The Bookroom

Ever since the high school switched to issuing Chromebooks, the bookroom became pretty obsolete. It was an odd shape and still full of textbooks, so it really hadn’t been repurposed as something else. It made a perfect place for Andela to arrive and depart for classes each day.

That is until the janitor caught her coming out of it late one afternoon when she realized she left her bracelet in her gym locker. Her mom would definitely notice, and she wasn’t ready to reveal to her family what she had been doing all day every day for the past couple of years. Unfortunately, Andela had been careless when exiting the bookroom because even though she mentally reviewed her notes on the schedules of after-school activities, she had forgotten about the most ubiquitous group of people on any campus, the custodians. Her thoughtlessness was almost her downfall.

“What are you doing? You can’t be in there!” the custodian yelled.

“I’m sorry,” she exclaimed, flustered. “I made a mistake.”

“Who is in there with you?” the custodian asked as she radioed for backup. “Are you vaping?” Security arrived with an AP and SRO.

“I think she was in there vaping,” the custodian announced to all.

“I don’t vape,” Andela exclaimed in a panic.

“There might be others,” the custodian suggested. Andela panicked now. If they walked down the middle of the three aisles in the small room, they would go through the portal she had created there. Initially, only the security guard went in and glanced down each aisle and yelled back, “All clear!” Andela sighed with relief.

“Check for vape smells,” the custodian suggested entering the room, sniffing. The AP and SRO followed after and then it happened. To create room for each other to pass, the security guard stepped into the middle aisle so the custodian could head to the last aisle. The guard was just gone.

“What the…” the custodian started to say as she followed suit.

“Where are they?” the SRO said to no one. The AP raised her walkie to call someone, and Andela couldn’t let that happen.

“Sorry,” she said as she shoved both of the adults still left in the bookroom. She had no idea what to do, so she went with her initial plan and retrieved her bracelet from her gym locker. On her way back to the portal, another AP stopped her.

“Where are you supposed to be?” he asked.

“Detention,” she lied.

“You’re late,” he informed her.

“I had to get this,” she said holding the bracelet in her hand.

“Have you seen any other assistant principals or police officers?”

“No,” she lied again. He walked off mumbling to himself about hearing a call for the bookroom.

“Go straight to detention,” he instructed.

“Yes sir,” she responded and went straight into the bookroom when he turned the corner. Andela debated whether she should come up with a plan first or just go through and try to explain. In her current state, she couldn’t think of anything and ended up just going through. The four adults were trying to find the way out and wandering around, yelling.

“Sorry,” she announced to everyone.

“What the hell is going on?” the cop yelled at her.

“I’m very sorry this happened. I never meant for anyone to find my portal. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can let you return until after prom. I have big plans,” Andela informed her new prisoners.

“Where are we?” AP Garcia demanded.

“This is where I’m from. I live here and go to school in your world,” she tried to explain.

“We’re on another planet?” the janitor exclaimed.

“I don’t know how it really works,” Andela replied. “I’m just a junior. I think it’s technically a different dimension of something. Geology isn’t really my thing.”

“Geography,” the AP corrected.

“Whatever,” she replied. “Anyway, my parents don’t know what I’ve been doing, so it’s not like I can bring you home as guests, and I certainly can’t take you back. I’ll come back tonight when everyone’s sleeping and sneak you into my room. You can live there. In the meantime, don’t eat or drink anything in this forest.”

“I am not staying here,” and similar sentiments were expressed by all and at the same time. Everyone was yelling at Andela and each other. The janitor started yelling for help.

“I can’t understand you when you all scream at the same time,” she screamed back at them. “Remember, don’t eat or drink anything. I’ll be back after dark.” Before anyone could respond, Andela flew away.

“Andy Flay?” the teacher called out.

“Here,” Andela responded to her first-period teacher. There had been a lot of buzz at school that morning because apparently, four staff members were missing including a cop. The district decided school should carry on like normal. They weren’t the kind of district that closed for snow days or hurricanes; they certainly going to close for missing staff. As the teacher finished taking roll, she learned about how the community is demanding cameras be installed everywhere throughout the school. No hallways should be left unsupervised.

“Frogbutt,” Andela muttered to herself. The lack of cameras was another reason she chose the bookroom. Now she might have to relocate her portal.

Everything was not going to plan. Her prisoners were not complying with her order to remain silent as they entered her home and tried calling out for help. As punishment, she took their voices away. Why did they try to ruin her fun? They were much more obedient after that, and she was able to escort them into her closet. It was two-story with a spiral staircase and included a full bathroom. She told them they could yell all they wanted, but the place was soundproof, and gave them their voices back. Then she learned that the custodian, Miranda, and the security guard, Hank, and drunk water they found in a spring.

