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Recap:

Bennett's decision to leave the others made them almost disbanded the group. Almost. Determined, the remaining three sought out to find Bennett to properly end the Contract of Starbucks- mostly to have them get the last word, the final say at him. All the need is Bennett's signature, but one must be reminded that he is a Frazier- and no one can truly afford a Frazier's signature.

-

"Are you sure you can't just hack into the system to-"

"Naomi, for the last time, I won't go into the school database just to change your missing attendance," Jordan said in exasperation. "Even our own teachers are pulling in subs to skip out on the last week of school."

"But colleges can rescind their offers to students who have drastic grade changes or get into trouble," I said nervously.

"Don't worry," he said, waving me off. "If they take away your offer, you can have mine."

"That's not how it works, Jordan." I didn't even bother to think if he was kidding or not.

"You two, enough," Declan snapped. "Naomi, stop worrying about that and focus on our plan. And Jordan, no one wants your college offer."

Jordan scoffed. "Excuse me?"

"You're excused," Declan told him. Leaning against a wall with his arms folded across his chest, he looked back in front of him across the street. "So?"

I turned around with my back against the street looking down at my phone to look like I was checking through my social media. "Every time we go to Bennett's apartment, it's the same doorman," I said. "He's not standing by the door but at the desk, so his shift isn't up yet. We'll have a better chance of getting in if he's at the door."

Jordan took a knee to pretend to tie his shoe as he explained, "I took a nice walk around the apartment and all of the security cameras were in the same place. The only other entrance is for the underground parking lot that has its own security guard stationed there." He stood up, looking at us. "If the main door doesn't work, worst case scenario we wait for the shift change for the garage."

"Even if the front entrance is our best bet, I still think it won't work," I said. "Usually Bennett informs them that he has guests when he invites us over. They'll turn us away if they weren't notified ahead of time and we obviously can't ask Bennett to let us in given he blocked us."

Jordan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but that's just him being posh and polite whatever. He doesn't actually have to do it. Besides, we've been over at his place plenty of times, the doorman must already recognize us. He might even treat us in the first-class Frazier royalty treatment."

Jordan and I then turned to look at Declan for the tiebreaker, and he let out a sigh. "Naomi, you may be right about this but we don't have any other option, so Jordan-"

"-be your brilliant self?" Jordan finished with a cocky grin. "Aren't I always?"

Declan and I didn't say anything in response, the silence answering for us.

As we began walking towards the apartment complex as we saw the shift change, Jordan boasted, "The key is confidence. As long as you believe it, they'll believe it too. You gotta have the mentality that everything will work. Think of it as the Anti-Murphy's Law, call it: the Jordan's Law

I frowned. "Even when it doesn't?"

"Especially when it doesn't," Jordan emphasized.

Suddenly, Jordan stopped to look at his reflection on the glass of the building. Holding a charming smile at himself, he slicked his hair back through his fingers and straightened up his jacket.

"Five bucks says he won't even get three minutes," Declan whispered to me.

I gave him a look in disbelief. "I can't believe you. You think Jordan wouldn't get three minutes in with the doorman? The lack of faith you have in him."

I scoffed. "I'd be surprised if he'd even make it past the door."

Just as we had shook hands for our deal, Jordan was already at the front entrance.

"Watch and learn," Jordan mouthed to us with a wink before pushing the door open.

Or at least tried to.

Jordan wasn't able to open the door not because it was closed or he was too weak to. It was because someone was holding it in place. The doorman then pushed the door forward, leaving the building and standing in front of Jordan.

Declan cursed under his breath and dug out his wallet to hand me a five-dollar bill onto my open palm.

The doorman, practically towering over Jordan, took a step forward to glare down at him. Then he suddenly put on a small pair of glasses to look down at a clipboard.

"Jordan L. Wallace?" The man read off.

Jordan frowned. "Yeah?"

"Naomi L. Lorraine?"

"Present," I said as I slightly raised my hand up before stopping myself, realizing my habit.

"And Ra- I mean, Declan Lynch," he concluded.

"What of it?" Declan asked.

