SLOW MOTION | ozzy, the next step

A TROUPE ESCAPE

for a little change of scenery, michelle and emily called the team into shakes and ladders, and it looked like they rented the place out since no one else was around. ripley was sitting at the high table, playing with a tennis ball, as she waited with kingston and ozzy for what felt like forever.

"hold up, what is this?" ripley turned around as noah picked up a green envelope slid under the door. "it's from emily and michelle. this is an escape room, so we're locked in here, and we have to figure out a way out."

"we're locked in here?"

everyone gathered around noah as he read the note aloud. "congratulations! you're locked in here tight. to be released, get the clues right. find the choreo and i'll make you dance, or you're locked up till dawn; it's your only chance. you must do this together before the hours through, so get down to business and find the first clue."

"i am so not in the mood for an escape room."

"let's spread out and start looking for something," noah said, ignoring her groan.

everyone started searching, but kenzie and jackie still found a way to argue. "guys, i found something!" kingston called out.

he placed a big briefcase on the table, and they all crowded around. "looks like it needs a six-digit combination to open it," henry observed.

"try 1-2-3-4-5-6-7. it's my email password," finn suggested, and ripley cocked her head to the side.

"maybe you should change that," kenzie said with a snort.

"why? i never forget it," finn replied.

"and none of us will either," jackie added.

"that's also seven numbers, bro," ripley chimed in, pushing some hair out of her face from her seat next to ozzy.

noah set up the briefcase, and that's when piper found something—a purple envelope.

"oh, guys, the clue for the six-digit code should be in here," she said, pulling out a set of six lanyards with numbers on them.

"now that everyone has their numbers, we have to answer these questions to figure out the code for the briefcase. each answer is one of us, and that dancer's number is a digit for the code," noah explained.

ripley leaned back on ozzy, who was sitting behind her. she rested her head on his shoulder as noah read the first clue.

"the first question is, 'this person is not only a great dancer but a great musician too. they used to be in a band called spaghetti pedicure.'"

noah, of course, had a thing for good music. "easy. yourself," henry said, looking at noah.

"not me. every band I've been in had awesome names," noah defended, but summer spoke up, surprising everyone.

"um, it's me. and the name's awesome, okay?"

"wait, you make music?" henry asked from beside her.

"yeah, I love to make music."

the next clue read, "this person shoots for the stars. they went to space camp." at this, everyone turned to ozzy, making ripley laugh.