Heart Key (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 10: When I Was Your Man

Song: When I Was Your Man

By: Bruno Mars

"Okay children. What do you two want to do today?" I ask curiously as I cross my legs and tilt my head at my two cousins. Chris groans in response as he lets his head drop onto his arm before squeezing his eyes shut.

I look to Taylor who smiles at me cheerfully as she slathers some butter on her toast before taking a bite of it. "I'll give you a Lunchable if you wake up." I whisper to Chris who immediately sits up at the mention of his favorite snack.

I smile and walk over before pulling one out of the fridge. Yeah, I still eat them too. Hey, they've got juice boxes, don't judge. I slide it in front of him and he immediately rips it open. I watch him in amusement as he pulls the food out before looking down to read the writing in the box.

"Would writing a story about a broken pencil be pointless?" I groan at his joke while Taylor laughs and he grins like he just cured world hunger. I lean back in my chair as he eats before asking again, "What do you two want to do today? Keep in mind that I'm skipping school today for y'all." I remind them and Chris rolls his eyes at me.

"We could go to the park and play on the swings." Taylor suggests with a small grin and I slowly shake my head at her. She frowns in disappointment and Chris laughs softly as he finishes off the food. 

When he finishes he basketball trashes the box before turning his amber eyes back to me. I give him that, 'are you kidding me' look before running a hand through my hair. "We could go to the airport and act like crazy foreigners trying to find the bathroom." Chris grins at the thought and I shake my head slowly.

The words airport and bathroom have me feeling embarrassed so I quickly dismiss the idea much to the twins disappointment. Chris sighs before throwing a few more ridiculous ideas at me which I quickly push aside until one catches my interest.

"You want to buy an alarm clock, set it to go off five minutes after we set it, and hide it somewhere high up in the library so that the little librarian ladies won't be able to reach it?" I ask, already feeling bad for the poor little ladies. He looks at me like I'm insane before replying, "No, we're going to sneak into your school library and hide it in there so that mean librarian can get frustrated trying to look for it.

I smile at that idea. My school librarian is a jerk. Once, I was walking past the library and I got a detention because my shoe squeaked. Yeah, Ms. Janice hates me, but she's really short, old, and can't see so this sounds like the best prank EVER!

"I'm in." I tell him and we grin at each other before pulling out some paper and a pencil to start writing out plans while Taylor sits close by, coloring a picture on a separate piece of paper. 

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"It's so cramped." I whisper as I army crawl through the tight space constricting my wiggle room. "Tell me about it." Chris grunts as he crawls behind. "Are we almost there?" I ask up to Taylor who took the lead because she's the smallest (and shortest).  

She glances back before nodding as she crawls a few more feet before stopping. "We're here." She whispers and I'm about to answer when I hear someone being shushed. I frown at that before motioning for Taylor to crawl over the opening. 

She does as I say and I quickly crawl up to where she had originally been. I look down through the vent before carefully opening it once I see that no one is looking. I reach back and Chris passes up the alarm clock. It's tied to a string and I carefully lower it down (Chris set it before he handed it to me). 

Once it touches down to the top of one of the book shelves I reach back and Chris hands me his pocket knife. I cut off the string before passing the knife back to Chris. He takes it and I close the vent back just as the alarm goes off, since we decided we wanted to see the prank in action.

Chris even managed to program it to play last years Pop songs. No one can stand those anymore. I smile as an annoying one comes up and Ms. Janice's head immediately shoots up as she looks around for someone to shush. I smile to myself before motioning for Taylor to move up some more so that I can let Chris see our plan unfold. 

I carefully move up and I hear Chris snicker as he watches Ms. Janice patrol the library angrily. "We need to leave." I whisper after a few minutes and he nods. I motion for Taylor to lead the way as I attempt to look at the directions I had drawn out from memory.

"I wish I had a light." I mutter mostly to myself. Taylor pauses when she hears me before answering, "I think I have one." I'm mildly surprised that she brought her phone until I notice her bring out a smaller object from her pocket.

I see it flicker and grow as I feel my eyes widen in shock. She twists around to hand it to me as I scream, "Put it out! Put it out!" She looks at me curiously as she motions for me to be quiet. "Where do you even find this stuff?!" I ask in shock as I take the lighter from her before blowing the flame out.

I hear Chris laugh softly from behind me until a shrill, old lady voice says, "Who's in the vents? You best get out of there right now!" I share a scared look with Chris as I motion for Taylor to hurry up and move as I slip her former lighter in my pocket.

We move blindly through the vents with Chis constantly pushing us to go faster until we reach the place where the vent declines. I wait until I hear Taylor reach the end before following. I climb out at the bottom before moving out of the way for Chris who comes out just as I move out of the way. 

I help him to his feet as he comes out before fist bumping him quickly and taking off away from the school with my cousins close on my heels.