He put the clipboard and glasses away... somewhere, then looked at each one of us.

"You three were placed on our list-"

"The nice list?" Jordan offered.

"No," he shut down, giving a look that this, or well dealing with Jordan, was above his pay grade. "You were placed on our list barring you from entering our property."

"So the naughty list..." Jordan concluded, nodding to himself with a frown.

"I take it Bennett was the one who placed us in this list," Declan said bitterly.

The doorman gave him a stone-faced look. "It is Mr. Frazier," he corrected. "And I cannot disclose such information."

"We're not idiots," Declan said dryly before correcting himself, "we're not all idiots."

"I would hope for that too," the doorman replied.

"C'mon, you know us," Jordan pushed. "We're Bennett's friends. He always had us over. You've opened the door for us all the time. We practically live there."

"And yet he placed you three on our no visitation list," the doorman stated.

Jordan snapped his fingers and shot the doorman finger guns. "So you admit that he placed us on the list," Jordan pointed out with a grin.

Declan and I each grabbed one of Jordan's arms and dragged him away before the doorman could do anything.

At a safer distance, Jordan shook us off of him. "It was worth it. The doorman didn't let me do anything. You couldn't even watch and learn," Jordan huffed.

"So what now?" I asked.

Declan scratched his head before exhaling. "Alright, follow me."

Jordan and I shared a look before we followed after him. We went around the block then into an alley. I recognized the back of the apartment building but Declan then stopped at the dumpster enclosure, a fenced-off area to hold the dumpster so the alley would be clear and presentable. At the moment, the sliding door of the enclosure was open perhaps because it was trash day today.

Jordan scoffed. "Don't worry Declan, it's trash can, not trash can't."

"One more smart remark out of you and you're getting into this thing," Declan snapped at him with a smirk.

Suddenly, Declan slid the door to the side, hiding the dumpster in its enclosure, and walked past it. I was confused why we were going to the dead-end of the side of the alley when I saw that right behind the wall of the enclosure was a side entrance. It was a block exterior design and it was only after a better look did I see one of the blocks was a door with a locked handle. With the sliding door open, you could've never seen this space, much less a door.

"You knew a secret entrance all along?" Jordan asked in disbelief, looking around.

"Apparently famous people would stay here so they have this side entrance to get away from paparazzi," Declan explained as he dug out his wallet. "Bennett told me if anything happens and we had to get into his apartment, I'll use this key-" just as he held out a key in front of us.

"The trust," Jordan gasped out.

"Sorry Declan, but why didn't we do this in the first place?" I asked him.

"So we can watch Jordan make a fool out himself," Declan said with a shrug.

"And for me to get five bucks richer?" I added with a smile.

"What five bucks?" Jordan asked while Declan and I only chuckled together.

"Well, it was really because-" Declan inserted the key and turned the handle only for it to not budge "-I figured this would happen." He sighed. "Can't get anything past Bennett."

"Did everyone just forget one of my many iconic skills of lockpicking?" Jordan asked as he took out his wallet to get a couple of his pins before getting to work.

"No," Declan told him. "I figured you'd need a pick-me-up after being rejected by the doorman."

Jordan paused for a moment then the corner of his mouth twitched into a smile before he continued picking the lock. "Yeah, yeah. Did watching that stir up any old memories getting rejected? You should tell me what helps you feel better later."

"There isn't any alarm for the door in case any apartment staff are paid off by any reporters that a celebrity is taking this entrance, but there's a security camera. Best case scenario, they figure out we were here just as we're leaving the apartment."

After getting into the building, we took the stairs rather than the elevator because of the cameras. There, we learned the hard way that we'd always lose against a battle of stairs especially since we had to climb up 17 floors of them. But before we knew it (no, that was a lie, we knew, we died knowing) we were standing in front of Bennett's apartment. However...

"It's open..." Declan muttered.

"What if it's a trap?" Jordan whispered.

"He wouldn't do that," I assured them before saying in an afterthought, "I think."

"No, you're right," Jordan said. "I mean what's the worst he can do? Throw food at us?"

