Annaka

I collapse against the couch in Alyssa's living room, next to Kennedy, causing the cushion to shift a bit from my weight.

I lean back into the cushion, a pillow under my arm.

Everyone else is sitting down except for Alyssa, who is standing in front of everyone else.

Madie, Jacob, and Doug have yet to arrive.

Alyssa looks like she is ready to take charge.

"Alright, listen up!" Alyssa exclaims, surely taking charge. "We are going to show them the underground and make them go in whether they like it or not!"

Lily raises her trembling hand, her glasses slipping down her nose a bit. "B-but what if they run away and report this to other people?"

Alyssa's eyes get narrowed and she hits her hand against her other hand, making a loud smacking noise and cause some of us to jump(or in Lily's case, her glasses fall off). "We'll make them stay and keep their mouths shut!" Alyssa walks to Lily and wags a finger in her face, causing Lily to shrink into the couch cushion she is sitting on. "And if they try to do anything, I'll just remind them that in this world, it's kill or be killed."

The whole room falls silent and Alyssa stands there, finger in Lily's face and Lily sits there, glasses starting to slip off her nose yet again as she trembles in her seat.

Until Alyssa steps back, letting her arms fall to her side and she smiles. "Ok?"

Lily nods, blinking behind her almost slipped off glasses.

Once Lily stops staring at Alyssa with wide eyes, she re-adjusts her glasses and tries to relax once more.

Alyssa walks back to her previous spot and smiles at all of us all innocent like. "Got it?"

We all nod, not daring to do anything else.

Alyssa's smile widens, then she says, "Good. Now let's put this plan in action. How you guys feeling?"

"Confident?" I suggest.

Scared.

Alyssa clasps her hands together and smiles even wider. "Great. Now relax and don't feel pressured." Alyssa giggles a bit, then walks over to the kitchen to get a drink, I presume.

Everyone relaxes and we sit in silence, the only noise is the sink running and the microwave.

I finally stand up and walk over to Alyssa, who is taking something out of the microwave.

"Hey Lisa," I say. "What're you making?"

Alyssa turns around and holds up the bag to me, showing me inside.

"Popcorn!" she exclaims. "I figured we should make our guests feel welcome before we blow their minds!"

I nod. "Ok. I'm going to get a drink. What do you have?"

"We have some root beer," Alyssa replies. holding up a can of root beer.

I snatch the can and start to open it. "Thanks."

"No problem!" Alyssa exclaims, stuffing another popcorn bag into the microwave.

I open the can and take a long, refreshing sip.

I sigh after done and turn my attention to the living room.

Most of the girls have gotten up and are walking over or mingling.

I sit at one of the seats by the counter, continuing to drink my soda until the doorbell rings.

"I'll get it!" Alyssa calls.

I watch as Alyssa opens the door to Madie.

Alyssa and Madie hug, then Madie walks over to the rest of us.

I set my soda down and jump down from my seat, walking over to Madie and hugging her.

"Hi Annaka," Madie greets. "Thanks for inviting me. I don't have anything else to do so I would've been super bored."

"Oh no problem," I say. "It's my pleasure, honestly."

Madie flashes me one last smile before going to greet everyone else.

I watch her kind smile, then think back to the time we were waiting outside to go to band.

Apparently, Kennedy had made Madie mad or something(no surprise there; I mean, it's Kennedy!)and Madie kept saying to Kennedy, "Come on! Fight me!"

Then, I went over to Kennedy and asked her what happened.

Before Kennedy could answer, Madie had grabbed scissors from the ground and threatened Kennedy and I with them.

Naturally, Kennedy tried to protect me, and that's when we were saved by the band teacher when she called us in.

I shake my head and look back to Madie walking up to Kennedy and hugging her.

If only Madie could've hugged her instead of threatening us with scissors.

I sigh and take another sip of my soda just as the doorbell rings.

"I've got it!" Alyssa calls again and opens the door to reveal Jacob.

Alyssa smiles and quickly touches Jacob's hair.

Jacob narrows his eyes at Alyssa.

"What? That's the only time," Alyssa reassures, moving aside. But she mutters under her breath, "Maybe."

I giggle a bit and walk up to Jacob.

"Hey Qwazy," I greet.

"How's life?" he asks, just as he always does when I greet him.

I shrug. "Eh. You?"

"Ok," he replies.

I smile as he walks off to greet everyone else.

The doorbell rings once again and once again Alyssa gets it and Doug stands there.

I say, "Hi."

"Hey," he replies.

But the conversation gets interrupted by Doug's eyes darting to something across the room.

I turn to see what he is looking at.

Apparently, he is looking at the bag of chips in Nya's hand.

"Give me a minute," he says, running off to Nya and grabbing the bag of chips from her hand, causing Nya to turn around mid-conversation.

Annoyance is crossed across her face.

Her eyes are narrowed and mouth in a line.

"Doug!" she scolds.

Doug removes a chip from the bag and pops it in his mouth, shrugging. "What?"

Nya rolls her eyes and turns around, arms folded across her chest.

Doug pops more chips into his mouth, smiling, then walks back over to me.

He offers me a chip.

I smile and take the chip from him, popping it into my mouth and grabbing my soda as Doug walks away.

I watch everyone, especially Madie, Jacob, and Doug.

I smile, knowing that this will be a great experience in the long journey we have already been on and that will keep continuing on and on.

I don't know...DETERMINATION

(Thanks for reading blah blah blah stay determined)