffed the gun into his back pocket as he pointed at the small black piece in his ear.

I pushed my hair behind my right ear, showing it to them. "I never take it off."

Sadie grabbed hers from the pocket of her hoodie and put it on, nodding to him.

He began walking away, throwing on his leather jacket with the gang’s logo on the back. "Let's roll."

I chuckled at the saying he picked up from our mother as I grabbed the large bag from the trunk and slung it over my shoulder. After locking the car, we walked to the middle of the empty road and looked around.

"It's kind of quiet, don't you think?" Sadie asked.

"We'll wait a little longer. Mel-"

"On it," I assured, knowing exactly what he was thinking.

Before leaving, we rounded into a group hug and repeated the same words we always said when we leave each other: "Until next time."

It's a saying that we've used since we were seven and Sadie was eight. It came about when one day, after saying goodbye to her parents, they never returned. They had fought against the treacherous Snakes alongside our mom. No one knew the outcome of the battle until a week later.

For the past ten years, we've decided to never say goodbye. It's too permanent. Instead, we promise one another that no matter what happens, we will return.

When I finally reached the roof of the building, I stuck two pins into the drywall around the door and near two the ground. The pins had a thin wire with a bell attached to it in between them. Unzipping the large bag, I removed my sniper from it and laid my stomach onto the cold ground, placing the stands of the gun on the edge. As I looked into the scope, I quickly adjusted it as I found the two still in the middle of the street. Then, I looked around the area to see the workers laughing, eating, and playing on their phones.

I pressed the middle button on the earpiece and waited until it connected before saying, "All clear."

They separated and went to the agreed areas while the boats blew their horns. I looked around and watched as the boats rolled into the dock. The workers lined themselves and began placing the boxes of weapons into the designated areas on both sides of the dock.

After two hours of watching every person's move and checking every spot where someone might hide, my mind began flashing images from last night's party.

First, I was surrounded by people as I stood in a handstand above a keg. Next, I was on the dance floor with someone. Then, I was intertwined with someone in an empty room. Finally, I was back in my favorite spot of every party, the kitchen, pouring myself another drink.

The phantom taste of sweet cranberry juice mixed with bitter alcohol crossed my tongue, causing my mouth to salivate. The cold breeze on my left hand made me yearn for a red solo cup as it reminded me of the ice that sat in the liquid.

Focus, Melena, focus!

I clenched my eyes shut and shook my head before opening them.

I didn't want to be there. I didn't want to be anywhere, really. Ever since we resurfaced four months ago, it's been hard to focus on anything that doesn't involve alcohol. No matter how much I tried to not depend on the disgusting thing, I can't tear myself away from longing for the numb feeling.

Party after party, I down shots of what's ever given to me and wake up half dead. It's the reason we're behind on work and the reason Dez is so angry with me. He's tried multiple times to stop me from seeing the invites but it never worked, I always saw them. I always knew when and where the next party would be. A perk of being called "the life" of each one, I guess.

Luckily, he hasn't told anyone about this issue but I think the others are starting to notice. Before everything, no one questioned where I was going but I always let them know anyway. They knew that I was always safe at whichever house I was at. I made sure to not worry anyone by never showing if I was under the influence or in a bad mood. Despite following these past tactics, they've begun questioning and it feels as if they're watching me.

I've never had a reason to lie to my family, but I just might need to. I can't have them think less of like Dez probably has. I can't be the disappointment of the family.

"Melie, I saw something odd in C-7. Check it out real quick. I'm heading back that way," Sadie said.

"Checking now." I moved the gun to the stated location.

She's another one of my problems.

Dez and her have been best friends since we were born. I've always just tagged along because I had no one else. As we got older, I began to notice the smallest things about her that caused my heart to skip a beat. From the way her lips curve when she smiles to how she rubs the back of her hand with her fingers when she's anxious. Eventually, I attempted to push myself away from her to avoid these feelings but the further I became, the closer my brother got. She ended up staying at our house daily and earned her own bed in our room.

When high school came around, her and I had separated far enough that I thought the feelings had faded. She began coming over less and we never ran into each other at school. Then, the news of her coming out circled around school and everyone wanted her for different reasons. My feelings resurfaced along with ones that made me irritated. I forced myself to silently sit on the sidelines and watch as her heart got broken multiple times and ran to my brother for comfort. I didn't have the right to see her smile, so I began ignoring her, my only real friend.

By the end of freshman year, I had entered a circle of people that loved to live their idea of the best life. I surprisingly was able to maintain my average grades so that my parents wouldn't notice my attention was elsewhere. Partying everyday and playing with boys' hearts became normal to me. My life no longer revolved around my feelings for her. I was comfortable.

When my family and I went on summer vacation last year, we were attacked by the same people who killed Sadie's parents, the Tiger Snakes. They had invaded our remote vacation house and surrounded us. Our parents were heavily injured and we barely made it out alive, but we couldn't get home. Unable to reach any nearby roads due to them being blocked by the opposing gang, we continued moving deeper and deeper into the woods. Everytime we stopped, we risked being found by those hunting us but the more we kept moving, the more we lost our parents.

Eight months later, my siblings and I were able to find our way back to the city. Our return was silently celebrated by the members of our parents' gang, but the only person that mattered to me was her. Throughout that time I was away from her, the feelings I attempted to shun became stronger and louder. The thought of her smile alongside my siblings kept me alive. The promise to return helped me fight.

"You're clear, Sadie. I don't see anything," I said after checking the area.

"Going ahead then."

"I'll watch as you approach."

I moved the scope around to find her. It was a little more difficult because her bright hair was hidden under her hood and pale face was covered by a mask. She hid her features for every job we went on while the most Dez and I did was put on a mask.

Once I found her, I watched as she walked to section C-7 with gun in hand. She scaled the wall and looked both ways before turning each corner.

"How's it looking, Mel?" Dez asked.

"So far, so good. Stay on high alert in your area, they might have moved."

When she finally made it to the area, she stood in the middle of it as I checked around her.

I let out a breath. "Nothing."

"My side has been done for a while so I'll stay here," she whispered.

"Something's up. Your side shouldn't be done yet," Dez stated.

"You think the boat brought people in?"

"Probably. I can't leave to help her, my side is still going. Check the boat, Mel."

I swiveled the gun toward the boat Sadie was watching and zoomed in. I watched and waited for movement.

"The boat's empty. How you doing there, Sadie?" I asked.

"I can't find anything! Dez, do you see anything from where you're standing?"

"Nada."

"Where are they?" I mumbled.

The bell at the entrance rang as the person tripped over the wire. I quickly flipped onto my back and stabilized the stands of the sniper on my thighs. Without giving them a chance to recover, I shot at them.

"Melena!" The earpiece shrieked.

School started the other week and I am stressing! Keeping up with everything is hard right now but I'll get the hang out it eventually.

If you're a student, how's school going for you so far?

Make sure to comment and vote if you liked the chapter!

Till next time ✌🏼💕