°

°

°

"You kids have fun! Call me if you need anything!"

"We will!"

Now that the group has made it to the arcade, with no trouble.. well once again not Rylee, because she was thrown against the seats infront of her when her dad had to brake, cuz some people ran a red light.. But yeah, they made it.. Now the group was making their way inside the arcade.

"The arcade's fun and all.. But are you sure you'll be okay, Ashlyn? We're supposed to be celebrating, and relieving some stress.. I don't want you to be uncomfortable the whole time.." At the girl twins words, everyone turned to face Ashlyn, who had her headphones on, the same with the brunette. She put her hands on her headphones and adjusted it before looking back at Tay. "Yeah, these are pretty great at canceling out the noise. I-" She looked around for her sister, only to see her a little bit further away from the group, checking out some posters on the wall. "-We should be fine. Plus me and Ry have never been to an arcade, so I'm kind of curious, and I guess Ry is too."

"Me too."

"Alrigh, then. Let's go in!"

door opening.

then closing.

then opening again..

"Shit we forgot Ry outside."

The end of the day was pretty fun. They played a lot of games. Like, the DDR one, where Ash and Ry were dominating. Of course, Rylee with a little bit of cheating..

"Why'd you kick my leg?! That's cheating!-"

"Oh cry me a river, Tyler!"

Then they went to the one where they had to do basketball. Tyler was sadly pretty good at that so she couldn't win that time.. And well when she tried, it didn't end that well..

"Aiden! Watch out!-"

"Ow! What the hell Ry-"

"I'm sorry!"

Then came the air-hockey one, where Ashlyn played first against Tyler, which also didnt go quiete well.. Logan getting the disk straight into his face. And lastly, the one where they had to.. pew-pew, as Rylee would say. That was a pretty good one too. (At the end of that game, when Tyler had his back towards the girl, she imagined to pew-pew him.. Anyways-)

It was pretty fun. They went to play a couple of more rounds on almost everything, and just tried acting like normal teenagers once again.. Just only for a little bit. But ofcourse all good has to come to and end..

The arcade doors opened.

The girl stood next to logan who was scrouching next to Aiden, who was at the moment.. swimming in tickets..

CHATTER, CHATTER.

But nothing could block out the loud chatter coming from a group near them. The boy with the glasses, and the brunette girl both turned their heads towards the noise at the same time, their eyes widening and face going pale. But she shrugged it off. She hoped the group would leave them alone, god, just today. "Well that's annyoing. What is he doing here?"

"Who? Oh."

"..It's Barron."

Taylor picked up all the tickets in her arms, while Rylee helped Logan stand up. Aiden was covering Bens face, and Ashlyn and Tyler were just standing there. "I doubt he'll do anything. The coward hasn't messed with Logan and Ry since he's too scared of me "tattling" to coach." Well that was true.. Barron hasn't annoyed the two since their little incident in school, which was good ofcourse. "..But still.. It's kinda awkward isn't it? ..We've been here for a while now anyway, maybe we should get our prizes and spend the rest of the day at Ashlyn and Ry's house."

The brunette eyed the group, before her eyes caught onto something. She looked at Logan, before fully turning towards him. "Hey, Logan. That kid, with the blue hat. I don't think he is part of their group.." This obviously caught Logans attention, and the others too, and his eyes widened. "You're right.. I've seen him with Barron at school. A few times and I wasn't certain at first but.. Barron just replaced us with him. Right now I'm pretty sure that guy is doing Barron's work while he hangs out with his buddies.. I mean, that's what happened to me when he invited me somewhere, before he started picking on Ry too."

"So that's what he does? Manipulate people into being his friend and "helping" him with his work?" The brunette asked as her arms were now crossed infront of her chest. Logan nodded. "Well that's pathetic.."

"Well, when that stops working.. He starts treathening you physically."

"I'm not sure what your plan is, but you're wanting to help that guy right?"

"I want to atleast warn him.."

"Well, go do what you gotta do. We'll be here to help you if you need it."

"Actually.. can Ry come with me? The more the better.."

"Sure! Let's kick ass!-"

"No fighting."

"You're no fun, Ash.."

OPEN.

"Haha, wow! That caught me off guard- I never would've expected to see you here, four eyes. Oh, and your girlfriend is here too! How cute." The girl scrunched her nose up at his words, before looking away from him. She saw Aidens head peeking out from behind the wall, and she flashed him a quick smile, before turning to Logan. "It's been a while, guys, how've you guys been?"

That sickeningly fake smile he wore.. It disgusted the girl. He just wanted them to pretend to be his friends.. Not giving a second glance to him, the girl walked towards the boy with the blue hat, and extended her hand. "My name's Rylee. The boy over there is Logan." Now that Logan walked closer to the two, he shook hands with the boy too. "Oh... I'm Noah."

"..Is he making you do his homework? Because you shouldn't have to do that."

"H-he's not making me.. He just asked for help.."

"..And you felt guilty saying no, right? It's okay to want to help people.. But you should stay away from people like Barron. He has a ...tactic.. to prolong beating you into what he wants so it takes longer for him to get caught. If you keep trying to help him, then eventually.. when you don't finish on time,"

"get below 80,"

"Try to do your work before his,"

"or upset him anyway, he'll-"

"-HEY. Just what do you think you're doing? I've been leaving a worthless sack of crap like you guys alone, and this is how you-"

"-See? This is how he usually is. Hanging around someone like him will just make you miserable. If you want, you can come hang out with me? O-or just go home if you feel like it, I just wanted to warn you-"

"..Um.."

