Flo's pov:

I walked along the narrow back corridor that led away from the cafeteria towards the field. I had decided to buy some snacks for us before I headed towards the benches where the rest of our squad was seated. As I approached them I saw the eager expressions of the two girls and immediately started scolding myself. Oh god. What did I get myself into? Why did I have to think about that time in front of them? More importantly, when the hell did I start blushing?! Scarlette must have told Aurora because she kept on giving me curious glances. Ohhhh boy. Here we go. As I reached them, I sat down on the grass beside Scarly and handed each of them a pack of chips.

"Soooooooo, wassup?" I asked, trying to avoid the looks of the two girls. The boys were already fighting over chips and Cody was now chasing Andy around the field. Zach was still seated in his place and kept quiet, knowing what the girls were gonna ask me. Soon he too left, chasing after the other two guys.

"So Scarly tells me you were blushing a lot thinking of something?"

I still kept quiet while I munched on my chips.

"And that it had something to do with Zach?"

"What makes you think that?" I questioned, looking up at her.

"The fact that he very visibly choked when you said you were blushing cause you were 'reflecting' on something? And that you both answered too fast when I said something happened." Scarly replied this time.

"That doesn't prove anything" I reply to her theories.

" Damn it. Stupid migraine. I missed the show!" whined Aura. I just rolled my eyes at her. This girl... I couldn't help but sigh.

"Kay no seriously, tell us what happened" Scarly said in a rather serious tone.

"I already told you nothing happened!"

I'm not lying, I thought to myself. Nothing did happen. But something was about to,if not for my stupid phone. Wait stupid phone? No no not stupid. It was a good thing. It was my saviour...... I guess? But was it what you wanted to happen? Questioned my brain as if mocking me.

Shut up.

No you.

I am you, stupid.

Wait a second...... that's true.

Great! I'm talking to myself now! Arghh I'm going insane.

Tch tch... Going insane just by thinking of the intense moment shared with Zach, are we? Mocked my brain again.

SHUT UPPP!

I'm not wrong though

Ughhh

Suddenly I realised that I was still with the girls and they were looking at me with concern in their eyes, probably from seeing the weird faces I was making.

"You okay?" Aura asked me while Scarly just gave me a quizzical look. .

"Yea. Yea I'm fine" I lied,obviously not wanting to tell them that I was mentally arguing with my brain right now.

"So tell us what happened. Either you tell us willingly or we force it out of one of you." Aura threatened. I knew she was being serious about the forcing out part because she had done that before.

I groaned internally. Then something clicked. I could just tell them a made up story so that they would leave me alone. I can act very well, I give you that. So I just need to throw in some fake emotions here and there and boom - they'll fall for it. I smile evilly inside. Time to brew up a fake story!

I started to make up a story, but then I glanced at Scarlette. She could very easily detect lies, mainly because she lied a lot too when needed. Oh god. If I got caught they'd know I make up stuff and that would get me in big trouble. Then I got another idea. What if I just tell them the half truth? I wouldn't be lying, I just wouldn't be telling them everything.

"Fine. Fine!" I said, making it seem like I had given up. "I'll tell you, but only because I want to get this over with."

I saw both the girls lean forward as if coming closer would get them a better story or something.

"I'll keep it short, ok?" I asked, not really waiting for an answer as I continued.

"When we went to get the puddings, we almost got caught. I was terrified and the thought of running really didn't come to my mind because like you know, my brain wasn't functioning."

Both of them nod their heads in unison. That was my cue to continue.

"So basically, Zach saw the terrified look on my face and he held my hand and we made a run for it." I look at them to see their reactions.

"That's it?" asked Scarly

I looked anywhere but at her eyes.

"Yes...See I told you nothing happened." I shrugged.

Aura narrowed her eyes at me. "You're lying."

"What? I am not."

"Yes you are... you not making any eye contact, continuously wiping your palms on your jeans, and blinking rapidly suggests so."

Goddammit. I forgot how observant she was. That's how she always figures out when anyone is lying. "I...." I trailed off.

"But as you are clearly not comfortable sharing what happened with us, we shall drop the topic for now. You can tell us whenever you feel comfortable. Remember we're here and we'll wait okay?" said Scarly, giving me a soft smile.

