He rolled his eyes. “I asked for them. Why does everyone assume the worst?”
“Because you’re sketchy as hell,” May said with a laugh. She screeched as he lunged for her.
Without any more debate, they walked to the side doors of the school. Dylan unlocked one and held it open for them to all enter the dark corridor beyond. Lila’s chest tightened at the sight, her steps faltering. Gavin quickly pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight, but the atrium flooded with light before the rest could do the same.
Lila looked over to Dylan, who stood casually leaning against the wall beside a panel of switches. She looked around at the quiet school, slowly walking toward the nearest hall. Everything was familiar—the lockers, the classrooms. She spent the past four years in that building, but as she glanced at the others walking beside her, she realized she knew nothing about the school. With Beth Ann as the only exception, she didn’t know the students.
Her entire life she dreamed of moving to a big city and one day seeing her name in lights. When that dream changed, she’d turned her focus on getting into a good school with a business program. No matter how different the path her life took, one thing had always stayed the same: for four years, she focused so hard on getting out of that school that she missed out on friendships and fun.
Dylan put an arm around her shoulders, dragging her back to the present. “Ready for this?”
“You seriously broke us into the school just so I can run through the halls?” Lila asked.
He pulled her to a stop while the others continued. Without him asking, Dylan tossed the keys to Gavin who opened a classroom. Dylan tugged her to the side of the hall, out of the way, as they began pulling out stools on wheels.
“First of all,” Dylan said, “it’s not breaking in if we have the keys.”
“Which you stole.”
“I didn’t steal them.” He turned to face her with one shoulder propped against the lockers. She mirrored his stance as he continued, “I asked Mrs. Cay for them.”
“And she just handed them over?” Lila crossed her arms. There was no way their vice principal just gave him a set of master keys to the school.
The corner of his mouth turned up. “I told her it was a bucket list thing and promised not to do any damage—that we just wanted to run through the halls one last time.”
“She did not believe you enough to allow this. There’s no way.”
Kaley laughed as one of the upcoming-senior baseball players, Zach, twirled her around on a stool. One of the others started playing music on their phone.
“Someone’s going to call the police on us,” Lila said.
“Already taken care of.”
Lila’s eyes snapped back to Dylan’s.
“I told you, I talked to Mrs. Cay,” he said. “She called the police station to tell them to ignore any calls they might receive.”
“Why would she do all this?”
He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand and looked down at his feet. Well, Lila had her answer. She swatted his chest, hissing, “Dylan.”
“Ow!” He jumped out of reach in mock pain. “I didn’t know how else to get this one done.”
She started to walk away, but he grabbed her elbow. When she stopped, he moved in front of her. “I’m sorry, Lila. Really.”
“I know.” With a sigh, she met his eyes.
A shadow moved across her vision. “Everything okay?”
Lila bit the inside of her cheek and smiled as she looked over to Gavin. “Of course. I was just making sure we wouldn’t all get arrested for being here.”
Gavin laughed and kissed her cheek. Dylan’s shoulders visibly relaxed. Before she could move to one of the stools, he said, “Wait, give me your phone.”
“Why?” She reached over to pull it out of Gavin’s pocket.
Dylan snatched it from her hand with a grin. “Because Beth Ann won’t answer me, but she will definitely answer a FaceTime from you.”
Sure enough, a few seconds later, her cheerful face filled the phone screen. After they all waved and yelled hello, Dylan explained what they were doing. Gavin pulled Lila to the middle of the hall and had her sit.
“All right, ladies and gentlemen,” Dylan said in a mock-announcer tone.
Lila could hear Beth Ann in the background laughing and saying, “Seriously?”
He ignored her. “In the first race of the evening, we have Lila and Kaley taking their places on the starting line. At their backs, Gavin and Zach will be the running men.”
Kaley pulled up her stool beside Lila’s. They shared a look, then they both started laughing. Gavin’s hands went to Lila’s waist to stop her from falling over, which just made her laugh harder. He leaned down close to her ear. “Tuck your feet up under you.”
She looked at him over her shoulder with a raised brow.
“Less wind resistance,” he said with a shrug, as if it was obvious.
After she did as he told her to, she gripped the edges of the seat. The race was not going to end well. It was an accident waiting to happen. Gavin’s hands covered hers, and he gave her another quick kiss on the cheek as Dylan began counting down.
“I won’t let you fall,” Gavin said, reading her mind.
“Go!” Dylan yelled.
Lila took a deep breath and held it. They took off, and it escaped as a scream that echoed off the lockers right alongside Kaley’s. The wheels shook beneath them as they raced down the hall. The others stood at the end, cheering them on.
Lila didn’t think she’d ever had a bigger smile. Definitely not in that school.
19
Friday
Zach clapped a hand on the back of Gavin’s shoulder and dragged him away from Lila. She gave him an encouraging smile as he joined his other teammates walking across the parking lot. One of them stopped at their