The brunette girl only watched as Barron stomped his way towards Logan, as he jabbed his finger into the boys head. This made her want to dropkick him, but she waited only a little longer, and would jump in if things got really messy. "Who do you think you are, twerp? Stop interfering. You too, bitch." He pointed at the girl, before he jabbed his finger into the boys head once again. "You two are just useless losers. Most importantly you, twerp, whose parents didn't even want you." This made the girls breath hitch in her troath.

SWAT.

"...I'm useless? When you refuse to do your own work and force others to do it for you? When you so pathetically waste others' time while they are actually working for a better life?"

The girl could feel it. Her sister could feel it. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

"When you have nothing to give, not even a simple thanks?! You only take and harass and look down on others! If anyone here is truly and utterly useless, It's-"

Barron grabbed into the boys hair as he forced him to the side. But Logan stood his ground. He glared up at Barron, before he kicked his feet out from under him, and made him lay flat on his stomach on the ground. "Get off of-"

THUD.

The girl let out a small whince as Logan pushed the boys head down onto the ground. The lights were flickering above them, and that was not a good sign.

The girl took a step away from the two boys with her eyes wide.

"-I think it'd be wise for you to start caring."

She took a deep breath as more and more of Barrons stupid friends spilled out from the surrounding buildings. And well, yeah.. Hell broke loose.

"Ben!" Taylor yelled for the boy while he took down one of the people holding down Logan. Rylee kicked down the other person, knocking them down on the ground so Logan had enough time to get up. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Taylor being grabbed by one of the girls, but before she could of had gone to help her, one of Barrons friend came and kicked her to the ground. Grunting in pain, the girl waited patiently for the boy standing to make another move, and when he did, she swiftly kicked his legs out from under him, and jumped up. Her eyes were wide and her whole body was shaking with adrenalin as she waited for another person to come at her. And when someone did, she got ready to block the punch.. But it didnt go exactly as planned.. You see, the person coming for her wasnt a person..

It was..

A phantom.

And before it reached the girl who was frozen down, it turned back into one of Barrons friend in a blink of an eye, sending a punch straight to the girls jaw. Her ears were rining. She was frozen down.. Why couldnt she move?! Her eyes darted around the mess they were making behind the buildings. She couldn't move. She couldn't feel anything. She just.. saw. It seemed like only her eyes were working at the moment. She couldn't hear clearly.. only some slight scratching sounds, and growling.. growling?

PUNCH.

Another punch to the face made the girl come back to her senses. Now her lip had a cut on it, and blood was flowing down from her nose. The random boy on top of her, who caused the bruises stopped for a second only to see the girl give a bloody smirk. And she kicked him in the crotch, sending him flying down from on top of her. She couldn't care less of the blood flowing down from her nose, because-

"AGH!"

Ashlyn. Her eyes darted around only to see her sister hunched over on the ground, her hands on her ears. She was about to bolt right towards her, before the same boy from before gave a harsh kick to her back, sending her flying straight ahead, but catching herself before she could hit the ground. The girl kicked herself off of the ground below, and went straight back to the boy only to deliver a harsh kick to his head, finally sending him down to the ground.

Then it was finally over..

'Psychos!'

Logan stood a few feet away from the ground, with the twins next to each other, the same with Aiden and Ben, and then Ashlyn still kneeling on the ground. Rylee was sitting in a corner with her knees pulled up to her chest, rocking back and forth.

They are here.

"Just.. what was that? ..I'm not usually that.. violent." Taylor was the one to break the silence between them, a shocked look on her face. "..Yeah well, they attacked us first. Maybe we did go overboard... But at the very least they deserved it."

They are here..

"Taylor's right, this could be.. bad."

"What are you talking about?"

"..You guys-.."

"Were making the same sounds that the phantoms do."

Silence followed after. All of them seemed to be thinking, before Tyler let out a groan. "This is pointless.. Let's go home first, and then talk about it."

"Yeah, I really don't wanna be around here anymore."

"Hey- Where's Ry?" Taylor continued as she started looking around, only to look in the direction Aiden was pointing at. "She's over there." Taylor noticed the girls actions. She was hiding her face, and was still rocking back and forth as she was muttering under her breath. Deciding on trying to break her out of her thoughts, she walked up to her, and crouched by her side. The others too, began coming closer.

"Hey, come on now Rylee, they left, let's go home-"

"No.."

Taylor raised an eyebrow at the girl, as she then gave a look to the others around her. Ashlyn was the next to speak to the brunette as she sat down not to far away from her on the ground. "Really, Ry. They left. Let's go home, okay?"

"No.. No.. They are here."

The brunette girl slowly lifted her head up, as the others eyes widened. She looked the most beaten up out of the group, with almost her whole face bloody. Her nose wasnt bleeding anymore, and it really was just dry blood on her face, but the cut on her lip still seemed to be bleeding a bit. Thought, now focusing back on the other problem, Ashlyn questioned the girl.

"Who'se here?"

The brunette looked into her sisters eye, before her focus went to behind the redhead. The same, pair of white lifeless eyes stared right back at her. But not just a pair, dozens of them. Crawling out from the windows, coming off from the top of the buildings, or just standing on the sidewalk.

"..The phantoms."



°

°

°



A/N) Two chaps in a day pooks 😛 there might be some mistakes here and there but meh, bare with me, its 4 in the morning on a school night.