WARNING: Parental tension referenced.

There were piles of leaves all around the streets, and wedged into stairs leading to bigger buildings.
Some were crunchy, and sounded like biting into an apple when they were stepped on. Some of the fallen soldiers lay limp and muddied, having been trampled on by just about everyone who walked on their street.

Pink Converse shoes stomped down on the leaves as they hurried along the street, blue Converse shoes following after them.

"Jace, hurry!", exclaimed Sutton.

"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!", he yelled.

When they finally got to the flat, Sutton opened the door, a big grin on her face already.
As it opened, Tabitha, KJ and Luka turned around.

They all screamed in unison, minus Jace and KJ, who covered their ears in an attempt to prevent them from bleeding.

Tabitha was wearing a white crop top with jean shorts and black Canvas trainers.
Her hair was in a french braid style.

Sutton's hair was curled, and it reached her hips.
She was wearing a black halterneck top with magenta flared trousers and light pink Converse shoes.

Luka was wearing an all black
ensemble—black jumper, black ripped jeans and a black beanie to match.
His nails were painted black as well, except for the index and pinky fingernails, which were green.

KJ was wearing a green and white flannel shirt with blue jeans.
He was wearing white trainers.

The door opened again, revealing Anvi.
She had a green turtleneck on and black flared trousers.
Her trademark black boots were on her feet. Her hair was sleek, with an almost dark blue hue.
It reached just above her ribcage.

The screaming resumed, and Anvi ran over to the group, jumping into KJ's arms.
Luka joined in, and the trio hugged each other for a few seconds, before pulling away.
They looked at each other's outfits.

"Ah, I love your trousers!", exclaimed Luka.

"I thought matching was a bit much but we pulled it off I think", said KJ.

"Excuse me, what's going on here?", asked Sutton.
"Why weren't we told about this?"

"Sorry, it was planned last minute", said Anvi.
"But you guys look amazing!"

She held her arms out and Sutton playfully rolled her eyes, but hugged her nonetheless. Tabitha practically jumped into Anvi's arms, making Anvi laugh.
When she looked at Jace, his eyes lit up.
He pulled her into a hug, holding her for a few seconds longer than he held the others. He smiled softly when they pulled away.

"Hey, Stranger", she grinned. 

"Hey, Bookworm."

"Ok, ok, everyone put your things away!", exclaimed Sutton.
"I think we should treat ourselves to a day out.
I'm thinking a movie, then into the shopping centre?"

"I'm down!", beamed Luka.

"Not keen on the shopping part but they have a cool smoothie shack there so I'll come", said KJ.

"I'll hide out at the shack with Kal", said Anvi, earning a smile from KJ.

"Ooh, there's a really interesting new movie that came out a couple weeks ago, we could watch that?", suggested Tabitha.
"I'll look it up."

After looking up the movie, Tabitha and Anvi left to go somewhere.
They left before anyone could ask where they were going, but they did say they'd be back shortly.

The pair ran down the street, bright smiles on their faces.
They weaved in and out of passerbys, a loud laugh escaping Tabitha's lips as she narrowly missed bumping into one. Tabitha's eyes widened as they approached their destination, and she held her arms out, ready to open the door.

The doors flew open, and the pair scanned the area.
Anvi's eyes widened when she spotted the person they were looking for, and she nudged Tabitha, who followed her gaze.

"Bolin!", they exclaimed.

Bolin looked up, his entire demeanour changing when he saw the pair.
He grinned.

"My girls!", he yelled, holding his arms out.

Anvi and Tabitha beamed, before running into his arms.
Tabitha wrapped her legs around Bolin's waist to give herself a better grip, whilst Anvi just held on to both of them for dear life.

Venn walked past, stopping abruptly as he witnessed two of his workers clinging to a third like he was a tree.
Some customers chuckled, whilst others just looked confused.
Venn just shook his head, a small, barely noticeable smile on his face.
Instead of berating the trio, he just continued walking back to the counter.

"Oh my gosh, I've missed you two so much!", exclaimed Bolin.
"Tabs, your constant pizza pics made me crave pizza so badly!"

"He kept sending me all the pictures of his pizza making attempts", said Anvi.
"Bet it would've tasted just as good as the pizza Tabitha had in Italy."

"Well, Italy was loads of fun, but our group chat kept me thoroughly entertained", said Tabitha.
"I saved every single selfie you sent by the way, Bolin.
Expect loads of posts on your birthday."

