𝒩ℯ𝓌 𝒴ℴ𝓇𝓀, 𝒜𝓊ℊ𝓊𝓈𝓉 27, 2019

Alice walked onto the court with Cosmo and laughed as she was hugged by Ender and Derek. She laughed and hugged them back,

"Missed you dorks too,"

Derek smiled at her,

"We are gonna hang out after camp today,"

Alice looked at him,

"You and Enny don't have to stay back today?"

Ender shook his head,

"No, we told Chris and Sandy that we had something after camp to do,"

Alice chuckled and smiled at the two,

"Thanks,"

Ender smirked,

"We gotta look out for our lil sis,"

Alice pouted while Derek messed up her hair,

"Come on Ice, smile,"

Alice swatted his hand,

"I'm not a kiddd,"

Cosmo smirked,

"You are the youngest though,"

Alice rolled her eyes at him and shoved her,

"Shut up,"

Cosmo laughed and shook his head,

"No,"

The group laughed harder. Ender pulled Alice to the side before they started coaching,

"Hey, I just wanted to make sure that you are alright, what with everything going on,"

Alice smiled softly at him and nodded,

"Yeah, it's just hard right now,"

Ender smiled sadly at her,

"Yeah, I get that, you just gotta keep on fighting Ice. I'm proud of you for going through all of this and coming out stronger each time,"

Alice smiled and pulled him into a hug,

"Thanks, Enny, it means a lot,"

Ender smiled at her,

"I love ya Alice, I may not have any siblings, but you lot are as close to any siblings I've ever had,"

Alice smiled at him brightly,

"Well, come on big bro, we got work to do,"

Ender chuckled and let Alice drag him back to the other two. Big smiles never dropping from their faces.

ℱℯ𝓌 ℋℴ𝓊𝓇𝓈 ℒ𝒶𝓉ℯ𝓇

Cosmo looked at his three coworkers,

"So, I'm driving?"

Derek and Ender shrugged,

"We can all just drive and meet up by a park before walking somewhere,"

Cosmo nodded,

"Alright bet,"

Cosmo immediately grabbed Alice's hand,

"The last one to the Juniper Park is a rotten egg!"

They immediately hopped into Cosmo's car and sped over to Juniper Park, blasting music the whole way there. Alice laughed and shoved him when they got out,

"You are such a big nerd,"

Cosmo pouted,

"Ouch, words hurt you know,"

Alice laughed and looked to see Derek and Ender finally getting there five minutes later. Ender glared at Cosmo,

"You didn't give us any warning,"

Cosmo smirked,

"Oops?"

The two rolled their eyes and Alice laughed again. Derek looked around and nudged Alice,

"Ice, what do you want to do?"

Alice shrugged,

"I have no idea,"

Ender chuckled,

"Let's go to the swings,"

Alice immediately smiled and ran over to the four available swings without any hesitation. The three boys were quick to follow her as they all swung happily. Alice looked at Ender,

"Ennnyyyyy, I want ice cream!"

Ender looked at her,

"That is so random,"

Derek shrugged,

"I want ice cream,"

Cosmo smirked,

"Same,"

Ender groaned,

"Where do I even get it?"

Alice shrugged,

"I have no clue,"

Ender sighed dramatically and Alice smiled,

"Oh! I think I saw a truck when we came into the park!"

Ender nodded,

"Alright,"

Before he could continue, Alice jumped onto his back and he yelped out in shock but caught her legs so he was holding her up.

Alice laughed and he rolled his eyes but laughed,

"Guess we are moving like this?"

Alice nodded excitedly,

"Yeah! Now mooove!"

Derek and Cosmo laughed as Ender shrugged and started walking to the entrance. Alice laughed and smiled,

"Thank you Enny,"

Ender smiled,

"Anytime, Ice,"

Alice glanced around and saw someone she immediately knew,

"NICK!!!"

Nicholas glanced around and almost burst into laughter when he saw the younger girl being given a piggy-back ride by a taller guy.