"Thank you..."I say, grateful for the fact that they understood. We do a group hug and laugh at nothing in particular. Anything is possible when you have the right people beside you.

"Guys! Come on! You have got to see this!"yelled Cody. We all walked towards where he was.

"Check this out. The new pizza place that opened has some sort of shady business going on."

"What do you mean?"

"See those boxes over there? They have been bringing more of those since morning. The guards are also armed."

"Those probably contain some secret ingredient for the pizza. Man, no wonder their pizzas are so awesome." says Zach.

Is he really that dumb or does he do it intentionally? Like seriously, secret pizza ingredients? What the hell goes on through this boy's mind? But who am I to judge. I have weirder questions than him.

"You really would like to know, wouldn't you?" Aura whispered to me.

"What?"

"You said your thoughts out loud again" she stated, simply.

"You guys wanna sneak in and see what they have in those boxes?" Scarly asked from beside me. She made it sound like we were just gonna go over to a candy shop to take a look at what they had in stock.

"Hell yeah" replied Aura and Andy at the same time.

"They're armed! This is dangerous" Arsen reasoned. Always the party pooper Cody, always the party pooper.

"What's the fun without the risk?"

"Fine. But if we get caught I will say you guys dragged me hostage there." Cody said giving up.

"Yea sure!" Scarly scoffed. As if they'd ever take the blame.

"Alright guys, come on" Andy said, jumping over the small fence.

That is probably the best thing about our school. Right behind our school, was a small pizza place, with the best pizza ever. And the only thing separating our school and the pizza place was a small fence of barbed wire. It was about 5 feet tall so it really didn't matter if it was there or not.

This is going to be us outdoing everything else we've done. I watch as Aura, Scarly and Cody jump over, following Andy.

Now I'm vertically challenged. I have short arms. As soon as I try to jump over, I stumble and wait for the pain and impact of falling face first to come. After waiting for a few seconds, I realised that I was not going to fall. I sense a hand wrapped around my waist,pulling me close to the person's front.

"Careful..." Zach whispers into my ear, causing me to shiver involuntarily.

He let go as soon as he held me. I instantly miss the warmth. Wait what? I mentally facepalm myself. I don't need no man. I'm an independent woman. Wait no, I'm 17........not a woman yet. Ughh. So I stomp over and jump. This time, thankfully I land without tripping or falling. I held my head high, proud of myself because I could jump over the fence and land on two feet. As I walk over to the rest of the group I see knowing smirks on all their faces as they look between me and Zach. Cody was muttering something underneath his breath and Andy just laughed slightly listening to him. Ugh god. Why are they like this? I just shake my head at them and walk away, creeping closer to the boxes. Everyone else followed behind and soon we were all huddled behind two huge wooden crates which seemed to have a revolting smell, strong enough to make anyone unconscious. However they seemed to be empty and I wondered what kind of monstrosity it held previously.

"Guys we should totally sneak inside the warehouse and see what was previously in these empty crates." says Aura, whispering, a hint of mischievousness visible in her eyes.

"No way! Are you nuts?! What if they catch us? They are armed for God's sake. We are just some stupid teenagers and if they even know we are invading their so not secret base for evil deeds, we are as good as dead." Arsen said, all in one breath.

"Then we'll get caught," Scarly says simply, "and we'll try to dodge and run for our lives. It really isn't that difficult you know?"

Arsen stared at Scarly in disbelief, his eyes almost popping out of his skull.

" You know it's okay if you don't want to come with us. You can just go back and we'll head in." I said.

They all nodded in unison except Arsen (of course) and Zach, who looked uneasy as he glanced at the heavy crates they were still unloading.

Coward,I thought to myself. Yet you almost fell for his very embrace.

SHUT UP STUPID BRAIN.

"I don't know guys. You know I support all of your crazy plans but this time I have to agree with Arsen. This is too risky. We shouldn't be here. Let's leave okay? We have a bunch of other stuff we could do to have fun. Let's just get out of here."

"Oh SHUT UP!" said Scarly, not taking them seriously, "you two wusses can go climb back over the fence and have some candy floss or something"

"Scarlette..........." Zach said in a warning tone, "See this through logically, please."

"No! If you guys are too scared to come along, feel free to go back, but do not stop us."

Zach just rubbed his temples in frustration, as Scarly was determined to go over and honestly so was I , and I'm pretty sure Aura and Andy were too. So it was 2 against 4. Ha!

