Four of Clubs

8

The three of us crouched behind Ian as he slid the key into the locked door of the basketball court. The light of the moon was barely enough for us to see each other in our all-black ensembles, but I could make out who was who by the Halloween masks.

We had parked far away from Rutherford, not wanting Roy's car to appear on any of the security cameras, and had trekked through the woods to avoid being seen by anyone-- it all seemed a little much when we came up with the plan, but I knew it was worth it if it was the difference between getting caught or not.

Ian pushed the door open with ease, and I couldn't help but think bitterly about how much we struggled the night before. He slinked into the building, the rest of us following him into the large, dark room. The exit light above us and the one at the other side of the gym barely provided any light at all, just a soft green glow.

I turned on the lantern I brought and Jade and Roy switched on their flashlights. Ian reached into his jacket, pulling out his phone and turning on the flash. The room looked eerily vacant. The bleachers were put away against the walls and the basketball hoops had been raised up for the night. I'd only ever been in the room when it was crowded with students during gym class or pep rallies-- in the darkness and the emptiness, the basketball court seemed bigger than ever.

"How big should we write it?" Roy asked as we all stood in uncertainty. Thinking about doing this was one thing, but now that we were actually there? The nerves were already making my palms sweat in their gloves.

"The paper said the bigger the better-- I'm guessing that means we'll get more points if it's larger," Jade said.

"I guess we should just go all out then," I suggested, "go from sideline to sideline."

"That big?" I couldn't see Ian's face, but his voice gave away his surprise. He paused, but nodded. "Okay, we better get started then. It could take a while."

We began working on the word FOUR, all taking a different letter. I don't think any of us was too concerned about what it looked like-- The Seven didn't say anything about it having to look good, so as long as it was readable, I'd be happy. I just wanted to get it done and get out as fast as possible.

My mind wandered to the incident that morning. The name "The Five Capers" had been ringing through my head since I heard it echo through the halls. Their task was funny, I couldn't deny that. But ours carried a much greater consequence, and I hoped we'd be graded fairly. Sure, we were running a little late, but unlike The Capers, our task was a crime. 

"So how'd you get the key, anyway?" Roy asked, body hunched over as he worked on darkening the first half of his U.

Ian looked up from his O, which was impressively neat looking compared to my F. "Coach Hanks always gives me his keys so I can put away equipment. Pretty much everyone knows that he keeps spare keys in his desk since he's always misplacing them, so when I went into his office to put these back, I just took the spare for these doors from his drawer."