𝑮𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 | 𝑹𝑶𝑻𝑾

𝖥𝖾𝖺𝗋

* Swearing Warning*

"Alright, you get on one side of Alex and you get on the other side.And me and Piper will get him up to speed," Gabriel organised the group in different positions to help Alex ride a bike.

Alex was still pretty ashamed, only talking when someone asked or if he felt a strong urge to.He felt like he was letting everybody in the group down by not learning how to ride a bike at the age when he should've.Piper sighed and looked at him sympathetically, looking at Gabriel who already somehow knew what she was thinking.The Italian boy nodded at her and Piper nodded back, standing next to the Freckled boy.

"You know, you have nothing to be ashamed of." She said quietly so only Alex could hear, Alex didn't need to look up to know who it was.

"It- It's just...How are you so cool...?" Alex asked, wanting to know the secret of how the mouthy brunette always kept her cool.

The green-eyed girl furrowed her brows, not understanding what the red-headed genius meant.As far as her knowledge extended, she was one of the three out of the group who freaked out the most.

"What do you mean?" Piper inquired, wondering what made her, apparently, cool.

"I saw you protecting yourself and the guys from the Dog, Piper.And the day when we ziplined, you almost made Dariush fall of the damn platform without flinching, no fear of him falling.And you climbed and also jumped off of a tree that was over three floors high.Without fear," Alex deadpanned once again, making Piper laugh sadly and pat him on a back.

"Alex, let me tell you a little secret between you and me.You wanna know the reason i ride a skateboard instead of a bike?"

Alex shook his head.

"Because i can't ride one.I'm afraid of falling.Hell, i'm still afraid of sticking one leg oit of the bed at night because i think there's a monser waiting to grab me!" Piper said to Alex, making him stare at her shocked and surprised.

The two laughed together, Piper getting a sisterly feeling towards Alex.

"Thanks, Piper." Alex thanked the Brunette for making him feel better about his inablity to ride a bike.

"No problem, Frecklehead." She said cheekily and smiled before ruffling his hair and standing beside Gabriel again.

~

The brunette looked at the sign which pointed to two roads that went to two different places.The High Desert, or Los Angeles.She inhaled and exhaled before turning right, to Los Angeles.Placing her left foot ontop of the skateboard and pushing away with her right one, she started to skate alongside the group as they watched over a shy Alex.She did this a few times before going the speed she wanted, staying to the right of Gabriel and the left of Dariush.

"You got this, put your feet back on the pedal." Dariush said after Alex's foot accidentally slipped off of the pedal.

ZhenZhen and Dariush were holding either side of Alex's shoulders to balance him on his bike.

"It's foot back on the pedal, dingus." Piper corrected the rich boy in a joking manner as he turned to the girl and glared at her before returning back to his motherly state, helping Alex again.

"The key is to get moving, the faster you go the easier it is to stay balanced!" Gabriel informed the red-head, having to sort of yell because his helmet covered his mouth.

"Are- Are you sure about this?" Alex asked warily, not sure about the info Gabriel told him.

"...No." Piper skated closer to the Italian boy and slapped his head upside, or his helmet upside, and the boy grinned at her cheekily.

She suppressed a smile, although it didn't work and a smile was shown on her face, amusement very well evident.She rolled her eyes and looked down, shaking her head.

"Asshat!" Piper exclaimed and grinned.

"Good, you're good!Now just keep doing that," Dariush said.

Piper looked at the two who looked back and mimed, 'Let Him Go,' so they gave him one more boost forward so he was a bit ahead of them and slowly took their hands off of his shoulders, smiling immediately when they saw he was riding the bike on his own.

"Guys, i- i don't thing i can do this!" This sentence of doubt made Piper chuckle.

"Alex, you're already doing it!" Alex widened his eyes in surprise at this and looked to his shoulders, seeing nobody was holding him.

Everybody started yelling and screaming in joy, cheering as Piper held her hands up and high-fived with everybody, zooming past Alex and patting him on the back with a wink.Now that Alex could ride his bike, they all started to ride faster.Dariush started to vocalise, holding his hands up which was much to everyone's amusement.For the first time in a few years, Piper felt genuinely happy.Like she belonged, like she finally wasn't alone.

Piper happily did a Gazelle Flip on her skateboard without a pivot, laughing with her newfound friends as Alex started letting out little cheers and saying how much fun riding a bike was.

"Guys, this is so much fun!You- " He was cut off mid-sentence when his bike hit those borders you see on the motorway and was thrown off his bike, a loud oof sounding out from his mouth.

"Oh crap!" Piper exclaimed, stomping on the tail of her board and holding it, running over to the freckled boy with concern.

"You ok?" ZhenZhen asked the boy, patting his helmet and looking at him with worry. "You ok?"

The words seemed to go over the boy's head though, staring off infront of him and ignoring what everyone else was saying as if he was in a trance-like state.Or in shock.ZhenZhen furrowed his brows and followed Alex's gaze, her shoulders slumping when she saw it.

"Holy sh.."

"Yeah like Holy- ........

" Shit. "

Infront of them was what looked like, Los Angeles.Dark, black smoke clouds loomed over the skyscrapers, the once beautiful city now spoke Danger...