Under the Same Sky [BOYXBOY] - CHAPTER 19

Array
(
[text] =>

It was a month after the whole food fight and paintball fiasco. The weather was chilly as the boys trudged through the grounds as they followed the head janitor to begin their punishment.

The head janitor was a stout fellow and he spoke to them in his gruff voice as he led them to the hangars.

‘There are eight hangars in the school, six of which are used to house the flight machinery and equipment. You know the helicopters, gliders, and stuff. The aviation club mostly uses it to train their members though you have your occasional official class coming in now and then.’

The wind whipped up their collars as they summited a low hill. Below, the hangars and tarmac stretched out beneath them. They climbed down the hill as the head janitor continued to speak.

‘The other four is used as a warehouse. They contain broken machines, spare parts, and other thingamabobs. That’s where you’ll be going.’

They arrived in front of the first hangar and he pulled the wide doors open a crack to allow them to walk through.

The hangar was dim and dusty. He flipped a switch on the wall, bathing the room in white light. As he had said, the hangar was filled with all sorts of machinery and equipment. They lay about haphazardly all over the place. They were stacked high up to the roof in some and strewn about the floor in others.

The janitor dusted off his hands and turned to them. ‘This is it. The other three all look something like this. According to the headmistress’s orders, you are to arrange the place neatly and categorize the items you find. Seems an awful lot of punishment for causing a bit of a mess but I’m sure she has her reasons. After all, the madam knows best.’

He clapped his hands together. ‘Very well. Better get started. This is Hangar One and when you’re done you’ll move on to the next. Don’t worry about finishing it all today, it’s gonna take you a week at least. Would get your hands dirty but nothing wrong with a bit of hard work. I’ll leave you to it.’

He turned to leave but stopped when a visitor entered. He was followed by two boys who were looking a bit sheepish.

‘Now what’s this Bob?’ the head janitor asked.

‘Prof asked me to bring them to you for punishment.’

‘Couldn’t this have waited in my office for my return?’ the head janitor inquired, a bit annoyed.

‘No, sorry.’ Bob replied apologetically. ‘He requested that you attended to this right away.’

The head janitor rubbed his chin contemplatively. ‘Well, as long as they’re here they might as well join the others.’

Bob nodded and turned to his charges. ‘You heard the boss, get to work.’

‘I’ll be here at six to pick you up,’ the head said before leaving with Bob.

The boys stared at one another in the damp hangar. The others regarded the newcomers with curiosity. Jayden was the only one who seemed completely uninterested in them.

Samuel stepped forward. ‘Samuel Asamoah. What are you in for?’

‘Dude, we know who you are,’ one of the boys said. ‘You are like one of the most popular boys in our year.’

‘Oh,’ Samuel passed his hands through his hair and gave them an embarrassed grin. ‘I’m afraid I don’t know who you are.’

‘You are in the school band, right?’ Noel asked, stepping forward. ‘I recognize you from the band room.’

‘Yep,’ the boy said brightly. ‘I’m Leonardo and this is Cameron.’

Cameron nodded at them.

‘Nice to meet you,’ Samuel replied, beaming. ‘You already know me and I’m sure you know Paul.’ He gestured to Paul who nodded at them.

‘Your royal highness,’ Leonardo said with a bow.

‘Please don’t,’ Paul said with an embarrassed smile. ‘It’s just Paul.’

‘That’s Charles and this is Noel,’ Samuel continued.

Noel waved at them while Charles raised his shoulders in a shrug.

‘And the dark sullen one in the corner is-‘

‘Jayden Mills,’ Leonardo finished for him. ‘I know. We’ve been to his mother’s events though we’ve never properly met.’

Jayden glanced up at the sound of his name. He fixed them with a blank stare before turning back to what he was studying.

‘Oh yeah, I forgot. The Castellos are also members of the Noble 52, aren’t they?’

Leonardo nodded. Samuel leaned in and dropped his voice to a whisper.

‘I would be careful with him if I were you.’ He said, nudging his head in Jayden’s direction. ‘He is a backstabbing bastard. I will know, he literally stabbed me in the back! Can you believe it?’

For the past month since the paintball competition, Samuel had been telling anyone who would listen about how he had been betrayed and stabbed in the back in the most awful way possible.

Their eyes widened and leaned in to hear more when Jayden strolled over in a droll voice.

‘For the last time, I didn’t stab you in the back. I shot you in the face.’

Samuel shot him an incredulous look. ‘That’s the same thing!’

