Chapter One: May 16, 7:30 p.m.

Keira drummed her hands nervously on the top of the laptop that was sitting next to her on the bed. She looked around at her friends, and she sighed. Her dark brunette hair fell into her face, and she pulled it back with a hand.

“Who’s in?” Keira asked her friends.

No one made any motion to respond to her question. She looked exasperatedly at her friends, and groaned when no one answered her.

“Guys, come on! We graduate in like, a month. This could be our legacy,” she tried to reason with them.

“Yeah,” Shawn agreed, “It’ll be our legacy because we’ll be the only seniors in the history of the school to get expelled a month before graduation.”

“Screw you,” Keira said to him, her brown eyes boring into his blue ones, “Sherry, shut him up.”

“Shut up,” Sherry said to her twin. They looked exactly alike, apart from the fact that one was a boy and one was a girl. They both had the same clear, watery blue eyes and unruly black hair. Sherry was older than Shawn by a minute and thirty-two seconds, which automatically gave her a superiority complex.

Shawn rolled his eyes at his twin sister, and laid back against the foot of the bed.

“I’ll do it,” came a tired, bored voice from across the room.

Keira’s eyes darted to where Jesse was sitting on a computer chair, rocking it back and forth with his feet. He had unnatural platinum blonde hair, which he dyed every other month. He hated his natural brunette hair, which just so happened to be the same shade as Keira’s. He was almost six feet in height, and was naturally well built. His structure was so fitting for his sport of choice: soccer. To finish off what most high-school age girls would consider to be “the epitome of hotness,” Jesse had pure, emerald green eyes. These features were not unnoticed by Keira, but she was too busy focusing on the fact that he has just agreed to her preposition to care.

“You’ll do it?” Keira confirmed, excitement building.

“Did I stutter?” Jesse asked her sarcastically.

“Get over yourself,” Keira told him, now turning the rest of her friends.

“I’ll do it,” said another voice, this time Keira’s best guy friend, Michael. Michael himself was not unattractive. He had natural dirty-blonde hair and hazel eyes, and was tan from all the time he spent running cross-country for their high school. He was shorter than Jesse by only about three inches.

“I knew there was a reason I loved you,” Keira joked and nodded, “Thanks, Michael.”

“Uh huh,” Michael said with a tone of someone who had just gotten themselves into a very deep hole without a ladder.

Keira looked at the rest of her friends, and settled on Britney, “Britney, what about you?”

Britney’s clover green eyes widened as the spotlight was put on her. She sighed, and glanced at the rest of the group for help. When none came, she responded, “If we got caught, my parents would kill me. You know that.”

It was true. Britney had two of the strictest parents you would ever meet. Her curfew on school nights was five in the afternoon, and on the weekends it was eight thirty at night. Try as she might to get them to ease up on it, her parents had a large fear of unprotected sex and STDs finding there way to Britney. They didn’t seem to understand that having an earlier curfew wouldn’t do much to protect her from that if she and the guy decided to “get it on” earlier in the day.

Keira only rolled her eyes at Britney’s response, and she turned to Brock. He furiously shook his head, his shaggy black hair flailing as he did so. “No way, Ker.”

Keira groaned and said loudly, “Come on, guys! It’s not that big a deal.”

“I’ll do it if you shut up!” Shawn yelled at her, looking thoroughly impatient with the situation.

“So that’s just me and three guys?” Keira said to everyone. Keira glared at Sherry and Britney, and they cowered under her dark hazel-eyed stare.

“At least you got people to go with you,” Jesse reasoned, “At least you’re not doing it yourself.”

“Whatever,” Keira said to him, her glare now turning on him. Jesse returned it with vigor.

“Would you two stop flirting?” Brock shrieked, now getting annoyed.

Keira snapped back to attention and said to her friends, “Alright, so when do you want to do this?”

“Sometime this week would be the most reasonable,” Michael spoke up, “We’ll get it out of the way before graduation, and the security is lightening up.”

“I still don’t understand why they do that shit,” Jesse announced.

“What are you babbling about?” Shawn asked him, leaning back on his hands.

“Well, the logical thing would be to increase security at the end of the year, you know? I mean, people will be more rowdy because it’s the end of the year. The fact that security is being taken off just adds on to it.”

Keira rolled her eyes at Jesse’s comment. She hated him. She loved him.

“Only you’d actually take time to analyze that,” Britney laughed.

“Yeah, dude,” Brock concurred, “Get a life.”

