I do not own Austin and Ally.
A gentle Miami breeze made the blue and orange polka dotted curtains dance against the window frame. The sun's bright rays poured into the teenager's room.
"Dez!"
The redhead tumbled to the clothes-littered floor when the shout from downstairs reached him in his slumber.
"Dez Wade! Breakfast!"
Dez groaned in response, "It is summer." He peeled a sock off his face and used it to wipe the drool off his chin. He reached for the camcorder that was charging on the floor beside him and flipped the screen open. "And it's before noon!"
"I'm giving your breakfast to the dog!"
Dez pushed himself off the floor. "No! I'm getting dresses!" He grabbed the first shirt and pair of pants he could find and clumsily put them on. "I mean dressed!" He picked up his camera then glanced around the room. "Where is my backpack?"
The dog's bark echoed downstairs.
"Don't give the dog my breakfast! He isn't even smart enough to text like those dogs on the internet!" Dez ran out of the room and towards the staircase. He jumped over the first three steps, but tripped and rolled down the rest of the way.
"Stuck the landing," Dez groaned. At the base, the dog leaped over the teen. Dez sniffed the scent of bacon as it faded out the door.
"I warned you, Sonny. How about some cereal?" Mr. Wade chuckled and shut the door after the dog ran out. He reached a hand out to Dez and helped him up.
"Aw, man. Did Mom cook all the bacon already? Is she still here?" Dez didn't wait for his dad to answer, but shrugged and said, "I'm sure Didi didn't finish all of her breakfast. I'll just sneak some of hers."
"Didi ate all of her breakfast; she didn't have to be forced to wake up. Besides, she and your mom are already gone."
Dez rolled his eyes. "Of course your favorite was up at the clack of dawn, reading books and doing whatever Didis do."
"It's 'crack of dawn' and don't be silly. Didi isn't my favorite, Mom is; she makes pies." Mr. Wade rubbed his stomach and walked into the kitchen with Dez.
Dez opened the pantry and took out a box of cereal while he opened the fridge with one of his long legs. He shifted over to the fridge and grabbed the milk. He used one hand to hold his camera and the other to balance the cereal box on the milk jug as he carried it to the kitchen table. The sunshine beaming in through the window behind the table made the sunflowers in the centerpiece perk up.
Mr. Wade grabbed a bowl from the top of the cabinet. "Didi may get her love of knowledge from me, but you're the lucky one," said Mr. Wade as he took a spoon from a drawer. "You got my fashion sense."
He waved the bowl over his long multicolored tie and checker-patterned lab coat. The lab coat matched the pattern on Dez's own pants. He handed Dez the kitchenware and smiled.
"We are the snazzy dressers," Dez agreed. "Poor Mom and Didi. Where are they anyway?"
Mr. Wade looked at his wrist watch and frowned.
"Um, I need to go down to the lab. Hurry and eat your cereal. Don't mess around, Dez."
Mr. Wade ran to the gray door on the other side of the kitchen.
"Weird alert," Dez sang to himself. He listened to the familiar sound of the lab code being punched in and the mechanical lock clicking. "He spends so much time locked in that stupid basement and he never lets anyone else go in." Dez looked out the window and stared at the large house across the street. A large man came out of the door of the house and got into a car. "Except for him."
Dez peered at the car as it sped down the street. "That isn't even his car. He's rich, but he's driven the same clunky car for as long as I've been alive."
"Did you finish your cereal," Mr. Wade asked.
Dez jumped in his seat.
"Ah! I mean, uh," Dez looked at the soggy cereal, "No. I guess I was distracted."
Mr. Wade tugged on his tie. "Oh Dez, I wish you would have finished your breakfast. I don't want you to be hungry."
Dez raised his brow. "We have more cereal. Are you feeling okay, Dad? I mean, it's just breakfast."
"Right, right. Here." Mr. Wade lifted a small brown package in his hand. "I need you to take this to our neighbors."
"The Ramones?"
"No. The Del la Rosas."
Dez threw his head back and flung his arms. "Ugh! Come on, Dad. You know I don't like going over there. Can't you go? I'll go find the dog."
Mr. Wade shook his head. He put his hand on Dez's shoulder and pushed the package towards him. "The dog will be fine. You know he likes to run down the street to that poodle's house."
"Even the dog is better than me with girls."
