"It's the first day of summer, and you two are already going to get us arrested."

                I paid no mind to Akira's pessimism as I hopped the fence, my fingers brushing against the "Private Property No Trespassing" sign on the way down. Jack steadied me as I landed and we turned to face Akira, who still stood on the other side of the fence.

                "Well?" I said. "Come on! We don't have all day."

                Akira opened his mouth, realized we never listened to him anyways, and shut it. He grabbed the fence and hoisted himself up and over.

                "Alright, it should've gone down not too far from here," Jack said, taking off through the tall grass. "Check yourself with ticks, boys. Don't need Lyme disease ruining our summer adventures."

                "What's the point in this anyways, Jack? You know it's not going to fly anymore," Akira said.

                "But I want to see the condition it's in! I'll keep experimenting until one of them doesn't burn up," Jack said.

                "I'm amazed your father still gives you money to buy these stupid toy planes when he knows you're just blowing them up," Akira said, shaking his head.

                "Blo- I- Agh!" Jack said indignantly. "This is for science, Akira. If I can find a toy plane that can handle small fireworks going off on it while it flies around, I could set up my own show."

                I sniffed the air. "Smoke. Must be close to the latest mechanical victim."

                "You're lucky nothing caught on fire," Akira said as we spotted the miniature wreckage on the ground. "Let's grab the damn thing and get out of here."

                Jack jogged forward and reached to pick up his destroyed toy plane. He yelped as his hand touched it and hopped away, shaking his hand off.

                "Hot!" he hissed.

                "The bag, Jack," I reminded. "You brought it for a reason."

                "Oh, right," he said, smacking his injured palm against his face and wincing. "Ow, dammit."

                "I'll make sure the cost is clear to head back," I said, heading towards a tree.

                "Garrett, don't you dare," Akira said.

                "Did I hear dare? I accept!" I said, grabbing a thick branch and pulling myself up. Akira groaned as he watched me climb higher and higher up the tree.

                I made it nearly to the top before I ran out of sturdy looking branches. I tipped my face up towards the cool breeze, taking in the sight of the private land surrounding us, a smile curving my lips. It looked so open, so free, so ready for adventure.

                I didn't spot anyone on the clear land near the owner's house, which meant we could probably make it back without being caught. I checked the time and felt my smile drop. Oh, shit. I was running late.

                "Pack it up, boys. We're late," I called, making my way down the tree.

                "Well, if Jack hadn't melted another plane with fireworks, and you hadn't climbed the stupid tree, we might've been on time," Akira said.

                "Don't talk about the tree like that. She's an intelligent lady," I said, patting the trunk and slipping down to a lower branch. I judged the distance to the ground and shrugged, leaping the rest of the way. I hit the ground hard in a crouch, wincing.

                "If you broke your ankles, we're making you walk back," Akira said.

                "You have no pity, no respect for well-educated trees, and no faith in my sturdy bones," I said, patting my ankles and standing up.

                "And you have no sense of time," Akira said. "If we leave now, we might make it before Roan throws a fit."

                "Roan would throw a fit if I was there ten minutes early," I said. "You got the wreckage, Jack?"

                Jack held up his bag. "For later inspection."

                "It's probably a chemical emitting ruin by now," Akira said. "No wonder you're the way you are."

                "And what is that supposed to mean, huh?" Jack said.

                "It means get walking and argue on the way," I said, shoving him forward. "If we're any later, Roan will shove that plane down my throat."

                "Spot anyone when you were squirreling away?" Jack asked as we walked back the way we'd come.

                I shook my head. "Not a soul in sight."

                "Next time, maybe you should fly your rigged planes over something other than private property," Akira suggested. "Just a thought, though."

                "It wasn't supposed to go flying over there. Once the fireworks went off on it, I lost control," Jack said defensively.

                "No," Akira said in surprise. "Blowing up fireworks on the plane was a bad idea? Who would've guessed. Certainly not the guy who said 'Hey Jack, bad idea'."

                "Lighten up and have some fun, Akira," I said, slapping him on the back and grinning. "It's summer!"

                "The season doesn't excuse stupidity," Akira grumbled.