“I have a life, dude,” Jesse answered excitedly, “I’m the valedictorian, remember? What are you?”

“The class elected speaker, dumbass,” Brock said, smirking.

“Shit,” Jesse mumbled, that fact about Brock entering his conscious mind again.

“Damn straight,” Brock said proudly.

“When did this turn into a cursing contest?” Michael asked them.

“Back on topic,” Keira continued through gritted teeth, “I’ve been planning this since sophomore year. I know exactly how the system works. I’ve got it all worked out.”

Keira proceeded to pull out a large piece of construction paper from her bag and she laid it out on the floor for everyone to see. They all crowded around the map that she had created of the school.

“Alright,” she said to everyone, pointing at the map of the school she had, “Here is how it’s going to go down. There is one security guard per hallway, when there used to be two. They rotate hallways every two hours. The guy in the 100 Hallway goes to the 200 Hallway, the guy in the 200 Hallway goes to the 400 Hallway, the guy in the 400 Hallway goes to the 300 Hallway, and the guy in the 300 Hallway goes to the 100 Hallway. Like I said, they repeat that every two hours.”

“Why is it all jumbled?” Brock asked, leaning over the map.

“It’s the layout of the building,” Keira explained, “The 300 Hallway is off to itself, so it doesn’t follow a numerical pattern.”

“Okay,” Jesse said, “So how are we going to dodge them?”

“When they rotate, they rotate clockwise. Our goal is to stay in the area closest to the clockwise position.”

“Wouldn’t that be what we don’t want to do?” Michael asked, “I mean…that would mean when they rotate, they’ll see us.”

“You see, that’s not the way it works,” Keira said to him, “If we dodge them while they’re stationed, we’re fine. It’ll be the person what’s rotating in that will see us, not the person rotating out.”

“So which hallway are we staying in?” Shawn asked.

“We’re rotating every two hours too. That’s why we won’t get caught.”

“So basically we’re with the same guard all night?” Jesse asked.

“Yes,” Keira said, “Now, they don’t bring out all the guards until six. Until then, we have to hide in the locker rooms.”

“Why?” Michael asked.

“Because the few guards that are there aren’t stationed. They walk around, and there are no more after school activities for us to lie and say we’re a part of.”

“Okay…” Jesse said, “Now which locker room are we hiding out in?”

“The girls’,” Keira answered.

“Uh, why?” Shawn wanted to know, “Why not the guys’?”

“Because the locker rooms are locked, and I’ve already figured out how to pick the girls’ locker room lock. The locker rooms have different types of locks.”

“I can tell this is going to be an interesting experience,” Shawn sighed.

“Now,” Keira said, rolling up the map of the building, “We need to discuss who’s bringing what.”

“What are you talking about?” Jesse asked impatiently.

“Food, blankets. Well, maybe not blankets. We’re not allowed to sleep.”

“Uh, you didn’t tell us that when you asked us to do this whole thing with you,” Shawn said spitefully.

“We can’t fall asleep, smart one, or we’ll get caught. And you’re not backing out now, you giant chicken,” Keira snapped.

“Whatever,” Shawn sighed, “But if I get in trouble the next day for falling asleep in class, I’m blaming you.”

“Whatever you say,” Keira said, brushing off his comment with a wave of her hand, “So who wants to bring food?”

“I will,” Michael volunteered, “We’ve got plenty of ‘non-perishable’ foods at my house. What do you want me to bring?”

“Crackers, cookies, chips, water. Stuff that is in bags or that closes easily, because we can’t throw anything out overnight; we have to keep it with us.”

“Right,” Michael nodded, leaning back against the bed post on the floor.

“When are we doing this again?” Shawn asked.

“Well, I said sometime next week,” Michael said.

“Yeah,” Keira nodded, “Fine. Thursday, alright?”

“Don’t we get a say in this?” Shawn asked.

“Just let her decide,” Michael said to him.

“Mike…”

“Don’t call me that,” Michael spat at him.

“Fine. Michael, I just think it’s fair if we, as a group, decide when to do it.”

“She’s got it under control,” Michael replied through gritted teeth, “Let her do it the way she wants.”

Shawn saw Michael’s eyes flash at him, and he recoiled. He raised his hands, signaling he surrendered, and Keira smiled. “Great,” she said, “Thursday it is.”

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Notice: Alright, Chapter One is in! What did you all think? I like it so far, and I think this is going to be a really great story. I’m really looking forward to writing it. Please let me know what you think. Thanks for reading.