Mr. Wade left the room and came back with a backpack. He slid the straps onto Dez's back. "I, uh, found your backpack. It should have the things you need," said Mr. Wade.
Dez stood up and picked up the package and his camera. "Yeah, I keep my rubber chicken in there. And my ham." He bounced to make the backpack move. "That ham is heavier than I remember."
Mr. Wade walked to the front door with Dez. "I'll be in the lab. Be careful." Mr. Wade wrapped his arms around his son and gave him a tight hug. He let go and took a step back.
"Are you sure you're okay, Dad? If the girl answers the door, then yeah, I'll need the emotional support hug. But the rest of the family is cool."
Mr. Wade ruffled Dez's hair and gently squeezed his shoulder. "You two will be fine," Mr. Wade said softly before clearing his throat. "Get along with her." Mr. Wade gave Dez a smile and then ran towards his lab.
Dez left the house and jogged across the large lawn and thin stretch of road. He turned on his camera when he reached the driveway and filmed the lush rose bushes that lined the smooth cream-colored path. "Casa De la Rosa. Home to the most mysterious creature at Marino High School." He filmed the cream and gray speckled steps as he climbed to the porch. "How does one 'get along with' someone who hates them," said Dez before he was interrupted by a growl.
He pointed the camera up and saw a young woman with dark curls that flowed over her tan shoulders and settled on her crossed arms. Her floral print sneakers tapped against the porch, making her floral print dress bounce against her knee-length leggings.
"Get off my property, Freckles. We don't deal with freaks here," snarled Trish De la Rosa.
"Hello, Trish," Dez replied as he turned off his camera. He shoved it in his backpack without looking.
"Still weird as ever, carrying that camera around and talking to yourself," said Trish. "No wonder you don't have any friends."
"You think being popular is the same as having friends? Don't you watch public service announcements? What you have at Marino High is not friendship. You know, half terrifying people, half bossing people around and half buying your friends."
Trish rolled her eyes and took a step forward. "You can't have three halves. Please go be stupid somewhere else."
Dez ignored the comment and handed Trish the brown package. "Here. My dad wanted me to bring this over."
"That's all I have to do for you to leave?" Trish gripped the package. "Gladly. See you never." Trish stepped back and shut the door halfway. Dez turned to leave, but Trish walked back out the door. "Freckles, wait!"
Dez faced her and asked, "Yeah?"
Trish eyed the package in her hand then looked at Dez. "What is it?"
Dez shrugged and took a step forward. "I don't know. But I can bet it's for your dad. Mr. De la Rosa is the only person my dad lets into his lab."
"We'll, duh. They are business partners. It must have something to do with one of their inventions," said Trish as she shuffled the box in her hands.
Dez smiled and raised his hand for a high five. "Look you solved your own mystery!"
Trish feigned a smile and pushed his hand away. "And you were useless, as usual."
Dez frowned and backed away. "I'd say see you tomorrow, but I'm sure you will continue your trend of staying home when Mr. and Mrs. De la Rosa and JJ come over for dinner on Friday nights." Dez took a step down the porch.
Trish lowered her brow. "Wait. Are you actually there for those things?"
"Those dinners are fun," Dez argued.
"I didn't think your social life was that awful," Trish laughed.
Dez opened and closed his mouth. Trish let out a few more chuckles before her gaze shifted from Dez to the street.
"Weird van," Trish murmured.
Dez looked over his shoulder and saw a black van. The van moved slowly down the empty street. Dez and Trish climbed to the bottom of the stairs and watched as the van stopped in front of the Wades' house.
Trish looked up at Dez. "Well, I can guess you aren't expecting company. So it must be for your mom or Didi?"
Dez kept his eyes fixed on the van. "They aren't home."
"Okay. So then it's for your dad," Trish said in an annoyed tone.
The two watched as a man jumped out of the parked van. He wore a black spandex suit that stretched over his bulky muscles. The man slung a large metallic device over his shoulder and pointed it above the Wades' house as he squatted on the lawn and dug his heels into the soft ground.
"Hey! What are you doing," Dez shouted as he ran to the middle of Trish's lawn. Trish jogged behind him with the brown package in her hand.
The hulking man hit his fist on the side of the device.