‘No, it’s not,’ Jayden corrected in a bored tone. ‘I don’t stab people in the back, I do it to their face because I want to see the expression on their face as it moves through surprise, confusion, shock, hurt, and rage. It’s quite amusing really.’

Samuel looked deeply offended. ‘I trusted you!’

Jayden shrugged. ‘Your mistake. I did warn you.’

Samuel huffed and turned away. ‘I can’t look at you right now.’

Jayden rolled his eyes. ‘Just don’t talk to me.’

‘Why don’t we get started?’ Noel suggested with an awkward smile.

The others nodded and they got to work. They worked in relative peace as they packed, arranged, and dusted the equipment. Samuel and Leonardo hit it right off and they were engaged in an animated conversation as they worked together. Noel and Cameron were engaged in a lively discussion about music as they also worked together.

Jayden and Paul had moved to a corner of the room where they worked in relative silence. Everyone worked quickly as they tried to finish up before time. Everyone that is, except Charles.

He had lifted himself onto a broken set of printers and folded his arms as he stared at the rest of them engage in a work he considered far beneath him. A friend of his had sneaked in and was working in his place, which Charles had insisted was technically the same thing.

They were too tired to argue with him and left him to his devices as they carried on. However, he had grown increasingly bored with each passing hour before he had enough and tried to liven the place.

He turned to the twins. ‘Hey, Castello! You never did say what brought you here.’

Cameron looked up from his work. ‘It’s all Leo’s fault really. We had History with the old Prof when he decided it was too boring for him so he had to liven it up.’

‘In my defence, the class was too boring,’ Leo shouted up from where he had been lifting boxes. ‘We were talking about rocks! Can you believe it? The history of rocks! As if that class wasn’t boring enough.’

‘Anyway,’ Cameron continued. ‘He made me distract Prof and if I knew what he had planned I would never have agreed to it. I told him I had a really interesting rock which seemed to have a lot of history and when he came over and bent down to study it closely, Leo rushed over to his laptop and fidgeted with it before coming back to his seat.’

Leo snickered. ‘It gets really interesting here.’

‘After a while, Prof looked up from the rock and agreed that though it was interesting, it had no history behind it. He tottered back to the front of the class and continued the lecture. We were all falling back asleep but woke straight up when he switched to the next slide and loud moans filled the classroom. The entire screen was filled with porn and not the normal kind too.’

‘No,’ Charles and Samuel replied in unison, their eyes wide with shock. They leaned in with interest. ‘What happened next?’

Leo was snickering loudly whiles Cameron fought to hide the amused expression on his face. ‘Well, the old man was astounded. He didn’t know what to do. He tried to stop it but he is far too old to know what to do. He finally managed to push a button that stopped the video but now the screen was frozen on a very… interesting image or should I say position.’

Cameron chuckled. ‘The old man was apoplectic with rage and you wouldn’t imagine what Leo did. He had the guts to stand up and say, ‘Why Professor, I didn’t know you had such particular… urges. It’s a bit unorthodox but nothing to be ashamed of though the history we should be studying should be that of your browser not of rocks. It would make a more interesting study, don’t you think?’

Leo burst into laughter. ‘I thought the old man would have a heart attack and die right there. You should have seen his face.’

Samuel was rolling with laughter and Charles looked at them with a new degree of respect. Even Paul laughed and Jayden now regarded them with something akin to interest.

Noel was the only one who didn’t find it amusing. ‘That wasn’t very nice,’ he muttered. ‘That could have actually sent him over. You know how old he is.’

Samuel placed his hand around his shoulder. ‘Lighten up. Nothing bad happened and everyone had a good laugh. It was harmless fun.’

‘Hey, look what I found!’

Everyone turned in the direction of the voice of Charles’s friend. He was at the very back of the large hangar and they walked over to him. Behind a towering stack of equipment was a helicopter. It had been covered by a tarp which lay on the floor beneath it.

‘Does it work?’ Charles asked eagerly, glad for the distraction.

‘Hold on, let me see.’ He climbed into the cockpit and played with the controls, lighting up the dashboard.

‘Yeah it is,’ he called from inside. ‘It’s just really old but it’ll fly. I wonder why they abandoned it, it’s in great shape for its age.’

Samuel, Charles and the twins jumped on board to explore its interior. Paul and Noel stayed out to study its exterior. Jayden was the only one who wasn’t interested in it. He stood behind, leaning on the wall with his hands inside his hoodie and an indifferent expression on his face.

