Connections

The Team

Meghan's POV

"Get up Meghan!" My mom yells. "You're going to be late!"

I groan as I force myself out of bed. School is not going to be good today. I am too tired to deal with it. Quickly I run to my closet and pull out a white shirt and a floral skirt. I get dressed quickly and then continue getting ready by putting short black boots on and my makeup.

Once I finish, I hurry down the stairs. My mom is sitting in the kitchen watching me. I smile at her, and she gives me a stern look in return. Walking up to her, I brace myself for the usual lecture I get.

"You need to stop staying out so late. I give you a lot of freedom, but you know school is first!" She says.

"I know, I'm sorry."

"Just please, try and get more sleep. Chloe Anne and Camille can survive one night without you."

"I know. You're right."

There is a honk outside my house. "Got to go." I hug my mom and head outside. There is a pink convertible outside waiting for me. Two girls are sitting inside. One is Camille, the other is Chloe Anne. They are my best friends.

"Would you hurry up?" Chloe Anne demands.

"You always take forever!" Camille adds.

I jump up and place my bottom on the car. I swing my legs over and sit in the car. Once I am sitting, Camille takes off. I feel myself jolt backwards with the wind taking my breath away. Coughing I look up. Camille has a smile on her face.

"Why do you always do that?" I yell at her.

"You should be used to it by now," Chloe Anne answers for her.

I roll my eyes as we make our way to the school. Camille whips into the parking lot and to her spot. Once the car is stopped, I jump out. Being over-dramatic, I take a seat on the concrete and breathe heavily.

"I'm safe now. Thank gosh for the land," I say.

"Get off the ground you drama queen!" Camille giggles.

I stand up and walk up to them. We link our arms and head up to the building. As we make our way to the steps, I see Chace Marx. He is what you would call, an "outsider." He never seems to care about anyone and normally keeps to himself. He is just a simple kid. I sort of envy him for that. He never has to hear anyone's drama.

That must be nice.

Entering the school, I see Jack Coleson. Jack is a genius. He is in the video/computer club. He can hack into anything. He also belongs to the drama club. It might sound like he is lame, but he isn’t. His acting helps him a lot. He can get away with anything. I'd say it's a surprisingly good skill.

An orange flash goes past my face. I watch as a basketball is tossed across the hallway. It is close to hitting me, but I don't even flinch. This happens every day. The basketball is caught by another student on the other side of the hallway. That is Kyle James. He is the school's basketball star. He is a sweet guy. I mean, you would think he'd be cocky and all about himself, but he is not. I occasionally talk to him.

Next, I see Vince Parker. Vince is a bully. He picks on everyone and loves to get in fights. Fighting him is never a good idea though. He is extremely strong and knows how to fight well. I would say he is semi nice. Sometimes he really is an okay person, but most of the time, he is not.

"You'll be at practice tonight, right?" Camille asks me.

"I should be," I answer. Camille, Chloe Anne, and I are cheerleaders. We have been since middle school. Our cheerleading squad is awesome. We do the normal cheering for sports and stuff but also other things. We compete in more than just cheer competitions. There is a lot of dancing involved in our routines. We compete in dance competitions as well. That is what I like to do.

"Just thought I'd ask since you missed yesterday."

"I told you I had to babysit my brother."

"You sure you don't have a secret romance going on?" Chloe Anne teases.

I give her a look and say, "No Chloe Anne, I don't."

They both giggle. We split up and head to our lockers. I reach mine and put my combination in. I pull on the little handle, but it doesn't open. It must be jammed or something. I kick the bottom of it and redo my combination. I pull again. It moves slightly, so I pull harder. Before I know it, the door flies open. I wait to hear it crash against the other locker door, but it doesn't. Looking up, I see a hand has caught it.

"Were you trying to hit me?" A voice asks from behind my locker door.

"I'm so sorry! It was jammed and I pulled too hard I guess," I explain.

A body finally moves out from behind the door. As soon as we lock eyes, I glare. He must have noticed my change in attitude because he starts smirking.

I cross my arms over my chest and say, "If I knew it was you, I would've tried harder to hit you."

