CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The sunrise in Oregon was never less than heart-stopping. Especially a view of it from a rooftop positioned in the middle of a highway with no obstructions other than a gorgeous mountain range.

It was a whole range of shades from red to yellow and Reagan couldn't blame Jack when he fell completely silent at the sight of it. It lasted for three minutes and Jack held her closer to him, even though the first few rays of the sun made everything warmer.

"I wish I could have this," He sighed when the horizon turned a pale shade of blue, showing the early hours of morning, "Every single day."

"You're gonna miss the city, though," She said with a small shrug, "I know you will."

Jack didn't respond to that, only hummed a steady tune under his breath, watching a few birds sit on the telephone wires from the street across where they were, until they heard movement coming from the bus below.

Reagan didn't think much of it until a very loud voice, very distinguishably Corbyn, shouted from under them and Reagan scrambled away from Jack in an instant.

"You're kidding me," Corbyn said with a scoff, his head poking out from the door of the school bus, "You watched the sunrise on the roof?"

"We were just—" Jack started to say but he was interrupted as quickly as he started.

"Without inviting me?"

Reagan couldn't help but sleepily chuckle, flinching at the hoarseness of her voice when she spoke, "You didn't miss out on much, Corbyn."

"Yeah," Jack agreed, "Just the best sunrise I've witnessed my whole life."

"I hate you," Corbyn said dryly, blinking at Jack, until more people piled out of the bus behind him.

Jonah was the second person to recognize them, sitting on the roof with a foot apart.

"Woah," He said, voice gravelly from sleep, "Didn't expect that."

"They woke up early to see the sunrise," Corbyn supplied with a roll of his eyes and Reagan felt thankful for not having to make up a lie about them not spending the entire night having trivial conversations, talking about anything that came to mind, "And they didn't think to invite us."

"That's just unfair," Zach said, jutting out his bottom lip in a pout and Reagan subtly chuckled at the sight of them.

"Stop whining about it," She defended, "It wasn't that big of a deal. It's not like this is the best place to watch the sunrise."

Cobryn raised an eyebrow, "And to which place does that honor belong to?"

Reagan sent him a sly grin, "I'm afraid that's a closely guarded secret."

"Come on, Reagan," He whined, "I deserve to at least know after you didn't invite me to watch the sunrise. Jack doesn't even like nature, why'd you invite him?"

Jack was about to protest from beside her but she interrupted him with a laugh.

"I'll make it up to you tomorrow," She promised, sending him a lazy smile.

"Wait," Corbyn paused, eyebrow raised, "You're serious?"

"Why not?" She shrugged, "Make the best out of getting lost in Oregon and all that."

"Exactly," He agreed, finally smiling, "Where are we going?"

Reagan's eyes narrowed in thought for a moment before she asked, "Wanna hike tonight?"

"You bet I do," Corbyn said, definitely losing all trace of sleep, while the exhaustion and drowsiness was only starting to grow on Reagan.

"Then it's settled," Jonah said with a half-hearted clap of his hands, "We're gonna go camping tonight?"

Corbyn enthusiastically held out a fist for Zach to bump but before their knuckles had the chance to touch, a voice—unmistakably Daniel's—spoke up from inside the bus.

"It's six in the morning," He groaned, almost inaudibly from where Reagan was sat, "Can y'all shut up for one more hour?"

She heard Jack laugh from beside her and she looked at him chuckle with an endeared smile on his face, his eyes crinkling a little out of sleepiness. He looked obviously fond of his best friend but she did notice how his smile faltered after only a second.

"We should go inside," He sighed, looking at her with a tired, half-smile, and she nodded, pushing herself up.

Her body ached from sitting too long and the uncomfortable feeling of sitting on an uneven surface but Jack's hoodie was still on her shoulders so she didn't really think much of the pain.

When she was already on the water tank, ready to climb down, she glanced at Jack who was staring at his shoes.

"You coming?" She called out to him and he looked back at her, seemingly snapping out of his daze.

"Y-Yeah," He nodded quickly, "Just give me a sec, my leg hurts. I'll be right behind you."

Reagan gave him a nod afterwards and returned the lazy smile he sent before she hesitantly climbed down. She didn't think much of it after and went inside the house, not bothering to wait for Jack to avoid the chance of him asking for his hoodie back.

+

Reagan didn't get any chance to sleep. She only had ten minutes to lie down on her bed, only a few seconds from falling asleep, before she heard a soft knock against her wooden door and she groaned. A headache was starting to build up and it intensified when she heard Logan's voice coming from the other side of the room.

"Reagan," He called out in a sharp whisper, "Ri? Ray-ray? R-Dawg?"

"God, shut up," She whined in response, pulling a pillow from under her to chuck across the room and to her door. It landed with a soft thud and a second after, Logan's head popped in from her door frame.

"Nope, not God. It's just me," He said and Reagan reached for another pillow to throw at him before he spoke up again, "No, wait—"

Reagan finally blinked her eyes open and fixed him with the harshest glare she could muster, "Please go away."

"No, I need you," He said, fully stepping into her room uninvited, "I don't know what to do about the key."

"Cry about it," She groaned, rolling over her bed to shield her eyes from the sunlight coming through the window, "Don't bother me."

"You're the only help I got, kid," Logan said taking a seat on the edge of her bed and it took all her willpower to stop herself from kicking him off.

"Get out of my room," She said menacingly but voice was muffled by her bedspread.

"You have a locksmith here, right?" Logan asked, "Help me look for one, I can't have dad knowing I lost the key."

"We'll do this tomorrow," She groaned again, pulling a pillow over her ear to block out Logan's voice but he snatched it from her hands.

"No, we need to do it before my dad wakes up."

Reagan turned over again, squinting at the bright light now covering her room and glared at Logan as fiercely as she could, "You're a pain in my ass."

A relieved, happy smile instantly showed up on Logan's face after that and Reagan wanted to wipe it off his face, "But you're gonna help me, aren't you?"

Reagan let her eyes shut close after that, letting her hands drop to her sides in defeat, "God help me."

"You're a hero," Logan declared a little too loudly, and stood up, making his way to her door, "I owe you one, Ri."

"Don't call me, Ri," She said, cringing slightly, and Logan only laughed in response.

"Sure, Ri. C'mon, get dressed. We're leaving in ten minutes."

"Don't boss me around," She scoffed.

She peeked one eye open, half wanting to raise a middle finger at his direction, but when she looked at him, he had a confused expression on his face, eyebrows closely knit together.

"Are you wearing Jack's hoodie?"

She threw a pillow at him in response.

i overuse the word snort. when i use the word snort i don't even mean snort i mean it as like a scoff or a tsk or something and im cringing at myself im gonna go back and edit this one day i promise

BIG SHOUTOUT TO @shannngp29 WHO I LOVE DEARLY. the last chapter got nearly 300 comments and more than half of them are from her. i love her <3 thank you so much for your constant support, i don't know what i did to deserve you

ALSO I POSTED TWO THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO ME
1) the intro chapter for this story (officially i swear im not gonna unpublish it anymore); and
2) a new daniel fic called 100 ways to say i love you :') i'd appreciate it v v v v much if you gave it some love

that is all and thank you for how kind all of you are to me <3

UPDATE: LEGIT AFTER A MINUTE OF POSTING THIS LOVELY PEOPLE ARE ALREADY COMMENTING THEY ARE ANGELS AND ARE SO SWEET AND IM FUCKING SHOOK WHY DO I HAVE A NOTIF SQUAD IM ADNJKDN
THANK YOU I ADORE YOU