Chapter 19 - On The Run

Several citizens – ranging from students, their families, faculty, and even regular citizens of the city – are all gathered in Starlight High's gymnasium in order to participate in the school's carnival.

Among the several stations is a large dunk tank that Ronnie is sitting atop of. People from below all try to hit a target that'll cause the platform he's sitting on to fall, which would send him into the water below.

"Hah! Is that the best you can do?!" Ronnie says arrogantly, "I'm as dry as a desert up here!"

As Ronnie continues to taunt people as they walk by, Elizabeth & Marcus are collecting tickets from people which is how people can step in line and try to dunk in Ronnie.

"He's really getting into this role huh?" Marcus says.

"Yeah well, it looks like my skills as an acting coach came in handy today," Elizabeth responds.

"Wait, you're an acting coach?"

"No, I just told Ronnie to act like Alex."

Marcus chuckles at Elizabeth's joke as a group of people walks over to them. Elizabeth looks and glares at the person standing in front of them, which is Rebecca Jenksin. Rebecca is one of the most popular girls at the school and she's only wearing designer clothes.

"So, what do we have here, huh?" Rebecca says.

"Oh if you hit the target, Ronnie falls into the tank, you wanna give it a go?" Elizabeth begrudgingly informs Rebecca.

"Sure, why not."

Rebecca hands her a ticket and walks over to where a basket containing a tennis ball lays.

"Uh, she probably doesn't even know how to toss a ball," Elizabeth whispers to Marcus.

"Woah I've never seen you this upset, are you good?" Marcus whispers back to Elizabeth.

"I am, it's just she was a bitch to me all through middle school, probably why I hated it so much," Elizabeth whispers back.

"Sorry, that happened to you," Marcus whispers back.

Rebecca looks up at Ronnie who has a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Hey, Rebecca! Long time no see!" Ronnie yells, "Y'know I've been hearing a lot of rumors about you lately. Are they true?"

"Which one?" Rebecca scoffs.

"Oh it's pretty silly," Ronnie begins to say, "it's just that apparently you've been wearing a wig-"

Rebecca, with a fury strong enough to make most professional baseball pitchers impressed, chucks the tennis ball at the target with all her might.

THUNK!

It landed dead on.

Ronnie hears the platform start to creak.

"Uh oh," Ronnie says before…

SPLASH!

As Ronnie sinks into the water, the crowd around Rebecca cheers even Marcus gets a hearty laugh out of it. Rebecca with a proud smirk does a playful bow before being approached by Elizabeth.

"Congrats you've just won this free book coupon to the Starlight City Bookstore and this opened bag of silly bands," Elizabeth replies unamused as she hands the gifts to Rebecca.

"Oh...thanks," Rebecca says as she grabs them.

"Wait, that's what we're handing out?" Marcus whispers to Elizabeth.

"Most of the budget of this carnival went into the dunk tank, not much else we have to offer besides some desserts," Elizabeth replies.

Ronnie floats up to the top of the dunk tank completely soaked and asks, "hey speaking of desserts, did Alex ever come back with that cake?"

"Oh not yet," Marcus says as he looks over to the crowd of people waiting for the 'cake walk' game to begin which includes Ray Ramirez, Mesto-Presto, Christopher Wrinkle, Hamster, Bennet, & Wilsten.

"Wow, I wonder when he's getting back," Ronnie asks.

"I bet he's having the time of his life right now," Elizabeth adds.

__________________________

In a random dark alleyway somewhere on the north side of Starlight City, Alex Smith is not having the time of his life at the moment. In fact, he's being chased by a trio of three thugs who want to beat him up for money. A group of thugs by the name of Tim, Tom, & Tim-Tom who are also known as 'The Three Ts' gang.

"Hey, why the hell is this dude so fast!" Tim The First Thug yells, "Can you slow down for us!"

"I'm good," Alex says teasingly, "and maybe you need some lessons in boxing if you want to be as fast as me."

"But we do know how to box-" Tom The Second Thug begins to say before Tim-Tom shushes them.

"You may be able to run, but we'll catch up to you soon!" Tim-Tom The Third Thug yells.

Alex, who's managing to get a good distance away from the three, looks at the cake he is holding to see that it is still safe. He also notices up ahead there's a dumpster so he quickly runs past it before hiding behind it. The Three Ts all run past Alex's hiding spot and Alex sighs in relief.

As Alex gets up to continue running, he notices a rat by his feet looking up at the cake he is holding.

"Sorry rat but you can't have this," Alex says, "at least, I think you can't."

As Alex goes to walk away he hears more and more squeaks as more rats begin to come out from the crevices in the alleyway until there is an army of rats all wanting the cake that Alex is holding in his hands.

"Fuck it," Alex says as he books it away and the rat army chases after him.

The rats are somehow gaining on Alex as he makes his way down the alleyway. Alex notices a few mice traps up ahead so he leaps over them while a few rats get caught in them. 

However, there are still several rats on Alex's tail as he tries to protect the cake and get away. Eventually, he sees the light of the city street up ahead which gives him enough determination to escape the alley and the rats.

Unfortunately, as he does just that he happens to run into Tim, Tom, & Tim-Tom.

"...shit," Alex says.

"See I told you guys he was going to come out soon," Tim-Tom The Third Thug states, "now then prepare to be beaten up!"

As Tim-Tom goes to chase Alex, an orange jeep driving by manages to ride over a puddle causing water to splash all over The Three Ts. The Orange Jeep comes to a halt right next to Alex and the passenger door swings open.

"Come in, hurry!" the driver says with a funky Texan accent,

Alex without hesitating enters the jeep as the jeep then drives away. Alex puts on his seatbelt as he glances inside the box to see the cake is still looking good.

"Thanks for the save," Alex says.

"No problem buddy. I know a lot of people were looking forward to getting their cake so I thought it would be easier if I sped things up," the driver says in their regular voice.

Alex, recognizing the voice, looks over and realizes the driver is none other than X Locke.

"X?" Alex asks.

"The one and only."

"I didn't know you had a car."

"Oh, I don't," X responds.

"What?!" Alex yells.

"Yeah this is Ray's. I'm just borrowing it...without telling him," X states

"Well, I'm glad you have a license. You really saved me back there bub."

"What's a license?" X asks.

Alex groans as he realizes just how fucked the situation he is in is. He glances at the rearview mirror and sees three motorcycles driving towards the jeep, with those three motorcycles being driven by each member of The Three Ts.

"X, they're following us!" Alex yells.

"Is that so? Well then..." X smirks as he cracks his knuckles, "I guess it's time to do some reckless driving."

See You Next Chapter!~