"Fine if you're gonna go, we'll tag along. There's no way we are letting you four crazies go in there alone." said Arsen, finally giving in.

"That's more like it!" said Aura , satisfied that we had managed to convince them.

"Guys, shh, shh!" said Andy waving a hand at us, motioning for us to quiet down, "look at that, we might not need to go in at all."

We all watched with our eyes glued open, as the guy who was watching over the delivery stopped two random crates. He shouted something about opening the crates to check if the 'goods' were in there or not and we all leaned forward. Cody however leaned too forward, and almost pushed over the crate in front of him. We had to hold him back to stop him from tumbling over as Zach steadied the crate.

By the time we had settled down again, the crate was already being closed again and was wheeled in with the rest.

"Great! Cody cost us a look at what's inside!" groaned Scarly.

"Now we HAVE to go inside and that's on u Arse" I said.

"Why can't you ever keep your balance?"

"Guys...."

"Why do you have to be so careless?"

"Guys!"

"Yeah you almost sold us out!"

"GUYS!" Screamed Aura.

"What?!" we all said at the same time as our argument was cut short.

"I think I know what was in the crates...."

"What do you mean?"

"While you guys were busy steady-ing the crates and shouting at Arsen, I saw what was inside the crates."

"What was in it?" asked Andy impatiently.

"It was all lab equipment and chemicals."

"Why would there be chemicals and lab equipment in the back of a pizza store?" I wondered out loud.

"And if it's lab equipment, why do these crates smell so bad?"

"These crates must've held some kind of animal..........what animal though?"

"Lab rats maybe."

"Guys I gotta go. I have curfew at 5." said Zach. We bid him goodbye and decided to head back too when Arsen stopped us.

"Hold up, I know this smell, " said Arsen as he slightly opened the crate in front of him, "I can't place it though"

"Oh c'mon! Think! Be useful for once!"

"Okay that's not very encouraging"

"I'm not trying to encourage you! I'm trying to get you to use your brain!"

"Oh my god guys shut up! Arsen right now I need you to THINK!"Aura said, calming us down.

"Okay. okay. Ohhhhhh god. Ugh! C'moooonnnn brain!"

"Try smelling it again"

"What do you mean try smelling it?! I'm not a dog!"

"Shut up. Dogs are cute."

"Arsen focus!"

"Guys you know we are currently hiding behind not so soundproof crates in a secret base for god knows what, which happens to be filled with armed guards right? Try to keep it down?"

"Got it!" Arsen exclaimed, jumping up from his crouched position, as Andy put a hand over his mouth and pulled him down.

"What? What? What is it?" Scarly asked him, almost choking him because of how impatient she was to know.

"Jeez woman, calm down! I can't tell you if you kill me!"

"Oh my god, can you guys not talk quietly at all?!"

"Ok, ok, shut up. Arsen tell us"

"It's skunks!"

"SKUNKS?!"

"Oh my god! How did I not realize that?" Andy exclaimed.

"Shit. That should have been obvious though."

"What are they doing with skunks though? I mean can they use skunks in lab experiments?"

"Not as far as I know"

"Maybe the skunks aren't related to the equipment. How do you guys think skunk meat tastes? They could be using it in the pizza, which might be why their pizzas taste so good."

"Oh my god Ewwwwww. Shut up Cody !"

"I gotta puke!"

"Just saying.....it's a possibility"

"Ugh! Seriously? You're insane"

Arsen just simply shrugged innocently.

"Guys I think we should get out of here. We've tested our luck too much. We should go before we get caught"

We all agreed and jumped out of there and headed home while discussing all the possibilities of why those pizza people were smuggling in skunks and lab equipment. However we left Cody out of the conversation of course. He really doesn't have the brightest ideas when it comes to this.

We got all our questions answered the next day when we saw a notice of the pizza store being demolished and some kind of skunk study centre taking over. Not really the best place for it. I mean those animals were already in there while it was still a food place. I was just glad we hadn't been in the mood for pizza for the past few days. 

Alright! 3rd chapter is up too! our update schedule initially should have been Mondays and Thursdays but we were done early so, why not update early? Also I'm loving Cody here. Anyways let us know what you think of this chapter and vote if you like it. Good night/day! 

-OZ