A seeping mass of gold light grew out of thin air, growing brighter. It was so bright that Drake was forced to shield his eyes. It shot towards Drake, rolling like waves in the ocean and completely shattering the defence Drake had created. The light fell.

‘Alright’ Drake soothed, ‘I guess its hand to hand then.’

‘I guess it is’ Reuben smiled back.

Drake walked forwards, arms open, almost in a welcoming manner. Reuben curled his fists ready to strike.

‘Hold it!’ Lucas suddenly hissed.

The fire in Reuben’s palms went out.

‘What is it?’ he asked nervously.

Lucas craned his neck. He spied a figure a distance away entering the grounds. She pulled back a section of the fence and clambered through.

Reuben and Drake came to the window.

‘It’s Lauralie’ Drake said as he recognised her.

‘Dammit’ Lucas hissed, ‘I told her not to come here. Doesn’t she know it’s dangerous?’

‘She must have known we’d be here’ Reuben said.

‘No’ Lucas retorted, ‘she’s guessing. She has no idea whether or not we would be here today. How many times does she come here when we’re not?’

Drake slunk away from the window, sighing with disappointment that their games had been interrupted. ‘I guess we’d better go meet her.’

They descended the stairs, meeting her at the reception as she was entering the building.

‘I knew I’d find you here!’ she cried triumphantly at the sight of them.

‘No you didn’t’ Lucas droned, arms crossed. The three stopped before her. ‘What the hell are you doing here Lauralie?’ Lucas asked her impatiently.

Lauralie made a pouting face at him.

‘There’s no need to be like that’ she huffed, ‘I came down all this way to see you all.’

‘Don’t you know it’s dangerous here?’

‘Don’t you?’

Lucas dismissed this with a wave.

‘What are you doing here anyway?’ she asked them all. ‘You know I'm beginning to get suspicious, all this sneaking around. It’s like you're holding a secret meeting or something. What's really going on?’

‘Mind your own business’ Lucas spat.

She stuck her tongue out and turned her back on him, speaking to the others like he no longer mattered.

‘So do you wanna hang out or what?’

‘Sure’ Drake smiled at her. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here before a gang shows up and tries to kill us all.’

‘Oh don’t’ she whined swatting at him. ‘You know I hate it when you scare me like that.’

‘It’s true’ Reuben added standing to her other side. ‘In fact just last week, we saw a dead hobo.’

‘Now you're making fun of me’ Lauralie frowned in irritation.

Drake took her by the arm and led her away. Reuben shrugged at his brother as Lucas gave him a sceptical look.

‘Come on, let’s go, I suppose we’ve had enough fun for one day anyway’ Reuben said.

‘We barely even started’ Lucas tutted. ‘Ever since she found out we come here she’s always trying to find us. It’s annoying. Why doesn’t she just go home?’

‘Shhh’ Reuben hissed. ‘Don’t say that, she might hear you.’

Lucas gave his brother a bored look, but said nothing.

‘We’re not the only ones who don’t always want to go home’ Reuben told him in a whisper.

‘Why doesn’t she hang out with her own friends?’ Lucas complained.

‘Who knows? Maybe she’s attracted to us.’

Lucas groaned at his brother’s idiot response as he walked away. Reuben smirked, and jogged to catch up with him.

‘Do you think we can come back here tomorrow?’

‘Probably’ Lucas replied. ‘We’ll have to skip college again to avoid Lauralie though.’