Chapter unedited.

Chapter 6: I Refuse to Climb Inside The Air Vents

"Do you enjoy the cold?" He pulled his hood over his head.

"Stop beating around the bush, Nolan. Explain!" I said and opened my lunch bag. Mom had packed an apple, a sandwich, a zip lock with chips, and a bottle of water.

Nolan sat across from me on the picnic table. Our school courtyard was open for seniors during lunch. I always sat out here unless the weather was too severe. It was a little chilly today but that could be because of the company too.

Nolan Milesblue.

The guy who told me first period about dating a member of the school staff!

"Last year, I was seventeen and she was twenty-one," he said sighing. He didn't bring lunch, even though I insisted. No need to die so young. "Because of the breakups, my parents sent me to her. She just added to be another one."

"But how?"

It made no sense.

"We got along well. Women date older guys so younger shouldn't be an issue," he said as if that explained everything. "We were a couple when we had our sessions. Outside that, no. She broke up with me when one of the teachers accidentally walked in on us during one session." Smiling slightly, he added, "A makeout session."

"Gross. No need for the details!" The thought made me shudder.

"So, yeah, she broke up with me," he said, "saying how I can cost her her job. She told my parents that I was fine--"

"Even though you clearly aren't."

"Why are you always picking arguments?" he asked. "For once, shut up, eat your lunch, and listen." I threw my apple at him, but he caught it and bit into it. Lunch for him, I guess. An apple a day won't keep Nolan away, though. "As I was saying, she told my parents I didn't need her help anymore. So now, we need to get her current boyfriend to break up with her."

Was he really saving the guys or hurting the girls?

"Details about him."

"Now you want the details? Because he's a guy?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "All girls are the same."

I rolled my eyes. "You idiot, we need him to break up with your ex. Obviously, I need the details."

"Vincent Marek."

I stopped eating and put my head in my hands. "The gang kid?" I asked. Everyone knew Vince. "The dangerous kid who has anger issues?" Nolan nodded.

Vince was one of those dangerous type of guys who smoked, got drunk, taunted other people, dated strange girls. and tried to show he was tough. He was also into drugs and gangs.

Everyone knew to stay away from him.

"He was put in therapy by his guardians," Nolan informed. "I heard him talking to his friends about Terryn."

"You mean Ms. Bozzo?" Bozzo, literally.

"Terryn. Anyways, he is with her. I have two plans." For once, I didn't have to come up with a plan. "Plan A: we hide a camera in Terryn's office and catch the couple on there."

"And then blackmail them like you blackmailed me?"

Sharply, he said, "You chose to get blackmailed!" I pursed my lips. "If you feel so bad, then why are you still helping me? You make me sound like the bad guy when you took part in everything!" His words held the truth. "You're just as selfish! You want Princeton and I want revenge!"

He ran a frustrated hand through his dark, chestnut brown hair, pulling his hood down.

"How do we arrange to get in Ms. Bozzo's office?" I quietly asked. He was right about me being selfish. I was just as guilty as him.

"You are an aid in the main office, right?" I started denying it when he continued, "Trust me, Plan B will be worse. You don't want to go through that." His warning made me sigh and nod.

I didn't like Plan A and if Plan B was worse, then I didn't want it.

"Fine. I'll try to do something. I don't have a camera, though."

"I got that covered," he said and opened his backpack which sat next to him. Nolan pulled out a small square device. Holding it up, he smiled proudly. "Spy camera." I had no words.

How did he even come up with this?

"Where did you get that?"

"Amazon," he replied, closing his hand. "Now, you must help me get in Terryn's office so I can get this set up."

"Sure. Piece of cake," I said sarcastically.

"Good." He ignored the sarcasm. "I'm skipping third period tomorrow, so I'll be available anytime."

"Why are you skipping? Show me how to set it--"

"No. I don't trust you enough."

That shut me up completely. He thought I was going to break the camera or something? Surprisingly, Nolan just sat with me the rest of lunch. We quietly discussed little details.

I still wondered what Plan B was.

¤》¤《¤

"Helen, there's a letter for you on the table," mom told me.

I had just entered the house from school. Tomorrow was going to be a big day, but it could be changed if the letter was from Princeton. I ran, tripping over my shoes in the process, but still making it safely. I tore open the letter and groaned.

It was an acceptance letter from the college at the bottom of my list. The state university. Everyone with a GPA higher than 3.0 got in there.

"When is Princeton's letter coming?" I asked my mom.

She was working on her laptop while sipping coffee.

"They said beginning of February or sometime in February. It's still mid-January," she replied. Grumpily, I took a seat next to her. My mom, dad, teachers and (now) Nolan were the only people I communicated with. "Don't worry. You'll get in."

"I hope so."

