A Good Friend

The only thing worse than being at school during the day is being at school at night. I check my watch: 11:14 PM. I turn to Ines, who’s crouching before the main entrance doors, picking the lock.

“You almost done?” I ask, but her back stays turned and she remains silent.

I expect nothing less. She’s been ignoring me since we started high school a couple of weeks ago. Something about ditching the group at lunch the first week, but I really don’t see what the big deal is since we sit for lunch all the time.

“Ines!” I say a bit louder.

Finally, she turns her head, but towards Howie, not me.

“Howie,” she says. “Tell Kingston if he wants this door unlocked any quicker, he can come over here and do it himself.”

Howie looked at me. “She said, if you want the door unlocked quicker, you can do it yourself.”

“Oh, and Howie?” she asks.

“Yes?”

“Tell Kingston he should shut up unless he wants us to get caught.”

“She said to shut—”

“I got it,” I interrupt.

I look at the essay in my hand. Then at the night sky. Then at Howie and Ines. Then back at the essay. God, it feels like she’s been at that lock for forever. I look back at my watch: 11:15 PM. Who knew breaking in could make a person so antsy?

“I’m in!” she says, suddenly.

“Finally!” I say, while she rolls her eyes.

Inside is dark, but the bright outside street lights shining through the windows make the hallway visible.

“So where are we going?” Howie asks.

“Miss G’s class. Second floor,” I say.

But as Howie and Ines take towards the stairwell, I second-guess myself.

“…or is it the first floor?”

First period is the first floor, second period is upstairs, then lunch on the main floor, then history is… upstairs? No, I only have one class on the second floor and that’s before lunch. Or is history also before lunch? Maybe—

“So which is it?” Ines demands.

“Uhhh…first,” I say.

“You don’t sound so sure,” she says.

“I thought you weren't talking to me.”

She furrows her brows at the reminder.

“Howie,” she says, “Can you ask Kingston how he’s supposed to find his class if he’s not even sure which floor it's on?”

Howie opens his mouth, but I cut him off immediately.

“I’ll know it when I see it. C’mon,” I say, as I take them down the corridor.

“So why couldn’t you submit your essay on time?” Howie asks as we make our way around the main floor.

“I was at a function,” I say.

Ines turns to Howie, “He means, he was partying with his other friends and didn’t have time to write it.”

“Hey, birthday parties are important business, Ines.”

She scoffs in response. She used to be chill like Howie, but not so much anymore.

After passing about two dozen rooms, I recognize my class.

“This is it,” I say, peeking through the door’s window.

“Finally.” Ines bends down to pick the lock on the classroom door. “Shouldn’t take as long as the front—”

“Shhh!” Howie interrupts her. “Did you hear that?”

I exchange glances with Ines as she stands up. “Hear what?” I say, but the moment I speak, I hear a set of clunking sounds, like heavy footsteps.

Our eyes widen at the sound as we stare at one another.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” Howie whispers, although quite loudly.

“I can’t get in trouble, guys,” Ines looks around frantically, “I’ll never get into college.”

“Ines, please, we’re in ninth grade,” I say. “You guys needa relax. It’s probably nothing—”

And instantly, I’m proven wrong. Two large figures suddenly come into view at the end of the hallway. They wait for just a moment before walking slowly towards us. As they come closer, I notice they’re dressed in all black, one with a ski mask and the other with a scarf over his face.

I look back at my friends who are panting and wheezing frantically.

“What do we do, what do we do?” Howie whisper-shouts.

“Shut up and be cool,” I whisper back. “Hey, fellas,” I say with my chest. “What can we do you for?”

I ignore the blank stares that Howie and Ines are giving me in my periphery.

“I’m sorry, who are you?” asks the guy in the ski mask.

“We’re students here,” I say. “Who are you?”

They pause for a moment, exchanging glances.

“We’re cleaners,” the guy in the scarf says.

The three of us sort of relax hearing the tone in their voices, which are a lot less threatening than their demeanor, that's for sure.

“Right, well…see you around then,” I say.

“Uh huh,” Ski Mask nods, and both he and Scarf continue down the hall.

Ines continues on the lock, and it only takes a few seconds before we hear a click.

She takes to her feet, “Let’s do this quickly, okay?”

Howie and I nod as we all head in, shutting the door behind us.

“So that was weird, right?” Howie asks immediately.

“What was?” I ask.

“That thing with the cleaners.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Since when do cleaners wear ski masks?”

“Since when do we care?” I reply. “Whatever they’re doing isn’t really any of our business. We’re not here to start trouble.”

“But…”

“Listen, How,” Ines chimes in, patting him on the shoulder. “It’s probably nothing. In and out, remember?”

Howie wears his dissent on his face, but nods in agreement anyway.

I move past Howie and Ines, making my way to Miss G’s desk. There sits a computer, keyboard, and stationeries and stuff, but most importantly, the turn-in tray. The plastic bin is overflowing with papers, just as expected. I hold up my essay on the influence of Eugène-François Vidocq on criminology in 1800s France, and sandwich it in between the other essays on the tray. I can’t help but smile as I sigh with relief.

