The warning bell blared out of the lunchroom speakers at Heritage University's boy's campus, alerting the students that their lunch period would be ending in the next 5 minutes. At the end of a crowded table, Zack groaned and ran his fingers through his short black hair, not at all looking forward to returning to class.
"Man, this sucks. I really don't feel like doing any more studying today," the young man lamented to the huddle of teenage boys around him. Most of Zack's complaints fell on deaf ears, lost in the seemingly hundreds of conversations occurring around him simultaneously. The lunchroom was always abuzz with activity, but it became even more so when nearing time to return to the classroom: there were so many people to say hello to and conversations to wrap up.
Zack's particular table was crowded with his close, and not so close, friends. They all had one thing in common: they ran track together, which meant they all sat at the same lunch table. It was a habit at Heritage University that school clubs sat together during lunch, though not required or enforced.
Despite the seconds winding down to the dismissal of lunch, Zack stayed put. He was with his friends, or at least the one guy on the track team who he truly considered a friend: Jayden. The brown-haired teenager was nearly Zack's same height and weight; in fact, all the track guys boasted a similar build thanks to their daily conditioning. Aside for Jayden, everyone else on the track team was someone Zack just "knew"; he didn't hang out with them after school, or study with them. He only had their numbers in his phone in case of an emergency.
"Hey!" Jayden yelled out Zack's way, fighting against the chorus of voices swirling around the two young men.
"Yeah?" Zack replied, matching Jayden's volume.
"Let's ditch next period... meet me behind the gym and 'you know'..." Jayden simulated smoking a cigarette withy his fingers to complete his proposal.
"Yeah, I'm about done with this day. I'm going to duck out; I'll catch you in few..." Zack replied and got up from his chair. Almost immediately, one of the boys standing behind him took his seat; chairs were a hot commodity in the crowded lunchroom, even with it being so near dismissal.
Zack waved goodbye to the rest of the track team and hurried out of the lunchroom through a set of doors to his left, ignoring the fact that his next class laid behind an identical set of doors to his right.
***
Within a few minutes, Jayden joined Zack in leaning against the tin wall of the boy's gymnasium. Zack's friend quickly produced a small carton from his pocket and pulled out two white cigarettes, lighting them both. Jayden took a drag off his as he passed the other cigarette Zack's way, each boy inhaling eagerly under the mid-day sun.
"Another day almost in the books," Jayden started, enjoying his smoke.
"You coming over tonight?" Zack replied, eyeing his friend.
"Yeah... yeah, I could do that.
Or
we could check out that babe you've been eyeing all year."
Zack felt his cheeks blush as he turned from Jayden, taking a deep drag and exhaling before answering, "And what the heck is that supposed to mean?"
"You know, that volleyball chick. Stacy, or Wendy... Amy?"
"
Lacy
," Zack snapped back before Jayden could rattle off another name.
"Yeah, well that's the good thing about the volleyball team:
they're all hot
. You can't go wrong," Jayden said with a sly smile, the lit cigarette still between his teeth.
"So, what's this about Lacy?"
"Well..." Jayden began, crouching down and looking both ways to check if anyone was nearby, "what if I told you that you could see as much of Lacy as you wanted?"
Zack blushed again, this time unable to hide it from Jayden.
Jayden prodded his friend lightly with his elbow: "See, I knew you'd like that. Hell, who wouldn't like to get a peek at one of those fine bodies on the volleyball team..."
"Jayden, just spit it out," Zack cut in, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Alright," Jayden started once more, dropping his voice to a near whisper, "So I heard there is a way into the locker room over at the girl's campus that is never locked and never guarded. Alex's brother told him about it and he says it's totally legit. All we have to do is-"
"Wait, wait, wait,
you want to do what
?!" Zack interrupted.
"Shhhh," Jayden said, gesturing for Zack to lower his voice. "Listen, this thing is full proof. We just go across the street after school to the girl's campus. On the side of the gym, there is an equipment room that's never locked. From there, Alex told me all you have to do is-"
"I though you said Alex's brother told you about this," Zack questioned, cutting Jayden off again.