That letter better be of acceptance than rejection. Otherwise, helping Nolan was a waste of time.

¤》¤《¤

"Ms. Gibbons, I finished filing," I told the secretary. It was third period--lunch block--where I was an aid in the main office.

She gave me a smile. "Thank you. That's all for today. You can work on your homework or whatever for the rest of the period."

I nodded, sitting down near her.

"Do you know what lunch Ms. Bozzo has?" I asked casually. The staff members knew I was a good kid and never really doubted my intentions.

Ms. Gibbons told me to give her a second.

She quickly looked it up on her computer and said, "Last lunch. Do you need something?"

"Yeah." And the lying began. "I wanted to talk to her about one of my . . . friends." Non-existant friends. "She was busy with someone else, so I'll talk to her during lunch. Is it okay if I take last lunch?"

Normally, I took second lunch. The lunch period was two hours split into four thirty minute blocks for lunch.

"Yup."

One problem down. Now, Ms. Bozzo needed to leave her office open. I could see Nolan sulking around the main office. That idiot needed to be less noticeable.

Time went at the speed of a turtle.

Finally, last lunch came and I hurried out to the psychologist. Her office was right around the corner. Ms. Bozzo and Vince were coming out with smiles. Ew. The guy scared me a lot, even if I didn't show it.

Nolan was hiding in a crowd of students behind his ex.

As soon as Vince parted from Ms. Bozzo, she started to take out her keys to lock the office.

"Ms. Bozzo!" I called a little too loudly. Some students passing by laughed at her last name.

"Yes?" She stopped fumbling with her keys.

"I saw a girl making herself throw up in the bathroom, two minutes ago." A safe lie, if you ask me.

"What?!" Her door was open a little bit.

Nolan edged closer to Ms. Bozzo and the door. He slid something in the little gap between the doorframe and the door.

"She needs help. I saw her make herself throw up before too." I felt terrible for lying with something like an eating disorder. "I wanted to let an adult know."

I tried to look as innocent as possible.

A worried look came on her face as she shut the office door behind her. But it got stuck--neither opening nor closing. What did Nolan do?

"Which bathrooms?" she asked, giving up on trying to open her office.

"Ones in the math wing." The farthest away ones, in other words. She nodded and started to go. "I have to go talk to another teacher, so is it okay if I catch up with you after that?"

She nodded and hurried around the corner.

I turned to find Nolan giving me an amused smile. He was leaning against the wall behind where Bozzo had been standing.

"Nice lie." A compliment from the devil?

"Thanks. What did you do to the door?"

"Chewed gum." He proudly pointed towards the bottom of the door frame.

I found a stretched, huge pink thing--gum--as Nolan opened the door. Ms. Bozzo either didn't have the strength or she didn't try hard enough.

Nolan told me to get in quickly and help him set up.

Now, he trusted me?

We shut the door behind us, careful not to get tangled in the gum. We had less than eight minutes to set up.

Nolan took his spy camera out and handed me some other devices and a wire. We put it between her plaques and photos on a shelf.

"Hurry, Nolan." This was my third criminalistic act. For some reason, I enjoyed the thrill of getting involved in some activities. Otherwise, my life strictly relied on a routine of eating, sleeping, and studying.

"Like I was saying, these children want to change for other people," someone blabbered outside the office.

Nolan and I shared horrified looks as the doorknob began jiggling. My partner didn't waste a single second. His hand wrapped around my mouth and the other reached across my belly and pulled me behind the door with him.

The door opened, but the people lingered in the doorway.

I was really shocked at Nolan's move. Did he not understand personal space? My back was touching his quickly rising and falling chest. His face was right next to mine, though he had his eyes closed. I tried to get him to remove his hand from around my waist and my mouth but he wouldn't budge.

He really couldn't. One bad move and we were goners.

"Anyways, Terryn, grab your lunch and we can discuss this with the staff," some female voice said. Ms. Bozzo came inside and went to her mini fridge. She pulled out a bag.

She was easily going to see Nolan and I once she turned around.

I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting to get in trouble. Instead of a yell, I heard a "what is that?"

Opening my eyes, I grimaced to find the psychologist going up to the shelf with the camera. Nolan, the idiot, had left a wire hanging. Ms. Bozzo picked up the whole camera materials, examined them, and left.

Nolan let me go as soon as the door slammed shut. He muttered a curse and I slapped the back of his head.

"What was that for?!" He rubbed the spot I had slapped.

"For touching me and for being careless!" He could have easily pulled me behind the door. "Your hand smelled like ketchup."

"I ate french fries." I hadn't even eaten my lunch yet because of this scheme. "I have no interest in touching you, snob. As for carelessness, it was either us or the wire."

