August 4, 2023

I pulled up to the Cracker Jacks that we were dropped off at, and hopped out of the car with Parker.

"What now?" I asked him.

"I assume you have to go to your house." Parker said.

"We need to tell Captain what happened." I said, "And it's not like I have his number or anything."

Just that second I got a call.

It was from Luke, I was so relieved.

"Lauren?! Is Parker with you?!" Luke said through the phone.

He doesn't sound any different through the phone...

"Yes." I responded, "I need to talk to Captain."

"But he's not here right now. I'm at my house, everyone was worried sick for you guys!" Luke said.

I sighed and said, "I'm so sorry for making you guys worry so much. We should have called. We took an Uber, and the driver kind of tried to kidnap us."

"WHAT?!" Luke screamed, "You guys could've been hurt!"

"You think we meant to get kidnapped?!" I said, "I was worried too, and scared half to death!"

Well you suddenly had some confidence, didn't you?

"Sorry." Luke said, "I know it's not your guys' fault. But you should have called somebody!"

"I know." I said dejectedly.

"Listen, we told your parents that you guys were sleeping at mine and Isabel's houses." Luke responded.

"Well, school starts in an hour." Parker said, "We should probably get back to our homes."

"Yeah, Luke, I'll see you later." I said.

"Okay, bye." Luke said quietly.

I hung up and looked over at Parker, "So, your 'parents' think you're sleeping over at Luke's."

I knew that the subject was touchy, and Parker obviously couldn't talk about it openly. I only wondered what would become of him.

Parker looked at me and sighed, "What do I do?"

Now Cat Eyes cares about my opinion?

"Even if the police catch them, what would happen to me?" Parker said, beginning to cry.

I felt my heart burst at the sight of him like this. He fell to the curb and sat down. I sat down next to him, and said, "We'll find a way to let you stay here."

"HOW?!" Parker said, "how..."

"I have an idea." I said, realizing something.

My phone rang, it was Captain? How did he even get my number? I answered the phone anyway, and Captain said, "I heard everything that happened, are you and Parker alright?"

How the heck is this dude so dang-

"Yeah. Sort of." I said, "We got away from the man, it's just that-"

"Parker's 'parents'?" Captain said.

Wow he's good.

So he knew.

"Did you tell Captain?" I asked Parker, pulling away from the phone.

"No..." Parker said confused.

I went back to the phone, "Captain, what are we supposed to do?"

"You have an idea, don't you?" Captain said.

M'kay, this dude is scary good.

"Yeah..." I said.

"Well, we'll discuss it at practice today." Captain said.

"Okay, but what do we do now?" I asked.

"Just stay where you are." Captain said, "I have some clothes for you guys, and you can put them on at school. I'll see you in class in an hour."

"Okay, bye."I said, hanging up.

I looked over to Parker and saw him putting his face in his hands and knees.

"Hey." I said to him, "We have an idea. We're going to talk about it at practice today."

Parker stayed silent and didn't acknowledge me.

"We've got your back, Parker." I said sweetly.

"But that doesn't matter." Parker said in a harsh tone, "Do you know how many times I've tried to get away from them?"

"No."

"I'd say at least 50. They've kept me for 4 years, Lauren. 4 years." Parker said, "And do you know what they've done to me in those 4 years?"

"No..."

"Abused me." Parker said, rolling up the sleeves on his shoulders, revealing large scars.

I gasped in fear, and covered my mouth.

Parker looked at me sadly and said, "Now that you know, do you know what they're going to do to me? And possibly you?!"

"No." I said, almost crying in fear.

"HURT US!" Parker screamed.

I was now full-on bawling and Parker said, "Just because you guys think you can help me, doesn't mean you'll be able to."

"Parker." I said, stopping crying, "It's the only choice you have. And the only possible chance too."

Come on, Cat Eyes, take this one time to be reckless.

Parker looked away from me.

"Just let us help." I said, holding his hand.

He nodded and said, "I'm sorry..."

"For what?"

"For telling you."

______________________________

Parker and I walked in early to school, and there was no one else there except for teachers. Teachers including Mr. Furish. I didn't assume he wanted us to call him Captain in school.