“Alright, let’s go,” I say.

But as the three of us turn to the exit, for a split second, we get a flash of the cleaners through the window, dashing across the hallway carrying handfuls of equipment.

None of us moves a muscle.

“We all saw that, right?” Howie asks.

“Saw what?” I say.

“Kingston!”

“Again, not our business.”

“They look like they’re stealing equipment…from our school! That is very much our business.”

We all know Howie is right, but I’m not convinced I should care.

“We should ask them to put it back,” Howie mutters.

“Did you fall and hit your head?” I ask.

“Howie,” Ines says. “If we do that, they'll start asking questions about us. And we’re not supposed to be here, remember?”

“Not to mention,” I add. “The three of us combined are like half the size of one of them.”

“We can narc on them from the comfort of our homes once we get out of here, okay?”

Howie doesn’t respond, like our words have gone in one ear and directly out the other. The fire in his eyes grows stronger by the second as he stares towards the door.

“Howie…?” Ines sees it too.

“Howie, I swear, I’ll hit you over the head for real with this chair,” I say, although he calls my bluff.

All too suddenly, Howie is dashing towards the door. He opens it and steps outside.

“Hey!” he yells. “What are you doing with those?

Oh dear god, I think. Ines and I nervously join him by the doorway to find the cleaners with stacks of equipment in their arms, and a cart beside them filled the same.

“With what?” One answers.

“Those computers.”

“Oh, these ones? We need to take them for a…special cleaning.”

“Oh, okay.”

Miraculously, they start to walk off, but the sigh of relief I let out turns out to be premature.

“Wait,” Howie says. “We just got those last week. How could they need cleaning?”

“They just do.”

Howie’s not buying it. I mean, hell, none of us are, but Howie isn’t gonna let it slide.

“Well, we can’t let you leave until you put them back.”

“We?!” Ines and I say in unison.

Ski Mask and Scarf turn to each other and start whispering. They carefully put the computers on the ground and then charge towards us.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my—” Howie mutters.

“In the classroom,” Ines says, and we back up into the class.

I shut the door and hold the handle as Ski Mask makes an appearance in the window and tries the handle from the other side.

“Don’t worry, guys,” I say. “My monster grip won’t let him through.”

Ines groans from behind me, though I can imagine her rolling her eyes too.

All of a sudden, he lets go of the handle, and Scarf puts a chair underneath it.

He knocks on the window to get our attention, “Nobody leaves this room, or else!”

Howie slides his back down the wall and sits on the ground. Ines and I join him on either side.

“I’m starting to think these guys aren’t really cleaners,” he says.

“Starting to?” Ines says.

“Guys, I’m starving,” Howie cries. “How long have we been here?”

“About a minute,” I answer, looking at my watch.

“Feels like longer.” He looks off into the distance. “I’ve never been a hostage before. Do you think this is what prison feels like?”

“Definitely not.”

“Was this worth it, Kingston?” Ines asks.

“Hey, all of this would’ve gone smoothly if Howie hadn’t opened his big mouth.”

“I’m sorry, guys, I didn’t think this would happen,” Howie says.

“What did you think would happen?” I ask.

“Not this,” Howie sighs. “I thought maybe they’d realise stealing is wrong and put the stuff back.”

“You shouldn’t just assume everyone has the best of intentions, Howie. That's how people take advantage of you.”

Ines scoffs.

“What?” I ask her.

“Guys?” Howie interrupts. “If we die here, I want you to know that I love you guys.”

“Howie, we're not gonna die,” I say.

“You don’t know that for sure!”

Ines stands up and takes a peek through the window.

“They don’t even have weapons,” she says.

“What are they doing out there?” I ask.

“They look like they’re arguing,” she says as she returns to where we’re sitting. “I don’t think they know what they’re doing.”

“Well, since it's Howie’s fault we’re in this mess, maybe we should give him up and make a run for it,” I joke.

“Maybe instead of ripping on Howie, you could take responsibility for getting us into this mess,” Ines says.

“Guys, please don’t fight,” Howie whines. “It’s like the divorce all over again.”

“Need I remind you, you all chose to come with me,” I respond to Ines. “I could have done this by myself.”

“You wouldn’t even make it through the front door!”

“I thought you weren’t talking to me!”

“You’re an asshole.”

“I’m SORRY I missed lunch with you guys ONE TIME…out of the millions of lunches we’ve had together since elementary school!”

“Kingston,” Howie chimes in. “It was Ines’ birthday lunch.”

The first Friday after our birthdays. That’s the day we agreed since elementary that we’d celebrate each other’s birthdays together.

“I thought we weren’t doing that anymore,” I say, “…since we’re in high school now.”

“Why would being in high school change things?” Ines asks.

“I assumed we’d let go of childish things once we hit ninth grade.”

“So being a good friend is ‘childish’ now?”

“You don’t think I’m a good friend?”

Ines pauses, looking at the ground. “You ditched us today to write your stupid essay, but didn’t let it get in the way of hanging out with your other friends yesterday. And then you drag us here to help you hand it in, knowing we could get in trouble. Howie and I would do anything for you, Kingston, but it doesn’t seem like you feel the same about us anymore.”

