A joke.
But the second one…
It’s everything but.
He did warn me he wouldn’t hold back. So, why do I feel so… disappointed? If Brielle fucking Randall—we’re talking double D’s, stick-thin waist, shiny red hair, and Kylie Jenner lips—can’t keep his attention, little old me doesn’t stand a chance. Unleashing my unrealistic hopes back into the universe, I face my wake-up call head on…
And delete our conversation.
* * *
Senior prank night was a bust.
Literally.We got busted two hours in—okay, maybe that’s not entirely true. I didn’t get bustedjust yet, but if my current situation is anything to go by, it shouldn’t be long now.
I never would’ve imagined, when I first agreed to this awful tradition that I’d wind up here, huddled up in a dark classroom with Theo and my not so anonymous pen pal.
Dia and I were halfway through TPing the gym with a dozen seniors when Axel came bursting through the door, yelling that the cops were here and to get the fuck out.
While I’m not sure what the consequences for partaking in senior prank night are, I know this: there is no world, no universe, no galaxy in which getting caught wrapping your school in TP ends well.
Dia hasn’t answered one of my texts since I lost her in the crowd of frantic seniors. I blinked once and she was gone. I found myself alone before I knew it. Stranded in the main hallway while the cops raided the school from every entrance.
I was considering bolting to the exit by the cafeteria when I heard the sheriff and a few deputies talking in the distance. They were headed straight toward me, and I knew for a fact I couldn’t access the exit without exposing myself.
That’s when the door to the chemistry lab flew open.
He was standing on the other side, hot as ever—what’s new—gesturing for me to get in before it was too late.
Xavier.
Of course, it had to be him. Why wouldn’t I get rescued by the one guy I didn’t want to see tonight?
Xavier or not, I couldn’t afford to get caught, so I welcomed the help. It was either get in that classroom with him or have my mom trade me for a new daughter on the black market. Seriously, she’d sell my organs if she knew I snuck out in the middle of the night.
Footsteps come rushing down the hall, and Theo warns us with a threatening “Everyone, shut the fuck up.” Terrified to make a sound, I cradle my knees against my chest. The three of us are sitting with our backs pressed to the wall in the furthest corner of the classroom.
“Fucking kids.”I recognize Sheriff Daniel’s voice from the night Xavier and I got pulled over. “Because that’s where I want to be at two in the morning.”
“They’re long gone, Joe. We got most of them. Why don’t we just call it a night?” An unidentified officer yawns.
“Not yet,” the sheriff objects.
The footsteps stop dead in front of the chem lab.
They’re right here.
On the other side of the door.
One sound, just one, and we’re toast.
“Did we check this classroom?”
“Don’t think we did, boss,” Cop Number Two responds.
I tense up when one of them shines a flashlight into the classroom through the small rectangular window in the door. They can’t see us from this angle, but if they just open the door an inch, we’re done for.
Panic overtakes me.