Parker was worried and fidgety out of his mind, and it only got worse when we reached Mr. Furish's classroom.

"Oh, hello." Mr. Furish said with a smile, "Here are some clothes for you guys."

He handed us two stacks of clothing, and I said, "Sir, are you sure that we have to discuss Parker and his... issues at practice today?"

Smooth way to word it...

"Very well then, we'll talk about it in class." Mr. Furish said, "Listen, we're not going to let this go on. Lauren, I can tell what you're thinking, I know it's going to work."

Is he exaggerating about knowing what I'm thinking thing?

"Alright then." I said, "Come on Parker. Let's go get changed."

______________________________

I walked out of the bathroom wearing a black miniskirt, a white tank top, a light blue jacket, white converse, and my hair in a side braid.

Somehow, Mr. Furish had gotten ahold of my clothes, and my backpack. Is it weird that I'm kind of scared of him?

I put the uniform I had worn last night into my book bag and zipped it up.

At this point, more students were here, but there was no one I knew, other than Parker.

Speaking of Parker, he walked it off the bathroom not seconds later, with a grey Supreme T-shirt, white shorts, and blue Vans.

"These definitely aren't mine." Parker said with a smirk.

"These are somehow mine." I said, "I'm glad to see you're feeling better."

Somehow Mr. Furish got ahold of my clothes is a different way to word it.

"Well, if it's my last day, might as well enjoy it." Parker retorted.

"That's a dark thought." I responded, my voice unshaken even though we were discussing a very disturbing topic.

"LAUREN!!" I heard a familiar voice say.

It was Isabel, running towards me, sprinting as fast as she could in a purple casual dress, and white boots.

"Hey, Isa-" I said, cut off by Isabel hugging the heck out of me.

"LAUREN! I was worried!" Isabel said, squeezing me.

Her and me both.

I was beginning to see that Isabel is quite the hugger, and hyper, type.

Luke trailed close behind her, and ran up to me, and hugged me too. Obviously not very fast like, he stinks at anything that is active. So, it wasn't a surprise when I saw that he was wearing navy shorts, a flannel shirt, and checkered Vans.

"Why, is everyone hugging me?" I said, gasping for breath.

"Yeah. I'm important too." Parker said, "I also went missing."

Very humble Cat Eyes. Very humble.

And just like that, Isabel ran over and hugged him too.

"I don't know you, like at all, man." Luke said.

"You've definitely heard my name before, as long as we've been in the same room at the same time." Parker said sassily.

"Ah, yes." Luke replied, "You're that one. The one who is like Mushu."

"Yep, obviously." Parker asserted, "Everyone compares me to cats from Disney movies."

It's a dang dragon Cat Eyes. While I do compare you to a cat, this one isn't.

"Yup, not a bit of knowledge in you." I declared.

"Hey, don't patronize me." Parker said defensively.

"Just because you know the word 'patronize' doesn't mean you've read Harry Potter." Luke retorted.

"And you have, smartypants?" Parker responded.

"As a matter of fact, I have." Luke announced.

"Well, Harry Potter doesn't deserve me anyway." Parker explained.

"You're crazy, dirty muggle." Luke muttered under his breath.

"What'd you say?" Parker asked, genuinely confused.

"Oh, nothing." Luke assured.

"Well, it's nice to finally get to talk to you guys!" Isabel announced really loudly.

"You don't have to yell, Isa." Luke said.

"Why not?" Isabel yelled, even louder, "Yelling is FUN!"

She giggled in delight, and walked up behind Luke and said, "Here you try it."

"What?" Luke asked.

Isabel put her hand on his jaw and moved it up and down, while Luke stood there awkwardly.

"Now, you yell!" Isabel announced excitedly.

"Yay?" Luke mumbled.

"YAY!" Isabel explained, "Do it like me."

"Yay."

"No. YAY!"

"Yay!"

"Closer, YAY!"

"That's as far as you'll get with me." Luke asserted, walking away from her, and standing next to Parker.

"Awwwww." Isabel said, "But we'll try again later!"

She ran up and hugged him tightly, and then walked back to me.

