Wensday After School
The final bell rang through Westbridge Academy.
Almost immediately, students poured into the hallways.
Angel closed her locker and sighed.
"Finally."
Beside her, Miley adjusted her cheer bag.
"You say that every day."
"Because every day feels like prison."
Miley laughed. "I know right".
Max appeared beside them.
"Are you two done?"
"No," Angel replied immediately.
"I'm leaving if your not."
Angel kicked him lightly. "You won't dare".
Max ignored her.
As usual.
The group eventually met up outside the school where Calvin, Nathan, Luke, and
Fred were already waiting, Nathan was bouncing a football between his hands, Luke was scrolling through his phone.
Fred was eating chips, and Calvin—Calvin immediately looked away when Angel glanced in his direction.
"Everyone coming?" Max asked.
The boys nodded.
"Obviously."
"Good."
Nathan grinned.
About thirty minutes later, they arrived at the Dove Estate.
As always, the house looked ridiculous.
Huge.Expensive.
"One day," Nathan said while staring at it, "I'm going to accidentally adopt myself into this family."
"Please don't," Angel replied. "We already have one Max."
"Rude."
They entered through the front doors and headed upstairs.
Specifically...to the third floor.
The floor that belonged almost entirely to Max and Angel.
The third floor contained four bedrooms. Angel's room sat at one far end.Max's room sat at the other.
Between them were two guest bedroom that were rarely empty because friends practically lived at the house.
There was also a private gym.
And everyone's favorite room—The gaming room.
The moment they entered, Nathan nearly ran for a controller.
"Dibs."
The gaming room was complete chaos.
Eight people,monitors, controllers everywhere.
And one very intense Free Fire match.
"I'M DOWN!"
Fred's scream echoed through the room.
"Again?" Nathan laughed.
"This is your fault!"
"How?"
"You abandoned me!"
Nathan looked offended.
"We were being shot at!"
"Friends don't leave friends behind!"
Across the room, Max shook his head.
"Skill issue."
Fred gasped.
"That's rude."
"It's true."
Luke burst out laughing.
Meanwhile, Angel and Miley sat side by side at one of the larger gaming setups.
Unlike everyone else, the girls matching equipment.
Matching pink keyboards.
Matching pink controllers.
Matching pink gaming headphones.
Even their monitors had pink LED lights.
Nathan stared.
"You two are ridiculous."
"We're fabulous," Miley corrected.
Angel nodded.
"Get it right."
A moment later—
"HEADSHOT."
Nathan froze.
Luke froze.
Fred froze.
Max looked up.
On the screen another player collapsed.
Then another.
Then another.
Miley grinned.
Angel looked completely unbothered.
The kill count kept climbing.
"How many kills do you have?" Calvin asked.
"Fourteen," Angel replied.
"Thirteen," Miley added.
The room went silent.
Nathan slowly lowered his controller.
"What."
Max narrowed his eyes.
"That's impossible."
"No," Angel replied casually.
"It's called talent."
"It's called hacking."
"It's called you're bad."
Nathan clutched his chest dramatically.
"I have been insulted."
"You should be."
The boys immediately challenged them to another match.
The result was somehow worse.
Within minutes Angel and Miley were carrying the entire team.
Again.
And again.
And again.
By the fourth match, Fred was ready to cry.
"This isn't fun anymore."
"It is for us," Miley said happily.
Across the couch Ariana groaned loudly.
"This game is boring."
Nobody answered.
Ariana picked up a spare controller anyway.
Five minutes later she accidentally threw a grenade at her own teammates.
The entire squad died.
The room exploded.
"ARIANA!"
"It was an accident!"
"HOW?"
"I PRESSED THE WRONG BUTTON!"
Nathan buried his face in his hands.
Fred looked ready to jump out a window.
Max simply closed his eyes.
Ariana smiled sheepishly.
"Oops."
The next round wasn't much better.
Molly insisted on playing too.
Within three minutes she managed to drive a vehicle directly into a wall.
Then somehow got stuck.
Then got everyone killed.
Luke slowly put down his controller.
"I quit."
Fred nodded.
"I support this decision."
Meanwhile Angel was laughing so hard she could barely breathe.
Even Calvin was struggling not to laugh.
Molly crossed her arms.
"You guys are mean."
"No," Max replied.
"We're traumatized."
The room erupted again.
For the next hour the matches continued.
Nathan trash-talked everyone.
Fred kept dying first.
Luke complained.
Ariana and Molly remained public enemies.
Max acted like he was carrying the team.
And Angel and Miley quietly dominated every single game.
By the end of the game everyone had reached the same conclusion.
Never challenge Angel Dove and Miley Harper to Free Fire.
Angel and Mikey later excused them selfs from room they where feeling a little hungry. They slipped out of the gaming room while everyone was distracted arguing over whose fault the last match had been.
The moment they reached the kitchen, several maids immediately moved aside.
"Miss Angel."
"Afternoon, Miss Miley."
Angel smiled.
