Unpredictable

Chapter 18

I was pacing the closet. "What are we going to do?!" I cried. "Well I can't think when you keep pacing like that. You remind me of a caged wolf......... that's your cue to stop." I stopped in my tracks. "Oh. Sorry." I heard a soft knock on the door. "Is someone in there?" An old voice asked. I went over and opened the door to reveal the janitor. "Thank you for the room. It worked well for our little conference." I dropped the keys into his frail hand and walked away.

I was in the courtyard, my face in my hands. It was after school, I had missed the bus on purpose. I sat on the green table, feet on the small bench. Park sat on the grass below me. "You look really depressed." He commented. "Well I can't think! I'm having a thinking blockage! Is that a thing?" I asked, bringing my face out of my hands. His feet were on the ground, knees bent, arms rested on top of the knees.

"Look I have a plan, but you're too goody two shoes to go through with it. I can get one of my friends." He said. "No! I want to take that horrible picture down. I want to go through with it. You know, live on the edge!" I made hand motions and stood. He chuckled. "I dunno. You may be too stuck in your ways." I got on my knees and balled the collar of his shirt in my fist, bringing his face to me. "Don't underestimate me. I can do it." I released him and we both stood. "Fine. Don't say I didn't tell you so. Follow me."

We were now in the boys locker room, and he was digging through his locker. "I feel uncomfortable here. I've already stepped over 3 jockstraps!" He was head deep in his locker. "Look if you wanna bail, be my guest. I told you you couldn't do it." He said, voice slightly echoing from the locker. "See there's your mistake! Don't ever tell me I can't do it or else I will go right out and do it twice as fast as you thought I would. So hurry up!" He backed out of his locker, black clothes in hand. "Um, why?" I asked. He shrugged. "To blend in." He answered. "No I mean why do you have those clothes in your locker?" He looked at them. "Oh for um........ emergencies. Now! Take this." He shoved clothes in my hands. "Fine. But I'm changing in the girls room!"

I wore a plain black t-shirt and black leggings, with a black beanie. The shirt was skin tight and made me uncomfortable, but it was his plan so whatever. Though I was already overwhelmingly dark, I put on my black converse, walked out and waited outside the boys room.

He was taking forever. I knocked hard on the door. "Come on princess! Let's go! The ball can't wait forever!!" I heard him chuckle. "Hold your carriage fairy godmother. I'm coming." He walked out, black t-shirt with leather jacket, black jeans and dark shoes. A dark backpack hung on one shoulder. He looked at me, and gave me that same look he did when I went over to his house. I was never going to admit I liked it when he looked at me like that. "Stop looking at me like a tiger at his prey." He shook his head. "Sorry. I was lost in thought. Come on." He waved me forward and jogged out of the gym area.

"Okay this is stupid." I whispered. We were crammed together under a teachers desk. Mrs. Torbert's I think. But that's not the point, the point is we were smashed against each other at the moment. It was mostly just my left side and his right, but it was not meant for us to fit under. "It's not stupid. We're just trying to hide from the janitor." I groaned. "From our experience with the janitor he seems nice. We could just explain our situation." "And say what Opal? 'Oh sorry mister we're just here to take down that huge picture because we made a stupid mistake and a dumb deal so it needs to be taken down now thanks.'" He replied, annoyed. I huffed, blowing hair out of my face.

We were sitting there, having a thumb war, when the door opened. I gasped out of fear, and Park's hand went to my mouth. He put his finger to his lips and removed his hand. It's the janitor, he mouthed. I rolled my eyes and mouthed, obviously, back. We heard his big footsteps coming towards us. We kept our feet as far under the desk as we could.

We heard sweeping, mopping, and other various cleaning stuff. Then we heard the door close and he left. He breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close." Suddenly a hand slammed on the desk we sat under. "AH!" We both screamed. Park slammed his head and I hit my elbow. "Ow!" "Crap!" We said at the same time.

"What are you doing here?!" The janitor yelled. We scrambled out. "It's not what it looks like!" I cried, rubbing my now bruised elbow. "You're dressed in black. You're trying to hide. Something is up!" He accused. "No, no no no. Nah, no you got it all wrong. We are, um, the new upgraded secret Santa's! Bringing secret joy to teachers everywhere! Right Park?" I elbowed him. He grabbed his keys and jingled them like bells. "Ho ho ho." The Janitor rolled his eyes. "Why are you really here kid?" I sighed. "We're here to take that big picture in the lunchroom down." The old cleaner raised an eyebrow. "Okay. Fine. Whatever. I won't report you." My eyes widened. "Really?" Park and I said at the same time. "Yeah. I know you're not lying because you two are actually on the poster. Right?" I averted my eyes. "Maybe." The janitor grabbed his cart and wheeled it out. "Good luck. It's already 7 o'clock. I'm the only one here. Go for it." I smiled as he left. "Told you we should just tell him." He narrowed his eyes and shoved me lightly before jogging out of the classroom.