We stood in a small circle, and were silent for a moment, and then Isabel said, "Hey, Laur Laur?"

I officially have 3 nicknames, of which I thought I would never be named...

"What? Laur Laur?" I asked confused.

"It's your new nickname. And can I have your number? All of your numbers, actually?" Isabel explained.

Everyone nodded, and we all traded numbers, and by the time we were finished, we decided to walk to class.

We all arrived at Mr. Furish's classroom and sat down in our chairs.

The rest of the class wasn't there yet, so Parker asked, "Why do you guys get to sit together?"

"It just happened." I explained to him.

Another boy walked into the classroom at the moment and sat next to Parker.

"Well, that's convenient." Parker said.

"Just because you say smart words doesn't make you seem smart, Parker." Luke mumbled.

"You're, Parker, right?" the boy sitting next to him said timidly.

"Why, you heard of me?" Parker declared with a smile.

"Yeah, Captain called you the 'annoying one'." the boy said quietly.

Dang, Cat Eyes is getting called out here...

Captain?

Oh, he was the boy I didn't know at practice yesterday.

He had shaggy light brown hair, piercing brown eyes, light skin, and was wearing a black Adidas shirt, jean shorts, and blue running shoes.

"I'm Camden." the boy explained shyly, putting out his hand.

"Obviously you know my name." Parker said.

"Yeah, I watched you guys at practice yesterday, and I heard what happened." Camden confessed, sliding down in his chair in fear.

Eventually, they got to their own conversation, which was mostly Parker talking, and I ended up talking with Isabel and Luke.

Soon enough, the class was filled in, and Mr. Furish began teaching.

"Alright students." Mr. Furish announced, "Today is going to be a bit different. Some of you know that yesterday after practice there was an incident."

Mr. Furish was telling them about practice, and  I noticed that every student in the room was at practice yesterday.

"And today we'll be discussing something new that we'd like to bring into the FOF. Lauren?" Mr. Furish proclaimed, pointing to me, "Would you like to discuss your idea?"

Crap, again with directly addressing me...

I turned bright red at the thought of talking in front of the class, but I knew it had to be done.

So I nodded, and awkwardly stood up from my chair and walked to the front of the class.

I stayed silent for a moment and thought to myself, Okay, Lauren. Speaking mode: On!

I began, "I'm sure that most of you guys know that yesterday me and Parker-"

"Parker and I." Parker asserted from the back row.

Seriously Cat Eyes?!

I felt every part of me heat up, and I knew that everyone could tell that I was beat-red.

"Parker and I were abducted. But what most of you may not know, is that Parker isn't living with his real parents." I announced.

The room gasped and looked at Parker, and he awkwardly waved and stared at them.

"Parker was abducted five years ago and has been abused. We need to find a way to get him out of this situation." I continued.

I paused and waited for the rest of the room to comprehend.

"I was thinking that we should all rent a large complex. Kind of like a dorm for the FOF, so Parker doesn't have to go back and live with his family if they're forced to have him go to the nearest relative or guardian." I explained, "If we could figure out a situation where Captain is his relative, so he can stay."

Parker blushed in the back and smiled at me.

"I know a lot of you might find it hard to believe, but he isn't a demon, and he is important to the team. He's the big reason we managed to escape." I asserted with a smile.

Yep, he's not a demon, he's a demon-cat.

The room looked at him again and turned their seats to stare at the back row prodigy.

"It won't cost anything for us, and all you need is a guardian signature, and we'll all be living together." I announced, finishing, "Any questions?"

"So it's basically a constant SLEEPOVER?!" Isabel squealed.

"Pretty much..." I mumbled quietly.

No one else said anything, so I asked, "Does everyone agree that this is the best solution?"

Everyone nodded in affirmation.

Mr. Furish said, "Well, then, I guess it's settled. We'll be in there by tomorrow."

"TOMORROW?!" the class let out in unison.

"I've got it covered." Mr. Furish explained.

Again with the being scary good thing.

I walked back to my seat and sat down next to Isabel and Luke.

"Alright then, today we'll be working on your strategy and brains, which is known as school, and at practice today we'll be working on fighting strategies." Mr. Furish said.

I had a LONG day ahead of me.