In the summer of 2019, at Domus High School where they first met each other, longtime friends had a final meeting before going off to pursue their own interests. They all agreed to meet by the table where so much happened between them. A boy was already sitting there making several designs on paper.
”Stop making designs that you can’t build. It’s not like you have the money to bring any of them to life.” a voice behind him said.
“I’ll stop when you stop trying to hack a business,” Leo said as he turned around to face Shugey. “How many times have you been sent to jail anyway?” Shugey dodged the question as he sat down next to him as he retrieved a laptop and put it on the table.
A saber suddenly came down between them and narrowly missed the laptop as it embedded itself in the table as Leo started laughing. Hiyao wrenched it free with a slightly disappointed look on her face.
Shugey turned around saying “You almost destroyed my laptop. Where you’d get the saber anyway?”
”My house” Hiyao replied as if everyone should own one. She was still swinging her saber and Shugey backed away before Hiyao tried to hit him instead of the air.
“Better hide it before Skyler sees it,” Leo mentioned as he searched for Shugey’s bag. A flash of worry came across her face but disappeared just as quickly.
Leo fished through Shugey’s bag and removed an arsenal of electronic devices and began to take them apart. Unsure of what he was trying to build, he started sharpening the edges and was working without really thinking.
When Leo finally had something that resembled a shuriken and was getting ready to throw it at Shugey, Leo no longer had a shuriken, Shugey didn’t have a laptop, and Hiyao without a saber who seemed to be the most disappointed. Skyler had all of them in her possession.
“I thought today was going to be a day when we didn’t all slit each other throats. This is our last day together and you brought weapons! Just wait for the-” but before Skyler could finish her sentence, a plastic knife was pressed against her neck. Helio had that devious smile on his face when he had someone’s life in his hands.
“Good job Helio,” Skyler said with an exasperated sigh. “Now that we established that everyone can’t spend a day without fighting each other, where’s Agil? He’s usually the first one here.”
Just as she finished talking, a hammer smashed the back of Helio’s head. and he crumpled to the ground.
“Thanks for the hammer Leo.” a voice from the trees said. Agil dropped down and started walking towards them as he stuck his hand out envisioning Mjolnir. “Where’s Alexa?” Agil asked as he bent down to retrieve the hammer.
“I’m perfectly fine if she doesn’t show up,” Leo answered with hatred laced in his voice. “How many times have I told you not to take my stuff Agil. I’ll build you a hammer when I get the chance. Besides shouldn’t you check to make sure you didn’t give him another concussion.” Before Agil could try to argue, the overwhelming sound of a Bugatti came up. Skyler already had Leo pinned before he could try to storm over.
“Keep yourself together Leo. This is the last time we’re seeing each other. Try to at least pretend you’re friends. Besides if you ever want to build something that’ll last, you need money in a way that won’t put you in a cell with Shugey.” Leo stared at her and saw that fierce glint in her eyes. That usually meant that she had a plan set if he didn’t. Leo learning from past experiences reluctantly agreed.
However, it was getting immensely harder for Leo to remain passive as Alexa came out in her rich clothes and her usual snotty attitude towards him. Leo considered trying to grab the shuriken as Alexa stared Leo down until Skyler stood between them. They all sat down at the table and began to talk about what they hoped to do as Helio laid lifeless on the grass.
Leo began by saying how he was going to become a better builder. “I’m going to travel across the country and maybe go to Europe and Asia to learn from some of the best builders.”
“How do you propose to get this done Leo?” Alexa asked. “You don’t have the money to go to Europe or Asia, if you plan to drive then you need gas, and preferably a faster car. This plan of yours is probably going to fail before the year ends. I’m the one with the money and since you’re too stubborn to ask me, your journey’s going to end before you accomplished anything.” Leo started to say something but stayed silent as he realized that Alexa was right. Alexa smiled at herself in this small victory she achieved over Leo.
Hiyao was the next to speak up. “I plan on learning how to become a better swordsman. I’ll travel to Japan and study under a teacher. When we meet up again, I’ll cut apart anyone who tries to mess with me.” She stared down Shugey as she said that last part.
“May I remind you that you don’t have money either,” Shugey replied. “Alexa is the only one that can help you guys.”
“Don’t you mean us Shugey?” Leo said. “ Last I checked, you have as much money as I do.”
“That’s true, but who can hack into a business? I may not have money but I could get myself enough within 10 minutes.”
“Yeah, but you’ll be in jail 10 minutes after you finished.” Leo countered. “The fact that you haven’t figured out a way to hide your trail shows your lack of skill with computers. You’re not as great as you say you are.” Shugey made a feeble attempt to attack Leo but Hiyao forced him down.
“He’s right you know,” Skyler said. “We’ve spent most of our free time breaking you out of prison. The only place that I’ve seen you hack without it being traced backed to you is the police database.”
