Gucci in Juvie

Chapter 18

'Just enough time to plan an escape route/ I put my map on the wall in the basement/ Not quite a victory to run from your problems/ But it's the only plan that I got.'

-Escape Route, Paramore

I glanced over at Nathan in his cell and caught him staring at me as well. As soon as our eyes met, he turned away as fast as he could and stared at his knees.

I sighed under my breath. This had been happening ever since yesterday, when I blurted out my feelings to Nathan in the most uncontrolled, embarrassing way. I had never really done that before. In the past, I maintained a cool, confident, calm exterior and it was rare to see me flustered because I just wasn't that kind of person. I managed myself like a queen amongst her subjects, charmingly regal with full knowledge of the power I had over many of my peers.

And this boy. This dumb, dark haired male specimen, this peasant of the lowest order, had made me let go of the reins holding my ice queen persona together.

And I kinda hated him for it.

If he was going to avoid me, then fine. Two can play at that game.

'I can feel the sexual tension in here.' Hu Li's voice rang out.

I rolled my eyes, and peeked at Nathan, whose cheeks were coloring as he kept staring at his knees.

'Seriously, guys, what are you two even doing? Ignoring each other? Do you think this is really the best thing to do when we might get the hamburger from Elliot?'

The hamburger was a code name for the escape plan, so that we could talk about it freely in front of the other guards who weren't Elliot. It sounded a little weird, but it worked. Kind of.

'The hamburger could come at any time, and you two are being childish. Whatever this is, I suggest that you work it out before Elliot arrives.'

'Why do you think this is going to interfere with the hamburger?'

'For the hamburger to work, we need to work together, and obviously at the rate this is going, that's not going to work very well.'

'The hamburger is going to be perfectly fine.'

'No, for hamburgers to work, they must have the two buns, the cheese, the patty, lettuce, tomato and ketchup. If the one of the buns is missing, and there's no cheese, it just becomes some random piece of bread with meat and vegetables on it, okay? And we don't want our hamburger to be some random piece of bread with meat and vegetables on it, because random pieces of bread with meat and vegetables on them don't work.'

'May I ask who's the bun and who's the cheese?'

I decided to be mature and speak up first, answering Nathan's question and breaking the silence between us.

'Well, I'm guessing you're the bun because you have buns, hon.'

Nathan stared at me, shocked, his mouth open a little.

'Not going to say something back?' I shrugged and picked at my nails. 'Fine.'

Hu Li glared at Nathan, and he cowered slightly. 'Don't be a child.'

Nathan stuck his tongue out at her.

I slapped my hand over my mouth to muffle my laughter as Hu Li's eyebrows rose to the high heavens. She turned to glare at me as soon as one of my atrocious excuses for giggles escaped and I couldn't hold it in anymore. As soon as I started dying, I saw Nathan grinning at me from the corner of my eye.