-Chapter 22-
-Jail Breakin' All Night Long–
The boat hit the shore and Lexie was surprised that the island seemed relatively quiet. Troy jumped out of the boat first and extended his arm to help Gabriella, Taylor and then Lexie down as well. All three girls said a "Thank you" to Troy and began to walk up the path to the house.
The boys hung back a little to finish their discussion on the strategy of the game.
"Okay," Chad began, "So the three of us are going to be on a team together. We still need four others though."
"Well, they are probably going to want Lexie on their team because they know how she plays," Luke said.
Troy nodded his head in agreement. "We should get Marc on our team too, he's really athletic and I'm sure he's good at this."
Chad looked at his two friends, his concentration on the matter clear before he spoke, "Right so we just have to make sure that one of us is one of the people picking teams. Captain, that's always been a strong suit for you, I say you take that job. Then you'll make sure you get us two and Marc and you can decide who else you think should be with us."
Troy laughed. "Chad, I'm not the captain of any team any more, but I'm can pick our team for us. What about Gabs and Tay, should I get them?"
Both of the other boys pondered this for a minute, all of them getting startled when they heard Gabriella's voice calling to them.
At the sound of her voice the boys started to dash up the stairs, Chad and Luke both confirming to Troy that he should try to get Gabriella and Taylor on their team as well.
The guys reached the top of the stairs and saw Gabriella standing on the patio looking around.
"Hey Gabs, what's up?" Troy asked nonchalantly.
Gabriella looked at them all skeptically. "What took you guys so long?"
"Oh, we were just…talking," Chad answered as the boys shared a look.
Gabriella just rolled her eyes and told them that they had to come get ready and help her and Taylor decide just how much black clothing they should wear.
All eight of the other guys were already dressed and ready to go, so they had made themselves comfortable in Lexie's kitchen, grabbing a snack before the game began.
Fifteen minutes later everyone was standing on the back patio. The patio and pool lights lit up the area so that the players could all see each other. The guys had convinced Gabriella and Taylor to really get into the game so the two girls stood in black clothing from head to toe. The girls wore everything from black beanies on their heads to black gloves on their hands and black sneakers on their feet, just like everyone else who was playing.
"Okay, so we'll just have two people pick teams. Is that cool with everyone?" Mike asked.
"Yeah, that works for us," Troy spoke up, knowing that the question was directed to the USC people who hadn't played with them before. "I can start one team if that's okay."
"Yeah sure," Mike agreed, "I'll start the other."
With that Mike and Troy went to the front of the group to begin picking team members one by one. Troy picked first as it was his first time playing on the island and without a thought he chose Chad. Mike went next and decided to choose Sean. As they continued the teams quickly grew and within five minutes the teams were made.
The plan had worked for the guys and they ended up with the three of them as well as Marc, Taylor, Gabriella and Bobby on a team and decided to call them selves the Sneak Attack. Mike had chosen Lexie second as he thought Troy might try to take her. Mike's team was then rounded out by Steve, Zac, Kyle and Ty and their chosen team name was Blaze.
Due to Troy picking first for teams, Blaze got to choose if they wanted to capture or be captured first. After a brief team conference it was decided that they would like to capture first. The seven of them walked inside to give Sneak Attack a chance to disperse around the island.
Troy turned to his team as the others went inside.
"Okay, Bobby and Marc you two know the island the best. After that it's probably Chad so I think the three of you should go separate ways and one or two of us will go with each of you."
"Who is going to come back if someone gets captured?" Bobby asked.
Marc spoke up right away, "I'll be first in line to come back. If I get caught, I think Troy should be the next one in line to come free us. He's really fast."
"Fine by me," Troy threw in, "If I get captured how about Bobby is next in line and then after that Luke."
Taylor and Gabriella listened as the boys talked, trying to remember who was doing what. However, as the boys just continued talking the girls realized that they were not going to have time to get very far from base before the other team came back out if they did not leave soon.
"Guys, I know that this is all important, but don't you think we should leave here?" Gabriella questioned.
"She's right," Marc agreed quickly, "Gabriella you can come with me, we'll head out this way to start."
With that Marc and Gabriella headed down an embankment and into a place that Gabriella hadn't been before.
"Taylor, you can come with me," Bobby spoke up next, "That way you three can stay together to start that way Marc, Troy and I are all separated so we don't get caught at the same time."
The boys reluctantly agreed as they watched Taylor follow Bobby over the edge of the patio and into some bushes. Troy, Chad and Luke then made their way down the steps and onto the open beach before ducking into a part of the island that was more hidden.
Half an hour into the game Taylor and Bobby found themselves in "Jail" and waiting for Marc to come and set them free. Both of them were yelling as loud as they could so as to be heard by their teammates.
