The Lock In

Chapter 5

When I pulled into the parking lot that Friday morning, I was surprised to see that the graffiti had yet to be cleared from the bricks that made up our school’s entrance. Spray the Cray Away. I still thought that the saying was honestly kind of stupid - it wasn't even clever - but The Academy's message was certainly loud and clear. They were getting more serious and creative with their pranks to show how much they disliked our side of town. They thought they were better than us, just because they could afford to go to a private school and pay for archery or polo lessons, or whatever rich kids did for sports these days.

The general consensus was that most students didn’t actually care about the prank. No one was too upset over something that had gotten them out of school for three days straight. I couldn’t say I minded either, though those three days were spent doing chores around the house, working at the Stop & Shop, and avoiding the monster upstairs for the most part.

I had also taken the liberty of making a weekend schedule and printing out a few simple recipes for Connor even though I knew that he probably wouldn’t use them. But it helped put my mind at ease knowing that I had at least tried to help him out. 

I was actually really excited to be getting away for the weekend. I had spent all of last night packing for the trip to the lake and Ashley and I were leaving right after school. Her grandparent’s lake house was two hours away, making it the perfect distance to constitute a road trip while being close enough where the drive wouldn’t seem interminable.

I spotted Ashley talking to a couple kids from our class by the bicycle rack near the entrance of the school and pulled into a spot nearby. When she glanced over her shoulder and saw me, she waved a goodbye to who she had been talking to and made her way toward my beaten up Ford Taurus. I grabbed my backpack from the passenger seat and slid out of the car.

“So word on the street is they’re canceling the huge gala at The Academy this year because of that prank,” Ashley said in a rush without so much as a greeting.

“Good morning to you too, Ash,” I said. She just waved me off, and kept talking, as if greetings were irrelevant and what she had to say couldn’t wait for them.

“They’re canceling the gala. Can you believe it? That means The Academy really was behind the prank and those little shits are actually being punished. For the first time in like, forever.”

The gala was the annual swanky fundraiser put on by The Academy booster club in order to fund the school’s sports teams. The annual gala was usually set up as a posh casino and all the proceeds from the glamorous gamblers would go to the school. So if the school was canceling it, there had to be more to the story than just the prank. The school would loose so much funding by canceling the gala.

“Where’d you hear this?” I asked Ashley. 

“Todd and Kate-they’re in our third period biology clas-told me but they heard it from Mrs. Stolinsky.” I nodded. It made sense that our loose-lipped school secretary would want to be the first to spill the gossip. She loved being the first to know things more than any one I’d ever met. Which was something considering my best friend prided herself in being in the know, twenty-four seven.

I was about to ask for more details when the first bell rang, signaling that we should be heading to our first period classes. Ashley and I didn’t have first period together and our classes were located in opposite wings of the school. When we reached the school’s lobby we parted ways.

“Meet you back here after school!” She called over her shoulder as she disappeared into the sea of bodies hurriedly making their ways to their respective classes.