I look to Howie, whose head is also down, gently nodding along with Ines’ words as though they’d spoken about it before.

“You’re allowed to have new friends, Kingston,” she continues, “but it’s not fair if we’re always there for you, and you’re never there for us.”

No one fills the silence that comes after; that’s a job for me, but I don’t know where to start. I didn’t even realise how horribly I was treating them. My best friends.

“You guys have no idea how sorry I am,” I say, finally. “Never again.”

“Never again,” Ines repeats.

“Aww, guys,” Howie reaches his arms around us and brings us in for a sitting hug.

“And Ines,” I say. “You're getting your cake this Friday, okay?”

She smiles and leans more into the hug.

“…that’s if we live to see Friday,” Howie mutters.

“That’s it!” I jump to my feet and take to the window. “I’m gonna get us out of this.” The cleaners are still arguing in the hallway. Ines is right, they don’t know what they’re doing, and we can take advantage of that.

“How?”

I make my way back to Ines and Howie, and we form a huddle.

“Here’s the plan. I distract the cleaners and lure them away from the door while you guys get away.

Ines steps back. “Without you?”

I nod.

“Kingston, they’ll kill you!” Howie says.

“I’ll be fine,” I reassure him.

“You can’t,” Ines says.

“Please,” I beg. “Let me do this for you guys. I want you to know how much you mean to me.”

Ines and Howie look at one another for a while, but finally nod in agreement.

“We’ll call for help the second we’re out,” she says.

Howie brings us into another hug, but this time standing, this time stronger. Only Howie could get us to hug two times in a row without a fuss from either Ines or I.

“I love you guys,” he says.

“I love you guys, too,” I say back.

“Three,” Ines joins in.

And the moment we let go of one another, the plan is in motion. I make my way to the door and knock on the glass. Both Ski Mask and Scarf show up in the window.

“What?” Ski Mask says.

“I’m starving!”

“Not our problem,” Scarf replies. But quickly, Ski Mask whispers to him.

“You have to feed hostages?” I overhear Scarf mutter.

I slowly step away from the door, keeping my attention on the cleaners. “I think I’m gonna faint!” I yell, hopefully loud enough for them to hear. And ever so gracefully, in the centre of the room, I fall to the ground.

“Kingston!” Howie cries.

I hear the chair being removed from beneath the door handle and the screech of the door opening.

“Don’t just stand there! Help him!” Ines yells. I can always count on her. Howie too, but I fear his cry for me might be genuine.

The cleaners stand over me dumbfounded.

“What do we even do?” one says.

“Maybe we can make sure he didn’t hit his head on the way down,” says the other.

I feel their hot, stinky breaths as they bend down towards me. And although the last thing I want to do is to smell more of it, I pop my eyes open, grab their wrists, and pull them onto the ground with me.

“GO!” I yell, holding the cleaners down. I watch Ines and Howie dash through the doorway. It’s quite a beautiful sight. Watching my best friends make their grand escape. I may be terrified for my fate, but I’m happier for them than I am scared. No other friend group could make me feel that way.

“Do you realize what you’ve done?” Ski Mask shouts at me as he and Scarf stand up in front of me.

“I do,” I respond. “And I regret nothing.”

“Oh, you don’t know what regret is. But you’re about to find ou—”

All of a sudden, I hear two clunking sounds from behind the cleaners, and the two of them collapse onto the floor. Standing bravely in their place are Ines and Howie with a chair each in their hands, raised above their heads. They toss the chairs to the side the moment they notice the cleaners are unconscious.

“You came back,” I smile.

“We’d never leave you,” Howie says while Ines reaches an arm out to pick me up.

“Let’s get outta here before they come to,” she says.

The three of us sprint through the door, down the hall, and out through the front entrance, continuing down the road until the school is out of view.”

“You both got mean swings,” I laugh.

“And you really held those guys down, Kingston,” Ines says.

“I told y’all, monster grip!”

“You may be an idiot sometimes, but you are a good friend,” Ines says.

“Thank you,” I say. “And since my best friends are so amazing, Miss Goh is gonna read the best essay ever written.”

“Miss Goh?”

“Yeah, Miss G, whatever.”

“Not whatever. Miss G is Miss Grozdanov, not Miss Goh.”

“Well, I call them both Miss G.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Cuz it's shorter??”

“It’s the same number of syllables to say Miss Goh as Miss G.”

“Well, it's shorter looking.”

“That doesn’t matter when you’re talking!”

“Why are you making such a big deal out of it?”

“Because,” Ines says. “Miss Goh’s classroom is on the second floor.”

My eyes widen. “WHAT?! Why didn't you tell me?”

“Because we thought you were looking for Miss Grozdanov’s class…which I guess we found.”

“So I submitted my history essay to my English teacher,” I sigh.

“Yeah.”

I check my watch, noticing it's only midnight. “…Hey, what if we came back later tonight and—”

“Absolutely not.”

“Not a chance.”

“Yeah, I thought so.”