“I told you not to,” Andela said.

“We were getting dehydrated!” Hank exclaimed.

“Now you can never leave!” she informed the group.

“You didn’t say that!” Miranda cried.

“I shouldn’t have to,” Andela declared. AP Garcia got a sinking feeling at that moment as did Officer Larkin. Those are words they have both used in dealing with students. It was akin to “Because I said so.”

“Well, you two are in a pretty pickle,” Andela announced. Some teens might have felt some pity for Miranda and Hank. Andela was not one of those teens. They did something she told them not to.

“I have four kids and a husband,” AP Garcia announced. “I have to get back.”

“I don’t have kids, but I have a girlfriend, two sisters, and parents who are probably already worried about me,” Officer Ochoa.

“What about me? I have family! I have kids and grandkids!” the former custodian proclaimed.

“I do too,” said Hank. “You can’t just keep me here because I drank water!”

“There’s nothing I can do,” Andela admitted. “It’s not like my thing. It’s the place. The king might be able to do something, but he probably won’t. Look, I just need you to be good little guests until prom is over.”

“I’m in charge of prom!” AP Garcia declared. “All of us are working prom!”

“Then you really messed up,” Andela said. “You are stressing me out. I’m going to bed.” She didn’t talk to them in the morning but did leave safe food they could eat and drink that she brought from the human world. Then she just went to school as normal.

“Andy Flay,” her teacher called.

“Here,” she called.

“Andy! Get up!” her teacher said exasperated. “You are being called to the front office.”

Andela grumpily followed the security guard to the front office and escorted to a conference room where two police officers waited.

“Sit down,” one ordered, gruffly. On the table was a large computer monitor displaying CCTV footage.

“Care to explain your actions after school yesterday,” the other officer asked.

“No,” she answered honestly.

“Ms. Flay, I’m going to need you to take me through your activities after school yesterday,” the first one announced.

“No, thanks,” she answered, flippantly.

“Ms. Flay,” he said, “I don’t think you understand the seriousness of this situation. Four people are missing and we need to get to the bottom of this.”

“Frogbutt,” she swore.

“What did you call me?”

“Look, I’m just trying to make it to prom,” she claimed.

“People’s lives are at stake; I don’t think it compares to some silly dance,” the other one declared.

“Silly dance? Have you not seen Pretty in Pink? There’s side effects to missing prom!” she insisted. She started to get up to leave.

“Sit down!” they both barked.

“Frogbutt,” she swore again.

“Where did you go after school?” an officer growled.

“Home,” she answered.

“We have you on camera going down the back hall at 2:52 then returning at 3:31 and walking rapidly to the athletic hallway before returning to the back hall,” he explained.

“Look, when I got home, I realized I forgot my bracelet in my locker. It was passed down to me from my mom and is kinda a big deal, so I came back to get it,” she explained back while pointing to the bracelet she was adorned with. I would’ve been in so much trouble if I hadn’t come back for it.” One of the officers put his hand to his eyes and looked frustrated.

“How did you get into the back hallway?” he asked.

“I walked there after my last class,” Andela said.

“Which door did you use to exit the building?” This question was important because the hallway had two external doors on each end, but both were covered by cameras. Both officers stared at Andela intently.

“Look, I just need to make it to prom night,” she asserted.

“Ms. Flay,” Officer One said, “answer the question.”

“The door to the bookroom,” she answered. They looked shocked.

“That door is locked,” Officer Two informed her. “We looked in there. There’s no exit or even windows.”

“Did you walk down the middle aisle?” she asked. They looked at each other.

“Stay here,” Officer One demanded.

They walked out together. She waited ten minutes and then went to her next class when the bell rang. Now, she’d have two more angry adults to contend with in her closet. She wished she had told them not to eat or drink anything.

“Andy Flay,” the teacher called out.

“Here,” she responded after second period began. It was group work day and she was assigned a table with three other students.

“...so they were swingers!” she heard one of her group mates claim. “They were all caught having sex in the bookroom! They’re fired; that’s the real reason they’re gone.”

“I bet they left down. They’re probably too embarrassed to go home!” another peer added.

“I heard Officer Ochoa is gay, Why would she be swinging with that old man?” asked the third peer in her group.

“Maybe she just swings with the ladies. I heard it’s actually most of the staff involved,” claimed the first student.

Andela found herself very pleased. This was actually a better prank than what she had been planning. Halfway through class, Principal Smithers stood in the doorway.

“I need to speak with Andy Flay for a moment,” she announced. In the hallway, the principal confirmed that she was speaking to Andy Flay by checking her school ID before asking any questions.