"Alice!"

Ender let Alice off his back as she ran up to Nicholas, bringing him into a short hug,

"It's been a while!"

Nicholas chuckled,

"Yeah, it has, how have you been?"

Alice shrugged,

"Surviving, how's work?"

Nicholas smiled,

"It is going alright, how is your job?"

Alice smiled brightly,

"It's great! My coworkers and I decided to hang out after work today, wanna meet them?"

Nicholas shrugged,

"Sure, my brother is taking a long time to get here,"

Alice giggled,

"Yeah, I can see that,"

Alice grabbed Nicholas' hand and dragged him over to Ender,

"Enny! This is Nicholas, I met him like a few months ago. He works where I played,"

Ender smiled,

"Nice to meet you, Nicholas, my name is Ender,"

Nicholas shook his hand,

"Nice to meet you too, Ender,"

Derek came running up to them,

"My senses were right!"

Alice, Ender, and Nicholas looked at him, Alice rolled her eyes,

"Your what senses?"

Cosmo came running up to him,

"Der-"

He stopped short when he noticed Nicholas,

"Oh, hey Nick,"

Nicholas did a short wave,

"Hey, Cosmo,"

Alice glanced between the two,

"YOU TWO KNOW EACH OTHER?!"

Cosmo laughed and nodded,

"Yeah, met him a while ago,"

Nicholas nodded,

"He is friends with my brother,"

Alice just slowly nodded and Derek smiled,

"Cool...anyways, Ice! My senses were telling me you were-"

Cosmo just patted his shoulder,

"Derek just randomly shouted, 'Someone likes Alice!' then took off running,"

Alice looked at Derek,

"What the fuck?"

Ender burst into laughter,

"That is some intuition you got there Dere,"

Derek shrugged,

"It's never wrong...so Nicholas, buddy, how did you meet Alice and what are your intentions?"

Alice gapped and blushed while Nicholas sighed dramatically,

"Oh, gee...well...you see...I met her through my work...as as assassin...and I just want to help her kill anyone who hurts her,"

The group burst into laughter as Derek blushed slightly,

"Okay listen guys, my intuition is not wrong!"

Cosmo patted his back,

"Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night,"

Nicholas looked around and smiled when he saw his brother watching them, he smiled softly as he saw the sad look in his eyes but brushed it off. Nicholas waved over to Jackson,

"Jack!"

Jackson walked over to his brother,

"Hey,"

Alice's eyes widened,

"Okay, did not see that coming,"

Nicholas laughed,

"You didn't know we were brothers?"

Cosmo sighed,

"Ice, you gotta do better,"

Derek took one glance at Jackson and smirked,

"My intuition IS so never wrong,"

Alice rolled her eyes at Jackson,

"It was wrong this time Dere,"

Derek smirked,

"No, no it was not,"

Ender laughed as he saw what Derek was implying and looked at Jackson,

"Hey, I'm Ender, this is Derek,"

Jackson smiled lightly at him,

"Hey, I'm Jackson,"

They shook hands and Alice grabbed Cosmo's hand,

"I still want ice cream,"

Cosmo laughed and tugged at her hand,

"Come on then, Ender is paying!"

Ender looked at Cosmo with his mouth open,

"W-What?! When did I say that?!"

Alice smirked,

"It was implied,"

Ender sighed,

"Fine...but only because I'm nice,"

Alice smiled brightly,

"Yep,"

Cosmo looked at the two brothers,

"Do you want to come?"

Nicholas glanced at his brother before nodding,

"Sure!"

Jackson nodded and Alice smiled,

"Great! Let's gooo!"

