The Last Alignment: Cry of the Scorpions (19 page)

“
Where are we
going?”

Hudson looked at his doorway to see Zander,
Androse, and Natalye all walking through it. “Sorry, bro,” Zander
apologized. “None of us could sleep, so we decided that we would
come and check out your room.” Awbrey rolled her eyes and grabbed a
pillow, placing it on top of her knees. “This is a pretty sweet set
up,” he said looking around, “but again, where are we going?”

Hudson looked at Awbrey who started biting
her nails. “Awbrey,” he said lightly popping her on the thigh. She
didn’t answer him, so Hudson shook his head and confessed. “We are
going to Vancent tomorrow. There’s something that we have to
do.”

“
Like what,” asked
Natalye.

“
It’s just a situation
with one of our friends.”

“
What time are we
leaving,” asked Zander.

“
Wait, you guys can’t go,”
Hudson said sitting up. “It’ll just be the two of us. That’s
it.”

“
Dude, we’ve been trapped
in a house for two weeks now, and who knows how long we’ll be stuck
here. It’s not like we’re sneaking off to go to the most dangerous
part of town or something. We’d be sneaking off to go to a fucking
school,” said Zander. “Seriously.”

“
I’d be down to go,” said
Natalye. “It’s against the rules, but if we are only going so that
you two can talk to your friend and then we come right back, I
don’t see any problem with it. Could be fun.”

“
I see a problem with it,”
Androse spoke up. “That problem being that we were told to not
leave this house. I think that we should listen. Our grandparents
and parents know what they are talking about and I don’t think that
we should disobey them.” Nobody responded, but everyone looked at
Androse. Hudson couldn’t say that he was surprised at his reaction,
and while part of him definitely agreed, he still had every
intention of leaving tomorrow morning.

“
Dude, lighten up,” said
Zander. “We wouldn’t even be gone long enough for anyone to notice
that we left…would we,” he asked looking to Hudson for
confirmation.

“
No. Vancent is ten, maybe
twelve minutes away on foot. We’d be gone for maybe an hour at the
very most, forty minutes at the least. And by ‘we,’ I mean Awbrey
and I.”

“
You guys can
come.”

If he hadn’t seen Awbrey’s mouth move,
Hudson wouldn’t have believed that she said it. “I would be lying
if I said that I was going purely for Amanda and not for other
reasons. I’m tired of being stuck inside too. It’s driving me
nuts,” Awbrey admitted before lying down.

“
Well, then. That settles
it,” said Zander.

“
That settles nothing,”
Androse argued.

“
It’s four against one,
bro. I’d say that definitely settles it,” Zander
laughed.

“
Guys,” Natalye piped up,
“we’re an Alignment. Which means,
Androse
, that we’re all in this
together. I know that you’ve been just as frustrated as everyone
else about being indoors all the time. We’re sneaking out and
you’re coming with us.”

Chapter
14

Androse

He stood in the middle of
the kitchen and watched them all go one by one out of a window that
led to the backyard.
I
can
’
t fucking
believe this
, Androse thought.
How stupid can you guys be
?

“
Androse, come on! And
watch out because there’s a little bit of a drop,” whispered
Natalye. “
Hurry up
,” she hissed again as he made no real effort to move
quickly. Androse quietly stuck his leg through the opening and sat
on the windowsill inwardly hoping that if he took enough time they
would get caught.

“
What the hell, Androse,”
Zander prodded. “You mean to tell me that you can’t move any
fucking faster than that?!”

“
Guys, seriously,” Androse
pleaded. “We shouldn’t be doing this. We should-”

“
COME
ON
,” Natalye and Hudson whispered loudly.
There was no point in trying to fight it anymore. Androse gripped
the sill, turned, brought his other leg through, and then dropped
to the ground.

“
Alright,” said Hudson as
he reached up and eased the window shut. “Now that ‘Great Grandpa
Androse’ is finally down, let’s get moving.” They ran across
Hudson’s backyard and Androse stayed at the rear of the group
looking back at the house and wishing that they were still in it.
Now that he was outside, he noticed that Hudson had a fair-sized
backyard that had a creek at the end of it that was lined with
trees on either side. “We’ve got to move fast,” Hudson called
before they all jumped his fence and dashed through another yard.
They slowed down once they came upon a sidewalk, each of them
looking up and down the street and over their shoulders though for
what, they didn’t know. “Okay,” Hudson said fixing his shirt and
wiping his forehead. “Awbrey, did you text Amanda?”

“
Yeah,” she replied as she
fixed her hair. “Multiple times. She hasn’t responded, of course,
but I’m sure that she’s at least read them.”

“
That’s fine,” said
Hudson. “As long as she got them.”

“
I thought that Kate said
that they were all going to sleep on the couches,” said Natalye.
“Charles was the only one in the living room.”

“
The bedroom in the
basement has three sets of bunked beds in it,” said Hudson. “He
probably told my grandma, Oren, Sylvia, and Emma to go and sleep
down there instead.”

“
Do you think that your
mom is up yet,” Natalye asked Zander.

“
Probably not. She’s a
late sleeper if you haven’t noticed and it’s gotten worse lately.
Besides, if she even slightly Sensed us we never would’ve made it
out of that kitchen window,” said Zander, visibly excited about
being out and about.

Androse couldn’t help looking up at the sky
as they walked hurriedly. Everything within him was telling him to
turn around and to exert himself over the others and make them do
the same, but even the very clouds seemed to be warning him against
their exploit. He knew that there was nothing that he could do or
say that would get them to go back, especially not now that they
were all having their first taste of freedom in a little over half
a month. So, Androse decided to make the best of the situation and
go out of his way to make sure that they were at least safe.
Besides, he had to admit that it did feel good to be outside and
away from the adults.

