Aurelio Gutierrez was not actually my Uncle. I've known him since before I was able to pronounce his name, which is the reason I've called him Uncle Lio my whole life.

He attended and graduated from the same police academy as my dad. They had been close friends ever since. 

He basically is like my family, which is why seeing him here while my friends and I broke into our school was a little nerve-wracking for me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him casually.

"Some locals in the area said they thought they saw some kids sneaking into the school. Where's Cyrus? I know he can't be far behind you."

A nervous chuckle broke out from literally behind me. "Hi Uncle Lio," Cyrus said as he tucked his nerf gun behind his back.

"Who's your new friends?" He asked, noticing the three extra people he hasn't seen us hang out with yet.

Declan cleared his throat to speak for the first time. "I'm Declan, sir. This is Natalie and that's Adam in the back."

Natalie was still wide-eyed as she gave him a nervous wave and Adam simply nodded his head at him in greeting.

I stepped towards Uncle Lio and pulled him away so we could talk privately.

"I can't belive you just ratted me out to a cop," I heard Adam grumble from the background as I guided Uncle Lio to the side.

"So I know this looks bad but we're just a couple of stupid kids playing around. It's all in spirit for the senior prank. Last time I checked that wasn't illegal."

"Rowena what do you think your dad will say if he knew that you were breaking into schools? Not to mention how he'd react to where your little friend back there had his hands just now."

"Um- he's not going to react or say anything, because you're my favorite Uncle and you would never rat me out like that to my dad. Plus, we're just friends..."

He lifted his brows looking entirely unconvinced.

"Are we really going to get in trouble for this Uncle Lio?" I asked, half whining about it.

He studied me for a moment and then looked around the area before he spoke. "Did you break anything?"

I shook my head in response.

"Did you make any mess?"

"Possibly some stray bullets lying around," I said looking back at the nerf guns that Declan still held in his hands.

Adam had tossed his to the ground, leaning back against the lockers like he had been doing nothing, while Cyrus seemed to be talking Natalie out of a low-grade panic attack.

"I'm a really good kid this year Uncle Lio, you'd be so proud. Plus, you know Cyrus doesn't deserve to get in trouble, I practically drag him into this kind of stuff. And look at my new friend Natalie, you can pretty much see her shaking with nerves."

He took a long breath and sighed. "Clean up your mess, all of you," He said raising his tone so we could all hear him. "You have ten minutes to find any stray bullets and I should be seeing you driving away from this school." 

"Yes sir," I said, throwing him a salute before we scattered away to clean any of our mess.

----------------------------------

"What the hell am I even looking at right now?"

It was the morning after our nerf war and we had all somehow gathered at my locker before class. The hall was crowded with students and teachers trying to get to their classes and prep for the day.

But I wasn't thinking of the morning rush, I was trying to understand what was happening at the end of the hall.

"I think they're... feasting... on each other's faces?" Declan tried and Cyrus gagged.

Gagging was the only appropriate response to the make-out session between Duncan and Brooke.

"Since when are they a thing? Duncan literally hates everyone," Natalie sounded as confused as the rest of us.

I didn't exactly see Duncan going for anyone, but Brooke would have been my last guess.

She had a nasally voice and her attitude was complete shit, judging by how she treated Natalie at the diner that one night. I suppose she was hot though, and Duncan was a guy after all.

"Oh my god, I just thought of the literal demon they would breed if someone doesn't stop them right now." Adam was visibly cringing as he spoke.

"I'm not going anywhere near that. This is my safe spot right here." I was just tucking some books into my bag before shutting my locker and leaning against it.

I felt my phone buzz from my back pocket. I opened my messages and Uncle Lio was at the top of my recents.

>>No bad choices today. Tell your guy friend I know where he lives now. No funny business from him either.

I snorted at my phone before sending him a text back.

<<You sound just like dad. Thanks for covering for us last night. See you soon old man.

He sent me a single emoji of the middle finger.

"I can't believe I'm actually excited to go to English right now," Adam said finally looking away. "See you guys!"

As he walked away, I saw Jeremy at the end of the hall, looking towards the rest of us without a single emotion in his expression.

"Oh," Natalie said, "I guess that's my que too." She gave us a little goodbye smile before going to meet at the end of the hall.

"Hey man, what do you think of Jeremy?" Cyrus asked as he watched the two of them walk off. I waited and listened for Declan's response, genuinely curious for myself.

"I don't know, kind of an asshole, I guess. He mainly keeps to himself though, so I guess I'm still trying to figure him out."

"Hm," Cyrus hummed in response. "See you in math Row," He said to me, but his mind was somewhere else as he walked away.

"You ready for another session tonight?" Declan asked, catching my attention once again.

"Yeah, where do you want to study this time?"

"We should probably do my house. Evelyn's been asking about you, I guess she misses you or something." I let out a laugh at that. I had no idea his little sister even liked me.

I finally made it to class, wiggling myself comfortable in my chair while flipping my notebook open to an empty page. The teacher walked in shortly afterward.

"Everyone flip to page 57 of your textbooks so we can begin where we left off."

Mr. Flanagan set his stuff down at his desk and opened his own book before pulling his chair out to sit down.

"Jenna, please remind me what we discussed yest- what in the world?" He lifted himself off his chair to grab something from under him. When he opened his hand, a small foam nerf bullet was resting in his palm.

I put a hand over my mouth to hide my smile as Mr. Flanagan tossed it to the side and continued with the class.

A/N: I'm excited for next chapter ;)

Next update will most likely be on Friday as usually planned.

✨Thanks for reading✨