Hidden Cliques (WIP)

Chapter IV

Luke

Music: The Lost Luma - Super Mario Galaxy 2

I've lost track of how long we've been in detention; I'm too invested in sharing memes in my private chat with Heath. Sam's watching gaming streams on Twitch, Elle and Avery are both watching random things on their phones, and Skylar's still working on homework. Nobody knows what Brooklyn's doing; she's moved herself further into the corner's darkness and none of us want to get any closer to her for now.

Finally, after a long period of silence amongst us, Elle asks, "What time is it?"

In less than two seconds, Sam looks at the clock on his Chromebook and answers, "5:38."

"She's been gone for over an hour!" Skylar exclaims, throwing her hands up.

"I've had enough of this," Avery grumbles. She stands up and marches towards the door.

"Avery, we still have 20 minutes left," Heath tells her.

"Well, I feel like we've been here long enough, considering we shouldn't be here at all." She pulls on the doorknob a few times, and the door doesn't open. "Great."

"Call the main office and let them know what's going on," Elle suggests.

There's an intercom button next to the door that gets you in immediate contact with the main office. Avery presses it, and the red light on it turns on while its chime plays. A full minute passes with no response. She presses it again (presses is probably a light way of saying it. She practically punches it) and gets the same result.

While we're waiting, I start to hear a faint hissing from somewhere in the room. For a moment, I think it's coming from an air conditioner or that I'm just hearing things. Then it starts to get louder. Loud enough to the point where I can't ignore it. A strange scent enters my nostrils, a scent I'm not familiar with.

Music: Boss BGM 1 - Gradius IV

"Guys, what's happening?" Elle asks fearfully, as the other start to catch on. Sensing the need to leave, we put our stuff in our backpacks and put them on.

Heath looks behind us, where both the hissing and the smell are coming from. Most of the lab equipment has been put away, but someone didn't check that their Bunsen burner was turned all the way off. It must've only barely been lit when we entered, which would explain why we didn't notice it before, but now a cloud of smoke is floating above it and the flame is starting to get bigger. The fire alarm hasn't yet been tripped, and assuming Mrs. Hudgins isn't coming back for us, it's unlikely that anybody else will know to come in here and let us out in time.

"SHIRTS UP!" Heath yells. Everyone covers their mouths and their noses with the collars of their shirts, and we make a mad dash for the door. Avery pulls her hair pin out and starts picking the lock. Skylar tries to pull the fire alarm, and nothing happens, meaning it's probably broken.

"Avery, hurry!" Elle urges. The smoke cloud is continuing to grow, and is now covering most of the back half of the room. The room's temperature is beginning to increase to dangerous levels, causing all of us to start sweating. Our eyes water from the smoke and we enter a series of coughing fits. (It's even worse for me because I have asthma, and my dumb ass forgot to bring my inhaler today.)

"I'm TRYING!" Avery hisses. I can tell that the urgency of this situation is making this even more difficult for her, and I see her hands shaking while she tries to set each binding pin. Seconds later, she successfully disengages the lock, and is able to open the door. Afterwards, we burst out, continuing our coughing fest. Around 70-80% of the room is covered in smoke, making it hard to see what else is in there.