“Last period, you were escorted to the front office to speak with two detectives,” she stated. “They are now unreachable, yet their car is still parked out front in the tow-away zone.”

“Oh,” said Andeal understanding. “Yeah, they were wrong to park there. What are detectives?”

“No,” she responded in the exasperated way adults sometimes do when dealing with teenagers, “That’s not the issue. Their cruiser can be parked there. I need to know where they are.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Andela informed the principal.

“I’m the one asking questions,” she responded.

“What’s the difference between a police officer and a detective?” she asked.

“A police officer is just a cop,” Principal Smithers started and then realized that sounded condescending. “A detective is like what you see on TV investigating a crime.”

“Cops don’t investigate?” Andela asked.

“Of course they do,” she said struggling to get her mind on the right way to answer. “Where did they go?” she finally blurted out. Andela kind of wanted her to go through the portal, but this was becoming too messy, she thought.

“They got a call or something and left. When they didn’t come back, I just went to class when the next bell rang. It’s group work day; I can’t let my team down.”

“Fine,” she responded, distractingly and wandered on off down the hall.

“What did she want?” her deskmate asked upon her return.

“She didn’t make much sense,” Andela replied. “She was all flustered. I wonder if she is part of the swinger ring and is missing her lovers.”

“OOOH, that makes sense!” one of them said. They renewed their gossip, and it spread throughout the school by lunch.

“Andy!” someone in the cafeteria hollered at her. “Come sit with us!” It was a student she had spoken to before. They had chemistry together–the class, not the metaphor. Andy sat down and started stashing human food in her bag. She needed to bring something back to her captives.

“Yeah?” she said.

“I heard the police interviewed you, and then the principal pulled you out of class,” she whispered loudly and conspiratorially in front of her friends.

“They were detectives,” she replied. “Principal Smithers lost them. She’s been doing that a lot lately.”

“So true,” she whispered loudly. “What did the detectives say?”

“They asked me when I last saw AP Garcia and if I knew what swingers were,” she lied. They gasped.

“I knew something like that was going on!” she exclaimed in a whisper.

“Then the principal pulled me out of class to ask what I told the detectives,” she lied again. “She looked really nervous.”

“Oh, that ‘s probably because she knows she might be getting in big trouble.” For the rest of lunch, rumors flew across the cafeteria. Andela ate the meal her family’s cook had packed for her. She sat there with a smile on her face.

Back in her closet, the adults argued about the best way to escape. They couldn’t walk out. When they tried, an invisible force pushed back. Twice a maid entered the closet. She looked at them and then ignored him. Hank blocked her leaving the second time and screamed, “Help us!”

“I need to send the exterminator this way. I hate humans,” she told him. Hank then flew across the room and hit a wall of shoes. The maid left and didn’t return.

In the forest where the portal from the bookroom led, the two detectives sat there dumbfounded. They had tried to find an exit, path, or anything to give them a clue as to what happened. They were grateful that they had at least found a clear, running spring.

That night Andela escorted the two detectives into the closet with the rest.

“We don’t have to wait for prom anymore, I don’t think,” she announced. “This prank is going to be more epic.” Again everyone started yelling at her at once, so she took their voices away again. She dumped the human food and bottles of water out and then went to bed. She had a new plan.

The next morning, the principal and more cops were waiting outside of her first-period class along with the other two aps and security guards.

“Yes,” the male AP said, “That’s the student I talked to after school two days ago. She lied about going to attention. You lied to me about going to detention.”

“I have something I need to show all of you in the bookroom,” Andela said. The adults looked at each other and had whispered conversations.

“Lead the way,” the principal said.

“It’s in the second aisle,” she informed the crew standing outside the door. One after one they filed in the small room, and one after one they entered the second aisle. After the first four disappeared, the fifth one stopped but his momentum carried him through the portal. The last few she had to shove. She wiped her hands together and smiled before returning to class.

“Principal Smithers needs you to meet with her in the second aisle in the bookroom,” she informed her teacher. “It has something to do with the investigation.”

“Who’s going to watch my class?” her teacher asked. She hadn’t thought of that.

“Security is coming. Hurry! She said it was important and you should hurry!” For the rest of the day, she told every adult she encountered. That night, she rounded all the newcomers up and led them to her closet where she collected the originals.

“Mom and Dad are going to be so proud,” she announced mostly to herself. “This is a far better prank than my siblings ever mastered.”

She marched the adults to the throne room to meet her parents. They were a loud and raucous group. While her dad was amused by her misadventures, he told her it was more of an accident than a prank.

“I guess prom is still on,” she said to herself as she walked away. The captives were her parents’ problem now. They invited all of them to join them for dinner.