"I still would've caught it. I have great reflexes," Skylar says.

"Really? Aren't you amazing?"

"I am. Thanks for noticing."

My glare hardens and I move slightly. Quickly I move my fist towards his chest. He reacts more quickly and grabs my wrist right before it collides with his chest. I look down at his grip and then back at him.

He pulls me close to him and whispers, "I told you."

I sigh in annoyance and jerk my wrist away from him. After grabbing my books and shutting my locker door, I turn towards my class.

Let me tell you something about Skylar Cross. He is considered the school's "Bad Boy." Every girl wants him, well except for me of course. I cannot stand him. He is cocky and disrespectful. I will admit he is good-looking, but his personality destroys that. Also, I am sure he is working against my team. I mean, he was there last night and I'm sure it was for that mysterious man with the weird creatures. Skylar is just bad news.

"Meghan! Wait up! Hey, please move. Meghan!" A girl's voice yells.

I roll my eyes and turn around. I watch as Roxii Knight pushes her way through a group of students. Roxii is a sweet girl, but she is completely annoying. She belongs to our school’s newspaper club. Since I'm a cheerleader, she always wants to talk to me.

Once she reaches me, I smile. "I'm so glad I caught you!" She starts. "I was looking around and you were nowhere! Then I saw you with Skylar, so I waited and..."

"Roxii! Just tell me whatever you came to tell me," I say interrupting her rambling.

"Right, sorry. I just thought you'd like to know that Mrs. Adams went into labor last night," she says.

"What? Who is going to teach Chemistry now?" I ask.

"My stepbrother. He's taking her place until she can return."

"Oh, I guess that's cool." I tell Roxii bye and head to Chemistry. I absolutely love Mrs. Adams, even though she occasionally got boring. Having a new Chemistry instructor will be exciting. Except every time a new teacher comes in, they change up our groups or partners.

I enter the room and take a seat in the back. Slowly more students file in. We wait patiently until Roxii's brother enters the room. Immediately I recognize him. Not just as Roxii's brother but as a police officer. He has been trying to bring down the Night Owls. He is against teenagers being able to do his job better than him. I am just lucky he doesn't know I am part of the team. That would be bad.

As soon as the bell rings Roxii's brother stands up and says, "Alright. As most of you know Mrs. Adams had her baby so I will be taking over for a while. My name is Mr. Blake. Let me go through attendance. Meghan Briar?"

"Here," I say raising my hand.

"Samantha Carpenter?"

"Here."

"Skylar Cross?"

The room is silent. Mr. Blake looks up from the attendance sheet. He scans the room before repeating Skylar's name.

"I wouldn't waste your time. He will show up when he wants too," I finally say.

Mr. Blake nods and goes back to the list. "Jane Daw..."

He is interrupted by the door opening. I watch as Skylar walks in and takes a seat in the empty seat at the front. He sets his book down and then says, "Thanks for that Meghan."

I send him a look.

"I'm guessing you are Skylar Cross?" Mr. Blake asks.

"Yes sir, I am."

"I'd appreciate you being on time for my class."

"Sure thing," Skylar says.

Skylar's comment makes me giggle a bit. Only loud enough for me to hear it though. I don't want him to hear me. I'd never hear the end of it.

"Okay, so I'm going to be changing your lab partners. Samantha Carpenter you will now be with James Teller."

I wait patiently until he calls my name. I hope I get a good partner. I don't want to be the only one doing the work. That is no fun.

"Meghan Briar you will be with Skylar Cross."

I watch as Skylar turns around and looks at me. He wiggles his pen and smirks at me. Instantly I roll my eyes and raise my hand.

"Yes?"

"I don't want to be partners with him," I state.

"Well, if there's anyone willing to trade you then you don't have too."

I look around the room hopeful. Everyone diverts their eyes. I wait a second longer and realize no one is going to trade me.

"Wow, thanks a lot," I mutter.

Everyone moves around to sit at their new lab tables with their new lab partners. Skylar walks towards me. I move my bag off the seat next to me and place it on the ground beside me. Skylar takes his seat, and I glare at him. This is going to be a long class.

