It was Friday and for the boys, it was payday, They prepared their bags for school as usual and also put in a small box to put their money in. All of them were excited, this is it- but it's trying to keep it a secret from their parents that would be difficult. Seeming as Kendall had the money in his backpack, he took that as a chance to take out his and put it in his secret money box, leaving the rest of the money for the other three boys. Levy walked to the bus stop and sat down, Kendall arriving shortly afterwards. "Hey Levy!" He greeted, excitement obvious in his voice. Sharing the same excitement, the red-haired boy said hello to his friend. "Where are Derick and Sam?" Kendall dismissed this friend's question, "they're probably running late or something," and he was right- about Sam. Derick, on the other hand, didn't show up at all.

If he was sick or something, he would usually say he wouldn't come but not today. The three of them got on the bus, chatting amongst themselves and wondering where the hell their other friend was. "Sam, have you seen Derick today?" Shaking his head, the black-haired boy answered the question, "I haven't... But guys, let's wait a little bit before we start to worry and stress ourselves out.

Keep our suspicions- but worry later when there's no sign of him." They nodded in agreement and changed the topic- getting their money. "So, Kendall, how are we gonna collect the money?" Levy whispered, looking around to make sure no one else was listening. "After school, we'll go to my place together and collect it," he answered bluntly. The boy looked lost and anxious, zoning out on multiple occasions while the other two friends kept talking about random things. "I hope he hasn't done anything stupid..." he muttered to himself.

When the boys arrived at the school building, there was still no sign of Derick- and that was quite unusual. During registration, he didn't randomly walk in and apologise for being late. He didn't even come in to school at all!

"Where is he?" Sam asked, not to anyone in particular. The three of them were sitting in the cafeteria eating their lunch and trying to work out where their friend could be. The other two boys didn't know how to respond except, "I don't know!" and shrug their shoulders. Once again, the subject was changed back to the money Sam and Levy were supposed to collect that day and it was then Kendall's eyes widened. "Limbo...Limbo...he's probably in Limbo" he muttered to himself.

To his two friends, it just sounded like incoherent mumbling under his breath. "Huh? What are you trying to say Kendall?" Levy responded, "All I heard was gibberish if I'm being honest. But I mainly heard Kendall say, "limlom " or something like that." At first Sam looked really confused. "Limlom? Really? What the hell is that?" Once he realised what he said to the red-haired boy, his eyes widened, making a dramatic face. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH! That's what you mean! Silly us!" Sam laughed strangely, scratching the back of his neck. He widened his eyes and nodded at Levy but he still did not get what he was trying to say.

"What?" Sam rested his palm on his forehead in annoyance. "Limbo!" he whispered loudly into the red-haired boy's ear. "Oh," was his response. "So, how are we gonna meet up with him without his parents getting suspicious?" Sam sat there, thinking about it for a few minutes before Kendall finally spoke again, "You could just not tell them? We can just grab our bikes and head off to Limbo. But we can't all meet up at one of our houses. Just say we left our bikes at home and wanted to ride them- also Derick has a skateboard he sometimes takes so he probably took it with him to get to Limbo in the first place. We have to go home, get the bikes and meet in the park- just so we don't lose each other- before setting off."

The boy smiled after explaining his plan and both of his friends nodded but still looked at him dissatisfied. "What?" Kendall asked raising an eyebrow questioningly. "Aren't we supposed to collect our money today...?" Sam's statement had turned into a question. "YES!" his friend snapped, "Also, what is with your obsession about the money. It's not like I'm gonna steal it, am I?" The boys whimpered and decided to keep quiet for the rest of the journey as their friend, who had just had a go at them, was calming down. Once the bus had reached their bus stop, they got off and walked together to the park in complete silence before parting ways to go to their own houses.

All three of them entered the house, greeting their parents glumly and ignoring them when they asked what the problem was. "It was just a bad day" or "I'm not in the mood to talk about it" They responded to stop the adults from questioning them even further. Kendall ran to his bedroom to put the money in his backpack before coming back downstairs and grabbing the two-wheeled vehicle and leaving the house. Sam and Levy kept their backpacks on and just took their bicycles before heading off to the park.

Ten minutes later, the three boys met up again at the park and it was clear the silence was still continuing. "Here. Take it," Kendall said as he handed over the money with a frown on his face. Happily, the two boys took the sum of money and quickly stashed it in their bags. After that, another silencd followed. "Race you to Limbo!" Levy exclaimed, expecting his two friends to begin riding speedily through the streets. Instead, they stood there glaring at each other with anger. "Can't you two just cut it out? This really isn't necessary you know!" Kendall and Sam looked at him with no interest with what he was saying. "You have a friend to be looking for.