As Marc and Gabriella were ducked between two bushes they heard the yells coming from the back patio.
"Okay Gabi, I'm going to go and free them. You stay right here. If I get caught, you can stay here and wait until Troy sets all three of us free or you can do your own thing if you think you hear one of them near here." Mark explained.
"Got it," Gabriella whispered with a nod of her head. "Good luck!"
Marc then looked around and began making his way towards the patio. Gabriella watched him walk away and then sat quietly to try and listen for anyone else coming near her. Once she saw and heard that the coast was clear she allowed herself to take a deep breath and laugh at her current situation and the way that everyone was very serious about the game.
Upon hearing a laugh, Kyle crept towards the noise. He realized that it was Gabriella and continued walking without making a sound.
As Kyle reached her he lent forward and whispered, "And what is so funny?!"
Gabriella jumped and whipped her head around to look at him.
"Kyle! You scared me! I didn't even hear you coming!" Gabriella scolded.
Kyle just laughed. "That was kind of the point Gabi. So, I'm guessing if you're here that some of your teammates are near here too?"
"Ah, now that is information that I cannot divulge," Gabriella informed him.
Just then they both heard a loud, "JAIL BREAK!" yelled so that most of the island could hear. Gabriella immediately knew that Marc had set Bobby and Taylor free and was trying to think fast on how to get out of this spot before Marc came back to find her and Kyle ended up catching them both.
"Dang it, we had three of you too." Kyle complained.
"Well, you still have one," Gabriella said, "You better get me up there."
Kyle gave her a skeptical look. "Most people don't ask to get taken up to 'Jail' Gabi."
Gabriella just shrugged. "Well what can I say? I like to play fair."
The pair then heard quick footsteps coming toward them. Gabriella's eyes got large as she knew the footsteps had to be Marc coming to meet up with her again. Kyle hunched in his spot to try and hide behind Gabriella trying to figure out who was coming toward them.
"Stop, I've been caught!" Gabriella yelled from her place.
They heard the footsteps stop suddenly and Gabriella let out the breath she had been holding, feeling relieved that she hadn't gotten both herself and Marc caught.
"Man Gabi, I could have had both of you," Kyle said.
Gabriella smiled triumphantly at him. "That was kind of the point Kyle."
"Haha, you're so funny. Let's go."
Kyle grabbed Gabriella's hand and began walking her toward the Jail. As was custom, Kyle then took over guarding the Jail as he was the last one to bring someone to it.
When they reached the patio Gabriella started yelling that she was in Jail, but gave up after a few moments as she was sure Marc already knew she was there.
"Come on, we may as well talk while we're both here," Kyle said to her as he took a seat in the middle of the patio.
Gabriella had to agree. She was actually rather grateful for the break after all of the running around her and Marc had done. She walked toward Kyle and sat herself down across from him. They began talking and after a couple of minutes both forgot that they were actually in the middle of a game.
Marc sat at the edge of the patio, just waiting to set Gabriella free. He couldn't set her free until she was far enough away from Kyle that she could get to him or the other side of the patio without getting caught again. As he sat there, Marc couldn't help but smirk. Kyle was normally very competitive when they played, but obviously Gabriella was a good distraction.
Fifteen minutes later Marc still sat just watching Kyle and Gabriella talk. He finally got bored enough that he decided he needed a new plan. He picked up a twig from the ground and threw it onto the patio with a curved arm so as to make it look like the twig came from a different direction.
Kyle heard the twig hit the deck and immediately looked around. Just as Marc had hoped, the action took Kyle right back into the game.
Kyle jumped up onto his feet and looked around the edges of the patio before looking back down at a slightly startled Gabriella.
"I'm sorry Gabriella; I have to go check around the perimeter. I'm really glad that we got talk more though," Kyle said sincerely.
Gabriella smiled as she too stood up. "That's okay. We are still playing the game."
Both then began to walk around the patio, Kyle trying to find someone to catch and Gabriella looking for Marc whom she expected to set her free.
Marc saw Gabriella standing right near him and Kyle inspecting the other side of the patio. He quickly shot his hand onto the patio and yelled, "JAIL BREAK!"
Gabriella jumped when she heard it, but reacted quickly and jumped off of the patio toward the voice. Marc grabbed her arm and pulled her away as fast as he could. The both heard Kyle close behind them so Marc jumped over a bush and slid down behind it, pulling Gabriella down right next to him.
Gabriella was out of breath and placed a hand over her mouth as they heard Kyle's footsteps slow down.
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Four hours later everyone was collapsed in the cabana. Both teams had been completely caught and had completely captured the opposing team. Now, they had taken off some of their layers and were reminiscing about various parts of the evening as they enjoyed the slight breeze of the night.
"You guys weren't kidding when you said you take this seriously," Taylor commented.