"Yeah, my parents are convinced you're my boyfriend by the way", said Anvi.

Bolin's eyes widened.
"Huh?
They are?"

Anvi nodded.
"They saw me opening all the pics you sent, and remember when you video called me a week ago?
Yeah, my brother was lurking in the background."

"Oh wow, sorry if I made things awkward!"

"You didn't, don't worry", said Anvi.

"Being your boyfriend doesn't sound bad at all though", said Bolin, making Anvi smile.

Tabitha clapped her hands together.
"Right!
Well, I'm gonna go and see Venn.
I'm thinking a couple baked Italian delicacies will soften his heart."

"Tabs, I'm telling you, he's not gonna let you put Strawberry Daquiries on the menu!", said Anvi.

"You never know until you try!"

¤¤¤

With Tabitha and Anvi now back at the flat, and a good hour before they needed to be at the cinema, the group piled onto the sofa. Jace, Tabitha and Sutton were sat on the
sofa, whilst KJ and Anvi sat on the arms of it.
There was enough room for one, maybe even two more people to sit down, but Luka decided to just stretch his legs out in that space and leaned the rest of his body against Anvi.

"I was so jealous when you told us you were going to Italy with your family!", exclaimed Sutton.
"Please tell me you met a cute Italian and started an epic whirlwind romance?"

Tabitha shook her head.
"No luck there I'm afraid.
I thought Italy would give me inspiration for my book, and it did a bit... but the characters still feel so, like, two dimensional."

"Well, it's like Bolin says, inspiration is everywhere", said Luka.
"You'll find the inspiration you need soon enough."

"I hope so", said Tabitha.
"But enough about me, how was the camping trip?"

"Oh, it was amazing!", beamed Luka.
"It came at the perfect time too, because things have been a bit rough at home."

"Really?", questioned Sutton.

Luka nodded.
"Things are a bit tense between my mum and I.
She's still not too happy about what happened when she came here.
She wanted me to move back home, or to a uni that's closer.
I tried explaining that it was just a bad time that we were all going through, but she still doesn't believe me."

"Luka, I'm so sorry", said Tabitha.
"Why don't you give her a call?
We can try and explain things–"

Luka shook his head.
"It won't work.
I love her to pieces, but she's very stubborn."

Sensing that the mood had become sombre, KJ cleared his throat.

"Yeah, but Luka was a natural camper on the trip", said KJ.
"He had a survival kit and everything.
My mum absolutely adores him by the way. Oh, do you wanna tell 'em about the bear?"

"Bear?", questioned a surprised Jace.

"Oh yeah, the bear!", exclaimed Luka.
"This huge bear came stomping into the camping grounds.
All the families screamed and started running around.
But not the Jennings family."

KJ chuckled, shaking his head.
"We're idiots, that's why."

"Well that day, I was an honorary idiot too. KJ's mother started shielding all the kids, and his dad was enticing the bear with random snacks."

"Not gonna lie, I think it definitely fancied my dad", said KJ.
"And with the way my mum had been acting like Bear Grylls all weekend, I'm surprised my dad didn't run away with the bear."

The roommates laughed, and Luka turned to face KJ.

"Remember when your dad literally grabbed me and gave me a piggy back ride to save me from the bear?", he reminded.

"Yeah and my mum picked me up bridal style", he said.

It was great to see KJ so happy.
He wasn't afraid to open up and have people laughing when he spoke, because for the first time, he had friends who were laughing with him, not at him.

"So, we're all definitely going on a camping trip now right?", asked Tabitha.

"Oh totally!", said Sutton.

"I'll buy the tents", said Jace.

"What have you been up to, Sutton?", asked KJ.

"Nothing much.
Oh!
Zephyr and I planned a really great retreat for the Black Youth group.
We bonded, and came up with loads of ideas to raise awareness of the issues we want to cover."

"That's awesome!", said Luka.

"Yeah, you're really working well together", said Anvi.

"Zephyr and Sutton being a well-functioning duo?
Who'd 'ave thunk it, aye?", said Tabitha, chuckling when Sutton nudged her.

Luka turned to Jace.
"Did you get up to anything cool, Jace?"

"Not really", said Jace.

"He was too busy on his phone", said Sutton. "Literally he would not stop texting on it!"

"Ooh, got an admirer have you?", asked Tabitha.

