The Not-Outcast by Tijan

43

Cheyenne

The mission was set.

Get inside the house, get Chad’s phone, and fuck up his life. Those were more Sasha’s words, but I was along for the ride. I was an eager accomplice. We pulled up to the house. The lights were off. Everything seemed easy enough, right?

Wrong.

As we were heading inside, a pair of headlights swept over us and we both froze.

A second later, the car parked and the lights went out.

I was sweating out my own piss because I’d have to lie to Cut, and I didn’t want to lie to him. But two car doors shut, and we saw two slender figures heading our way.

“What the hell? You’re doing a Possible Mission without me?!”

I relaxed. It was Melanie.

Then, I stiffened. It was Melanie and someone else.

“Who’s with you?”

Possible Mission was the name we used for missions just like this, and we had a strict three-person attendance rule. Sasha. Melanie. Myself. No one else was allowed on a Possible Mission. We also had a Fight Club rule where we didn’t talk about Possible Missions outside of the three of us. Our toilet paper mission hadn’t been classified as a Possible Mission because Melanie wasn’t there. Same as tonight.

“Heya, Cheyenne.” It was Cassie.

And dammit. She sounded all sweet, and she gave me a little wave like I just made her feel bad.

“WTF, Mel?”

I took Possible Mission rules serious. Straight to the heart.

Melanie flinched.

She knew how serious I took them.

“Sorry. I wasn’t thinking. She’s one of us.”

Both Sasha and I gasped.

Sasha had been bent over the doorknob. It might’ve seemed from the outlook that she was trying to pick the lock, but we had a key. Both of us forgot our phones in the car, so we had no light. She was fumbling to get the key in when Melanie and Cassie showed up.

“No, she is not!” I was also a bit passionate on this subject, too.

Another grimace from Cassie, and I could see because both of them had their phones out and pointed toward us. Melanie knew better. This wasn’t our first near-criminal mission. Cassie, bless her heart.

I softened my tone. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that how it came out.”

Melanie helped me out here, turning to her girlfriend. “You’re an ‘other.’ You’re not in the triad. That’s me, Shy, and Sash. That’s all she means.”

I added, “Other means significant other, not other as in an outsider. That’s a key point.”

The hurt look faded from Cassie and her shoulders bounced back up. “Oh. I got ya. I understand. I have some friends like that.”

The door opened, and the alarm beeping commenced.

Sasha straightened. “Entrance.”

I scooted around her, putting in the code.

At the time I heard Melanie ask behind me, “You do?”

I could almost hear Cassie’s shrug. “Just some friends from college.”

“Are they straight friends?”

Sasha grunted. “She’s with you, Mel, about to do a breaking-and-entering. Stop with the jealousy shit.”

“What? I’m just asking.”

Another grunt from Sasha as she swept past me, hitting the light switches. The front main rooms all flooded with lights, and I made a note to ask how she even knew those were there. I had no clue, and I thought I’d been here the most.

Apparently not.

“Check your insecurity,” I told Melanie as both came inside.

Cassie’s gaze went to the floor, and Melanie’s eyes widened at me.

I was normally not this forthcoming, but again, I took these missions seriously. Though, we were not in an official Possible Mission because Cassie was here. We were now in Prankland Territory. The rules for that were as followed, not a Possible Mission. That was it. Those were the rules.

When Sash and I toilet papered Chad’s side of the house, Prankland.

If Melanie had joined us: Possible Mission.

Melanie started to say something and I held up a hand, shutting the door at the same time. “Not the time and place.”

She shut up. Everything was off-limits when we were committing these acts.

Sasha came back from looking around. “Where’s the phone?”

It was in Cut’s room. “Stay here. I’ll grab it.”

I took off as I heard Cassie asking, “If you guys were all about the breaking-and-entering, why turn on all the lights on the inside?”

Melanie was the one who answered. “Because we don’t actually like to break the law. We just like to pretend we’re breaking the law.”

“Oh.” Cassie totally didn’t understand it.

This was why she wasn’t included for the Possible Missions.

I grabbed Chad’s phone from Cut’s nightstand, and headed back out. Though, we were pretending to be thieves here. I couldn’t help myself and snagged one of his hockey shirts like I meant to do earlier. It had his name and his number on it. Not an official jersey or anything, just a t-shirt.

Now it was mine.

Grabbing it, I went back downstairs.

Melanie and Cassie were sitting at the kitchen’s island. Sasha was mixing drinks for everyone.

I loved my friends.

I slid the phone down the island toward Sasha, and then pulled Cut’s shirt over my other shirt. Cassie and Melanie just looked at me.

“What?” I said to both.

“Nothing.”

“Nada.”

Sasha picked up the phone. “Nice.” She put in the passcode and showed us the screen.

We were in.

Time to get fucking.

Chad didn’t know this, but when he got his phone back, he’d have to learn Hebrew. (Who really knew that language anymore? Besides priests and seminary students.) Everything would be password protected. I was pretty certain Sasha would be changing all his passwords to his social media, and from there, who knew how long she’d keep those accounts before letting him back in.

That was the tip of the iceberg of what Sasha was going to do.

I only hoped she didn’t post something to get Chad put on the FBI’s watch list, because I knew that was real.

And something she’d do.