19|| chaperoning and revealing secrets

"So now I'm chaperoning Academic Decathlon to DC for yearbook? Great."

Midtown High, Queens, October 2016-

"Are you serious?!" Alison protested , walking into Midtown with Skylar. "I think I absolutely whooped that guy's ass!"

"Nuh uh," Skylar shook her head. "You just shoved him, and ran away, returning the stolen items on the way. What kind of superhero does that? Don't you wanna stay and be thanked, get some glory out of the job?"

"No." Alison scoffed. "There's more time to fight crime. Plus, the more I stay in one place, the more chances of photos of me come out."

"And on top of that, my dad's breathing down you back." Skylar sighed. "Ok Ali, I get your point. No credibility right now. Just fighting crime."

"Good," Alison smirked, scaling the stairs up to the east hallway. "And another question-" She walked backwards up the last two stairs. "Did you enjoy being my guy in the chair?"

"Yes, yes I did." Skylar mumbled, climbing up the stairs to meet Alison.

"I'm sorry," Ali teased. "I couldn't hear you over all the loud students next to us. Come again?" She cupped her hand over her ear, teasing Skylar even more.

"I enjoyed it!" Skylar hollered in her ear. "Is that enough proof for you Alison?"

Alison jumped from the loud noise, giving Skylar a small shove. "Oh my god, too much proof!" She rubbed her ear, the noise still ringing in her ear. What was it with Starks and hollering in her ears?

Skylar laughed, and linked arms with Alison. "Come on you superhero, we've gotta get to our lockers, class starts soon." She pulled Alison down the hallway, dragging her to their lockers.

There in front of their lockers, were the rest of the girls. Tara, Jess, and Drew were all lined up in front of their personal lockers, Iris waiting impatiently for Skylar and Alison on the other side of the hallway.

"Where were you two and why were you late!" Iris exclaimed. "I've been waiting here for two minutes, alone! I looked like a loser."

"Maybe because you are one," Alison joked, opening her locker. "I texted you that we were gonna be a few minutes late! I don't have my bike today."

"Yeah, but still." Iris scoffed, throwing her bag into her locker. "I was lonely. After being gone for four days being sick, I would of thought you guys would be on time." She joked slightly.

"You know that I'm always on time." Alison laughed, Skylar shoving her sternly. "Ok, except for today."

"We're sorry Iris." Skylar sighed, "We didn't think it was a big deal. After all, half of the time we annoy the hell out of you."

"You guys know I'm kinda joking- right?" Iris asked, looking at Alison and Skylar's glum faces. "Oh my gosh, you didn't! I'm so sorry. Ok I need to learn how to get a sense of humor." She rushed out.

Alison and Skylar looked at each other before bursting out laughing. "We're all just a bunch of losers, huh?" Alison laughed. "Coming to school late for our friends, and making bad jokes."

"Yeah," Skylar laughed alongside Alison, Iris joining in with small fits of giggles. "Now let's go to class, we don't want to be late now, do we?"

<~•~>

It was getting towards the end of yearbook for the day, and Alison was getting bored. After all, you could only take so many still shots of popular kids and of the nerds before realizing that Midtown was just like every other high school.

Flipping through her camera, Alison found a good shot she had taken of the Academic Decathlon team one day during their practice. "They're good kids," Someone interjected from above Alison.

Alison turned around to see Liz standing behind her. "Did I scare you?" She asked, looking genuinely sorry. "Sorry, that was just a really good shot. Speaking of Academic Decathlon, I may need your help with something." Liz added.

Powering off the camera, Alison put her full attention on Liz. "What do you need?" She asked, "More clean up crew shifts at parties?"

Liz laughed. "Although that was such a fun time, no. So you know how Academic Decathlon is leaving for D.C. tomorrow?" She asked.

"Yeah, what about it?" Alison asked, crossing her arms in a natural position.

"I need someone to help me.... supervise the other kids. And I thought of you. After all, you showed that you're always here to help, especially after the party." Liz smiled. "Plus, you get out of homework for the few days that we're gone, just as an extra incentive."

"No doing homework? And a visit to the nation's capital? Count me in." Alison smirked. "Plus, you'll need someone else to take yearbook pictures while you guys are kicking the other team's butts."

"Great!" Liz exclaimed. "Just tell your guardian, and I will pay for the hotel and stuff, since I just sprang this on you. Thanks so much Alison." She beamed widely.

"Yeah," Alison dismissed. "No problem. The cleanup crew has to stay together right?" Ali joked, a small giggle coming out of her mouth.

"Most definitely." Liz gave a small giggle alongside Alison. "Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means to me." She gave Ali a pat on the back. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Are you kidding me?" Jess laughed, taking a bite of her Caesar salad. "You're going to D.C. with a bunch of geeks? I think that's the dumbest idea you've ever had Alison, and I've seen you drunk at a party that wasn't even for your own high school."