                We reached the fence and all climbed up and over it. We scurried back to Akira's car, climbing in. Akira handed me the aux cord, and I hooked my phone up and blasted music. We rolled the windows down and I stuck my head out, letting the wind whip against my skin. The world blurred by as Akira drove, a world of possibilities for this summer.

                Those possibilities seemed to shrink as we pulled into the coffee shop parking lot. I could just make out Roan sitting at a table next to one of the windows.

                "Don't you dare bring that plane in," Akira said, pointing a finger at Jack as he got out of the car with it in his hands.

                Jack frowned but set the bag back in the car. We walked into the coffee shop together, and Roan immediately whipped around to glare at me.

                "You're late," he said.

                I slid next to him on the bench and kissed his cheek. "But I'm here, and that's what really counts, right?"

                He pushed me away from his face. "Can you be on time to anything, Garrett?"

                "Theoretically? Absolutely. Realistically? Not so much," I said, getting back up. "We're going to order, and then I'll help you look."

                "Look for what?" he said.

                "Your chill," I said. "I think you dropped it somewhere."

                "Oh, just go order," he said impatiently.

                We went up to the counter, giving our drink orders. Akira looked over at Roan as we waited for our drinks.

                "He's so pissy," he said. 

                "He'll loosen up the longer we're out of school," I said. "Besides, he can't hang out with us today. He's got to help his Uncle in a little."

                "Oh, oh, me! Come to my house when we get rid of the pissy one!" Jack said eagerly. "I have a few things I want to show you."

                "Oh, no, that's never good," Akira groaned.

                "It's great," Jack said. "You're in, aren't you, Garrett?"

                "Of course I'm in," I said. "Come on Aki, it won't be that bad. What could be worse than melting another plane right over private property?"

                "With Jack involved? I can think of so many things," he said.

                We grabbed our drinks and headed for the table. Roan looked moody as we joined him, but he turned to me as soon as I was seated.

                "What are you doing today?" he asked.

                "Going to Jack's," I said.

                "I'll text you when I'm done helping my Uncle," he said.

                "Okay. I'll probably still be at Jack's," I said. "Or in jail. It's hard to tell when Jack says he has something to show us."

                "None of you have faith in me and it's very discouraging," Jack said, pouting.

                "I have faith you'll get us arrested," Akira said.

                "I have faith something will go horribly wrong but we'll manage to squeeze our way out of trouble like always," I said.

                "You better not go getting in trouble, Garrett," Roan said, shooting me a dirty look.

                "What's life without a little trouble?" I said.

                "Peaceful," Akira said.

                "I wasn't asking you," I said. "Shut your mouth and go back to praying that everything goes right for once."

                Roan shook his head but put his hand on my thigh under the table. I offered him a sip of my coffee and he took a few swallows. I moved for a swallow of his drink, but he pulled it away from me and lightly slapped my thigh.

                "Rude as hell," I said.

                He raised an eyebrow and took a few swallows of his drink. He offered it to me, pulling it away before I could put my lips on the straw and snickering at my expression.

                "You're like a dog sometimes," he said.

                "Cute, energetic, kind of dumb, loyal, sheds everywhere?" I said.

                "Kind of dumb," Roan agreed.

                "Okay, fair enough but still rude as hell," I said.

                We talked, keeping the conversation casual. Roan would've killed me if he knew we'd gone on private property to get another plane Jack had melted.

                Roan checked the time a bit later and shoved at me until I let him out of the bench. "I've got to get to my Uncle's. Some of us like to be on time."

                "Why be on time when you can be on me?" I said.

                "We're literally in a public place," he said.

                "You're right. I'd hate to get banned from this coffee place just for 30 seconds of pleasure," I said.

                Roan punched me in the arm. "You're such an asshole. I'll text you later."

                "I'll be in the hospital getting my arm X-Rayed," I said, rubbing the spot he'd hit. "Ow, damn, you should've been a boxer."

                "I'll be sure to practice more," he said. "Bye, Garrett."

                "See ya later," I said, taking my seat with my friends. We watched Roan head out to his car, and I watched as the car left the parking lot.

