Middle School Horrors

Bending the Truth

Just act natural...

Taking a deep breath, Bryce squared his shoulders, and with what he hoped was his usual confident stride, headed straight forward from the direction of the library, not bothering to shy away from the perfectly angled CCTV right above his head.

He had to admit, the main school building looked almost unrecognizable in the dark of the... evening? What time was it, anyway?

He glanced at his watch. It was approximately eight thirty. Huh. No wonder it was so dark. But did the time really fly by this fast?

Using his phone's flashlight ("How inconvenient", he muttered, seeing how low his battery was), he navigated his way through the building, taking the longest, most tedious route possible towards the exit.

He scanned each room he passed by for any sign of movement, but he couldn't even find his teammates anywhere, much less the watchman.

Teammates. It felt so wrong to call this group of losers that. Well, yeah, if it weren't for Frederick, he wouldn't have been able to plan this entire mission, and if it weren't for Mary or Mark's calculations he would've been caught on the security cameras a bajillion times while changing buildings, but even so, there were very few dedicated, useful members on the team. The others just... sort of... existed.

Now, he was starting to grow anxious. If he didn't find the watchman, his plan would be ruined. He'd already revealed himself to the cameras. He was past the point of no return.

He understood why Mary didn't like this idea of his. It wasn't exactly the smartest move, but there wasn't a lot else he could do. It was either this, or possibly getting caught by the police for breaking and entering.

"Hey!"

Trying to hide his involuntary flinch, Bryce swiveled around casually, and feigned mild surprise. There he was, a full-grown, bearded man, shining his flashlight straight into Bryce's eyes. The boy maintained his composure.

"Oh, hi sir! Good evening," he said, plastering an innocent grin on his face.

"What are you doing here? It's after hours." said the man, narrowing his eyes at him.

"Yeah... my friends and I were doing some research work in the library. I guess we just... sorta lost track of time..." Bryce rubbed the nape of his neck, shifting his weight between legs.

"'Friends', you say? Was there a brown-haired girl among you?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah! Did you see her? She phoned me a while ago to tell me she was already home." Fighting back the nervousness was way harder than Bryce had expected. He suppressed the overwhelming urge to wipe the sweat forming on his forehead.

"Yeah, I saw her alright. She tried to kick me in the face."

Bryce's brows shot up and his eyes widened. "She what!? I'm so sorry, sir, on her behalf. She does tend to panic a lot... and she tends to be pretty impulsive. Please don't mind her, much. I-- I hope you're not hurt?"
The boy felt like cringing at how robotic he sounded as he said that line. He prayed the man didn't notice.

The man scoffed a bit before glaring at him. "Are your friends still in here?"

"Um... well..."

"Hey, Blake-- oh, um... hi... sir?"
Bryce blinked, noticing the figure of a blond boy emerging from an adjacent hallway, brows furrowed in a puzzled manner, eyes darting between him and the man in front of him.

Simon.

"Blake, who's this?"

Bryce took a second to realize that Simon was addressing him.
"Oh, uh... this is... erm..."