"No, he wouldn't waste food for that," I told him.

"Don't you remember his gun, Jordan?" Declan asked.

Jordan blinked. "My brain hides traumatic memories. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Great, then you open the door."

"Oh God, they just came back. Thanks for the memories."

"You did not just quote-"

Sighing, I went between the bickering married couple and pushed open the door. The two of them instantly fell silent when we looked inside the apartment.

Cardboard boxes decorated the apartment as if cardboard was the theme of its interior design. Each box has different labels written in marker: clothes, shoes, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, cleaning, and books.

"He's actually moving..." I muttered.

"More like running away," Jordan grumbled under his breath.

"So what do we do now? Announce our arrival or help him move his stuff?" I asked.

Declan frowned, surveying the room. "We should- Wait."

Suddenly, there was a tired sigh.

"I think this should be the last box. Well, while I take a nap, you can unpack everything since you're such an amazing boyfriend and- Who are you?"

Standing in front of us was clearly not Bennett, but a young woman. The move was the reason for her tired appearance with her black hair tied into a messy bun and her light brown eyes at first washed over for a need for a nap were currently looking at us suspiciously. Those same brown eyes slowly looked to the side of us, and when I followed her line of sight, I saw a phone was on the counter, clearly closer to us than her. Then she looked down at the small box she was carrying in her hands before her gaze shifted to her right at a stack of open boxes.

Before any of us could explain ourselves, she threw the box she was carrying in our direction then ran to the stack of boxes. Declan moved forward to block the box from hitting us, and when it hit the ground, clothes fell out of it. Looking back at the woman, she was rapidly digging into the boxes until she pulled out-

"I knew buying this sword from AX would be worth it!" She exclaimed before turning around point an actual sword at us, its metal glinted in the light. "En freaking garde!" She declared.

"She's got a sword?" Jordan asked wistfully.

"That's what you're focused on?" I hissed in disbelief at Jordan.

Declan exhaled before pushing past the two of us towards the woman. "We're sorry. We weren't looking for any trouble and-"

"Ha! I watched enough movies," she snapped back. "You came all the way up to this apartment and opened my door? I don't know what you want with a broke college grad but I'm gonna tell you what you're gonna get- a taste of my sword."

"That's such a cool line..." Jordan said wistfully.

"What... are you doing?"

The three of us turned around to see a tall man standing behind us, holding a duffel over his shoulder. However, his attention was not on us but was instead on the woman.

She slightly lowered her sword yet still held her stance. "I'm defending our property. This is our property, right? We signed the lease?"

He sighed and walked past us. "Of course we signed the lease or else we wouldn't be here. Why do you think a sword will help?"

"I chose fight over flight," she defended. "There's like three of them. And they're taller-"

"We're at the top floor of an apartment complex with security at both the main lobby and garage," he said deadpanned. "Even if they were looking to rob someone, they would've gone to the first level for a quicker getaway."

She dropped her arm, the sword now at her side. "But I looked cool?" She offered weakly.

"Yeah, sure. Good job. Proud of you," the man said before he patted her head as if to comfort her, but she shot him a glare in annoyance.

"Whoever you were looking for isn't here anymore," the man said without looking at us. "Now leave."

-

"I want to get a sword..." It was difficult hearing Jordan muttering this since he was moping around with his head on the table.

"Out of reflex, I was going to say you should ask Bennett to buy you one," I said before closing my eyes and sighing.

There was a pause before Jordan grumbled, "So we're just going to give up now?"

Declan massaged his temples with his fingers, but they gave him no solace since he was still frowning with his eyebrows knitted together. "What else can we do? He could be anywhere by now."

"Are we just going to forget about this guy's iconic skills of hacking?" I asked, jabbing my thumb in Jordan's direction.

Declan stopped, opened his eyes, looked at Jordan, and raised an eyebrow- specifically in that order.

"You can do that?"

Jordan abruptly sat up from his chair, scratching his head almost anxiously. "Pfft, yeah, of course I can. I'm Jordan freaking Wallace. Jack of all trades, master of none."