Dez stood in the center of the De la Rosa lawn as a silver missile shot into the air. He squinted when the sun glinted off the metal before the missile dove toward his home. The missile tore a hole through the center of the roof and within seconds the entire structure was engulfed in flames.
"Dad!" Dez screamed as he moved to run forward, but Trish tugged him backward by his backpack, causing him to fall. "Dad! No," Dez continued to scream.
Trish's eyes followed the shooter as he jumped back into the van before it sped up the street. She gasped when she saw the van stop a few houses down.
"Dez," she whispered. The boy didn't respond, but continued to sob as he tried to stand back up. The black van spun around and zoomed toward Trish's house.
"Get up! Get up," she shouted as she yanked Dez off the ground with one hand and gripped the brown package with the other. She pulled Dez toward her backyard as the van cut across her lawn. She shoved the gate open and ran with Dez past the large swimming pool.
On the other side of the backyard was a fence with hole near the bottom of a rose bush. "We're crawling through that hole," she yelled.
She let go of his arm and clambered through the hole as the van sped through her backyard. Dez hit the ground and crawled through the opening. He barely made it out before Trish grabbed his arm and tugged him forward. "Come on! This garden leads to that big oak in the Stars' yard."
Dez ran behind Trish, knocking vines and plants out of his way as they went.
"Where are we going," Dez panted. He knocked a branch out of his way and saw a grand oak tree.
Trish pointed up the oak. "Climb!" She hopped onto wooden foot handles and pulled her way up.
Dez heard the van screeching as it destroyed the yard on the other side of the garden. He grabbed a foot handle and climbed the tree. He pressed himself onto the ledge of the treehouse at the top of the oak and saw Trish take a key from under a floor board. She opened the treehouse door and pulled him inside.
"Kira used to play up here all the time, so her father had a slide built in that leads to her bedroom." She pointed towards a pink square on the floor at the far side of the treehouse.
Trish used the key to open the pink floor door.
"Jump!"
Her mass of curls bounced before she disappeared. Dez plugged his nose before hopping into the opening. Trish landed on her feet at the bottom of the slide, but Dez landed face first on the floor.
"We don't have time for you to be a loser! Get yourself together," shouted Trish.
"But we have time for you to be mean?"
"I can do what," Trish was interrupted by glass shattering outside the house.
"Ah!" Dez grabbed Trish's shoulders, making her drop the brown package.
Gun shots fired outside.
"Ah!" Trish hugged Dez's waist with her arms locked beneath his backpack.
"Oh no, you're hugging me. Now I know we're going to die," Dez whispered.
Trish pushed him away and unlocked the door to Kira's room. She picked up the package and shoved it inside of Dez's backpack.
"We need to get my car from her garage," she said.
She grabbed a set of animal print keys from Kira's dresser. "I let her borrow it two days ago, but she went on vacation with her fam without returning it to me. Flake."
Dez followed behind Trish as she ran out of the room. "I thought you reserved name calling for us lowly non-popular folk?"
"Did you not hear me? She didn't return my car! I love my Porsche! Just because her daddy refuses to buy her another new car doesn't mean I should suffer," argued Trish.
Shots fired through the windows of the mansion. Trish ducked and pulled Dez to the ground. They crawled through the dining room and to the door that led to the garage. They ran into the garage and got inside the bright red car.
Once they were inside, Trish locked the doors, and they snapped on their seatbelts. Trish nodded as she looked around the garage from the driver's seat.
"We made it," she smiled. She stopped nodding and the smile fell from her lips. "How are we going to get out? That door opens super slow! They will know we're coming! What are we going to do?"
"It was your idea to get the car, Trish!"
"We'll excuse me Freckles! I didn't realize we were track stars and could just out run the bad guys!"
They shook in their seats when they heard more gunshots.
"Freckles! For once in your life, think!"
Dez glanced at the garage door and then at Trish. "Turn the car on," he said calmly.
Trish turned on the car, but looked confused. "What now?"
Dez put the car in drive and said, "It's a good thing you already don't like me."
"Huh?"
Dez punched Trish in the leg. She screamed and instinctively stomped on the gas pedal. The car zoomed forward and crashed through the garage door, sending the door flying off its hinges. Trish grabbed the steering wheel and spun the car around. She hit the brakes.
"Are you crazy! Don't you know better than to hit a girl! I'm going to kill you and then I'm going to kill you again for scratching up my car!"