                "You know, I'm not sure he likes me," Jack said, frowning. "I think I'm a perfectly pleasant person."

                "You're always dragging me and Garrett into trouble. Of course Roan doesn't like you," Akira said.

                "He doesn't particularly like anyone," I said. "He's got resting bitch personality. Anyways! What was it you wanted to show us, Jack?"

                "Let's go," Jack said, pushing Akira out of the bench. "Come on, come on."

                "I'm going, I'm going," Akira said, taking his car keys out of his pocket. "This better not be something I regret, Jack."

                "When do you ever regret something you do with us," I said.

                "Every day of my goddamn life. Let's go," Akira said, heading for the door.

                Jack and I shrugged at each other and left with him. We piled back into his car and Akira drove us down to Jack's house. Jack led us around to his backyard.

                "Okay, okay, just wait right here while I go get it," he said, hurrying around to the front.

                "I have a bad feeling about this," Akira said.

                "You always say that whenever Jack shows us something," I pointed out.

                "And is that bad feeling ever wrong?" he said.

                I considered that. "Okay, touché."

                Jack reappeared with a box in his hands. He set it down and pulled out several small fireworks, the kind of stuff you bought for older kids to play with before firework shows.

                "So, I think I can time these to go off one right after the other so it makes a midair display," he explained, setting them up.

                "Jack, what the hell are you doing? It hasn't rained in a while. The grass is too dry to be playing with that. Setting off a firework attached to an airborne plane is one thing, but if these things go off at the wrong time, it could start a fire," Akira said. "Wait until next week. It's supposed to finally rain over the weekend."

                "If I angle them correctly, they'll go off a safe enough distance from the ground," Jack insisted.

                "Aw, come on Aki, have a little faith in Jack," I said. He just looked so excited about it. Sure, the grass was dry, but Jack seemed confident that he knew what he was doing. "I say go for it, Jack!"

                Akira pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know I try to save my 'this a bad idea' line for serious cases because otherwise I'd say it all the time and you'd really never listen, but this a bad idea."

                "No, no, it'll be great, I swear," Jack said, pulling a lighter out of his pocket and angling the fireworks.

                "If something goes wrong, I'm taking absolutely no responsibility for this," Akira said. "Actually, I should say when something wrong, I'm taking absolutely no responsibility for this."

                "Come on Jack, show us what you got," I said, grinning. Jack loved to play around with fireworks and make his own little fireworks shows. Sure, they usually ended in disaster, but he always kept trying, and I knew someday he'd get it right. Maybe today would be the day. "Light 'em up and let 'em go."

                "You got it," Jack said, his expression incredibly eager. He eyed his fireworks before bringing his lighter to the first one. As soon as the fire caught, he scampered down the little line of them, lighting all of them.

                As he lit the last one, the first one shot forward. But Jack's eyes widened in horror as it shot too far forward, flying towards his neighbor's yard with the flame inching closer and closer.

                "Oh, no," he whispered in horror as the others shot out and followed the path.

                "I stand by my statement," Akira said, his shoulders slumping.

                I put a hand on Jack's shoulder. "We can either run and pretend it wasn't us, or stay for damage control."

                But our choice was taken from us as the first firework hit the grass and went off a moment later, the grass catching fire dangerously close to the neighbor's back porch. The other fireworks landed alongside it, adding to the flames as they went off.

                It was only a few seconds before the back door flung open and a boy rushed out. His eyes shot from the fire to the three of us.

                "Did you just set our fuckin' yard on fire?" he demanded.

                "You might want to put it out," I recommend.

                The boy leaned towards the open door. "Hey! Hey, the lawn's on fire!" He turned back to us, looking impossibly irritated. "All three of you assholes are dead."

                "Two," Akira whispered, which in no way helped the situation.

                I watched as the fire spread along with the boy's irritation, and heaved a sigh. Well, summer was certainly off to a great start.

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A.N.- Hey there everyone, here's my newest story! Let me know what you think of it so far, and hopefully you'll enjoy this one! Special shoutout to all my fantastic NFJC friends who made me covers (and also frick you guys for making me pick just one), and thanks to BlueBlackInk for the beautiful cover we currently see!