System Nullification

Chapter 5

 "Our weekend's nearly over guys," Brianna announced. "Anything we could do?"

 "There's no parties to crash. I got nothing," Zephyr sighed.

 "That was actually pretty funny though. My method of party crashing," Skylar laughed.

 "I'm hoping that's the last time we do something as crazy as that," Reed griped. "For some reason, though, I'm starting to doubt that already."

 "I wonder what Riley's reaction was when everyone cleared out and she found out the stove was turned on," William grinned. "I would've paid to see her face."

 The whole group was on a video call. I kind of wished we all had a sleepover instead. It would have been fairly entertaining to prank the boys in their sleep.

 A random thought came to mind, and I texted Austin about it. "Wait a second. Can't we just track down the people planning the school shooting?"

 Austin replied, "We already tracked their hideout down. There are explosions set up all around. We don't have anyone on our team that knows how to deactivate explosions, and we don't want to detonate them."

 "Eh, anyway, it seems too late to do anything," Skylar assumed. "Now, I know you're all surprised because I'm the one saying this despite it being 8 pm, but... well, mom and such. Plus my overprotective brother."

 "What was that about me being overprotective?" Skylar's brother, Troy, yelled in the background.

 "You know it's true!" Skylar shouted back.

 "Aww... well, if we can't do anything, let's talk about the interesting stuff!" Brianna enthusiastically said.

 "What exactly do you mean by 'the interesting stuff?'" Reed asked.

 "School gossip is always entertaining," William said. "I've been in the school for about... a day. Yeah, a day. Weekends don't count. Tell me more."

 "The student segment of the school blog is filled with Riley freaking out about the whole party thing," Zephyr laughed, reading down the screen. "She even took a picture of the lit stove and the smoke machine!"

 "Aren't I fucking brilliant?" Skylar boasted.

 "Unfortunately, we all have different definitions of... 'brilliant,'" Reed smirked.

 "Damn it Reed, don't ruin the moment," Jackson complained.

 "The party's interesting and all, but what about this group?" Brianna proposed. "Why do people like us so much? What is it about us they should be liking, exactly? Actually, scratch that, what is it about each other that we should be liking?"

 "Basically, you want each and everyone of us to tell each other our deepest, darkest secrets," I summarized.

 "Indeed," Brianna replied.

 "That's my thing!" Reed protested. "Wait, well, I guess it's a group thing."

 "First question," Skylar butt in. "How many parents... or parent... I don't know, do each of us have? Starting alphabetically, first name wise, from Brianna."

 "One," Brianna said.

 "Two," I continued.

 "My turn?" Jackson asked, then answered. "Two."

 "Two..." Reed awkwardly said. "Why are we doing this?"

 "One," Skylar said.

 "Uh, four," William said. "Kinda."

 "Four?!" Zephyr gaped, then shook his head. "Uh, I have two."

 "Okay..." Brianna said. "Next question. Past love lives, including crushes! Did those exist? Alphabetically, starting with me, and I can reassure you, yes. I had lots of crushes. Lots of guys had crushes on me. And I didn't do a damn thing."