Don't you think that's more important than bickering like a pair of babies?" Levy had lost complete control and anger had overtaken him. To him, it was obvious they were only worried about themselves and planning everything rather than their missing friend. "But-" Kendall began to say but Levy could not stop himself from interrupting. "Don't. I don't wanna hear it! Let's just go and look for Derick.

Clear?" There was an awkward silence. "Crystal." Only Sam has replied, Kendall on the other hand was scowling at the pair. "I'm not gonna repeat myself Kendall..." With that, he finally responded, "Ugh, fine!" and rolled his eyes as Levy began to smile again. "Let's get going then. We don't have long!" The three of them began cycling at the fastest speed they could, until their legs were sore and ached terribly and fortunately they made it in just less than ten minutes.

Once they'd got there, not a single person was in sight. The road was empty and there was no sign of Derick or even Troy who was always here everyday for a couple hours- at this time. As worry started to kick in, the group of three rode through Limbo. There wasn't much, not many houses (there were just a few scattered around in random places) and not even a supermarket or park or anything you'd usually find in a town.

They kept cycling, looking left and right every two seconds and eventually, they heard a faint noise of someone laughing. While Sam and Levy didn't think much about it, Kendall couldn't help but keep thinking about the noise. Maybe the person could help the trio find Derick. "Guys..." he called. The other two boys looked at him blankly, waiting for their friend to continue with what he was saying. "How about, we knock on the door and ask them to help is find Derick.

Luckily for them, who they were looking was less than 400 meters away from them. The bad news was he was talking to none other than Troy and MQ. They cycled to them and to their shock, the three boys found an unknown man and their two customers laughing at what seemed to be their jokes or stories- "Something isn't right here..." Kendall whispered to the pair riding on either side of him.

"We've got to see who that is," Sam muttered before closely inspecting the strange man's clothes. He was wearing glasses (most likely sunglasses), a black baseball cap, faded blue jeans and a black top. It couldn't be Derick though. He never wore caps and never ever wore glasses of any kind. "Sorry to break it you guys, but I don't think that's him," the black-haired boy sighed. The other two boys told him to shut up as they eavesdropped on the conversation. As the three men around 400 meters away, continued laughing and joking, Levy couldn't help notice that he recognised the voice of the third person. "Sam, Kendall. I think we've found Derick..."

Kendall stopped and looked at him in disbelief as Sam shook his head slightly. "Just look at him! Derick would never wear that. Never. So, it's got to be someone else." Kendall nodded in agreement but stayed silent as he squinted to look at the mysterious person in more detail. "Now that I think about it, there's a chance that could be Derick..." Kendall murmured. "Wait for him to talk again," Levy commanded, "then we'll definitely know if it's Derick or not." The three of them remained quiet, waiting for this other person to speak and once he opened his mouth and said a couple of words, they knew it was Derick. "It's him. It's certainly him," Kendall said. "So what exactly should we do?" the red-haired boy asked his two friends.

Sam thought for a minute, "we should just walk up to them." The boy sounded calm and shrugged his shoulders as if he'd forgotten that Troy and MQ were still stangers and potentially dangerous. In return, Kendall and Levy glared at times and that was enough to shut him up. "Does anyone have any other ideas then?" the boy with the red hair asked while rolling his eyes. To their misfortune, none of them had any ideas or thoughts. "Looks like we're gonna have to do what you suggested Sam," Kendall grumbled. He took a deep breath in and exhaled, "Let's go, boys."

The trio approached the other group of three and they all looked surprised to see them. They had stood next to Derick and stared at Troy and MQ intensely. "What are you doing here!" The fourth boy whispered sharply. "I guess we can approached skills you them same question too Derick," Kendall quietly remarked, raising his eyebrows. All of a sudden, Troy began clapping slowly.

"Well, well, well. Look who's decided to show up!" he smirked and Sam instantly knew there was something behind that mischievous smile. "Looks like Derick over here couldn't stop them from tagging along!" MQ laughed in a sinister way. 'We need to get out of here' Levy thought to himself. He shared the same thoughts as Sam and Kendall but Derick, on the other hand, did not. He was willing to stay until he had to go back home even though he had already spent hours there and skipped school.

Derick suddenly felt someone tug and pull his arm. "We need to leave now," Sam stated. Derick scoffed as the rest of them tried to convince them to go back with them home. "It's getting late you know..." The other boy paused, "I'll tell them I had an after school project thing and I had to walk because the bus broke down," he shrugged. Triumphantly, Levy opposed his friend's point, "But you don't do anything after school and there are no projects to be working on!" Derick looked down at his feet while clenching his fists.

