🎱. . .CHAPTER 44 ! -----
( real life . . . )
❛ we're good ❜

ᵣₑₐₗ ₗᵢfₑ !

The rest of the getaway went by quite quickly, saturday being made up of the boys daring each other to use the tire swing that they'd found while scavenging through the forest near the lake. they all formed a bonfire on the beach, including only some of them drinking and smoking while blaring music.

they're thankful that maria gave them such a fun opportunity, knowing that they enjoyed their days way more than if they were forced to go to school. with the perfect weather involving sunshine and a humid breeze, the friend group are all slightly upset to say their goodbyes to the cabin but they all know that they're gonna be back next year.

so now, the group all sit together in the rickety old van belonging to maria's father on a hot sunday evening, only dreading the school day tomorrow. they listen to the old radio giving them news reports and much more, conversing as matt drives and maria's next to him in the passenger seat.

"i think that the highlight of this little trip," mason pauses to pop a hot chip into his mouth. "was nathan falling off the swing like a fucking idiot!" he says through a laugh, then a snort, everyone else giggling at what happened yesterday.

nate rolls his eyes from next to mikayla, flipping mason off. "my highlight was you almost drowning," he retorts, making mason's face scrunch up.

lucille groans, leaning her head on mikayla's shoulder, slightly sweaty from the weather. "how much do you wanna bet the school knows we skipped," she suggests and everybody groans in unison at the thought of their principal coming up to them tomorrow.

"with the amount of people who skip, i doubt they care," matt adds on from the driver's seat, slowing down as they pass by the sign on the road, showing that they're almost back to civilization.

mikayla nods her head in agreement, looking at where he's sat and how maria's hand sits in his hair, playing with it. she smiles at her friend's actions, watching as maria just stares at matt's face while he continues to drive.

mikayla runs her hand through her own hair, taking deep breaths as she's trying her hardest to not faint in these hot conditions. after her conversation with chris in the kitchen, the last time they've spoken, she consistently feels lightheaded whenever she's near him.

she feels his eyes on her body, not addressing it since it's the thousandth time it's happened on this trip. miks hates it, but she's proud of herself at the same time that she hasn't started running back to him. she's also noticed how nate's been acting weird this whole trip, assuming it's because of herself and chris' relationship and she's been eager to address it. he's her older brother and she can immediately tell if something's wrong between them — it's been awkward since her late night on the beach with chris.

the last thing mikayla wants is to ruin her own relationship with her brother over chris, as well as ruin nate and chris' long term friendship over her. miks gently nudges nate with her foot and he looks away from the window at her, a small smile on his face.

"guys," lucille groans, her head in her hands, most likely caused by the unbearable heat as well as the tight, cramped space they're forced to be in. "are we going to noah's halloween party next month?" she asks through a grin, being the party animal that she is.

mikayla's never been to the party noah's hosted over the previous years. nathan always refused to let her go, most likely because the party is held in an abandoned house which isn't just dangerous, but most of the time it never goes to plan. sometimes it's being raided by the cops for underage drinking and drug use or sometimes it's just made up of teenagers making out. since they brought it up in the groupchat during that one conversation, mikayla's been wanting to go.

"um, yeah?" mikayla replies, a tone of disbelief. she thinks she'd be insane to not attend it this year but nathan immediately shoots her a glare. chris also does the same (mikayla noticing) since he's known her long enough to understand that she barely enjoys partying.

a chuckle slips from nathan's lips as his eyebrows reach the top of his forehead. "you're not going," he says to her, making mikayla's top lip lift into a sneer.

"c'mon nate," lucille pouts, patting him on the shoulder. "let her come this year," she gives him her puppy dog eyes and nate rolls his eyes. mikayla slowly forms a fake sad expression on her face, hoping that nate will give in like he normally does.

nate narrows his eyes at the girls, his eyes flickering between the two of them. "fine," he groans, folding his arms. miks and lucille high-five each other, mikayla more excited since it means that she can start planning her costume; october is in a couple days and her mind is already burdening with ideas.

matt slowly pulls into the driveway belonging to lucille's home, shifting the car into park. her house is one of the farthest from the sturniolo's, the main reason why she's being dropped off first. lucille and mason hug their friends — both excluding chris for obvious reasons — exiting the car after matt opens the door for them. lucille and mason are almost like siblings, their parents being extremely close, which is why he's staying over. matt enters the car again, waiting a couple moments.

"are you guys coming back with us?" nick questions the doe siblings, referring to how they're at the sturniolo's home almost everyday.

nate shrugs, looking over at mikayla and waiting for her to answer. "we're good," she says, an odd response to maria since she normally would never say no. but obviously mikayla doesn't want to stay with chris any longer than she has to.

matt nods from the driver's seat, placing his hand on the wheel. maria's staying over with them, matt insisted, so he's driving straight to the doe's home.

nick glances between chris, mikayla and nate, probably acknowledging the awkward silence as well as the escalating tension between them — now he's wishing that he chose to go to lucille's house instead. "um," nick mumbles to try and ease the awkwardness, but ultimately he just choose to shut his mouth.

finally, after almost ten minutes of silence, matt parks the car outside of mikayla's house. she looks up from her phone, a grin taking over her face since she no longer had to deal with seeing chris. mikayla picks up her bag of clothes as well as other things, not even looking at chris before leaving but she gives nick a quick hug.

she walks to the side of the car maria's sat at, bending forward slightly and resting her forearms on the window. "text me later?" mikayla smiles and maria nods her head at the questions. "see you later guys!" she yells out after backing away from the van, matt waving her goodbye as he drives off.

          now the siblings are left infront of their home, slightly missing it after days of being away. nate places his hand on mikayla's shoulder, and she looks up at him. "i gotta run to jason's house quickly, he's got my shit for hockey practice," nate gestures his head to the house opposite theirs.

          "okay, okay," she repeats, taking nate's abnormally heavy bag out of his hands. now her hands are full, watching as nate jogs to their neighbor's house. she shuffles to her front door at a sluggish pace, dropping the bags on the porch to get the keys out of her back pocket.

          but as she slips it into the keyhole, she frowns at the fact that her door is already open. now there's a small feeling of fear taking over mikayla's body, leaving the bags on the porch as she pushes the door open. "what the fuck," mikayla mutters to herself, slowly stepping into her home that currently feels oddly unsafe.

          miks takes her phone into her hands, hesitant to enter the living room as she hears noise coming from that specific area. as mikayla enters it, her jaw instantly drops to the floor, a crease appearing between her eyebrows, "mom? dad?"

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ arianna speaks ¡
HELLO? i only added this lil part in so people know they have parents 😇 just reallyyyy shitty ones

also miks and chris will be back soon
i'm currently on my grind during work breaks and days off trying to finish this book so i can upload prewritten chapters everyday 💝

i've got a plan for the rest of the plot and the next chapters are gonna be kinda time skippy unless i state otherwise (planning to get to 70 chaps)
anyways i love you guys and everyone who's been here from the first couple of chapters <3