Secrets Are For Keeping

Chapter Thirty-Eight

It was eleven o' clock at night according to the digital clock on the classroom's wall.

Everyone in the room was asleep, the only sound being the quiet snoring of a couple other students.

Nobody moved, nobody spoke, not a single person seemed to be awake. Except for us.

Shoes off, prepared to move, the four of us sat in a circle next to Zander's bed, as Kain carefully rested a sheet of his pad of paper that he'd ripped off. On it in black pen was a map of the school that was zoomed in on the restricted area. Descriptions had earlier been given by Pepper so that he could draw it, and looking at it now made the situation feel so much more real. It was one thing to talk about a plan, and then an entirely different thing to actually go through with it. Already my entire being was shouting at me to turn around, and telling me that I couldn't do something this radical.

But it was too late to turn back. Because now three other people had been dragged into this with me and I couldn't just convince them all to stop when the only thing holding me back was my fear of getting caught. But then again why was I even afraid? I was going to get caught anyway, so it wouldn't make a difference if we were seen. Except it would because then I would end up taking everyone else along with me wherever the inspectors had brought all the other students. And I didn't know if I'd be able to stand the added on guilt that would come with that.

Kain moved his finger along our path one more time, silently going over the plan we'd agreed on earlier during the day. He looked up as if to ask "Got it?" and we all nodded in response. Then he carefully folded up the sheet of paper and stuck it in his pocket.

We all stood up, and I quietly began walking towards the door, taking the lead. The three of them followed close behind and then we were in the hallway, and I was leading everyone through the school, remembering how I'd gotten to the restricted area the first time with Pepper.

In seconds, we were at the door to the restricted area. I heard Zander suck in a breath and looked behind me, remembering his contribution to the plan. He would be waiting here for us until we returned, and then we'd all go back as quietly as possible before we could be noticed.

Zander came to the front of our small group and opened the door, holding his breath the entire time. The handle went downwards and the door opened. We all waited anxiously to hear a shout, to hear anything indicating that an inspector had woken up and was about to come barreling through the doorway to arrest us.

But nothing happened. Zander let out his breath and opened the door all of the way so we all could make it through. First I went, followed be Pepper and Kain. Zander stayed at the other side of the door, and gave me a small smile when I stared at him with worry. He mouthed good luck and then backed away from the opening to watch for anyone coming down the hallway.

Now it was just the three of us, and Kain knew that it was his turn to go next. We reached the end of the hall, ducking past open doorways, and Kain saw the adjacent hallway that he would be watching. He only glanced at Pepper and I once before departing and walking to the very end of the hallway, where he hid at the corner, ready to call out if anyone came near. We'd already decided that the best option if someone did come by would be to just yell out to everyone else. Although it would only attract more attention and cause the inspector coming towards us to be certain that someone was doing something they shouldn't be, it was better if we had time to run and escape. Even if they heard our voices, it would be impossible for them to match it to any faces and then we'd all be able to make it out okay. And that was the goal. To fix the laptop and have everyone make it out. I'd been the one to extremely promote the idea of just shouting out about anyone coming and abandoning our original idea to run because I knew if any one of them were to get caught because of me, I'd never be able to escape that guilt.