The group smiled at how excited Alice got as Cosmo let her drag him to the ice cream truck. They quickly got the ice cream they wanted and took a seat. Cosmo looked at Alice and they were speaking to each other through glances. Ender look at Derek in mock exasperation,

"They are doing it again,"

Derek sighed dramatically,

"Of course,"

Nicholas and Jackson looked at the two older guys in confusion. Ender nodded at Alice and Cosmo,

"Ice and Cos, they have this thing where they just communicate with simple looks and movements,"

Derek nodded,

"Yeah, we can understand some of the simple stuff, but nothing like how they do it,"

Jackson felt something in the pit of his stomach as he heard Alice groan,

"Fine, you win,"

Cosmo smirked in victory,

"Good,"

Now, everyone looked at the two in complete confusion. Alice looked at Ender and Derek and tapped her shoulder once. Their mouths formed in 'o' shape in understanding. Nicholas and Jackson shared a confused look. Alice glanced at her coworkers and tilted her head to the left and right. Ender sighed,

"We will be right back, Ice, holler if you need us,"

Alice smiled softly at him and nodded as the three guys left, leaving Nicholas and Jackson with her. Alice turned more to Nicholas and Jackson,

"Alright...uh...I got something to tell you guys,"

Jackson nodded,

"What is it?"

Alice glanced down at her hands momentarily before looking up again,

"Uh...okay...so Nick, you don't know this...at least I don't think so, I know Jack wouldn't have told you...but uh...so I get these weird-ass attacks that are very similar to panic attacks but at the same time worse. So. After passing out again like a month ago, a doctor told me that he was going to run some different tests than usual. So he did and we waited a month for the results. Turns out it's a problem with my heart and some stuff around it. To get some progress with fixing the issue...I got surgery and now for the next few weeks I just gotta make sure I don't have another attack by being as stress-free as possible...if I have an attack, the doc said it would be much worse than the others...Cosmo said I should tell you guys because Jack knows about my attacks and everyone else who knows about them knows about the new issue...so yeah,"

Jackson had no words, he felt his heart crack at the new information. Nicholas felt horrible when he was listening to Alice. He immediately stood up and wrapped Alice into a hug, his older brother instinct kicking in immediately as some tears fell from her eyes.

Nicholas held her as she let some tears slip and Jackson stood up soon as Nicholas broke the hug. Jackson put his hand on her shoulder,

"Thank you,"

Alice smiled softly at him,

"No, thank you for being there for me,"

Jackson smiled,

"Always will be,"

Nicholas smiled softly at the two smiled at each other. Alice felt a buzzing in her pocket and rolled her eyes,

"I swear if that's Derek,"

The two brothers chuckled as Alice took out her phone to see it was actually her mom texting her:

L̳e̳g̳a̳l̳ P̳a̳r̳e̳n̳t̳

A̳l̳i̳c̳e̳

Where are u and ur brother?

I'm out with some friends and
Max is at a friend's house

Come home

No

Alice Zaro, u better come
home this fucking instant

Bye

Alice put her phone in her pocket as Jackson and Nicholas saw her frown. They were about too say something but Cosmo, Ender, and Derek came back. Cosmo smiled at Alice and wrapped an arm around her shoulder,

"Hello,"

Nicholas smiled,

"Thank you for the ice cream, but Jack and I gotta go,"

Alice smiled and hugged Nicholas,

"Bye!"

Nicholas chuckled and patted her head,

"Bye,"

The two brothers left and Ender sighed,

"I gotta go too, it's my turn to cook,"

Derek shrugged,

"Yeah, I have some chores to get done,"

Alice hugged the two and smiled,

"Bye! See you guys at work!"

Ender kissed the top of her head,

"Bye Ice,"

Derek ruffled her hair,

"Adios,"

They fist-bumped Cosmo and left. Cosmo took another look at Alice,

"What happened?"

Alice sighed,

"My mother texted me,"

Cosmo immediately frowned and grabbed her phone and opened it and he felt his heart stop when he read the incoming spam from her mother. Cosmo immediately grabbed her hand and tugged her,

"Come, we are gonna go home and talk to Max,"

Alice just nodded,

"Alright,"

Jᴇʀᴇᴍʏ Sʜᴀᴅᴀ

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