in which travis does what travis does best.
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"How many grapes can you fit in your mouth?"

"Twenty seven."

"We better test that, huh?" Travis passed his brother a bag of grapes, which Connor took gratefully.

"Should we even be skipping?" Connor asked, putting the first grape in his mouth. "I mean,  don't we usually just wait until the second month of the year to start skipping and stuff? So that teachers don't suspect us at first?"

Travis shrugged, leaning against the wall of the back of the school. It's where Connor and Travis usually hung out; during school, after school, or before school. It's also where they hid the plans for their next pranks, but that was a great big secret.

"You ruined that plan when you almost kicked that twelve year old for poking you in the eyes."

"She deserved it!"

Travis laughed, grabbing a grape for himself. "I'll admit, she's a little rude, but you have to admit, she could've beaten you up if you laid a hand on her." He said, placing the grape in his mouth and rolling his eyes at his brother.

Connor, who had already put eight more grapes in his mouth, frowned. "Oh, Shudhup."

"You're not denying it!" Travis exclaimed with a grin. He knew best of all that astrong as Connor looked, he wasn't really big and strong at all.

The younger boy narrowed his eyes and stuck his hand in his mouth, taking out a slimy grape and throwing it at his brother.

"Ew!" Travis shouted with a laugh, ducking to get out of the grape's range.

"Stolls!"

Connor gasped, a few of the grapes in his mouth falling out. Travis turned around, still laughing, coming face to face with an angry Katie Gardner.

Katie Gardner was a brown-haired nature freak who probably thought she was perfect, with her beautiful eyes, her glowing skin, her luscious hair...

But she wasn't, she was anything but that. She was super annoying, rude, and never laughed at the pranks Connor and Travis pulled. Well, maybe because they always pranked her, and rarely someone else.

Connor always teased Travis, saying that it was because Travis looooooved her. Well, don't believe him, because it's a big fat lie! They pranked Katie Gardner because it was fun to see her angry, and it was fun to see her face in general But that doesn't mean Travis liked her! Liking someone's face doesn't mean you like someone. Right?

"You idiots!" Katie shouted, dropping the dirty garden tool she had in her hands. "Which one of you threw the grape?"

Connor stood up, peering over Travis' shoulder, laughing quietly. The grape had landed in her hair, sticking there because of Connor's saliva.

Travis pointed at his brother, pushing Connor in front of him.

Katie pointed his finger at Connor's chest, her eyes narrowing. "You're not as bad as your brother, but if the stickyness of the grape is because it was in your mouth, you'll have hell unleashed upon you." She paused. "Take it out."

Connor, who was holding back laughter, reached out and flicked the grape out of her hair.  Then he spit out the rest of his grapes into a corner. "Sorry, KG!" He laughed.

"Don't call me KG, Connor." She rolled her eyes.

"It's your name, isn't it?"

Katie groaned, picking up her gardening tool off the floor. "Why are you skipping, anyways?" She paused, and the brothers could hardly keep in their laughter. "Of course, let me guess. You do this regularly."

"Yes, mon amour." Travis winked, really grateful that his mom made him take french,

"...What."

Connor snickered, quietly fist bumping his brother. "And anyways, KG, why are you skipping?"

Katie crossed her arms. "I'm in gardening club, you dildo. I have permission to be out here." She replied, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. "Now come on." She turned around, gesturing for the boys to follow them.

The brothers followed hesitantly, letting her lead them back into the school. "What are you doing?" Travis inquired.

"Turning you in."

"CALLED IT!" Connor shouted, and Travis shot him a dirty look. Smartass.

"It's almost the end of our last period anyways, so ha!" Travis replied back, ignoring his younger brother. "And don't you have track today?"

"I'm not even going to ask how you know that." Katie said calmly, still walking through the halls. Travis..may or may not... have studied and memorized her schedule.

There was a beep, signaling that an announcement was about to be said. The three stopped to listen— well, Katie did. Travis started playing around with his brother, signaling for them to start running away.

"Lockdown, now."

Travis furrowed his brows, looking towards Katie and his brother, looking for some answers, but they looked at him back with the same expression. "There wasn't a lockdown scheduled today." He muttered.

"I repeat, lockdown your classrooms. No one leaves and no one ente--" A loud bang was heard, and then a thump, and that's when Travis noticed that the hallways were a lot more eerily quiet than usual.

"If you lockdown, we will find you. You know who you are." A new, cold, voice said. "Your mother can't protect you now." The voice laughed, and a ding signaled the end of the announcement.

People started walking towards the corner, and Travis swore, grabbing Katie's hand. "What are you doing?" She hissed as quiet as she could.

"Savign our lives." He whispered, grabbing his brother's shirt and pulling them towards the stairs to the basement.

The footsteps got nearer, and nearer. "There's some people running away!" Someone shouted, and the footsteps got faster, and faster.

The intruders were almost caught up to them, but the three made it to the stairs just in time. Travis and Katie ran down first, their hands interlocked, with Connor right behind them.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud, and Travis looked behind him. Connor had tripped, but he was still ten steps away from them. "My ankle!" His little brother shouted, and Travis tried to run to him.

But just then, the  intruders caught up to them, grabbing Connor and knocking him out with the butt of his gun in what seemed like three seconds.

He reached out to help his brother, his little brother, but Katie had pulled him away just in time as the bad guy fired his gun at them. She pulled him down the stairs, all the way to the primary floor. 

The last thing he saw of Connor was the large guy, throwing Connor on his back like a potato sack. The last thing he saw was the bad guy's face through his helmet, eyepatch and all.

Travis was still in shock. His brother, the brother he'd always swore to protect, was gone. Before he knew it, he was in the back of an abandoned classroom, his phone in Katie's hand as she frantically typed something one-handed.

Travis blinked, trying to pull himself out of his thoughts. But he couldn't, he couldn't. It all happened so fast.

He couldn't save him.

He couldn't save Connor.

Was Connor even alive?

All he knew was that Katie's hand was still in his.

1204 words.