‘Look,’ Charles exclaimed. ‘There are parachutes in here. Looks like it was used mainly for parachuting.’

‘Huh,’ Samuel stated, coming over to look at them. ‘I guess you’re right.’

‘Guys, maybe we should get back to work,’ Noel said nervously. ‘We have an awful lot to do.’

‘Who cares about that,’ Charles declared, jumping out. ‘I say we should take it out for a spin.’

‘Yeah,’ Leonardo cheered, jumping to stand behind him. ‘It’ll be fun.’

‘Don’t be stupid,’ Cameron snapped. ‘Who is even going to fly it?’

‘Rand can,’ Charles stated. ‘He’s in the aviation club and he has flown loads of times. His dad is a general in the air force.’

‘Yep,’ Rand said from the cockpit. ‘I even have a license if that makes you more comfortable.’

‘I don’t think it’s a good idea,’ Noel muttered.

‘Neither do I,’ Cameron agreed.

‘It’s not, it’s utter madness,’ Paul stated firmly. ‘We’re not doing it.’

‘Well, I think it is,’ Charles asserted.

‘You don’t think,’ Jayden drawled from behind. ‘You lack the brain to do so.’

Charles turned to him with a smirk. ‘Maybe you are afraid. Just admit you are a scared little coward.’

‘I’m not a coward, I’m just smart,’ Jayden corrected. ‘Shall I remind you, who lacks the balls amongst us?’

‘Alright then,’ Charles continued to smirk. ‘How about a little dare then?’

Jayden pushed himself up from where he had been leaning on the wall. ‘What dare?’

‘Let’s see who’ll be brave enough to get on that helicopter and parachute down into the forest. Or is that too dangerous for you?’

Jayden smirked wickedly. ‘You’re on.’

Charles smirked back. ‘Perfect.’ He turned to Rand. ‘Fire it up!’

They turned to get ready and Noel came up to Jayden with a worried expression on his face.

‘Jayden, I’m not so sure about this. I don’t think you should go.’

Jayden gave him a playful grin. ‘Don’t worry, this will not be the first time I’m doing this. It’s perfectly safe.’

Noel bit his lip in worry, still not satisfied. ‘You don’t have to do this.’

‘I don’t,’ Jayden agreed. ‘But I want to. Someone needs to knock that ego down a peg.’

‘Alright then,’ Noel gave up. His face set into a determined look. ‘I’m coming with you.’

Jayden blinked down at him. ‘No, you’re not.’

Noel’s face set more firmly. ‘Yes, I am. You said it was perfectly safe.’

‘It is, but you’ve never done it before.’

Noel shrugged. ‘I know the specifics you can just walk me through the technicalities. I’m coming.’

Jayden sighed. ‘Fine, but you have to listen to everything I say.’

Noel nodded eagerly, a pleased smile on his face. Leonardo bounded up to them. ‘If you’re going then we’re going too.’

‘We are?’ Cameron asked, confused.

‘Yes, we are,’ Leo stated firmly. ‘Trust me, we need this.’

‘Wait, you’re going?’ Paul walked over with his brows furrowed. ‘I thought we agreed that this was a bad idea.’

‘We did, and it is, but I’m not letting Jayden go alone.’

Paul frowned. He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. ‘Fine. I’m going too.’

Noel blinked. ‘You are?’

‘Someone’s got to be responsible and keep you all safe.’

‘Well, well.’ Charles chuckled from the top of the platform. ‘Look at you all coming around like I knew you would. Let’s just hope that there are enough parachutes for everyone.’

‘Hold on,’ Leo called out. ‘What about Samuel?’

Everyone turned to Samuel, who had been unusually quiet throughout the whole debate. He had been standing silently to the side with his arms folded and a deep look on his face.

At the mention of his name, he looked up. He glanced at Paul and sighed. ‘If Paul is going then I guess I’m going too.’

‘That’s it then.’ Charles clapped his palms enthusiastically. ‘It’s settled.’

He turned to Rand. ‘How are the pre-flight checks going?’

‘Good, I’m almost done,’ Rand replied, his voice muffled by the headset he was wearing.

‘What about parachutes? Do we have enough?’

‘There are only three in the chopper but I saw one in the corner over there.’

‘Alright everyone,’ Charles turned to the rest. ‘Get ready. It’s almost time for take-off.’

Everyone bustled about, getting ready for the flight. Twenty minutes later, they were all bundled in the helicopter as Rand began to take-off. They had opened the back hanger doors and they held on tight as the rotators spun into action with a whine and lifted the chopper unsteadily into the air.