I huffed, sitting down on the small couch in the office. He did save us from getting in major trouble. Even if he lost his spy camera.

"Now what?"

Nolan ran a hand through his hair and frowned. "Plan B."

"Which is?"

¤》¤《¤

"This is Plan B?" He couldn't get any crazier. "No. You can't force me to do this."

I was already preparing to run away from the school basement. Nolan grabbed my elbow and dragged me to the side of the old elevator.

"Hel--"

"No, Nolan. Screw everything. You can hand the pictures to the principal." Either way, I was going to get in trouble. I might as well take the easy route. "I refuse to climb inside the air vents!"

He really thought it was a genius idea--and the last resort--to climb inside the vents and catch his ex on camera. He even made a whole map of the way to her office from the basement! The stupidity of this guy!

After ten minutes of fighting, we reached a stalemate.

"I'll tell my parents to put in a word for you for Princeton," he bribed.

I groaned. He knew my weakness. "Why do both of us have to go? Why can't you go and I stay guard here?"

"Like I said before, I don't trust you enough."

"I promise I won't ditch you or snitch," I said desperately.

"No. You can go alone too. I can guard here," he suggested. I shook my head immediately turning down that thought.

"I'm not going alone!" What if I got lost? Could I trust Nolan to actually save me? The same guy who abandoned me in the middle of the road.

"Together then."

He pulled out a screwdriver from his jacket pocket and opened the panel for the air vents.

I felt like I was in an episode of Zack and Cody. Whining and complaining, I was made to go first. He had no faith in me whatsoever. Nolan followed behind with his map and camera.

No one ever came to this part of the basement. But we still hid our stuff in our lockers before coming down here.

The passageway surprisingly fit us both, but we had to crawl on all fours. I cursed at him as we followed the map.

"Nolan, we still have time to go back." It was getting hot in here. Both of us were sweaty and breathing heavily.

"Hel-en, we have unfinished business."

"If I kill you in here, how long would it take for people to find your dead body?" I wondered.

"Just as long as it would take for them to find your photographs in my backpack." He gave me a smug smile before taking the next turn.

The photos were in his backpack? That was his safe place? I broke into his house for no reason. I needed that backpack. What if someone else found it?

"We're here," he announced, finally stopping.

"Thanks for declaring it to everyone!" He was going to get us caught for sure.

"The air vents are sound proof, stupid," he said, rolling his eyes. I frowned.

Say we got stuck in here, we couldn't yell for help.

I hated him more and more.

Nolan pulled up his camera and we peeped through the small spaces. Ms. Bozzo and Vince sat across from each other. Rather than just being them two, there was another presence.

"Damn, why is Kay Pal here?" Nolan asked.

I laughed at the name but shut up upon seeing Nolan's sharp look. Students called our principal "Kay Pal" as a shortened version of Kayden Pallardinneti. Half of the population couldn't pronounce "Pallardinetti."

"He does sometimes visits around to make sure everything is in order," I told Nolan. "Don't worry, he'll be gone soon."

Nolan was really out of breath from the journey. He didn't say much, but sat back, taking deep breaths.

I asked if he was okay and he replied, "Surviving."

I was on watch. As soon as the principal left, Ms. Bozzo and Vince were on top of each other. I looked away in disgust. How could Ms. Bozzo make out with her student?

Nolan recorded the forbidden relationship and took pictures.

"I can't believe she was your girlfriend. You officially have no class or good taste," I commented, my face still scrunched up from what I had seen.

"I have you as my partner. Obviously, I don't have good taste," he retorted. I frowned and punched his arm. "So violent," he muttered. "Let's head back. I got good enough blackmailing photos."

He showed me the snaps. Some were clear and some unclear due to the lack of space the lens had to focus on the couple.

We headed back the way we came. The bell for the next period rang halfway and I panicked.

"I can't skip AP Calculus!" Both of us had the class together. He looked worried too.

"Hurry."

Our teacher was the nicest and the best in her department. However, the nice-ness ended when even one student skipped her class. Especially an AP student. She actually hunted those students down.

Last week, she called a kid who was skipping. In front of the whole class. She then called his parents and the principal right afterwards because he wouldn't come back to class.

Nolan and I had no explanations if we got caught.

When we reached our starting place, we were shocked to find the panel back up.

Something closed our exit.

We stopped, paralyzed. How were we getting out of here without getting in trouble?

To make matters worse, Nolan sat back, holding a hand to his chest. His eyes were shut and face looked pained. His breaths came out really short. Sweat ran along the side of his face.

Damn it.

¤》¤《¤

A/N

Whatya think of the chapter? How was Plan A?

How is Plan B going? Will they get out without getting in trouble?

Please let me know you thoughts! This book is close to my heart. I really enjoy writing it and want to perfect it as much as possible.

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