"So, I suggest we hurry up and get the hell out of here before our parents get worried. Consider yourself lucky I'm not a snitch," Kendall spat. Giving in to his friends' persuasion, Derick got onto his skateboard as the other boys got onto their bikes, "Let's go." They raced down the street as fast as they could, trying to get home as the sun sank lower and lower into the horizon. "I know this isn't a good time to ask," Kendall began, "but what were you doing for the whole day in Limbo?"

Everyone stopped moving and Kendall looked at his friend. They had been cycling for around five minutes and were almost home- only a few blocks away- so he guessed he had time to ask. "You don't need to-" It was then, when the other boy erupted. "Don't "You don't need to know" me! I need to know! What the hell were you doing in Limbo today? And why would you bunk off for it?" Fortunately, Sam and Levy stopped their agitated friend before his could end up having an entire lecture.

Unable to contain his anger, Derick got off of his skateboard and walked to Kendall. "I said, YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW!" he yelled before raising his hand and slapping the boys cheek. In retaliation, Kendall punched Derick and watched him stumble backwards. Looking at each other, Levy and Sam knew they need to split them apart. The boy with the red hair took Derick away whilst Sam took Kendall away. "Let's make our own way home," Levy mouthed. Once both pairs could no longer see each other, the witnesses of the fight were quick to scold them.

"Why would you slap him? Are you crazy!" Levy started. "If you just answered the question, which even I wanna know the answer to by the way, maybe this wouldn't have happened!" he sighed and kept cycling, leaving an awkward silence between them. Meanwhile, Sam took a more soft approach with Kendall. "I understand what Derick did wasn't right but you can't force him to tell you everything. Just wait, he'll eventually tell us, although we'll have to watch out in case he goes back to Limbo by himself," he said, cutting his eyes. "Retaliation. I know it's kind of automatic- you just do it. But don't do it. Please?" Kendall looked at his black haired friend- Sam had a point but he kind of didn't want to admit that his friend was right.

Instead, similar to Levy and Derick, they rode the rest of the journey home in complete silence. Once they had reached each other's houses, Levy and Sam dropped them off before riding to their own houses. Luckily, it was just before sunset and they had the same excuse in mind... "We went to the park after school," they both told their parents. However, Levy wasn't hesitated to go into a bit more detail, "We had a small argument though so... we are home a bit later?" it came out as a question, rather than a statement but Levy's mom and dad didn't think too much of it.

"Oh well, I know you boys very well. I'm sure you'll sort it out among yourselves!" she stated, going back to whatever she was doing before shortly afterwards. 'Let's hope you're right about that, Mom,' the boy thought to himself. He put his two-wheeled vehicle away and ran up the stairs to his room. 'I wonder what's going on with everyone else...'

When Sam returned home, he greeted his mom and acted as if nothing had happened just minutes before. "Hi Mom!" he smiled and waved after putting his bike where he usually kept it. "How was your day son?" Sam had told her everything- except Limbo and the tension that broke out between Derick and Kendall. "After school we just went to the park and chilled there. It was just the norm."

He shrugged his shoulders before heading straight to his room and leaving his mom do to what she was doing before he walked in. When Derick and Kendall arrived in, they both had the most sour expression on their faces. "Hey..." Kendall said half-heartedly. "Not a good day today?" his mom asked taking a look at him. "What's that on your face?" she asked whilst reaching out to stroke his red cheek.

"I'm not in the mood right now mom!" With that he got past her and quickly made his way to his room. "BUT YOU BETTER TELL ME TOMORROW!" his mom yelled. Kendall sighed and sat on his bed, staring at the ceiling. "But you better tell me tomorrow!" he mimicked. "It's not gonna happen Mom." He grabbed a piece of paper and drew whatever he felt like. The pencil was swiftly moving from side to side, corner to corner. It didn't take long for him to finish and look at it. "This isn't good..."

"Deri- oh. I see you're not in the mood. Okay, I'll talk to you once you've calmed down." Derick's mom knew when her son was angry, you don't pester him with questions. She walked off and left Derick in the room. "Why is he so nosy? Ugh, what have I gotten myself into!" He covered his face with his hands and rubbed his eyes, though no tears were falling down.

He went into the kitchen and opened the fridge door to get himself a snack to eat before stomping up the stairs to his room and sitting on his bed and eating his snack. "We can trust them," he muttered to himself, "so I don't really see what Kendall's problem is! I've got my eyes on the prize and nothing will stop me- not Kendall, not Sam, not Levy, nobody." He took another bite of the food in his hand. His fists were clenched and there was anger written all over his face as his eye twitched ever so slightly.