"Why didn't you bring it up before?" Declan asked. "I'm used to you usually advertising yourself that I didn't bother asking."

"Well maybe I just wanted to be noticed by... senpai..." Jordan frowned. "Nevermind, that reference gets lost with you, and we're the same year."

Declan quirked an eyebrow, proving Jordan to be correct. I simply put my face in my hands.

"Anyway... let me just get my laptop so I can do my thing and-"

"You mean your laptop right here?" I asked, pointing at the laptop right on the table.

Jordan frowned down at his laptop, a sight I never thought I'd see given his pride in his technical skills. "Yeah... how the hell is it here?"

"Magic," Declan told him.

"You were looking up how to find a sword," I informed Jordan.

"Right..." Jordan said. "Right, right, right. That thing. I'll do that later tonight."

"Well then, prepare to be amazed," he told us. Jordan opened up his laptop, cracked his knuckles before typing away. Declan and I could only watch in awe as we saw Jordan unchained, free to roam in his playing field, throwing his skills at his mercy.

Finally, Jordan pushed the laptop away and folded his arms across his chest. "Ta da!" He said with a forced grin.

We all leaned forward to look at the screen before looking back at Jordan.

Jordan glanced away, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Er..."

Looking at his laptop screen, all Jordan did was search up on Google: "Bennett Frazier's house".

Before I could even begin to form a question, Jordan hit his head against the table.

"I'm useless," Jordan groaned out.

"Well yes, but please explain why you are at this very instance," Declan asked just as I smacked his shoulder to which he only smirked in response.

Jordan was too depressed to even retaliate, much less acknowledge or even notice Declan's remark.

"Everything..." Jordan mumbled.

"What?" Declan and I asked in unison.

"He... got... everything..." Jordan stated.

"Well, I mean, he does," I said. "Isn't that his whole thing? He's Bennett Fraizer, he literally has everything."

Declan shrugged. "You're better off counting what he doesn't have."

"No, you don't understand," Jordan told us, slowly sitting up from his seat. He wore a dark look, his head hung down with his bangs falling over his eyes.

"He got everything. My life. My purpose." Jordan looked at us as if there was nothing left for him in this world.

"He took... all of my equipment."

"Wait, what?" I asked.

Jordan abruptly stood up, his chair falling backward at the action, then began to list passionately, "My loyal WiFi Pineapple, my amazing wireless hacking adapter, my baby keylogger, my latest raspberry pi-" Jordan gritted his teeth. "He obviously had to take my long-range directional antenna. How could he even know to get my Packet Squirrel? Or even my Rubber Ducky and LAN Turtle?"

"How could you call it yours when he bought-"

Suddenly, Jordan put his face into his hands. "He even got the Bash Bunny! My Bash Bunny!" Jordan wailed. "How could he? I trusted him!"

"So... In short, Bennett confiscated your toys?"

"That's cold, Naomi," Declan said, his arms crossed, shaking his head to himself. "Even for you."

Jordan had his body fall forward to have his top half sprawl across the table. "Yeah..." Jordan mumbled, his cheek against the table, shamelessly pouting.

"This is new..." I muttered, poking his cheek.

Jordan eventually stood up just to pick up his chair before sitting down. "And so... I am now both angry and sad. I cycle between the two every couple of seconds."

"Is that why you wouldn't hack into the school system to change my attendance?" I asked in disbelief.

"Naomi, focus," Declan said. "And you, Jordan. Why didn't tell us this happened? Remember back then, at the Frazier main office? Were we just going to find out at the last possible minute because you were too busy thinking about yourself and not about the people who were at risk because of you?"

"Hey, that already happened.You don't have to bring that up," I told Declan, putting my hand on his shoulder.

"I-" Jordan clenched his fists, they trembled in anger, but suddenly, he released them. "No, Declan... You're right. I shouldn't have- I should have told you."

"When I found out they were all gone... I realized what a joke I am," Jordan said softly. "Before I met Bennett, I was just a geek about it. I knew about it all in theory, sure, but didn't have any equipment to back it up, couldn't afford it. I talked a big game about my skills but I only developed them because I had the