To Whom It May Concern

Chapter 23

JUAN'S POV

"Are you ready?" I asked Kat, visibly getting irritated.

"Yeah, yes," she responded unsure of herself.

I saw her go back as though searching for something and asked, "So why are you still behind?"

"Are you scared?" I barked when I realized she was trying to delay us on purpose.

"We can forget about all of this and wait for you guys to get turned in. It's not that deep," I said in annoyance.

Collins and Tess gingered her to let loose and get with the order of things. She didn't have a choice but she tailed behind us. We had spent the last two days preparing our entries and exits and our lines for when needed. We had drawn up all possible scenarios and made sure we dotted all our i's and crossed all t's. If things went south, we knew how to bail ourselves out of the situation instead of turning on each other no matter the pressure placed. That part was the hardest preparing everyone for. For the first time, I saw them look at each other with uncertainty and question the level of friendship shared. Oh well, I was just an enabler.

We crawled out of our hostels at a little past midnight and tiptoed till we got to the school's back entrance. Anything that would have made us pass the regular school entry point was us setting ourselves up. In our crouched postures, Tess moved to the front of the line to unlock the gym door. She claimed she had noticed the loophole in the lock some time ago and it needed to be bent in exactly the right way and pushed for it to swing open. She did just that and we all walked in and then stood straight. Now we were in, it was time to get to work.

"We'll go in front. You guys behind us. Let's move quietly," I whispered to the group as I gestured for the girls to stand in line behind Collins and me.

As we crept forward stealthily, we avoided all the corridors with major lights and walked the paths with just the reflection of those lights. Also, we had made notes of the places the camera faced and planned how to avoid detection. It was hard, especially with the tripled security measures but we could pass places like the library where they had installed none. I knew we were breaking it but describing it felt like we were doing something extreme when in reality we were just walking to our principal's office which we could do every day. I couldn't lie, it was very exciting to me and I felt as though I was within a movie. I tried to make the other see it as a similar experience too.

"Hey, stop there!" I heard from my extreme right and I froze causing the others to freeze.

As I heard the footsteps approach me in haste, I turned around slowly to face the person who had accosted me and it was our principal. I was shocked. How was she there on a school night and by that time. I could see beads of sweat break out on Collins head and I stood straight to let them know I was in control of the situation. It didn't help though. I signaled to the girls to keep going by fluttering my fingers I had hidden by my side. They saw me but decided to remain still and that irritated me. We didn't all need to get caught. I knew the principal was fast walking to me like she had just caught her criminal but I was sorry to disappoint her. I was probably the last possible suspect.

I saw the distance was shorter and I was about to walk towards her to cover it when I leaned into the corner to drag Collins out and whisper "Go! We'll distract her." She had seen me because I hadn't scanned the back side of the corner we were to creep out of before I let my body out. We were to walk straight ahead and that's the only direction I had looked in. The principal shouted out to me as I made that move in an attempt to stop me – probably thinking I was about to make the run. The girls finally moved their feet and I came back to the light with Collins on my right arm and an astonished principal standing beside us. I held Collins tighter and slowly moved backward and turned in a direction that would allow the girls to sneak up and pass behind her.