Dez gulped as the black van turned onto the empty street in front of them. "I knew you wouldn't crash your car willingly! I'm sorry!"
"So you punch me!"
"I could have tickled you!"
A bullet crashed into the windshield, causing fractures to form a star design.
Trish shifted the gear to reverse and looked over her shoulder. She hit the gas and the car sped backwards. "You are so lucky I asked for reinforced shatterproof glass windshields! Touch me or my car again and I'll be the one shooting at you!"
"That's such a weird request for a car! What kind of friends do you have?"
Trish jerked the steering wheel so that the car spun 180 degrees. She sped backwards past the black van before hitting the breaks, shifting gears and making a sharp right turn. She drove forward down another residential street.
"And what do you guys do? Go drifting on the weekends," Dez yelped.
The van turned and followed behind the Porsche. Trish cut through a few yards and then crashed through a fence that separated the residential area from the highway. She merged into traffic as the van followed.
"My poor baby. I've hurt you so much today," Trish cooed at the steering wheel.
Dez looked over his shoulder and saw the black van. "They're right behind us!"
The red car zipped between cars speeding on the highway. The van tried to keep up, but when Trish rounded a lumber truck, the van cut to close to the truck and hit it. Large tree logs crashed into the black van and blocked the other traffic.
Trish saw men jump out of the van before more logs blocked her view in the rear mirror. She took the next exit and slowed down to normal speed. After a few minutes, she pulled over at a gas station and parked in the back.
"What just happened," Trish murmured.
"Dad," Dez whispered in a hoarse voice.
Trish looked over at the boy beside her. Tears started to pour out of his blue eyes. He bit his lip then covered his face in his hands. "Dad."
His body shook while he sobbed freely. Trish bit her lip until it reddened to fight back her own tears. She reached her hand out towards him, but her fingers trembled as her hand hovered above his shoulder. She pulled her hand back and rested it in her lap.
Dez wiped his nose with his sleeve and straightened his hunched shoulders. He blinked away a few more tears. "Um, they did a lot of shooting. Was anyone at your house?"
Trish shook her head. "Mom, Dad and JJ were all gone when I came downstairs. I wake up late in the summer," she said in a hoarse voice. She cleared her throat again. "I got dressed, came downstairs and realized everybody was gone. I looked out the window, in case anyone was outside, but I just saw you coming up the driveway with your camera and that brown package."
Dez wiped his face again. He looked at Trish. "Wait, package?"
"Yeah, the one you gave me from your," Trish paused. "Um, your," she blinked away a few tears, "that package."
Dez unsnapped his seatbelt and flung off his backpack. He took out the package and lifted it up.
"He was acting weird this morning when he gave me this. Maybe it has something important inside?"
Trish snatched it out of his hand and ripped the package open. She took out an old audio tape recorder.
"They still make these," she asked as she inspected the device in her hand.
Dez took it out of her hand. He thumbed the side of the recorder and pressed down on the largest button.
The recorder played Mr. Wade's voice. "Hey, Sonny."
"Dad," Dez whimpered as he held the recorder tighter.
The recorder continued to play. "Hey, Trish."
Dez and Trish looked at each other with wide eyes.
"Thank God that you are both safe. I know things look bad. Well, to say frankly, they are bad. De la Rosa and I are in some trouble. You and Trish need to listen carefully to these instructions: Take the plane tickets in this package and get on the next flight. When you land, talk to no one. Walk to the train station and use the train tickets in the package. Your caregiver will pick you up at the station. We split the families up for safety. Your mothers are safe together and Didi and JJ are safe in another location. Stick together. When it is safe, I will come for you."
Static played from the recorder when the message ended. Dez clicked another button and let the recorder fall from his hand.
"Dad?"
Trish grabbed the recorder and took out the cassette tape. She yanked the film from the tape out.
"What are you doing," shouted Dez as he lunged toward the tape.
Trish blocked him with her elbow. He continued to reach for it, but she held it behind her back with one hand and unsnapped her seatbelt with the other. She shoved him away and grabbed some manicure scissors from her dash compartment.
"We were just chased down by guys with missile cannons and guns. I don't think we want a secret message just lying around!" She cut up the film. "Hand me the matches in that compartment."