Leo had to laugh as Shugey finally realized how often he was in jail That is until Shugey mentioned his plan. “I’m going to learn how to hack efficiently so they can’t trace the code back to me. Then, no can argue when I say I’m the best hacker in the world.” Everyone else shared a worried look when he finished. Despite Leo’s remark, everyone knew how good Shugey was with computers. If he learned how to get it done and cover his tracks, he could easily become one of the most dangerous people in the group. Whether or not Shugey knew this they weren’t sure.
Before someone said this out loud, Skyler told them her plan. “I’m going to join an amnesty group. After 16 years of constantly trying to get you guys to stop killing each other, I’m going to spend some time with people who value peace as much as I do.” For once, no one had anything to say about this. They all knew she was right. The tension between this group was always there and Skyler was the only reason that they weren’t meeting in the hospital. Everyone had scars scattered across their bodies as proof of all the trouble they caused each other so far.
“That hurt.” A voice moaned. “Damn Agil, I didn’t even do anything to you yet and you already hit me.” Everyone turned in surprise as Helio was struggling to stand up.
“I completely forgot you were here,” Shugey said as he made room for him at the table. Helio was still rubbing his head as everyone filled him in on what was going on.
“Alright then,” Helio said. “I’m going to become the world’s greatest spy. One day, I’ll enter, destroy, and leave North Korea and no one would know that I ever stepped foot in the country.”
“One day, you’ll still be dreaming about it,” Agil replied. “Maybe I did hit you too hard after all.” Agil picked the hammer up and was about to hurl it at Helio again but Skyler pulled his arm back.
“So far today, everyone has managed to poke at each other. Now, if you guys could spend the rest of the day without hurting each other, we may not need to go to the hospital again after this.” Skyler said. She looked at everyone as they all nodded their heads in agreement.
Agil’s plan was simple. “I’m going to bother Leo long enough until he finally builds me a hammer.” Leo just sighed knowing he wasn’t getting out of this. The idea of building a hammer did seem appealing though.
“Last and definitely the least,” Leo started, “Little Miss Bliss. What do you have planned with all that money you have?”
Alexa dismissed the comment as she explained her plan. “I’m going to build a bunker. It’s going to be our new hangout spot that can get everything done. No one is going to know that it even exists except us.”
“That’s a great idea,” Shugey said with an edge of sarcasm to his voice. “My only question is, I know that you aren’t going to be building that by yourself. Getting your hands dirty is the last thing that you’ll try to do. Instead, you’re going to hire people to build it. How are you going to keep the people that are building it from knowing the location of where it is?”
“Unlike you and Leo, I actually think my plans through. To make sure no one knows where it is, I’ll buy all the equipment they need, then I’ll drive them there and blindfold all of them until they arrive.”
Leo wasn’t convinced that she thought this through. “What if they want to get something to eat? Or a family emergency? You’re not going to be able to watch them 24/7 and one of them is bound to find out where they’re building it.”
Alexa bit her lip as she realized Leo was once again right. He wasn’t fighting her like they usually do when one of them has an idea. Instead, he was offering crucial advice to her ambitious plan. The idea of this bunker was great and Leo wanted to see it accomplished despite the issues they had with each other.
“I’ll figure it out,” Alexa said at last. She then paused for a bit, as an idea came to her. “We should all leave a souvenir or memento for each other. Since this is the last time we’re probably going to be seeing each other for a while, it’ll be nice to have something to hold onto. Since most of your plans involve a lot of money, I’ll start by giving everyone here a small donation of $10,000.” She ran back in her car to grab a checkbook and began writing down checks for everyone.
After she sat back down, she said: ”I believe Leo has something for everyone as well.” At this point, Leo was just itching to get his shuriken but Skyler had laid it right in front of her and stared at him with that glint in her eyes again.
“Skyler, could I please have the shuriken and take it apart to give to everyone?” Leo asked in his most innocent and pleading voice. Skyler was reluctant but agreed as long as it was taken apart before he turns around.
Defeated, Leo began to undo his creation. When Shugey looked at what was once the screen of his laptop, he got up and tackled Leo. In the process, Alexa was cut on her arm by one of the blades,
whether by accident or purpose she couldn’t tell. Skyler stared dumbfounded by Shugey’s sudden outburst.
Leo got up, brushed himself off and simply said, “ I should’ve seen that coming.” Pleased with himself, Shugey sat down and retrieved his laptop.
“You should all have a new car by the time you guys get home,” Shugey said as he worked on his laptop.
“Who wants to help break Shugey out once they trace the code back to him this time?” Alexa asked. Everyone sighed as they began to workshop ideas in case he didn’t cover his tracks again.
Skyler sheepishly said that “I can’t think of anything other than my best wishes and safe travels.”
Hiyao couldn’t think of what to give them but promised them, “The next time we meet, I’ll have a surprise ready for each of you.”
Agil decided to hit everyone with the hammer and Helio took everyone to his house and returned everything he stole from them since freshman year. With one final heartfelt exchange between this group as the gravity that they may not see each other again finally set in, they all left to go accomplish their goals.