Danna rolls her eyes. “Past curfew, remember? I don’t actually want to get caught.”
Bryce looks at me. “Detention sucks. You have to sit around after school for a minimum of an hour. I mean you can look at your cell and stuff- oh sorry.”
Danna laughs. “You’re the mysterious city girl, Elle. Let’s give people a reason for your hard rep. I’ve got the password to turn the security system off too.”
Bryce looks at her. “How’d you manage that?”
“Some good journalist work.” She says with a smile. “Let’s go.”
I put my hand up. “Wait. Big fancy school must have a security guard at night.”
Danna rolls her eyes. “Big whoop. One or two security guards watching porn in the back office somewhere. The classroom is in the main hallway by the entrance. It’s like right there when you walk in basically.” I give her an uneasy look. “Fine. Bryce are you cool with staying in the car with Elle?”
Before Bryce can answer, I do. “Okay! Let’s go. Just try not to be seen.” I look at Bryce, who looks bloated from the junk food we ate. “That goes double for you.”
He squinches his face. “Me? I’m a fucking ninja.”
The three of us walk towards the school. Even though it’s still summer, the night is cooler than usual. Danna tells us that there’s a low dip in the brick wall on the east side of campus.
“How many times have you broken into school after curfew?” I ask.
“Not my first rodeo.” She says with a smile.
When we get close, we notice the front gate is wide open.
“Seems inviting.” Bryce says. “I’m not jumping over a brick fucking wall when the gate is open.” I agree with Bryce. We wait and watch the front gate area but see no activity. When we feel comfortable that the coast is clear, we stroll through the entrance nonchalantly.
Danna leads us to the main building. She takes out a key and opens the front door. We sneak inside the school’s foyer. Danna heads over to the security panel on the wall nearby.
For some reason I thought it would be bells and whistles as soon as we opened the door, but it’s silent.
Danna looks at us. “Silent alarm for twenty seconds. If I don’t punch in the code, this whole place lights up and things get- loud.”
“So, what the fuck are you waiting for?” I ask, feeling unsure that I should have come on this adventure.
Danna scratches her head. “Fuck. I thought I remembered it. I wrote it down in one of my notepads.” She looks at Bryce. “Our English teacher, what year was she born in again?”
“How the fuck should I know!” Bryce says in an intense whisper.
“Oh fuck, oh fuck.” Danna says looking at the numbers in front of her. “Nineteen, Twenty!” Danna looks up.
Bryce looks around. I hold my hands to my ears anticipating the loud frenzy of noises about to explode. Instead, all I hear is Danna laughing.
“Not funny.” Bryce says.
Danna quickly hits four numbers and hits the de-activate button. “You guys are pussies. Would you believe it’s 4,3,2,1? What a joke.” She looks at Bryce. “Ninja man. Why don’t you wait outside? Text or call me if you see any security guard coming our way.”
I look at her. “If the classroom is right around the corner, why bother?”
She stiffens her lower lip. “I sort of lied. Lesson One, Elle. Don’t trust rich kids.”
Bryce shakes his head. “Whatever. With Danna, you’re bound to get caught.” He opens the front door slowly, peeking outside before leaving.
Danna leads me through the dark hallways. The moon provides enough light through the atrium that I’m not bumping into walls or the expensive artwork in the halls. After a few twists and turns I notice a sign for the English class.
“Hey, we passed the English room.” I say.
“Oh yeah. Danna says not caring, and continuing to walk. I don’t follow. When she realizes and looks back at me, I look at her coldly.
“What are we really doing here?” I ask. “Enough lies.”
She smiles. “You wouldn’t have come if I told you. I need to show you something. I promise you won’t regret it.”
“Never trust a rich kid, right?”
She sighs. “My dad makes low six figures a year from his fast food chains. Bryce and I are like the poor ones around here.” She continues to walk down the hallway. I sigh to myself and follow.
She finally stops in front of an office door. I smile, not understanding fully.
“The guidance counsellor? You want to show me something in the guidance counsellor’s office?” I laugh.
She smiles, taking out her purse and removing a credit card from her wallet. “Never leave home without one.” She slips it through the door frame and wiggles it around. Eventually she slides it under the tongue of the door and opens it. “Shit. I didn’t think that would actually work.”
She sneaks into the office. I reach for the light switch, but she stops me and points at a large window. I look around the office, unsure what I’m supposed to find that’s so amazing. All I see is a desk that looks like its refurbished from the early twentieth century, a few leather couches and a fireplace. Am I supposed to be amazed by how nice and clean the guidance counsellor’s office is?
I also, for some reason, feel a twinge of shame. I broke into this dude’s office and have never met him. I’m sure at some point while I’m here I’m going to need to depend on the guidance counsellor for- well - guidance. At my last school, the guidance counsellor was useful when applying to universities and for scholarships. I feel like I’m already burning a useful bridge down by breaking into this office.
“I’m just going to wait outside.” I tell Danna.
Danna ignores me and walks over to a bookshelf. “You saw the carving in the desk in the cafeteria of that monster symbol. You saw the same symbol in the