‘Hold on tight,’ Rand called from the cockpit as he shot the helicopter through the doors and into the open air.

They held on tight as they stood next to the open doors of the chopper as it cut through the air.

‘SO WE’RE ALL CLEAR ON THE PLAN?’ Charles shouted against the scream of the wind and rotators. ‘RAND WILL FLY US OVER THE LAKE AND WE WILL PARACHUTE DOWN BY IT. THE FIRST ONES TO REACH THE DORMS WILL BE THE WINNER AND THE LOSERS WILL HAVE TO DO WHATEVER THEY SAY. GOT IT?’

The others nodded and held on tight as the chopper banked sharply to the right. They flew on for a while and Charles was beginning to get impatient.

‘WHAT’S THE MATTER?’ he asked into his earpiece.

‘I’m afraid we’ll have to cancel. There’s a fog coming in and it isn’t safe to keep flying.’

‘WHAT?’

‘I’m sorry but we have to go back. The fog is behind us so I’ll have to take the long way back. Hold on.’

The chopper rose higher into the air and banked left. Charles stomped his feet in disappointment as they settled for the return journey. They flew for a couple of minutes as Rand tried to find another way past the fog.

He turned the chopper left, then right, then left again. Noel was beginning to feel dizzy. He steadied himself against the body of the helicopter and Jayden shot him a worried glance.

Noel smiled assuredly at him and Jayden turned back. The wind picked up speed and Rand turned the chopper sharply right. As he did, Noel lost his grip and his mouth parted in shock as he lost his balance and fell out the helicopter, plummeting through the sky.

Jayden’s eyes widened and he leaped out after him without a second thought. Samuel immediately followed Jayden. Cam and Leo glanced at each other and shrugged before jumping after them.

Charles looked down and shrugged, turning away to come face to face with Paul’s stern face. Paul crossed his arms and stared at him with an expressionless face before shoving him out of the helicopter and jumping out after him.

They all landed on the forest floor a few moments later after unlatching themselves from their parachutes, which had been caught in the trees. Jayden rushed quickly to where Noel lay and helped him to his feet.

‘Are you alright?’ he asked worriedly.

Noel nodded and stood shakily, brushing himself off. ‘Nothing is broken so I guess so.’

Jayden looked him over carefully before nodding. He turned to the others who were dusting themselves off as they rose to their feet.

Charles was glaring daggers at Paul as he stood. ‘What the hell did you push me for?’ he yelled, marching to his face.

‘You weren’t going to jump, so I gave you a little nudge,’ Paul replied calmly.

‘OF COURSE, I WASN’T GOING TO JUMP!’ he screamed into his face. ‘How the hell is it my concern if you imbeciles decided to follow the brat?’

Cameron gave him an incredulous look. ‘How the hell? It was your bloody idea, wasn’t it?’

‘I didn’t ask him to fall now, did I?’

Cameron sputtered in indignation and Leo shot him a filthy glare. ‘Oh, that’s rich! Draw all of us out here and abandon us at the last moment. Bleeding coward!’

‘Why you little-‘ he stomped over to Leo with his fists clenched but Samuel stepped in front of him.

‘He’s right, you know? It’s all your fault. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for your crazy idea.’

‘My fault? MY FAULT!’ Charles’s indignation was growing with each passing second.

Soon they were engaged in a shouting match, which came close to a fistfight several times.

Jayden rolled his eyes and snapped at them. ‘EVERYONE QUIET!’

They fell silent and stared at him questioningly.

‘Listen,’ he ordered.

They all listened intently.

‘I don’t hear anything,’ Leo said after a while.

‘That’s the point. The forest is silent and we are the only things making noise. It wouldn’t take long for it to recognise us as strangers, and the wild is rarely kind to strangers. So are you going to keep bickering like little girls, or are you going to shut up?’

They all looked down and said nothing.

‘Good. Now we’ve got to figure out how to get back.’

‘Where is back?’ Samuel hesitantly voiced the question they were all thinking.

They looked at one another, no one willing to admit the fact they all knew to be true.

They were undoubtedly and irrevocably lost.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Another update so soon and just as long as the previous one! I know, I know I’m the best but I wouldn’t say perfect. Who am I kidding, I am, aren’t I? 😉
Lmao.

New characters were introduced, Cameron and Leonardo! What do you think of them?

Has any of you gotten lost before? In a forest or wherever? Lemme know in the comments and don’t forget to vote and comment lol.

Till next time!

[text_hash] => fbb79830
)