Dez threw the matches at her. "Thanks for destroying the last thing I have of my father's."
Trish rolled her eyes and got out of the car. She tossed the shreds into a garbage can and set the film aflame. After seeing the film crinkle, she ran back and got into the car.
Dez was crying into his hands again.
"Freckles!" Trish gripped his shoulders and pressed her nose to his nose. "Get. A. Grip! Your dad, and apparently mine, knew what was going to happen. Mr. Wade said, and I quote, 'When it is safe, I will come for you.' As in he obviously faked his own death. He knew they were going to burn that house to the ground. He wasn't in there. Now shut-up and stop getting tears on my leather seats."
Dez blinked. A small smile spread across his lips. "He's okay." He took Trish by the shoulders and pulled her into a tight hug. "He's okay!"
Trish pushed him away gently. She combed her curls back with her hand. "Yes, he's okay. You don't have to cry anymore."
Dez wiped away a few more tears and smiled at Trish.
She cleared her throat and grabbed the box the recorder came in. She pulled out a few slips of paper.
"Everything is here, the plane tickets and the train tickets."
Dez looked over the slips of paper in her hand. "What about IDs?"
"Check your backpack."
Dez rummaged in his bag. He pulled out his camera, a flashlight, an umbrella and a picture frame. "I don't remember putting this stuff in there."
Trish took the bag and pulled out a wallet. She opened it and revealed two sets of IDs and some cash. She took the IDs with her picture on them and matched the IDs to the tickets. "I guess our dads are in a lot of trouble. These are fake IDs. I change names twice. I'm Ester Ellen on the plane and Isabella Ortiz on the train."
Dez read over the plane tickets. "And they wanted us to move fast. If we don't leave now, we're going to miss our flight."
Trish dumped all the materials onto Dez's lap. "After what just happened, I don't want to find out what happens if we miss that flight."
She turned the car on and drove out of the lot.
"We're seriously doing this," Dez asked.
"What choice do we have, Freckles?" Trish wiggled in her seat. "I really wish Dad would have paired me with Didi instead of you. You are the last person I would ever want to be stuck with. In fact, all this weird stuff started when you came over this morning."
"You cannot blame this on me, Trish. I thought my Dad was dead ten minutes ago," Dez said. He searched the girl's face for a sign that she was kidding. She frowned.
"Well, he's not. Don't talk to me, Doof."
The teens were silent until Trish pulled into a space marked for persons with handicaps at the airport. Dez repacked his bag and stared out the window.
"Look. I'm glad your dad is okay, really. This is all super crazy, though. The only thing we can keep normal is how we treat each other. I'm still Queen Bee and you're still King of the Weirdos," said Trish.
"You're right. This is the way you've liked things since fifth grade; why not continue life as normal," Dez huffed before getting out of the car.
"Good."
Trish got out and followed him to the trunk. She looked down at her disheveled outfit and said, "I really wish I had packed a bag."
Dez swung his backpack over his shoulder and adjusted the straps. "Well, I didn't bring any clothes either. My dad packed my backpack, obviously, because I couldn't find it this morning…" Dez scratched his chin. "Wait."
Trish looked up from her dress to see Dez point at her. "What?"
"Have you been missing any bags lately?"
"I don't know, Freckles, why?"
Dez glanced at the trunk of the car. "Open the trunk."
Trish gave Dez an annoyed look, but she opened the trunk anyway. She pulled out two cheetah print bags. One had hot pink spots all over it and the other had orange handles.
"My bag," Trish cheered as she lifted the pink spotted bag. "I don't recognize the other one."
"My bag," Dez exclaimed before taking the bag with the orange handles. "I was wondering where it had gone."
Trish shook her head and closed the trunk. "This is one of the many reasons why I don't talk to you."
Dez shrugged off the comment. "You're parked illegally."
"Yeah, so the car will be towed. If anyone tries to follow us, they won't have any evidence that we were here." Trish looked at her Porsche and pouted. "I'm so sorry to do this to you, baby. Forgive me."
"Oh, cool. That's really smart, Trish."
"Yeah, yeah." Trish took her plane ticket out of Dez's hand. She started running towards the airport and yelled over her shoulder, "Once we get inside, stay away from me. Just because we are going to the same place, doesn't mean we have to spend any time together."
Dez watched her turn away. "Got it," he mumbled.