"Alex's brother told Alex and Alex told me," Jayden explained. "Now from the equipment room, the girl's locker room is only two or three rooms away. Easy access,
no problem
."
"And what are we going to do,
hide
?" Zack asked, sarcasm heavy in his voice.
"Look man, we'll come in early and just see what's up. Maybe we'll stay till the girls get back and maybe we won't. I just want to see if this thing is real or not... and plus, just think of Amy-"
"Lacy," Zack corrected, again.
"Lacy, right. Look man, I can't do this by myself, c'mon and do me this solid. C'monnnnn..."
Zack took a long drag from his nearly finished cigarette.
"Let's meet back here at five; I don't think Lacy get's done with practice till six," he replied finally, a hint of hesitation in his voice.
Jayden's face burst into excitement as he grabbed Zack on the shoulder, "There we go man! That's what I'm talking about!"
"Volume," Zack reminded Jayden.
"Yeah, yeah..." Jayden remembered, lowering his voice.
Both boys were deep in thought regarding the hastily laid plan as they finished the last bit of their cigarettes.
"Alight, back here at five," Jayden reaffirmed, heading off to his class.
"Right, five," Zack answered, heading in the opposite direction and shaking his head a little, wondering how he wound up with the craziest guy on the track team for a friend.
***
The students of the boy's campus were mostly dispersed from Heritage University by the time Zack and Jayden met back up at the spot of their earlier clandestine cigarette break. It had grown late and Zack was already looking at his phone, tapping his foot in impatience.
"Man, we we're supposed to meet up at five, what happened?" Zack questioned Jayden, annoyed.
"Look, I got caught up. Five, five-thirty, what's the difference? This is only going to take a second," Jayden responded.
"Everything strait with your parents?"
"They're not going to be bugging me. You?" Jayden asked back at Zack, making sure nothing would interrupt them.
"Yeah, I'm good."
"Well then," Jayden outstretched his hand with a smirk and gestured toward the campus across the street, "we don't want to be late."
The girl's campus of Heritage University was a short walk from the boy's campus, typically only taking two or three minutes to reach walking under normal circumstances. The campuses were in close enough proximity that most of the student's knew each other and socialized during the morning and after school. During school hours however, there were strict rules in place forbidding any boys on the girl's campus and vice-versa.
Fortunately, Zack knew the way to the opposite campus well enough, but still followed close behind Jayden since he had no idea where this 'equipment room' was.
It didn't take long for Jayden to find.
As the sun retreated over the horizon, he gestured Zack over to a cold metal door nearby the girl's gym. The two boys sat still for a moment as Zack put his ear to the wind, listening for anything inside. Oddly enough, the boys couldn't make out a single sound. Nothing was audible from the direction of the gym or from inside the apparent equipment room before them.
Finally, Jayden shrugged to Zack as he put his hand against the metal door's handle and turned it, watching as it swung down without resistance.
Both boys had darted inside the door, closing it quietly behind them. They found themselves in a dimly lit storage room; it smelled of mold and dust. As they took in their surroundings, each boy noticed three other doors opposite the one they just entered.
Zack took a studied look at each entrance before turning back to Jayden, their intruding figures mostly concealed in the dim light.
"So which one is it?" Zack asked in a whisper.
"Well, Alex just said this led to the locker room... he didn't say anything about three doors."
"What?!" Zack hissed back at Jayden's answer, growing a bit frustrated, "You drug me out here and now we don't know-"
Jayden cut him off, "Chill, chill... look, what's the worst that could happen?" The young man took a moment to look at each door before turning back to Zack with his finger pointed at the door furthest to their left.
"You go that way, I'll try the door in front of us."
"Wow," Zack responded, clearly not impressed with Jayden's plan. "
And then
?"
"And then we meet back here in a minute and exchange notes. It's like doing homework."