Her question came across as playful, but a part of her genuinely wanted to know if Jace had moved on with someone new.

"It was just a friend.
Oh wait, we did go to the Zoo!
A goat startled Sutton and made her drop her phone.
It was the funniest thing ever, aw, I wish you could've seen it!"

Sutton just glared at Jace.
"Hmm.
I still think you were in kahoots with the goat."

"Hey, goats are fiesty f*ckers when they want to be", said Tabitha.

"We need to unpack that opinion at some point", said Luka.

"Oh, Anvi, you took your driving test during the break, right?", asked Sutton.

Anvi nodded.
"Yep."

"So?
Don't keep us in suspense, tell us you passed!"

"I could've failed."

"You're Anvi, you didn't fail", said KJ.

"Aww... that's sweet.
Thanks KJ.
Well... I passed."

The roommates started cheering, making Anvi cover her ears quickly.
One by one, they started piling on her, engulfing her in hugs.

"Ahh, I'm being smothered!"

"Shush, accept the love!", yelled Tabitha.

¤¤¤

JACE'S P.O.V

It was just after midnight, and the others had gone to sleep.
Anvi was tired too, but I convinced her to sit with me at our spot for a little while. Nothing about it had changed.
Well, there were more leaves surrounding the sofa, and the street lamp near it was on the blink, but other than that... everything looked the same.

Except... well, I think I've changed.

I don't know how, or why.
I can't really explain it.
Seeing everyone again felt like everything had fallen into place.
The natural balance of the world had been restored or something.
It felt really great.
I found myself texting Anvi a lot during the holidays.
Sometimes it was about dance auditions I found, or books I thought she might like, but the other times it was just about random topics, like weird facts or the weather.
I wasn't expecting our friendship to grow as much as it had, but I wasn't complaining.

Then, today happened.

I hadn't realised how much I missed her until I saw her walk through the door.
This is probably going to sound really weird and dramatic, but it honestly felt like I was seeing her for the first time.

That's odd, right?

How can I miss someone I texted every single day?

I don't know.

Something just feels... different, all of a sudden.

I'm not going to read too much into it for now.

"... and then the bride came out, and she looked gorgeous–Jace?
Jace, are you listening?"

"Wh-huh?"

Anvi giggled and rolled her eyes, gently shaking her head.

"You turned into a daydreamer over the break, did you?", she teased.

"Sorry, sorry."

"It's alright.
How did your audition go by the way?"

"Uh, yeah, it went alright.
Didn't get the job.
But I did get a lot further than I did in my last audition."

Anvi's face lit up, and for a split second, I froze.
That's one thing I learned about Anvi—she gets just as excited, maybe even more excited than the other person, when something good happens to her friends.
She placed her hands on my shoulders and gently shook them a couple times.

"Jace, that's amazing!", she beamed.
"Very proud friend right here."

"Friend?
Are you sure you're not my manager too?"

"Hey, I could be, you know?
Sutton and I would make a great team."

"What makes you think Sutton is going to be my manager?"

"Trust me, you need her."

"Oi!"

Anvi laughed.
"Just the facts, Jace."

I smiled softly at her.
I must've been smiling for too long, because Anvi furrowed her eyebrows and frowned a little.
I cleared my throat, before turning back and facing forward.

"I wonder what this term will be like", said Anvi.

"Pretty tough, I bet.
But we've all got each other, so we'll be fine."

____

Hi!

I wanted to wait longer before publishing this, so it felt like you had been on a break like the group had, if that makes sense? My impatience got the best of me. I do plan on doing much longer breaks in between years 1, 2 and 3 though!

The group are back! I'm trying to work on describing things more, and also writing more in general, so hopefully I achieved both and you enjoyed this chapter!

It looks like the roommates got up to a lot during the break! Which activity/event surprised you the most?

Also, the Baked Potato trio scene played out so clearly in my head that now I need it to be made into a movie somehow. I absolutely love them together, and it makes sense for those three to reunite away from the others first, because they worked together all term. What were your thoughts on it?

Jace and Anvi's friendship seems to have been going from strength to strength. Could Jace be starting to see Anvi in a different light though? And if he is, would Anvi even feel the same? What do you think about their friendship and possible pairing?

This chapter was sort of a bonding/reintroduction chapter, so not much happened plot wise. Stay tuned for the next chapter though!

What are your thoughts on this chapter?

LeMystical-Puffle

ruesbennett

1-800-ZED-