The Bad Boy's Sleepover

Chapter 40

It slowly became hard to breathe as the raging fire spread across the room, licking the floors and lighting the furniture ablaze. 

Damien threw a chair at the window, breaking the glass but there were thick grilles behind them, blocking their escape. 

Lola grabbed the metal bars that were hot in her hands and shook them vigorously but the sturdy material did not budge. She noticed they were locked at the sides and almost screamed in frustration. 

Of all the places in school, it had to be the room with the poorest signal and reinforced windows. The heat was spreading fast, she could feel it singe her skin. She backed away from the fire which would soon engulf them and stared at her friends hopelessly. 

Damien was shaking the metal bars vigorously, making them rattle while Nalini screamed for help, her voice almost drowned out by the crackling fire. Hanna had dragged Edward out of the cupboard, just in time before it caught fire and now the two of them sat huddled together behind Nalini. 

Hanna looked up at Lola helplessly and something in her broke. She couldn't understand it. Why hadn't someone noticed an entire room on fire?

She looked up at the fire detector and alarm system that were installed in all the classrooms. The ones here that had been disabled. 

She'd never noticed these small things before but it has become glaringly obvious that this whole thing had been set up. Everything from the date and time, Edward's call, the room selection and the removal of the ceiling's fire alarms. That person in the dark hoodie who had been staring at her through the glass panel must have been behind it and she shivered at the memory of the shadowed face staring back at her. 

She wondered if he had been Tyler. The guy had been acting strange recently. 

Something crashed at the corner of the room and her eyes shot up to see the cabinet collapse into a pile of burning rubble. 

"We have to get out of here fast," Nalini said the obvious.

The air was dry and hot, Lola could feel it scratching her throat. She leaned against the window, her face warm and blood pulsing. The windows were the only way out but they were all locked. 

Lola's eyes started to water as she looked around for another escape route. The group huddled closer together as the fire took on a life of its own. 

"What if we crashed through the door?" Damien asked as he pointed at the burning door. The edges had peeled to the sides and the wood was ablaze with fire. 

Nalini wiped the sweat off her neck and glared at him. "That's just plain suicidal."

"Sitting here doing nothing is just as bad," He countered. He stood up straight and pointed at the  small stacked boxes behind us. "It's already burning to a crisp. If we throw something heavy at it, there's a chance it could break down right? Right?"

Damien was looking at them for reassurance but Lola didn't know if it would work or just waste their energy. After a few seconds of deliberation she nodded vigorously. 

"We might as well try."

Nalini sighed and they each picked up whatever furniture they could find and threw it at the door. The door groaned and then creaked but it didn't come rumbling down like expected. Lola's arms burned with exhaustion and her chest hurt. 

She struggled to breathe and fell back against the window. The fire was inching its way towards them from the sides. She closed her eyes and prayed even though her chest was an empty cavern of hopelessness. 

Damien threw a heavy metal box right at the door and she could hear him panting in exhaustion. The box hit the door and broke a hole right through it. The wooden splinters caught fire and the hole grew wide enough for them to fit through.