"We need the kitchen."
The maids exchanged amused looks.
"Of course."
Within moments ingredients were being gathered.
Angel carefully spread melted chocolate over the cupcakes while Miley worked on decorating cookies beside her.
The kitchen smelled amazing.
Vanilla,chocolate,sugar.
One of the maids placed another bowl of melted chocolate on the counter.
Angel reached for it.
Then froze.
The chocolate rippled.
Her hand stopped in midair.
A strange chill shot through her body.
The kitchen blurred.
The laughter disappeared.
The warm lights vanished.
Suddenly—Darkness. Then finally a cold room with stone walls that had blood all over them.
Angel's breath caught in her throat.The smell of iron hung heavily in the air.
A chair stood in the center of the room.
Someone was tied to it.
A girl with long white hair and blue eyes full of terror.Tears streamed down her face.
The ropes around her wrists were stained red.
"Help..."
The girl's voice trembled.Angel couldn't move.Couldn't speak.
The girl suddenly looked directly at her.
As if she could actually see her.
"Please."
Her voice broke.
"Help me."
A loud bang echoed somewhere in the distance.
The girl flinched violently.
Fear filled her eyes.
"Angel!"
Everything shattered.The blood vanished. The room disappeared.
The kitchen returned.
Angel stumbled backward her heart hammered wildly.
Miley was standing directly in front of her.
Concern written all over her face.
"Angel?"
The bowl of chocolate sat peacefully on the counter.
Exactly where it had always been.
No blood. No chair. No white-haired girl.
Just the kitchen.
"You okay?" Miley asked.
Angel blinked rapidly.
"Y-Yeah."
"You zoned out."
"Oh."
"For like thirty seconds."
Angel stared at the bowl.
A strange feeling settled deep in her chest.
Not fea. Not exactly.
More like certainty as if somewhere...
That girl was real.
*****
The gaming room was filled with noise.
Nathan and Luke were arguing.
Again.
"I'm telling you, that shot should have counted."
"It literally missed."
"It grazed him."
"It hit a tree."
"Same thing."
Across the room, Fred was laughing so hard he nearly fell off the couch.
Max didn't even look up from his controller.
"You're both terrible."
"Shut up, Max."
Calvin chuckled.
Molly sat beside Max pretending to watch the game while occasionally trying to start conversations with him.
Most of them failed.
Ariana had given up on the games entirely and was scrolling through her phone.
Miley and Angel had been gone for nearly two hours.
"Why aren't Angel and Miley back yet," Luke said.
"They've been gone forever," Fred agreed.
Nathan glanced toward the door.
"Maybe they got kidnapped."
Max threw him a look. "Really? That's the best you could come up with?".
A moment later Nathan's phone vibrated.
He frowned. It was not a registered number.
"Be right back."
Nobody paid much attention.
"Don't get lost," Luke called.
Nathan ignored him and stepped into the hallway.
The noise from the gaming room immediately faded behind him.
The third floor was surprisingly quiet.
He answered the call.
"Hello?"
The conversation didn't last long.
A wrong number.
Nathan ended the call and slipped his phone into his pocket.
As he turned the corner—
The elevator doors opened.Angel stepped out first Miley followed beside her.
Behind them came two maids carrying silver trays filled with cupcakes, cookies, brownies and other desserts.
Nathan blinked."You guys are alive."
Angel laughed.
"Barely."
"I thought you weren't coming back."
"Nah."
Miley grinned.
"We had important business."
Nathan's eyes landed on the trays.
"What kind of business takes two hours?"
"Baking," Angel answered.
Nathan looked genuinely surprised.
"You made all that?"
"Most of it."
"I didn't know you could bake."
Angel looked offended.
"What exactly do you think I do all day?"
"Look pretty."
Miley smiled .
Angel gasped.
"Yh I do." She smiled
The maids continued toward the gaming room.
The sweet smell of chocolate drifted through the hallway.
Nathan followed beside the girls.
"You know they're going to eat everything in five minutes."
"Exactly why we brought extra," Miley replied.
Angel smiled but her fingers unconsciously brushed against her pendant.
The image flashed through her mind again.
The dark room.
The blood.
The white-haired girl.
Help me.
A chill ran down her spine.
"Angel?"
She blinked.
Nathan was looking at her.
"Hm?"
"You zoned out."
"Oh."
"You do that a lot."
Angel quickly looked away.
"Maybe you're just boring."
Nathan laughed.
"Fair enough."
The three of them reached the gaming room.
The moment Luke spotted the trays—
He immediately sat up.
"Food."
"Hello to you too," Angel said.
"Food." Fred appeared beside her.
Max called miley over and reached for a cupcake
They all completely forgot the games.
Molly reached for a cupcake.
Ariana grabbed two.
Calvin quietly thanked Angel before taking one.
Across the room, Max was already eating his third cupcake.
"You made these?" he asked.
"Yes."
"They're good."
Angel smile.
For awhile she forgot all about the vision she she had in the kitchen.