KING, the hundred

one: caught in the act

"If you say that you are mine
I'll be here 'til the end of time
So you got to let me know
Should I stay or should I go?"

Avery's shoulder-length curly hair bounced up and down as her body bopped to the music playing loudly in the small closet-like space. She moved her hands and feet awkwardly as she swayed around the room. She was by no means a dancer, but she needed to do something else to get her mind off of the passing time.

She was in her lab, as per usual, mixing what looked like a weirdly green substance. She sniffed it and stopped stirring it when she felt it was satisfactory, taking off her mostly-broken safety glasses and placing them on top of her head. She didn't know how much good they actually did, but not going blind was pretty high on her priority list.

"Avery!" She heard Jasper's yell from the other room. She kept swaying her body slightly to the music as she moved the pot in front of her across the counter to a gas stove.

"Yeah?" She called back to him. She paused her stirring and waited for another yell from the boy. When he didn't reply for a moment, she yelled again. "Come on, Jasper! I can't wait all day for you here!"

Her scrawny friend came rushing awkwardly in through the door to the small room, gripping the ski goggles on top of his head to make sure they didn't fall off as he moved.

"Don't worry, don't worry. Gosh, it's not like I do anything for you around here. Besides, I come bearing gifts." He rolled his eyes and sauntered into the small room holding a plastic bin full of little green plants in each hand.

Avery's eyes darted towards the substance. She rushed over to him quickly, grabbing the plastic bins from his hands to place them on the countertop.

"Damn, Jasper! This is enough to last us awhile. Forget anything bad I've ever said about you." She gave him a wide grin and kissed him on the cheek. She then diverted her attention back to the plants sitting on her counter. Jasper smiled back at her. He stepped towards the counter and leaned his arms casually against the surface.

"I'm guessing Monty isn't back yet?" She questioned. Jasper almost answered, but just as she spoke, a shorter-than-Jasper boy came running through the door. Panic was evident in his dark-colored eyes, and the other two teenagers to looked up quickly, their attention diverted from their task.

"Guys," Monty said, weakly. He wrung his hands together harshly, his knuckles were nearly white. Avery felt her own blood run cold. "We got a problem."

"Monty," Avery started, speaking especially calmly as she stretched her hand out towards the boy. "What happened?"

"I – um, I – forgot to put the weed back." He stuttered, looking close to tears.

"Monty!" Jasper and Avery yelled at the same time.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Avery glared at him, and Monty shrunk back from the occasionally terrifying girl.

"I – I don't know, I just forgot." He stuttered out. "Oh god, we're going to get floated! This is all my fault!" The boy began to panic, and Avery expression immediately shifted from anger to a weak attempt at trying to calm her friend down.

"Monty. Hey, Monty. Monty!" She whisper-yelled. "It's going to be okay! We're going to be okay." She gave him a little smile despite knowing that they were in deep shit.

"Plus, we can't technically get floated cause we're not eighteen yet." Jasper added, and although the comment wasn't exactly helpful, it made the Avery laugh. Jasper Jordan - always the comedian.

The smile drained from her face when a knock at the door startled the three teenagers. Avery's mind was whirring. Of all the things to get them caught, it wasn't even anything they were selling. She willed herself to focus.

"Open up!" The voice from outside the door called.

"Shit." Avery cursed. "Put everything away." She started to panic slightly, kneeling down to push pots and pans underneath the cabinets of the dingy room around them.

"Avery, there's no time." Jasper said, sounding panicked. His hands were already out of his pockets. He and Monty had given up already, and that frustrated Avery more than the stupidity of not putting a little bit of weed back.

A mere second later, the door to the room burst open and three guards came running in the door. They towered over the teens and pointed their taser-sticks of doom (as Avery liked to call them) at Avery and the boys.

"Get your hands up!" The guards yelled. "Now! Where I can see them." The teens did as they were told and Avery felt her hands being pulled from the air and pinned to her sides. She felt pressure on the backs of her legs as her knees were forced to the ground.

"Avery King. Jasper Jordan. Monty Green. You're all under arrest for theft of medicinal supplies and possession of illegal substances." Chancellor Jaha announced, although he didn't look particularly surprised at the names. Even when she was a child, he had never liked Avery. "You will be placed in the Skybox and held until further evaluation at age eighteen."

He eyed the teens and tilted his chin upward in disapproval when his gaze met Avery's. She just stared back, her expression blank as she clenched her jaw.

"Take them away." He said, and the teens were moved to the SkyBox.

Avery figured she was dead. She didn't want things to be this way. She never wanted things to be how they were. But she always knew it was going to end like this. She knew what she was.

She was just sorry she'd roped two people she considered brothers into it.