“
Over here,” Hudson said
breaking into a run. They sprinted through another yard and jumped
an old, rusted gate, and after running through a small field they
finally saw a tall, wide, blue and white sign that stood a few feet
above a gathering of trees that read:

VANCENT E. REDDING HIGH
SCHOOL

Home of the Scorpions

“
Alright, slow down,
guys,” Hudson directed. As they got closer to the sign, Vancent
became more visible through the trees and Androse saw flocks of
kids coming out of bright blue buses that were all lined up in
front of the school about fifty feet away. “What time is it,”
Hudson asked.

“
It’s nine-fourteen,”
Awbrey answered. “I told Amanda to meet us here by the sign at
nine-twenty.”

“
Perfect,” Hudson
breathed. “Do you see her anywhere?”

“
No,” Awbrey said moving
her head every which way. Androse couldn’t help but notice how red
her hair was in the sunlight.

“
Hey, come here real
quick,” Natalye whispered in Androse’s ear. He frowned, but
followed her anyway. They walked a few feet back from Awbrey,
Hudson, and Zander and stood behind a large oak tree. After
checking to see if the others were preoccupied, Natalye turned her
attention to Androse. “So, I’ve been meaning to ask you something,
but I didn’t want to overstep any boundaries.”

Boundaries
, Androse thought. Surely
Natalye knew that he liked her enough to where they could ask each
other personal questions? However, he did like that she respected
him enough to at least check before she did. “I appreciate the
thought and consideration, but I don’t mind. Go ahead,” he said
resting a hand on the tree.

“
Do you have a thing for
Awbrey?” His eyes widened a little. “I only ask because of the way
that you were just staring at the back of her head. Actually, you
have that look on your face whenever she’s around you period. You
make it really obvious.”

Androse was sure that his cheeks were rosy
and he trusted Natalye, so he supposed that he had no choice but to
admit. “Y-yeah. I guess,” he whispered as he slid his hands inside
of his pockets, “but it doesn’t matter. I don’t think that I have
any intentions to do anything about it.”

“
She thinks you’re cute,”
Natalye said playfully.

“
Wait…
what
,” Androse asked, fighting back
a grin. “How on earth would you know something like that? You don’t
even like Awbrey, so I’m sure that you two haven’t been having girl
talk.”

“
Do you remember that
first day at Oren’s house when we were all on the stairs after
Awbrey introduced us to her brother, and then he signed something
to her and she looked like she was about to pass a kidney
stone?”

“
I…I guess, but what does
that have to do with-”

“
After she introduced you,
Andrew signed and asked her if you were the guy that she thought
was cute,” Natalye smiled.

No way
, Androse thought. Even though he didn’t quite believe it, it
still took a lot to keep his face straight and not smile. “Hold on,
you know sign language,” he asked, hoping to steer the conversation
in a different direction.

“
Yes, but let’s keep that
between you and I, shall we,” Natalye said peeping around at the
others. “That way, we can know what Awbrey and Hudson say to each
other when they’re trying to be secretive. But, I think that you
have a shot with her.”

“
No, I don’t,” Androse
said flatly.
She thinks
I
’
m a
loser
,
he
thought. “Even if Awbrey did say, or, sign that she thought that I
was ‘cute,’ that doesn’t mean that she likes me and it doesn’t mean
that she’s attracted to me. Besides, I think that she and Hudson
have something going on.”

There was a noticeable change in Natalye’s
demeanor as if Androse had just insulted her. “What makes you think
that?”

“
Well, for starters,
they’re inseparable. Plus, that first night that I spent at Oren’s,
her and Hudson slept on an air mattress together. They cuddled all
night. It was awkward for me just being there. And, they are always
touching each other whether it’s holding hands, arm in arm,
or-”

“
Have you seen them kiss?
Because I haven’t.”

Androse felt like he was offending her, but
he wanted to be honest. “No, I haven’t seen them kiss, but you and
I both know that Awbrey wouldn’t be one for PDA. But more than
that, she slept in Hudson’s room last night.” Natalye bit her
bottom lip. “Look,” Androse said feeling like he had said way too
much, “I appreciate you telling me what you told me, but can we
just let it go for now? Especially since this isn’t exactly the
place or time to be talking about stuff like this.”

“
Yeah, sure,” Natalye said
shaking her head and replacing her smile. “I guess we should rejoin
them. I just wanted to let you know what I saw, that’s all. Didn’t
mean to irritate you.”

“
You didn’t. And, thanks,”
Androse said as he led the way back over to the others.

“
What does this chick even
look like? She hot,” they heard Zander ask as they got closer to
them.

“
She’s tall,” said Hudson,
who had grabbed Awbrey’s arm to stop her from wheeling
around.

“
And,” Zander
prompted.

“
Hudson, there she is,”
pointed Awbrey, “but…she isn’t coming over here. What the
hell, Amanda,” she grumbled taking out her cell
phone. Androse stepped forward to get a better look though he
didn’t necessarily need to.

Amanda
was
tall. She had long, bushy dark
hair that was put into a high ponytail, and she wore a bright
orange dress that didn’t flatter her at all. As she walked down the
sidewalk toward the front doors of the school, Androse saw multiple
people take second looks behind her back and then cover their
mouths laughing. He heard someone yell, “Make way! Vancent’s first
drag
queen coming through,” and
unfortunately, Androse couldn’t say that the description was
completely inaccurate. Even from afar one could see that Amanda had
a very masculine frame for a girl, and her dress only made it more
apparent.

“
Daaaamn
,” Zander
exclaimed.

“
If you say something bad
about her, I will rip your tongue out of your fucking mouth,”
Awbrey threatened after turning around with her phone clutched to
her ear.

“
Chill out! I wasn’t even
going to say anything,” Zander refuted, though Androse was sure
that he had been about to.