What Comes After

s i x

Mike's POV

I slumped down onto the train seat, Catie next to me. Fine, we were late, but not that much. At least we were on - really, that was all that mattered.

"HEY!"

I looked up. Oh, god, no.

Please don't let it be...

It was Harper.

Of course it was Harper.

"Look, it's my best friend," I said loudly. Harper rolled her eyes.

"Hurry up and come over. Sticking together improves our chances of getting out of here without being seen."

"Genius," I muttered.

Harper narrowed her eyes. "Less than a minute in and you're already insulting me."

"I called you a genius."

"You were being sarcastic."

"What if I wasn't?"

"You were."

"True."

We gave up on making conversation, and walked down to the end of the train, through a door, and into the cargo section. A dark-skinned girl was lying across four boxes, tapping away at her phone. The phone was off.

"That's Nikki," Catie whispered to me. "Mike, meet Nikki. Nikki, meet Mike." I smiled politely.

Nikki grinned. She literally radiated happiness, and I felt the need to shield my eyes. "Knowing Tem, she probably didn't welcome you. So I will. Welcome to..." She trailed off. "This train."

Harper shook her head slowly. "Nikki, you sat us in the luggage drop."

"You told me to hide."

"Yes, but not in a luggage drop."

"It's a nice luggage drop."

"It's a luggage drop."

Nikki pouted. "Tem..."

"Well, I hope you don't mind," Harper announced, "because we've got three more days of this." 

[ sorry, this one's pretty short. also, i admit that i kind of ship tem and mike. no regrets.

by the way, tem is harper's nickname! ]