Always (Next Generation The Skulls 1)

“Yeah, but have you actually seen him kiss one? Hang out with one? Even touch one?”

“I don’t even know why we’re having this conversation. It’s completely pointless.”

“It’s not. Come on. You’d be doing me a huge favor by hanging out with him. You know you want to.”

“I don’t know that I want to. In fact, I think I’d rather forgo the whole Halloween dance. Dad is going to rent a bunch of movies and we were all going to watch. Halloween candy, some kind of drink he’s going to make up. It’ll be fun.”

“Sounds boring,” Tabitha said. “Come on, you’re only going to live once. Why not make it the best thing like ever? There’s going to come a point when we’re not going to be able to party and have fun.” She held her hands together, begging. “Please, please, please.”

There was a sudden knock on Daisy’s bedroom window.

Tabitha turned toward the sound to find Simon, Miles, and Anthony all waiting in the tree.

“Oh, look, some of the gang are here.” This Simon was her nephew, even though they weren’t that far apart in age. Something he hated to acknowledge as he was actually older than her, even though she was his auntie.

Daisy climbed off her bed. She wore a pair of boy shorts, exposing her thighs. Tabitha watched as Anthony climbed through the room and seemed to try to get as close to Daisy as humanly possible. How was it no one else saw this? She’d noticed Anthony’s obsession with her best friend years ago.

Her friend, as always, was oblivious to his devotion. It was kind of sad, but funny. For a long time, Anthony hadn’t really spoken. He did his glaring thing, which seemed to scare off a whole lot of people. Not her and the group though.

“What’s going on?” Tabitha asked, getting to her feet. She had yet to change her clothes for her pajamas.

“Big fight out at the Quad,” Miles said. “Dogs are fighting. I thought it was time for us to see them in action. We’ve seen a couple of their boys, but not with any real competition.”

“I can’t,” Daisy said. “My parents are downstairs.”

“They’re probably making out,” Miles said. “We know what they’re like, and with the Chaos crew just vacating, we’ve got time. We all know how this goes down with the parents. This is something we’ve got to do.”

“You know he’s right,” Tabitha said. “We’ll be back before midnight.”

“I hope you know my dad already knows when we sneak on or off. He’s got the whole place wrapped tight.” Daisy’s father, also known as Whizz, was amazing when it came to technology. He handled most of the security for the entire club and also helped to work the markets as he had a keen eye on investment. To The Skulls, he was the shit.

“Then what do we have to lose?” Tabitha asked. “They already know they’re here. Let’s go. Let’s do this.”

Daisy sighed. “Are we grabbing everyone?”

“No can do,” Miles said. “I already checked in. They’ve got shit to do. It’s got to be us.”

“Of course, it does. I mean, why would we be strength in numbers?”

“You sound a little pissy there, Daisy. You okay?” Simon asked.

“She’s fine,” Tabitha said, interrupting. “She’s just agreed to go to the Halloween party and we’ve now got to go shopping. Of course, this is all a treat on me.”

“I did not,” Daisy said.

“If you’re going, that will be cool. The whole gang is going, right, Ant?” Miles asked.

Anthony, his silent self, just stared.

“See, confirmation.” Miles pointed at his friend.

“He didn’t even speak.”

“But if you watch his facial expressions, you will see he is actually very easy to read. A certain brow lift. The sneer. You name it, he has it.”

“We’re all going,” Anthony said. “Don’t stare at my face for so long.”

“Look, irritate him enough and he starts talking as if by magic.”

She loved her twin. Miles didn’t have a filter. A trait that seemed to run in the family. Their half-sister Tate was known for it.

Tabitha had learned young to bide her time, to hold her tongue, at least, that was what she tried to do. It didn’t always work out that way.

“I’m going. Fine. I’m going.”

“We’ll go shopping next week. Come on, get dressed. You know you want to.”

Daisy rolled her eyes again, another little trait she’d decided to start doing. Rather than be pissed at her best friend, she rolled with it. It was what she did nowadays.

She knew, at times, Daisy was going through some crap inside her head. When she was ready, she’d unload, but until then, she got the pissy version from time to time. It wasn’t like anything she couldn’t deal with.

“Guys, leave,” Daisy said. “We’re not kids anymore. I’m not getting changed in front of you.”

“Buzzkill,” Miles said.