Alison winced at the mention of the April party. "So what Jess? It's a free weekend getaway. Plus, Liz Allen will be there, so it's not like it'll be that bad."

"That's true," Drew piped in. "We all know how nice Liz is, and plus, maybe this is something that Ali has to do for yearbook."

"That is true," Tara took a big chunk of a red delicious apple, nodding in agreement with Drew. "Yearbook does go with them every year to take pictures. So it does make sense."

"Ok can we get off of the topic of me? Let's all talk about what we are gonna wear to homecoming," Alison interjected, "After all, it's in less than two weeks."

"Ooh!" Iris exclaimed. "Are we going as a posse?" When the group looked at her weirdly, she defended herself. "I wasn't here, remember? So I don't know our game plan."

"Yeah, we are," Skylar took a sip of her bottled water. "But I have no idea what dress in going to wear."

"I don't either," Drew agreed, Tara and Iris nodding alongside her. "Do you have any ideas Jess?" She looked at the Hispanic girl next to her.

"I have a few, but I don't know." Jess shrugged. "Maybe we could all go shopping together?" She threw the idea out to the table.

"That sounds good," Ali nodded her head. "Everyone in?" When a chorus of yeses were heard from around the table, Jess spoke up.

"How about Wednesday, over at the local mall. Don't be late. Actually, let's all just walk over there." Jess thought aloud.

"Sounds good," Drew nodded, all the other girls agreeing alongside her. "Then it's settled, next Wednesday we'll go dress shopping."

"Alrighty, sounds like a plan." Alison smiled, the lunch bell ringing. "Now come on, we've gotta get to class."

<~•~>

Jackie was surprisingly fine with Alison going to D.C. She trusted Liz and Alison together, as the last party that Ali had gone to Liz was there. So it wasn't long before the permission slip was signed, and the bags were packed.

The next morning came quickly, Alison getting a ride over to the school from Liz. "Thanks for coming along, once again." Liz thanked her, smiling as they got out of the car.

"It was my pleasure, plus the fact that I would have no homework sweetened the deal." Alison laughed.

Liz laughed alongside her, beginning to grab her luggage out of the car. Ali began to do the same, and the two walked over to the bus.

They were the first two there, the teacher barely arriving before they did. Introducing herself to the teacher, Alison learned that this would be a bigger job than she had hoped.

The teacher was clearly scatterbrained, with no care about changing the game plan last minute. That was proven as soon as Ned and Peter rolled up, the bus about to load up. Everyone was lined up, ready for roll calm when Abraham interjected.

"Hey it's Peter!" Abraham exclaimed in his thick Jamaican or African accent. Alison couldn't tell, as the accent was so unusual for New York.

"Hi guys," Peter slowed down to a jog, coming up to face the group.

"Peter?" Liz asked, shocked. She held one hand on her suitcase, not yet putting it away. Alison was standing alongside her, Liz being the only person she really knew on the trip.

"Yeah I was hoping that I could rejoin the team." Peter looked nervous, as if his whole life depended on going on this trip.

"No." Flash pulled his way to the front, wearing the esteemed mustard yellow blazers the rest of the pentathlon team was adorning. "No way, you can't just quit on us and stroll up, and welcomed back by everyone!"

Not even as Flash finished his sentence, the teacher came back out of the bus. "Hey Peter, welcome back. Flash, you're back to first alternate."

"What?" Flash looked dumbfounded, clearly upset at the teacher.

"He's taking your place." Abraham laughed, Ned chuckling alongside him.

"Uh, can we go already?" Michelle interjected from the back. "Cause I was hoping to get some light protesting in front of one of the Embassies before dinner."

"Protesting is... patriotic." The teacher searched for the right words, pointing the clipboard at Michelle. "Let's get on the bus." He gestured to the bus.

Flash crinkled up the yellow jacket, shoving it at Peter. He had a pouty look on his face as he loaded the bus.

Alison and Liz checked everyone on the bus, Ali clicking small still shots as everyone got on the bus. The final person to get on was Peter, and he looked Alison straight in the eye.

"Welcome to the trip, Breakout." Peter muttered, hopping aboard the bus. He left Alison dumbfounded, the camera dangling from the neck strap. One thought was lingering in Alison's head.

"How the hell does he know?"

<~•~>
A/N:
all done! so I'd like to clear something up. as I was writing this, my friend is having problems with copyright. something hit me. some of y'all know tinkertaydust ,an amazing and big time writer. she has a character that has the same exact face claim as mine, plus the same idea that her character went to Pentathlon as a supervisor. I have no, and I mean NO intention of copying her. my friend and I drafted this earlier, so I am so sorry. Tay, I'm also sorry for tagging you. I just wanted to clear up a point, and such. hope you enjoyed. much thanks!

word count- 1,880