-----

"3...2...1..." Chloe Anne shouts above the music.

The team has finally found a beat we all like. We are using the song One More Night by Maroon 5. I for one am extremely excited about that. I absolutely love Maroon 5. Their songs are so full of energy.

We are all lined up with our backs to Chloe Anne. As soon as the music starts, we start. We clap our hand together and place them downward with the beat of the music five times. We then place our hands by our side and move to the right placing a hand in the air and the other hand to the right side. The routine goes on without mistakes.

"Okay get ready for the basket toss," Chloe Anne yells.

A basket toss is where a flyer is thrown high in the air and caught in the cradle of the base’s arms. I am excited for this because I am the flyer. I take my position quickly and feel myself being thrown into the air. I fall back into the arms of the others and the song ends.

Loud claps come from another side of the room. We all look and see that the basketball team has entered. After being set back on the ground, I walk to Camille.

"Amazing job! We are the best cheerleaders ever!" She squeals.

I laugh and say, "The routine Chloe Anne came up with, is pretty amazing!"

The basketball coach walks up to Chloe Anne and tells her something. She nods her head and turns back to face all of us.

"Okay, practice is over! Fantastic job today," she says.

I walk into the locker room alone and grab a towel. I wipe some sweat off while grabbing my bag. After I do this, I put my bag over my shoulder and head out of the room. Just before I walk into the hall I am stopped by a hand on my arm. I turn around quickly and see Kyle.

"Hey. Are you going to make it tonight? We found out some information on the guy that was in charge," he says.

"I'll be there," I say walking away and heading outside.

Since I rode with Camille this morning I am walking home. She offered to take me, but I said I wanted to walk. It's only a few miles and I need some time to think. Plus, I am going to meet up with the guys and she doesn't need to know that.

I didn't want to tell Kyle I already know who the mystery guy is. It's Stephen Cross. Skylar's uncle. If I tell him that, he will go after Skylar, and I cannot let that happen. And if Vince found out he would kill Skylar.

I wish I was kidding but I'm not. He would kill him.

After taking a few more steps I notice a black car behind me. I pull out my phone and open my camera. I turn it so it is facing me, and I can look behind me. I speed up and the car keeps following me. I pull out my small knife and stop walking. The car stops next to me and slowly the window rolls down revealing someone.

"Put the knife away Meghan. You and I both know you won't hurt me," The driver says.

"Why are you here?" I ask.

"You look like you could use a ride."

"I'm not getting in a car with you."

"Get in," He demands.

I think for a moment and then put my knife away. After sighing, I step forward and enter the car. We drive in silence for a bit. I watch the houses and tree as we drive. Being in this car with him, is irritating me. He knows it's irritating me, that's why he followed me.

We reach my house, and I reach for the door handle.

"Aren't you going to thank me?"

I run my tongue across my top teeth in annoyance and turn to face him. "Thank you, Skylar. I certainly couldn't have made my way home without you."

He chuckles and I exit the car. I walk to the front door and watch as Skylar leaves. Once he is out of sight I turn around and head across the street. There is an abandoned house there. After looking around I enter the house.

"There you are!" Jack says pulling me with him. I look around at all the guys while following Jack.

We make our way to a small table before he changes direction and walks to a computer. I stop walking and wait for him to put the mystery guy findings on the screen. Once Stephen Cross's face is placed on the screen I freeze. Vince, Chace, and Kyle walk in and stand around me.

"So, this is the guy. His name is Stephen Cross," Jack says.

I turn around and walk to the counter to grab a water.

"He is Skylar Cross's uncle. Now I don't know if Skylar is in on his plan or not, but he should be watched. Meghan, I thought you could keep an eye on him."

I have my back turned and take a sip. I cannot believe they already figured out that Skylar's uncle is in charge. It's good I guess though. Now I don't have to tell them.

"Meghan?" Chace says coming up to me.

"Huh? Oh sorry."

"What are you not telling us?" Vince asks.

I take deep breath before saying, "I already knew it was Stephen Cross. I knew because, before I left the building last night, Skylar was there."