Chapter 9

Jay started slow, gaining speed the more ground they covered. Daniel was terrified. The van was following closely behind them and he had no idea what to do.

The quicker they picked up speed, the more Daniel felt like passing out. He was an idiot for doing this. They pass a car.

Daniel could feel the sweat forming on his face and neck as more cars came into view. Red, black, white, black, green. One right in front of them.

"Switch lanes!"

Jay faltered and swerved into a random lane almost hitting the car next to them. Daniel screamed and tore his body away from the direction of the car making the bike swerve with him.

"Thanks," Daniel said shakily. "I'm not sure how that worked but you're right, I'll try my best to lead us off of the highway!"

Jay nodded his head in understanding.

Should Daniel just call his bail? Why did Jay even agree to do this? Is he a watcher or is he a player too?

Daniel leaned his body towards the exit lane. The speedometer was at 104 kph (65 mph). Daniel knew he had to slow down.

The phone in his hand went off.

Let's make this more interesting, shall we? Get the speedometer over 209 kph (130 mph) in 3 minutes.

"Oh no," Daniel whispered to himself. There wasn't any backing out from this, he hasn't been able to back out since the party. He swallowed the fear inside of him and took control of this unfortunate situation.

Without slowing down, Daniel leaned his body to the exit lane.

Daniel could hear the many car horns and slurs thrown his way as he passed every car by a miracle.

Daniel saw some cars get off the highway with him and speed on the access road a few ways away from him. He risked a glance at Jay's phone and saw the speedometer in the middle of the screen.

Daniel couldn't fathom how the Watchers knew how fast they were going. Then again, there were bigger problems that he failed to question.

Their current speed was now 120 KPH (76 MPH). Daniel patted Jay's shoulder, signaling to speed up. They had two and a half minutes left. Daniel had a feeling this wouldn't end well for them.

As the clock ticked, Daniel's nerves spiked. He told Jay to forget about the steady incline of speed and focus on getting this challenge over with.

Daniel was now regretting his decision as they were now going 160 kph (100 mph) with only one minute left.

The access road slowly leads to a deserted two-way with dim street lights. Daniel could notice blurs of people standing on the street with flashes on. Most likely Watchers.

Jay sped up. 185 kph (115 MPH) with 30 seconds left.

"Speed up Jay!"

Daniel steered as best he could from behind Jay and couldn't help but tense at the building that came into sight, right in front of them. The road had now stopped at a dead end, a turn-around lane.

"Faster!"

201 kph (125 mph.)

10

9

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6

205 kph (128 mph.)

5

4

3

2

209 kph (130 MPH.)

1

"Stop!"

Jay flicked his reflective shield up and immediately pulled the brakes. The smell of burning rubber filled the surrounding air as Jay's tires burned their traction against the black cement road. The bike lost its traction in front and the front of the bike was up in the air before Jay had a chance to respond. The bike fishtailed due to the uneven weight of the two and Jay had trouble getting his bike under control.

Daniel was clinging to Jay for dear life as the bike hit the ground with a heavy thud.

Jay turned to his left and parked the bike just missing the building by a hair.

He pulled off his helmet and removed his presence from the seat. His legs shook as he placed his feet on the street and he took some time to collect himself before turning to the raven-haired boy that was laying on the street clutching his heart with his hand.

"Never again," Daniel muttered. "I miss DG already. Why did I agree to do this... We could've died."

Jay listened to Daniel ranting and agreed with him silently. He shouldn't have dragged Daniel along with him. He should've done this whole thing by himself.

"..."

"No! Don't even say something like that! If I didn't do this with you, you would've died do you understand that?"

Jay nodded his head as he allowed himself to be chewed out by a furious Daniel.

"Why did you make me do this? Why did I even agree to it?" Daniel was up on his feet and pacing back and forth in front of, a now-seated Jay. "I can't believe that we survived that! You know how dangerous that was!"

Jay couldn't help the small smile that made its way to his lips. Daniel looked at Jay and sighed, a smile now present on his face.

"..."

Daniel blushed. "Oh shut up, I did it as my first challenge!"

Jay's smile disappeared but returned quickly. "..."

"No! I will not," Daniel's face was now dusted with a dark red. "I'm not going to get into this discussion with you." Daniel smiled and took a seat next to Jay on the sidewalk.

"Yo, that shit was crazy!" Daniel and Jay looked over to the black van that was once following them and saw the same people. "We thought you were gonna die but then you were all like whoa!" The group mimicked how Jay got the bike back under control and how they avoided crashing.

"Way to go Jay! We knew we picked the right person for this challenge. It just so happened that you had the right participant with ya! Imagine if it was DG or somethin'!"

Jay tensed at the mention of DG and Daniel looked over at him suspiciously. What was Jay's connection to DG?

The van drove away with the people in it shouting words of approval. Once they were far enough away Daniel grabbed his phone from his pants pocket and Jay's phone from the selfie stick and placed them a few feet away from them on the sidewalk.

Jay looked at Daniel curiously as he took his seat by Jay again.

"Be honest Jay, what's your connection to DG?"

"...!"

"Please, Jay. What's your relationship to DG? Why do you guys seem so uncomfortable and nervous around each other?"

Jay shook his head as he looked down. He sighed.

"Hey," Daniel placed his hand on Jay's shoulder. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. I know it's most likely very personal. You shouldn't have to tell me if you don't want to." Daniel gave Jay a reassuring smile.

Jay placed his hand on Daniel's and brought it down to his lap. He cradled his hand in his.

"Old friends? Is that it?"

Jay nodded.

"I understand. Falling out is hard."

".."

Daniel felt his face heat up a bit. "Jay, I'm not talking about that right now." He let out a small chuckle. Jay seemed to be staring behind Daniel but, Daniel didn't notice.

"..?"

"No Jay, I haven't kissed DG yet." Daniel's face was pink but he didn't realize it. "No, I don't plan on kissing him yet."

"Jay! I told you I only kissed you because it was my first challenge!"

Jay brought his face closer to Daniel's. "..?"

"I mean, yeah. It was nice... It was my first real kiss."

Jay inched their faces closer together until Jay could feel Daniel's breath on his lips.

"Jay?" Daniel whispered.

Jay pressed their lips together in a small chaste kiss. Daniel's breath hitched in his throat as Jay gently removed his lips and waited before pressing his lips back on Daniel's.

Jay's lips were soft and tasted like strawberry as he peppered Daniel's lips with small kisses. Daniel placed his hands against Jay's arm as he moved his body closer, closing his eyes.

As Jay kissed Daniel absent-mindedly, he looked behind Daniel and at the something in between the building and an alley. A Watcher that had a tablet facing him. In big, bold letters were the words.

DISTRACT DANIEL.

☆Hey, I know it's been a while since I've updated here and I apologize for that, I've just been going through some things that I hope you can excuse. Have a longer chapter for this week and I'll update it as soon as I can! Thank you for reading! -C☆