Burn My Paranoia One Last Time

20. The Other Side

"How in the world will we even get over there? The hall's all boarded up! If you plan on kicking them down I'm leaving," Shelby huffed, backing away from the friend she hardly recognized.

"This isn't right," Carmen muttered.

"Of course I'm not going to kick it down. Who do you think I am?"

Carmen let out a small sigh of relief. At least her sass was coming back. "At least tell us where you're taking us, please. You're worrying me."

"You're always worried," Amber said. Hearing her own harsh tone, she looked at Carmen softly and added, "But I promise you don't need to. I only want to take us somewhere safe where I can tell you the things I need to without anyone overhearing. Now follow me."

Carmen and Shelby turned to each other, passed a look of silent agreement and trailed behind Amber as she opened a door immediately nearby.

"How..?" Carmen stared bewildered.

Amber beckoned them in and shut the door quietly behind them.

They stepped into a dark empty classroom, half of which clearly hadn't been used in ages. Dust was literally settled on tables. The chairs were propped upside down on the desks, presumably to give the absent janitor an easier time.

"This is the room where the Academic Decathlon team meets sometimes," Amber explains. "They always forget to lock the door after practice, which is quite convenient for us."

Shelby brushed a finger over the edge of a desk, and held it up to her face. She blew on the dust and watched it disappear as a grey cloud.

"Shelby, help me move this closet aside," Amber directed, already placing her weight on one side.

Shelby lifted an eyebrow in confusion but went along and pulled the closet towards her on the opposite end while Amber and Carmen leaned forward.

The trio grunted as they pushed the heavy oak closet to reveal an opening in the wall behind it.

"What in the world..." Carmen tilted her head to the side and eyed the gap. It was a good-sized hole, and revealed how thin the walls really were, at least in this building.

"Wow!" Shelby echoed behind them. "How did that even happen?"

"You're not going to make us crawl in there, are you?" Carmen gripped her necklace sheepishly and backed up.

"We have to. Please, I'm not just doing this for nothing, there's something I need to show you guys," Amber pleaded.

Carmen rubbed her arm apprehensively. It wasn't often that someone with as big an ego as Amber, no offense, begged. If she didn't really need them, she would have gone alone. It had to be something important.

"Fine," Carmen mustered up her courage and dropped her arms to her sides.

Amber smiled back gently. "Thank you."

"Uh.. do you wanna do the honors since you're leading us?" Shelby pointed and laughed nervously.

Amber nodded in response and knelt down. It was a good thing she wore denim pants today, although a darker wash would have been more practical in hiding the dirt that now stuck to her pants as she crawled forward.