"You got that right," Ty called back as he threw his head back and drank some more of his water from the bottle in his hands.
"You did really well though," Bobby said. "I must say, Taylor I was very impressed. I think both times we got caught it was my fault."
"Yeah, Gabriella did really well too," Marc added. "I thought for sure Kyle was going to catch us after I freed you that first time."
Gabriella sighed at the memory. "I think that was the fastest I have ever run."
Lexie smiled at all of her friends before she added to the memories. "My favorite part was definitely when I caught Luke, T, and Chad."
"Yeah, and that was the only time we got caught," Chad pointed out.
They continued talking until a few people began to fall asleep. Lexie grabbed her phone from one of the tables to check the time and saw that it was already close to three in the morning.
"Are you guys all spending the night here?" Lexie asked, her question obviously directed at her eight friends from High School.
She received a collective yes from the guys who were still awake and decided to try to coax the ones who were asleep inside the house.
Going over to Luke first she gently woke him up and then suggested that he go up to the bedroom that had been deemed as his. One by one she convinced the guys to go inside until it was only herself, Gabriella, Taylor, Chad, Troy, Kyle and Marc left outside.
Troy, Chad and Marc were glad for the quiet and were too caught up in their discussion of their freshman basketball season to realize that most of the other people had already gone inside.
Gabriella stifled a yawn as she continued talking with Taylor and Kyle about life on Lexie's island.
"You know, you can go to bed," Kyle told her with the slightest hint of a smirk on his face.
"No way, I'm not tired at all," Gabriella protested, "And there's no way I'm letting you win this bet that easily."
"Bet?" Taylor questioned, intrigued.
Gabriella and Kyle informed Taylor of the bet that they had made when Gabriella was in "Jail" that Gabriella could stay up later than Kyle. Gabriella realized how childish it sounded, but in the midst of their conversation it had just been made without question.
"Wow, betting on whom can stay up the latest. Now that's a real college thing to do," Taylor said with a shake of her head and a roll of her eyes.
"Fine Tay, I bet I can stay up later than you can tonight," Gabriella challenged.
Taylor groaned and narrowed her eyes slightly at Gabriella. "Gabi, that's not fair! You know I'm going to have to play now."
Gabriella smiled, feeling satisfied and glad to know that Taylor would be just as tired as she was in the morning. Kyle just laughed at the exchange.
"So, what are the terms of the bet?" Taylor asked.
"Well, we didn't actually –" Gabriella started.
"First one to fall asleep has to make or get the other two a CD," Kyle answered, as if they had already decided upon it.
"Sounds good to me," Taylor agreed.
Gabriella agreed as well and the three picked up their previous conversation where it had let off.
Lexie stood up from her seat next to Marc and let the boys know that she was going to go inside. As much as she loved hearing about their basketball seasons she was extremely tired and knew that someone would end up waking her up earlier than her liking.
She walked over to the other group of three, rather surprised that both Gabriella and Taylor were still awake and made them aware of her decision to go to sleep as well.
Lexie looked at the two groups who still sat talking outside and could only wonder if the reason that Chad and Troy were still awake had anything to do with the two girls who were currently talking to one of her oldest friends. With a shrug of her shoulders and the knowledge that she probably would never actually find out if she was correct, Lexie drug herself up to her bedroom whispering a goodnight to all of the boys in the living room as she passed.
"Do you guys want to go sit down on the beach and talk?" Kyle asked the two girls, "It's really nice down there at night."
"Yeah, we had a bonfire down there just the other night," Gabriella recalled, "It was actually one of my favorite times here so far because the ocean just seemed…louder or something."
"Great, then let's go," Kyle said, standing up from his seat as the two girls did the same.
Out of the corner of his eye Troy caught the three of them standing up.
"You guys heading in for the night?" Troy asked, now facing them.
"We're actually going to go down to the beach," Gabriella answered, "Do you guys want to join us?"
The three boys glanced at each other, trying to make a decision. Marc shrugged his shoulders showing the other two that he did not care.
"Sure, we'll come down," Troy answered for them.
Gabriella and Taylor smiled as the three other boys stood up. The six of them made their way down the stairs, the ocean getting louder with each step. Troy reached in front of him and quickly grabbed Gabriella's hand, giving it a tight squeeze. When Gabriella turned around at the action Troy sent her a wide grin, which was returned with a smile of her own.
"Hey, if we stay up long enough, maybe we can watch the sunrise," Chad commented, surprising his friends with the words.
Taylor sent him a smile and answered, "We should try! I would really like to see that."
They each settled onto the ground in a form that resembled a circle.
"I would too," Gabriella agreed, "I've never actually seen a sunrise before."
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Here's the next one! I'm back into writing for this story so the updates should be coming more frequently! Thanks again!